All the strings and brass not only accentuate the songs, highlighting the jazzy changes of "Soul Searchers" or the light swing of "Gravity," they help frame this measured song cycle, directing attention to how Weller isn't wallowing, he's meditating upon love, loss, and hope as he enters his sixties.

While these songs offer resistance to a particular reference point, as a whole the work is transcendent. Some of Ribot's own songs are fine enough to warrant inclusion next to the classics he adapts.

With The Crossing, Escovedo had put a new and compelling spin on the oft-told tale of the American dream as seen both from a distance and up close. In his hands, this story is both timeless and as up to date as the latest news bulletin, and it connects as great music and outstanding storytelling delivered by an artist who has a unique talent for both.

Generation Rx can feel a little bit deliberate: it may be little more than half an hour but it feels a bit longer, because the tempos are moderate and the melodies studiously avoid effervescence. All the same, Generation Rx winds up showing a way forward for Good Charlotte.

Underwood is taking risks for the first time. Nearly all of them pay off. ... The result is an album as satisfying as it is surprising.

Collapse ends up being one of Aphex's stronger post-2000 releases.

For Ever's complex blend of bare emotions and gorgeous production makes it a huge step forward for Jungle. A band this successful could have left their private lives uninvestigated and turned in something more guarded and rote, but the palpable honesty of these songs is what makes them soar.

Monsters Exist retains several hallmarks of the classic Orbital sound, but it isn't an album for '90s rave nostalgia purists pining for another "Belfast" or "Halcyon." Instead, it continues their tradition of making forward-thinking albums which reflect the present but glance excitedly, cautiously, and fearlessly into the future.

Kravitz knows how to sculpt not just sounds but a cohesive LP, and that kind of pro assurance when combined with his earnest hippie beliefs, make Raise Vibration a sunny, affirming listen.

The thing that Kurstin brings to the table is a refinement, letting Paul's ideas shine incandescently while also revealing that a record this clever isn't tossed off, it's crafted in every respect.

The album's glitchy title track is sparse yet acutely detailed, and sinister without seeming too evil-minded. Like the rest of the album, it seems curious about the dark side rather than fully possessed.

A relentless return to form, This Behavior finds Adult. at their most forceful and consistent as they enter their third decade.

The Bones do let loose on songs like the disco jam "Got It Bad" and "LivWithOutU," a grooving, straightforward love song. Taken as a whole, though, Young Sick Camellia feels almost like a concept album, one framed by and rooted in a confrontational contemporary reality.

Unrelentingly harsh and moving deliberately away from previously charted territory, Head Cage might disappoint fans looking for a rehash of former styles and statements, but those excited by Pig Destroyer's journey through new forms of despair and hostility will enjoy hearing their hybrid sound continue to mutate.

A clutch of unapologetically hedonistic singles in 2017 kept the Bomptown rapper visible and also pointed toward the approach taken with his third proper album.

Overall, Joy as an Act of Resistance manages to plumb new depths for Idles -- that they've achieved another record in such a short space of time is admirable, let alone one that shines head and shoulders over the majority of their peers -- and it certainly upholds their status as one of the U.K.'s most exciting new acts.

Menace Beach have shown a lot of creative growth in their relatively short existence, constantly homing in on their essential elements and discarding the rest with each new release.

Sometimes it's hard to tell if Love, Loss, and Auto-Tune is meant to be some sort of parody of current R&B production techniques, or a conscious effort to upturn Swamp Dogg's music and send it someplace no one would expect to find it. Either way, it's obvious that Swamp Dogg still knows how to write a song, and even at the age of 76, he's still vital, passionate, and eager to throw a curveball at the expectations of anyone and everyone. Talk about Total Destruction to Your Mind.

The overall effect is warm, unsettling, and artful, but most of all catchy, up to and including the intimate closer, "Moon Like Sour Candy," which ends with a mandate to try.

Deaths is a seriously fiery album that pushes the temperature right to the point of flammability and further cements the band's place as one of the best noise bands of their era.

Lacking the intensity of her main catalog, Great Thunder plays out more like an addendum that an essential Waxahatchee recording, but the songs are still worth discovery.

Everything on In the Blue Light is deliberate, gentle, and subtle, placing as much emphasis on the words and melody as the instrumentation, which isn't necessarily the case with the dense original albums.

As sheer performance, Eminem's vocals remain a thing of wonder, which is why it's so dispiriting to hear him circling the drain, relying on old tricks instead of expanding his worldview. He has the musical skills to mature; he's just refusing to let himself act his age.

Bodied is a few tracks longer than necessary, but its best moments are bewildering, and display Ital Tek's continued evolution as a sound designer.

It's a challenging album, especially at close to an hour in length. Its one that holds its share of fascination, however, with its alternately biting and poetic lyrics, persistent ache, and unpredictable patterns that are still discernable if often transient.

It's a powerful chapter in Bachmann's expansive discography, and while it might require a closer listen than some of his earlier material, the rewards are as fulfilling and slow burning as the songs themselves.

A major step up from their earlier material, Kingdoms in Colour is where Maribou State truly come into their own.

In full, And Nothing Hurt stands alongside the very best outings on the Spiritualized shelf. Its finest moments are consequently its most tender, revealing how much Pierce has grown as a writer. If he continues to record, this will be the album that opens a vibrant new chapter in the saga of Spiritualized.

No previous knowledge of his catalog is necessary to get happily lost in the blissful layers of 2012/2017.

While SOPHIE's music has never been simple, Oil of Every Pearl's Un-Insides' complexities and transformations make it a remarkable debut album that reveals more with each listen.

With Animals is the work of two men with great talent embracing what they do best, and with their skills elevating their work to a new level; this is collaboration between musical peers at its best.

Remain in Light comes bursting out of the gates in a rollicking, irresistible wave of musical joy that only stops when the album is over, leaving the listener in a state of blessed disbelief.

All in all, Mass Gothic have made an album of serviceable, if not shinning, indie pop. That said, it is a step forward from their debut and an overall solid effort from which it's possible to glean some truly compelling moments.

The amplification of their strengths as a group and the new avenues they travel make this the TERRY album that rewards a deep listen most.

Sultana could stand to edit herself a bit better, but Flow State is unquestionably the work of a first-rate talent with potential, and if anyone is going to teach young women about the innate coolness of the guitar, she seems like just the person to do it.

Muncie Girls have foiled the sophomore slump with Fixed Ideals, and if they sound a bit less D.I.Y. this time out, they still sound like a smart and forceful rock band that can deliver great music while offering plenty of food for thought.

The album is their most sonically focused statement yet, primarily consisting of lengthy dirges with up-front growled lyrics that challenge concepts of ego and identity.

Weed Garden is a nice little diversion, and finds both Beam and the band he oversees at the top of their long-running game.

More a headphones-type album than a radio-friendly one, what emerges are still songs before compositions or productions, though they may appeal to the more explorative indie rockers.

Dissolution is the album The Pineapple Thief have been promising since 2012's All the Wars: it's poetic, erudite, emotionally powerful, and chock-full of musical imagination.

Where Mogwai's other scores pushed their boundaries, KIN simply restates their strengths--which, fortunately, are as formidable as ever.

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.

Carefully considered and uniquely transportive, The Giant Who Ate Himself is yet another sterling example of Jones' guitar mastery.

Landes is ready and willing to create her own spin on classic country, winding up with a generous and clever gem.

While Book of Travelers may be a less-immediate collection than some of his previous work, its contemplative nature is worth investing a significant amount of time in.

The tributes come across as affectionate rather than rote. That's due in large part to a distinctive, emphatic voice and lyrics concerned with their own troubles and colorful characters.

There's enough variety to excite and warrant repeat listens; however, pacing suffers when the momentum is cut by otherwise pleasant tracks like "Fractured and Dazed" and "Picture Frame." These issues aside, Let's Go Sunshine is a mature progression for the Kooks, one that points in the right direction for the band's evolution.

Like contemporaries AFI and Rise Against, age and experience have smoothed out the band's delivery (Skiba's stint with blink-182 could also be a contributing factor), resulting in less danger and gloom. However, Cursed is ultimately an enjoyable ride, packed with rousing anthems.

At a taut ten tracks, Bloom is an unambiguous statement from Sivan, clear in its intent to celebrate the highs and lows of queer love through the eyes of a proud pop star in the making.

Hunter is the record where, more than any other, Calvi's talents have fully crystallized. The true character of her music has been unleashed and will likely see all those PJ Harvey comparisons finally fade, eclipsed by the radiance of this tough yet open-hearted work.

Negro Swan sonically is as fluid as it is fragmented, synthesizing and bounding between bedsit post-punk, desolate dream pop, chillwave-coated quiet storm, and low-profile hip-hop soul.

KEN mode are masters of their craft, and this is easily the equal of anything from the heyday of the genre on labels like AmRep and Hydra Head. While the more casual listener will find this heavy going, fans of the band, and of noise rock in general, are going to be stoked.

While the songs on Basic Volume explore similar sounds and themes as his previous work, they're sharper and more focused.

An album that coheres in a way other Ariana Grande albums don't, which means Sweetener is something of a double triumph: she's come through a tough time stronger and better than before.

The modulation and echo treatments on the vocals, combined with the frequently torpid tempos, nonetheless make Astroworld ideal for being pumped through an (18 and over) amusement park's sound system near closing time, when the challenge of hitting all the rides has started to turn into an overindulgent, overheated chore.

Exploring both their known, time-honored chemistry and new inspirations, the vibe that stretches across Songs You Make at Night feels positive and renewed. Always caught in a dream, this is one of the brighter and more hopeful dreamscapes in the Tunng catalog.

Lemon Twigs commit wholeheartedly to the bizarre narrative that Go to School is built on. Leaving no ridiculous tangent or exaggerated flourish unexplored, the result is a larger-than-life spectacle grown from strange but excellent songwriting.

Love Me/Love Me Not is a conceptual step forward for Honne and a compact journey through the highs and lows of love, instantly relatable to anyone who's ever experienced such a human journey.

Ohmme are clearly not adverse to inspired noise, but they know how to put it in a context where it doesn't grate so much as it adds zest, like a good pepper sauce, and on Parts they've made an album that's smart, sweet, and full of potent flavor.

Once the shock of the bigger, bolder sound fades, Chains Are Broken reveals itself as a perhaps inevitable maturation for the Devil Makes Three, one that broadens their horizons while retaining their vigor, humor, and heart.

Lightsleeper never quite coalesces. Instead, it drifts, floating from point to point, thought to thought, offering some memorable sounds along the way but never quite coming into focus.

For Interpol, embracing their veteran status doesn't mean a slide into complacency; if anything, it's the opposite. Marauder doesn't need to be qualified in terms of the band's former successes--on its own terms, it's one of the richest albums of Interpol's career.

With Deportation Blues, Brian Christinzio has created his own Big Star 3rd, less druggy but just as much a musical voyage through one man's psyche that travels through darkness while searching for some gleam of healing light. Let's hope he finds it before he makes his next album.

Performance may be lacking in progress, but the effortlessness of their experiments is still very much present, and nine albums in, White Denim remain as playful as ever. Overall, longtime fans of the band are likely to be satisfied, if not dazzled, by their latest effort.

Maintaining a healthy balance of sunshine and rain, Don't Look Away is the best example yet of Tucker's singular approach to music.

This is music made from a band that has been through the wringer and is happy to settle down and play, and there's an undeniable appeal to that open heart, particularly when it's camouflaged underneath such nominally heavy music.

Some of Still Corners' most intimate-sounding music, Slow Air's finest moments feel less like they're adopting the customs of a new land and more like they're adapting them to what they do best--capturing moods beautifully.

Physical provides ample proof that he can take the skills he's honed with that group [Factory Floor] in entertainingly different directions.

The Necks move incrementally forward in their quest for the musical unknown on Body; it displays all their creative strengths in a single typically engrossing work.

It's too bad more personal tragedy is what it took to right the ship, but Nothing's third album is a worthy successor to their great debut.

Berdan deals with organized religion and his personal conflict of identifying as a Catholic but being repulsed by the bigotry, repression, and hateful acts committed in the name of religion. It isn't quite clear if he comes to a resolution, or if that's even possible. Regardless, The Long Walk is some of Uniform's most challenging, disrupting work yet.

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.

While the emotions expressed on Coup de Grace often have a literate, philosophical complexity, the music crackles with a bright, youthful immediacy.

Combined with a higher level of musicality kept in check with a greater sense of nuance, The Nature of Imitation is Johnson's most accomplished and enjoyable album.

His voice shrouded in distortion, sometimes to the song's detriment, Powers' ability to go from vulnerable to feral in the blink of an eye keeps the listener on the edge of their seat, as does the occasional jarring shift from ambient vista to chemical grade electro-mayhem.

The Diet isn't a quantum leap over New Misery, but it certainly represents a step forward for Cullen Omori, both as a songwriter and a performer, and as long as his love life remains problematic, he should have a great future ahead of him.

Like any visual album, the floating sounds here are probably best experienced in conjunction with the visuals they were created for, but even on their own, there's a calm power that grows as the various passages of Tangerine Reef fade in and out of one another.

Smote Reverser is undeniably an Oh Sees record, with all 20 years of the band's history coming through every note played and sung, but it feels like a huge step into something new that's sure to be just as exciting and unpredictable.

This results in an album where the melancholy is bittersweet, not all consuming, which means Thank You For Today is softly reassuring even when its intent is lightly barbed.

Rather than being a disappointment, Be the Cowboy's point of view provides a brilliant twist, one that channels all the unease, unpredictability, and intuitiveness of Mitski's previous work--even for those who don't take in the lyrics.

Out of the Blues may be an excellent final chapter in this roots trilogy, but stands on its own as one of Scaggs' most sure-footed releases.

At less than 32 minutes, Back Being Blue doesn't last long enough to wear out its welcome, but it could run twice as long and still be a treat; it's an easygoing but richly satisfying release from an artist who shares her talents all too rarely.

His most refined batch of animated pop yet. He triangulates somewhere between Ben Folds and Charlie Puth, albeit with eccentricity to spare and a better feel for the funk than either musician.

Balancing restraint with a keen ear for pop-friendly hooks inspired by Jack Antonoff, Dizzy manage to make quite the opening statement with Baby Teeth.

To some ears, this album might sound like demos or unfinished sketches, but its simplicity seems to be Pajo's way of saying that sometimes it's best to appreciate things for what they are, and just be happy you're alive. He seems to be at peace, and that carries a great amount of significance.

Because of its variety of rhythms, infectious energy, and limited track lengths, Angry Cyclist's thirteen tracks go by quickly. That, taken together with lyrics that are both playful and pointed, consistently strong melodies, and exuberant performances make it the type of album that would fun see performed live in full, and one of their best.

Equal parts mesmerizing and challenging, Rockhounds has a truly unique allure.

Highlights are well placed within an astutely paced sequence of short and bittersweet love songs and instrumentals, all substantive and ripe for sampling. ... Piano, strings, and horns have greater presence, providing a lighter, often joyous touch that complements the mostly muscular drums and chunky basslines.

It's not a showy record and it's not going to bowl anyone over, but it is sneaky good and shows that Primo are definitely on the path to doing something really special.

As befits a self-titled album, all the moves Shears makes--both familiar and new--feel true to him. Funny, flashy, and not so secretly recovering from heartbreak, Jake Shears is one of the tightest sets of music he's made.

While much of his work seems deliberately, painstakingly crafted, there's still a fluidity and a sense of being guided by subconscious forces.

There's a good chance we're going to get a full-on rock album from Jennings now that he's gotten this out of his system, but as an expression of his country soul, Shooter ranks with his best work to date.

Linda Gail Lewis may share top billing on Wild! Wild! Wild! with Robbie Fulks, but she's not playing second fiddle to anyone; they both deliver the goods here, and if you don't believe a 71-year-old woman can make a great rock & roll record, this album will show just how wrong you are.

Outsiders has a strong foundation but sounds effervescent, a combination that frequently results in giddy, intoxicating pop, which is what this album is.

They may have done some drastic reshuffling and tried some new things on Move Through the Dawn, but it's a Coral record at its core and it's one of their most satisfying, too.

The album's vérité feel draws listeners into its ever-changing moods so completely, it's almost a shock when it ends. It's this skill at hypnotizing and disarming her audience that makes Devotion such a captivating reintroduction to Tirzah.

High Water I will satisfy those fans who have been missing music that sounds like the Crowes--it's much bolder and simpler than Rich Robinson's appealingly rambling Flux, for instance--but it's also true that the Magpie Salute doesn't attempt to do much here but hit their mark with precision.

It may not have the classic status of Live at Leeds, but the group never sounded as explosive as it does here.