Just Be Free is a wonderfully functional album, displaying Queen Freedia at her very best.

Though the disc starts off unhurried and threatens to dawdle, the gentle lilt of "Goodbye to the Ground," makes for one of Moorer's most creative efforts to date.

Their ventures paid off supremely, as One Life Stand is an enjoyable and captivating listen on every level.

Like a rare, truly-great creepshow, it's the type of harrowing ride I want to experience again and again.

With Last of the Great Pretenders, Nathanson captures the organic energy of a city full of exuberant personalities, legendary landmarks, and gorgeous vistas, and the result is one of the most bulletproof summer discs to come along this year.

As you might imagine, it's yet another interpretation of classic surf-rock, but as crowded as this scene seems to have gotten lately, most of its practitioners do the style quite well. Surfer Blood are no exception, and their varied approach makes for an intriguing album.

Hit The Lights came back in 2015, and all things considered, sound like they did in 2011.

The Beast in Its Tracks wouldn’t be a Josh Ritter album without at least a few home-runs, and luckily, the hits here are plentiful.

Take Care does a beautiful job of giving Drake the best group of features that complement his style while rarely outshining him.

Unfortunately, there are quite a few pitfalls outside of just weak hooks. The pacing of the album feels a little off, and it starts pretty early on with "Los Awesome" being a jarring change from the opener "Gangsta," though the former is much more enjoyable than the latter.

Wasting Light isn't perfect, but its flaws are essential to its being.

His latest release with the Black Widows, the pop-tinged, rock-and-roll based The Spade, is a collection of reasons why. It's tough to imagine why any band or artist would pass over a chance to work with Walker after hearing this release.

For all its flaws, Beach Slang’s debut is a fun and absolutely engaging listen.

Diamond Eyes is full of layers and dimensions, making it an auditory treat that listeners will want to continue to indulge themselves in. This is an album you can blast from my car stereo and then later dissect through headphones.

The musicianship and songwriting is easily on par with Magic and exceeds the output on Working On A Dream, and as a whole, Wrecking Ball stacks up considerably with The Rising, which to this day I consider a top-5 Springsteen album.

This is what those album reviewers mean, when they talk about setting the bar high.

It's the ambiguity of styles, the insistence on bringing the listener along for a journey, that makes Total Life Forever such an endlessly interesting statement.

Sure she's unconventional, a bit puzzling but in the end she is undeniably rewarding and compelling. Hell, come to think of it, Hunting My Dress might be one of 2010's most pleasant surprises.

With her second proper full-length, Dessa has been cemented as one of the most important voices in not only hip-hop but all music today.

After we leave the forebodingly beautiful place of Little Hell one thing is certain--this is City and Colour's finest, most creative work to date.

The only time the record comes across as flawed is the manner in which certain tracks happen to run into each other, however largely, this is easy to ignore when the rest of the record is so great. Local Business is certainly the business.

Bigger, badder, and louder than ever, Ex Lives will go down as the definitive Every Time I Die record.

With Leveler, August Burns Red stays true to their sound while remaining fresh. The 12 tracks contain new dynamics and elements that are sure to please old and new fans alike, while Jake Luhrs' performance places him to the very top of best vocalists within the genre.

This is Winterpills at their finest, this is Winterpills with a direction and a clear focus.

Twelve Years is a record that can and should become the soundtrack to many a young person's life in 2012.

Awakened makes for a reasonable continuation in the band's sound, but finds the group making a significant stride in their ability to mix their talents together while keeping the songwriting at dizzying heights.

While Migrant is Casey Crescenzo’s most accessible record ever, it’s also his most honest and real Dear Hunter LP yet.

The palpably effervescent joy of Rae Sremmurd feels untainted by the ills of reality and stands against a backdrop of contemporaries like Shmurda and Chief Keef who use their as a way of combating the grim reality of inner city rot.