Brian Eno – Lux
It’s easy to forget that Eno’s ambient work doesn’t always fit his strict definition. Music for Films sounds like it– it’s very suggestive of particular feeling– and the brilliant Ambient 4: On Land conjures an entire landscape, one filled with swamps and strange creatures. But Lux is squarely in the tradition of music that can be ignored but holds up (sometimes just barely) to closer scrutiny. It turns any living room into an art installation where interesting things may or may not happen, and its lack of direction and specificity is in its own way brave. Sometimes it’s hard to not say anything; Brian Eno is doing just that, once again, and beautifully. Read the full review on Pitchfork

Emeralds – Just to Feel Anything
Cleveland ambient wizards Emeralds have spent the last six years building a reputation that doesn’t exactly hinge on the concept of accessibility. Through countless CD-R releases, cassettes, collaborations, singles and side projects, the trio of John Elliott, Steve Hauschildt and Mark McGuire has amassed a staggering amount of hypnotic and enchanting music, but for many casual listeners the group’s 2010 LP, Does It Look Like I’m Here?, was the big coming-out party: a sprawling yet cohesive journey into the depths of a carefully cultivated psychedelic, Kraut-drone universe. After two years the band has released a follow-up, Just To Feel Anything, and it’s an even bigger gamble for the group but in a surprising way. Instead of continuing to explore the blacklight-friendly star-map of their comfy aesthetic planetarium, Emeralds have made a warp-drive leap into the experimental-pop realm. Read the full review on CMJ

Bad Brains – Into the Future
“Into the Future” present brutal songs that often travel on meandering paths. “Youth of Today” starts hard and ends dubby, and “Come Down” is as ferocious a hard-core wind sprint as anything the band’s ever done. As always, singer H.R. is as much a preacher as a singer, and the constant proselytizing about Jah gets a little old, but complaining about it is like knocking Kirk Franklin for singing about Jesus. It’s best to sit back and let the power of visionary punk rock wash over you. Read the full review on LA Times

Neil Young – Psychedelic Pill
“The king of the left turn” is how Stephen Stills recently described Neil Young. Stills ought to know. As Young’s bandmate in Buffalo Springfield; Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young; and The Stills-Young Band, he’s been a party to many of Young’s various incarnations: folkie, hippie, rocker, superstar. But what makes Young compelling isn’t just the fact he evolves—it’s that his leaps happen sharply, erratically, and often perversely. In an industry that traditionally tries to cage and tame artists, Young has routinely chewed his own leg off to escape expectation—some notable examples being the futuristic Trans, the retro Everybody’s Rockin’, and the noisy Arc. “King” is a weighted word to use when discussing Young; this is the same guy who wrote the line, “The king is gone, but he’s not forgotten,” turning Johnny Rotten from punk villain to folk hero with the stroke of a pen and a pick. Read the full review on AV Club

Andrew Bird – Hands of Glory
Hands of Glory possesses an almost academic quality, as though Bird and his cohorts were presenting a musical essay about endtimes imagery in country music. The album begins with “Three White Horses”, which, thanks to Bird’s bowing, sounds like it’s coming from an old acetate. That song is followed by a cover of the Handsome Family’s “When That Helicopter Comes”, an oddball gospel that deploys Alan Hampton’s bouncy bass and Bird’s otherworldly bow as a soundtrack to separatist paranoia: “There’ll be power in the blood, when the helicopters come.” Bird switches theologies for “Orpheo”, an austere reimagining of the spry “Orpheo Looks Back” from Break It Yourself, which thrives on the empty spaces between the strums and plucks, such that his gentle falsetto at the end has a beseeching effect. Only “Railroad Bill”, with its aw-shucks lyrics hoots and hollers, sounds out of place. Read the full review on Pitchfork

Neurosis – Honor Found in Decay
Surely, at some point in their long, storied careers Neurosis have felt an intense pressure or moment of weakness. After all, it only makes sense. A band can only perform for so long at such quality before things start to get trying. Yet for the last two decades the metal titans have made it all seem so effortless. High quality, genre defining records and releases are simply the band going through the motions. At this point, it is not only likely, but expected that Neurosis will provide a fresh and incredible experience with each new release. And as typical fashion, the Oakland post-metal outfit does not disappoint. Their latest, Honor Found in Decay, is as challenging and engrossing a record as they have ever produced and an incredible celebration of the band’s legendary career as well. Read the full review on Sputnik Music

Titus Andronicus – Local Business
On the band’s third outing, we find lead singer/principle songwriter Patrick Stickles delivering some of his most self-reflective and honest lyrics. While the album’s overall concept seems to be dedicated to the dying businesses of its namesake, the record’s lyrics reflect a much more personal and emotional message– the desire to find some truth in this lonesome, bankrupt world. Local Business manages to sum itself up well within its first few stanzas. “Ok, I think, by now, we’ve established that everything is inherently worthless / And there is nothing in the universe with any kind of objective purpose,” Stickles screams with conviction. Some may view this as an incredibly depressing statement to start off an album, but Stickles delivers the line with such fervor that it almost seems liberating– a cleansing moment for the listener. Read the full review on No Ripcord

Gary Clark Jr. – Blak and Blu
Whether the deepest Muddy Waters cut or the Black Keys in some Home Depot ad, the blues has to have The Ache. It’s that un-fake-able sense that the voice you’re hearing has seen the ugliest parts of the world and is bearing every inch of their emotional wounds. For his part, Clark’s attempts at portraying The Ache result in the oh-so-close “Numb” and “Next Door Neighbor Blues”. Read the full review on Consequence of Sound

Macklemore & Ryan Lewis – The Heist
Author Malcolm Gladwell laid out the theory in his book Outliers: The Story of Success that regardless of God-given talent, an individual who strives for an ideal proficiency in their respective craft must first spend at least ten years honing their skills. Better known as the “10,000-Hour Rule” it can be applied to any industry – whether it is science, sports or the arts. Fittingly, it’s also a theory that Seattle rapper Macklemore stands by, as evidenced by his climb from earlier years of artistic stagnation and personal struggles to an underground sensation that has built his own success without the assistance of a record label. This culmination of an independent and willful demeanor is undoubtedly present on his debut full-length The Heist with producer Ryan Lewis. Read the full review on Hip Hop DX

Godspeed You Black Emperor – Allelujah! Don’t Bend! Ascend!
It’s tempting to look at Allelujah! through the lens of politics, especially since Godspeed themselves have so often encouraged this viewpoint. When we last heard from them on record, it was a year after 9/11, the invasion of Afghanistan was well underway, and the war in Iraq was just around the corner. We were settling into a decade that was, from an American perspective, defined by two wars started by an increasingly unpopular president and an inflating economic bubble that would pop just as he was leaving office. Their music and presentation drew some of its energy from this anxiety. So listening to new music from Godspeed now– during an election season, when the wars and the aftermath of that economy are still being argued every day by two presidential candidates grappling with the legacy of the early 2000s– you can’t help but allow the political moment to shape how it’s heard. Read the full review on Pitchfork
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wP6-wlhviKw

Donald Fagen – Sunken Condos
“Sunken Condos” begins with a familiar lyrical dilemma: perils of dating young women when, like Wooderson in “Dazed and Confused,” Fagen gets older and they stay the same age. “Slinky Thing” posits that everyone at a party is wondering “what she’s doing with that burned-out hippie clown.” This has been Fagen’s default position since he was in his 20s, and it always works, because there’s something compelling about someone who can be both a dirty old man and a practitioner of immaculate music. But elsewhere, as he did on 2006’s “Morph the Cat,” Fagen is dealing with new pressures buried in his timeless grooves. “They may fix the weather in the world, just like Mr. Gore said/ Tell me what’s to be done about the weather in my head,” Fagen sings in “Weather in My Head,” one of his best songs in years, against a crystalline modified blues progression.
Read the full review on NewsOK
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lKFBx_DzcY8

Benjamin Gibbard – Former Lives
Gibbard knows he has a good thing going for him, and after more than 15 years in the indie trenches, he knows how to play to his strengths. On his first proper solo album, Former Lives, Gibbard once again showcases the nuanced, nice-guy indie rock that has made him a central figure of the genre’s new wave. His tepid, sweet vocal delivery is intact, while musically the album continues to chip away at the pleasantly emotive indie pop the singer has long made his bread and butter. He might be going it alone this time out, but fans should be pleased to find he hasn’t strayed too far from home. Read the full review on Consequence of Sound

LCD Soundsystem – Shut Up And Play The Hits
Shut Up And Play The Hits will most likely bring fans of LCD Soundsystem to tears at least once. The band’s music has always been equal parts hilarious, depressing and affecting, and with such a highly-charged subject matter, anyone who likes the band enough will find it an intensely emotional experience.

But even those who’ve only dabbled in the band’s back catalogue (You might know Daft Punk Is Playing In My House, All My Friends, or Losing My Edge) will appreciate Murphy’s deadpan humour, his vitality and dedication, and most of all his honesty. Every word that comes out of his mouth during the film — just as in his lyrics — has been thought through at length, and is delivered just as carefully. Read the full review on The Wired UK

Tame Impala – Lonerism
If their debut was any indication, Tame Impala’s second full-length, Lonerism, will once again be compared to albums from the late 1960s and early 70s. But if their intent was to make a record that sounds like it came from that era, they’ve failed and ended up with something more fascinating. Sure, there’s merit to the countless groups and scenes that seek out the right tube amps and compressors and microphones in order to create flawless period pieces. They’re often called “revivalists,” even though the actual term is wasted on them. Are they really breathing new life into this form by keeping it cryogenically frozen in ideas nearly a half-century old? Tame Impala prove far more exciting because, by maximizing the use of the available technology, they tap into the progressive and experimental spirit of psychedelic rock, and not just the sound. Read the full review on Pitchfork

Ty Segall – Twins
In the tradition of Lemons and Melted, which each had ballads alongside searing garage punk, the new album doesn’t have a unified focus. With the exception of frenzied, shredding highlight “You’re the Doctor”, there’s nothing especially aggressive. “Gold on the Shore” is his acoustic-driven, folky, sentimental love song. Then there’s “The Hill”, the bleary psych track where Segall’s voice recalls John Lennon’s on “Tomorrow Never Knows”. (The track also features some beautiful vocals from Thee Oh Sees’ Brigid Dawson.) There are familiar elements from Segall’s backlog in play, like that specific fuzz guitar tone, which is something like his trademark at this point, and some two-minute songs– a number that’s especially apparent on his recent Singles collection. Those bite-sized singles pop next to lengthier tracks like “Ghost”, the slower stoned jam, or the romantic and apocalyptic closer “There Is No Tomorrow”. With each new song, hook, idea, and tone, it’s increasingly clear that Twins doesn’t fit in any one box. Read the full review on Pitchfork

Flying Lotus – Until The Quiet Comes

In the last five years, Flying Lotus has become a standard-bearer for 21st-century beat construction by looking forward and backward simultaneously and making music that feels like an exploration. So what happens when such an artist reaches a cul-de-sac? After Flying Lotus’ 2010 landmark Cosmogramma, further density was not an option. That album was packed so tightly with rhythms, instruments, and textures that adding more to the mix would have meant risking identity; just a few more samples could have turned the music into an indistinct mush that contains every color at once. Cosmogramma felt like an end game, and the new Flying Lotus album, Until the Quiet Comes, finds Ellison lighting out in a new direction. He’s thinking in terms of air, mood, and simplicity. In an interview with the UK magazine The Wire, Ellison described Quiet as his attempt at “a children’s record, a record for kids to dream to.” While there’s nothing cute or naive on the album, you get a sense of what Ellison might mean when it comes to dreaming. Read the full review on Pitchfork

The Tragically Hip – Now for Plan A
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2tYTgzwybNQ
Radio’s not likely to get the word out, however, so it will likely fall to Gord Downie et al. getting behind the material on Now For Plan A onstage during the months ahead to worm this fine collection of tunes into the popular consciousness.

These tunes deserve to find a place in there, too. Now For Plan A — captured mostly live off the floor by producer Gavin Brown (Metric, Billy Talent, Sarah Harmer) — doesn’t carry quite the same thrill of the new that We Are the Same did, but it’s fiercely played, more nuanced than it will be given credit for being and well stocked with songs that establish themselves as familiar friends with disarming quickness. Read the full review on The Toronto Star

Witchcraft – Legend

The band was originally started as a tribute to Pentagram, and they certainly wear their influence on their sleeve. Vocalist Magnus Pelander sounds almost like a dead ringer for the mighty Bobby Liebling, and the band still displays a flawless mix of doom and oldschool psychedelia. But the first thing you’ll notice upon pressing [PLAY] on Legend is that it’s way heavier than anything they’ve ever done before. The classic cuts from their old LPs certainly rocked with a uniquely tube-driven sound, but Legend just has this incredible punch to it in the production that really brings out the heaviness inherent in every riff. Read the full review on Metal Blast

Mumford & Sons – Babel
If you don’t own enough cable-knit sweaters to appreciate lyrics this earnest, the music may change your cynic’s mind. Producer Markus Dravs (Arcade Fire) works hard to capture the feverish uplift of the Sons’ live shows, giving each piano note and mandolin string the echoing-to-the-log-cabin-rafters treatment. And the band has mastered the emotional gut-punch of quiet/loud dynamics, exploding from low-murmured harmonies into full Appalachian freak-outs. All the while, Marcus howls about grace and love over a frenzy of strumming. Read the full review on EW

Efterklang – Pyramida
Topping each of their previous records – in particular the more melodious and orchestral-pop styled Magic Chairs – might not have necessarily have been at the top of their ‘to do’ list when setting out, but upon deciding to travel to the Norwegian Arctic to gather field recordings and create some of their own, it became a rather grander and more ambitious beginning than anything before it. They ended up with over 1000 field recordings and samples following their nine-day stay in Pyramiden and many of those recordings are scattered throughout the album, whether providing a skeleton to a track or embellishing on a large or small scale. That percussive introduction to album opener ‘Hollow Mountain’ is comprised of strikes of a fuel tank. There are many other instances of those ‘found sounds’ in each track, some being more integral than others – some skirting the edges, others more bold and prominent in their location. Read the full review on drowned in sound

Soft Pack – Strapped
The group’s new album is meant to be jammed loud and often. Singer/guitarist Matt Lamkin’s tunes are mush-mouthed, but melodic enough to emote even from the echo chamber he sings in. The guitars range from new wave to surf to straight ahead rock. On “Second Look” the band is polished with studio perfection and for that the song is the weak link for a band better suited for guitar skankin’. For me the down and dirty rock of “Saratoga” and “Ray’s Mistake” are where the band is at its best here. Read the full review on The Space Lab