It's her cathartic, invigorating voice on the never-miss Jukebox that aids in delivering one of the best albums of 2008--already.

Home is an overall softer, lighter affair and one that deserves attention.

Midlake has created an album that can subside on its own. It never reaches sublime territory and who knows, it may not even need it but for a few in tow, there’s nothing rudimentary basic about The Courage of Others.

Akin to AM era Wilco matched with Big Star's #1 Record.

You don’t need to be fanatical or any other synonym to realize that this is utterly spectacular music.

Sumie is not a record for all times, but when the moment strikes, it will deliver--with disarming simplicity--an intoxicating mixture of purity and potency.

Anyone who’s familiar with The American Analog Set knows what to expect and won’t be disappointed by this album.

Whilst again, as with its immediate aforementioned predecessors, there is a nagging feeling across One For The Ghost that Pete Astor could be still digging deeper into his cupboard of less conventional musical arrangements, there remains a good helping of charming and curious songs that invite return visits and slack-cutting forgiveness.

If there were ever an album that fulfilled the requirements for a “summer album,” this is it; Phoenix offers songs that offer little in the way of innovation or substance but a wealth of top-notch musicianship, catchy melodies, and transcendent choruses.

This album will be divisive amongst fans as there will be those who just want them to get back to the days of "Full Collapse" and those who have always heard the sounds of Common Existence beneath the surface over everything before it. For those fans, you will be glad Thursday has finally let all of its aggression out to release an engrossing and explosive album.

The album sways and moves in ways we haven't seen since 1998′s 1965. Dynamite Steps sits comfortably in his canon, and that is perhaps the perfect compliment.

It’s hard not to like The Thermals, and Fuckin A, while maybe a bit less lo-fi than its predecessor, is a stellar album.

Micah P. Hinson And The Opera Circuit is a very unique album that can be as warm and familiar as it can be chilling and alien.

With Port of Morrow Mercer digs deep in forming a polished and almost, muscular relationship with the music.

This is the most engrossing American Analog Set album in six or seven years.

Whilst the cynical might ponder whether Wooden Shjips may only really have one song, at least on V they prove how well it can it be stretched and squashed into many alluring, energising and enveloping shapes with charming self-confidence.

It’s not much of a pop record, but it’s very catchy in spots. It’s not experimental in the least, but it does have it’s own specific sound and feel. When it welcomes you in, Hotel Morgen can start to impress you.

It goes to show, scuzzy hooks will always be a way to make engaging music, even if the genre is well-worn. So, do yourselves a favor and check out We Are the Champions, an endlessly rewarding firecracker of an album.

Load Blown, superficially, is more of the same; sample some 30 second clips online or in your local record store and it's believable that this is a continuation of what they've been doing the past few albums. The entirety, however, exhibits otherwise, and isn't nearly as fulfilling.

Cobra Juicy employs a richly flourished amount of instruments and sounds that are catchy and full of life.

Speck Mountain have taken the high road, sporting influences in their back pocket as a kerchief rather than wiping them on their sleeve.

Tookah is a frustrating album because there are a couple examples of something fantastic happening in Torrini’s musical mind but it doesn’t quite deliver in the end.

The majority of the record is solid and enjoyable, but taken in its entirely, Riot is a bit tiring.

Both Lights goes a step further in cementing their reputation as one of the Pacific Northwest's best kept secrets.

Revival is a good album, and I don’t intend to imply that some of the slower tunes or more laid-back lyrics are simple throwaways, it’s just that this is definitely a change of direction for a band that has followed a relatively clear path for such a long time.

Clocking in at just a shade over an hour, Zonoscope is – as its cover art of Manhattan being engulfed by a waterfall suggests – a very surreal leviathan, an object that surely mesmerizes as we all wait for the oncoming Armageddon.

Their sound and influences seem to jump out all over the place, but regardless, it is entertaining.

The songs on Bankrupt! all still feature scintillating synths, gorgeous melodies and soaring moments of transcendent skill but with more of a flair for the dynamic tense of music.