Blessed is Williams' most focused recording since World Without Tears; perhaps since Car Wheels.

Psychedelic Pill [is] yet another oddity in a catalog filled with them: it's noise rock as comfort food.

Built on acoustic guitars with little splashes of color like handclaps, tooting horn sections, and subtle strings, the record sounds remarkably large in its smallness.

From that first play, it's evident that Furtado is indeed an audacious songwriter, not at all hesitant to bare her emotions, tackle winding melodies, and bend boundaries to the point that much of the record sounds like folk-pop tinged with bossa nova and backed by a production designed for TLC.

Handsome Boy Modeling School succeeds where so many compilations fail. It's a great album from start to finish.

Youth and Young Manhood isn't sonically adventurous, but in the new-millennium pop realm, some greasy licks sure sound good.

While nobody could accuse Teenage Fanclub of taking huge creative risks, more often than not the tracks on Man-Made do resemble something along the lines of '70s soft rock group America backed by Stereolab -- which is a very cool thing.

Few debut albums are audacious enough to call to mind Odetta, M.I.A., and the Raincoats--often all at the same time--but this is just such a rare bird.

It's all quietly dazzling, a sinuous fusion of jazz, dub, and techno that pulls from German, African, Jamaican, and Latin forms without the slightest hint of stuffiness.

Their music is generic, competently played, but breaking absolutely no new ground. Only someone utterly obsessed with hearing every pop-punk album ever, by anyone, should pick this up.

Four Tet's entry in the Fabriclive series plays things surprisingly straight, largely limiting his selections to a narrow stripe of electronic dance music, and for the most part linking them together in a reasonably smooth, utilitarian fashion.

The funny thing about Western Teleport is how it sounds and feels like a full band creating something multilayered.

A tremendously heartfelt celebration of music as a force for transformation, togetherness, love, and personal expression.

While it's understandable that The Thousandfold Epicentre's broader canvas may require a little more time for digestion than 2009's The Time of No Time Evermore, and certainly 2008's kick-upside-the-head Come Reap EP, there's no shortage of creativity or entertainment to be found here.

The Marble Downs is a cult classic in the making, and if Oldham's involvement helps more people discover Trembling Bells' eclectic brilliance, so much the better.

California death-grinders Cattle Decapitation will never be accused of subtlety, but there are moments on the typically grotesque Monolith of Inhumanity, their seventh long-player, that are unabashedly melodic.

Generals, like What We Lose in the Fire We Gain in the Flood, may use the past as its foundation, but it was put in place by some forward-thinking engineers.

The band gives the songs greater depth rather than always putting the message right there on the surface, and this change allows the listener to dive into the songs to really absorb and understand them.

It's lengthy, but anybody who was ever wondering if there was more to 10cc than the well-worn hits will find a rousing affirmative answer here.

Some of his finest and widest-ranging music yet, In Focus? offers charming proof that a more accessible approach doesn't necessarily spell creative death for a musician, especially one as freewheeling as Tokumaru.

There aren't a lot of bands that can pull off making something so quiet and unassuming but with as much emotional pull and drama as The House at Sea. Amor de Días do it with ease.

No Beginning No End is James' most holistic and expansive recording.

While the band might be adjusting after a shake-up like losing a singer, they've still managed to create another riff-fest that, while not a throwback to their older sound, has them continuing down their current path without much trouble.

Hero Brother is a carefully conceived yet relaxed presentation of a fairly startling series of works that reveal the versatility and considerable creative depth of a composer/soloist who has been hiding in plain sight all along.

Both Sands and Owens are superb, technically adroit musicians who complement McBride's warm, generous bass playing at every turn on Out Here.

The great thing about May Death Never Stop You is how it showcases all their brilliant, florid moments so they sound like visionaries without a continent to call home.

That it doesn't always evoke the exotic myth of the Welsh Indians is an attribute; he's wound up creating his own wildly romantic vision of America from the story of Prince Madoc and John Evans, and it's something to behold.

It nicely blends the spontaneous charm of a homemade record with the professionalism expected from a rock veteran who made something good out of a tough situation.

Ultimate Painting may not reach the commercial heights of either guy's main band, but it is fully the equal and in some ways more interesting.

Powerful stuff itself, Stalley's excellent debut proves Funkadelic's hypothesis of "Free your mind and your ass will follow" while taking Dr. Dre's advice of "Keep their heads ringin'" to another level.

Homeboy Sandman's biggest attractor is still his pride, a quality that's even more up-front as his career matures. Hallways beams with it, making it one of those rare rap records where true talk meets the warm fuzzies, or the warm motherfuzzies, as it were.

Heartbreak Pass is, like much of Howe Gelb's best work, an ambitious project that still seems emotionally intimate, and revels in a ramshackle charm that belies how strong the elements truly are--it's one man's unique vision, and if he's proud of it, well, he certainly should be.

Confounding as ever, James nonetheless presents some of his most physical and ultimately electrifying tracks here.

Bookended by a pair of moody cuts replete with intoned prayers spoken in the background, Abandoned plays to the severity of the Catholic faith, and if Defeater's thematic tendencies have begun to wear a bit thin, they still manage to pack a pretty big punch on a musical level.

As an artistic statement about warmth vs. transparency, Ashin has hit his mark with an album that is as beautiful as it is uncomfortable.

Wild Pendulum makes a strong case that the Trash Can Sinatras may never lose the plot. It's also quite likely the best sophisticated guitar pop album anyone is likely to hear in 2016, made either by whippersnappers or old-timers.

Inspired by a trip to Japan, Good Luck and Do Your Best is one of Gold Panda's warmest, sunniest releases, reflecting the colorful foliage of the island nation.

What makes Young in All the Wrong Ways resonate is how it touches upon her bluegrass and folk roots while feeling entirely different: the work of a musician who is integrating the whole of her influences into an idiosyncratic voice.

It's not pop, and you can't really sing along to most of it, but it is exciting and sometimes even thrilling music that's spilling over with ideas and real-deal emotions.

Secular Hymns feels like you are sitting in the front row of an intimate Peyroux concert.

Silver Tears is steeped in musical knowledge but delivered with a lighthearted touch and plenty of personality.

Joined on several tracks by lush-voiced shapeshifters the Smoke Fairies, Garwood is in his bailiwick throughout the set, drifting through spacious landscapes with his rumbling poeticism and dark-toned riffs.

The dovetailing of a traditional Indian melody deftly arranged by Khan and Yorkston overlaying Thorne's reading of Roger Eno's drolly English "You're Just a Bloke" is the kind of offering that makes this collaboration so unique.

The result is striking, unlike anything Jessi Colter has ever released: it's hushed and haunting, an elegiac testimonial to the power of enduring faith.

It's a brief outing at just over 30 minutes with seven songs and a short instrumental interlude ("Inbetween"). Still, it has time to transport and make an impression, emotionally and sonically, traits that all of Sóley's work to date has in common.

Sure, the set meanders a bit too far into the woods here and there, but overall, Elizabethan Times is a winner from two great minds of U.K. pop.

It's easily the band's most direct album, but rather than dumbing things down, they've removed anything that might get in the way of their messages. The more defiant they are, the more accessible they get, and they kick off the album with some of their hookiest songs.

As alluring as his spooky, skeletal arrangements are--steel guitars are used as howling accents, not solos; he occasionally gooses his band to follow a train track rhythm, but is usually content picking out support on his hollow acoustic--it's Wall's concrete sense of time and place that gives Songs of the Plains an unusual resonance.

Five albums in, Cloud Nothings version of maturing is to go harder and louder than ever--and they sound all the better for it.

It will be interesting to see if You Tell Me is the start of something long-running or just a one-off. However it turns out, the album works as another argument in favor of the on-going genius of Peter Brewis and as an impressive introduction to the lovely music of Sarah Hayes.

Staples sounds more energized and in control here than on the 2008 set.

Some regular guys craft occasional masterpieces, but Hayes Carll more often is the guy who delivers a good, solid, and enjoyable piece of work and then moves on, and that's what he's given his fans on What It Is. Like the cheeseburger that regular guy ordered at the bar, it may not be fancy, but it sure leaves you satisfied.

A recording that will surprise and delight TTB fans as their most adventurous to date.

After a pair of impressively strong solo releases, Craig Finn has made it a hat trick with I Need a New War, and the passion and superb craft of these songs make this a must for anyone who cares about American songwriting.

Unlike Kicker, which worked as a short, sharp blast to remind people the Kids were still around, Problems is the sound of the band figuring out how they want to sound in their new incarnation and pretty much nailing it.

While it might be easy to slap tags such as Fourth World or techno-primitivism onto Leon's music, his Interplanetary Folk concept seems to encompass a much grander scheme, and The Canon proves to be just as visionary as the first volume.

The rollicking, Rivieras-evoking organ-rock tune "Berlin Weekend" is just one of several other worthwhile stops on a 12-track album that ups the ante on an already attention-grabbing debut.

At a time when a great album from Neil Young would have been more than welcome, Colorado is instead a good one, but it's recognizably the work of a great artist, and that's more than can be said of the last few offerings Young has given us.

For those familiar with Chadwick's previous work, in addition to the lyrics' especially low lows, noteworthy is the album's tunefulness, especially in the case of the soaring piano pop entry "Please Daddy" and reflective "Make Hey." Though there are plenty of her trademark semi-melodic, improvised-sounding tirades as well.

The album's a comeback that once again makes Tame Impala an artistic force equal to their commercial appeal.

While fans will be glad to know that Through Water generally adheres to the well-embraced, cushiony indie electronica of Long Way Home, its "2.0" quality makes it an even better entry point for the uninitiated.

Exhilarating and unpredictable from start to finish, The Upward Spiral is a fresh, fearless perspective on techno.

Even though Kirk used a restrained setup of vintage equipment to make Shadow of Fear, his vibrant energy and "don't look back" attitude keep the album sounding fresh and forward-thinking.

Future Times is a meditation on an uncertain era, and while it gets uneasy at spots, it takes solace in the healing powers of nature and remains optimistic that goodness will prevail.

Each one is more exploratory and/or less commercial than any of its counterparts. This is evidenced most strongly by the bleak post-punk electronics of Perfect Mother, whose "Dark Disco -- Da-Da-Da-Da-Run" convulses like an outgrowth of Throbbing Gristle or Cabaret Voltaire (and was previously excavated by the Minimal Wave label). Starker still and more alien is an alternately thudding and twinkling cut from R.N.A.-Organism.

It's exceedingly rare for a band to come back after decades away and make something that measures up to what they were doing when they left off. Scientists have done that on Negativity, and that's something to celebrate.

Garbology isn't nearly as complex or conceptually driven as 2020's Spirit World Field Guide, but it still contains an abundance of memorable lyrics, and demonstrates Aesop's talent for spinning fantastic stories out of nothing.

Everything Was Forever not only shows they're still in strong form, it's as bold and inspired as their best work.

Sad Cities is the best kind of comeback album; one that has just the right amount of nostalgia baked into the grooves, but also adds in new sounds and approaches. Shapiro and Agebjörn certainly do that and the album is a reminder of just how good heartbreak disco can sound when delivered by people who understand it so well.

His usage of stringed instruments, whether plucked or bowed, particularly gives the music a sense of intimacy as well as its distinctive character, to the point of establishing a signature sound. Much of the album is instrumental, with a few guest vocalists providing additional perspectives.

Stars like Chris Brown, Shenseea, and Asake join him here and there, but for the most part, the collaborations are underplayed, leaving the spotlight where it belongs: on DML's silky vocals and mellow grooves.

It plays to her strengths with an ideal balance of solid craft and relatable humanity, and it's a more than welcome return from a singer and songwriter whose every release feels like a gift.

September November is a collection of songs that says, "We're Still Here!" a subtle but vitally important difference, and the Long Ryders make us glad that they were alt-country before there was alt-country and haven't thrown in the towel.

Crystal Vision is a spirited set of tracks that gleefully switch between genres and evoke the producer's varied inspirations.

They may or may not ever release anything as genre defining as ...And Out Come the Wolves or as hell-bent on destruction as that afore-mentioned 2000 album, but as far as punk in 2023 goes there aren't many bands making music as convincing or powerful as Rancid do here.

Days in the Desert is a spiraling, hallucinatory experience, blurring the boundaries between studio-crafted ambient soundscapes and an engaging live jam.

Selvutsletter is some of the duo's most expressive and widest-ranging work -- and given how committed Volden and Hval are to experimentation, that's saying something.

Ducks Ltd. come fully into their own with a combination of heightened production values, arrangements that lean into discrete synthesizers and vocal layers, and sneakily depressive lyrics hidden in songs overflowing with brisk pop charm.

Hawkwind still sound like themselves and nobody else on Stories from Time and Space, and if it doesn't break new ground, it's the work of a band with interesting ideas and the talent and imagination to make something of them, which not many groups can manage, let alone one that's been doing this for more than half a century.

The album carries a lightness that's emphasized by its brisk running time. That might mean The Border, unlike A Beautiful Time, doesn't quite feel like a final chapter but rather a welcome coda restating Nelson's strengths with casual ease.

Alvin and Gilmore are two great tastes who taste great together, with Alvin's salt and Gilmore's sweetness accenting one another very well indeed, and Texicali is strong enough to suggest this collaboration should have gas in the tank for at least one more album.

As a whole, only one of the 18 tracks here crosses the four-minute mark, so A Study of Losses' hour-long playing time seems to go by quickly, and its unceasing sweetness and longing linger after Condon is "Left to be/A sea of tranquility" ("Mare Tranquillitatis") to close a lovely theater project.

Albums by crossover stars like Rae are often dubious affairs, less than inspired productions that can feel like an attempt to package someone to fit a preconceived image, rather than showcase actual talent. Thankfully, she impressively side-steps any such pitfalls.

Morrison's been rambling in strange territory for the last five years, but this is proof that the restless wandering spirit didn't forget his Muse, or who he is.

Snooper might not be having fun on Worldwide, but they make alienation served with an absurdist wink sound more entertaining than it has in some time.

Songbird doesn't tell us much new about Waylon Jennings, but it reaffirms that he was one of the strongest and most compelling country singers of his generation, and this is a welcome gift for fans who wish there was another fine 1970s Waylon Jennings album they'd never heard.

Nothing Was the Same doesn't show large amounts of growth, but the small changes to the sound and the slightly wider net his lyrics cast make it worthwhile.

These two discs would have made for a fine double album, and if Lambchop have chosen to regard them as two separate entities, that just means they've released two of the finest albums of 2004 instead of just one.

Even if it's not always as vivid as some of her earlier albums, Miss Anthropocene is often fascinating and defies expectations in ways that still fit her always thought-provoking aesthetic.

While the album is his most musically rambling yet, with the exception of "American Canyon Sutra," there's no denying its elegant musicianship.

Necessary if you like that wikki-wikki-scratch; recommended if you enjoy impossible pop and hip-hop from the fringe.

For many, Health's noisy tendencies will be a bit much, but those who aren't afraid to dig deeper will be rewarded greatly.

They don't dwell upon the past, they barrel forward with a set of turbocharged blues and high-octane rock that doesn't merely sound good, it feels nourishing.

Neon Neon has created an album that isn't so much a straight-up replica of '80s excess as one that puts all of that indulgence into perspective, both emotionally and musically.

Drum's Not Dead is undeniably interesting, but somehow unsatisfying.

If you haven't heard Jens Lekman yet, you're missing out on one of the true pop geniuses of the early 2000s.

Unfortunately, though, too much of Show Your Bones just isn't that interesting, even if it was born from genuine heartache instead of sass and attitude.

It's no surprise that Downtown Church is a beautiful album, as Patty Griffin has been making beautiful albums since 1996, but here she's reaching for something deeper than she has on much her previous work, and the search that informed these 14 songs is compelling and joyous to hear, regardless of your religious convictions.