This time the emotional waters run just as deep as the musical ones, and it stands as some of the best brainy, heartfelt pop around.

Langford may have lost a tiny bit of ragged glory, but he's gained plenty along the way that makes this album a must, whether they're longtime fans or not.

That this trio interprets such a difficult work with this degree of faithfulness is remarkable; that they do so without sacrificing their personality in the process is worth celebrating.

Whether she looks into darkness or light, Eliza Gilkyson's vision is impressive, and she's given us another remarkable glimpse at her gifts as a vocalist and songwriter on The Nocturne Diaries.

Grieves has stretched the possibilities of Rhymesayers-type rap with Winter & the Wolves, so kick the mopes to the curb with this one, since it understands and overcomes with extra helpings of clever and cool.

The Future's Void's often dazzling vignettes aren't quite as striking as Anderson's debut, but they show she's an artist unconfined by any one sound or perspective, and more than capable of engaging minds as well as hearts.

Ultimately, it's Faith's irrepressible enthusiasm and unbridled vocal ability that shine the most on A Perfect Contradiction, and having musicians like Pharrell and Saadiq around just works to sweeten the deal.

In the end, what keeps Tremors from drowning in its own paralyzed sadness is the feeling that Sohn himself has defeated these dark feelings through the painstaking process of crafting an album so beautiful.

They're among the very best American punk bands of their day, and show there's plenty of snarling, howling life left in the beast after all these years.

So It Goes is as pure as they come, so strap in and get ready from some rich rewards and hard truths because this one returns hip-hop to a time when it was "dangerous," and in the best, most progressive way possible.

On Carter Girl, Carlene Carter has confronted the mighty legacy of the Carter Family's songbook and allowed it to strengthen her music rather than buckling under its weight, and this ranks with her finest recorded work to date.

Psychic 9-5 Club is indeed a new chapter for HTRK as they strip away nearly everything, finding unexpected strengths.

Regardless of where you place them categorically, Malachai are deeply entertaining and Beyond Ugly shows that one more dip into the well was indeed a good move for the band.

Built on Glass isn't so much limited as it is a wonderful mood piece, so think calm and cool with purpose, and then get hip to the restrained and resonating sound of Faker.

With music like this, the line between undercooked and overdone is a pretty fine one, but II: Void Worship shows that Pilgrim are a band more than capable of walking it with an album that's sure to find purchase with doom purists looking for something less fussy than the post-metal albums the genre influenced.

His newfound control on Estara makes the flowing sounds and uplifting moods that distinguish him within the beat music scene all the more expressive.

They work hard to make it a true collaboration, and due to that effort and the high quality of the songs they each brought, it works amazingly well.

nes. Skillfully strung together by ringleader Inglish, these flights of fancy turn into a substantial party album with plenty of fun and flash.

While words like "fun" or "entertaining" aren't likely to ever be used to describe I Shall Die Here, those with the fortitude to endure its savagery and stare into the abyss will definitely know what they're made of.

Big Head Todd & the Monsters will never be a gutbucket, down-and-dirty blues-rock outfit, but Black Beehive proves that's fine: they have found their own friendly spin on the blues and have become a better band for it.

Every element is in the right place but Watt is smart enough to leave some elements undone, giving the album a human heart that's evident no matter how deliberate the entire affair may be.

It takes real nerve to pull something like this off, but Nutini's swagger is easily matched by the quality of the material and his inspired performance.

This is Crowell at his best: focused, balanced, clever, at times profound. It's a welcome return to form.

It may have taken four albums to get there, but Smoke Fairies have assumed control of the ship.

The album is easily the most solid offering from the Woods camp to date, besting even the production of its incredibly strong predecessor and presenting the songs with even more clarity and interesting choices than ever before.

Fans of Oneohtrix Point Never, Virginia Astley, Lars Von Trier, and even Chairlift should find Ramona Lisa's debut a rainy-day soundtrack of the highest order.

Japanther sound more in touch than ever with the spirit of youth, excitement, and discovery that started the band 13 years before the release of this album.

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.

Don't even let the bittersweet-bearing haters know that Posner and Kweli's great freedom overspill is sweetly delivered over a beat from the late J Dilla, but when the other key tracks come from tearing down fear of the Illuminati ("Wormhole") and the almost always iffy category of rap-rock ("Demonology" with Big K.R.I.T. and Gary Clark, Jr. stomps and groans like a Led Zeppelin song), Gravitas becomes an album where anything can happen and often does, as long as it's genuine.

Caves may not have been the follow-up fans expected of her, but as Tristen's artistry continues to evolve, future left turns such as this will be welcome.

Lights Out features a broadened sonic palette and a much more robust vocal performance; it's a transformation she's been perfecting since 2009's Everybody and 2012's Human Again.

This is a gratifying second step from one of the most exciting contemporary R&B artists to appear during the 2010s.

The result is an album that gets the mind/body balance just right, and shows Ume are paying off on the potential of their earlier work.

While there isn't much separating Rented World from the Menzingers' sophomore effort musically, there's a contemplative aura surrounding the songs that shows all of the hallmarks of a band growing into more nuanced and capable songwriters.

Compared to their chameleonic debut, The Way and Color sometimes almost feels too consistent, but hearing TEEN's fondness for reinvention focused into songs this good is even more rewarding.

Even if Neon Trees sometimes try a little too hard to be serious on Pop Psychology, it's some of their most heartfelt music and some of their finest.

Love Without Fear is a strong, mature work and it's great to hear Wilson step out from behind his collaborators to present his own work again.

The world of Future is as wobbly and as wonderful as ever, and thanks to Honest, it just got grand.

Upon repeated listens, the sorrowful undertow of Everyday Robots becomes a comfort, a balm for moments of alienation; it's the kind of record that when you're lonely, you press play.

It's a joyous thing to hear, a record that recaptures much of the magic of Leon's Shelter records without being fussy.

All of it comes together for an album that's deep, attractive, and well-executed, but it's also incredibly wise.

You don't have to love baseball to love the Baseball Project (though it clearly helps)--on 3rd, this band has made an album that listeners who love a good story with some tough guitars can like, even if they're foolish enough to prefer football.

Perhaps this isn't provocative but it's not meant to be: it's designed to be handsome, satisfying lifestyle rock, and it is.

Sure, the sound of Shriek may scare off people who need guitars to be the focal point of their indie rock, but for anyone with a slightly more experimental nature or anyone who likes synths and subtlety and wonderfully emotive vocals, it's a great and welcome surprise that's a brilliant step forward for Wye Oak.

Granular Tales is a pleasant surprise--an album that acknowledges the Woodentops' frantic glory days while offering them a way to move into the 21st century gracefully, and demonstrates how dance music can mature while still getting the party started; this doesn't exactly pick up where the Woodentops left off, but certainly finds them just where they want and need to be.

Romme's tales of woe manage to transcend the usual trappings of traditional singer/songwriter confessionalism by adopting a universal miasma, leaning more toward the dark English folk side of the chamber pop spectrum.

Its beauty is multivalent: while the music is made of constant motion, it creates an utterly still space in the listener, who can not only eventually recognize its numerous patterns emerging and dissipating, but can follow them down through various levels of consciousness as they resonate inside and outside the body.

After more than 20 records, Motorpsycho remain inexhaustible in their creativity, fully, energetically, in command of a musical vision that is boundless.

It hammers the anger home in most tunes, and that's exactly what he feels young people around the world are projecting. He's telling them they're not only heard, but that he feels it too.

Get Back isn't pretty--this is a sloppy, wet kiss of a record that leaves a little sick on you--but it's heartfelt enough to win you over and dangerous enough to wish you had told someone before you got into the car with it, which is what rock & roll in its purest form should be.

This album evidences an expanded creative reach for the pair, even as it re-engages the sharp edges they displayed on earlier recordings.

Songs stretch out longer here than they have on any previous Black Keys LP, but this doesn't feel indulgent due to the precision of the production; things may seem to drift but every bit of fuzz and echo is in its right place.

Sometimes a willingness to toss off responsibility once in a while is a sure sign of maturity, and if you want to hear a golden example of this thinking in action, the Old 97's have one for you with Most Messed Up.

She sounds every bit the wounded princess, unwilling to let anyone help her pick up the pieces as she delivers these lovely, sad songs from behind a shroud of her own making.

Even though Midnight Sun feels like a creative milestone for the band, it's clear that it's just another step in Lennon and Muhl's creative evolution, and while fans might miss it when it's gone, it's exciting to think about what these two might be seeing on the horizon.

On the whole, More Than Any Other Day is a deeply refreshing listen, bursting at the seams with joy and anger and less indebted to its long list of influences than it is an entity greater than the sum of its parts.

Right-sized, organized in a sensible manner, and an alluring balance of cool and calm, Fly Rasta lives up to its title as it sits on Ziggy's top shelf.

Undefeated is a revealing set of songs that spins gold from life's big and little ups and downs.

Luminous proves the Horrors still have a sense of adventure; they sound comfortable, but not too comfortable to try new things.

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.

If their future recordings follow the template they built here, bis may just be on their way to truly becoming the great band they always seemed right on the verge of becoming.

Brightly Painted One sounds more like a loving tribute to a simpler, slower time and once decanted, the songs begin to take on a personality of their own.

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

This is music ripped from one man's heart and soul, and if it sometimes makes you uncomfortable, that means Wovenhand have done their job well.

While every bit as spare as some of his previous work, the slow-motion spaciousness of the album feels more rewarding and lasting, ultimately feeling like a guided journey through one soul's season of heavy times and beautiful resolution.

A few of Liam Finn's fans may be a bit puzzled by the more outré experiments on The Nihilist, but he's still writing great tunes and bringing them to life in an exciting way, and that--as much as the musical shape-shifting on these sessions--is what makes this album worthwhile.

Michael Gira is a man unafraid to follow his muse wherever it may take him, and To Be Kind is another example of his singular vision writ large without compromise.

Shine On, as a whole, has a similar trajectory; it starts from simple, sad emotions, then builds out into an embrace of love and life.

Moving gracefully between stretched-out and melancholic space rock sprawl and frothing explosions of psych rock power, Bo Ningen display complete control of their seemingly unhinged muse, creating an always colorful album that travels a spectrum of sounds based on other planets as well as the depths of the band's collective nervous system.

It's a careful and moody album, but fortunately, Dare has the grace to pull off his sonic and lyrical meanderings without devolving too deeply into self-conscious philosophizing or experimentation for its own sake, showing that he has both content and mystique to spare.

his has long been Amos' calling card, this shimmering space between comfort and pain, but Unrepentant Geraldines trumps its predecessors by accentuating its polarity; it either seduces with its sweetness or it provokes with its pain, and either extreme is compelling.

Without drastically cleaning up their act, the album turns in a subtler, more thoughtful take on some of the same contradictory themes of enthusiasm and bitterness that made their debut so enjoyable.

Hour of the Dawn is great garage pop, some of the best being made in 2014, and is the best La Sera album yet.

Ultima II Massage is a uniquely Black Moth and Tobacco experience to be sure, and anyone who's been exposed to their odd and wonderful world in the past will find this album to be among the best things to come out of it.

If your heart is shattered and you want to slide into self-pity, turn here. If you are feeling free and want to woo a new love, turn here. If you want to just enjoy every soft, supple turn a rock band could do, turn here. Coldplay are here for comfort, as Ghost Stories proves time and time again.

This is easily some of McMahon's prettiest and most accessible music, and it's also some of his finest. In its own simple, graceful way, Love adds more depth to the rest of Amen Dunes' work.

While Shortwave Nights might not be for everyone, Hiss Tracts have made an album of experimental music that feels like it was made to engage rather than alienate, casting aside inscrutability to create something surprisingly fragile and soulful.

Oberst remains an eccentric--he's not one for obvious hooks, or even insistent melodies--but of all his albums, Upside-Down Mountain feels open-hearted, measured, and bright, the kind of record that opens up a new chapter in a career and possibly wins over new listeners.

Lithium Burn's relative straightforwardness makes it easy to enjoy these songs for what they are--and stands as a testament to the growth that comes out of compromise and sacrifice.

Wild Crush is the point where Archie Bronson Outfit move from being a good band to becoming a truly great band.

Anyone who enjoys their pop with extra wry and some sobering awareness should love What Have We Become?, but it's the Beautiful South faithful who will rightfully gush over the release, as these antiheroes have lost none of their touch or fatalistic flair.

Ishibashi follows suit with the meaty "Carry on Phenomenon," a lyrically impenetrable, impossibly catchy blast of ELO worship that, like all of the songs on the tightly packed rainbow canon that is Lighght, skillfully applies a dizzying array of bells and whistles to what is essentially a simple, relatable, and reliable pop melody.

Given its all-encompassing title, it's fitting that ∞ (Infinity) is one of Tiersen's most ambitious albums, but its grand scale only magnifies his music's heartfelt beauty.

Winter and Benge often seem to be living out their fantasy of being Cabaret Voltaire members as the bloops, the bubbles, and the time-rips are all familiar devices, but so be it, and more please, and another listen for this one as well.

It's to their credit that Plaid aren't preoccupied with being cutting-edge on Reachy Prints. Instead, they bring the playful, brainy spirit of their best work over the years into the 21st century with lively results.

Groovy things still happen when Mr. Scruff downsizes, so write "less samples, more music" on the back of this one and reach for it often.

Gustaph and Rouge Mary also prove to be ideal foils for Butler, who still makes his songs tight, powerful, and optimally shaped.

If indeed they are carrying the torch for the classic Canterbury sound, they're doing it smartly and on their own unique terms, with another impressive stop on their road of discovery.

As an artist of uncommon ability, he has learned from its hallowed lineage and storied past that in order for it to evolve, it cannot be reined in; it must be free to roam in order to create its future. His visionary work on this album opens the gate wide on that frontier.

Youth and the group walk the line between grandiose and epic throughout, never falling on the wrong side even once.

While still immersed in songs of emotional ravagement and betrayal, the confidence of her performances and spectrum of sounds represented here suggest a complete graduation from troubled, uncertain roots into a place where she can deliver her songs with a powerful, borderless command.

Do It Again is a much happier reunion of collaborators with perfectly matched strengths.

The result is an album of brilliantly charged and catchy songcraft. Even coming out of crushing pain, Changing Light is an impeccable statement of love and regret.

He's a modern-day Southern boy, raised on radio pop played in big box stores and playing the back porch on a Sunday afternoon, and those two strands come together beguilingly on this second album.

The album is endlessly engaging, offering a look inside the band's collective head as a carefree playground of sounds where dour string sections melt into watery piano loops, driving electronic drum samples, and spirals of angelic vocals without missing a beat.

This set might not be as insularly perfect as the Secret Sisters' first album, but it's ultimately just as impressive, if not more so, breaking the duo out of that "honky tonk made of fine glass" feel that could have easily trapped them creatively and artistically.

Sunbathing Animal may not be the shock to the system that Light Up Gold was; it may not be quite the sensation. It is the work of bandmembers in total control of their sound, doing exactly what they should on a second album.

Runaway's Diary is the rarest kind of concept record: one that wears the seriousness of its topics like a light jacket, and whose inventive musical savvy counters the restlessness of the soul at its subject's core.