Top Of The Pops – Sun On The Sand

Thee Oh Sees – Castlemania

Garage-rock vets Thee Oh Sees journey through some strange, trippy, ceaselessly fun cartoon on their best album to date.

Americana singer-songwriter William Elliott Whitmore returns with that grizzled voice, pairing it with his strongest songs to date.

Saharan guitar-led outfit Group Doueh plugs back in on Zayna Jumma for its finest outing since its 2007 compilation debut.

It’s personal, political, and at times even quite lovely — a struggle through ups and downs where life provides a reason to hold on.

Elbow do not make bad albums; on the contrary they only make very good ones and Build A Rocket Boys! is no exception.

Sonic Youth frontman Thurston Moore delivers a poignant solo album with the help of producer — and rockstar in his own right — Beck.

Bill Callahan returns with his third solo full-length and Apocalypse may well be his finest, most intimate and exploratory outing to date.

The Beastie Boys are back with their first full-length since 2007′s The Mix-Up and they certainly still have the goods to captivate.

Fleet Foxes indulge in their ambitions on Helplessness Blues and deliver another rich album which proves their debut was no fluke.

Drone duo Higuma releases its most cohesive and compelling effort to date by tracing the grandeur of the sun’s daily movements.

Merrill Garbus aka tUnE-yArDs moves out of the basement and emerges with a brief but positively stellar second album.

Noah Lennox returns with his highly anticipated follow-up to 2007′s Person Pitch and delivers the goods via understated bedroom pop.

Hawaiian songstress Mailani puts forth another strong collection of world music reconciling her roots and mainstream currents.

Mixtape of the year? Fashawn has released a stellar collection here which should appeal to a wide-ranging scope of listeners.

There’s little doubt, Several Shades Of Why is another charmingly modest and effective acoustic addition to J Mascis’ solo discography.