The self-produced LP is a stimulating listen with some compelling lo-fi sonic tricks employed with little need for mainstream approval.

It is both a timid musical experiment and a relatively directionless one at that.

Many of the songs feel like incomplete character sketches that simply gesture at yearning and crisis.... Salad Days is, nevertheless, an interesting piece of work.

Whilst the front-end and middle of the collection may take some repeat spins to fully earn affection, the two six minute epics that conclude proceedings are unquestionable gems from the first airing.

The album feels like a grab-bag of the band’s process, but not a cohesive expression of their craft.

They have indeed created an album that is ultimately rewarding and full of musical promise.

The Guided By Voices record making machine is in finely-tuned condition for the vast bulk of the Motivational Jumpsuit, keeping the gang of veterans on the reunion road without any embarrassment.

Inevitably, this strand of the release contains more obstacles for those unable to cope with the bedroom-birthed murkiness of the album as a whole. However, with some fine-tuning this less guitar-centric side of Keel Her could rise more positively to the fore in future.

Given the wider reach and greater ambition at play, Trouble is indeed a vastly improved Hospitality studio set. Admittedly, the album could have done with more a few more truly standouts statements.

Big World can be counted on to deliver a handful of jangly ditties and ho-hum, dreary interludes that don’t demand much from the listener beyond a slow drag on a cigarette while it spins in the background.

Mogwai’s newest offering, Rave Tapes, is a brooding masterpiece of a record.

A transitional yet still solid standalone long-player in short.

Taken as a whole, Little Sand Box may initially feel a tad overwhelming but in actuality it makes understanding Gelb’s solo records far less arduous due to its curatorial context-setting (which includes bonus tracks and informative sleeve notes). Moreover, it upholds Gelb’s vocation as the sociable solo journeyman as being equal in stature to his role as a veteran band leader.

The result is slightly overlong and occasionally repetitive, but it’s also a determined sounding reappraisal of the abilities of the three musicians and also an album that could slide unnoticed into the myriad of Indie releases of the last decade, raising only one or two significant ripples as it does so.

Sumie is not a record for all times, but when the moment strikes, it will deliver--with disarming simplicity--an intoxicating mixture of purity and potency.

It is refreshing to meander through the songs without any clear lines to cling onto or boxes to fit it in.

Nothing is Real is an eleven-song effort that showcases Crystal Antlers with a tighter outfit and in turn, a tighter release.

Despite the overall melange approach being a little uneven, there are some genuine delights to be found within.

There’s no lack of stride here, in fact the entire scope of Reflektor and its magnificent way of sucking you into its entire ride is downright remarkable.

Given its largely austere terrain and relatively unvaried inclines, Peace On Venus is not ultimately a Bardo Pond album that lends itself to easy traversing. However, it still confidently captures a group holding its own against latter-day and more voguish heavy-psychedelic peddlers.

Perhaps the only thing missing to complete the utterly charming and enveloping experience of I’m A Dreamer is being able to play it on a crackly gramophone with a shot of prohibition-era moonshine to sup on.

Poliça may have more to offer, especially if they can branch out from a blueprint that they rightly feel very comfortable with, but for the time being Shulasmith is a finely executed and thematically and emotionally rich record.

As a whole this album evokes plenty of 80’s punk/hardcore styles, sex, drugs and rock and roll anthems and the always-welcomed unexpectedness that Moore seems to always supply us with.

Wareham delivers Emancipated Hearts through a dark yet dreamy fog, honouring his past pedigree as well as finding fresh dimensions for his songcraft in the process.

Tookah is a frustrating album because there are a couple examples of something fantastic happening in Torrini’s musical mind but it doesn’t quite deliver in the end.

There is a hardy amount of sweet material on Let’s Be Still and it is a perfect accompaniment to a morning sunrise or a low-key soirée in the woods.

Whilst overall Chatma may lack some of the rousing freshness that made its two predecessors such heartfelt pleasures, it still respectably sustains the Tamikrest soul in all its nomadic questing.

It’s a bit of a tightrope walk for any female rock stars though, retaining femininity while cranking up the amps and pushing the blues rock envelope right to the edge of the table, but Deap Vally sound and look like they know exactly what they’re about.

In the end AM not only signifies a career-defining moment that neatly places the band on a proper pedestal for all to admire--this is where not only Arctic Monkeys have come but in many ways, how they’ve masterfully conquered and continue to simply win.

Stellar and superb, The Electric Lady is a fantastic journey filled with impeccable works of modern flair and skill, power up indeed.

An album that finds them further exploring the depths of their palettes with another worthy album of expressive highs.

Bruner has elevated his game into something worth noting and more importantly, worth following.

Ultimately, Silence Yourself is eleven songs of balanced, well-constructed rock music.

If you’re only looking for a handful of records this year drawing-up from the seemingly bottomless Krautrock well, then make sure that this is one of them.

Slow Focus is a tremendously gifted album; one that remarks on what electronic music is still capable of, while knowingly realizing that the sky’s the limit.

With Fade, they’ve come across ten songs that all sound tight and of course, refreshing, against the backdrop of what might be their most consistent album to date.

It isn’t leaps and bounds better than its predecessor but within that time frame, they’ve all fine-tuned their act.

In the end, it’s exactly what you would want and expect from the two skillful musicians. Run the Jewels is an album that was perfectly executed for the summer.

It’s refreshing and still, a fine listen; Impersonator is in the end, its own refined identity.

The Invisible Way champions everything that is great about Low and realizes it through a neat and clear lens. It’s a formidable outing and at number ten, a remarkable feat met with solid results.

Overgrown continues to build on a fantastic reputation: one that much like his music is aided by layer and layer of calculated additions that all together showcases one of music’s most gifted composers.

Their styles complement one another to produce a powerful combination on this album that captivates from start to finish.

It’s the kind of album we critics tritely refer to as a return to form but with the massively remarkable beast that ...Like Clockwork royally is, never has the phrase been more fitting.

The songs on Bankrupt! all still feature scintillating synths, gorgeous melodies and soaring moments of transcendent skill but with more of a flair for the dynamic tense of music.

This kind of hunger, this kind of uphill battle and this kind of gritty determination leaks out onto Monomania with tremendous results; the ending fruition is another gleaming winner for Cox and Deerhunter.

Yeezus is the complete affirmation of an artist willing to try new endeavors and wholeheartedly nail it.

While Nocturnes doesn’t have the immediate impact or supremely sticky quality of Little Boots’, AKA Victoria Hesketh’s, high-caliber dance-pop debut, Hands, it does display a slow-growing (Or is that glowing?) charm that rings true to the album’s muted title.

With Random Access Memories, the duet has returned after a long hiatus from proper studio albums, with another triumphant winner.

Whilst as a whole Dear Mark J. Mulcahy, I Love You does perhaps miss having a few more mellow Mulcahy moments to give it a stronger balance of moods, its rapidly flowing melodicism is impressively infectious nevertheless.

It’s a coherent, engaging experience.

Stylistically, while it can all fit in to the category of Indie/Alt. Rock if it had to, every song brings something different to the table.

Quiet, diligent, and touching--this could very well be These New Puritans’ masterwork.

Cold Spring Fault Less Youth is as confident and assured as any great follow-up can be, showcasing a group that is not afraid to cross genre-borders and cast aside the meek post-dubstep moniker.

The National are such a powerfully gifted band, they need no theatrics to deliver an absolutely stone-cold beast of an album. With the music that is on here there is yet another thirteen songs to savor and salivate over until the next batch of songs comes about.

So there we have it, more of the recent same and sufficiently good enough to keep the good ship GBV sailing onwards. However, a little more variety and a few more Tobin Sprout songs next time around would certainly help to prevent any risk of drifting into more ponderous waters.

The album’s dose of personality and how it transcends beyond its influences is equally impressive and in the end, Elephant Stone is a solid outing.

While a few songs are leftovers from Angles and some were churned out “like the good old days” as they put it, Comedown Machine is a terrific release to The Strokes first five albums.

there is an impressive and ambitious sense of craftsmanship across the record that captures Blank Realm on the cusp of something truly special.

The songs on Bloodsports are suitable to excite the fans (Yes, they do still exist!), enthuse the critics, engage the occasional casual listener, and elicit a shrug from the general public.

At each fork in the road, instead of going one way or another, Lerner takes the fork.

It’s a multi-layered album constantly shifting in mood and sound offering the listener much to explore.... The band struggle, however, to distinguish themselves from their influences and constantly fall under the shadow of Can, Pink Floyd and The Flaming Lips.

A little less density and a higher level of self-restraint might have made for a more balanced collection admittedly but the irrepressible refreshed conviction is still impressive.

Amok is a tenaciously rich and strong album that is certainly the work of gifted musicians.

It’s an album that doesn’t reinvent the wheel but adds an extra corner and somehow makes it go faster.

Even if You’re Nothing lacks the raw immediacy of their debut, it sees Iceage defining the parameters of their sound.

Glossy production adds a haze of late summer mist to some cleverly realised songwriting and Hit The Waves is an album that stands on its own terms musically, without its needing to explain itself or its influences.

Home is an overall softer, lighter affair and one that deserves attention.

Overall, there is a very cloud-like vibe, reticent of stammering into a mysterious blend of genres.

These seven pieces invite the listener into an engrossing experience, one that requires attention but in the end, Centralia is a moving album.

Speck Mountain have taken the high road, sporting influences in their back pocket as a kerchief rather than wiping them on their sleeve.

Aptly an entire side-project, rather than a one-off on the electronic producer’s next album, the idea is fully fleshed into a discovery of solid notes.

For now Bundick has accomplished many great feats and with Anything in Return, the first great album of 2013.

Brokeback And The Black Rock reveals itself as a flawed yet still sporadically rewarding long-player.

Fourteen songs deep, each and every one is a terrific slice of electronic pop that definitely delivers astounding results.

The compositions, the choice of songs, the sequencing, his spoken word--the entire package--is a firm reminder of the immense talent Antony is; Cut the World remains another worthy release to take hold of.

The dozen songs on here make for a brilliant affair of subtly great electronic music that blends a fresh brand of styles into one compelling presentation.

With eleven songs, the album flows serenely well and sounds like a two part voyage; the second half much weightier, the first half perhaps more buoyant.

Superb album in every facet, it is the first time in a while I have been able to emotionally engage in an album right from the get go.

Although Veckatimest might be more of an emotionally-driven album, Shields continues to showcase a band that is somehow--as good as they currently are--simply getting better and better, regardless of the location, the circumstances, regardless of the schedules.

Each song is impactful and memorable, with a fantastic approach to songcraft that focuses on minimal gestures, mixed with tremendous layers and layers of sounds.

Whether there's enough energy, fraternity and songs left in the GBV tank to warrant more new material on top of this year's LP trilogy remains to be heard but this solidly-built long-player successfully marks the end of an unquestionably enjoyable and productive year in the band's admirably contrarian career.

The guitars and drums machines and electronic selections are a bit unlistenable. There are some redeeming qualities, however, with a solid groove-ridden guitar fashion show with "I'll Sue You" and an eccentric but extremely tasteful European guitar ballad in "Lisbon".

The music on Twins is more of the fantastically great quality we've come to expect.

The music is repetitively tight and although not much more than a three-set EP, The Ganzfeld EP is a strong showing.

Firmly grounded, it's definitely the band's shining moment so far.

All of the pop-coated rock that was immediately catchy, aggressive, melodic, seductive, melancholic, and driven from those two albums [Garbage and Version 2.0] can be found here – from the ramped up, unrelenting beats to the bright electronics and propulsive guitar lines, to Shirley's changeable, ever-engaging vocals.

While tuneful and solid, [In Time To Voices] is not as spectacularly primal as their initial offering Box Of Secrets.

RYAT takes her technique a step further on album #2, diversifying her sound to include symphonic strings and other instrumentation. She also delves deeper into a more expressive, sometimes vulnerable, vocal delivery, getting to the root of her emotions and letting them take seed in song.

Cobra Juicy employs a richly flourished amount of instruments and sounds that are catchy and full of life.

These 7 songs are powered by strong emotions and a dynamic melodicism and polished to a burnished glow.

Each man delivers touches that are downright unique to their brand of music, but together, they carry a strong penchant for the greatness of indie rock. It's never groundbreaking, but it doesn't have to be either – A Thing Called Divine Fits celebrates music with terrific, yet humble, results.

There are well-defined marks of maturity in every aspect on this record.

All told, this is undoubtedly one of 2012′s most unexpected pleasures.

Pop sensibilities are allowed to swell over, into and around each other; each song blends the seams of the core into a fragmented, disjointed, appropriately-meshing of sounds and in the end, Love this Giant is a magnificent triumph because of it all.

It's a soulful country stroll, which favors heavily on career building and that is something that Dylan Leblanc is sure doing, and quite swimmingly if I might add. Bravo.

The final impression The Seer left me with is that of a sprawling, lacking in cohesion and over indulgent album that fails as often as it succeeds.

The North continues to show off their skill and while nothing earth-shattering will be found here, it's something to fully bask in.

Life Has Not Finished With Me Yet may not be the most instantly-gripping Piano Magic LP, however when granted some mandatory immersive listening its enveloping and eclectic embrace is hard to resist.