Perhaps because he caught his childhood love of music at least in part from 'Nashville Skyline,' Josh Ritter has been subjected to Bob Dylan comparisons for most of his career. But on his sixth album, Ritter expands his palette in every conceivable direction.   

A.C. Newman should be studied by science in an attempt to discover the secret of his dual creative successes as the primary spark plug for The New Pornographers and as a solo artist. The Porns' fifth album, 'Together,' continues the band's unparalleled string of studio excellence while furthering the concrete-instrument-and-arrangement approach of 2007's baroque Pop and inexplicably misunderstood 'Challengers.'