Interesting, unique, weird and inviting.

The problem is simply that Gang of Four got Entertainment! right the first time, whether they like it or not.

At times perplexingly distant.

For devote metal heads, Early Man may represent a renaissance of the original, pure metal sound that started it all. For everyone else, Closing In will be received as a retro novelty rather than a serious musical accomplishment.

Celebration is pure ecstasy, a sexual, spellbinding listen that acts on you physically.

Thunder, Lightning, Strike is simply amazing. It is filled with boundless, glorious noise, sewing together flamboyance, quirkiness, sturdy sampling, and a well-traveled feel that can take you anywhere you want to go.

Feels like being caught up in a creative whirlwind; every song at some point grants you the position of the fly on the wall - being privy to a group of people just chilling out, making music and living the good life.

You Could Have It So Much Better might as well be titled You Could Have It Just As Good A Year Later, since Franz Ferdinand seem to belong to the school of "if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it."

MMJ’s musical palate has radically expanded: the reverb and alt-country trappings remain, but they no longer dominate the band’s aesthetic. In nodding to U2, John McLaughlin, Sunny Day Real Estate, Mercury Rev, The Clash and countless other icons through a holistic approach to the pop canon, James and his band mates refuse to let sonics define them.

A captivating release from start to finish.

A mixed bag of bouncy, speed-fueled pop songs and spacey neo-psychedelia flooded with waves of synthesizer.

The Past Presents the Future strongly matches the high bar he has set with his past few albums.

Constantly winning and resurging, not a moment of Apologies to the Queen Mary is lost to the chaos.

It is the closest you’ll get to The Bends in 2005.

With a Cape and a Cane feels more like it was made by a band of salty old musicians hoping to revive a past success instead of a sophomore album.

Set Free gives 2001’s Know by Heart - critically acclaimed and widely regarded as Amanset’s masterpiece - a serious run for its money.

Decent and decadent, Good Apollo is still ultimately the least of the band’s 3 full lengths. It continues the band’s tradition for experimentation, with melodies breaking through the chaos but it is less successful and equally disappointing with no new tricks.

It is certainly fun discovering each new twist and turn on One Way, It’s Every Way, and Clue to Kalo have created a great album to get lost in.

This style of mock-rock doesn’t have a long shelf life, as the songs cease to be funny and hipsters will inevitably find a new way to offhandedly make fun of/glorify themselves.

Noah’s Ark is a distant album - one that outgrows a few fast friends made on Le Maison de Mon Reve and depends on those truly willing to listen. It is a record designed to make believers out of its fans, and is certainly not for the faint-spirited or fickle.

Gone from Odditorium Or Warlords Of Mars are the long periods of monotony that turned Welcome To The Monkey House and The Dandy Warhols Come Down into sonic quicksand. Instead, when the Dandies come to forks in the road, their arrangements wander off into uncharted territory that’s worth exploring.

Most of these tracks can be found on the Internet in their original Iron & Wine incarnations, and all but one sounds 100% better that way.

It will, absolutely and deservedly, reside among the best of the year, but, when given space, can ruminate indefinitely in one’s consciousness and soul.

Numbers tout themselves as a dance-punk outfit, but they won’t get you on the dance floor anytime soon.

Their trademark wit is still present but less forced; instead it is more intelligent and reflective, and as the band produced this album themselves, the reward is apparent: they sound more self-assured and strong than they ever have.

With Twin Cinema, The New Pornographers have elevated themselves from a band I really like to a band that I can't live without.

More than the sound, the words of Bright Ideas are especially important; they are not particularly eloquent, but they are representative something larger: each clumsy, unsure expression desperately needs to be said.

While the best tracks are the most uneasy and strung-out - like when bearing the deranged, astral colors of the Of Montreal kin, “Marry Me” or relishing the fabulous debauchery of the Pixieish devil’s waltz, “My Wicked Wicked Ways” - it can never be denied how honestly happy Lopez sounds on Knitting Needles & Bicycle Bells.