Those who are intrigued by electronica but find it's too chilly for their tastes would be wise to check out Psapp.

Moments of playful mixing magic are at times followed by baffling inanity.

Cease punctuates its magnitude among Sub Pop's top-drawer power elite (The Shins and Iron & Wine), asserting this Band of Horses' fast-rising run for the roses.

On The True False Identity, Burnett substantiates his role as a composer and performer steeped in traditional American music.

Fogerty's voice sounds great throughout; passionate, more committed and comfortable with these songs than he has seemed in years.

Isbell's best songs will remind you of Richard Buckner, Raymond Carver, and Neil Young.

A truly remarkable progression, and a great album to boot--Antenna is the work of a band that's constantly moving forward.

With her expressively breathy vocals and uplifting melodies, Mindy Smith expresses both the romantic and spiritual dimensions of rapture.

A travel kaleidoscope of a neverending road passing by the window.

No one can breath breezy, sun-splashed melodies into three-minute fits of aggravation and despair quite like songwriting maestro Joe Pernice.

What could have been a curiosity is instead a hallmark in the catalog of each artist.

Meltdown is easily Ash's best album since 1977; this is the sound of a band becoming interesting again. [Amazon UK]

Both her most musically spare and artistically complex [album] to date.

Many, many gosh-darn dudes go in for the "vaguely weird indie-rock music with oblique lyrics" schtick, and yet it's still an utter joy to hear Dan Bejar do it.

We Were Dead... is denser than its predecessor with tunes that seem willfully harder to penetrate.

There's a resonant bearing to the set as a whole.

The band parlays its tuneful edification into an experimental collage, bouncing between art school rock, guitar-heavy psychedelia and keyboard hippiedom, yet interconnected by lyrics that are both shrewd and satisfying.

Pernice's unblemished voice is the key instrument.

Finds Welch showing more warmth, ease, and openness as both singer and songwriter.

All in all, this is a calmer Truckers set, less ragged and more polished.

It takes a few listens to sink in, but Everything is transcendent, shimmering, layered, and smartass emo-pop fully ready for stadium saturation.

Finn's knack for a melodic ballad remains firmly in place as Time on Earth coasts on his dreamy voice and introspective, hook-laden pop choruses.

Another accomplished collection that adds richer arrangements and instrumentation to Cary's mix of rock, folk, and country tunes.

The Sonic Youth ringleader goes at it acoustically, far from his customary cacophonic experimentation, forming a venturesome trio with the Fleeting Skies' Samara Lubelski (violin) and SY's Steve Shelly (drums) and giving his lyrical verve the latitude it deserves.

The melodies still rumble with elegance. The choruses are instantly unforgettable. And the band's original members--Maginnis, Bill Janovitz (guitar/vocals), and Chris Colbourn (bass/vocals) - remain intact and chillingly in synch.

If the new album goes farther in advocating a political conscience--"On with the Song" takes jabs at the jingoistic rubes who dissed the Dixie Chicks, while "Why Shouldn't We" insists we'll have worthy heroes in office again one day--it largely invokes the same quiet, warm, and conversational tone as its predecessor.

Don't expect a derivative mash of smudgy, nostalgia-filching sounds, though, because despite its retro leanings, what's in store somehow crackles with currency.

Merritt's lyrics remain as sharp and funny ("We belong together/Like sex and violence," he croons on "Heather Heather"), but it's the ever-inventive arrangements--like the offbeat blend of ukulele and harmonium on "One April Day"--that make these gems especially memorable.