This is the kind of subtle record unlikely to make immediate waves, but with a staying power that will call for repeated listens.

The crushing intensity on this collection is commonplace for both bands, but comes together with more swampy layers than either can muster on their own.

This trio pulls off a chosen weave of hybrid roots sounds with seeming ease, passion, and verve. No one else performing Americana or crossover country music attempts anything like it, leaving the trio in its own class.

While every song is undeniably weird and sometimes crowded to the point of confusion, Schuster-Craig never loses the plot, exerting complete control over a set of tunes almost as delightfully catchy as they are perplexing.

Worthy is another impressive release from an outstanding singer, and if it follows the pattern of some of her recent albums, nothing here sounds rote; this is the sound of an artist doing what she does best, and she is far more than worthy of this great music.

On The Deepest Lake, they deliver music that's thoughtful, imaginative, and sensuous in all the best ways, and this album is a joy for listeners with a taste for sonic adventure.

The fact that the feel is so richly idiosyncratic is a testament to just how well he knows these tunes, and these slow, winding arrangements are why Shadows in the Night feels unexpectedly resonant: it's a testament to how deeply Dylan sees himself in these old songs.

In short, another first-rate album from a group that keep adding new facets without ignoring their past.

By the time Transfixiation culminates in the fireball that is "I Will Die," it feels like A Place to Bury Strangers have escaped from the wreckage to deliver some of their darkest and most diverse music yet.

It will be interesting to hear where Miller and his Howlin' Rain project take the rest of this trilogy, but Mansion Songs stands on its own as a portrait of Miller's considerable musical and poetic growth over the last nine years.

As he leaps from one thrill to the next, he evokes his past without rehashing it, delivering a complete and immensely satisfying portrait of his music along the way.

This is a rich, deceptively relaxed portrait of working-class life in America in 2014 and it will linger for some time to come.

As with the other Fiepblatter releases, Miscontinuum Album may not be for more casual fans of St. Werner's work, but those willing to dive into the sounds and ideas he leaves on the fringes of his more widely released music should enjoy this journey.

Jones has forged multiple careers by fusing disparate yet compatible musical styles together to make wholly new yet comfortably recognizable pop music. Ultimately, that's exactly what Kitty, Daisy & Lewis have done here.

Equally precise and off-kilter, noodly and urgent, Dutch Uncles sound remarkably confident on these portraits of uncertainty.

Whether or not Hyperview resonates with Title Fight's existing fan base, it was the right album for them to make.

Their second album, Further Out, finds them honing the rough ideas that were forming on their 2013 debut, Infinity.

Depersonalisation transforms their potential into a beautifully bummed-out fever dream of a debut.

Although essentially a radio-ready pop aperitif and nowhere near the cultural touchstone of Beyonce's album, Reflection nonetheless works as a Revlon ad-level post-feminist girls' night out with plenty of vintage '90s R&B swagger.

Gliss Riffer may not be the next step many expected after America, but it leaves no doubt he remains a force to be reckoned with in indie electronic, creating smart and satisfying work with a stubbornly individual perspective.

Devising a new way of playing heavy music is nothing if not a brave undertaking, and Hexadic rewards significantly with each repeated listen.

By incorporating these offhand allusions to the past while being firmly planted in a mature present, Modern Nature showcases a band whose members are aware of where they've been and grateful for what they have.

For the casual listener, his music may be a bit heady and hard to follow, but for fans willing to be challenged, Roberts has delivered yet another excellent release.

Take It Like a Man isn't White's best album, but it does give him a chance to take a musical detour, and with the Packway Handle Band at his side, this turns out to be a thoroughly enjoyable side trip that suits him well.

Per usual, it's the Unthanks' acumen for crafting highly refined overcast ballads that ultimately wins out, and some of us are all the better for it.

Unguarded is a sophisticated debut, steeped in a chilly, if still insulated atmosphere that strongly evokes '80s-era Kate Bush.

In the Pink of Condition is the work of an artist fully in control of his sound and vision, and Hawkline delivers exactly the album anyone who's been following him wanted.

Her easy, welcoming touch is a balm every time Tomorrow Is My Turn is played, but it's upon successive spins that the intricacies of Giddens' construction--not to mention her subtle political messages--begin to take hold.

In sum, Heavy Love is all of a piece: slow, slippery, jungly. It is easily the most confident, fully realized album in his catalog to date, and his most poetic to boot.

Boxed In's approach isn't exactly new, but it's not nearly as confined as their name suggests--they've delivered a winning debut that's often more consistent than the work of their better-known contemporaries.

Holding All the Roses delivers on every promise Blackberry Smoke have made to themselves and their fans.

This trio aims at an interior center, finds it, and pushes out, projecting Iyer & Co.'s discoveries.

The constant is the familiarity of Spacek's voice, his low whispers and high exhaltations, like he's serenading a nearby audience of one.

Creatures is an album as wonderful as it is unclassifiable, but it is aimed at those who like warmth with their edgy art.

Hayman's brand of pop has always been on the intellectual side and the archival nature of these Morris texts dovetails well with the kind of music he's been making in the years leading up to this fine release.

It's taken awhile for that to happen, but on Picture You, the Amazing have completely come into their own.

Maybe folks were tired of Earle's happy songs, but if you want to hear the man have a good time while kicking up a fuss in the studio, Terraplane is a ride well worth taking.

Their songs of family, love, lust, and spirit pair perfectly entwined and complementary voices.

Recorded in just two days, the excitement coursing through Mourn's entire 24 minutes (including the bonus track "Boys Are Cunts") makes its funny, scary, pissed-off punk that much more irresistible.

Ultimately, although colored by personal trauma, Into Colour remains one of Rumer's brightest, most enjoyable albums to date.

Even though listening closely enough on some songs reveals Smith shouting out the changes to his band, the collision of off-the-cuff recording techniques and intricate songwriting produces another colorful chapter of Sonny & the Sunsets' tireless and always beautiful work.

For all its sonic investigation and ellipticity, Skullsplitter is an intimate, even readily accessible offering that is quite human in its unhurried exposition of emotional depth and vulnerability.

Beauty and humanity may have entered the picture, but the welcoming A/B Til Infinity was still more willing to connect, so consider that to be a first encounter, then come here for a more refined reduction of Egyptrixx's excellent off-world techno.

The anthemic title cut, an epic, near-wordless, eight-and-a-half-minute midnight highway drive of a closer that, like everything on the outstanding Restarter, repeatedly beats you senseless, but leaves no bruises.

EarthEE may not have the direct, off-the-cuff quality of AwE NaturalE, but its all-around richness is incontestable.

Citizen Zombie sidesteps the pitfalls of having to live up to former glories by disregarding them altogether and reaching instead for new, weird heights.

For longtime fans, Volume Two: 1987-1989 is an impressive and well-assembled study of one of this band's more interesting periods, and if you're looking for a way into Half Japanese's catalog, this a good place to start despite the heft of this collection.

Mono is the work of a band just smart enough that sometimes the body is just as important as the frontal lobes. The Mavericks understand how to satisfy both, and Mono is an album that will keep you dancing to its beats and smiling to its wit and romance 'til the break of dawn.

Taken as a whole, The Republic is a heady yet enjoyable collection of electronic sounds that retains the graceful beauty Prekop has breathed into all of his creations, just with a slightly different approach.

As a whole, Live at a Flamingo Hotel is unlikely to attract too many new fans. It's a solid and spirited live album, but hardcore devotees are already well aware of the band's prowess on stage and they'll be the ones who benefit the most from this release.

Screaming Females have gone out of their way to show they have other tricks at their disposal, and Rose Mountain is one of their most accomplished and satisfying efforts to date.

It moves deliberately, never rushing and rarely rocking, preferring to find pleasure in majesty instead of hedonism.

Artistically, three is the charm for Big Sean as Dark Sky Paradise is much more expansive than previous efforts, sometimes grinding with executive producer Kanye West's love of the dark, and other times bouncing with the snark, swagger, and style that propelled this Detroit rapper to the top.

The man who cut Complicated Game is the more mature McMurtry has figured out how to deliver the fine songs he writes and get their qualities on tape.

Let the Good Times Roll is definitely the second coming of the rock & roll savior that fans prayed would follow Signs & Signifiers. And as the title implies, it's also one hell of a good time.

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.

The combination of the raw, tempestuous styles, Barnes' own capricious musical tendencies, and the regrettable subject matter of Aureate Gloom has Of Montreal at its rockiest and most intense.

Another Eternity remains true to what makes Purity Ring special by refining it, and proves that they can challenge themselves and deliver their most accessible work yet.

Waxing Romantic is an impressive blend of top-notch songwriting, inventive production, and strong performances, the kind that vaults Bretzer to the same lofty heights of his influences.

After an album, 2012's Circles, where it seemed like the duo may have been running short on ideas, adding Jeffrey on drums and shaking up the working arrangements have helped to make Shadow a sterling return to form that gives their best album, 2001's Mazes, a run for its money.

Add the devastating title cut plus more memorable melodies than usual, and Shedding Skin might be the Ghostpoet album to begin with for those who prefer something a bit traditional, but with three excellent efforts from the get-go, the point isn't where to start, but to start, because the rewards are consistent and plentiful.

Even at high volume and off-the-charts speeds, Quarterbacks' main attribute is the wistful beauty that defines Engle's lyrics and attaches itself to the smartly composed tunes.

Ultimately, this short EP is an extension of Cheatahs' ambition as they seek to establish themselves as a musical force in their own right.

Throughout the album, Vessels' different approaches flow so naturally that they feel effortless, arriving at an impressive blend of passion and precision.

After is a minor triumph that makes it clear Lady Lamb is going to be around for a while, and may give you new hope for those kids making arty noise in their basement down the block.

It is aesthetically attractive while being emotionally and intellectually resonant; pop music can hope for no more.

Even the contrasting consecutive picks--like Darkstar's glistening, skyward "Hold Me Down" and Holy Other's dragging, alien "Yr Love"--are compatible, their transitions made with ease. The majority of the mix is beatless and becalmed with periodic surges in energy that never startle.

It's exactly what a second album should be, and it's rare that any band delivers as well as Evans the Death do here.

Subtle, compellingly human, and bittersweet, this is easily Landry's best work.

Never short on material for various low-profile releases, the jams on Wild Strawberries are more considered and inspired than any of Eternal Tapestry's previous work, and present the most cohesive picture of their long, strange progression.

With The Velvet Trail, Braide, with his consummate skill and sensitive brilliance combines Almond's theatrical and lyric personas with the emotional honesty in the grain of his voice. As a result, his lyric creativity, at once direct, defiant, vulnerable, and deliberately excessive, is out of the mothballs and back out where it belongs: front and center.

The very hooky, liltingly pretty "Nothing Lasts" shows that Echo Lake would be pretty great if they dropped all the aspirations of epicness and just made simple little pop songs instead. They do reach for the stars on Era, however, and they end up shining just like the brightest of them.

There really are spaces everywhere, and most would be better served if they were filled with Monochrome Set albums.

Heterocetera is more than a worthy successor to Damsel in Distress--it's some of Lotic's most exciting music.

"Al Q8a," Suicide by Cop," and "Patriot Act" live up to their provocative titles, dropping punch lines even Bill Maher would deem "risky," but those who disagree with the man's bullshit detector will have to give it up on his wordplay and layered arguments. Such uncompromising rhymes means Eat Pray Thug falls firmly in the category of "ain't for everybody," but that's the thrilling bit, as everything else about the album is alluring.

The sounds he and Smith craft together gel in a way far more urgent and quickly unfolding than most Eluvium material, taking Maze of Woods into a place that seems less quietly observant and more driven to explore, attempt, and understand.

While plenty of folks might pick up Dungeon Golds because some well-known musicians are on board, even with a cast of unknowns Scott McCaughey would still be writing fine songs and singing them with heart and humor, and that's what makes Dungeon Golds worth your time.

Segall and Company get straight As in terms of delivering big, psych-damaged, garage-infused hard rock, and if you want to hear Segall kick out the jams, Live in San Francisco is exactly what you need.

No band will ever be able to replace the Go-Betweens or fill the void their demise left, but if Dick Diver keep making albums as deeply satisfying as Melbourne, Florida, the pain will be a little less severe.

At 42 minutes, Pearson Sound isn't much longer than some of Kennedy's EPs (such as the self-titled Ramadanman double 12" from 2010), but it makes an impact, exploring a great variety of forward-thinking sounds without meandering or becoming repetitive or predictable.

Ultimately, with Froot, Diamandis has crafted an arch, swaggeringly impressive album that balances its pop sweetness with a deep-rooted maturity.

As exciting as the promise of the band going full Albini is, For All My Sisters shows that a cleaned-up Cribs can also be pretty thrilling.

Carrie & Lowell is the most harrowingly personal work Stevens has offered us to date; it also ranks with his most skillfully crafted albums despite its spartan approach, and it's a sometimes difficult but profoundly moving work.

The Scene Between isn't the Go! Team's best, but it is an impressive new start that consolidates most of their strengths in a bright shiny ball and sends the band shooting off in a brilliant new-ish direction.

With its ready absorption of, homage to, and engagement with the past, Walker's skills as a guitarist and arranger make Primrose Green as musically compelling as it is willfully indulgent.

This is music that's lived in and deeply felt, so it resonates long after the album finishes.

Clearly, Asleep at the Wheel draw sustenance from the music of the Texas Playboys, finding life within these old songs, and their love remains infectious and palpable after all these years.

With In Times, Enslaved prove once again that they are among the few survivors of their generation that have never repeated themselves, nor have they morphed into something so unrecognizable that they're merely another metal band. This is vital, bracing music.

Hinterland's tough, hard-won beauty reveals Campbell coming into her own.

Brava has a unique voice, one that's choppy, quirky, welcoming, and likely smells of blunts when it burps.

Through it all, Bronson balances brutish punch lines with a stunning wit, and tempers his lust for world travel and opulence with self-deprecating jokes, and yet, Mr. Wonderful is still just a tad too big and busy for the newcomer.

I Don't Like Shit is heavy and lacks much hope, and yet it communicates these feelings with such skill and artful understanding that it still fills the soul.

With We Fall, Haynie puts all of his eclectic skills and stylistic tastes together, showcasing his studio prowess and compositional talent, as well as his knack for bringing disparate talents together to create new and serendipitously effective songs.

It's been a long time coming, to the point when it seemed it might never happen, but Soft Connections announces the reappearance of a major talent, one whom all fans of indie pop owe it to themselves to discover or rediscover.

Fortune certainly counts as one of their excellent albums, and if it doesn't seem to reach for the same sonic heights as some of their recent efforts, it surpasses them on an emotional level.

Depending on what aspect of the band the listener pays the most attention to, Chastity Belt can be either brazenly hilarious or mysterious and moving.

Freedom Tower: No Wave Dance Party 2015 isn't quite the best album of the Jon Spencer Blues Explosion's career, but they've never made one that documents the frantic energy and atmosphere of their live show as well as this.

Here, he makes his own form of dream pop, one that is inspired by stark realities yet filled with hope for a brighter future.