Recommended for those who long to hear Radiohead make a post-aughts indie-pop record, A Different Ship is without a doubt one of the most impressive and enjoyable efforts of 2012. [No.87, p.60]

The songs on WWSFTC all hint at loss, limitation and aging, with Spektor's poetic sensibility and passionate singing giving the LP a wrenching sense of vulnerability. [No.88 p.59]

Drummer Jerry Fuchs (now deceased) displaces air molecules the way advanced, AI-driven pulverizing machines in distant galaxies only wish they could throughout space banger "Yeah, C'mon," leaving guitarist Justin Chearno no choice but to vaporize his fretboard. [No.87 p.59]

The best moments are soft and strange. "The Corner" is a fabulous piece of folk understatement and emotional ambiguity, while the brilliant "Freefall" showcases Branan's willingness to stretch his voice to odd, ugly places in the service of transcendence. [No.88 p.53]

It's pure pop for grown-ups, filled with smarts, experience and a faith in the power of four-quarter time, played with the kind of chemistry that's only possible in musicians who've spent their whole lives together, rocking out as if nothing else matters. [No.88 p.55]

Evocative bursts of noise and youth abound everywhere, and there's absolutely no reason not to succumb to them. [No.89, p.59]

The production has kept the focus exactly where it should be: on the longing of his voice... it's given him a deeper, haunting sense of quiet that strips these melodies to their essential, fragile beauty, delivered with joy, grace, and a wounded wisdom. [No.89 p.60]

It's all here - all seven studio albums, which, despite the hype, remain truly fantastic. [No.91, p.54]

All at-once nauseating, delectable and habit-forming. [No.90, p.55]

Major comes across as the next logical chapter for one of music's most-unique and positive forces. [No.90 p.56]

Standouts are so effortlessly and relentlessly infectious that it's impossible to think that Pujol didn't spend long nights spinning and internalizing Fleetwood Mac and Kinks LPs. [#88, p.59]

Criminal Heaven is an infectious, off-kilter, damn near perfect indie-pop album that manages to effortlessly cover a bizarrely large plot of musical territory. [#86]

America is both a progression and a departure for Deacon: an album rife with danceable party music, but also a deeply political gesture. [No.90, p.56]

The Antibalas crew is in peak form, plating circles around any other second-wave Afrobeat outfit in town. [#90, p.53]

This minor genius from Gothenburg hurdles over [the heartbreak record] as effortlessly and charmingly as his livelier material. [No.91 p.58]

Surprisingly, Dylan has never been more deliberate or so overtly savage. [No. 93, p.54]

Every move this unit makes feels intrinsically and unaccountably right in all sorts of inexplicable ways. [No.92 p.57]

Not since the Men dropped Leave Home last summer has a young band made an album of pure, hard-edged rock this good or entertainingly lacerating. [No. 92, p.56]

It is, in a way, a dad-rock opus, the songs imbued with the residue of a man pondering not just the intricacies of family but the greater implications of existence that come with it. [No. 93, p.51]

It's as raucous and vital as their first three. [No. 93, p.52]

Essentially, it's the super-cool but super-classy Christmas record all hipsters hope they'll find under their tree this year. [No. 94, p.61]

A ground-breaking debut, an original game-changer, a true, flawless, 24-carat triumph. [No. 94, p.60]

Even when he's pouring on the lushness, the producer keeps Fay's gentle, weathered voice and arresting lyrics front and center. [No.91, p.54]

Blood Oaths Of The New Blues has us realizing, possibly for the first time, what an amazing, enrapturing voice the dude has. [No. 95, p.61]

Bassist Dunn and drummer Stanier lay down weird sprightly grooves, while guitarist Denison arranges their melodies into something hard and densely poppy with arch-but-upbeat harmonics pulled from Pet Sounds. [No. 95, p.61]

The noise that's here is lovely, heartbreaking, expansive and raw. [No. 97, p.58]

On the band's latest, they continue the move toward the tighter concision found on 2009's King Of Jeans, but unlike Pissed Jeans' previous efforts, there isn't a seven-minute dirge on Honeys. [No. 95, p.51]

A rousing, energetic exploration of the Roy Orbison-influenced rock 'n' roll, classic country and Latin influences--that blows all the damn mall-folk clogging up our inbox out of the goddamn water. [No. 96, p.57]