Enter The 37th Chamber by El Michels Affair

Enter The 37th Chamber by El Michels Affair

Even though the 13 full tracks clock in at a brisk 36 minutes, the band doesn't just settle for playing the loops, mixing in slinky horn riffs, warbling organ and some of the kung-fu movie dialogue from the originals. This is a beautiful, funky enigmatic record made with the sounds that inspired its inspirations.

Hard to Find by The American Analog Set

Hard to Find by The American Analog Set
Now that indie pop has become overwhelmed by towering piles of instruments you can almost name, this retrospective sounds almost radically fresh.

Sun Giant by Fleet Foxes

Sun Giant by Fleet Foxes

Fleet Foxes feel particularly provocative and evocative. "Drops in the River" and "English House" are the two best songs here (just as they are on the full-length), and they cascade like '70s singer-songwriter stuff right outta Laurel Canyon. Certainly not much new, but plenty worth hearing.

Rook by Shearwater

Rook by Shearwater

It’s nearly impossible to think of Shearwater’s intimate, emotional music — in particular, Meiburg’s seemingly airborne tenor — without such words as soaring, swooping or sailing. Both the quartet and its singer seem to be, like the winged life with which they’re clearly obsessed, on the verge of defying gravity.

My Maudlin Career by Camera Obscura

My Maudlin Career by Camera Obscura

Camera Obscura’s quiet, acoustic brilliance – the kind you’d associate with Kings Of Convenience – occasionally gives way to a bigger sound. Like the blooming confidence of someone accepted by the opposite sex, My Maudlin Career is a happier record than previous efforts and more content with itself and with the world.

Lost Channels by Great Lake Swimmers

Lost Channels by Great Lake Swimmers

Lost Channels is a great album, coherent from the first to the last note. Great Lake Swimmers create a special, beautiful atmosphere. Great sound that avoids the cliches of folk music and the over production of pop.

El Día Después by Aroah

El Día Después by Aroah

Introspective pop ambiance that is beautifully tender. It is a record of an intense, harsh reflection. That harshness is all still sealed in Irene Tremblay’s reflective head, however, and the intensity is all in the Spanish lyrics. Aroah’s El día después is both autumnal and pastoral.

Les Heures De Raison by Soy Un Caballo

Les Heures De Raison by Soy Un Caballo

The duo Soy Un Caballo (Spanish for "I am a horse") features Bonnie Prince Billy (Will Oldham) and Sean O'Hagan (High Llamas). They write and perform songs of exquisite fragility. "Delicate, wispy melodies vie with choral refrains...smooth as silk, cool as a cucumber and light as a feather" by Subba-Cultcha. "An album that enchants and leaves you to imagine" - Wire.

The Long Lost by The Long Lost

The Long Lost by The Long Lost

Imagine Nico had left The Velvet Underground and decided to relocate to California with Caetano Veloso. Imagine most of all their beautiful attempt to write and make a new popular music about love was completely sincere and full of overwhelming emotions.

Hospice by The Antlers

Hospice by The Antlers

Hauntingly tragic and beautiful at points. The depth of "Prologue", "Kettering" and "Wake" make it hard to imagine ever getting tired of it. Someone to watch in the future.

One Day You'll Dance For Me Tokyo by Dalminjo

One Day You'll Dance For Me by Dalminjo

This attention-getting new project genre jumps from Jazz to Chillout to House to Broken Beat to Latin, Disco and Pop. It's a melting pot of pure satisfaction for those who like to move.