The krang of album’s past seems more an afterthought as the band explores the natural textures of layered guitar and lumbering bass tracks.

The album cherry-picks the best songs from Farrrar's last few releases, and presents them in often superior form.

!!! has put together an end-to-end burner here, full of songs that will move your ass and stick in your ear for weeks.

Guthrie successfully matches his idiosyncratic lyrics with subtle, layered arrangements lush with strings, crisp guitars, and shifting song structures as likely to burst into anthem or lilt towards confession.

But despite its flaws, or perhaps because of them, this remains organic folk-pop at its bewildering best.

Hotel Morgen serves as a blend of some of the more appealing aspects of both the electronic avant-garde and its more mainstream dance music wing.

The New Year here occasionally let loose with a decidedly unreserved frenzy that is a joy to hear.

On A Grand, everything Skinner does is in service to an infinitely satisfying and resonant whole.

That Kinski succeeds at knocking you over with noise on one album and then killing with you silence on the next is something to marvel at.

fulfilled/complete is thoroughly compelling, until it reaches its closer, "The Dream," and becomes urgent, essential listening.

Somewhere between Beth Orton and Iron and Wine, Molina's music feels like it's been pulled direct from the surrounding air; a spring breeze given shape.

Rejoicing in the Hands finds Banhart developing past his early lo-fi recordings in favor of a crisper, more succinct sound that highlights his intricate guitar picking.

The album doesn't break any new ground for the band, but finds Burma at the top of its game, mixing artful music, intelligent lyrics and controlled sonic mayhem.

Particularly striking is the group's ability to mix vast instrumental soundscapes with subtle electronic manipulations, creating a synthesis of analog and digital elements that is visionary in its sonic impact.

Faking the Books loses some momentum beneath a glut of precious, minimal electro-ballads that dot the album.... But the album succeeds brilliantly on the louder numbers.

Beggar Boys may not change anyone's view of the band, but it is another strong outing in what is turning into a pretty consistent body of work.

It's all Around You isn't their best -- or most challenging -- work, but it's a sign the band is still making music in a bubble.

This is a great band's most fully realized and mature album in a career already dotted with highpoints.

Of Montreal have safely entrenched themselves as an institution in the indie rock world, and Satanic Panic shows them as dependable as ever for some of the best pop songs around.

They have all of the grandeur of the best REM ballads, but Snow Patrol leader Gary Lightbody sings with indie rock's characteristic understatement.

Marrying a knack for hummable melodies to a much-needed dose of sincerity, The Hiss hammers their tunes home with a sense of urgency on par with their classic rock and Brit-pop idols.

Moments of the overfed ambience familiar to the band's debut, Feel Good Lost, poke through as the album drags on.

Repeated listens... reveal the album's complexity and highlight how far the band has come in the four years since their last release.

Fennesz does an excellent job of balancing the IDM portions of his sound with more challenging layers of material, making music that is both individual in approach and eminently pleasing to hear.

It is Stevens' creepier qualities that make him a cut above the average singer-songwriter.

Deerhoof's diversity is less a series of self-conscious genre references than a genuine proclamation of unimaginable artistic freedom.

Excise these less-than-enthralling moments and the forty-nine remaining minutes of Ultravisitor are satisfying.

Despite its slowcore pedigree, Fall Back manages to stand solidly on its own haunted ground, forging a yet-to-be-realized level of tender creativity.