PJ Harvey - Let England Shake: Certainly good, but best of last year? I need more time.

Randy Newman - 12 Songs: Sometimes excellent execution trumps uniqueness.

Off! - Off!: More please!

of Montreal - Paralytic Stalks: Hissing Fauna continues to be the yardstick by which their albums measure up. Not close this time.

The Nighty Nite - Dimples: I miss The Paper Chase.

Nada Surf - The Stars Are Indifferent To Astronomy: Always enjoyable but mostly forgettable.

The Menzingers - On The Impossible Past: Yet another great album, almost like they can do no wrong.

Mars Volta - Noctourniquet: Borderline traditional.

Liverpool - Women & Work: Feels like a very grown-up album.

Ben Kweller - Go Fly A Kite: He has aged well.

Killer Mike - PL3DGE: Best hip-hop album I have heard in a while.

Japandroids - Celebration Rock: Certainly reason to celebrate.

Islands - A Sleep & A Forgetting: Wife walked in while this was on and thought it was Coldplay.

Hot Water Music - Exister: My favorite album of their's.

Dr. John - Locked Down: No part of this album feels forced, but all of it feels awesome.

Death Grips - The Money Store: Certainly more accessible, but less engaging than debut. Not likely to get many more listens.

Dead Swans - Anxiety And Everything Else: Over before I had a chance to get into it.

Cursive - I Am Gemini: Lacking in intensity.

Leonard Cohen - Old Ideas: Certainly respectable for what it is, but not somethings will listen to repeatedly.

Cheap Girls - Giant Orange: Giant awesome would be more apt.

Ceremony - Zoo: Makes we want to revisit the entire post-punk genre. I think I missed something the first time around.

Cartel - Chroma: For all the hype, it has not held up over time unless you were there.

Blu - NoYork!: So much potential, so little success.

Black Breath - Sentenced To Life: Extremely heavy but engrossing music is like Moby Dick. Meet Moby Dick.

Andrew Bird - Break It Yourself: Title track feels out of place on this superb set of stripped down songs.

The Cult - Electric: Garage rock that likely sounds better live. Find out Sunday.

The Assistant - We'll Make The Roads By Walking: The debut still gets trotted out now and again. This one not likely to share the same fate.

Book kick. Music to resume in a few weeks.

Tom Waits - Bad As Me: It is official, I need more Tom Waits in my life.

Taylor Swift - Fearless: I hated almost all of this, but wanted to like it.

She And Him - Christmas: Not going to supplant anything I would normally listen to.

Samhain - November-Coming-Fire: Good, but not as engaging as his other bands.

The Roots - undun: Cannot wait to devour the rest of their catalog.

Roll The Tanks - Goodnight, Jimmy Lee: Looking forward to the new full length!

On The Rise - Burning Inside: Perfectly adequate youth crew meets pop punk album.

No Turning Back - Holding On: Fairly generic hardcore.

New Found Glory - Radiosurgery: If possible, this is their poppiest album yet.

The Misfits - Casket Box: I now understand, and appreciate, the fanaticism surrounding these guys.

Miles Away - Endless Roads: One of the most consistently listenable hardcore albums I have heard in a while.

Mastodon - The Hunter: Heavy without being hard, mellow without being cheesy.

Into It. Over It. - Proper: Makes me miss Piebald.

I Am The Avalanche - Avalanche United: Far from unique, but extremely enjoyable.

Holy Fever - EP: Looking forward to a full length.

H2O - Don't Forget Your Roots: Hit-or-miss collection, but any H2O is better than nothing.

Further Seems Forever - The Moon Is Down: No doubt who is singing, but with a band that or cohesive and does not feel tacked on.

First Blood - Demo: Virtually indistinguishable from a dozen other heavy, throat-screaming bands.

The Falcon - Unicornography: Sometimes enjoyable, but ultimately grating.

The Falcon - God Don't Make No Trash: Songs custom made for singing along.

Elbow - Builds A Rocket Boys: Grab your good headphones, turn up the volume and just drift away.

Drake - Take Care: Frustrating and uneven.

Defeater - Empty Days and Sleepless Nights: A brooding desperation in the vocals make it a must listen hardcore-ish album.

Moneyball was really good

Death Before Dishonor - Better Ways To Die: Fairly generic hardcore, as if that is ever a bad thing.

Dead To Me - Moscow Penny Ante: Energetic and catchy. Yes, this is what pop-punk should be.

Danzig - How The Gods Kill: I can think of no more perfect an album to listen to while driving in the rain at night.

Crime In Stereo - Is Dead: Just never grabbed my attention.

Crazy Arm - Union City Breath: Not sure what to call, or how to describe it, but it was very enjoyable.

Crazy Arm - Cross Country: Songs that were meant to be played live.

Childish Gambino - Camp: Just different enough to be interesting, just familiar enough to get attention. Looking forward to more.

Chris Carrabba - Covered In The Flood: None of these will change your opinion of the original or the person covering them.

Black Keys - El Camino: Album needs no more hype, but deserves every bit of it.

Beach Boys - SMiLE: Great to have the original but need more time to determine the definitive version.

Bayside - Killing Time: Perfectly fine pop punk, but it fails to convey the tour de force that is their live show.

Ambitions - Stranger: A fun, light hardcore album.

All Pigs Must Die - God Is War: The intensity feels tacked on compared to their excellent debut EP.

Algernon Cadwaller - Some Kind Of Cadwaller: Best Cap'n Jazz album since their discography came out.

Wugazi - 13 Chambers: Why do not more hip-hop albums use traditional instrumentation?

Saul Williams - Volcanic Sunlight: More tolerable than his past albums, but just barely.

George Watsky - A New Kind Of Sexy Mixtape: His poetry is still better, but the divide is getting narrower.

Coldplay - Mylo Xyloto: No easy way to put this: it is garbage, maybe even more than X&Y.

Touche Amore - Parting The Sea Between Brightness And Me: More vocal-heavy than past albums.

Thrice - Major/Minor: I just could not get into it. Certainly not a bad album, but felt a bit generic.

Taking Back Sunday - Taking Back Sunday: I am sure fans of their earlier work will love this.

System Of A Down - System Of A Down: So glad I listened to Toxicity, a stronger album, first.

Eleanor Friedberger - Last Summer: Better than her brother's output, but no match for the Fiery Furnaces.

Polar Bear Club - Clash Battle Guilt Pride: More melodic than I remember, but it is to their benefit.

Pentimento - Wrecked: I feel like this band would not exist with Hot Water Music.

Park - It Won't Snow Where You're Going: Fairly generic pop/punk from the mid-2000s.

Jay-Z and Kanye West - Watch the Throne: Far exceeded my admittedly low expectations.

The Elected - Bury Me In My Ring: Disappointing.

The Drums - Portamento: No reason to choose this over their debut.

Death Grips - Exmilitary: I am completelY surprised by how much I enjoyed this.

"Dad" is another reason not to text and drive.

Das Racist - Relax: Still waiting for that elusively consistent album from them.

Dad

D.R.U.G.S - D.R.U.G.S.: For fans of TREOS and Chiodos.

Cymbals Eat Guitars - Lenses Alien: Not as dense as I remember.

Coldplay - Every Teardrop Is A Waterfall: I am no longer looking forward to the new album.

Hayes Carll - KMAG YOYO: For when you do not want to take thing so seriously.

Bo Burnham - Words, Words, Words: What do you call a kid with one arm and an eye patch? Names.

Blitzen Trapper - American Goldwing: Were I to be asked what kind of music this was, my response would be "the good kind."

Blacklisted - Heavier Than Heaven, Lonelier Than God: Heavier is not always better. In this case, however, it is.

Blacklisted - We're Unstoppable: And yet it unfortunately stopped.

Beirut - The Rip Tide: Not as memorable as previous efforts.

At the Drive-In - Relationship of Command: Proto-Mars Volta and it is awesome.

All Pigs Must Die - All Pigs Must Die: Perfect blend of heavy and melodic. Glad it was only an EP.

Adele - 19: Beyond excellent, even if not a daily listener.

Wilco - The Whole Love: Always enjoyable, just never memorable enough.

Saves The Day - Daybreak: Best of the trilogy? Yes, and the others were good!

Against Me - Black Crosses: Surprising how many of the released versions I prefer.