The Babies is non-stop fun, refreshing in its straightforward approach and uncompromising energy.

Second self-titled albums are always interesting decisions, but The Cosmic Birth and Journey of Shinju TNT truly does function as a rebirth, a re-debut of a band that blatantly refuses to contain their creativity and innovation.

This new record is nothing surprising. It's everything that you'd expect. Right out of the gate, the message is clear: It is who it is, giving us a band, and an album, full of confidence and bruises. Yet by just being who it is, the music works, and, rightfully so, doesn't need to prove anything to anyone.

In fact, it's very hard to determine what the actual standout from this album will be, because literally every track is full to the absolute brim with the genius of seasoned veterans

While some of the tracks don't exactly have the staying power of the record's haunting opener, this is a solid collection of songs from an artist who has been making these things since his childhood.

Even though it's not quite his best album, Computers and Blues catches the Streets at the best he's been in years.

Okay, so how do they still fare? With The King of Limbs, reasonably well.

Fluorescence represents equilibrium between the noise and energy of the first two albums and the dreamier soundscapes of Hush, while simultaneously refining the sound to the point where it is something distinctly Asobi Seksu's. More than merely going strong after four studio albums and two live releases, Asobi Seksu is better than ever.

This is the best album for 2011, and not just the last two months.

LCD Soundsystem fans will eat this up no matter what, as the group's infectious dance-punk pulls at your most primordial instincts to get drunk and move and shake like no other group can. If you're like me, though, this live studio album will be enough to make you re-think the live concept revolving solely around Mr. Diamond. And that's something worth dancing to.

This complete command over their craft really sets these Orange County natives apart, resulting in the kind of record that grabs you at first listen and becomes more meaningful every time through.

At its core, Golden Age speaks up like another highly anticipated LP with everything to prove, and the proof is in the pudding.

Dynamite Steps, appropriately enough, is an album of powder kegs and bright flashes -- moments that boldly spark, then quickly burn out.

It's a striking snapshot of a band on top of their ever-evolving game, with a fair amount of surprises thrown in for good measure.

Anyone can recreate a sound, but Yuck succeeds where most bands fail by digging under the surface to capture the spirit and magic that made the music of their beloved idols possible.

These songs are rarely exciting in their movement and few listeners will hear the album as more than just a good debut, but like The Velvet Underground and The Smiths, some styles never go out of style.

Broken Dreams Club may only be an EP, but if it's any indication of the future of the band, then Girls will sophomore soar, rather than slump.

This is just more of Black Francis doing exactly what he wants to do. There are more orchestral flourishes than one might expect, but the core is the same old Francis: guitar overdrive, thunderous drums, epic, mysterious lyrics full of obscure references.

James Blake is an essential for anybody interested in witnessing how pop music can and will continue to change, progress, and grow into something new with time.

All told, when the worst thing you can say about an album is that it falls underneath the band's grand shadow, you know you've still got a pretty solid record.

It's important to have moments like this in a concept album that's meant to be taken as one massive 52-minute expression; doing so gives the listener a break and focuses on momentary satisfactions in order to properly digest this cornucopia of solid rock goodness.

Rolling Blackouts doesn't move away from what the Go! Team is known for. Instead, this is a snapshot of a band both honing their skills and creating a fun piece of music.

It's just fun and fresh and, as a whole, good pop music.

There are some real pop gems on here, especially if you're fond of The Cure and their ilk. Maybe it's just me not getting that soupy gloom that seems to be out there for everyone else.

Releasing a covers album can be career suicide for some, due to the pressures of stripping apart a classic and making it your own, but Party Store is refreshingly not the case.

All in all, The Party Ain't Over proves to be a bold success.

It's got hooks and noise, songs to dance to and songs for fighting. The lineup change isn't the cause of this, though; instead, it's just further proof that Moor, Bornefeld, and Hessels were just as important and powerful as Sok in the band's mixture.

When the grandiosity succeeds, it's pleasing, perhaps even wonderful. But when it fails, which it does every so often (even at moments on the strongest tracks), it just kind of makes you wonder why things couldn't just stay the way they were.

Yes, the influence of bands such as Animal Collective and Gang Gang Dance is present more often than not, but like all noteworthy artists, Braids are guided by the approaches their avant-pop inspirations take, rather than merely the sounds with their own distinct twist to them.

Still, the nostalgic, ethereal quality of the music makes everything more refreshing and exciting than someone merely dabbling.

Kaputt is the sort of record that arrives only once in a while: an expansive world that captivates you from beginning to end, impresses you with its self-awareness and cohesiveness, then releases you from its grasp when it's all over.

All in all, Friends for Now is an impressively strong debut that exceeds even the vast expectations of those fans primed on the band's introductory singles and releases.

. Equal parts wistful throwback and raucous romp, Live on Ten Legs is a fun and lively ride through Pearl Jam's catalog.

This is a high-personality disc, one that avoids cliches and cheese while also being steeped in tradition and an immense dose of adorableness.

This is in many ways what you'd expect from a new Wire album. It has so many pieces of their signature sound; it has the reinvention, the added textures, and ideas.

The balance of scenery and sins as well as some jangly guitar work from R.E.M.'s Peter Buck and the glassy background pipes of Gillian Welch render The King Is Dead a middle-of-the-road record, a pleasant, introspective stroll through the cottonwoods whose creaky comfort gets The Decemberists out of their comfort zone.

It might not end up being one of the best albums of 2011, but it's still worth your time (and it was certainly worth six years to Ness).

Doing their best to make the most out of a situation and other people's preconceived notions and arbitrarily established boundaries, the boys of Smith Westerns made their Britpop magnum opus, for better or for worse. Here's to the next cut and color they choose.

All in all, Outside is a solid third album and a return to form of sorts from a band clearly in the midst of a big transition.

They [Ghostface and Wu-Tang Clan] are truly a hip-hop enigma, and Apollo Kids is just another piece of proof.

This is a lights off and candles lit album, not a club album. You may think the kind words are more from the kitsch value of R. Kelly, but I assure you they are not. Give it some spins, and decide.

It's different. It's well-written. It's emotive. Those three things are hard enough to find in music these days, let alone in one place.

That framework [on 2008′s Lost in the Sound of Separation] is largely in tact on the new effort, except it's decidedly richer and more vibrant, showcasing each member's strengths in ways not realized before in Underoath's decade-old career.

With music from the nerdy recesses of his mind, to a triumphant release that happily displays some of his more off-center offerings, Adams continues to be a presence in music, this year and beyond.

He's not relying on anybody else out there to make something unique for him to sample; he's making them all himself. Joel Zimmerman only has to rely on deadmau5, and the party won't ever stop. And the mouse is far from dead.

The Tron: Legacy Soundtrack is quality, but it's easy to ignore, wholly capable of disappearing into the background--which is ultimately how soundtracks are supposed to be, is it not?