It's the sound of three guys blasting their way out of suburban torpor.

True to its title, Believers does indeed have the potential to make faithful advocates of all.

While some of the beats seem recycled from Thursday or House of Balloons they still sound good and don't detract from the songs [here].

Phillips' agile vocals sweep over these mostly ragtag arrangements and provide the emphasis and impact that each of these songs demand.

Eno appreciators who maintain a sense of trust in everything he does will definitely want to add this to their collection.

A progressive dance-pop album that, maybe because of her background, feels a heck of a lot hipper than what her new genre counterparts can offer.

Looks can be deceiving, especially when you have an album's worth of decent songs to back you up. And despite a so-so start on their debut full length, they do.

Andre Williams, ladies and gentlemen: one of the last living links to the heyday of dirty R&B, super-soul and first generation booty funk. And certainly one of the few left who still brings it like he means it, every time.

How good is Antibalas the album, the band's fourth, on its own merits? The answer is: pretty good, but not as great as its inspiration.

This is a calm, passionate album miles away from the dirge of YOB, echoing the lucidity of his homeland's creeks and forests, bringing together elements of Eastern and Western folk like David Crosby trading in Topanga Canyon for the Dead Sea.

Once just another also ran in a genre destined for obscurity, Jack's Mannequin have moved out of the emo ghetto and settled in nicely into a nice indie rock neighborhood.

She shows herself self-conscious in a good way on songs like "Little But Loud" where she happily shows off her stuff off while name checking Led Zep's most famous tune.

Something this eerie has rarely sounded so enticing.

Jordanian remains pleasantly understated as a frontman, letting his voice and knack for raw melodies take the focus.

Those two indelible songs ["Small Bright Doses" and "Rogue Highway"] alone more than warrant the price of admission, but while the rest of the album is far more ambiguous, its dream-like melodies and beguiling intrigue provide plenty of reason to succumb to its spell.

Most of the record finds organic urban grooves, frosts them with sweet pop-soul hooks and serves them up hot and fluffy.

Beaus$Eros is an interesting experiment. Busdriver is capable, obviously, in multiple genres, and has the restless, omnivorous kind of creativity that sees links between disparate styles.

Ultimately, Coming Out of the Fog is about song, rather than sound, but that sharply-crafted sound definitely its say as well.

Needless to say, The Wall's Immersion Edition is a visual thing of beauty, ...The undeniable black eye on this Immersion Edition, however, is the way by which they handled the inclusion of Roger Waters' solo demos... the majority of this coveted cache of rarities is whittled down to a series of poorly edited snippets that barely last a minute or even a few seconds in some instances.

Snider proves yet again that he is still one of the best musical commentators going today.

Music that alternates magnetic engagement with "F...k you" sarcasm.

Wainwright has a true gift for turning heartbreak into brilliant folk rock.

With Sagara, Disjokke splits the difference between late-period Cluster and Alan Lomax, offering a most unique world view on 21st Century Nordic festival music from one of that nation's most open-minded visionaries.

Hospitality's debut is a sugar-rush of an album, albeit one given acerbic snap by Papini's delivery.

The level of familiarity turns out to be one of the records strong suits, and something that distinguishes it from the Bragg/Wilco records.

Ultimately, The House at Sea provides an ideal aural retreat, a tranquil locale where calm waters create minimal waves.

Overall, the tinny, sterile production (there is nothing lush about the sounds on In Limbo, nor is there supposed to be) and the fresh take on psychedelic and indie rock sounds pretty fine.

Solid songwriting chops show a clear ambition on the band's part to be more than just another garage rock act, though the tunes are stronger in the second half of the record than the first.

There's not an obvious departure from their last few releases, but there doesn't need to be as the band has settled comfortably into their sound.

If Hit Parade doesn't get Nourallah on more folk's radar well, their radar is done busted.

Throughout the tunes, you can hear that McCartney loves the language of the old songs. He enjoys the phraseology, tickles and teases each lyrical phrase. You can hear that he's waited forever to do as much such as this.

A two-disc set documenting archival demos and an early live recording, The Singing Postman Delivers demonstrates that for the most part, John Prine's musical persona emerged fully formed.

The sound is not quite as clean as on Beyond the 4th Door, but there's an organic whole-ness and immediacy that makes up for murkier sonics.

The steady driving "Mulholland Drive" and the Roy Orbison-worthy "Here Comes My Man" are among the band's best and could have easily come off their breakthrough 2008 release The '59 Sound.

While it's hard to shake Heartless Bastards' unforgettable prior release The Mountain (2009), Arrow is indeed pointed in the right direction with a fresh sound.

Jackson's love for Ellington but unwillingness to play it safe puts The Duke much closer in spirit to its inspiration than rote copies of originals would ever have done.

Buddy & Jim in tandem is twice as nice and two of a kind.

All things considered, Stars and Satellites is easily this band's best effort yet.

A furtive solo debut, Simone Felice provides the perfect setting for meditation and musing.

The disc turns more experimental as it progresses.

Admittedly, Taylor’s patented droning mantras can be a bit numbing when stretched out to an hour. But when his artistic vision hits exactly the right balance with his emotional thrust, it’s hard to imagine the music sounding any other way.

[Williams] remains agile, mobile and hostile as the Sadies choogle, twang and vamp behind him.

Giving seems to go on and on towards some distant, perhaps unreachable horizon.

Besides embracing improved recording and production, the album stands out in their catalog for containing a strong roster of outstanding songs, not a 98-pound weakling in the bunch.

Guitar player Wymond Miles plumbs deeper, existential questions on this four-song EP.

Finn's compelling without the usual bluster that provides him momentum--his voice never approaches its old roar but his nice melodic sense comes out here more.

Laid back beats, a high pitched effect methodically layered within the effects, vocals, bring in the bridge then loop the beat. Arguably this is the pattern to all electronic music yet there is not much variety within this paradigm; luckily there are enough winning moments on Flume to make you forgive this.

While the band was hardly in a rut before, it nonetheless sounds revitalized here, reveling in big melodies and even bigger riffs.

A good rock record is a good rock record, and The Stars Are Indifferent to Astronomy is a good rock record.

Sonik Kicks may prove his most intriguing effort yet, an album awash in psychedelic suggestion, cosmic noodling and swooping, soaring performances driven by fresh enthusiasm.

While the pomp and sense of urgency may be gone from the band's '90s heyday, this is a solid effort and a worthy choice for rock fans who want something loud to drive fast to.

A more subdued release, Happy To You is nonetheless quite mesmerizing in its methodical and complex layers of music.

She is better than you would expect, flexing a style that exists between Woody Guthrie and Def Jux as she calls out hypocritical hippies, turtle burning oil companies and the overdose that nearly killed her with effortless wit and grace.

An 18-track adventure into the joyous heart of classic African funk as colorful as the jacket it is dressed in.

A Place to Bury Strangers hadn't yet reached the point where it needed reinvention, but giving its sound a few well-considered tweaks pushes its creative momentum forward even faster.

Playin' in Time With the Deadbeat is the right kind of challenge, its knotty twists and cranky attitude adding to the noisy, visceral thrills.

If you like good tunes cranked up on pogo beats, you can hardly do better than Meltdown

Musically, Plumb is both rapturous and jumpy.

Grace & Lies works best when it lays it on thick - opting for textures over latticework -and is least successful when it strips back and relies on its acoustic-folk undercarriage. Thankfully, the former predominates.

Cut the World isn't a major new statement from Antony Hegarty, since only one of its 11 songs are new and he's no stranger to using string arrangements. But the material is mostly the cream of his four studio albums.

He delivers a drastic shift in style that anyone enrapt with the gauzy pop euphoria of the first two Crayon Fields classics never saw coming.

It's as if the Brian Jonestown Massacre hired J Mascis to write its material, solid songcraft disguised as stoned slack.

Shout Out Louds have produced a great, light-hearted and warm album that will lift your spirits, mellow you out and make you dance.

Each song can stand strongly on its own or the entire record can work as a cohesive whole (most records are one or the other).

From the first few notes, it's clear that the duo's signature blend of worldbeat rhythms and ancient melodies with rich electronic atmospheres is still potent, if leaning toward the synthesized side of DCD's lush sound.

There are no boundaries here to be broken, but there's clear indication of new-found confidence that obviously serves her well.

At times, Wand does become something of a scavenger hunt for dedicated fans.

Thomas' honesty, as much as any performance herein, is the commanding factor overall, making it easy, and in fact, all but unavoidable, to fall in love With Love.

For much of the album, disparate elements come together in complicated ways that are cerebral, sensual and spiritual all at once. Nicely done.

Garage Sale is mostly devoid of throwaways, and yet chock full of hidden treasures instead.

Clearly not one to mess with, this confident, compelling outing suggests she can hold her own even within the top tier of alt-country's rowdier women.

Blue Songs has impressive diversity and variety.

[The Seer is] everything for which Swans stands, wrapped up in one intense package.

At 21 minutes, these six songs come off like a moderately successful experiment, but an entire album might have been too much of a challenge to sustain.

Honky-Tonk is a Country Music album. No Alt required.

True, The High Country doesn't allow for the giddiest of circumstance, but if it doesn't break your heart, it may just steal it instead.

With a sympathetic producer in Don Was, who worked with Ryder in the 1990s with his own Motor City band Was (Not Was), Ryder is able to make a late-career statement that stands tall alongside anything he's ever done.

The songs convey a lot of deep ideas without resorting to flowery prose. In fact the words are often fairly straightforward which ends up making the whole project hit a little deeper than initially anticipated.

Sky Full of Holes is the perfect sound of a band staying within their comfort zone while not forgetting the power of the almighty hook.

Recorded live on the floor with his band, ChesnuTT's second album cuts the fat away for a lean, no-bullshit sweet soul program that hearkens back to the heyday of the O'Jays and Al Green.

Each three-minute zinger is an aptly kilned piece so crossly pollinated, it should be studied.

Generals has some gems of its own, but take a bit more digging to find.

It captures the band's rambunctious, not-especially-reverent approach to Ethio-jazz.

Few albums dare to even come close to this stunning degree of grandeur, but with Here the Magnetic Zeros not only raise the bar, but easily scale it as well.

Born to Die has more hits than misses and more solidly strange fabulously femme fatale interludes than naff ones.

Stephens' voice is, as ever, quite compelling, as capable of guts and blues as of delicate trilling flourishes. She sounds stronger and surer than ever here.

With Major/Minor Thrice have stripped away unnecessary studio production, added instrumentation and pretention to offer simply a great rock album.

Sure this House on the Hill could be more soundly constructed, but one suspects that ricketiness is part of the appeal.

A must-have item for collectors and die-hards, this is also good for casual fans that may not have all the classic songs in their collection.

Even if it's in small phases, Moon Duo continue to evolve as they revolve.

Do Things has a few missteps, but May just keeps smiling and charging forward.

Novak may keep his arrangements raw and his vocals tunefully challenged, but his songcraft improves with every tune.

Shows him clearly confident on his own.

A welcomed, warm and quality return for Helio Sequence, Negotiations yet again unveils the superlative sonic possibilities of these talented gents and how their creativity perfectly complements each other.

A soundtrack for the sun-drenched summer months.

Wallop[s] you upside the head with an acid-induced mash-up of rollicking glam, gunky metal and ghetto-fabulous art rock.

Though not as visceral as previous outings, WIXIW has its charms.

The fuzz of "Fighting the Smoke" and blend of twang and sincerity on "Red Rubber Army" prove that he's not going to run out of great ideas any time soon.