Editors' Choice for January 2009

Second solo album by New Pornographers leader moves closer to his band's electric power pop.

— Charity Stafford

NOBLE BEAST finds singer/violinist/guitarist Andrew Bird further refining his elegant, erudite brand of indie-pop.

— Eric Schneider

Animal Collective have not only created a private soundworld like no other, they've also made it an inviting place to visit.

— John Bush

THE CRYING LIGHT is a heartrending journey through human need, desire, transformation, and our confrontation with loneliness and death.

— Anthony Tognazzini

PARANOID COCOON is the 2009 album by the indie-folk act Cotton Jones.

— Eric Schneider

MC Dalek and his producer okt0pus have leaned especially heavily toward a menacing swirl of ambience and noise.

— Kenneth Herzog

TONIGHT finds Scottish rockers Franz Ferdinand in debauched dance mode.

— Eric Schneider

When prefab teen idols ruled, Cannon was pounding out vibrant, raucous tunes.

— Jim Allen

This 1973 release found the maverick musician turning from his previous experiments with free jazz to embrace his Latin American roots

— Anthony Tognazzini

Watson swaggers and croons through two late-'70s albums at the intersection of classic country ballads, honky tonk, and the emerging urban cowboy sound.

— Rovi Staff

The band is satirical in concept, but the music here is authentic, unadulterated rawk, a powerfully crushing update of Blue Cheer and Sabbath doomsday grunge.

— Rovi Staff

Proving once again that done-to-death standards can be given a new lease on life.

— Mark Keresman

Ranging from countrified reggae to funky Americana, blue-eyed soul, jazz, dub, and more, this 13-track set is the best representation of Nichols' musical identity.

— Rovi Staff

Redman’s tenor is full-bodied and shiny like Rollins, also deep, sleek, and quick-witted.

— Mark Keresman

FANTASY BLACK CHANNEL is the debut album by the club-minded British indie-rock act Late of the Pier.

— Eric Schneider

DEAR JOHN is an intensely listenable, low-key triumph.

— Stephen May

DISORDER is richly varied--from elegant takes on standards to volatile upsurges to lyrical abstractions.

— Mark Keresman

Often dark, sophisticated, and urgent -- and including live instrumentation -- Amateur Dramatics presents a seamless mix of styles and sounds.

— Rovi Staff

They tear up the house on songs associated with everyone from Burnside to Muddy Waters here, not to mention their original tunes.

— Jim Allen

On this far-reaching conceptual recording, Rodriguez-Lopez and friends whip up the most ambitious musical stew he's ever created.

— Rovi Staff

With a newly condensed name, PPP orchestrate a walloping, firmly R&B-rooted set with multiple dimensions and no misfires.

— Rovi Staff

Psychic Ills go deeper into the drones that made Dins such a breakthrough, making those elongated spaces the heart of the music.

— Rovi Staff

Ravi is not shy about embracing inspiration outside of mainstream jazz.

— Mark Keresman

Without straying far from Babyshambles' cheerier, cheekier side, Adam Ficek's debut as Roses Kings Castles favors charmingly low-key indie pop over jagged rock.

— Rovi Staff

RAISE is the full-length debut by the revered British shoegazer act Swervedriver.

— Eric Schneider

An underrated early ‘90s alt-rock classic.

— Eric Schneider

The spirit of both Memphis and Muscle Shoals can be heard in much of the material here.

— Jim Allen

The loud, bitchy, smart, and messy debut full-length from Titus Andronicus.

— Justin Stewart

The group’s debut is all jittery riffs, slacker-poet vocals, and rudimentary drum fills.

— Kenneth Herzog