As an EP, the premise of Lovage would flourish.

If you know the Divine Comedy's previous work, it's hard to imagine how Regeneration could disappoint; if they're new to you and you're a fan of literate, orchestrated pop music, give it a try.

Luckily, the album has an easy-going air that lifts it out of the realm of smart-guy assemblage and into sexy, summery territories.

This is pop music pushing the boundaries of what pop music should be, without having to resort to overproduced and mass-marketed gloss.

It's magical and mysterious, compelling and complex.

Alive to Every Smile finds TBS swanning through a set of soft-pop numbers giddy with the misty misery of melancholy and coated with the softest frostings of studio icing-sugar.

Musically, The Argument represents Fugazi's best collection of songs from their 13-year career.

True, only "60 Miles an Hour" sounds like a candidate for New Order's pantheon of hallowed singles; still, Get Ready might be the group's most consistent album from top to bottom.

That unholy alliance of punk guitar and drum machine now shows off the organic contours of "real" band interaction -- check out how smoothly they funkify with one another on "Fake French."

The Beachwood Sparks balance deft restraint with hot guitar licks, making Once We Were Trees the best Byrds album since Sweetheart of the Rodeo.

What matters, what it all boils down to, is The Strokes write incredibly powerful songs, and those who allow the media -- or better yet their reaction to the media, what I call the anti media -- to influence their opinions are missing out.

The Photo Album is evidence of a band that's maturing, slowing down and trying new things.

An improvement over his lo-fi solo debut and his over-produced second disc, but it misses as often as it hits.

As if its size alone weren't enough to set the album apart from his preceding Spiritualized outings, Pierce has removed all the sounds he thought were immediately identifiable as Spiritualized -- delay, phase, Telecaster, Farfisa -- and left the songs as largely orchestral numbers.

There are no shocks or surprises, but instead, How I Long... thrills us softly, its tiny layers and details all intricately woven together into a cohesive and aesthetically delightful tapestry.

Rain on Lens isn't awful, but boy, is it a long way from The Doctor Came at Dawn.

Low Kick and Hard Bop doesn't necessarily lend itself to all listening situations, and may even be tiring at times. It can, however, enlighten and surprise the listener.

A work of real substance, brimming with honesty, humor and beauty.

Orchestral swells, kaleidoscopic tones and childlike fragility imbue All Is Dream with the theatrics of a trip through wonderland.

A dozen mini-masterpieces of crisp, multi-layered production and tight, jangly guitar, a cohesive but loose effort that recalls the warmth of summer even in the cold chill of a New York March.

Kannberg has made an album of fine indie pop that few could have expected.

Continuing an audio development from Dots and Loops, Sound-Dust is littered with a giddy array of hand percussion instruments — marimba, vibraphone and glockenspiel stir up a polyrhythmic stew, its busyness and complexity sounding like the product of painstaking studio assemblage.

Björk continues to mine the fine line of minimalist lushness that her last album gave birth to; with tiny, crackling, skittery beats weaving open-toned ambient beds in which her breathy, pushed-forward vocals lithely lay, the closeness and drama of her every syllable commanding attention.

It's not far from the sound that Yo La Tengo have made their own, especially in their more contemplative, less psychedelic moments...

A jangly collection of contagious pop tunes made melancholy by a dark songwriting style.

No one who bought Vegas will be disappointed by Tweekend, unless they're looking for some statement of artist growth. That's the only area where this album falters. It is otherwise a solid collection of thundering Big Beat grooves.

Time (The Revelator) is ostensibly a solo album, but gives every evidence of being a near-telepathic collaboration between Welch and Rawlings, in which every element is carefully balanced to give the songs maximum impact.

Ancient Melodies of the Future sounds more like "vaguely familiar melodies of the past," but so do some of the best albums in rock.