The mixtape of emotions Trentemoller has produced on Lost is proof of his virtuosity.

Despite the duplications from previous collections and a heavy emphasis on dubious alternate mixes, true devotees will likely still find Made in California an essential acquisition.

Tales of Us unveils yet again how talented Goldfrapp truly is as together Alison and Gregory continue to craft music that does not pigeonhole them into a set genre; they simply make exceptional music.

The lush production and whimsical tone complement May’s discerning ear for song arrangements, making Warm Blanket his most endearing effort yet.

The good folks at Shout Factory didn’t opt to only offer these discs a second time around, but instead provided added enticement via two bonus extras, a stunning live recording from Nashville’s Polk Theater, recorded around the same time as I Feel Alright, and a live DVD from the Cold Creek Correctional Facility where Earle had earlier been incarcerated.

Over The Rhine have made their masterpiece at last.

King Khan is, so far, pursuing a sound that is more huge than slick, and it sounds great.

It all combines to create an album of magical (realist) splendor, a journey into a past which will always have more to offer each time you listen to it.

["Arkestra" is] a mess and a resolution all at once, a miasma shot through with clarity. The rest of the album is good, but if you need one reason to play it again, this is it.

This is the ordinary world made radiant, surreal and strange, its everyday objects glowing with internal light.

These slow-rolling, Southern-bred sentiments serve him well, and indeed Gone Away Backward appears to be a fine step forward.

The album is gorgeous, almost an abstraction of what musical loveliness could be.

Fondness for Jackleg only grows the more time you spend with it.

Phillips’ very considerable skill is in getting to the core of an idea, stripping it down to essentials and then shading it subtly with cross-currents of meaning and musical counterpoint.

Melbourne is easy to listen to, but hard to make sense of.

Fortunately, most of the singers feel a kinship to Drake that comes through. They communicate that this is a cause worthy of their most thoughtful interpretive skills.

Anthemic stuff abounds here but they really hit a powerful stride in the middle with the fast-paced “Lizard Kids,” the funky bottom of “Lunar Phobia” and the girl-group sweetness of “Wrack Attack.”

Club 8 exist in their own bubble and continue to make music for themselves. You can’t fault them for that, on the contrary, they deserve your deeper respect for it.

Waiting for Something To Happen is an excellent record.

Though there are some slow-burners on this record; songs that might not stick on the first or second go round, they are worth the patience once they finally click with the listener.

The overall mood, however, is thoughtful and somber: unlike You Are Not Alone, this is a contemplative late-night album rather than a celebratory Sunday morning one. It’s wonderful.

Year of No Returning may not be the definitive post-Harpoons Furman record – he’s got another one coming this fall--but it is an album to build on.

Yessir Whatever may not be as essential as other titles in the extensive Madlib library, but is definitely worth checking out if you dig the id of his art.

Somewhere between the somber and the swagger are the expansive and loosely-narrative “King of Cleveland” and “Famous Friends Along the Coast,” which both play like cinematic vignettes. Rich with imagery, resonance and hooks, they feel less esoteric than the rest of the album. But these songs are relatable and immediate, and lend a groundedness to the 12-track collection.

This album balances that joy and sadness perfectly and powerfully.

Practically vibrating with the will to realize its ambition, Crime & the City Solution finally produces its masterpiece.

To fully appreciate the album, it needs close attention. The magic comes when the members of the quartet start bumping each other up to the next musical level, and it helps to discover the steps they take to do that.

The whole project is haunted by mournfulness and death. And that of course suits a Nico tribute well.

It’s intense and contradictory, a bundle of bravado and doubt and vulnerability and longing that stays with you for a long time after the last chorus fades.

An album full of fresh twists and turns, musically and lyrically, and a song cycle full of melody and surprise.

It is chock-a-block with everything you have ever loved about the Boards over the last 15-some-odd years.

Ivan & Alyosha offer an emphatic combination of allure and affirmation that all but assures instant appreciation.

Those who loved the Del-Lords in the 1980s will be delighted, as should anybody who missed them but thinks passion, skill, and commitment are a pretty good combination in music.

Ultimately American Ride resounds like a victory cry--urgent, enduring and unfailingly affecting.

A wonderful album, in which everyone comes together without losing what is special about each.

Throughout, Holmes maintains a steady hand on the controls, never letting the stylistic shifts overwhelm the overriding ambiance, which is to revel in sensuality of synapse-stroking while riding the pure physicality of a full-on dance/rock record.

The final outcome is the most intriguing and innovative Matmos LP since A Chance to Cut is a Chance to Cure.

Listening to this stunning album will provide you with your own moment of clarity. Don’t let it slip away.

Walking the same cabaret folk rock path traveled on his previous record Sketches From the Book of the Dead, Harvey sounds comfortable and confident in the skin of his artistic vision.

For those of you not so enamoured of the lo-fi, early ‘90s garage/punk crud the Memphis trio so brazenly and brilliantly pioneered, feel free to plug in your own “1” or “0” stars.

Howl is an unequivocal roots recording, an evocative combination of Bluegrass celebration, deep bottom Blues and total allegiance to authentic Americana.

It’s lyrically strong and musically tight--even as it drifts and frolics as easily as kite.

The music appears deceptively simple and unabashedly blithe at times, but regardless, the emotional undercurrent clearly comes through.

This is a dazzling album, steeped in soul and brimming with an uncommon musicality, all rhythmic urgency and compelling melodies and anthemic choruses.

Tom Jones is almost 73 years old, is singing as well as he ever has while refusing to conform to his stereotypes, is artistically and perhaps spiritually searching and restless, and is recording perhaps the finest music of his long career.

It is not one thing (folk) or the other (post-rock, post-classical experiment) or even, really a blend of the two, but rather something fresh and idiosyncratic and worth exploring.

Patty Griffin has clearly been saving the best of her own material for a long time, making this perhaps her finest hour.

Power pop may not be as ubiquitous or even as relevant as it was in the Raspberries’ prime, but it still can be done well... just ask Mikal Cronin.

As exhibit A in a case made that Shuggie Otis is an overlooked talent, Inspiration Information + Wings of Love present powerful evidence.

HEK’s second album makes him sound more confident, distinct and comfortable in his own skin but thankfully not more fancier than his 2011 debut.

On Ready to Die, Iggy & the Stooges sound hungry, ready not to expire but to prove something: that rock & roll is not dead and no one does it better.

Impossible Truth feels like both an empirical observation and an epiphany, a glimpse of the glow behind the world itself.

Vile’s drawl communicates isolation with a contradictory urgency. Somehow, Pretty’s spiritual resignation sounds like an invitation.

It’s actually a great record once you give up all preconceived notions of what to expect.

In crafting an album that’s filled with largess, they give their fans a work that genuinely seems destined for the ages.

The Men almost casually demonstrate a mastery of song-based rock & roll that usually comes from decades of work.

Both revealing and resilient, Spring and Fall could be deservedly called an album for all seasons.

Marrying Beam’s continued interest in keeping the beat moving with some of the strongest folk/pop melodies he’s yet composed, Ghost on Ghost evolves Iron & Wine music even further into the realm of the mystic.

Bradley and his band are such great interpreters and expanders of the soul tradition that you don’t mind the nagging feeling that you’ve heard these cuts before.

Given the jam-friendly group’s propensity for live euphoria but recorded disappointment, it’s a relief to hear that the Hiss has finally hit its stride in the studio with Water On Mars.

The guitars still crunch as hard as ever, and Dan Peters’ drumming has that distinct set of accents that keep the anticipation high.

The Next Day is complex, pissed off and crafty.

Indigo Meadow is an assured, exciting piece of work.

Wild Chorus stays true to its title as it winds its way through a series of sensuous yet spunky duets.

You're Nothing is an album full of power--power which makes you think and react viscerally.

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

A musical journey through spiritual and physical emotions, Electric Word will stir and soothe the soul.

Chain Letters is a solid album and Big Harp brilliantly adds to the growing plethora of artists crafting stark, raw music that strikes the core.

Out of View already channels a good bit of chaos in with its summer afternoon melodies, now after only a couple of years of experimentation.

Like a reincarnated Big Star, complete with sweet melodies that last for days and hooks sharp enough to piece flesh, the band's latest Foolish Blood (their seventh if you loop in EPs), is one of their strongest efforts to date.

Marr has become a more assured singer, which is one of several ways this album improves on Boomslang.

A few of the tunes seem to want to ape the front cover of waterfalls and Jesus-long hair ("Sore Eyes," "Locusts" etc.) but most of Almanac is able to bring a love of the past into the right now and (usually) make it seem effortless.

By definition, they're not as classic as his first three albums but because of the amazing guitar plus the soulful grooves and songwriting (and thankfully no overdubbing), there's still some good quality material found here for fans and even some agnostics.

Old Yellow Moon will be well worth remembering.

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

With the ambitious Miracle Temple , Mount Moriah puts its own powerful stamp on a music that's faithkeeping in more than one sense.

Hamilton writes very nice folk rock songs, the way a 1,000 song writers do, but he, unlike most of his completion, he also wires them with dynamite and blows them sky high.

The lift-off and liberation come subtly, bearing the masterful marks of men who've learned the value of compositional patience (it's no coincidence that Cave and Ellis have also forged a successful partnership as film scorers). This, ultimately, makes the emotional devastation you experience once the record has spun all the more remarkable.

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.

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.

It's obvious at the outset they create a mighty bold impression all their own.

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.

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

There's a warmth and life in these songs that goes beyond tribute or reenactment.

Yes, it's a fine album.... It's during the songs that shift the focus from chaos to ethereal mirth that the listener can fairly wonder about whether this album should be judged as simply a regular new offering or an (almost) lost treasure.

Ostensibly a song-cycle about prep school kids spread over an 11 tracks, the close quarters become the sites of devotion, betrayal, communion (or near-communion), and abject loneliness. But relating to that isn't required to enjoy this rich recording.

Bettie Serveert have always trafficked beautifully in lovely melancholy, and this melodic, varied and rocking collection joins a long list of fine records from the Dutch band.

Their latest, Signed and Sealed in Blood, will likely not change many opinions as it is still their same hallmark of rowdy, drink in the air, boot stomping sing-alongs.

They represent such a cool transitional period in Davis's career, as radical a creative juxtaposition to the jazz community as Bob Dylan blowing the minds of the folkies with the crackle of a guitar amplifier.

Like finding a paisley underground in a rain forest, listening to Noctuary will alter your perceptions and give you a chocolate brain melt in a most satisfying way.

Fourth Corner is one of those rare releases that leaves its listeners wanting more.

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

Lovesick Blues is simply a beauty.

Buddy Miller's production is fresh, tuned to the immediacy of Thompson's performances; any fault with Electric can't be laid at his door--only at the strangely stiff quality of the first few songs.

The tenth Eels studio LP simply presents E's strengths as a songwriter and performer.

For their third album together, John Elliott, Steve Hauschlidt and Mark McGuire bring the same sense of fearless adventure to them modular synths, creating a seven-song cycle unlike anything in the Emeralds canon yet.

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

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