By any measure, More Blood, More Tracks is a monumentally important document in the history of popular music and a gem in Dylan's catalog.

The entirety of Heartleap is wispy, spare, understated, and moving in its insight and honesty.

With Garden, Zero 7 have created what could be the ultimate summer evening record: warm pop hooks, lush instrumentation, unobtrusive electronica elements, and '60s-style harmonies that all come together into superb, wonderfully descriptive songs.

Easily the most satisfying Songs: Ohia album since Axxess & Ace.

It's another extraordinary musical experience from the Claudia Quintet, who deserve all the high marks they receive as an innovative, thought-provoking, singularly unique contemporary ensemble.

A U R O R A is dark, dreadful, and dramatic; it is also a masterpiece.

Suede can still dwell on big issues of love and mortality, but now that the past is in perspective, it all means a little bit more and what lies ahead is a little more precious, and that wide view makes Night Thoughts all the more moving.

Bittersweet and poignant, The Evangelist is Robert Forster's most fully realized, seamless, and masterfully articulated solo record yet.

This is a stunning set, with lots of lyrical meat to chew on, and music to give one chills.

Throughout Towards Language, the emergent notion of "slow jazz"--music that unfolds deliberately in a communal context rather than the accepted soloist and accompaniment formula--is almost defined. Its individual utterances are elementary building blocks that collectively move toward an artfully realized goal of musical speech. It achieves its power from the sum total of its sounds and atmospheres. Magnificent.

This is deeply intuitive, subtly detailed, endlessly grooving, holistic jazz-trance music that was improvised at an extremely high level.

While it's not perfect -- occasionally the album's heady, indulgent feel tends to make it drag -- Desperate Youth, Blood Thirsty Babes is still an impressive expansion of TV on the Radio's fascinating music.

With We're All Gonna Die, Dawes have crafted an album rife with riddles and musical poetry, whose meaning may take a few listens to completely grab you. However, when it does finally hit you, it's hard to shake the feeling that Dawes have opened a door into the cosmos.

Offering works as a live culmination of Coltrane's musical journey, a homecoming and spiritual communion with the deep, creative forces that drove him right until the end of his life and, based on the music here, one can only assume beyond.

Fox Confessor Brings The Flood is a rich, mature and deeply satisfying piece of music that deserves and demands attention -- if this isn't Album of the Year material, it's hard to say what is.

This is the third album in a row where she's thrown a curve ball, confounding expectations by delivering a record that's wilder, stronger, and better than the last.

Their heavenly mix of mix of giddy silliness, pop smarts and pop culture overload makes Hey Hey My My Yo Yo a fun-filled, joyride from beginning to end.

A singer who not only knows what she wants but knows that she's wanted, and that attitude unites and propels thank u, next through its ballads and R&B jams, turning it into an album that embodies every aspect of Ariana Grande, the grand pop star.

May well be the best album of her career.

What makes Interstate Gospel so invigorating is hearing how Lambert, Monroe, and Presley mesh as both songwriters and singers. Their time apart has only strengthened their bond, resulting in a fully realized and resonant record that is their best to date.

Though 14 years passed between this album and her last fully solo outing, it sounds as if it were conceived fully formed, unaware of time or trends. Instead, There Is No Other... perfectly suspends the smiling mood of a hushed evening, embodying the fading warmth of the day's last sunlight.

All that is certain is What For? is the best one so far, with Bundick really coming into his own as a songwriter, vocalist, and producer.

The ever-shifting tone of Speak to Me asks the listener to keep up with the Lage's quirks and mood swings, but the sum of its parts is quite dazzling.

It is unmistakably the work of Brandi Carlile, who once again proves she's one of the best singer/songwriters of her generation.

Despite all the new assistance, Tasty is formatted much like Kaleidoscope and Wanderland, constantly swinging back and forth between bouncy pop and laid-back (not throwback) soul.

On paper, there's no way all these combinations should gel, but C'est ça is so dense, hyper-focused, and determined that it forces itself to make sense, altering the listener's perception of how music works. What a bizarre, absurd, wonderful album. Easily Fly Pan Am's best.

Like just about everybody else these days, Murphy's more skilled at creating isolated tracks than making full-lengths, even though this particular full-length has few weak spots and unfolds smoothly as you listen to it from beginning to end. The bonus disc, containing all the stray single tracks, adds a great deal of value.

Although Trench requires a few spins to really register, it's ultimately rewarding and fully immersive, delivering a depth and gravity at which Twenty One Pilots only hinted on Blurryface.

Those who missed these gems the first time around would be hard-pressed to find another dance disc in 2006 that rivals the level of quality found here.

Elaenia is fated to become one of those albums that inspires ritualistic listening parties held by small groups of audiophiles. That shouldn't be held against it.

Sillion is all top-shelf and one of the strongest releases of his career.

For as good as the songs are, what's initially so absorbing about Americana is this limber musicality. What makes it last are the songs, which are wry, moving, and truthful, which wasn't always the case in his book.

With Empire Central, Snarky Puppy transform the Dallas music and culture that inspired them into a tangible listening experience.

Red Devil Dawn is a welcome masterpiece of emotional subtleties -- the great record that Crooked Fingers missed the mark on with 2001's drunken, bluesy and somewhat disappointing Bring On the Snakes.

The comprehensive nature changes our perception of an event we all thought we already knew.

A magnificent set, awash in textures, atmospheres, moods, and emotion.

Beyond isn't merely a worthy album from a reunited band, it's simply a great record by any standard.

Neither his music nor lyrics follow shopworn blues changes, but that's why they feel so vital: far from resting on clichés, Taylor recasts the blues and the history of Black America on Fantasizing About Being Black in a way that speaks to a new century, and the results are bracing.

The Ugly Organ is greater than the sum of its parts, with tracks that flow into one another seamlessly in spite of the wildly varying tempo and stylistic changes, not surprisingly like a classical piece in that regard.

A skillful synthesis of classic rock and modern sensibilities that's pretty irresistible.

Each song is snappy, playful, and stylish, and that's what makes Dancing with Daggers work so well.

Game Theory is a heavy album, the Roots' sharpest work. It's destined to become one of Def Jam's proudest, if not most popular, moments.

A wonderful balance of beautiful indie rock and subtle country.

Joan of Arc have once more surpassed themselves as artists.

Crazy Ex-Girlfriend would have been impressive if it was just a showcase of her strengths as a singer or as a songwriter, but since it is both, it's simply stunning, a breakthrough for Lambert and one of the best albums of 2007, regardless of genre.

Saturday Nights and Sunday Mornings is a rock record in the grandest and most polished sense of the word: it wears its lineage proudly, and imparts emotions directly and brazenly honestly no matter how pretty or shiny the picture is.

As bleak as In Amber can be, it's as thrilling to hear such unguarded yet exquisitely crafted confessions from Hercules & Love Affair as it was to have them transport listeners to dance floor nirvana.

While much of Willow's charm lies in the way she can switch genres with ease, Coping Mechanism is so engaging that it'd be nice for her to stick to this sound for at least one more album before continuing her ever-riveting evolution.

The sound is huge and intimate all at once; the songs have hooks and staying power.

Maritime might be a light, almost frothy album, but that's exactly where its power lies.

It's the work of an artist at the absolute top of her game, and as a result, Herein Wild ranks as one of the best, most inspired and inspiring, albums of 2013.

It's a stellar record, one that captivates both the heart and the imagination with an almost imperceptible grip, clutching the listener's attention with its painstakingly beautiful construction and a sadness that is all-consuming but somehow warm and comforting.

All Things Will Unwind finds this musical auteur at the top of her game, maturing, pushing her already broad boundaries, and brimming with imagination.

The overall effect is that this is one of the Streisand albums most appealing to her fans and her potential fans--which includes nearly everyone who appreciates a singer singing like she's lived every line of her songs.

A truly twisted masterpiece that offers new rewards with each new listen.

Though earlier albums saw her crafting a strange otherworld, the perpetual sunset hinted at before is painted here in new dimensions, making this set of songs her best and easiest to revisit.

It's not difficult to call an album as multi-layered and fascinating as Age Of a landmark work.

My Name Is My Name is a remarkable and vital solo debut.

Alone will stand as an idiosyncratic gem in his catalog, showcasing him at his eccentric best.

Less than three weeks into 2008 it's hard not to escape the feeling that with this disc we may already have the best album of the year.

1977 was a vanguard year for music, and Cherry Red does a brilliant job excavating and polishing the gems, both obvious and obscure.

A work of beautiful, desolate fragility.

As great as Alkaline Trio are at relating their booze and blood-spattered lives to listeners, it does get a little tedious. But Skiba and Andriano's interlocking harmonies never flag, and the band's rhythms are just too catchy throughout.

Combined, the music, essays, artist photos, and complete lyrics in the booklet make The Time for Peace Is Now an essential compilation -- no matter your beliefs or lack thereof -- for any fans of '70s soul.

Untangling Speedy Ortiz's hyper-detailed words and sounds is always time well spent, but these fierce, surprising songs are some of their most satisfying work yet.

Crow hasn't been this free or fine since "Sheryl Crow," but there is an emotional directness on Detours that makes this a progression, not a retreat.

Written from the heart and dredged from pop music's boneyard, Shortly After Takeoff feels like the album Christinzio has been working toward his whole career.

It is to their considerable credit that Transgender Dysphoria Blues never sounds like the work of a band falling apart; if anything, they're reinvigorated, playing with a purpose lacking on 2010's softly unfocused White Crosses.

Quarantine is the addictive soundtrack to some kind of science fiction nightmare.

If that album [7] expanded the idea of what Beach House could sound like, then Once Twice Melody fills in that idea with colors both familiar and new.

She's the rarest of things in modern country: a singer who can't help but be compelling no matter what she sings.

Light of a Vaster Dark is ultimately the most integrated, seamlessly rendered aural illustration of McCarthy's unique vision that Faun Fables has released to date.

They're a band who refuse to stop moving and exploring their sound, emerging every time with a more refined approach to the music. That they can achieve this with integrity should be celebrated, except maybe this time with a bottle of red wine instead of cheap beer.

Central Reservation is first and foremost a record about hope and survival ... but its underlying message of healing and perseverance is powerfully life-affirming -- her music hasn't merely discovered the light at the end of the tunnel, it's now bathing in it.

She remains musically mercurial and virtually unclassifiable, even if she is at her most accessible on Devil's Halo.

With such a wide-open sound, even the confusing and painful parts sound hauntingly beautiful.

To be sure, In Ghost Colours is a triumph of craftsmanship rather than vision--a synthesis and refinement of existing sounds rather than anything dramatically new and original--but it is an unalloyed triumph nonetheless, and one of the finest albums of its kind.

Butler sings like Radiohead's Jonny Greenwood used to play, like a lion-tamer whose whip grows shorter with each and every lash. He can barely contain himself, and when he lets loose it's both melodic and primal, like Berlin-era Bowie or British Sea Power.

NMA's version of Junior Kimbrough's "Meet Me in the City" here almost sounds like power pop, but filtered through a rustic moonshine filter. Every track here is like that, roaring into the 21st century sounding big, urgent, and huge, but so grounded in the local folk-blues tradition that each track seems to carry imprinted DNA that says boogie all over it.

There isn't a weak moment here as everything is organized, beautifully arranged, and never feels pushed or forced.

With Sad Happy, Circa Waves capture the broken dreams of youth and turn them into songs meant to be played at full volume before leaving you wrecked on the floor.

If you can appreciate the style of dubstep employed by Burial, it's easy to fall head over heels for Untrue, an album on which there are absolutely no mainstream-crossover concessions, no ego trips, and no willful stylistic variation--an album where the music, a singular style of it, takes center stage with no distractions or sideshows, where there's never the urge to skip to the next track, because they're all part and parcel of the greater whole.

For Fed, [Hayes] recruited everyone from veteran R&B arranger Tom Tom MMLXXXIV to jazz session drummer Morris Jennings to stalwart indie noisemaker Steve Albini to create a record as rich, complex, and ornate as the previous record was simple and spare.

The collection does a fine job of living up to the title--it's certainly a celebration of Madonna's career and includes some of the most celebratory and thrilling pop music ever created.

This blend of cheerful weirdness and sick beats--often supplied by the Neptunes, delivering tough, sensual rhythms in a way they haven’t in a long time, but also John Hill and Wyclef Jean--is giddily addicting, a celebration of all the strange sensuality that comes out at night.

Takes the scattered clicks and beats of Autechre and combines it with the tunefulness of Spiritualized.... Very rewarding.

With No Answer, the band rises to the standards in anti-music set by its own discography.

By shedding the smirking artifice that served Casanova so well, and hiring producer Nigel Godrich, the Divine Comedy may be treading dangerously close to the sounds of countrymen Radiohead, but the Divine Comedy are smart enough to give listeners just enough lyrical bit to throw them off the scent.

There's an amusing irony that one of Sebadoh's most straightforward and tuneful albums is accompanied by an hour's worth of the sort of indulgent four-track murk Sebadoh seemed to be actively moving past, though as such things go, there's plenty of adventurous lo-fi sound collage to be found, as well as some prime examples of Barlow staring down his neuroses.

This album shows Wong at his most refined and compositional, maintaining the spontaneous spirit of his playing while delivering a final product more focused and satisfying than anything he's done before.

In time, it should be seen as a career highlight from a superstar--one of the hardest-working people in the business, a new mother, in total control, at her creative and commercial peak.

In the same way as records like the Buzzcocks' Singles Going Steady, the Smiths' Hatful of Hollow, or even Weirdo Rippers by No Age, the incremental blasts of brilliance collected in one place as Early Fragments fit together perfectly, capturing a remarkably intriguing band at various peaks.

Profoundly authentic, nostalgic, and graceful throughout, The Horizon Just Laughed does nothing less than reaffirm that Jurado is one of the best songwriters in the business.

These are exquisite productions where Le'aupepe's rich, throaty baritone is framed by wiry bass lines, artfully arranged orchestral sections, and spiraling guitar accents. There's a frankness to Le'aupepe's lyrics, as if he's talking directly to you. Yet, even in his most earnest, off-hand moments, he finds poetry.

It's an album of longing and disquiet. To call any of the songs wistful seems inadequate; they are engulfed in saudade.

Thing of the Past succeeds on three different fronts. Certainly, excellent song selection is one, inspired musicianship and arrangements another, but the actual sound of the recording is equally important in putting Thing of the Past across.

Ancestral Recall is a stylistically and culturally dynamic album borne out of Scott's deep awareness of his New Orleans roots and African American history, and his ability to push his forward-thinking post-bop skills into musical traditions far beyond jazz. However, the real revelation is that the album also manages to feel intensely personal, imbued throughout with a deep sensuality and romantic creative vision that feels distinctly his own.

The result is indie rock, and Omni, at their 100% best and most exhilarating.