This record seems to outweigh the previous album in terms of quality and depth.

The Soul Position album is even more appealing than the Deadringer "Final Frontier" single, as topics and production are pushed beyond what seems to be the visible limits of hip-hop.

Ghosts of the Great Highway represents an expansive, continent-traversing narrative that evokes the literary style of John Steinbeck and the vivid imagery of everyday American life captured in the watercolors of Edward Hopper.

This is going to be on a lot of year-end lists.

Rings Around the World might be stylistically all over the place, and some people may think it sounds like Super Furry Animals are desperately trying to show the world how clever they are, but it's so much fun to listen to, that it hardly matters. It's a near-perfect album, and we all should be thankful there are bands out there willing to throw everything they've got into a record just to see what happens.

As ambitious as anything in recent pop music memory.... One of the most invigorating and arresting works of her career.

While his lyrics are both timely and powerful, the album's power lies as much in the superbly crafted grooves and songs, which are the best Franti has delivered yet.

The Private Press is a more diverse collection of styles and sounds, and still surpasses anything else out there.

A gorgeous, (let me say it again) gorgeous album that totally stands on its own.... About a Boy is one of the best albums of the year.

A sexy record, of a kind that no one else seems to be making anymore.

An album of assured breadth, filled with a renewed self-confidence.

The seamless combination of the genres makes the album stunning.

This is pure unadulterated fun, masterfully executed.

Rich in heart-rending beauty, tough-but-lovable gutter poetry, and plenty of genuine emotion.

Sure, Starsailor may be part of bloated hype-fest, but it's important to remember that sometimes things get hyped because they deserve it.

It is the best of what Ashcroft does best: thoughtful incantations teeming with emotion, clarity, and vision.

Phenology is stunning, ranking right up there with the best hip-hop music of today.

Time will tell, but Black Foliage has all the marks of a major pop masterpiece -- brilliant tunes, innovative arrangements, clever lyrics, a thoroughly adventurous spirit, and a musical depth that always reveals something new on repeated listenings.

For all its gonzo, crackpot gestures, Source Tags & Codes is a remarkably coherent work. It stands as the most melodically-inclined album in their catalogue and boasts their strongest songwriting to date.

Far from being a one-note repetition of life in the Big City, Malin's production has turned The Heat into a multifaceted rock and roll onslaught.

Mountain Goats have just added a further chapter in an ongoing saga of (micro) relationships examined against a backdrop of (macro) global concern, We Shall All Be Healed being the most explicit yet.

It is a masterful effort, taking the most memorable elements of their past work and alchemically changing it to something completely new but no less great for the difference.

As strong as anything Sermon's done.

Yamagata's voice is one of those rare gifts, a vocal quality that is instantly recognizable and distinctive, yet somehow classic, with an incredible range that covers both the sensual lows and the tender, melancholy highs.

Since We Last Spoke continually subverts expectations of what an Rjd2 album is about, yet the songs all stick together in a cohesive way, and the album still somehow bears the distinct personality stamp of the RJ we already knew, even as some of it diverges wildly from the path he's been on so far.

This is another great Low record: weighty and airy, compelling and quiet, eminently beautiful.

Like their fellow New York area bands The Strokes and The Walkmen, The Yeah Yeah Yeahs have crafted yet another accomplished first album, but theirs is the best-produced and the most promising of the bunch, and the band shows that they're not only ready to transcend all the hype that's been building up; they've already started.

A powerfully emotional and poignant album that reclaims the American spiritual from the depths of the irrelevant past and rewrites it for the post-modern age.