You’re a Woman, I’m a Machine is the kind of “feelings” album that fans of noise-rock or hardcore can listen to without fear of being soft. For the rest of us, it’s an indulgence of our more dramatic emotions.

In the end, both are viscerally charged representations of what A Sufi and a Killer is: sincere and at times, bluntly honest, utterly captivating and exceptionally crafted, it’s a special album that will soon become, very simply, essential.

The great beauty of the record, though, is how repeated listenings peel back once-unheard layers, how Phillips’ voice develops a deeper resonance with each spin, and how the deceptive simplicity of the recording gradually fades to reveal carefully scripted movements and moments.

It's the sort of album which reaches back and forward in equal measure, applying what's known about past songwriting to invigorate the present day.

It's sometimes hard to push past the (at times) seriously sappy lyrics and focus on the music. Fortunately for us though, Eels are the focused ones here and have proven once again their acumen for crafting quirkily moody pop songs that are impossible not to like.

While they undoubtedly keep their snarl and sneer (just look at that album cover), this is the cleanest and most melodic they have ever sounded. While those looking for cohesion may find this frustrating, it certainly makes Under Color of Official Right a dynamic and enthralling crossroad.

Spring Tides is a success partly because it is consistent in sound and structure, but it still manages to slip through a variety subtle mood changes and elicit several emotional reactions from its listeners. Jeniferever should gain some fans with this.

The lyrics are sharper and far more introspective, the music is on a grander scale, working towards an overwhelming amount of brilliance and radiance and each musician plays a vital role to the entire album's fruition.

Often Lange is able to transform songs into something worldly and like the title implies, there is a mysterious glean to it. So while Lange continues to flex his many weapons, the black ice cream he's created continues to flourish.

Starting right where Ambivalence Avenue left off, Wilkinson’s strides on his inspired high with The Apple and the Tooth are again, an exceptional thing to witness.

The Decemberists are stuck in the past while innovating with an eye on the future.

For everyone who thought the conceptual excesses of the previous releases went a bit too far or simply didn’t have the patience to tie together all the musical loose ends, this may be the Of Montreal album they’ve been waiting for.

A demented, twisted, and exuberant journey through a hip musical funhouse.

Its warmth, honesty and intuitive sensitivity capture Stuart Staples firmly back to the dizzy high-quality heights of his cherishable early-career with the Tindersticks.

While their LPs are again, consistently, some of the year’s best albums, it is definitely true that their EPs are no slouches either.

Sleigh Bells' sophomore LP is unlikely to be met with the same peerless adulation as its predecessor, but Reign of Terror still seduces with an uncanny knack for extracting a pioneering spirit out of musty source material.

It’s all dense and heady stuff that takes several immersive listens to assimilate, but once you’ve found the hooks they don’t let go easily.

Suitcase 2 is a necessity for the hardcore Guided by Voices fan.

Ultimately, Precollection probably isn’t the kind of release to greatly expand its influence over the throngs of the unconverted, but it should be more than a welcome advance for those already convinced of Heasley’s obviously remarkable gifts.

West ties in all of the band's strengths for an excellent outlook on what the destiny towards west might feel like and with it, an album of stellar psychedelic rock.

The music is repetitively tight and although not much more than a three-set EP, The Ganzfeld EP is a strong showing.

His vision of the album is similarly relational, and this debut brims with variety and skill, coming off with a complex personality at turns exuberantly earnest, darkly melancholy, and dreamily coy.

Sure, you can kind of tell--except for the finale--they each sing four songs and their styles are unmistakable; however, they result in one tight, unified, startling beast of an album--it’s downright astonishing.

Keeping it loud and with some wry northern humour around the edges, Autobahn’s second album is a tour de force of resonant, power-driven, electronic alt. rock played as it should be.

With eleven songs, the album flows serenely well and sounds like a two part voyage; the second half much weightier, the first half perhaps more buoyant.

It’s pretty hard to turn down, just as his collection of self-referencing, string heavy ballads "You‘re So Silent Jens" was.

This truly is a beautiful collection.

The music on Something for All of Us… is focused, melodic and utterly impressive. Not only does it sound terrific but it sounds like it was a complete pleasure to make.