Overall, there's nothing very slick to be heard. Like they did on the excellent Feast of Love, Pity Sex do a great job of balancing noise with melody, using both in equal amounts throughout the record and always making good use of shoegaze's standard loud-quiet dynamics.

Most listeners won't care to follow this particular rabbit down the hole because of the bracing cynicism, paranoia, misanthropy, and betrayal they'll hear at every turn on this record.

Much of The Pursuit mines this fertilely mellow vein, producing a bunch of understatedly melodic music whose consistency only suggests that Cullum should stop dabbling with detours and just accept his strength as a soft rock singer/songwriter.

An album that is fashionably slick, altogether tragic, and deceptively beautiful.

By far his most listenable and fully realized work since 1999’s mammoth 69 Love Songs, Realism feels slight because it is. It’s hard to hear someone so adept with a poison pen preen instead of brood, but it’s also rewarding.

Unlike his previous two releases, Wainwright's musings seem less focused and a little meandering on a handful of the songs.

At least half a dozen cuts will vie for slots on a future best-of.

As rewarding as it is unpredictable.

Although it is never overpowering, Dusty Trails is too well crafted to be reduced to mere background music.

Ultimately, this is a strong debut from a band with a sound worth exploring more.

Where Chorusing excels, however, is on experimental-leaning tracks best represented here by "Watching the Beams" and "Billowing," which affect with a distorted mix of organic and inorganic textures alongside more of the album's melancholic folk song.

While Optimist makes a good case for FINNEAS' skills around a pop melody and a perceptive viewpoint, he also drops the instrumental piano piece "Peaches Etude" in the middle of the track list. Accordingly, the album plays like a portfolio, perhaps fitting for a musician still sorting out and amplifying his potential.

Fortunately, adding more shape to their songs doesn't pin down their sounds too much.

While these songs are lushly produced, often with full orchestration, and while Wainwright has a knack for pretty, lilting melodies and concrete imagery there is nonetheless a distinct lack of pop hooks here.

After a strong start, though, the album gets a bit flat, with some songs like 'One Mile Below' sounding dramatic enough but also too reminiscent of past Banshees/Creatures highlights to truly stand out.

Produced with exquisite balance, these ten self-penned songs reflect what Lynne's learned about the studio process in her 20 years as a recording artist.

Foo Fighters show that they're in love with light and shade, fury and quiet, every twist and turn they can make with their instruments, and even if Concrete And Gold isn't about much more than that, it's refreshing to hear the Foos embrace to the logical flashing conclusion of Grohl's allegiance to real rock values.

While not among her more tuneful material, A New Reality Mind is a detail-oriented work that engages with its balance of sonic inventiveness and pop reference points. Lyrically, it may also connect with its steady stream of readjusted expectations.

The album sees Cench find new collaborations with rising Puerto Rican star Young Miko and grime pioneer Skepta, alongside another link-up with Dave following the pair's number one-charting "Sprinter" in 2023.

From the opening moments of the sublime "It's Working" all the way to the titular closer, Congratulations is an incredible follow-up from a band that is still maturing into some unknown entity.

The album may have been written during a dark night of the soul but it was recorded with precision and concentration, ultimately obscuring the pain at the point of origin. It's an approach that hardly does a disservice to either Shultz or Cage the Elephant: it gives Neon Pill an alluring, subdued pulse that soothes instead of stirs.

Theoretically, this loosening of expectations would give him some freedom to roam on Musica + Alma + Sexo, and it does to the extent that he does not feel compelled to devote the record to the English language.

The way the Kaplans juxtapose '80s fantasy and 2010s reality gives Autodrama's deceptively breezy music a depth and purpose that separates them from the rest of the atmospheric pack, and makes their return all the more welcome.

The result is a wonderfully immediate album that feels like a Saturday night house party--complete with moonlight, dust flying from the carpet under the feet of dancers, and crickets and night bird calls out the open windows.

The "uh oh"s that punctuate "Hyper Dark"'s shattered balladry hint at Jessica Rabbit's state of emergency, while "Torn Clean" is one of the band's prettiest songs yet. Contrasts like these have been Sleigh Bells' modus operandi since the beginning, but Jessica Rabbit's mix of brashness and finesse proves they can still thrill.

The original mixtape is worth checking for the Sweatshirt bits alone, but this version does a better job of putting the spotlight on Mellowhype, the Odd Future crew's secret weapon.

All too often, that energy is lost when a talented young band like this enters the studio, and RAA do their best to transcend the limitations of their home recorded calling card, but that energy eating reaper follows Hometowns around like a cop car on a Saturday night.

The brass in question swells and sways capably throughout, but ultimately feels like window-dressing, never fully delivering the arm hair-raising crescendo that one would expect from an army of cornets, trombones, and euphoniums, though this is mostly the fault of the source material, which ultimately lacks the structural boldness with which to support such finery.

Terroir Blues is a significantly more ambitious and confident work from Farrar than Sebastopol, but it's also more elusive, and ultimately this is the sort of record fans will love, but the unfamiliar will have a hard time embracing.

First Serve, the album, is somewhere between the De La producer's fascinating but flawed Psychoanalysis and his entirely purposeful movie-on-wax, A Prince Among Thieves.

On a Clear Day feels like Lindstrøm going back to basics, while also starting a new chapter of his career.

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.

While Lindsey Buckingham/Christine McVie isn't perfect--and it was smart not to bill this effort as a Fleetwood Mac record--it's far better than expected, and indeed, they should have made it happen long ago.

Bando Stone & the New World may not be his best album - it was always going to be impossible to dislodge “Awaken, My Love!” -- but it serves as a fitting summation of all the good-to-great music that has been released under the Gambino banner and might even give some clues as to where he's headed next.

Upon first listen, No Line on the Horizon seems as if it would be a classic grower, an album that makes sense with repeated spins, but that repetition only makes the album more elusive, revealing not that U2 went into the studio with a dense, complicated blueprint, but rather, they had no plan at all.

While it's true this album often feels like the listener is being asked to endure a personal confession without redemption as a reward that is also part of its hopefully deliberate, perverse charm.

A large part of Springsteen's appeal has always been how the E Street Band has sounded as big and open as his heart, but Working on a Dream, like "Magic" before it, has a production that feels tiny and constrained even as it is layered with extraneous details.

Olympia doesn't feel fussy; it's unruffled and casually elegant, its pleasing familiarity reflecting the persistence of an old master honing his craft.

Big Echo takes a page from Pet Sounds by allowing the production to shine on its own, highlighting the studio embellishments but never shifting focus away from the band’s own hooks.

Peaking Lights simply push for greater clarity and articulation on Cosmic Logic, refining their approach but keeping the blurry balance of rhythm and sun-dazed psychedelia.

Think of it as a personal and meaningful gift for fans, not just some "didn't think much about it" trinket or faceless gift certificate.

Even if it falls a distant third out of the first three, the scattershot Recession is still a welcome and even risky step forward, one carried by its highlights and the newfound awareness that the cocaine grind isn't everything.

On Thank You for Stickin' with Twig, Slim Twig takes full advantage of his limited recording resources (the liner notes state that the album is mostly home-recorded) in order to create his most original-sounding work to date.

Something Dirty is a powerful recording; let's hope this version of Faust remains together awhile: their collective focus is sharp and their execution nearly flawless even at their most delightfully excessive.

Fortunately, for every formless track, there are two more like the brilliantly buoyant "Dream Orchestrator," a glimpse of 21st century psych-pop at its finest. Moments like this make Clear Shot TOY's most ambitious and rewarding album yet.

It's less of an issue to find an epochal band among them and more of one to find a band that is consistently a pleasure to listen to in its own right. Well into a decade's worth of performances and recording, Early Day Miners manage that feat again on their sixth album, The Treatment.

For returning Cam'ron and Diplomats fans who don't mind a little bumpy with their ride, Gunz n' Butta is the casual collaboration album done right.

Throughout This World Is Not Enough, Rønnenfelt plays with rawness and sophistication and gets to have both on his own terms. In its own way, its uncompromising, jolie laide mood makes it one of his most truly punk projects, and a cult classic in the making.

Given the album's split nature, it's not quite as cohesive as most Quintron albums, but it manages to represent the fringes of his sound, as well as the heart of it, very well.

Taken altogether, the various sounds and moods on I Want to Grow Up are a nice progression from her debut, and show Green wrestling with some pretty big issues while still dishing out really good pop songs that'll have you singing along after the first spin.

While few of the tracks offer much in the way tunefulness, Tividad's lilting, delicate leads on "Junkie" and the borderline power ballad "Butterfly Bulletholes" are among a handful of exceptions.

An anti-Christian/anti-Islam/anti-Theocratic, anti-war album, Christ Illusion is essential for anyone interested in the genre.

Sound and feel do mean a lot, but country records really survive on the strength of their songs, and the remarkable thing about Carnival Ride is that it's stronger song for song than Some Hearts, some of this due to Carrie herself, who bears four songwriting credits here, often in conjunction with some permutation of Steve McEwan and Hillary Lindsey, who pen a bunch of other tunes here.

While Kiwanuka is extremely talented, his songwriting needs work; some tunes are weighed down by clunky melodic or clumsy lyric turns.

The stunning cover is the most beautiful and cohesive on what is an otherwise (understandably) uneven collection which, while definitely appealing to hardcore fans, might be a bit too out there for casual listeners.

All that is certain is What For? is the best one so far, with Bundick really coming into his own as a songwriter, vocalist, and producer.

Even more than Margerine Eclipse, Fab Four Suture sounds like Stereolab has adapted -- if not fully healed -- from the loss of Mary Hansen.

As both a symbolic avatar for her life changes and a strong empowerment statement, I Disagree celebrates Poppy's rebirth as a pop-metal alchemist and unabashed rule-breaker.

The wild thing is that M!ssundaztood not only works, it works smashingly -- a bewildering amalgam of sounds and attitudes that shouldn't fit together, but defy all odds and do.

Each song soars with intricate musicianship and melodic lushness.

Hands down, In the World of Him is Timms' masterpiece.

It has the same combination of sweetly sentimental ballads and endearingly gaudy dance-pop that made One More Time.

Even when there are plenty of other bands working in a similar style, Q and Not U remain more distinctive and harder to classify than many of their peers, which makes Power an exciting album and proof that the band has variety and vitality to spare.

Evenly divided between strong and weak tracks.

This is a subdued, lying in bed and staring at the ceiling kind of album, and coming after the majestic peaks and valleys of Shivering King and Others it initially feels a little disappointing.

Spektor is an engaging performer throughout the album, and despite her arty quirks, she's never pretentious.

Chemical Chords manages to be even more concisely charming than that album, sacrificing little of Stereolab's distinctive sound for its immediacy.

Hot Mess is a complete success and shows that the band could possibly grow past the comedy and become something else entirely.

Track for track, Swamps just might be Widowspeak's most consistent work yet.

Afraid of Heights is their most overtly political statement yet, a highlight in the Billy Talent catalog and perhaps their best to date.

The songs stick to their chosen path, Wall doesn't deviate from his plaintive croon, and the stark setting starts to sound a little dull as the album lopes from one song to another.

By turns frustrating and engaging, The Other Side of Make-Believe is decidedly uneven, especially coming after the frequently great Marauder. Nevertheless, it offers plenty of mood and a little bit of innovation from a band still revealing nuances to their sound 20 years after their debut.

For better or worse, locket sounds like an album with a lot of producers.

Addiction and mental health, subjects that are interwoven throughout the potent 22-track set with the rawness and renewal born of having been caught in their grips.

The greatest thing Coldplay may have learned from Eno is his work ethic, as they demonstrate a focused concentration throughout this tight album--it's only 47 minutes yet covers more ground than "X&Y" and arguably "A Rush of Blood to the Head"--that turns Viva la Vida into something quietly satisfying.

It's a seemingly disparate list, but it's a testament to the producer's abilities that he can craft songs that fit so well with each voice.

Romanian Names holds the unfortunate and surprising distinction of being the very first John Vanderslice album to feel like just another John Vanderslice album.

That said, unlike early proggers who favored meandering instrumental doodling over succinct songwriting, Porcupine Tree always favor the importance of memorable songs over flashy solos, which certainly makes the group one of the top modern-day prog rock bands.

If The World Is Just a Shape to Fill the Night came out in a year when it seemed like there were even more sensitive folkie records than ever before, it also succeeds more than most of its contemporaries by virtue of its differing reference points.

Showcasing Cold Beat's versatility as well as its focus, Over Me lets listeners discover more each time they play it--which should be often.

The music on Flowers of Evil traverses with jarring effectiveness both past and future. Its songs explore grief, hysteria, madness, vulnerability, and romance as inseparable and indelible aspects of the human spirt, resulting in a masterwork of the familiar and the disorienting.

Personal but still very fun, Venus is a bold but totally sensical evolution in sound that avoids a third LP of the same old songs and pushes Larsson's sonic style into the future.

Even with some of its more unpredictable moments, Silver Wilkinson offers a scenic route through Bibio's music that showcases its depth as well as its breadth.

It really sounds like a basic Moon Duo album, which is still a good thing, but just not as special as it could have been if they had taken another step like they did with Shadow of the Sun. This feels less like a step in any direction than it does a pleasantly trippy holding pattern.

Tthe record is focused more on the future, on creating an impression, than on immediate satisfaction, giving it an appeal that only strengthens as time goes on, and making Spirit If... another impressive, affective release in the ever-growing Broken Social Scene catalog.

While Cowboy Worship doesn't match Love's transporting qualities, it does offer a pleasant tangent for Amen Dunes fans wanting more of its mysterious beauty.

If you don't like the Beach Boys, you won't like this.

Losing his religion doesn't mean he's lost his gift for indie rock songwriting, though, and fans who're willing to indulge Bazan's soul-searching will find Strange Negotiations similar to Pedro the Lion's catalog, with a familiar mix of minor-key starkness and lush, guitar-fueled rock songs.

The inevitability implied in The Way Things Fall's title is delivered in its songs: far from sounding like a concession to anyone or anything, its directness makes this one of Adult.'s most confident and satisfying albums.

VanGaalen's a skilled musician, and compositionally the pieces are well-constructed, but there's nothing on the record that truly blows you away.

PS I Love You have crafted an undeniably pop-centric slab of modern noise rock that gives a tip of the hat to manic confectioners of the past like The Pixies, Pavement, Weezer, and Jesus and Mary Chain, and that tour-T-shirt-and-empty-juice-box early- to mid-'90s vibe permeates the majority of the proceeding.

While the resulting record may not have the power to transcend time and space, it's got loads of charm and a captain who knows how to chart a streamlined course.

As good as the atmospheric heartache of the first half of 5:55 is, it's on the second half, when Gainsbourg and her crew stretch out a bit, that the album really gets interesting.

Those who are hoping for something in the spirit of mid-'90s Blige might be disappointed and think of the title as a ploy, but those who expect a wide variety of material in terms of style and mood will get precisely that.

On The National Health, Smith and the rest of the band seem revitalized by the time off, delivering some of their catchiest and widest-ranging songs since their debut, A Certain Trigger.

On Born to Sing: No Plan B he's compiled the various elements of his musical oeuvre and assembled them into a seamless, glorious whole.

Listeners looking for something in the realm The 1975, Emarosa, I Prevail or, to a lesser extent, a darker Sleeping With Sirens, will find a lot to be excited about here, but anybody looking for something that pushes the post-hardcore envelope a bit will probably find themselves wishing that they had walked into a different Hot Topic.

While there's no clear mission statement or overarching theme to the album, the group's collective energy is exciting and propulsive throughout, sounding very much like a group of close friends ecstatically pushing each other into uncharted musical territory.