Springsteen does more than just an adequate job; it’s difficult not to get swept along by the infectious energy of his performance.

At least two or three songs on the record are worthy of the New Pornographers for crunchy catchiness and the entire set is packaged with energy and hooks.

Whilst Songs and Other Things may still attract loyal aficionados of Verlaine’s idiosyncratic solo work, it’s certainly unlikely to win over any sceptics.

Whilst Around is hardly groundbreaking stuff – Verlaine’s retro equipment preferences automatically predicate a retro feel – it is a genuinely unforced unfurling of a reclusive talent and a worthy companion piece to Warm and Cool.

A solid yet underachieving return.

A lush, captivating, and dynamically vocalized album on the mellower end of Butler’s usual stylistic spectrum.

When not overdone, the playing and singing are excellent, and when they want to, the Dresden Dolls can pen a mighty fine tune as well.

The songs hold up well live, and the recording quality is terrific.

The Dave Grohl production is the best the band has ever had, and the disc absolutely catches fire in a few places, but there’s still a nagging doubt about Rye Coalition.

The lack of truly classic Calexico moments marks the album as a transitory step: too far for some, not enough for others.

These initial songs are noteworthy by any measure; the remainder of the album, then, is a bit of a let-down, especially on first listen.

You are There is a fine example of post-rock that outshines both Mogwai and Godspeed You! Black Emperor's latest or last affairs.

Never has Aloha sounded so tight, so completely in control of its sound, so assured of that sound.

Wasif aspires for the guts of Neil Young and the tortured soul of Ian Curtis but captures neither, instead sounding like an inappropriately self-pitying, passive-aggressive whiner.

While the tunes on Adventures may be a bit more nebulous and a bit less intricate than those found on From Here on In and With the Tides, they are by no means any less engaging, and in some cases are even more resplendent.

You will not be able to tear yourself away from this album. This is no daringly outrageous, Kid A-esque “progressive” music that nobody really enjoys listening to. This is rock 'n roll.

The chemistry between the members of Rahim is quite apparent from the beginning to the end of the album.

Ghost is at the top of his game, both in terms of flow and lyrical luminosity.

A stunning achievement and the first exceptionally great album of 2006.

While the band is always fun and catchy, it can be a bit much after a while.

Packing both studio polish and meandering melodies makes for a largely safe yet inconvenient marriage.

Band of Horses is ethereal, otherworldly, and completely inimitable, and listening to Everything All the Time is, in the truest sense of the word, an experience.

Mudhoney is a new band lyrically and emotionally.

A solid – albeit unadventurous - long-player, which refines instead of redefines and consolidates more than it innovates.

This album is as buzz-worthy as other similar acts like the Postal Service.

So yeah, this album is pretty freakin’ good... but it’s not going to change your perspective on music.

Destroyer’s Rubies is one of those rare albums whose literary value is so compelling as to make any imperfections simply blend in as an essential part of the storyline.

A demented, twisted, and exuberant journey through a hip musical funhouse.

While Polysics have certainly come into the peak of their sound with Now is the Time, the mindless intensity of the album can be a tad overwhelming.

Their sound and influences seem to jump out all over the place, but regardless, it is entertaining.

Below the Branches is the kind of record true lovers of classic 60s and 70s pop can adore.

A winner from start to finish.

The music itself isn’t quite as bad as the singing, but it still lacks the sincerity needed to keep Sun, Sun, Sun from sounding like a collection of Eagles’ outtakes.

The album would be yet another trademark Strokes outing if not for its glaring inconsistency in the later tracks.

While The Mendoza Line's lyrics may be full of light and full of fire, the music here is not.

While it drifts away from the listener somewhat during its middle section, Recording a Tape the Colour of the Light is, for the most part, a captivating listen.

Feels like an honest treat for longtime fans.

Wading through the next 70-plus minutes of wandering noise and blank hissing for the gems was painful, to put it mildly, because when I got to them, they were played off-key and incredibly quickly, as if the band wanted to get it over with and get back to banging on the guitars and making nonsensical noise.

Suitcase 2 is a necessity for the hardcore Guided by Voices fan.

The band hasn’t yet proven capable of rendering a thoroughly remarkable album. This is nothing to be ashamed of, though.

Feels further confirms that not only does Animal Collective make music different from anything else that’s out there – these folks are also quite good at it.

If you were into Lightning Bolt before, there is no reason you won't absolutely love this album. If you were sort of sitting on the fence with them before, this may be the album that converts you into a fan.

The more I listened to Tanglewood Numbers, the more I liked it.

My major complaint with the album is that the songs are far too short to provide an optimal listening experience.

The beats on The Mouse and the Mask are remarkably consistent, satisfactorily complex, and surprisingly subtle.

Somehow all of this organized chaos is put together with clever hooks, resulting in some quite unique and energetic pop/rock tunes.

The Joggers’ struggle against depression yields song after song of emotionally rending rock 'n roll, and the album tells the gritty tale of their fight against this epic beast.

This is the most engrossing American Analog Set album in six or seven years.

16 sonorous, brooding alternative-rock tracks that are as open and experimental as they are rocked out and catchy.

As a whole, The Weight is a Gift wins because the band knows how to write a catchy song and make it both sad and exuberant at the same time, with an unerring pop sensibility.

Lament after lament, they start to all blend together, and all of Thomas's considerable skill as a singer, musician, and composer can't seem to create any really arresting moments, just a lot of pretty songs.

Although music lovers who normally don’t appreciate experimental noise will find some things of interest here, this is really an album for people who dig material a bit more avant-garde.

Remarkably consistent and almost infinitely enjoyable.

There are few efforts as noble as Fink’s attempt to express the realities of human suffering. It’s unfortunate that Invisible Ones can’t consistently relate these messages musically.

Twin Cinema is another great pop album from the New Pornographers, a release that's crammed with so many memorable melodies that the bumpier moments fade into the background.

In the end, I am hesitant to say that this is Vanderslice's best album; however, it is undoubtedly his most rewarding. Just be prepared to spend a lot of time with it.

Although annoyingly inconsistent, Infiniheart contains enough interesting tunes with odd arrangements and instrumentation to convince us that Chad Van Gaalen is a talented songwriter and multi-instrumentalist and is capable of producing engaging, lo-fi, ambient pop.

There's enough diversity amongst these 11 songs to showcase the band's unique talents.

If you've only heard of their work on The Ugly Organ or Domsetica, then I suggest picking this up. It's a great archive of the band's early unheralded accomplishments.

Those who enjoy his new approach will like the album, and those who long for his old days of guitar-driven power-pop will find some highlights that prove no matter how old Mould gets, he still is one of the most brilliant musicians and lyricists ever.

Each of these tracks will peel your face off and serve as the equivalent of hooking your brain to a nuclear reactor.

What they do best is produce exceptional electronica for people that don't have the patience for extended instrumental passages and require things like vocals on regular intervals. With that precursor, The Understanding is probably one of the better electronica records to come out this year that thankfully doesn't involve MCs from Def Jux or was composed on a laptop.

While Okemah is clearly driven by Farrar's vision, it suitably develops Son Volt's sound, bringing it clearly into the mid-2000s while giving a nod toward the influences of bygone days that have always been a factor in Son Volt's alt-country tendencies.

Unfortunately, the mere manufacture of unique sounds isn’t enough to rescue them on La Forêt.

Exhausting, enthralling, disorientating, celebratory, and contemplative, Sufjan Stevens has delivered another album that will keep us listening and educated till Christmas.

Multiply is not just the year’s most adventurous album, it’s one of its most melodic, soulful, and engaging as well.

When they began their self-titled debut, they were uncertain kids from Brooklyn making a record from all the music they had ever known. They’re leaving veterans of the game with obvious talent and colossal potential.

There is no shortage of experimentation here.

This is the finest debut hip-hop album I’ve seen since Aesop Rock’s.

Both more deeply melodic and somehow more resigned and melancholy than his previous albums, White’s latest may just be his best.

All in all, this is a very impressive record, one that succeeds on just about every little tweak of the pop idiom it attempts.

As a live album, Out West is a fair one.

Even at its most intense, Everything Ecstatic combines percussive aggression with warmth and vivid emotion.

Innovative as it is satisfying.... It’s hard to imagine a more realized meld of hip-hop, electronica, and post-rock.

The album is ambitious as it is daring, and it's the most refreshing piece of new music released thus far into 2005.

An excellent album graced by the kind of clever hooks, lines, and sinkers that color Malkmus’ best work, be it with Pavement or the Jicks.

If there’s any fault with this album, it’s the predictability in the songs: there are no hidden surprises, lacking any real breathtaking shifts or unexpected twists waiting to throw the unwary listener off-guard.

Despite including a few hallmarks of a groundbreaking record (experimentalism, eclecticism, ambitious), Wrath of Circuits is still not an easy listen for those people who don't wet their pants at every new Dischord or Touch and Go release.

A solid collection of delicate songs.

Surely the power of Spoon’s miraculous songwriting skills are enough to keep the listener captivated, but the fact remains that the only surprise the album contains is the apparent lack of innovation.

A decidedly mixed bag that offers many captivating songs but not a consistently high-quality artistic statement.

I bet that The Milk of Human Kindness will appear on my and others’ “best of 2005” lists.

While far from perfect, The Hold Steady's sloppy take on classic rock is actually quite refreshing and much more fun than most current indie rock and British post-punk revival wankery.

While nothing on The Forgotten Arm is brand new for her, it's a natural evolution from what her fans have gotten used to, the minor-key laments and regrets of Bachelor No. 2 and Lost in Space.

It is easily the band’s most accomplished, interesting record, a record that will simultaneously alienate stodgy diehard “fans” and attract a new group of listeners to the band.

Unfortunately, Haughty Melodic, in its attempt to gain a wider audience, does have some clunkers.

This album is a lot more than just a singer/songwriter's romantic confessions but not quite the grandiose rock of The Flaming Lips and Beck, but The Russian Futurists have carved a nice little niche somewhere in between.

Minus the instrumentals (eight), tracks featuring guest stars (three), and songs whose only redeeming quality is their cool title (at least five, including "Son of a Bitch," "I’m Going to Stop Pretending I Didn’t Break Your Heart," and "Whatever Happened to Soy Bomb"), you’re really only left with a handful of bonafide Eels tunes.

Folds' wit is less biting, but it's still present. And he's still got style.

Brilliant.

While the material is at times uncomfortable and discomfiting, one can't help but be fascinated - and a little touched.

The infusion of pop and blues has not only been done before, it’s also been done better.

Otto Spooky is an excellent album, yet sometimes too long for my attention span.

The Sunlandic Twins is a dizzying, exhilarating, and almost endlessly fun ride, breezy almost to a fault, romantic and lighthearted.

The National seems to have settled into a fine balance between the hungover brooding of Leonard Cohen and the more mellifluous tendencies of Joy Division and Echo and the Bunnymen.

Anyone with a love for substantive indie pop that sounds fresh with each listen would be erring by not picking up this affecting, gorgeous album.

It’s somewhat troubling to see Jurado abandoning the genre of folk that served him so well on his last album. More unsettling is the simultaneous presence of the mopey indulgence of some of Jurado’s faux-gothic breakup stories and the honed, spare excellence of tracks like “White Center,” “Lottery,” and “Fuel.”

Though Suspended Animation boasts 30 tracks, it only runs some 40-odd minutes, and those are some of the most densely packed and bombastic minutes you’re likely to find on a record this year.