The album is at many times more open and engaging than some of those earlier gems and has a lighthearted nature that retains the balance of sating old fans and sparking new ones.

An entire album as powerful and immediate as Scars sounds enticing in theory, but Basement Jaxx knows better than turning a single, creative sound into a stale, contrite formula, especially when an unprecedented amount of talent is at their beck and call.

While not as fleshed out as some other remarkable debuts, Album is a fully realized personal vision.

Why? the person always had unique ideas, but, for the first time, Why? the band complements these thoughts and feelings with consistency, creating an accessible, exciting and complete work.

Earlier pieces that amused or excited the listener have given way to more approachable sounds constantly on the verge of blending in completely. While seldom bad and almost wholly listenable, Vapours proves to be a bland disappointment from a group of usually creative musicians.

Ultimately at this point, the songs that I'm most attracted to are still the slower, more intuitive weepers showcasing Vedder's voice, and alas, such simplicity is scarce on Backspacer.

While there's merit to the charges that songs suffer from sameness and that musicianship is a secondary facet of the band, the Girls' detractors don't consider tradition; walking in the footprints of Bikini Kill, Ramones, and other like predecessors who faced similar criticisms, their flaws serve to be their most interesting, differentiating features.

On Get Color, though, the frenetic impulses from two years back have been carefully tempered, the percussive backbone more sharply honed and the ear-bleeding textures more cleverly implemented.

Hospice sits squarely in this camp, a heartbreaking aural experience that hits us on a deeper level.

Wolf, ever so self-aware, makes The Bachelor's most intimate moments its most powerful ones, where the frivolity stops and the artist reverts to his eccentric, idealistic nature.

An hour or so later I finally succumbed to my bed, content. I can only imagine Riceboy does so in kind.

Hometowns has an earthly fragility, folksy without being folky. Score another one for Canada.

To simply not want to skip tracks isn't exactly saying anything, and certainly not that Wilco has made any kind of return to relevance. But Jeff the person is doing just fine, and instead of chastising this release, let's be happy that the guy who gave us more serious, occasionally harrowing masterpieces such as Summerteeth and Yankee Hotel Foxtrot finally seems to be having some fun. Next time it'd be nice if he let us in on it.

The end result is a rewarding record fraught with introspection and melancholy but also one that perhaps signifies that Moby's shaken off his early 90's sentimentality...for now.

Textual descriptions may be difficult to understand without listening through the album's 11 songs, but for someone who has been a faithful listener since their eponymous 1994 debut it is important to know that Beacons Of Ancestorship is surely a keeper.

This new bag of tricks is implemented with due subtlety that bolsters the charming simplicity qualities, while filling the tracks out and, cautiously, adding some curves.

Bitte Orca signifies something exciting and all too infrequent in popular music: striving for a sound that doesn't have a definite audience.

The Eternal is absorbing and raw, from the slower, affable 'Antenna' to the pounding 'Poison Arrow.'

Rainwater Cassette Exchange certainly finds creative ways to transform their music and expand their already impressive catalogue, even if most of the songs are quite short and leave the listener yearning for more.

While Veckatimest contains just over fifty-two minutes of some exceptional music, it lacks one critical component that's essential to any form of art: emotion.

It's Frightening kicks into high gear from the get-go, and never looks back.

Despite the similitude of both discs, their respective modesty and muscularity present variety without overreaching. To put it into trite punny terms, Well has some depth.

As for the claim that Romanian Names represents the pinnacle of Vanderslice's recorded output to date, the argument certainly holds water. The dozen songs are all inviting, catchy even, in their own way, and aurally consistent with the history of "sloppy hi-fi" production at Vanderslice's Tiny Telephone studio.

Mostly, the overkill of professionalism just makes me yearn for the early Green Day material I grew up with: sloppy, abrasive, and most importantly, aware of what they can and can't pull off.

Meanderthals are a collaboration between Idjut Boys and Rune Linbaek, with a sound that is a bit of a fluffier than what we have traditionally come to expect from the Smalltown Supersound label roster. That fluffiness adds a fresh breeze to the otherwise unassuming mix of throwback downbeat and Scandinavian folk strumming.

Even though the album may be too erratic to cohere into anything thematic, its eccentricities do an excellent job of keeping it interesting.

2009's Entertainment finds the duo reverting somewhat to their more flamboyant origins while still trying to stay current. It's a divergent approach that fortunately works more for the record than against it.