The Decemberists - I'll Be Your Girl: Not sure how I feel about the new direction yet.

Dead Boys - Young, Loud, And Snotty: Essential punk.

Richard Dawson - Peasant: Strong contender for album of last year.

Dashboard Confessional - Crooked Shadows: Still searching for that Top 40 hit.

Czarface and MF Doom - Meets: Anything Doom related it worth checking out.

Company Flow - Funcrusher Plus: A bit long in the tooth, but refreshing.

Citizen - As You Please: More melodic, but far better.

Car Seat Headrest - Twin Fantasy (Face To Face): Love the remake.

David Bowie - Scary Monsters: Clearly a singles artist, with few exceptions.

David Bowie - Lodger: Slight step down from Heroes.

David Bowie - Heroes: Best since Ziggy Stardust.

David Bowie - Station To Station: Transitional album.

David Bowie - Aladdin Sane: Disappointint follow-up to Ziggy, though not without bright spots.

David Bowie - Hunky Dory: Building the case for being a singles artist.

David Bowie - The Man Who Sold The World: Some pretty good songs.

Birdchest - Birdchest: Assfactor 4 reborn.

Big Thief - Capacity: I just do not get the hype.

Jello Biafra and the New Orleans Raunch and Soul All-Stars: Walk on Jindal's Splinters: Great novelty album.

Courney Barnett and Kurt Vile - Lotta Sea Lice: Whoa.

Bad Moves - Bad Moves: Incredibly, it captures their live presence so well.

awakebutstillinbed - what people call low self-esteem is really just seeing yourself the way that other people see you: Pay attention to this band.

Anti-Flag - Die For The Government: Some really great punk songs here.

Antagonize - Demo: So great to have him back.

Animal Flag - Void Ripper: Huge step forward in their sound.

Andrew WK - You're Not Alone: I Get Wet is such a great album, everything else will pale in comparison. Including this.

Neil Young - Hitchiker: One of his best of the recent run.

The Worst - Of The Worst: Early '80s punk that suffers from the production issues, but worth a listen.

Kamasi Washington - Harmony Of Difference: Great warm-up for his new album.

War On Drugs - A Deeper Understanding: A bit long, but wonderfully executed.

Joni Void - Selfless: Gripping, if uneven at times.

Tylisha Haskins - ...And All That Jazz: A little rought, but he has the passion.

This Day Forward - In Response: Far too polished, but should have been huge in 2003.

Sticks And Stones - Inner Revolt: Really great punk from the mid-to-late-'80s.

Colin Stetson - New History Warfare, Vol. 2- Judges: What a weirdly engrossing album.

Steely Dan - Countdown To Ecstasy: Always avoided Steely Dan for some unknown reason. No longer.

St. Vincent - Masseduction: This will be a grower.

Slaughter Beach, Dog - Birdie: I miss Modern Baseball.

Skating Polly - The Big Fit: A bit of a step down.

Skating Polly - Fuzz Steilacoom: Huge step up from their debut.

Skating Polly - Lost Wondefuls: Such youthfulness.

Sid Sludge Studio Band - Hardcore Caesar: Interesting time capsule type of recording.

A. Savage - Thawing Dawn: Looking forward to more Parquet Courts after this.

Sampha - Process: Not really fond of R&B, but this is pretty good.

Russian Circles - Guidance: Meh post-rock.

Rainer Maria - Rainer Maria: Awesome return to producivity.

Quicksand - Interiors: Would like it more had it been under a different moniker.

Queens Of The Stone Age - Villains: Feels a little over produced.

Queen - A Night At The Opera: So quintessentially '70s.

Propagandhi - Victory Lap: Heavier on the prog than I would have liked, but certainly not bad.

Sandro Perri - Impossible Spaces: On a list of great Constellation releases for a reason.

Parasites - Pair Of Sides: Great early pop-punk.

Ought - More Than Any Other Day: Really good, but could have been great if a little shorter.

Sean Nelson - Make Good Choices: Good choice to listen to this solo album.

The National - Sleep Well Beast: Someday, their greatest hits album will be in constant rotation.

Mountain Goats - Marsh Witch Visions: Great tease.

Mogwai - Every Country's Sun: Like all of their releases, it has its moments.

Mansions - Dig Up The Dead: Gets a lot of praise, but not getting it.

Manchester Orchestra - A Black Mile To The Surface: I really want to like these guys.

Daniele Luppi and Parquet Courts - Milano: This should have been much bigger last year.

The Lonely Forest - Arrows: Pretty good indie rock.

Iojii and Swarvy - Due Rent: Hope they got that rent covered so we can hear more.

Liars - Theme From Crying Fountain: Always worth checking out.

Ted Leo - The Hanged Man: Inconsistent.

LCD Soundsystem - American Dream: Some Talking Heads influence at times, but on the whole I am just not invested.

King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard - Sketches of Brunswick East: Something new from them and i need to recalibrate.

King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard - Polygondwanaland: Unreal how they keep churning out above average all year long.

Hot Water Music - Light It Up: Yup, this is Hot Water Music.

Grizzly Bear - Painted Ruins: I think I missed the boat for this to be interesting.

Gogol Bordello - Seekers and Finders: Gets a little plodding towards the end.

Godspeed You! Black Emperor - Luciferian Towers: Always find ways to captivate.

Aby Gnana Diop - Liital: Looking for something fundamentally sound but wildly weird?

GlassJaw - Material Control: Still cannot get into these guys.

The Front Bottoms - Going Grey: What a dissapointing turn.

Friend Enemy - 10 Songs: Confounding.

Foo Fighters - Concrete and Gold: Their most Floydian outing.

Feu Therese - Ca Va Cogner: Major Le Fly Pan Am vibes, in a good way.

Emperor X - Oversleepers International: Do not remember them sounding so much like The Mountain Goats, but glad to find out now.

Jeff Rosenstock - Post-: I give this album 9 out of 10.

American Nightmare - American Nightmare: Clean production holds it back, but these are going to rip live.

Bob Dylan - The Bootleg Series, Vol. 13, Trouble No More: Shining a bright light on an oft-ridiculed time of his career and making it a highlight seems to be a trick Dylan Inc seems to flourish with.

David Dondero - With Love: Pretty standard singer/songwriter tracks.

Do Make Say Think - Stubborn Persistent Illusions: Such a strong opening track!

Dion - Kickin' Child- The Lost Album: Glad this was found. Worth a listen.

Deerhoof - Mountain Moves: I always get confused by the myriad of Deer/Dear bands. I think this is my least favorite.

Death From Above - Outrage! Is Now: Would not have guessed this was DFA1979.

The Darkness - Pinewood Smile: You already know if you are going to like this.

Billy Corgan - Ogilala: Surprised this was slept on last year. Really solid.

Converge - The Dusk In Us: Forever challenging themselves into interesting directions.

Cocteau Twins - Treasure: I always assumed this was more electronic.

The Clientele - Music For The Age of Miracles: Underrated.

Circa Survive - The Amulet: Requires a lot of commitment.

Chonny and Clyde: Non-essential.

Burn - Do Or Die: I might like this better than their original output.

The Bronx - V: So glad they are back.

Carla Bonzulich - Evangelista: Weird enough that you want to revisit, but not sure how soon.

Bjork - Utopia: Longer that it needed to be.

Chuck Berry - Chuck: Not revelatory, but nice to have.

Julien Baker - Turn Out The Lights: Solid follow-up.

American Standard - Wonderland: Great melodic hardcore from the late '80s.

TWIABPAIANLATD - Harmlessness: Tried too hard to outdo themselves.