With such a resounding sadness, it's doubtful that this will be the album to pull in new listeners, but it's certainly his most mature record, and packs a hell of an emotional punch.

While this isn't a giant leap forward or a stunning diversion from previous releases, Hood's on a roll and it's hard not to welcome the usual power and polish

Tiden may be listened to passively and with great enjoyment, but to do so would be to miss its sense of invention and adventure.

It's a damn good debut from a guy worth watching out for in the future.

The album is great, in particular Shaw's uncannily Misfits-evoking performances. It's a testament to the verve of Hunx & His Punx that whatever form their muse takes, they fearlessly follow it and are even able to communicate a core of their own sonic personalities when doing so.

The impossibly orchestrated compositions on Songs Cycled are constantly unraveling and being wound back in, making them a little bit hard to keep up with at times, but something amazing to behold nonetheless.

The Argument never seems like work, as Hart is thoroughly engaged, delivering songs that work on their own terms but purposefully add up to an intriguing, tantalizing enigma.

With their ever-expanding arsenal of masterfully crafted musical traditions, they prove once more to refuse to be anything less than what they are: one of the most explorative and inexhaustibly creative bands on the planet.

Slow Focus delivers some of their most masterful and seemingly effortless music yet.

Only a handful of the tracks here have a lot of staying power, and the rest, while always colorful and even enjoyable, are fast to fade.

Thanks to the strong songs, Selena's reliably strong vocals, and the variety of sounds, it adds up to be another fine entry in her catalog and just another example of why Selena Gomez is one of the best pop stars making music in 2013.

With this album, the Octopus Project sound as jubilant and ecstatic as peers like Deerhoof or Dirty Projectors and channel the same optimism and weird charm as the Flaming Lips, while pushing their own unique sound into warmer, more accessible places than expected.

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

Between these two sets, fans get a chance to explore the many facets of High on Fire's sound, and no matter which side of the coin you might fall on, the Spitting Fire Live series has something for you.

Throughout it all, his rich, lived-in baritone, which can go from a funereal dirge to a supernatural caterwaul in a matter of seconds, delivers the goods like the world's most demented herald, but even at his most fevered, he remains such an engaging figure, that it's nearly impossible to look away from the scene of the crime, even as the blood begins pooling around the listeners' feet.

Bitchin' Bajas sound completely removed from the side-project stigma on these four lengthy tracks, presenting languid, textural explorations with too much focus and intensity to appear incidental or secondary.

If this collection of alternate mixes and variations sounds like something you need to hear, it is; if it sounds like a mere curiosity, that is also true. Know yourself well enough to know which camp you belong.

Lickety Split is not only a joyous, unhindered return to form, but the group's finest studio offering to date.

While Walk Through Exits Only might not be in the wheelhouse of a lot of Pantera fans, it's nice to see the frontman expanding his horizons with a little metal mayhem.

Bareilles is such a naturally melodic songwriter that she doesn't run much of a risk of seeming insular on The Blessed Unrest and, fortunately, the feel of the album follows the contours of her melodies, so its melancholy is warm and inviting.

Even if Lenses' individual tracks remain as foggy as dry ice on the dancefloor, as a whole the album brings Soft Metals' music into focus, revealing them as a tighter, more versatile group in the process.

The album's 19 tracks weave an icy, cinematic narrative as Torbjørn Brundtland and Svein Berge pick choice cuts from their record collections.

While it may be a bit of a pre-2013 tour advert/cash grab, like all Folds-related products, it's certainly not without its charms.

The album is an adequate addition to one of the most impressive artist discographies within any genre, not great enough to overshadow the heavily scrutinized corporate alliance that assisted with its ascent.

Wherever this door does go, it is a place that calls for boat shoes, a relaxed attitude, and a returning fan's patience.

"Phoebe" is a modified bluegrass stomp and "Sunshine" comes streaming in on breezy harmonies, while "Rock All Night" and "Watch Your Step" are anchored in roots rock, but Amelita is, at its heart, an adult pop album and it's a gorgeous one at that: it glides by easily but it digs deep.

An excellent, unexpected, and infectious triumph.

With practically no dependence on laptop recording tricks, Stills sounds completely lost in another era, and all the darker and truer for it.

Even if his take on the blues is far from straightforward, this might be the most accessible set of songs associated with Lynch to date. In its own hypnotic way, The Big Dream honors the blues' lust for life and its lonely heart.

On Big Sur, Frisell delivers an inspired musical portrayal of the land, sky, sea, and wildlife of the region with majesty, humor, and true sophistication.

Some Congo Natty regulars, including vocalists Nanci Correia and Phoebe "Iron Dread" Hibbert, give the album a proper family feel, and with all these things in place, it's just natural to explain the album's worth with an old-school exclamation like "massive."

Ultimately, while the toothy smiles might be wiped off the faces of Robertson and the rest of the Barenaked Ladies' faces, Grinning Streak reveals that their hearts remains firmly on their sleeves.

While these certainly aren't pop songs designed to grab you in the immediate sense, they are gorgeous and poetic recordings that stick with you long after the songs have ended.

The warmth of the album comes through in the songwriting, its lyrical content, and the soft-edged production, capturing an insular sense of self-exploration as well as something more universally reaching.

It's highly doubtful that anyone other than a true-blue fan would be able to get past the asinine boasts, the overwhelming misogyny, and the pure outlandishness of it all.

It's evident that Arie's in a good place, both creatively and personally, yet SongVersation is not about self-satisfaction. She has no trouble bringing her listeners along.

The measured, modest, and melancholy "Airs" applies the finishing touches, wrapping up another flight of fancy from of one rock & roll's most illustrious, real-time dreamers.

Produced by Jacquire King in Nashville, the album has a distinctly organic feel, as if it were recorded in an old theater.

Even if it's not as striking or emotionally resonant as Duntisbourne Abbots Soulmate Devastation Technique, it's certainly an engaging, welcome return.

It is attractive not only for its unusual, sophisticated musical presentation and smart, poetic lyricism, but for its canny instinct as well.

Me Moan sounds like nothing else out there; it's completely original.

Denser and fathoms deeper, this is some kind of leap.

The dusky flute and steadfast bass take care to set us back down on our feet as a bubbly synth bays like a hungry hound in the distance and twilight fades peacefully into night.

Many listeners may find themselves drawn in by the authentic retro indie style and musical similarities to bands like Bettie Serveert and Helium, but the daring, experimental mystique and whip-smart pop melodies ultimately make Major Arcana grow infectious with repeated listens.

In its own subtle way the album delivers on the promise and intentions of Turning the Mind.

Fans will be overjoyed and those unfamiliar with Letlive or even modern hardcore circa 2013 should begin with this compelling document of anger, loss, and struggle.

The result isn't a muddled mess but another lean and focused set, despite the involvement of several writers and producers.

Clearly disciples of the era of album rock, Wolf People have created a record that works best when taken as a whole piece, and when experienced as such, it creates a unique environment that's cold, cryptic, mysterious, and startlingly direct all at once.

Despite a few moments of inconsistency, Fool Metal Jack fares far better than most records from bands returning to form after decades of silence, and in its best moments highlights the brilliance of a group that never lost its unique voice.

All told, The Migration is an exciting and surprisingly fun album filled will take listeners on a journey through its soaring heights, provided they're brave enough to handle the thrills.

An impressive first full-length from an artist equally adept at intricate productions and affecting songwriting, Without Your Love brings all of Greenspan's talents together in a satisfying whole.

Although not as strong or as memorable as his first effort, this album will grow on the listener, and its melodies and ideas are intriguing enough to merit repeat listens.

Many bands go through their entire career without making an album as well crafted, fully realized, and downright gorgeous as Sunbather, and somehow, Deafheaven have managed to nail it on their second outing, with an album that seems to get bigger and more affective with each listen.

The control and variety they display throughout Long Distance Song Effects shows that Goldheart Assembly have come into their own here.

A sense of excited satisfaction runs through L'Ami du Peuple, finding a still curious and motivated Kinsella a little bit older, but learning new things all the time and coming up with some of his best songs yet.

Inheritance sounds like a born-again Avett Brothers fronted by a tamer Daniel Smith (Danielson Famile), and while its homespun, home-schooled theatricality may be a bit off-putting for some, it's hard to not admire its uncalculated exuberance.

A strongly inventive debut.

From start to finish, Rescue & Restore is an incredible leap for the band that should not only please the August Burns Red faithful, but opens them up to a wider audience of metal lovers.

At times, Between the Walls is a frustrating album, but more often than not, the risks About Group take pay off in expressive, rewarding music.

If there's a flaw here, it's that there's little change from song to song in pace and approach, but then, this is a duo built around simply hitting the pedal and going, clattering and thundering along, impossible to ignore.

At times sounding like the Beatles, Teenage Fanclub, Harry Nilsson, Fleet Foxes, Big Star, and the Beach Boys all tossed in a blender, Ivan & Alyosha's All the Times We Had marks the arrival of a great band fully formed.

Our Own Masters is an album that's ridiculous without being ironic, and fun without being silly, making it an album that will not only appeal to the die-hard Thorriors out there, but also to anyone who appreciates heavy metal and hard rock and is not afraid to cut loose and have some fun every once in a while.

On spirityouall, McFerrin does what he has always done as an artist -- he makes this troubled world shine bright as a diamond.

It's a solid debut for the duo that places them up near the top echelon of their neo-disco contemporaries.

Ultimately, Every Man Should Know is a record with something for every Connick fan.

This record is Queensrÿche; the other group is just Tate and company (mis)using the name.

Parlour Flames feels curiously stitched together, the work of a mutual admiration society where neither party quite feels at ease to suggest a direction for their partner.

Albatross is a good album for what it is, a new project from a band that seems frozen in the mid-'90s.

Produced by Suicidal frontman Mike Muir, the album includes 13 tracks of the type of petulant, cathartic, thrashy hardcore the band is known for.

A solid collection of the kind of classic speed metal that Anvil have been trying to make a name for themselves with for 35 years now.

This is a strong body of work from the London-based group who have taken the best of '90s guitar music and made it their own.

The funky soul groove template that Jones helped create in Memphis some 40-plus years ago never really goes out of style. One wishes there were more of that here.

After an impressive debut, Tesseract return with Altered State, a sophomore effort that finds the band expanding its progressive metal sound in a bigger, more ambitious direction.

The Weapon is the welcome resurrection of that classic Skinny Puppy album, coming just as the band enters its 30th year of existence.

Three albums in and Lemuria are starting to explore past the point where their heroes left off, and while it's not quite uncharted territory, it's certainly moving in the right direction.

Though the album's openness does require some amount of patience on the listener's part, it's a beautifully crafted album that expands upon the ground laid by the recent experiments of Earth, and will provide anyone willing to explore the depths of tracks like "Walkin' with a Woman" or "The Shroud" with a rewardingly trippy listening experience.

Fans of the Maine are going to have an easy time falling in love with this one, but anyone looking for a new slice of that (relatively) old alt-rock sound should give Forever Halloween a chance to get its hooks into them.

In a way, the Black Dahlia Murder have figured out how to create a new sound not by innovation, but invitation, welcoming bits and pieces from all over the metal world to make something exciting and exhilarating.

While other acts work diligently to re-create the sounds on All Hell Breaks Loose, the Black Star Riders offer them naturally with creativity, heft, and inspiration.

The Del-Lords once embodied the spirit of the ragged, rootsy, New York rock & roll scene at the end of a magical era; but that culture has long since vanished into history, making most of these songs, no matter how well constructed or intentioned, feel like exercises in nostalgia rather than anything vital.

Time Off contains great songs. It's warm, spacious, sophisticated, and elastic.

The interchangeability of the songs and artists is one of the best parts of the hypnotic, detached, and ultimately insular sound.

There are enough good songs and enough energy on hand to make In a Warzone a solid release; less interesting than previous efforts, but still fun in an aggressive way.

American Ride is every bit as strong as Innocent Ones, if not more so.

For fans of the members' other groups, Palms' debut is an easy recommendation that will leave listeners enjoying the similarities and getting lost exploring the differences.

At a surface level, the album seems like more of the same kind of offerings found on GB City, but with more styles covered and improved songwriting, the album is a slight step up. His skill set as a singer, vocalist, drummer, guitarist, and bassist is very impressive.

Names like Just Blaze, Lee Majors, Cardiak, and No Credit supply the beats for this more mature/still flashy release, all of it adding up to Wale's win number three.

Listeners attached to Aguayo's comparatively spindly early-2000s work will hear much of this as cracked chaos, but the level of carefree delight brimming throughout has to be, at the very least, admired.

He acknowledges and celebrates musical difference, allows for those tensions to reveal themselves inside his music, and creates a dialogue that uses rhythm and harmony as unifying signifiers in his political language. Brilliant.

Those looking for the cleverness of MC Paul Barman and the conceptual weight of Deltron 3030 really ought to give this a listen.

The best songs on Fantasy are easily the best in Lightning Dust's catalog because of this winning combination of pushed boundaries and inspired writing.

Without a weak song on board, Bosnian Rainbows is a daring, excellent debut that is as compelling as it is ambitious.

Deceiver of the Gods suggests that Amon Amarth may just now be hitting their stride, as it's an undeniably well-honed set, yet the band manage to flex their muscles well outside of the Draconian stylistic confines of the genre by remaining, like a true Viking horde, prickly, primal, and unstable.

Thanks to their actual growth as artists, it may be their best yet.

Throughout, Tweedy and company give Mavis even more room than on You Are Not Alone. While this isn't as exciting, the grip is instant, hard to break.

Side-stepping the chart-busting singles of their former labelmates, they have carved their own identity in the rich roots of the country and folk musics that have inspired their debut.

Its spacy, half-dreaming vibes remain close enough to Earth to keep things accessible and not swamped in reverb but still pretty far out by merit of the band's own inventiveness.

The songwriting can be a bit samey, but the group writes some unexpectedly catchy hooks that might win over cynics.