They act as a constant reminder of the power of music that isn't afraid to be ugly, blunt, and confrontational.

You could never truly expect a truly cohesive album from Santigold, and she's met expectations.

If "just trying to play with passion" is the ethos, then consider the band's sophomore album, Death Dreams, the perfection.

If you enjoy church hymnals, tabernacle choirs, tunes from the Elizabethan era and all things Stratford-upon-Avon, you'll pleasantly enjoy Dr Dee's attempt at a modern interpretation of the ancient, packing a lost piece of history into 2012.

You can't knock the songs, but it's hard to swallow whole.

Like Pigeons before it, A Different Ship is a solid album, but one that still finds Here We Go Magic on the road to perfecting and updating their sound on a full-length album.

A valiant attempt to combine varying disciplines of Eastern music with neo-psychedelia, Aufheben is a pleasant listen.

This is a rich, complex and conflicted soundtrack for the best comic book movie never made.

Pluto should be appreciated for what it is, an album of impeccably crafted, energetic, original music that is striving above all else to be popular and universal, even if such goals look less likely of being achieved than ever before.

Don't expect any club bangers or hot remixes. But the exciting part is that, in Silver, it's starting to look like we might have a true composer on our hands.

What's missing is the meditative joy they achieved in their rockier moments.

It is tugs and pulls like these [going from raw, minimal stutter to a serenade of a "foreign-language female vocalist"], that take you to the edge and then let you down quickly but softly, that showcase the heart of what is most appealing about footwork and the genius of Mind of Traxman.

Whereas Helplessness lived up to its title through a narrator that found inspiration in leaving childish things behind, Misty treads the same notions of spirituality in a decidedly earthier manner.

By the end of the album, most of the momentum is gone, and closer "My Forevers" is really just "The Return of When I Was Twenty Nine" but sampled with the melody from "Scissors," which means that there's really only eight (and a half?) songs with good, original content.

The best song here, "Chinese Braille," isn't going to top anyone's song of the year list, but when Candy Salad is on, it seems like the only music you'll ever need. And that counts for something.

Those who credit Benson with the poppier side of the sonic stew cooked up by the Raconteurs can probably make a pretty good case for that notion based on his solo outings, and What Kind of World is no exception.

Past albums might have romanticized drugs and booze as the way out, but here it's music, and the album feels more healing as a result, even if its ode to the sweet sounds that came before it presents its own complications and delusions.

The tuned-down Melvins-like squall from their earlier records is still present and accounted for, but Torche have managed to shove their guitar work into unexpected places that balance limber melodicism with punishing heft.

Death Grips might not match Exmilitary for style points, but the indelible image of them playing this for label bigwigs is one for the ages.

It's been a captivating listen thus far, and will likely remain that way wherever he takes it next.

The result is album of beats and grooves, alternately plodding and engaging, punctuated by the occasional bursts of Black Dice's signature sonic playfulness.

Ultimately, Dross Glop cements the versatility of the second version of Battles, establishing them as both a powerful singular and collaborative force.

The End of That feels like something built with the intentions of making a grand statement, but it comes up a few great songs short. Honestly it's pretty remarkable for what it attempts.

The songs on Illusion are detailed on the whole, but remain lightly so in other aspects.

The album encapsulates summers of falling asleep on porches, cicadas chirping periodically among the trees, shaking slightly from a passing breeze.

At times, the country air's so strong you can smell the hay/freedom. Far more often, though, Dekker and company find the sweet spot.

The lilt of the melodies, the consistent surprises of the production, and of course the poetry of the lyrics are all more than enough in and of themselves to keep listeners fully engaged.

Metal Moon could be the soundtrack to an hour from now.

It is simple, it is pure, it is predictable, it is Another High on Fire Album.

The listenability of the second-half might leave hip-hop heads indifferent, often feeling just too full of glossy pop, no matter how solid Plug 1 and Plug 2 continue to rap twenty-five years into their career.

Zammuto excels at the opposite: deconstructing life into easily digestible songs that make you feel something.

Spine Hits feels too spacious, lacking the depth that both [newly-departed singer] Fannan's swelling vocals and improvised jams filled the band's two previous releases [with]. Regardless, Spine Hits is an enjoyable listen.

Beal's lyrics proves to be the major sticking point for an album that is quite successful. Most of these tracks follow the kind of topsy turvy logic of a Kaufman film.

Family Perfume Vol. 1 wafts with a brilliant array of aromas, drifting from atmospheric psychedelia to homegrown folk melodies that leave a lingering sweetness in your mouth.

Better Luck Next Life, their second full-length, does lapse out of recalcitrance, but its immersion makes for a worthy distraction.

With Spooky Action at a Distance, Pundt proves he can walk the tightrope between listener-friendly anthems and cerebral digressions into edgier terrain with aplomb.

Ugly is ultimately an album that finally finds the Screaming Females completely confident in their own identity, no longer trying to straddle the line between their headier rock aspirations and the DIY punk scene that gave birth to them.

This buckshot spray of quick pop tunes is another wild success in his constantly twisting variations on a theme.

Unfortunately, there are moments on Busting Visions where Zeus succumb to the weight of their considerable forefathers.

I Love You, It's Cool prove Bear in Heaven's 2009-10 success wasn't a fluke, and given two years, they can deliver another album of ebullient jams.

The cuts that utilize Batoh's brain-pulse method are nevertheless striking pieces of electronic minimalism -- stark and compelling.

Rather than the stripped-down or lonely songs that so often accompany the bill of "solo effort," these five songs are as polished, highly wrought, ornamental--take your pick--as any on Veckatimest.

THEESatisfaction's awE naturalE is one of the most adventurous and tradition-bending hip-hop albums of the year, and further cements Sub Pop as the place for imaginative, left-field hip-hop.

Fin creates a passionate kind of poetry not only in its music but also in its listeners.

On her second album, Sees the Light, Goodman has tweaked the La Sera formula slightly to create an engaging record that plays to her strengths as a pop craftsman.

Mostly Lee Ranaldo has created a mid-crisis record that sounds more powerful than frustrated, more strong in its beauty than reactionary in its power.

A Church That Fits Our Needs isn't easy to define, but it is easy to get lost in.

Break it Yourself dodges the feedback of erring too closely to its own sources--but not all of it soars.

Eric Emm and Jess Cohen have produced an album is both substantially intelligent and undeniably fun in equal measure.

Father Creeper is his greatest achievement thus far, succeeding, if nothing else, as demanding listeners to enter his warped headspace.

Formulas churn out reliable, consistent results, but "reliable and consistent" art doesn't always inspire a passionate response.

While still mostly a success, Zoo marks the first time where Ceremony do not seem 100% sure of their own identity.

It's an album that purges the nastiness of its predecessor and switches things up enough without sacrificing its power, a template that hopefuly they remember to follow.

Milk Famous is a full-on declaration, a confident pop record that shows us this band as a collection of unique performers.

The album is so cleanly produced that it sounds like they can't afford a flaw. And ironically, it's this seeming aversion to being perceived as imperfect that holds them back.

Put Your Back N 2 It is a deeply affecting album, but also a plainspoken one.

Rock tropes work well for them. They shouldn't be afraid to embrace that in perpetuity.

It represents the peak of their career to date, excising the self-indulgent tendencies of before and replacing it with raw, spontaneous, and unfettered power and release that simultaneously addresses the visceral and refined.

Above all, One Second Of Love is a triumph of atmospherics and arrangements.

Here, Mind Spiders achieve what every delirious party-goer wants: a celebration that stretches to infinity.

Instead of it being just another Earth 2.0 album though, the completed Angels Of Darkness, Demons Of Light is a successful experiment in sounding absolutely huge while doing so little, and the confirming masterstroke of Carlson's new direction.

Parastrophics is a capable release that can soundtrack a Bacchanalian night in the city.

While the unabashed pop moments on Interstellar are truly great and welcome, Rose easily proves she's capable of more daring things.

For all the noise and bluster they kick up to start off the record, Toward the Low Sun is at its best when it's an unassuming return, when the beauty and power of the songs sneak up on us.

Dudes may not be your mom's secret recipe for home-made pancakes, but the music is consistent, healthy, and in the right mood, quite delicious.

There's no doubt that Grimes has drawn from a sea of influence to craft her dark, structured, idiosyncratic sound, but those influences have all passed through a filter so thorough, have been pulled so far from context, that the most striking thing left is Claire Boucher's point of view.

Thorburn anchors every note, every contribution with a personal outpouring of emotion and heartbreak, the likes of which we've never seen from him before.

on Arrow, it's more fun when they swagger around like the road-tested ramblers they've become.

Plumb is one of the top-shelf albums of 2012 so far because of Field Music's openness to continually tinker with pop music's DNA.

Young and Old may not be of the moment, it may not be sophisticated, it may not be ground-breaking, but it's a record that's hard to turn off once you put it on, and sometimes that's all it takes.

Each song here, when attention is paid, is gut wrenching, honest and unabashedly sad while maintaining a sense of resigned acceptance... The arrangements and production, however, tend to drown out Perfume Genius's ability to juggle his subject matter, leaving songs that just don't quite break your heart.

Reign is more nuanced and varied in sound than Treats was.

It's clear that Young Magic have all the tools and instincts down pat; even without meaning to, this album delves happily, though briefly, into pop excellence.

The more these songs scratch at that dried surface, the more fertile soil they reveal underneath.

True to its title, it finds the pair plowing away dutifully and deftly at the furrow that's been their focus from the beginning.

Errors have built a subdued and often gorgeous album with very little that needs deciphering.

The outright space exploration of Lindstrøm's previous musical outings is sometimes lost here. His dancefloor is fun, but its been grounded this year.

It is in this tension--the struggle to find hope and comfort quickly and the realization that you can't--that Mr. M exists and shines.

Their change between 2007 and now may be incremental, but it's enough to qualify as a definite improvement on their debut.

Control and ambition can go together, and Meiburg proves that, in the right hands, the combination can yield some exciting results.

It holds its cards close, but it's the kind of album that rewards patience and a willingness to dig into the album's complexity and deeply personal nature.

For Van Etten, it's a logical next step in her upward trajectory.

This record is the sound of a young musician being given the right chance at the right time and knocking it out of the park.

It's a restatement of relevance, a testament to strong songwriting, and ultimately, a legacy enhancer that they desperately needed.

Paralytic Stalks is a record made by a genius or a hoity-toity psychopath depending on your perspective--call it whatever you want, but it certainly isn't boring.

A funeral is a termination, but can also be a clean slate. Lanegan completely "gets" that duality--and wields it expertly.

The standout tracks are the featureless "Flame Throwers," "Odds Cracked" and "Auralac Bags," the latter of which boasts a noir-ish, alleyway-chase-scene type of beat.

Provincial is an immensely enjoyable album, to be sure, but the suspicion lingers that it could've been pushed into "career highlight" territory with just an extra little push.

It's encouraging to watch a band shift and grow and manage to stay essentially true to form-such is the case here, as is for the album in entirety.

In the end Hospitality is a solid pop album through and through.

The sleekness of the production--this is far gauzier than the straight-ahead brilliance of On--can get in the way sometimes.

The Horror's assault is quite capable of speaking for itself, and that's what makes it so memorable.

On Invitation Dominant Legs have all of the parts of a "sound," there's just a little more assembly required.

The 10-track album is heavily front-loaded--while the texture and tone remain relatively consistent, the writing "relaxes" a bit about halfway through, and there's little in the record's second half that's as intensely arresting as any of the aforementioned songs.

Show[s] only a hair's breadth of progress from previous albums. That's not entirely a ruinious outcome, but it's not always an enticing one.

Cloud Nothings have produced a transfixing head rush of a release and one of the well-wrought examples of '90s revivalism.

Finn's best songs are the ones when he's fully in the present, in tune with every emotion and every detail his protagonists might experience during a particular moment.

[Remiddi's] fastidious mentality manages to keep this song suite afloat, even if the sails aren't always full of creative wind.