They're among the very best American punk bands of their day, and show there's plenty of snarling, howling life left in the beast after all these years.

Complete Surrender shows that Taylor and Watson are willing to stretch out and continue their evolution as they deliver a strong third outing.

The uniformity of the album is at the expense of clear-cut standout tracks.

Rogers' guttural growls sound more menacing than ever, and what the album lacks in originality it makes up for with feverishly inventive riffs and melodies, making The Parallax II: Future Sequence the band's most inspired release since Alaska.

That her instincts are often right speaks to her skills; that she veers into accidental condescension suggests this country move may be motivated by finding a new audience, not satisfying her existing one.

There aren't many surprises here for fans, save for the fact that he manages to spin the same nocturnal stories of drugs, partying, and fornicating over 17 addictive tracks without it ever growing stale.

Presented as the daring and liberated sibling to a more traditional predecessor, Dawn of Chromatica unlocks an expanded world of potential and reminds her legion of Little Monsters that she still has a finger on the pulse and isn't afraid to take risks once in a while.

Curtain Call 2 is generous to a fault, playing like an endless streaming playlist instead of a curated compilation, yet it does feature many highlights from Eminem's mid-career records.

The pairing of Le Bon's netherworld production and Banhart's malleable talents makes Flying Wig a weird and enjoyable ride. It's a whole new spectrum of sounds and ideas for Banhart, but it fits as one more chapter in his oft-mutating muse.

The mix of the old, the new, and the unexpected... makes Live at Earls Court one of the most successful albums of Morrissey's career.

Folks who were hoping Sing It Loud would be k.d. lang's return to the approach of Absolute Torch & Twang are going to be left wanting again, but if you've been eager to see her clear out a stylistic direction that's her own and make something of it, this album feels like a strong step in a bold, satisfying new direction.

The songs take agile twists and turns, the guitar interplay between Mike Haliechuk and Josh Zucker is satisfying and makes room for far more than the traditional four/four downstroke, and bassist Sandy Miranda and drummer Jonah Falco power this music with muscle and panache. And if the mix doesn't always put Abraham's vocals front and center, making it something of a challenge to understand all the lyrics, what's audible hits an admirable balance between rage and hope.

There are also plenty of moments that aren't groundbreaking, but still show that Merill Nisker has a lot to say about sex, music, and pop culture nearly a decade after Teaches of Peaches was released.

Rant goes far beyond any glee club or barbershop perceptions with its reverence and creativity; while it may not change the mind of anyone who thinks a capella pop music is inherently hokey, it's still one of the Futureheads' most exciting albums.

Carry On might be the most personal Willy Mason record to date and finds him unafraid to use traditional blues motifs--narrow roads, one-way streets, and fugitives--to fully express himself as a songwriter.

Song for song, The Blow is arguably a more consistent set of songs than Paper Television was, but its aloof wit ultimately makes for slightly smaller pleasures than what came before it.

With this sophomore record, Nap Eyes offer a subtle gem that ultimately improves on their debut.

It's a record that gets by on feel, not songs, which may mean that it doesn't provide many distinguishing hooks, but it does sound awfully good as it plays.

It can be difficult to digest the combination of super-catchy pop hooks and shocking or gross lyrics on Miami Memory, but both are essential for the complex, cynical fiction Cameron has been building on all his albums. This one is the best produced, most catchy, and most vulgar of his catalog up until this point.

Christian Lee Hutson manages to make you care about him and his life even as he artfully reveals his darkest side on Quitters, and while it's hard to tell if he thinks California really is beautiful or if he's one of the doubters, he tells his stories well enough that you'll follow this LP to the end as you try to figure it out.

It's to their credit that Plaid aren't preoccupied with being cutting-edge on Reachy Prints. Instead, they bring the playful, brainy spirit of their best work over the years into the 21st century with lively results.

Ben Kweller treads the same path as Kweller's other work, but fortunately, it still sounds genuine, not formulaic.

Few songwriters can capture the bleak comedy of loneliness, bitterness, and the sheer helplessness that accompanies aging than Merritt, and he does so here with great aplomb.

The album delivers the type of lush, cheerful disco Lindstrøm has always been known for, but there's a much darker undercurrent present here, and it feels like one of his most emotionally complex works yet.

A welcome return, Across the Meridian reaffirms that music is a little weirder and a lot more wonderful with Pram back in it--it's as if they spent the past decade globe-trotting a world of their own and returned with these brilliant vignettes as souvenirs for their listeners.

Yeah, sometimes Quasi get a little too carried away with themselves and the album seems a bit directionless, but that's only when they move away from the grit and into the prettier, synth-based tunes.

Drokk: Music Inspired by Mega-City One is a completely satisfying project on its own, but it's also so good that it practically cries out for a film to be made to fit its cues.

Many bands start to lose their way around the time of their third album, but on Two Thousand and Ten Injuries Love Is All sound better than ever and well-positioned to keep making smart, hooky, passionate records for a long time to come.

[An] odd, somewhat bewildering, and perhaps hopefully transitional effort.

The commercial strides are obvious. The creative advancements are less apparent, obstructed by some unappealing measures, but they're in there.

Everything is suited for Babyface, often to the point where the songs don't sound tremendously different from what he has written during the last several years.

On its face, this album is intended for adventurous listeners who enjoy exploring the classical avant-garde, though deeper investigation may attract others interested in sound sculptures, noise studies, and electronica, who can appreciate the atmospheric colors and shimmering sonorities of these modern masterworks.

The band takes risks, incorporating styles like rockabilly and classic rock into its punk fusion in a way that's dizzying but never disconcerting.

So many competing sounds and ideas become a bit of a creative mess, and the dark mood of the slower songs "Call Me Up," "One Day," "Owl," and "Warrior" can feel oppressive at times. Luckily the final track, "Give It to the People" is a good-natured, "Crazy"-esque single that is upbeat enough to make the wade through the muck worth the effort.

The plethora of unlikely choices adds a depth and tension to the songs, recalling a variety of unique reference points while creating the album's own remarkably strange, remarkably honest statement.

It was written, performed, cut, and mixed with great care, and as such delivers Arthur's creative vision with abundant emotional power.

With just the right balance of brooding and brightness, Dream Cave is one of those albums that seems tailor-made for rainy day reflection, with Cloud Control giving listeners just the push they need to go into their own heads and look around for a bit.

Ibibo Sound Machine is an auspicious debut. The producers molded their rhythms around that beautiful voice with taste, creativity, and integrity, and the band plays the hell out of it all.

Significantly more experimental than Colleran's previous work, Luneworks also feels much more personal, and it continues to establish MMOTHS as a unique voice in the indie electronic scene.

Songs like these and "Keep It Simple" make the most of Lo's big voice and personality on an album that, despite its provocative title, often feels more straightforward than Queen of the Clouds did.

Little Steven may share the same sense of grandeur in his sonics, but he keeps his focus earthbound, and that provides a nice tension to Soulfire: it's big music about everyday things.

Spooky Action is rollicking exercise in high-impact lo-fi rock that should more than satisfy anyone who has dug any of Loewenstein's projects in the past.

While the B-52's belatedly embraced electronics on 2008's Funplex, Change finds Wilson doing the same, but from a decidedly different vantage point, and it fits her beautifully; it's a successful musical reinvention that presents her talent in a whole new light.

A little bit of a diversion from past Four Tet releases, Sixteen Oceans feels like Hebden is taking a moment to stop and reflect on his family, his environment, music culture, and everything else that made him who he is.

If there's no happy ending for the heroine, the album still satisfies with its artful balance of meditation and catharsis.

Even though this shouldn't be confused for a proper DOOM album, two of the three tracks without him are clearly low points. ... Despite these missteps, Super What? is another worthwhile issue of the Czarface saga, and a fond farewell to DOOM.

This carefully constructed introspection does fulfill Rowntree's intention of Radio Songs mimicking the shape-shifting nature of late-night listening, acting as an aural journey to an astral plane.

Stampede is the work of a singer who is a star and obviously excited by the possibilities it offers him as a performer, but the best moments suggest he should offer a little more space for Orville Peck the Artist, who deserves his share of the spotlight.

The Great Satan absolutely rips, with the jagged riffs, wild audio samples, and jackhammer drumming (courtesy of Ginger Fish) supporting some of Zombie's best (and most rabid) vocals in many an album.

It’s a mellow experience without being a simplistic or obvious one, and this relaxed environment creates easier points of access for ideas that would be too weird for some listeners if they weren’t couched in welcoming chimes of guitar or smiling synths.

He's proceeding at the pace of a 74-year-old legend with nothing to prove, yet he's not resting on his laurels, he's just doing what he's always done: singing songs so expertly his virtuosity almost goes unnoticed.

Mosaics Within Mosaics may be the project's most ambitious sonic scrapbook, but its masterful presentation makes its cornucopia of found-sound indie micro-symphonies float by gracefully.

Even when songs lose sight and flail indulgently, the drumming is astounding. Zach Hill might just be the most prolific drummer of our time (as if his work on Marnie Stern's third album, released a few weeks earlier, wasn't proof enough). But, on top of this, he is a most unique visionary.

Even at its bleakest, Fortuna reveals more colors and emotions at the band's disposal than Antipodes did, and its unsettled songs become oddly comforting and endearing with repeated listening.

Madness is their most consistent and well-crafted set list to date, and while it may move them further toward the pop end of the hardcore spectrum, it does little to dampen their combustible core.

What might look and sound like merely another Stott album has the deepest well of emotion.

Some of the band's finest music yet, to say that Kazuashita was worth the wait is an understatement; it's a timely, necessary expression of hope that also feels like a union of the new and the eternal.

Redeemer of Souls is also the loosest (attitude-wise), leanest (arrangement-wise), and most confident-sounding collection of new material the band has released in ages, and while it will forever tread beneath high-water marks like British Steel and Sad Wings of Destiny, it most certainly deserves to be ranked alongside albums from that era.

Gallagher retains a slight edge to his voice that enlivens even staid settings, but this gift isn't necessarily necessary as his urgent delivery does give the album a driving force. He's working in a tonier setting, relying heavily on studio wizardry and polish, yet Liam Gallagher remains a rock & roll star, the kind who turns generic material into something worth a listen.

Here, everything is balanced; the scope is small, close, and textured by pedal steel guitars, very organic percussion, and Lanois' voice way up front.

Silver Lining is ultimately a showcase for exceptional singing and riveting backup work.

Despite some slightly draggy moments, On My Way is still another solid effort.

Earle's polemics are much stronger than the work of your typical "protest" songwriter, and this is a better focused and more passionate work than Jerusalem.

The magic is sadly absent from this overly-upholstered, clumsily ornate, and intensely disappointing return trip into the realm of boogie rock.

Directness is key to her appeal: there are no greys in Carrie's music, only blazing primary colors. Appropriately enough, Storyteller gleams with steely assurance, perhaps the toughest and boldest record yet but one that hardly soft-pedals her softer side.

While nowhere near as focused as 2009's White Lies for Dark Times, Give Till It's Gone does possess moments when all of Harper's gifts as a writer and guitarist are evidently clear.

While it doesn't sound at all the same, fans of Robert Fripp's Frippertronics (Let the Power Fall) or Henry Kaiser's guitar-with-delay work (It's a Wonderful Life, Where Endless Meets Disappearing) should really enjoy this.

All in all, Hungry Ghosts is another solid album from one of pop's most versatile and charming bands.

If he sometimes sounds like he leans too hard into his rasp, this vocal tic is mitigated by those songwriting skills and the supple sound of Cobb's production, elements that turn Encore into a minor gem.

All told, Forward Motion Godyssey isn't quite as much fun as Post Animal's debut, but they still deliver that characteristic warmth as well as uncommonly sharp hooks, fills, and theatrics of a nature that should delight air guitarists and drummers everywhere.

Black Radio creates an entirely new context for popular music in its near erasure of boundaries. It is the sound of the future--even if no one knows it yet.

The talent, both of Rock and his guests (which, besides El-P, also include Ron Sonic, John Darnielle from the Mountain Goats, Breezly Brewin', and Cage) is impressive, and makes None Shall Pass an album that deserves a lot of attention, both inside and outside the hip-hop world.

What he isn't, however, is an album-oriented artist, and that's clear on Startin' Fires, his fifth studio release. There's a little bit of everything here, and that's part of the problem.

If the band had explored their bluesy leanings more, Light Me Up could have been a small-scale revolution, but even as it stands now, it's still a wicked good record.

A truly engaging listen, Tree Bursts in Snow should see the band build on their unexpected transatlantic exposure.

Where the band's last effort was rooted in their past, Last Act of Defiance has its feet firmly planted in the present with a message that feels both important and timely, making for a solid album that shows Sick of It All aren't just going through the motions.

Maybe his previous effort, 2013's I Am, flowed better and came with more of a sense of purpose, but this loose LP is still well above satisfying and features highlights that stand with the man's best.

There was never any doubt that Bret McKenzie knew how to write a good song, and on Songs Without Jokes, he's more than capable of doing so outside of the framework of an outwardly imposed narrative or feeling obligated to make the listener laugh.

However they dress up their music, it remains easy to connect with and this album proves it.

His influences are worn lightly, the melodies remain inventive, and there is a real elegance to Sinkane's music. Hopefully next time he'll get back in the driver's seat.

Brightest Blue's main disc is Goulding's deepest emotional journey yet, a triumph of empowerment and self-discovery.

Even in these more saccharine moments, however, it's hard to dismiss the album's optimistic spirit. With Rain Before Seven..., Penguin Cafe acknowledge grief and loss but prefer to express joy and positivity.

It's always fun to see where Smith's muse will take him next, but this kind of simple and true album is where he is at his best.

Even when the Johns' sentiments are morbid, I Like Fun's music seizes the joy of the moment.

While it's unlikely to define its own era, it calls forth some classic elements from a prior era to great effect, and with some top-notch songcraft to boot.

A debut that sounds a lot like New York urbanites the Rachel's and the Clogs, but a little more dangerous.

While Radio Music Society may play better to younger pop audiences than more die-hard jazzheads, this program is so diverse and well executed--despite a little overreaching--it's anybody's guess.

After decades of giving us good and even fine work, he's finally treated the faithful to a masterpiece.

The softly spooked-out acid folk of The Pirate's Gospel is a captivating debut from Alela Diane, whose enthusiasm and ability for a then-extremely-fresh learner on guitar is quite something.

Asking for Flowers leaves no doubt that Kathleen Edwards has arrived and made an album that's funny, startling, poignant, and (once again) worthy of repeated play.

The Soft Pack allows this band an almost completely clean break with their past while showing they’re dynamic no matter what they’re called.

Though there are a few missteps ... the document's strengths supersede them in a powerful and inviting way.

A compelling and rich move toward adulthood from one of the underground's most prolonged and complicated adolescents.

Even though they don't quite have the fire that they used to, this more fully realized sound shouldn't have much trouble keeping their fans happy.

Ultimately, though, it is just this diverse stylistic quality, both in the source material and Elling's arrangements, that make The Brill Building Project one of his most interesting albums.

II is the kind of crafted album you just don’t expect from a supergroup or side project as it matches, and maybe even tops, the work of its individual parties.

While it's nice to see Rowe explore more, all the stylistic gymnastics leave Madman feeling, at times, a bit disjointed. Despite this, the album is easily the singer's most accessible and eclectic record to date.

The album sounds like it was spontaneously recorded and bashed out on cheap instruments onto a malfunctioning tape deck, and there are several tracks that cut off or feel like the tape has been smudged. Even as the music barely holds together, it still sounds like something Moothart obsessed over and poured all his conflicting emotions into.