This is pure, un-concentrated psychedelic boogie rock rooted in West Coast mysticism, Stax R&B and Memphis blues without pretext or pretense.

The Pearl Sessions with newly found studio outtakes, live performances and chatter rarities, the tumult of its original 1971 (three months after her passing) comes through loud and clear.

Every bit as riveting as the groundbreaking music is the ever-present studio chatter.

There's a sadness, a backwards-looking air to Tarnished Gold that's new. Once the Sparks' hallucinatory trippery signaled youth's endless possibilities. Now their songs, even the new ones, are filtered through a golden, dust-moted, late afternoon light.

There's a dose of the otherworldly in these evocative tracks, but laced, in all but a few cases, with recognizable bits of ordinary life.

The 14 tracks here rank among some of the best Bird's ever done.

One of the best records of the year.

Easily absorbing subcurrents from Bollywood and bhangra ("Deeper Water") to fear-of-nature horror film soundtracks ("Out of the Woods"), This is PiL never wanders far from that fierce bass and pulsing percussion at its core.

The Whole Love should make long-running Wilco-ites ecstatic since this is the best and most adventurous set of Wilco songs in nearly a decade.

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.

Good News is an immediately infectious work.

Researching the Blues is a goddamn gem, crackling with energy, that totally celebrates the pure bliss and joy that rock 'n' roll can, and should be. In short, it's everything that you were hoping it would be.

Falling Off the Sky is a fresh start for the band that many of us thought should have dominated the 1980s. Clearly, they still have the chops to dominate the 2010's.

The Odds show that Fugazi doesn't need to reunite in order to make music that still very much matters.

Methinks come the end of the year, a lot of people will have adjudged it a keeper.

A treasure chest of riches that provides considerable new perspective on the band's processes and progress through the years.

Interspersed in between the renditions throughout the course of Accelerando... are five outstanding Iyer-penned performances.

Outside Society serves as an excellent primer for the young person looking to delve into the genius of Patti Smith for the first time as well as an essential addition to the record shelf of any seasoned fan well versed in the catalog of this high priestess of rock 'n' roll.

Tunes that are both brainy and catchy, full of life.

He delivers a stirring counterpoint to Quartet with an atmospheric combination of organic and digital feels that offers a stirring dual portrait of the landscape of his motherland.

The music on this remarkable record creeps up on you, and subtleties abound; with Burns' vocals mic'd very close and much of the instrumental flourishes occurring deep in the mix, it's an intimate affair.

Perhaps for the first time ever on a Chili Peppers record, it is Flea who takes the reigns as the lead instrument here, going Jaco all over this mofo so to speak, which ultimately proves to be this album's saving grace.

This collection should be as essential to your listening rotation as your favorite album from any of the bands who continually drank from the unique brand of introspective intensity pioneered by these unsung heroes of indie rock's mean season.

Flumina is an arresting and beautiful work as deep and open as the body of water that graces its cover art.

The album is a holiday classic in waiting, even if you don’t own a single pair of skinny jeans and couldn’t grow a beard to save your life.

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.

Wussy reaches for transcendence and finds it. You wish it would go on forever.

Simply said, this Little Bird soars.

It is a flavorful fusion as unique as the Yugoslavian Spomenik that graces the cover of his eponymous full-length debut on Fat Possum - and one that stands apart from the seemingly endless barrage of home-recorded acts who have posted their wares on Blogger, Bandcamp and Tumblr these days.

Segall pushes things towards 11.

Jamal continues to spin gold from the bench of his baby grand with Blue Moon.

Given this combination of tangled travails and expressive voices, it's hard to imagine any way these songs might be better served.

What we have here is another excellent Chris Smither album, reason enough for celebration.

That's the modesty and humility typically missing in all those acclaimed geniuses. But it's precisely what allows Henry access to the truths that make his songs unforgettable.

Slippery, shimmery, beautiful songs.

If Witching Hour was the finest apple the band ever produced, this is their finest orange. But as a whole, it probably is their best and most well-rounded record.

Silver Age is another peak in a career full of them, and it's due to the quality of the material Mould uses to construct the suit, rather than the classic cut of the design.

The record is a stellar collection of power pop rock songs.

Akin to For Emma, Bon Iver breaks the listener's heart. And to experience an album (an oft-dreaded sophomore album, no less) that evokes such deep emotion is a welcomed pain.

As always, the pair wrap their strings and larynxes 'round each other like the intimate companions they are, aided by production so warm and inviting it's like sitting in the room with them.

Never before has there been a band that has brought all those elements [Crazy Horse, Television, Quicksilver Messenger Service and The Dream Syndicate] together in a manner so crafted and explosive as these kids do with their fevered compound of ragged rock and summertime roll.

Taken as a whole, the two-CD incarnation of Life's Rich Pageant makes a case for the album taking its rightful place alongside such obvious classics as Murmur and Out of Time.

Live at Billy Bob's Texas is proof enough that he's still living up to his rep as one of the original Outlaws of Country, sitting firmly beside Willie Nelson and Waylon Jennings.

Biophilia is a delicate and highly tactile treat, a unique gem of innovation (pipe organs driven by computers, the mallet-tickled gameleste) and gentle real soul whose breathy endearing heights Bjork hasn't touched in a minute.

These fourteen songs bob and weave, rise and fall and generally make a first class racket in the best way possible.

All nine of these slow-moving cuts are built on actual melodies, simple enough to stick right away, radiant enough to hang like this album's overtones, well after they are finished.

Far from nailing down who he is or what he’s attempting in this second self-titled album, Ty Segall seems to be trying all different things. Good for him.

If this is his starting point, his future seems limitless.

Wide Awake will have to respectfully play 3rd place behind Sunbathing Animal and Light Up Gold, as those are the ones to beat.

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.

Swimming in catchy melodies and tantalizing music (along with Wilson's vocal abilities), it may be difficult to select a favorite track within Glowing Mouth--but it's quite easy to enjoy.

Fennesz also instills a similar dichotomy with his score, as beautifully melancholic passages on grand piano and guitar interweave and flutter through the ether of his static-encrusted digital ambiance over 15 compositions of unsettling serenity.

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

An equally engaging sonic concept entitled Drums Between The Bells.

The most noticeable thing about the new Xiu Xiu album is ... how disarmingly vibrant it sounds.

Musically Stew and Rodewald hit a new peak, deftly mixing the psychedelic pop that's TNP's usual stock-in-trade with the musical sophistication acquired from writing for Broadway.

Rhythm and Repose [is] the superb solo outing from Glen Hansard.

Sit back, dig The Cambodian Space Project, and be prepared to be impressed. Very impressed.

Perhaps the most tangible set of songs he has produced yet.

In sum, The Best Day is the Sonic Youth album that Sonic Youth fans feared would never happen in the wake of the band’s split in 2011.

It finds her expanding her palette while resulting in her most diverse offering yet.

Establishing her forceful new identity from the start, Goodman makes music with an infectious enthusiasm.

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

The EP is the perfect cherry on that sweet cake that is Light Up Gold.

This third full-length, after a slew of singles, fills out his sound, soothing abrasive beats with a floating fog of sustained notes.

In the last ten or fifteen years, only 2005's Magic Time has delivered more consistently enjoyable songs than this thoroughly captivating collection of rants, loves, and dreams.

Eitzel's work is rarely weak, but Don't Be a Stranger finds him hitting another peak.

The result is an album of uncommon strength, not necessarily due to the individuals involved, but rather because of the sheer force and fury of the unified thrust. Filthy Friends never waver from this mission, making this one Invitation well worth heeding.

The Gloaming is different because it gets at the lovely essence of the Irish tradition without sentimentality or dumbing down--and also isn’t afraid to make it modern.

The disc's winning blend of warm organic tones and smart atmospheric touches, recalls Emmylou Harris' Wrecking Ball--and could also be the breakthrough for Merritt that Ball was for Harris.

This Is Glue is several orders of magnitude better than the already quite enjoyable Metalmania. Without changing the formula much, Sampson has somehow increased the impact of his ramshackle, ear-wormy songs and made them matter more.

Donovan seems content to continue cranking out his own brand of lo-fi foggy fuzz. Boogie and chillin’, indeed!

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.

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.

This album balances that joy and sadness perfectly and powerfully.

I Wake Up Screaming is an absolute delight, a rhythmically exhilarating, lyrically humorous, melodically intoxicating collection of thirteen terrific songs.

It almost as if Wire set out to make a concept album without actually calling it a concept album, so consistent is the sound throughout, and with subtly recurring melodic themes.

If you’re looking for that next hooky, guitar-pop record you could do a lot worse than this.

The real nuances come out when this music is heard closely on headphones, but even when they blare out of speakers, there is something alluring to grab the ear and pull you in.

Ambitious and inviting, Siberia puts Polvo in a more accessible place while remaining faithful to its artistic vision.

An unassuming venture, but capable and well executed one regardless.

It’s as good as anyone had hoped.

Carolina is a gorgeous record, enticing and attractive, giving you its heart to hold and trusting you to treasure the experience.

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

Dreams Come True will certainly appeal to anyone who enjoys their new wave artful and avant-garde, both of which are delivered in spades across this exceptional LP that will surely be lost on many Grizzly Bear fans looking for an extension of their sonic safety net.

It’s a balance of brainy introspection and communal joy--hard to do but easy to listen to.

Giddens emulates her forebears with reverence and assurance.

With their latest offering Carry Me Back, the banjos are ringin', the mandolins are singing at the speed of a hummingbird's wings, the fiddles are sawed upon with vigor, and the fog of the Tennessee hills calls to all of us.

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.

Yellow & Green documents the evolution of Baroness from great metal band to great band.

The remastered discs sound great.

For while Costa Blanca superficially suggests a trip to some Euro-trash mall outlet, listen closer and you hear a dark, subversive critique.

These Merritt wonder-tonics may not curl your hair or cure any ailment, but they act as a salve to a multitude of human conditions. Best to stock up and be prepared.

The compelling 46-minute result shape-shifts with graceful ease, never losing touch with its pop song aesthetic.

What he has done here is more than a lark. He really loves what he’s singing, and it shows. And he has a lot still to teach us about the joys of music.

Segall has been slowly but surely expanding out in various directions, exploring the possibilities of sounds and approaches to his songs and songwriting craft. Freedom’s Goblin makes the dividends of his exploration that have paid off all too evident.

An artist of ample prowess, Salim Nourallah can take pride in yet another in a line of outstanding efforts.

Shook’s unerring insurgence and commitment to the cause are admirable traits, proof that edge and attitude never go out of style.