From the first few minutes of RUOK?, it's clear he's begun another shift, from the dense sampladelic dance of Actual Sounds + Voices to a sparse, haunted style that leaves much to the imagination but still displays acres of production prowess.

Consider it the slow and softer Major Lazer album that's built for headphone listening, but most of all, consider it.

Turn the Lights Out is the most mature and technically accomplished album the Ponys have made to date, but it doesn't lack the excitement and edge of the fine music that preceded it.

Germano's gift for conjuring otherworldly melodies is as strong as ever. That said, she's still, and will always be, a niche artist.

If Peter Bjorn and John keep putting out albums as challenging, intelligent, and emotional as this, there is no reason for anyone to get off the bandwagon any time soon.

Since the singing is in Zulu for the most part, the focus on nature, children, and animals may not be immediately apparent to an English speaker, who will hear the disc as a typical collection of a cappella singing, with Shabalala taking a lead part in front of the group's harmonies on short, repeated phrases.

Alice may be the star but much of the success of Welcome 2 My Nightmare is due to the man behind the curtain, as Ezrin gives this album flair and focus that not only make it an unexpectedly successful sequel but the best Alice Cooper record in decades.

If greater success follows them, treading that line between creativity and audience demand will become harder to do, but for now, Milagres have succeeded in making a unique and ultimately appealing record.

We Are Scientists make writing infectious, utterly listenable pop songs, over and over again, seem easy.

The group's self-titled second album cuts down on the group's more excessive tendencies, with only "A Pleasure to Burn" surpassing the five-minute mark, and seems to have more of a stripped-down songwriting style as well.

All Saints' sound has matured with confidence--much like Kylie Minogue's or Melanie C's--resulting in an album that is both secure and content.

The decision to vary the speaking participants helps distinguish each piece, and gives the album just the hint of variety it needs.

Limited and a little patched together, but if cheap thrills are what you’re after, this one puts the dirty back in dirty south.

It all winds up as an ungodly mess: Crazy Horse do, as Young asserted they would, make these songs their own, but by doing so, they've made them so nobody else would ever want them.

While Mmoss created a small but memorable body of work, Doug Tuttle proves their former guitarist has the talent and the vision to create music just as remarkable all by himself; hopefully, he won't have to have his heart broken again in order to deliver another set of music this engaging.

Both Potter and Valentine delight in celebrating and inverting the clichés of overblown '80s AOR and that's what makes Midnight such a fun trip.

Earrings Off! is made up of uncompromising stuff that may take some adjusting to, but willing ears will find articulate, distinctive musicality that rewards repeat listens. It might even provide an unexpected earworm or two.

Looking at Major Lazer's previous releases, the whole Rasta zombie-hunter concept is applied the least to this one, but it's not missed, either. Apocalypse Soon is too fast and mean to be bogged down by any comic book extras, and besides, the music is weird enough and wild enough on its own.

While The Ghost Who Walks occasionally feels a little long and scattered, it's still a beautifully made album that earns Elson a place among moody songstresses such as Neko Case, Amanda Palmer, Hope Sandoval, and Paula Frazer.

This idealism, along with the music's sheer density and strangeness, will fascinate some--but while While Surfing the Void's admirable boldness is hard to dismiss, it's also not especially easy to like. Ultimately, it's a difficult album on many levels.

Mies and Mullen have successfully mined this kind of temporal, freak-folk territory before, but Out of It and Into It feels more like a step backwards than a cerebral expansion.

Underneath all the cool gloss are pleas of empathy and togetherness, along with some elliptical protest tunes, and while those songs do lend Invisible People some topical gravity, the album is fleet on its feet, a sleek and breezy pancultural party.

It's a breezier listen than its predecessor, but the Voidz's willingness to try anything--whether it works or not--still might be too much for all but their most die-hard fans.

While his previous effort, 2006's "Release Therapy," was much more the thematically tight album and deserved a concept, this loose set of tunes is all-together more entertaining, thanks in no small part to a highly inspired Luda and all the punch lines he lands.

While it doesn't rise to the level of his other studio albums, Valleys of Neptune is a welcome catalog addition from a tremendous talent who died too young.

The pristine sound is easy on the ear and easily appreciated. That said, it can sometimes detract from more organic surprises inherently written into these songs.

As it is, BRONCHO need to head back to the studio with some Red Bull and a producer who can light a fire under them, because judging by their first album, they can do better than this.

Somehow, Scott Pilgrim vs. the World's music remains true not just to the comic, but to the work of everyone involved in the story at every stage, with plenty of fun and heart to boot.

Nothing here is innovative or particularly startling, though, but it's all solid, and it's comforting to know that Winter went out in peace with the blues and his legacy, and most importantly, without his skills diminishing.

So even though these tunes remain brief and concise (only one song, 'Your English Is Good,' tops the three-minute mark), they're also varied, which makes Tokyo Police Club's official debut seem less like the work of hyper-caffeinated teens and more like the promise of a smart, evolving band.

Shallow Effects is almost shockingly coherent. Instead of a big, sprawling mess, the arrangements — which incorporate everything from glockenspiel to Mellotron — offer complex but controlled layers of sound that never seem too thick or unwieldy.

On tracks like "Point Me At Lost Islands," where weather metaphors share equal space with acoustic guitars and fiddle solos, the group manages to shake out the doldrums and hit a genuine stride. But the rest of the album doesn't flow so well, and The Place We Ran From winds up amounting to far less than the sum of its parts.

While its relentless chirpiness may be a little too twee for some, Eliza Doolittle is still a beguiling debut that would undoubtedly have found an audience even without the benefit of her showbiz background.

Mostly, Talent works as an overall experience with loads of rich sonic atmosphere, hummable melodies, and artfully restrained emotion. Quite the impressive debut.

On their Dogs Eating Dogs EP, blink-182 return as a deeper, more mature-sounding band.

Ultimately, the EP lives up to its name, offering reflections on A U R O R A that enhance that work and are compelling in their own right.

As was the case with Hills End, the sonic and architectural puppetry is meticulous and heartfelt, but the absence of any sort of innovation induces a sort of pleasant fatigue that grows decidedly less agreeable with repeated spins.

Happily, he retains the melodic sharpness that characterized 57th & 9th, his last solo album of straight-forward pop tunes. The Bridge isn't quite as crisp and clean as that 2016 effort, yet it moves along at a quick clip.

Last Year Was Complicated feels assured in a way its eponymous 2014 predecessor did not.

For now there is enough energy and excitement in the sound and presentation to make Born Again Revisited sound just as fresh and invigorating as "Rip It Off."

She's never been more as completely herself on record as she is here.

Somewhere in between his rich, weathered baritone and his self-deprecating lyrics, the listener is charmed into submission, and it all goes down like a perfectly sessionable ale, albeit one with peculiar origins.

For his second album, also released on Warp, Rustie indeed slows it down a bit and peels away some layers, but he does so without making any concessions to politeness.

While weeding through the wreckage of science, sociology, and religion for the quivering individual may seem like heavily guarded Radiohead territory, Dredg pulls it off with the human heart still intact. At 18 tracks, it can be a lot to swallow, but keep in mind that many of these are transitional pieces and rarely overstay their welcome.

While a totally pleasant album not too far removed from the dense sound they've been working in, the dour sentiments are barely hidden below the softly spacy atmospherics, and when they do pop out, the combination of ugly hard times and pretty music can be unsettling.

Go Away White sounds like the four were trying one last time to reclaim the idea of Bauhaus as band and ethos from all the many limiting clichés heaped on it, something which the album title, taken from the song "Black Stone Heart," slyly hints at.

Tindersticks see this anniversary celebration as a reflection of who they are as a band now, rather than merely as a reflection of their past.

Overall, it's a pretty somber affair, conjuring up images of humid, ashtray-filled midnights spent gazing out of a tenth story window, contemplating whether or not the fall would kill or just cripple you.

Thankfully, Kevin Shields puts together some great guitarscapes in Evil Heat -- maybe the best work he's done post Loveless. It's what saves this record, since Bobby Gillespie (as usual) tries to ruin some of these tracks with some pretty silly lyrics.

Stephin Merritt's the 6th's second album isn't nearly as dynamic as his Magnetic Fields' 69 Love Songs, nor is it quite as good as the first 6th's album, Wasps' Nests. It is, however, another crowning achievement for Merritt.

Not one weak track, not one misplaced syrupy ballad to ruin the groove. The winning streak continues.

This French-Swiss duo pumps out retro-'80s-style disco beats and silly lyrics, creating a fun, goofy, ironic vibe that is sure to be a hit in Europe and perhaps in America.

Unlike many other pop postmodernists, the Vines never sound weighed down by all the influences they include in their music -- it's as if they're so excited by everything they hear, they can't help but recombine it in unique ways.

This is her most focused and accomplished full-length to date.

It may not be an album that's as funny or timeless as The Transformed Man, but Has Been is every bit as bizarre.

Justified is just sound and posturing, with no core.

It's a hilarious comedy album that's just as hip, inventive, and inappropriate as their digital shorts.

While the holistic craftsmanship of Ounsworth's musicality is impressive, ultimately it's his anguished, romantic vocal croon that sticks with you on The Tourist, ever dichotomously imbued with both a deep sense of loneliness and a pop-centric sense of self-determination.

The remarkable thing is, for as proudly new wave as Move Like This is, it doesn't feel desperate or cautious: it's as bright, infectious, and tuneful as the Cars at their prime.

The problem is that the album is perhaps too subtle for its own good, and even after repeated listens, it fails to connect on any meaningful level

As Animator fades out, however, all that's left is a lingering feeling equal parts hushed and disquieting. The Luyas' ability to cultivate a mood so thick with this album is a huge accomplishment, and the strangely beautiful world they've created in these songs is one worth revisiting over and over.

This masterful release contains some of the most immediately appealing work in Eno's discography.

Underwater Cinematographer isn't your quintessential debut album. It's too complex, too inquisitive, and too ambitious.

It's intriguing that Live in Liverpool is the Gossip's first release for Columbia's Red Ink imprint--it's not exactly an ideal introduction to the Gossip's fiery music, but it is a great testament to why fans are so devoted to the band.

Concise and brisk, Trip At Knight is one of the more focused Trippie Redd albums, and calls for repeat listening where some of the others were difficult to get all the way through.

While tracks like the hard-hitting "How You King?" and "Fraud" do a decent job at showcasing his New York City-honed flow, unfortunately, for Montana's cause, the real draws on the album still include a famous friend or two.

Believe has enough strong material to keep most of the followers satisfied for another year, while elders should feel relieved that nothing is as sickly sweet as "Baby."

The directness and consistency of the album's production, vocals, and stylistic approach leave a great deal of the focus on the songs themselves, which is good, because songs are arguably Hands greatest asset.

It's surprisingly mellow and restrained.

Where earlier albums seemed to be meticulously crafted soundtracks to strange dream worlds, Aimlessness lacks the cohesion or attention to detail of those productions, opting instead for a soup of loosely pieced ideas, many of which feel moved on from more than worked over.

It's as gorgeous a collection as "Bare," and pop music should be so lucky as to have more of this kind of thing out in the world.

Snider seems to know he'll never top Walker's original recordings, but he sure likes sharing these tunes that he clearly loves and understands, and enough of that soul and belief is caught on tape to make this as purely enjoyable as anything Snider has released in the past decade.

An intimate and emotive affair which manages to pursue a slightly mellower direction while still retaining their trademark oddball sensibilities.

RoadKillOvercoat will certainly win him some fans who have previously avoided hip-hop, but for those same reasons, it might also cost him some, too.

The Century of Self is compelling proof that the only way a band as fiercely ambitious, righteous, and single-minded as ...And You Will Know Us by the Trail of Dead can do things is on their own.

Like their Chicago contemporaries the Handsome Family, Cotton Jones feels a kinship to the country-folk tradition, but is not bound to it, and with each new collection of songs, they add another couple of lines to the genre's weathered face.

Spirits has the advantage of sounding like an enjoyable guitar-based drone-and-zone effort in its own right regardless of everything else Mahood has already done, not least of which is due to a certain bright tone throughout the album.

Sweet & Hoffs identify why each of these tunes remains beloved, by audiences large or small, and the faithful, heartfelt nostalgia combined with the pair's participation in the scene makes Under the Covers, Vol. 3 the best trip down memory lane the duo has yet made.

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.

As a vocalist, 6LACK still often sounds enervated (if always lucid) in a way that rewards only close listening from those who value crooners over belters.

Cuomo doesn't suppress his emotion; he just prefers sentiment, but what he loves most of all is a pure pop song and Hurley offers up its fair share.

The melodies are far more varied than on previous outings, and the sense of dynamics and balance of tension in these songs -- and the arrangements that accompany them -- are the most sophisticated this group has ever pulled off.

The Family Jewels is a record that is creatively ubiquitous and aggressive, traits that make this album not unlike Amy Winehouse's Back to Black or maybe even Liz Phair's Exile in Guyville.

Drastic Fantastic a rare beast: a pop album with a songwriter's heart, and one that works on both levels.

"Playin' Hard" and "Fumble," introspective and self-critical, are two of the album's most resonant songs and provide more depth, even though the sentiments are probably fleeting.

The Laughing Apple can in some ways be viewed as a compromise, as Yusuf makes an album that will resonate with old Cat Stevens fans, but there's never a moment where he seems less than sincere and committed, and this merging of past and present makes for Yusuf's most satisfying album since his return to popular music in 2006.

Perhaps the album doesn't sound like country music, but Corgan has assembled the album with country ideals, keeping the music and emotions direct but also relaxed, and that rigorous stylistic aesthetic makes Cotillions one of his better solo albums.

Frost Children take less risks with style and production on SISTER, but they turn in a well-oiled and high-potency set of songs that are more accessible than outlandish, designed for both dancefloor nostalgia and memories yet to be made.

Ride Again isn't a raucous rock & roll album, it's a relaxed good time, a little bit of cheerful nostalgia that's pretty charming.

Certainly, the ambition remains, along with the hunger to remain on the bleeding edge, but she's allowing her past to mingle with her present, allowing her to seem human yet somewhat grander at the same time.

They do what they do quite well and this cohesive debut should win them plenty of fans.

All in all it's as essential a piece of O'Connor's history as anything in her catalog.

For all its abundantly positive qualities and minor but clear distinctions from prior efforts, is still an archetypal Dream Theater album; one that's unlikely to broaden their audience all that much, but is conversely guaranteed to thrill their hardcore converts with its renewed devotion to the most exigent and stimulating facets of the band's chosen musical domain.

Wasted in Jackson is the work of a music industry pro who also has a genuine, unaffected natural talent for vintage soul and blues styles.

On their tenth studio album, In Flames officially complete their transition from Swedish melodic death metal pioneers to unpredictable Swedish progressive pop/rock/neo-classical metal innovators... It's as epic as Scandinavia is cold.

It's hard to get offended when everything about Supermeng is so self-consciously goofy.

The result is a bookend to that 2010 release [Just Across the River], with the same feel and makeup.

When GusGus joined Kompakt, the association seemed odd--almost charitable on the label's part--but now it makes total sense.