The Head and the Heart accomplish more on Let's Be Still than presenting their ability to write and arrange melodies; they deliver a more mature set of songs that tell stories. The album is as relatable as it is listenable.

2013 appears to be the year of the break-out debut single. The story goes like this: if your single is strong enough, you get significant press, praise and enough hype and money to fund a debut album well beyond the means of most fledgling artists. Such is the case with Lorde's Ella Maria Lani Yelich-O'Connor.

You can keep Janelle Monae's cerebral, abstract inspiration for her art in the back of your head while enjoying The Electric Lady, but don't let the songs get lost in it.

In the last 10 years, few British rock bands have managed to translate their success into American sales. But this week, Arctic Monkeys' latest, AM, sits at the top in the Alternative Billboard charts and at #28 in the Top 200. Arctic Monkeys have definitely earned their place in the rock 'n' roll canon — on both sides of the Atlantic..

Wise Up Ghost is unlike any other album that will be released this year. The pairing of one of rock's best songwriters and lyricists with hip hop's best live band is worth a spot in your album collection.

Listen to Volcano Choir's sophomore release, Repave, and you'll find yourself enveloped in a swarm of lush, structured soundscapes, strings, percussion, vocal harmonies and mystery.

The new NIN album feels like a familiar friend. There are synthetic sounds that only Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross know how to make; this album is chock-full of those moments, as well as the sounds that give Hesitation Marks a career retrospective vibe.

Neko Case has taken the voice of everything from animals to tornadoes in her songs. On her new album, the ambitiously titled The Worse Things Get, The Harder I Fight, The Harder I Fight, The More I Love You, you get the sense that, for a change, she just might be singing in the voice of Neko Case.

With Right Thoughts, Right Words, Right Action, Franz Ferdinand are back and — for late August — have made your perfect summer record, so soak it up.

The best indie rock album of the year comes from a band with a career spanning over two decades.