Songs such as "Love in Real Life" and "Lover" feel flat and predictable compared to the magnetism Ditto delivers at her finest. Nevertheless, Fake Sugar is a welcome return from a one-of-a-kind voice and personality who was missing from music for too long.

Platinum Tips + Ice Cream is perfectly imperfect, full of spontaneous, weird, and honest energy that makes it clear why Royal Trux had to continue their reunion beyond these two dates.

Hopeless Fountain Kingdom as a whole feels quintessentially 2017 in how it jumbles styles and sentiment, streamlining a teeming, contradictory culture into something smooth, glassy and easy to digest.

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.

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.

There are other flashes of the past, good and bad, from the spring-loaded rhythms to reminders of the sometimes vast qualitative disparity between their melodies and lyrics. Ultimately, compared to their 1996 sendoff, this is more like it.

Nau's delivery, if occasionally annoyed that the topics at hand aren't being handled better, remains unflustered, gravitating back toward calm appreciation. It's a high-humidity set for long summer days, present or imagined.

There's still a fair amount of skippable tracks here. Despite this, Goldie remains a hero and an inspirational figure, and even if The Journey Man doesn't quite stack up to Timeless, it's still a respectable effort, and its best moments confirm the man's legendary status.

At times, the band's obvious affection for moody, Joy Division-esque post-punk feels a little too heavy-handed, but amid their ongoing sonic evolution there's some solid songwriting.

Stylistically speaking, the 11-track set doesn't deviate much from the formula the band established on its prior outings, but it will no doubt please longtime fans just looking for something new to pump their fists to.

Adiós ultimately seems more like a coda than a grand farewell, with the album displaying a suitable modesty that suits the somewhat reduced circumstances of the artist. But it's also a potent reminder of Glen Campbell's talent, style, and musical legacy, and this album is the recorded curtain call he truly deserves.

While not as overwhelming as Craig's main albums, Slow Vessels is still a quietly powerful release that puts a spotlight on the raw emotional power of his work.

Coldcut and Sherwood remain visionary artists, and Outside the Echo Chamber is (for the most part) a worthwhile hour of futuristic reggae.

All of these sounds may not surprise, but they're comforting in their familiarity, particularly because Sweet's execution as a writer and producer remains precise.

From start to finish, Big Boi is so at ease with assured nonchalance that he blithely makes references to a mass murderer and an alleged serial rapist, and occasionally slips into some other juvenile business. Otherwise, he's in elite statesman form. He and his collaborators likewise don't seem all that concerned about the album's place in contemporary rap, and it's all the better for it.

Released in a year of deep social unrest and political division, DiFranco's musical missives of strength and resolve are timely and welcome, although it's some of Binary's more personal and introspective tracks that really stand out emotionally.

There are still some fun snippets of doom psych in this chapter and on the whole, the album is a nice diversion for King Gizzard, though it's not very adventurous or experimental; it's mostly fun, but a little predictable.

It's heady stuff, but it helps that the songs are catchy as hell, and once acclimated to Sensor's nasally snarl, which falls somewhere between Wreckless Eric, Bob Dylan, Kyle Craft, and Ezra Furman, it becomes easy to see why he's generating such buzz from the very same machine that he rages against.

If Together at Last is a minor work in Tweedy's catalog, it's a simple but genuine pleasure that may convert a few doubters who haven't been won over by Wilco's eclecticism.

Forever and Then Some is as moving as it is auspicious. Mae is a singer/songwriter whose embrace of roots musical traditions bodes well for her as she articulates her own vision of Americana.

Dust is very disorienting and not always easy to grasp hold of, but it never comes close to sounding like anything else, and its best moments are highly compelling.

If the Banditos' first album was promising, Visionland proves they have the talent and strength to do this more than once, and there's as much sheer talent on display here as in any band in the roots rock underground today.

There's a very good Melvins album leading off A Walk with Love & Death, but the rest of it is only going to agree with a tiny numbers of fans, though it could make an effective musical backdrop for your next Halloween spook house.

It's not clear if the album is truly meant to be a new direction for Washed Out or a sort of clearing out of the past to make way for something new; either way it sounds pleasing and easy, like the work of someone not trying to make the masses happy, but instead making music that comes naturally to him.

As a collection, there is plenty of range in tone and emotion as Flogging Molly both decry and celebrate the wild mess that, depending on one's outlook, does indeed make life good.

Heavily nostalgic and yet fully energized, Neva Left continues Snoop Dogg's easy whim-to-whim glide.

The ex-(International) Noise Conspiracy and Refused frontman, who is joined by Sara Almgren (also a Noise Conspiracy expatriate), Kristina Karlsson (Tiger Forest Cat), Anders Stenberg (Lykke Li, Deportees), and Andre Sandstrom (DS-13), delivers a consistently engaging seven-track set that's light on humor and heavy on apocalyptic grandeur.

Compared to the earlier Floating Points material designed to connect to the head more than the hips, this naturally comes across as underdeveloped, but it's engrossing nonetheless.

Recorded live in the studio with Jay Ruston (Steel Panther, Anthrax, the Donnas), the sprawling 15-track set, which clocks in at just over an hour, can feel a little unruly, but there's more than enough meat here to make a proper sandwich.

On the whole, despite its anxious state, Man of the World's danceable, sparkling textures and idiosyncratic melodies make for a satisfying summery treat.

Even more so than on The Race for Space, PSB seem less like a gimmicky novelty group and more like a new breed of intelligent, socially conscious pop music.

While the record may fall slightly short of Bashed Out's high benchmark and its plethora of exceptional melodies, Moonshine Freeze remains a fine addition to This Is the Kit's already excellent back catalog.

red. As Light Return might not be the most inventive or exciting record the Telescopes have made over their long career of defying expectations, but it is the purest expression of their dark and twisted, noise-battered souls, and for that reason alone it is worth hearing at least once.

Overall, the beats here are funkier and a little more jagged than they are on the preceding volume, highlighted by the whomping bassline on "Moon Whip Quäz," Thundercat's bob-and-prickle low end on "Since C.A.Y.A.," and what resembles a contorted hybrid of Prince's "Delirious" and Urban Tribe's "At Peace with Concrete" on "That's How City Life Goes."

It's nothing more than a couple of old friends sitting around and cracking jokes to each other. If you happen to share their sensibility, it's a fun way to spend 50 minutes.

Not every track leaves a major impression, but Mura Masa is still a quality effort from an ambitious, inventive producer.

Best of Crime Rock is one "greatest-hits" album that lives up to the billing, and this is the best recorded introduction to one of the most interesting bands on the garage punk underground.

These are veteran players who know how to run a traditional two-guitars, bass, and drums rock combo and the result is a comfortable, well-crafted listen that will likely appeal to fans of their primary outfits.

If this isn't quite as strong an offering as Vol. 1, which seems to have received a better set of songs, in terms of performances and the group's sonic signature, this is a strong piece of work that reminds listeners that the Dears have few peers on the Montreal music scene.

Within these five tracks, Coldplay touch upon various contemporary trends in EDM, R&B, and rock without abandoning their identity, and thereby they are fleet and clever, not relics.

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.

If Lust for Life starts to slow down toward its conclusion--"Tomorrow Never Came" seems like the logical conclusion, but there's a three-track coda afterward--it nevertheless delivers upon its promise of a sunnier Lana Del Rey, and the very fact that she can find so many textures in a deliberately limited palette is impressive.

Paranormal isn't the return to form one might have hoped for, but it's no embarrassment either, and Cooper appears to be having a grand time while giving his fans a good show for their dollar.

New Facts Emerge is still rowdy and absorbing stuff, and proves that Mark E. Smith and his compatriots are growing old in a gloriously ungraceful fashion.

This is beautiful, heart-wrenching music that no one with a heart and a soul can walk away from without feeling its impact.

Power of Peace is loose, but everybody brought their chops to the party. This is what happens when great musicians gather simply to see what happens and enjoy one another's company.

Occasionally, Painted Ruins' drifting meditations border on meandering, but its open-ended beauty is well worth the close listening it takes for the album to fully reveal itself.

An ethereal, magnetic, and alluring piece of work, The Road, Pt. 1 is a robust album with ebb and flow. Here's looking forward to Pt. 2.

The giddy quality may stick more than do individual songs, but they succeed in capturing some of the wooziness of new love.

A brief teaser with only eight tracks that last less than half an hour, it's enough to make the promise of the young Nashville native evident.

Sodium proves that at their best, Dasher are a truly powerful band.

It's very difficult to argue with what Rawlings and company have assembled here. Aside from one misstep (that, to be fair, others might find less wearying) ["Lindsay Button"is the set's longest track and it feels like it], it's every bit as good as Nashville Obsolete.

While it doesn't feel quite as honed as some of the Cribs' other albums, 24-7 Rock Star Shit is a lot of fun, as well as more proof that the band's eternal tug of war between grit and polish still generates excitement.

Apocalypse is a refreshing change of pace, a frantically urgent statement that taps into the visceral with a welcome blast of noise from a voice that still has much to say.

Life Is Fine doesn't break new ground for Kelly, but it also shows he doesn't need to come up with new concepts or mess with his formula in order to make a memorable album.

The opening title track and "Connect the Dots," two of three cuts produced by recent Dreamchasers signee Papamitrou, are among the grimmest, most thunderous moments in Meek's discography.

Marley acquits himself well, turning in a strong modern reggae album that's informed by R&B and rap, but is very much its own thing.

Cuidado Madame is a constantly surprising album from a veteran who is all too familiar with making intriguing contradictions.

It's a stark, beautiful recording that hopefully proves something to both Lynne and Moorer: That what's here is a new beginning and that there is much more to explore.

Throughout, the engaging melodies, reliable hooks, and warm, even-tempered vocals would win friends easily; its simmering energy pushes the album over the line into crush-worthy.

By expanding their horizons on Althaea, Trailer Trash Tracys have become an even more singular act.

The Rise of Chaos manages to entertain, and that the album does so with such gusto is the mark of a band with more than a little fight left in it.

If you've never liked Sparks, Hippopotamus isn't likely to convince you otherwise, but as a band that seems perversely proud of being an acquired taste, this album shows Sparks are still in fine fettle, and this should delight their loyal fan base.

There's a fine line between repeating and elaborating on a band's style, especially when that band has had as distinctive and lengthy a career as Mogwai's. Nevertheless, Every Country's Sun has enough great moments to please fans.

The performances on Acoustic Classics II don't supplant the original recordings, but they do offer compelling alternate versions of some of the gems from his songbook, and this is a simple but satisfying addition to Thompson's recorded catalog.

Much of Reservoir feels like an exercise in fussy production techniques layered over material by an artist who holds plenty of promise, but hasn't quite found her voice.

Just 33 minutes long, Esker is a compelling glimpse of MacKay as a sound painter and spirit explorer.

On the strictly drum'n'bass side, "Tribute" is a smooth, relaxing roller with some dusky late-night trumpet, and "Tribes" is a brassy, percussive workout which borders on clownstep. Besides all of these, there's several more radio-ready pop songs which use drum'n'bass to elevate the drama.

Much like its name, Good Nature is well-meaning and polite, but doesn't do quite enough to distinguish itself.

Scuttling percussion, noodling electric pianos, and rubbery basslines remain suited for Bronson's nasal, humor-laced self-praise and subtle jabs at himself, whether he's boasting about his swimmer's body and celebrity chef friends, lamenting his inability to dunk, or proclaiming "Your shit lack quality/I'm sittin' right behind my chick makin' pottery."

It may be a little old-fashioned in places and there's the occasional track that doesn't work 100-percent, but the album is another strong showing from a band that could have packed it in years ago and become a nostalgia act, but have instead continued to make fine pop art.

Bicep's debut album essentially delivers what fans have come to expect; for newcomers, the duo revisits some of the more open-hearted elements of '90s dance music without succumbing to the period's cheesiest trappings.

A Giant Dog's greatest strength, however, remains their ability to tap into the enduring elements of rock's true grit and create feelings that are appropriately cathartic, dangerous, and fun.

Isotach means a line on a map that connects points of equal wind speed, and this feels like an album that's attempting to achieve some sort of equilibrium--a fragile balance that Bourne goes some way to accomplish.

New cuts like "Real Love" and "Velvet" add depth to the album, and suggest there's more to the band than skillful pastiche.

More than anything, Light Information feels like a pop record, albeit one that is tonally warped and distorted to represent VanGaalen's distinctive worldview.

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 it's easy to admire the craft behind Forced Witness, it's a little harder to embrace the album as a whole--and not necessarily in the ways Cameron may have intended.

Overall, Out of All This Blue is a bold experiment that succeeds, and once again demonstrates the depth and breadth of Mike Scott's talent.

With a couple more killer songs and rougher production, it will all come together eventually. Until then, this is a fine place to mark Leo's welcome comeback.

He's a back porch strummer and fireside singer, playing for comfort, and that's precisely what All the Light Above It Too provides.

Anger can be power, and the musical and emotional furor of Shade is a powerful and much-needed weapon in a chaotic time.

Parallels is the sound of an artist regaining perspective after a devastating setback, and while he still makes music to drift away to, it's more focused than ever.

A Moment Apart is a further expansion of the ODESZA empire, and the duo's most ambitious, widescreen work yet.

Although Uzi's post-breakup pain rears its head throughout the entirety of the album, many of the tracks are too fun to get too bogged down in emotions.

Unlike Vol. 1, which ran out of steam during its last third, Vol. 2 keeps its momentum from beginning to end, clattering and shambling through its 33 minutes without a false step.

Considering the sheer volume of material, it's inevitable that not every track on Take Flight resonates, but it does contain a generous number of highlights. At least initially, it seems best to approach the album as background listening and let the tracks reveal themselves over time, rather than attempt to concentrate on them all on the first go-round.

Many of these tracks have been released before, and there are few revelations for loyal fans, but Under Cöver is an enjoyable reminder of Motörhead's ability to bend any song to their will, even as they let some of the personality of the originals shine through.

Front-loaded with a trio of deceptively powerful singles ("Smoke Signals," "Motion Sickness," and "Funeral"), the ten-track set loses some focus near the end, but Bridgers remains such a compelling presence throughout, that even her less immediate material bears weight.

Thrice Woven marks the welcome return of the power and dark majesty of one America's most original metal bands.

Haiku from Zero may be Cut Copy's most Cut Copy album yet, full of hooky songs and breathlessly danceable songs. The only thing it is missing is inspiration or invention, which also means it is their least successful record yet as well.

While this LP is yet another release that is not Maxinquaye, compared to the average Tricky album, it's accessible, mostly focused, and offers a handful of moments that remind listeners of his early promise and hold attention until his next effort.

As a whole, Cryptoriana: The Seductiveness of Decay is a welcome step further ahead from Hammer of the Witches in its force and economy, and even with its missteps it's a stronger album for it.

For an act that has been operating creatively since the mid-'70s, Amadou & Mariam once again prove their art can thrive in just about any setting.

There's a lot to love here, especially on some of the more idiosyncratic offerings like "Airfield" and "Shinrin-yoku," but listeners expecting to bloody themselves in the electronicore, stadium-screamo assault of past outings might want to take a pass.

Longtime listeners will know the drill, but newbies looking for some frame of reference might want to imagine Sigur Rós, Mew, and Sunny Day Real Estate in an art school lunchroom brawl.

A reflection of a young band trying out all its possibilities, Visions of a Life is more scattered than My Love Is Cool, but its best songs hint at even more potential.

I'm a Harmony isn't the revelation that Parallelograms was, but it's not a letdown, either; this is the work of an artist whose singular creative viewpoint hasn't dimmed with time. She still has a great deal to say, and those who loved her debut will discover she hasn't lost her touch.