The material as a whole is mellow and gentle on the ears. This is the Pacific Coast, not the boardwalks of New Jersey.

Seven Swans easily does the job of securing Sufjan Stevens as one of those songwriters you must become familiar with.

M.I.A. has given us one of the albums of the year. Bravo.

It's as well assembled as one could hope a box set of this type to be assembled. But the excessiveness of the content here suggests that this box set would have been better served in a career-spanning retrospective, not one limited to just the debut album.

As with her best work, there are some great moments on the record, but overall, Hit Parade is a bit inconsistent; its title is false advertising. It’s a frustratingly uneven album, with just enough genius to make the mediocrity on some tracks stand out.

It is innovative but still rooted in a firm roots tradition. It is socially committed but not predictably or boringly so.

The best tribute to Lester Bowie, of course, is to do something original and surprising. And Dave Douglas manages that here by using a smaller band that remains rich, subtle, impressionistic, and versatile--but still fun.

Moments of collaborative, unbound expressions help expand James' personal narrative further, contextualizing the majorly instrumental album with personal stories and intersectional theories.

This isn't just an important and historical listen, though; it's also an extremely fun one.

Especially remarkable about Maal’s work on Being is how thoroughly his ethos as an artist and human permeates every piece of the production. His support of younger artists feels organic amid modern electropop sounds, an essential element of his overall emphasis on collaboration.

On V, the Horrors have got their mojo back. They sound lean, keen and mean but with songs to match the swagger. This is the album the band needed to make.

Some songs feature snippets of spoken word dialogues and other musical accompaniment, but as a whole, the album offers an intimacy between Segarra and her audience. Segarra is the voice crooning in your ear.

Though not quite as spectacular as Rings Around the World, Phantom Power is still one of the most refreshingly original and fun releases of the summer.

No matter how conceptual he gets, the pleasures will always be simple, and despite that fact that 22, A Million verges on crumbling apart multiple times, you will come back to it because the subtle melodies are able to provoke explosive sensations, because the atmosphere, in its brief time span, is encompassing.

This is a consistently enjoyable album.

Part Lies, is absolutely the definitive collection to come from R.E.M. – the one to own and cherish and keep – and this one goes out to the ones who love what they've heard on the radio, but are unsure where to begin the begin.

The New Pornographers have made such a great album, tuneful, overdosed with hooks, that all the past sins of our Northern neighbors are forgiven. Well, maybe not Rush, but close.

Maintaining the integrity of the groove but exploiting it to near-unrecognizable lengths is a stylistic tightrope that the DFA dares walk.

Supreme musicianship cuts through a production job that is neither minimal nor ornate.

The Wake is a striking album in many ways. Its scope is astoundingly large in terms of both narrative and genre-melding cohesion, yielding a very determined and dense effort that demands multiple investigations to internalize fully.

This is the Springsteen fully owning the myth of the working class hero, wearing the uniform of his father.

Let England Shake is a rewarding and staunchly uncompromising piece of art from a master songwriter who remains as relevant as ever. If it all feels a bit foreign or new, it's because Harvey, as always, refuses to repeat herself.

You won’t likely be amazed this time around, but be prepared to be thoroughly satisfied, all the same.

The rhythm-laden new record sounds more relaxed than their old ones. The band’s sound has matured.

This is the metal album of 2013, and proof that Carcass still hold the tools of the trade to show all and sundry how to write a winning (“comeback”) album.

Nightmare Logic is already among the best metal releases of this still-young year and easily one of the most inspired and thought-provoking of the decade.

When all three parts are taken together, though, it's obvious that somewhere in that mishmash of tracks, Robyn has truly crafted the Album of the Year. Body Talk, however, is not it.

No other album made by the countless electronic composers delves this deeply into places people fear to face.

In SOPHIE's most intimate work yet, she subverts pop motifs into the catchiest form of self-assertion, reminding us all of why pop music still matters.

It captivates and betrays the listener who, unaware of the deceitful plan, falls victim of the most heinous crime in art: representation through deconstruction.

This is meticulously constructed and flawlessly engineered music.

In my view This Is Still It is chock-full of so much consistently great music that’s it definitely the equal of [Gang Of Four's] "Entertainment!," and may even be superior.

Truer words were never uttered to describe tUnE-yArDs, though if you didn't know that before you got to the end of w h o k i l l, you weren't listening closely enough to it.

Audio Vertigo, Elbow’s tenth studio album, is both a return to form and a step into new musical territory. The sound familiar to long-term listeners remains prevalent, while elements of funk and Eurodisco creep into the grooves.

It's certainly the best album of her career so far, but Remind Me Tomorrow is also quite obviously more of a jumping-off point than a culmination of any kind. Even as she ponders how she got here, Van Etten's sights are clearly attuned towards where she'll be heading next.

Some of this material has leaked out onto other releases in the past, some of it as early as live LP in 1974, other tracks have popped up on recent deluxe editions, but there’s nothing like having it all in one place for one long celebration of the night.

he result is an affirmation of a sort. Iyer, of course, knows the jazz canon (and several other canons) backward and forward, but with Far From Over he has planted himself within it even as he continues to expand the music’s boundaries.

It is not entirely strong and not entirely weak. It is not entirely anything. The strength, as always, lies in the couple’s songwriting aptitude.

Natalie Prass shows she’s got the complex stuff down pat, but getting back to the basics might be the next stage of development that takes her to another level.

As singer, songwriter, producer and bandleader, Simpson juggled his own destiny on A Sailor’s Guide to Earth without dropping the baby. Afforded creative freedom many felt would be stifled, Simpson’s latest musical offspring is a love letter we can all cherish. Ahmet Ertegun would be proud.

Even if you’re not much of a cerebral-rock person, take a chance with this one—it pays off.

This is the Replacements at their finest and their most frustrating.

Indecision and despair may be her favorite subjects to write about, but musically, Van Etten has crafted an assured, resounding triumph.

It’s powerful, empowering, and, most importantly, fun.

Iyer places his full vision under the concept of “compassion”, but he leads to that point only by finding joy, excitement, and gratitude for the inspirations that have helped him see what he has to offer.

Despite its hype, its expectations, its blown up sound, and its many production flourishes, Bon Iver is nothing more than a solid placeholder album.

This disconnect actually amps up the album's tension and energy, as if that first half was the uphill struggle, and the rest is the triumphant sound coming down from the summit.

Southern Rock Opera is a complex work, a cohesive text that functions as a Bildungsroman, a coming-of-age story; as an exploration of cultural issues that have defined the South; as an autobiography of the Drive-by Truckers; and as a reclaiming of Lynyrd Skynyrd's legend and music.

Incendiary and intelligent, it is an album that propels an already lauded band into the realms of the truly legendary.

This LP is carefully constructed and pushes all the right emotional buttons to great effect, balancing its angst-ridden lyrics with a sound that’s as clear as glass.

Chaney is a major talent, whose record doesn’t just suggest that there’s greatness ahead. The record is great.

Sangaré is a force, and on Mogoya, she makes some truly showstopping waves.

Redoing an entire album is a surprising and bold move, but on This Sweet Old World the gambit pays off. It’s anything but a retread. The album offers the pleasures of familiarity--we Lucinda Williams fans have loved the songs for a quarter-century--while giving these gems new settings that make them shine all the more brilliantly.

So while Monroe may not be familiar with ornithology, she does know her musical traditions.

As appealing as the easy route may be, though, she blazes a whole new path on Fenfo, and it pays off. Diawara's know-how, musicality, and sense of self all come together, and Fenfo proves her to be one of the most dynamic voices in Afropop today.

"Angel Investor" performs a complete turn, unraveling the record's darkness with its powerful, distorted soundscapes. It is this slight twist from the earthy and disturbing motifs to the more ethereal and otherworldly dimensions that make Seven Horses for Seven Kings such an interesting work.

Brave Faces Everyone feels like a defining moment for the band. By furthering their sonic template, they show just how they have grown into dynamic and articulate songwriters while retaining their ability to write rabble-rousing, shout-along choruses. What's more, Spanish Love Songs understand that even on the darkest, desolate morning there's hope to be had in waiting for the sun to come up.

The new jazz of this century is taking more risks, and these players remind us that forward movement in any art is leavened with history. RoundAgain displays both, and, despite the literal suggestion of the title, it is more than a retread.

Whether calming you with lush numbers like “Aerodrome” and “The Coming Days” or tickling the edges of your mind with “Thorn”, the result is another stunning record, no matter who’s pulling or plucking the strings.

It’s concise and endlessly intriguing (even when the music itself is lacking).

There is a dedication and an ardor in play that cannot be denied.

Yes, the production is grand, the band tight, and the songs are clever, but Hunter’s voice is the main attraction here. He sings with an ache that never breaks, even though he always seems to be reaching for a note just out of range.

Walls Have Ears is certainly less valedictory than Live in Brooklyn 2011. Yet, by virtue of this, it gives a stronger sense of how Sonic Youth earned their unimpeachable credentials through a long-standing ethos of contravention that unsettled musical and artistic complacencies of the time.

Syro is hardly alienating. On the contrary, it is by turns raw, intricate, and intimate.

blackSUMMERS’night may not be a fully satisfying meal, but there are enough tasty morsels to leave us craving for the final one-third of the trilogy.

Young Man in America is born from sorrow, suffering, shattered dreams and incendiary youth "waiting on oblivion", yet it's one of the most life-affirming musical journeys you'll have all year.

Although Fay's fan base is likely to remain meager, those who Life is People touches are unlikely to hear a more inspiring album this year.

With brevity missing from Toledo’s musical toolkit (see the blame-deflecting “The Ballad of the Costa Concordia” and its 11:32 run time), the pain is exacerbated by songs that are simply too long to be memorable; what few hooks exist on Teens of Denial are quickly forgotten.

Overall, the album has held itself up as a solid rock record over 25 years, and that’s quite the success. The demos are of mixed blessings, to be honest. It seems that they were pretty much just run-throughs for the sake of the album producer.

This superb recording is as good a place as any to find a decent map.

Narkopop emerges as a fresh conceptualization of the same tradition, refined into an altered form while retaining the fundamental aesthetic that made Gas so groundbreaking in the first place.

On a very basic level, this CD is a fun, weird, nifty album of Brazilian pop music, and can easily be enjoyed as such. Unpeel the layers, and you will reap even greeter rewards, revealing a creative treatise on the rights of women in society.

Really, the most impressive thing about Robyn is just how timeless it is proving to be.

Separation Sunday won't win over the masses, but that's not what its intentions should be. The Hold Steady's record is a testament to what good times are really like, if you're paying close attention. That, and it will make you air-guitar. For certain.

Despite Sampha’s longstanding prevalence in the music world, the intensely personal nature of Process demands a renewed relationship to his work, one that appreciates the power of distance yet marvels at connection.

Blues Dream is one of those rare instrumental records that neither bores or infuriates.

British Sea Power have the talent and vision to be a truly inspirational new guitar band.

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.

Even though it starts to coast a bit near the end, You Forgot It in People is still a highly enjoyable, effervescent, endlessly inventive album that crosses genres with astonishing ease.

DEACON delivers on the fantastic promise that Wise's earlier work - most notably his debut LP soil - has shown. He brings a creative, eccentric, and intelligent sound to alternative soul.

So what's the problem? It's too, uh, perfect.

Even with a weaker Side B collection of songs, Kaleidoscope Dream is a thrilling listen that draws comparisons to D'Angelo's Voodoo or Erykah Badu's New Amerykah Part One on first listen.

Once I Was an Eagle is a bold work that, in theory, shouldn’t work--a lengthy, near-concept album about emotional availability--but Marling makes it into one of the year’s essential releases.

Ridiculously innovative.

Deftly indisputable on Heart's Ease, Collins' music acts as a cultural time capsule to preserve legacies.

By taking on Remain in Light, Kidjo brings her finely honed Afropop sounds to one of the 1980s' most iconic new wave albums, packing just as much of a punch as the Talking Heads ever did--no small feat for most, but all in an album's work for Angélique Kidjo.

Remastered by Weston as fuzzy or sharp, this generous re-release (the second in a series by Merge Records, founded by Superchunk) should win Vee Vee another devoted following.

50 Song Memoir might not lift itself into the same orbit of greatness as its gargantuan twin, but it’s still a strong work from one of the most singular songwriters of the last 30 years.

Promises is a genius work, a victory for slow releases and the spacious. Sanders sounds as much ahead of his time as ever, while Floating Points again proves the efficacy of well-executed minimalism.

Heaven and Earth is a lengthy album, and one that refuses to shortchange the listener. There is a wealth of ideas on the table here. It takes a musician, composer, and arranger of Washington's caliber to take these ideas and form them into a brilliant collection of performances.

Halcyon Digest is, to my mind, the best we've seen from Deerhunter, and a hint that their best is still to come. It's a fascinating document to study, but I'm not sure that makes it all great music.

In all its clean and high moments, in all its jagged dreams and nightmares, Dissociation is an album that will not only make music lovers think about the Dillinger Escape Plan, but will remind music lovers the gift that music is.

Cook’s mostly melancholy music contains rough diamonds whose brilliance needs to be brought out in the cutting.

Welcome Interstate Managers is the welcome aural equivalent of a great collection of short stories, each song offering a little snippet from a life, and presenting a range of characters to fill this musical spectrum.

Her bold delivery and fresh take on classic tropes show she’s a master of detailing the chaos of life. She’s a double threat who can write ‘em and sing ‘em.

Never before has the producer been as sharp (or as murky) at the boards as he is here, seamlessly tuning long-winded drones with slavedriver clangs into hypnotic locked grooves.

Overall, as a package, LSXX is useful if you actually want to go out and make your own version of Last Splash to get over the particularities and weaknesses of the record.

Romano builds that most welcome of atmospheres: a straight-ahead, honest collaboration between like-minded artists committed to the songs.There is simply no note out of place.