Keepsake contains nihilism and optimism at once. This tender, overwhelming pop music has a way of feeling like the soundtrack to the end of the world.

This album should solidify them among Americana's best.

The Shins dare to take some chances on this CD, and their boldness winds up elevating this album over their first one by a considerable margin.

With nijimusi, OOIOO have reestablished their reputation as an astonishingly talented band that can often be jarring, unsettling, and even occasionally off-putting. But their spirit of innovation and originality is always present. And they are never, ever boring.

There's so much more musical depth on Room on Fire, that it makes most of the band's earlier songs sound stale in comparison.

As an album, it is both as lovably outrageous as Danny Brown, but also as menacing and impenetrable as his city is. Ultimately, it is this duality that makes Atrocity Exhibition the masterpiece it is.

This is the Congotronics series at its most invigorating and collaborative, and it’s just plain phenomenal.

All bets aren’t necessarily off in terms of whether or not Grizzly Bear have hit their plateau--recall that we did this with "Yellow House" in 2006; oops--but it’s hard to imagine them giving us more to enjoy in one sweeping statement than they have here.

Something Dirty roams over the terrain of the past 45 years, rooted in the mid-1960s avant-garde, the late 1960s/early 1970s progressive and acid-rock movements, and the reactions of punk and its aftermath.

Signal Morning is not only a vital part of that continued excellence; it’s one of the best damn albums of the year.

Flood Network, in its ability to be adaptable to any season, to any emotion, to any element of the human experience, has rightfully earned its place in this conversation [of best-of]. And at just over 30 minutes, there’s no excuse for not giving it a listen.

While past projects painted bleak landscapes, the latest opus pours copious amounts of over-saturated colors to swatch luscious scenes.

This album gets better with successive listens.

The shrewdly crafted Random Spirit Lover is the most satisfying batch of songs Krug has ever released.

Short Movie pines, appropriately, but it also finds ways to blast through emotional stasis. The eclectic guitar thus becomes a tool that complements Marling’s lyrics on this pivotal album, at times articulating visceral anger and, at others, obliterating psychic barriers and clearing space for something new.

That's the trick he managed to successfully pull throughout his career--making music that covered an enormous amount of stylistic range yet still sounded coherent and instantly enjoyable.

This is a classic Costello record... arguably his most cohesive, magnetic collection of songs since Blood & Chocolate and the highlight of his middle-age years.

The most striking aspect of Gold Medal is the band's remarkable maturation process over the past two years.

Everything that made her eponymous 2004 debut so instantly charming is on dazzling display once again.

Never indulgent, impeccably crafted, but also free as a long-long day in early July, Revelator is a joy.

The performances are spellbinding.

These five discs show Hooker's talents in all their glory.

Only about two hairs-breadth away from being a masterpiece.

Built to Spill's latest album is mellower, dreamier, and more laidback than their previous recordings.... Yet the album is as much of a rock-guitar masterpiece as anything they've done.

I Got Heaven has a little bit for everyone. If you enjoy a sugar pop song, they have it. If you like songs that move fast and vicious, they have that too. Mannequin Pussy can move seamlessly between extremes, but they don’t usually mix the two entirely. Songs either lie in the power pop or punk hardcore categories. Their ability to switch between the two is impressive.

It is a fantastic album, no less so than the one before it.

Every track on the album is there on merit as fully formed pieces with developed hooks and melodies rather than failed experiments or abandoned jams. The result is a stunning artistic statement from musicians, not only deeply immersed in the creative process but also liberated by the mad challenge they initially set themselves just over a year ago.

Ra Ra Riot is still speaking a language everyone can understand: Love. And on The Orchard, Ra Ra Riot has never spoken so clearly.