Peppered with swears and PG-13 imagery, not all of Return to the Moon is radio-friendly, but it is ear-friendly, even at its most earnest or wry.

Its wider emotional range and stylistic switch-ups, none of which is outside Newman's grasp, give it a slight edge.

He's a singer that can make quiet seem compelling, and there are plenty of instances in this tight, wholly satisfying record where he demands attention by not asking for it.

The production on II is cleaner than on Fuzz's first studio album without ironing out the nooks and crannies of the band's sound (the report of Moothart and Ubovich's amps is just as fierce and buzzy as ever), and listeners who resonate to Iommic frequencies will get a righteous shake from this music.

The album's widescreen sound and bone-fracturing impact leave no doubt that Killing Joke are still deeply committed to what they do, and it's genuinely remarkable that they're still sounding this furious and effective 35 years after their debut album.

Overall, the release is a surreal, unpredictable excursion, and it finds the duo continuing to venture further outside the styles of their main projects, tapping into their subconscious minds in order to create striking dreamscapes.

It feels true to who he is today: an entertainer who is happy to reveal part of his heart because he now knows there's an audience who cares.

They may not be the kind of band to curl up with on a rainy night anymore, but they make the leap to a poppier, more expansive sound with stylish grace and keep just enough of the mystery intact to stay interesting.

Whereas The Light the Dead See was a simple addition of Gahan's lyrics to the Soulsavers' music, this is a fully cohesive collaboration, with both artists sharing songwriting credits on all songs.

A few of the songs sound a lot like one another, and, like any rock & roll, The Things We Do can come off as risible to the rational heart and sensible head, but for the uncertain and, to refer to the Replacements, unsatisfied, the album is potentially relatable and potently cathartic.

A little bit of restraint goes a long way for Keep Shelly in Athens, as their second album retains the creative spirit that made their early EPs so intriguing without succumbing to the dramatic, overbearing impulses that bogged down their first album.

Silver Bullets fits together as a whole and doesn't need a pop hit, heavenly or otherwise, to be interesting or worthwhile. It's enough that The Chills are back and just as good as they were when they left off.

All this flair is a welcome reminder that, for all his vaunted blues purism, Gibbons remains something of a futurist, happily blurring the lines between the present and past along with obliterating the lines between cultures.

On Mythologies, Cheatahs expand on the surreal, otherworldly aspects of their sound, and seem to take abundant pleasure in wringing sweetness out of caustic, discordant noises.

At 32 minutes, Alone in the Universe is remarkably devoid of excess--notably, it's just five minutes longer than his breezy 2012 covers album Long Wave--but it doesn't feel shrugged off, nor does it feel especially attached to its time.

Paper Mâché Dream Balloon is about as straight as King Gizzard are ever likely to be, and it still totally works thanks to the high level of songcraft and their innate weirdness, which will always come out no matter how hard they may try to keep it under wraps.

c rhymes. Best experienced end to end, Evermore: The Art of Duality is a dense journey worth taking, but one decidedly filled with more questions and ideas than answers.

If you're looking for something cool and groovin' to put under your tree or to slap on the stereo while you and your friends knock back some eggnog, It's a Holiday Soul Party is a hip, stylish, and rollicking good time.

Its base is the four original songs the band self-released on singles during 2013 and 2014, and each one is represented here, with the references to specific disco and post-disco artists and bygone production touches less obvious, a little more concealed than they are on the 2011 album.

If the Yawpers are trying to make sense of the soul of America in the 21st century, their mind/body balance makes for some powerfully satisfying music, and American Man is an impressive debut from a band that appears to have some very serious potential.

A leaner, at times heavier album than its predecessor, Rehumanizer still satisfies as it proves that Maserati's music is built for endurance as well as speed.

Though it might not be as substantial or as neatly tied together as No Better Time Than Now, the EP is easy to enjoy and full in form.

Ultimately, Little Mix's stylish, decade-blending synergy works, and Get Weird ends up being a lot of fun.

Maybe Soldiers of Fortune aren't a band, but they know how to rock, and Early Risers shows they can do that even with tongue in cheek and hipster cred in check, making the achievement all the more impressive.

Their songwriting shows growth, their vocals remain flawless, the production team continues to throw the occasional curveball to go along with the softballs, and there are plenty of songs that sound like the best pop music has to offer in 2015.

This record can still dazzle with its pyramid of overdubs, intricate details that never sound fussy. Most of Def Leppard stays firmly within the band's wheelhouse.

The breezy Isley Brothers/Free Design hybrid "Race Against Time," the perseverance anthem "Music to My Soul," and the disco-soul/soft rock compound "Better Late Than Never" are all decked out, and are among Green's craftiest work.

Even during his '90s heyday, he looked over his shoulder while living in the present, happily threading in trends while seeming impervious to them. This skill is difficult to acquire but Damn Country Music, like so many other Tim McGraw albums, makes it seem as simple as breathing.

Metalmania is a strong album, definitely full of promise and quite a few songs that wouldn't sound out of place on a playlist with classic Flying Nun tracks.

Make no mistake, all 11 songs are of a piece -- they're shaded by melancholy, gaining most of their power through performance -- but that cohesive sound only accentuates how Adele has definitively claimed this arena of dignified heartbreak as her own.

As always, the beauty of the duo's music makes these moments all the more haunting.

The notion of Kinky Friedman as a reflective song stylist might take some getting used to for some fans, but The Loneliest Man I Ever Met shows he can pull it off better than most would expect, and if his singing is a long way from perfect, the heart and soul are present at all times.

A set of songs that build on the dreamy pop of the Medusa EP with a smoother, bigger sound.

As a two-disc set, Bluenote Café feels a bit overstuffed and drawn out, but these recordings confirm the Bluenotes hold up better than many of Young's creative left turns in the '80s, and this is a thorough and entertaining look at an often overlooked phase in Young's creative journey.

Shape Shift finds Zombi returning to their earlier sound and reliably crafting sturdy, horror-tinged neo-prog.

Coldplay cheerfully embrace the cheese, ratcheting up both the sparkle and the sentiment so the album feels genuine in its embrace of eternal middle-aged clichés.

While a sci-fi-themed album by a celebrity cat is by its very nature a novelty, the music made here by Tobey and Bridavsky is quite enjoyable, and Lil BUB's many admirers will be comforted by the charismatic cooing and extreme purring heard in the breakdowns.

Occasionally, right on!'s stripped-down sonics are too restrained for their own good--"white devil" doesn't have the fuel it needs to truly ignite--but more often than not, the album offers a welcome glimpse of Lindberg on her own.

By the nature of its content and assemblage, there's not a lot of flow on A Folk Set Apart and some of the tracks might have best been left behind, but there is enough strong material here to attract new fans and provide longtime listeners a deeper look into McCombs' curious world.

Despite the clear connections, it's not completely derivative. Cage the Elephant are maturing and their songs have a new heft to them, which may drive away some old diehards but will certainly attract new followers.

Named for characters from these films, the Soulsavers aimed to capture the emotion and atmosphere of each one. What results is, oddly enough, a lush work of gorgeous beauty for such dense and oftentimes disturbing movies.

Raw, rowdy, and devoid of any sort of studio chicanery, Skeletons feels less like a proper Danzig album and more like a home recording of a boozy late-night house show. Surprisingly, its slapdash, lo-fi demeanor mostly works in its favor.

If you want a Christmas album from Smoke Fairies, then you're the target market for Wild Winter, though the previous caveat still applies--you're sure to enjoy it, but the guests at your Christmas party might be puzzled.

2015's Find What You Love and Let It Kill You, is a return to the group's anthemic classic rock and '60s psych rock-influenced sound.

Returning to more song-based material, the seven-track collection was made in Newcombe's adopted home of Berlin and features plenty of sleekly crafted psych-pop that nods to the band's San Francisco roots while continuing to nurture their European influences.

Songs from the Black Hole sure ain't a clampdown. This power trio is just too agitated and interesting for anything such.

Return to Forever follows suit very much, with the 12 new songs here embodying the same over the top celebration and hedonistic revelry of a much younger Scorpions. At times the throwbacks are a little transparent.

While much of the material here falls pretty squarely in each vocalist's wheelhouse, there are a few surprises.

Think of it as the Khaled collection with the most R&B (thanks to Brown), the most Future, or maybe the most Khaled as the DJ not only does his usual talking over tracks, but features his Finga Licking fried chicken restaurant right on the album cover.

Raw, organic, but ambitious.

808s & Dark Grapes III isn't quite the Zeitgeist-capturing statement that II was, but it's still an enjoyable, highly focused effort.

The movie and score are fun and entertaining, but at the same time, the ugly bits of hate speech are jarring and take away from the sheer pleasure of it all. Listen (and watch) at your own discretion.

As on Personal Record, New View's warm, reassuring atmosphere is a perfect fit for Friedberger's affably rambling songwriting; the album is even bookended by songs about long walks, and at its best, it sounds like a conversation sweetened by music.

Emotional Mugger is a stiff shot of raw, cocky joy that hits its target beautifully.

Quietly fascinating, reaffirming that Halo doesn't have to make a grand statement to deliver another intriguing addition to her body of work.

Lyrically LeBlanc is still mired in the faux-verisimilitude and myopic ruminating that are the bane of all twentysomethings, but with Cautionary Tale, his finest outing to date, he's stepped far enough out of his shell that the world around him is starting to come into focus.

While The Waiting Room is a mixed bag, it's far more relaxed and sure of itself than Across Six More Leap Years was.

Altogether elegant, moving, and often beautiful, Not to Disappear leaves Daughter, without question, on the heavier side of the emotional spectrum, but, like the Cure's "Dark Trilogy" 35 years prior, is sure to connect deeply with some listeners and stand out not only among pop contemporaries but among other emotive, textured indie pop.

Infinite Summer's sci-fi pop blossoms under headphones, but it doesn't always live up to the promise of NZCA Lines or its concept.

In these songs Maal continues to celebrate his people, his culture, and the Fulani language, even as he presents the listener with challenges to their preservation from inside and outside Senegal.

O'Hagan proves here once and for all that he's up to the job.

The result is an attention-grabbing album that reaches inward and artfully delivers vulnerable thoughts through sharply honed production skills.

Given that Furler didn't originally plan to make these songs her own, it's impressive that This Is Acting works as well as it does--only the wannabe banger "Move Your Body" and "Sweet Design"'s flashy, hard-hitting R&B are truly unconvincing. For the most part, however, This Is Acting's meta-pop is another example of how cleverly Sia brings her her experiments into the mainstream.

Catchy and upbeat, these are the poppiest offerings on an album that otherwise is content with patience, comfort, and peace.

On record, they do retain some of that magnetism, but much of their songwriting seems to simply serve their musical style without making that much of an impact. There are exceptions, of course, especially with album closer "Egypt Berry," which is easily this album's strongest track.

On their debut, Coasts produce a competent collection of catchy arena-ready tunes that could eventually carry them there.

If Turin Brakes' world-view has changed little over the years, their embrace of the craft of record-making has only improved, and Lost Property is an impressive document of their skills in the recording studio.

Wabi Sabi definitely feels like an album that could only have been conceived in an arid desert rather than a bustling city, and the remoteness of the couple's surroundings has certainly made them pay more attention to details and take notice of small, unique things such as the scorpions that adorn the album's cover.

As an album, Gumption meanders quite a bit, occasionally to the point of feeling detached, but its glimmers of gold make for an ultimately compelling listen.

As good as these moody moments are, My Wild West is best once the darkness settles, and Lissie offers nicely sculpted miniatures that feel alternately comforting and bruised, with the human touches Lana Del Rey works so hard to remove from her own music.

As an entry in Wilson's catalog, 4½ comes off as a fully considered EP, although leaving off "Year of the Plague" would have made it stronger. His obsessive attention to detail is everywhere in the production, but more than that, most of this provides fans with another fantastic showcase for his amazing band, excellent writing, and fine arranging.

Cayamo Sessions at Sea works best as a commercial for the ocean-going festival, but it also offers glimpses of some very talented artists crossing paths and sounding like fans, as well as musicians, as they make their way through some songs they clearly love.

Written and recorded almost entirely in Maine's Manhattan apartment, the album was mixed by Chris Coady (Beach House, !!!) and should play equally well in bedroom headphones and basement nightclubs, and leave many anticipating album three.

Dominated by unrelenting synthesized bellowing battling slashing guitar figures and femur-snapping drumming, Pop. 1280 summon a hellish wall of sonic abuse that manages to also be curiously compelling, a neo-industrial attack that starts in high gear and never stops pouring fire and brimstone on the listener.

The overall result is a spirited collaboration that digs through the past for inspiration, but seems to prefer to keep memories a bit hazy.

If the individual components occasionally drift or sit still, the overall construction of the soundtrack has momentum, warmly wandering from a 14-year-old tentatively plucking away on his acoustic guitar to a singer/songwriter who never quite seems as confident in his art as perhaps he should.

Yes, I'm a Witch Too may be somewhat uneven, but its wildly different tracks reaffirm that Ono's music contains multitudes.

Not for background listening, the album rewards repeat plays and gets the new project off to an impressively cathartic start.

With their dark fidelity and overly spacious arrangements, these new meditations feel almost as if they were unearthed from some distant vault of preserved wax cylinders rather than re-recorded.

She has the talent and courage to speak from her heart and make her ideas heard. Anyone who has ever had a (broken) heart will find something they can understand on Good Advice.

For now, on Everybody's Dying to Meet You, the trio sounds like a worthy heir to the classic noise pop sound and the genre's best bands, like Shop Assistants and Tiger Trap.

They're able to execute ideas they were only able to hint at when they were a young band. Some songs do have hooks that sink in quickly.

Other songs are colored with words and phrases of despair and resignation, like "doubt," "losing my grip," and "let's just break up." If the productions weren't so richly detailed and deceptively varied, Escapements might be a stifling experience.

Keith Troup, who was slain in 2015 and gets a moving tribute in the mixtape's highlight "King TROUP." The rest of the best comes from the empowering music that reflects the mixtape's title.

At its best, Neo transcends redundancy with raw power, but it remains to be seen whether or not the band can find their own voice amid the maelstrom.

While Kozelek remains an incredible storyteller, and the album is fascinating as ever to his faithful followers, it's likely to be exhausting, infuriating, or simply head-scratching to anyone who isn't already a fan of his. And as wonderful as Broadrick's musical contributions are, they recede into the background and aren't nearly as distinctive as his own work.

The other way to look at the erratic Pablo is as an "instant" LP, one that was mastered at the last minute and debuted via streaming. On that count, it's a fascinating, magazine-like experience with plenty of reasons to give it a free play, and with "Feedback" adding "name one genius that ain't crazy" to the mix, Pablo excuses itself from the usual criticisms, although it could have been tighter.

The album ends up being more sprawling than it initially seems, but no less triumphant.

Begin resonates most when Hervey and Goodman are left to themselves.

They've honed their sound even further, zeroing in on a vintage-inspired, '60s soul aesthetic.

Dedicated fans will want to note that two of the tracks--"Swimming Pool" and "Social Halo"--were taken from her 2015 EP S, though the ten additional tracks more than make up for any duplication.

The riffs are punchy, the drumming relentless, and nary a note is wasted, and it strikes that balance between artistry and economy that has always made Anthrax an elite metal force.

The Infamous Stringdusters actually put themselves in the background on much of Ladies & Gentlemen, letting their guests take the center stage while they provide the support, but if the Stringdusters opted to be accompanists rather than the stars of the show on these sessions, their songs and effortless virtuosity make it clear they're every bit as talented as their friends.

After Glow & Behold, the only thing Yuck seemed ready to do was break up and get day jobs; Stranger Things shows they weren't quite ready for that as it vaults them back into the noise pop/shoegaze conversation, where they seem poised to stay for a good long while.

Concerned at least as much with timbre as with rhythm, structure, or emotional tone--and none of these is neglected here--the composite is perpetually stimulating, exploiting repetition and expectation, both in time and texture. Album structure is carefully considered as well, with the drums vanishing for the final two tracks.

Eventually, the songs do sink in, but the reason to return to the album is its ability to conjure a specific feeling, whether it's the second the sun sets or the moment that paved highway gives way to backwoods dirt roads.

On this record, Yorn seems to master mood more than tune, but that winds up being to his benefit. This tonal elasticity gives ArrangingTime an enveloping warmth, one that is alluring even if it tends to shift concentration away from the songwriting that allegedly was his greatest strength.

Two decades into their careers, as a mature Nada Surf continue to channel their youthful spirit, they've recorded a wise, plaintive album that touches upon the sounds of their past while confidently looking toward the future.