Bruni's songwriting is deceptive in its limpid simplicity, full of reverie, wit, and the directness of her breathy voice, which is well traveled but contains delight at its heart.

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.

A spacious, yet measured and surprisingly inspirational, midtempo dirge.

In its own way, it's some of his strangest music, and might appeal more to fans who appreciate his willingness to try anything once than those expecting a repeat of his previous album.

In all, Sky Swimming is a lovely, impressionistic debut that suggests Elephant are on the cusp of delivering even more.

Hornet's Nest confirms that at the age of 64, he has an awful lot of life left in him.

The overall effect is a band that's dug in their heels in the studio and is going to make the most of the way the individual voices bounce off one another, and if they're shooting for something less challenging on Favorite Waitress, the feel of the music clearly seems to suit them.

This has the potential to serve as a good sampler for those interested in the ethnomusicological side of contemporary chamber music.

All this means that Playland is superficially more pop with all its style and flair, but it plays more like a rock & roll album, always in a hurry to make its point understood as quickly as possible.

This skillful interweaving of Knopfler's personal past helps give Tracker a nicely gentle resonance.

Sonic Soul Surfer is an album that doesn't need to be 57-minutes long, and the final third features more than one moment where the record feels like it should coast to a close, only for another slow number to jump up and keep the show rolling. When Seasick Steve is laying out a fiery groove, Sonic Soul Surfer more than delivers the goods.

Year of the Hare is best recommended to fans who already have a grasp of Fucked Up's more esoteric moments--beginners should try 2011's David Comes to Life or 2014's Glass Boys--but this is still smart, lively, and thoroughly individual music from one of the most free-thinking bands to emerge from the punk rock underground.

Neither Presley nor Le Bon should give up their main gigs for DRINKS, but if they got together now and then to record an album with as much good-natured charm and tricky bits as this, that'd be just fine.

Discreet Desires is a fascinating debut album, demonstrating the right way to transition from an underground, 12"-only electronic producer to a full-scale album artist, greatly expanding upon previous ideas while avoiding sounding overblown and remaining rough and exhilarating.

What a Time to Be Alive is also a worthy hang session from MCs Drake and Future, one that feels instant, spontaneous, and just messy enough to keep off the top shelf.

On Keep It Together, what they lose in intimacy with the amplified environment, they gain in musical maturity, which only seems fitting.

A few adornments like horns, cello, and piano add additional color to some of the tracks, but by and large, Bent Shapes are a ripping guitar band with pop smarts and punk sensibility.

The ten tracks here range in character and texture, but all generally fall into MacIntyre's wheelhouse of warmly crafted, introspective guitar pop.

[Domo Genesis] still talks about weed and weirdness, and sometimes with a star-studded guest list, as the killer "Go (Gas)" features Wiz Khalifa, Juicy J, and Tyler, The Creator. Mac Miller figures into the great "Coming Back", but the bits about Domo's family, his autistic brother, and his own search for self make this a meatier album than expected.

Metal Church seem to have finally found the sweet spot between the thrash-kissed days of yore and the more traditional yet no less meaty metal stylings of their 21st century incarnation.

A quirky work that twists and turns all over the place, finally bringing all of their ideas together before sending them off into the far reaches of space.

At all times, Miller and his associates are on the same page. Another aspect that makes this the rapper's most fulfilling album is that all the lines about being saved and in awe seem to be expressed with as much ease as the anatomical references, like they're plain facts, not wrenching confessions.

For a group whose members are spread far and wide geographically, not to mention busy with their own principal projects, they've funneled a great deal of stamina and confidence into these 13 tracks, making for an impressive debut.

Ultimately, Parking Lot Symphony is one of Trombone Shorty's most balanced productions, equal parts New Orleans R&B sophistication and loose, block party fun.

As busy as things get on Modern Pressure, the less kinetic moments are afforded ample time to shine, with some of the LP's strongest bit arriving via breezy, sunset-ready, two-lane highway-worthy jams like "Roya" and "Impossible Green."

Still making no play for the mainstream with Feynman, the project, like the moniker, seems to balance the art and science of music, with some typically (of Temple) compelling results.

It's a bit of a shame that the record is so half-baked, but somewhat predictable as their creativity has been slowly waning with each new album.

Automata I is excellent on its own; its writing, production, and performances are all top flight. Additionally, it whets the appetite of anticipation for part two.

His harmonic components (his solos, chord voicings, and overall soundscapes) are all improvised and worked out in the studio. Ultimately, what could sound like average contemporary jazz fluff, in Kiefer's hands sounds instead like the liquid dreams of jazz-funk aliens.

Hood's DJ-Kicks isn't quite as wild or personality-driven as his Fabric 39 mix from a decade earlier, but it's undeniably focused, and it clearly reaches its intended goal.

Whatever the artistic intent, Icarus Falls remains a monstrosity--a bountiful gift or a daunting challenge, depending on the listener--that deserves some attention if there's time and patience to spare.

The relatively empty arrangements take a few listens to latch on, but their openness showcases Lennox's gifts for honest, fearless songwriting. Try as he may to embrace external influences, Panda Bear remains inescapably himself.

1634 Lexington Avenue is the album Smith through his wandering and woodshedding has been promising for decades now. It is retro to be sure, but free of artifice or false appropriation. He is personally invested in these songs and it shows. Essential.

Kicks feels like a lesser statement from Jones compared to the more ambitious original material of 2009's Balm in Gilead and 2015's The Other Side of Desire, but as a performer, she's still a unique talent, and the best moments here are a true delight.

The production, sequencing, and performances on Chaos and a Dancing Star reveal Almond at his most sophisticated and ambitious, at the very top of his game; these songs are beautifully written and arranged, and they arrive as deep emanations from the singer's personal well of passion, pleasure, heartbreak, sin, and loss.

Nothing is lost in the process and tracks like "Bora Lá" with singer Rogê and Leporace, "Samba in Heaven" with Joans, and "This Is It (É Isso)" with Pascoal and Leporace, retain all the funky, soulful rhythms and hooky melodies that made Mendes' seminal albums so captivating.

While some may find the two earlier volumes more satisfying due to more dramatic presentations, the "Perfect Vision" trilogy needed Peradam's gentler, decidedly more exploratory texts of a dangerous spiritual quest and discovery to come full-circle. Framed by field-recorded eloquence, Smith's voice delivers on that potential.

The entire record is a victorious display of self-celebration, but the impact of T.I.'s years in the rap game are felt most directly on tracks where he's matching wit and lyrical dexterity with rappers from the generation that directly followed him.

It's nothing unexpected but it's all effective, from the sturdy song constructions to performances that know when to lean into the muscle and when to let things swing.

A debut album that maintains a warm, analog feel and the nuanced vocal performances of a seasoned performer.

The sense of low-key but heightened melodrama can be alluring thanks to the open-ended arrangements, yet much of Manticore unfolds at a crawl, so it feels much less visceral than previous Shovels & Rope albums even if it has a greater emotional range.

Timewave Zero might be a far cry from Blood Incantation's best-known work, but it truly rewards the open-minded listener, and is simply a fantastic ambient album in its own right.

It's easy to wish all four members had been able to work together again, but having the band back in any form and operating at such a high level is a dream come true for all Boo fanatics and should be a nice discovery for younger fans looking for some classic OG dream pop.

A lush, sophisticated, and otherworldly project from its earliest days, Nightlands ultimately takes on its most panoramic rendering yet on a track list interspersed with brief, wordless ("Blue Wave," "Song for Brad") or lyrically concise atmospheric pieces, such as the cricket-assisted "Greenway."

The Invisible Light: Spells is the sound of a man mounting a soapbox with a desire to make us turn away from our worst impulses, and the heartfelt focus of his message and the imagination of the music that frames it make it far too compelling to ignore.

Although Sparke thrives in quieter surroundings, her voice is capable of commanding this more confrontational material, if made slightly less distinctive in the process.

Enigmatic Society is neither as powerful nor as weighty as the debut, and certainly doesn't seem intended to match it in those regards. It's altogether a calmer, more romantic work.

Working with around a dozen producers and co-writers, among them Life Support's Leroy Clampitt and One Love, its more intimate character was at least partly inspired by Lana Del Rey.

Girl Friends isn't a great Dion album, but it's certainly a good one, and worth a spin for anyone who digs the Pride of the Bronx. He's still got it, and you can hear it on Girl Friends.

With Dream into It, Idol underscores his legacy as one of the original pop-punk prophets, a kid with spiky, peroxide-blonde hair who saw the future of punk and lived to tell the tale.

If there's a knock on when i paint my masterpiece's 200-to-16 approach, it's that the album's recording style is its most cohesive trait, with the track list sometimes seeming like a Bob Dylan exercise, followed by a Frankie Cosmos op, a quasi-tango study ("dogs playing in the backyard"), etc. -- even if that playful, adventurous spirit is also part of its charm.

The best thing that can be said about The Lemonheads is that it sounds like the album Dando and company should have released in 1995.

Painting of a Panic Attack, like previous albums, can get a bit mired in wistful, midtempo soul searching, but it's by far the most immediate and inclusive collection of songs that the band has laid to tape to date.

It's still a privilege to hear another album from SOPHIE, and if this album is only creative and engaging instead of revolutionary, it doesn't diminish her legacy -- it just reinforces how irreplaceable she is.

[A] well-built and surprisingly diverse album.

Too bad it's a step back from Doo-Wops in so many ways, leaving people who saw promise in his debut shaking their heads in disappointment and hoping Mars can sort out his feelings about women and get back to being a sweet romancer, instead of an icky hater.

It's more of an adept fusing of very distinct styles into something interesting and almost factory fresh, if not quite to the level of the bands they are drawing inspiration from.

It's their simplicity and lack of pretense that's so refreshing to hear and what makes Free to Stay so listenable.

When these sweet reinterpretations are combined with the straight-ahead rockers, Long Wave adds up to a blueprint in reverse for Lynne; by going to back to his beginnings, he winds up figuring out why he went in the direction he did.

What makes it less successful than 1999's Kaleidoscope and 2003's Tasty is that it's extremely choppy and excessively long, and it doesn't have the range of emotions to match the varied backdrops.

Lovett is relaxing into the songs and sounds he loves, and he hasn't sounded like so much fun in years.

Harvey's music has never been more self-assured than it is here, and this album marks the dawn of a new era for him as an artist.

What saves this album from being just another version of some guy at the bar going on and on about some lady he lost is E's subtle and easy way with a melody, and even though some of these songs are so slow as to barely have a pulse, they flow well and easily into and out of each other.

Growth and groundation are skillfully balanced on Southsiders, this is arguably the most deep and different album in the band's discography.

Sun Structures is an impressive debut that would be legendary now if it had been released in 1967; in 2014 it's merely the best psych pop around.

There's not much to latch onto here by way of hooks, but the atmosphere is thick and immaculate.

Mean Everything to Nothing has its moments and shows Hull to be a decent enough songwriter, but there's ultimately too much outright mimicry on display and not enough originality for it to have any longevity.

Sings Live! is not a landmark album, nor even a superb "live" album, but the sound quality is decent enough (though the "acoustic guitar through the board" is a bit disappointing), and Meloy is a jovial host with his adoring fans, who ultimately this collection of songs was released for.

EP release Pulsars e Quasars offers something of an introductory grab bag of the various styles that Arp is capable of.

Whether it's the dawning of a new age of retro-looking records or a one-off blast from the past, Kicker is a welcome return and a raucous homecoming for a once great band that still has something left in the tank.

A mix of veiled threats and bounding guitars, it proves that Dissolver isn't the sound of Iran turning its back on its past, it's the sound of a band finding ways to be more complicated, and accessible, than ever.

To Syria with Love was assembled with an eye toward expanding Souleyman's audience. Given the production and the wide selection of textural palettes and tunes, it's a good bet he'll be successful. It will likely keep longtime listeners in the fold, too, although the raw, unhinged feel of his earlier recordings will be missed.

Covers aside, this is the most personal music of Sadier's career, and a promising glimpse of what she can do on her own.

Two decades after her debut, Still on My Mind stands impressively strong, a late-era peak that is refreshing in its fearlessness and comforting with a familiarity that doesn't rest too heavily upon the past. Considering the long gap between albums, Still on My Mind is more than worth the wait.

Samuel Flynn Scott's vocals often come across as nondescript but aim to be familiar rather than remarkable, suiting the sense of easy immediacy here -- the appeal of being what you expect.

The more adventurous shifts in style aren't without merit, but feel more curious than exciting.

As it stands, this one just squeaks by on the power of some very good songs and their typically energetic performances.

Five choice covers and five new originals that flirt with the fantastic, yet avoid an unnecessary trip down the rabbit hole.

While Maines' singing is the glue that holds everything together, the set's overly polished production and the scattershot curation of the material makes it feel like more like just a haphazard collection of songs than a cohesive album.

This combination of quirky sounds and suave production lands the disc in musical territory that feels at once both innovative and familiar; something like Beck, Björk, and Velvet Underground meeting in a lazy Rio cantina only to discover they've all been listening to Stereolab and Nouvelle Vague.

How Sweet It Is is a rare example of an album of covers that doesn't sound like a holding action, and makes clear Joan Osborne is still an artist well worth watching.

Since We've Become Translucent isn't always the Mudhoney you remembered, but the album clearly carries the stamp of the band's personality, and shows the group can still rock out while pulling a few new tricks from its collective sleeve.

This may not be their best offering, but it's a truly fine record that offers plenty in the way of satisfaction.

Melodic but samey, the songs flow into each other, creating a relaxing, seamless work that never breaks out of its mold. That said, the musicianship is of such consistently high quality that even the most lackluster tunes are redeemed by the band's innate professionalism.

In other words, he didn't take any unnecessary risks -- after all, the formula proved successful the first time around -- and that's partly why Nellyville isn't as exciting as it perhaps could be.

It's a satisfying, carefully crafted representation of their career to date.

Indigo is another block in the impressive body of work Tatum has built over the decade, and it's some of the best retro '80s (but not stuck in the past) music anyone is making in the 2010s.

Jidenna's cosmopolitan hip-hop is deepened with his second album. 85 to Africa lacks a track with the ferocity of "Long Live the Chief," and nothing is either as charming or as instantly memorable as the multi-platinum "Classic Man," but it's more substantive.

While the materialism and egocentrism in some of the tracks no doubt clash with the film, matters such as survival, self-defense, and power are more frequently raised. Critiques of issues related to white supremacy, from police brutality to voter suppression, aren't far behind.

When Minaj leans into her untouchable strengths as a rapper, things get really exciting and an album of tracks as strong as "LLC" or "Barbie Dreams" would be one for the books. As it stands, however, Queen is another chapter of Minaj's good but largely meandering and inconsistent full-length album output.

The simple fact is that Daydreams & Nightmares isn't just a joyous reinvention, or coming of age for Those Dancing Days, or even one the best albums of the year--which it certainly is--but, like any good dream, it comes when you least expect it, born out of your purest desires, and haunts you for those dancing days to come.

Murderbot delivers the goods necessary to get people on the floor and moving their feet without resorting to standard four-on-the-floor cliches.

If such an otherwise emphatic and melodic record is the result of such constant squabbling, then Blood Red Shoes should perhaps start planning their arguments in advance for album number four.

Everybody plays the songs they love in the way they learned them, so the highlights fall along the spectrum of sensitivity to enthusiasm.

Often, the tunes appear to be handsome constructions--grand, stately, and well appointed--but their foundations are shaky, constructed from threadbare melodies and words that dissipate not long after they land.

Based on the theme of technology and the power it holds over modern life, its 14 tracks showcase Skinner's trademark hip-hop witticisms.

Ironically, this very looseness not only results in a lively listen, but the polite messiness of Pajama Club winds up as a greater testament to his songwriting skills than the last Crowded House album; as the cliché goes, his throwaways are better than many artist's keepers.

This is a treat not just for Air fans, but aficionados of film music and science fiction, too.