Casiotone‘s Owen Ashworth has really outdone himself on his fourth full-length album, Etiquette. While boasting a solid cult following for years, Ashworth has seemingly kept to what he knew, i.e. writing brilliant short stories and setting them to programmed electronic music using Casiotone keyboards.

Pay attention everybody, because this Is the story of the letdown of the year. The tale of a band that had all the hype two years ago (the Unicorns) who abruptly parted ways just as word was beginning to spread of their amazing live shows and their popularity was forming a huge wave that suddenly crashed down leaving a mere puddle of hype around Americas ankles.

After their critically acclaimed but unsuccessful selling commercial debut, The Minstrel Show, Little Brother returns with a mix tape to keep their fan’s appetite wet. An unlikely collaboration with Southern mix tape guru DJ Drama may raise an eyebrow or two, but the music far exceeds any stereotypical judgments.

Enter, a six-song, 44-minute coming of age of Chicago’s Russian Circles, ably balances lovely clean-channel melodies and big-assed riffs alike. Its deft combinations of interwoven harmonies, rhythmic grooves, and nod-inducing drum work, along with its substantial ability to structure all-instrumental jams, make the standard-practice eight-minute tune feel much closer to four.

This is a sharp right for Sondre Lerche; the Norwegian downshifts from guitar-wielding young indie popster into jazz quartet leader, and somehow makes it seem like this is what he was always meant to do.

I have yet to hear a really great tribute album. They’re all just academic exercises – what would Ween sound like covering Barbra Streisand? (Actually, that sounds like something Ween has probably done.) So the Radiohead tribute Exit Music didn’t exactly disappoint: my expectations were quite low, and it just about met them.

The teaming of rapper/singer Cee-Lo Green and slick producer Dangermouse is a wet dream waiting to happen for the hipster/indie crowd. The irony, though, is that music lovers of all genres can appreciate the music on this album.

On Murray’s Revenge, Murs and producer 9th Wonder of Little Brother fame team up for a sequel to 2005’s 3:16. There is definitely a great musical chemistry between these two as they produce another top-notch album. Murs, one of L.A.’s most underrated emcees, is still going strong with another album full of witty, sarcastic, tongue-cheek humor and thought-provoking lyrics.

A Little Place in the Wilderness (Good Fences) is another addition for an era of soft-spoken, sad songwriter albums in the vein of Sufjan Stevens, Death Cab, and Bright Eyes.

If the White Stripes met Le Tigre and Fisherspooner in an alley and fought until their spirits merged and no one died, you would be left with a totally unrealistic situation – but also the music of Prototypes.

Since 1998, the Jonas Kullhammar Quartet have quietly released five albums, received two Swedish Grammys, toured Europe, Canada, and the United States – without the help of major press coverage.

Mission of Burma are back. And I mean that in the symbolic, hyperbolic, metaphoric sense of the word. On this, The Obliterati, the second record of their crucial and laudable reunion, the band has nudged and nuzzled their way into their former selves, rocking an estimable force of hungry, inspired, pedal-to-the-metal indie rock.