All These Dreams, much like Combs' expressive voice, feels lived in and authentic, and while it may lack some of the gravitas of his heroes, it certainly never does them a disservice.

Clementine will no doubt be polarizing for many listeners. There is no question, however, of his raw talent, poeticism, and knack for beguiling melodies, and in this oversaturated market, the true mavericks will always rise above the din.

Hunter is an enigmatic presence, and even with the all of the new trimmings, her rich alto always rises to the forefront, carefully shepherding in the band's newfound sonic might with equal parts audacity and vulnerability.

It's a casual and friendly record with less of the nostalgic melancholy Sexsmith is frequently known for.

It's the way they bring their pop skills to the fore that makes The Great Pretenders solid evidence that Mini Mansions should be as well-known as the company they keep.

He makes no bones that he's here for a good time, and the appealing thing about Postcards from Paradise is that it's as much fun to hear as it must've been to make.

This Is the Sonics is an outstanding return to duty for one of the great primal rock & roll bands of the '60s, and if they don't sound like kids, the flame that fueled their best discs is still burning bright, and they're louder, crazier, and wilder than most bands a third their age.

New York Before the War isn't quite a full-on rock & roll album, but it comes close enough that Malin has more space to move around than on his more subdued solo works, and he sounds energized and eloquent on these 13 tunes.

Whether singing new or old songs, he presents them in the moment as living, breathing entities. He remains a song interpreter who has few--if any--peers.

Gallows are certainly not getting any happier, but they've got torment down to a science.

While their debut acted more as a fairly straightforward (and cleanly captured) document of Drenge's live sound, Undertow's cohesion comes from its intentionally murky tone which provides just right home for their (mostly) controlled fury.

Like Everyday Robots, there's an existential loneliness thrumming throughout The Magic Whip, but there's also camaraderie, a sense that companionship can pull you through, and that's especially true of Albarn and Coxon, who prove once again to be the other's ideal collaborator, refining, expanding, and sharpening their ideas, turning a potential throwaway to something quietly resonant.

Born of D.I.Y. punk culture, Waxahatchee's fuzzy, introspective pop stands out due to the fearless honesty of the songs, and Crutchfield's refusal to dumb down her emotional currents or underestimate her audience. Ivy Tripp is another excellent and remarkably bold chapter of this exciting, unflinching sound.

While The Air Conditioned Nightmare represents growth for Doldrums, the caustic and sometimes overwhelming directions the album goes in are more difficult to unravel than the often blissful landscapes laid out in earlier songs. That said, deeper digging reveals Woodhead taking hold of the confusion, conflict, and ugliness of the record and sculpting it into something compelling in a voice all his own.

As a whole, Culture of Volume is an intense and fascinating album, one that leaves sequel-like anticipation for what else East India Youth may have in store.

No musical ghetto here as White Men Are Black Men Too suggests Young Fathers are quintessentially ahead of their time, even when their music is tight, attractive, and vital enough to be enjoyed today.

Grass, Branch & Bone is a low-key triumph from an artist who had made a career out of demonstrating that in music, simplicity is often the approach that tells us the most.

Ultimately, Deeper's most important location is his heart; by looking within it, he's made his most relatable, and compelling, music to date.

You don't have to care about wrestling to be knocked out by Beat the Champ, but Darnielle makes it clear that these stories mean something real to him, and this is a fascinating portrait not of who wins or loses, but those who play the game.

Even if the first cut is the deepest, second album Fast Food is still wicked sharp.

The resulting album successfully fleshes out Shlohmo's previous sound into his most accomplished work so far, and ultimately manages to find hope in darkness.

Ultimately, with Future Hearts, All Time Low have delivered an almost perfect blend of stadium-ready fist pumpers, ballads, and fuel-injected pop hits.

Despite their best efforts to thwart it, Stealing Sheep's intoxicating otherworldliness ultimately wins out.

The Ruffian's Misfortune shows the man is doing some of the very best work of his career 40 years on, and anyone who cares about American roots music in any form would do themselves a favor by adding this set to their collection.

Spacy yet grounded, cosmic yet physical, Insides is a satisfying journey and Fort Romeau's finest music yet.

It all makes for a breezy yet powerful expression of independence from an artist who is always true to herself.

Ultimately, it's this kind of life-is-short pop energy, imbued with Murphy's well-curated sense of time and place, that helps elevate the Wombats' Glitterbug from just a one-crazy-night soundtrack to an album that might stick with you for years to come.

While Black is lucky to have friends as skilled and giving as the Brewis brothers, he brings plenty to Slug, and though it's tempting to think that the Brewis brothers' participation is the main draw here, Black proves on Ripe that he's good enough to stand on his own.

The album borders on monochromatic at times (possibly because there are no songs by Graham Lewis, who provided some of Red Barked Tree and Change Becomes Us' finest tracks), yet its subtle subversions are thoroughly Wire, and thoroughly befitting the band at this stage in its career.

They play Southern soul-rock in an era where the past is indistinguishable from the present, and how the band interlaces the old and the new on Sound & Color feels startlingly fresh.

More accessible yet no less honest than their first two records, Bonxie is an expansion of Stornoway's best attributes.

No Sad Songs is a quintessentially solid and affective offering from the band, and with the continued rise of indie folk stylings well into the 21st century, the Nick Drake-inspired approach they've been loyal to since the '80s might not be embraced by the masses but should at least find itself in fashion.

Exhaustive but not exhausting, The Complete Recordings is a veritable jukebox full of fun for Frank Black obsessives.

Frontman Michael Angelakos presents a gratitude-imbued, relatively ballad-heavy, but still sparkling third Passion Pit LP in Kindred.

A successful exploration of dance music both subtle and sharp.

n. As with the best music of this kind, Sonnet rewards paying rapt attention to its minute changes as well as its wider sweep. Either way of listening reveals it as a beautiful, affecting exploration of form and freedom.

Throughout, The Silence doesn't rush, it slowly emerges; it doesn't bludgeon the listener with cluttered instrumentation or sonics, but it is seductively heavy due to spaciousness in the mix, warmth, and colorful imaginative textures.

This three-disc package is an essential document for fans; it reveals almost all of Everett's dimensions as a songwriter, and how tight and fluid the Eels are. Everett's humor balances the sometimes harrowing narratives in his tunes. All told, most of these interpretations are essential.

Song for song, this is some of Speedy Ortiz's best work yet.

Whether or not Bop English will outshine the continued efforts of his main vehicle, White Denim, remains to be seen, but as far as debuts go, Constant Bop is first-rate.

This album is a potent reminder of the virtues this band had from the start, seasoned with the experiences of almost 15 years, and it's a welcome and satisfying return to form.

Tense, thrilling, and a bit frightening, Dark Energy is simply one of the most compelling debut albums of 2015.

Third albums are often career-killers, exposing a band's lack of ideas. No worries here, though; Surf City sound like they still have another few years of greatness left in them.

It never feels like Simonetti and Wight are dabbling on The Past We Leave Behind; instead, the changes they explore just add to the feeling that as they say goodbye to what was, they're saying hello to a promising future.

The performances are strident and lean, suggesting the players are every bit as invested in delivering the best reading of Ludwig-Leone's complex and often gorgeous songs as he was inspired in creating them.

No Control shows it's a better and more fitting choice for the band than one might expect, and it's arguably their best work to date.

Free from any sort of major-label constraints, the band sounds both invigorated and restless, and while deciphering their skewed Danish pop sensibilities can often prove challenging, it's well worth the effort, as the results can just as often be breathtaking.

Pokey LaFarge delivers something old and new on Something in the Water, and no matter how much he reaches to the past for inspiration and influence, he's able to make his music sound fresh and alive, and this is his strongest studio set to date.

Subtle, yet curiously persuasive, No News From Home is as unassuming as it is alluring.

Deep in the Iris honors emotional states that aren't easy to express--musically or otherwise--and brings a clarity to them that make it some of the band's most empathetic music.

If there's a complaint about Never Were the Way She Was, it's that it's too brief. These pieces last only as long as they hold interest for the players, though they all create a real desire for more in the listener--which is no complaint at all.

The hard-driving, barely-holding-on-to-the-wheel songs are the main draw here, though, and the band delivers so many of them it's hard not to be breathless by the end of the album.

Scott could probably keep releasing this same kind of crazy, funhouse psych pop record forever and it wouldn't get tired, especially if he keeps writing songs this catchy and keeps giving subtle tweaks here and there.

Hospital Handshakes offers tarnished but steely hope forged from an extended period in a personal and spiritual wilderness. Its determination marks the end of this transition (and trilogy) and exposes a new and open road that will likely serve as instructive to the listener as it did the songwriter.

Presented with genuine humility, these relatively simple songs are nonetheless brimming with moral authority.

Their message is most vibrant on the most danceable songs, such as "Dark Night" and "Easy to Get." It all adds up to a potent reminder that when it comes to life and music, you can't have a future without a past; on Why Make Sense?, Hot Chip explore both in confident and exciting ways.

Perhaps Musique de Film Imaginé is intended as a résumé item for the Brian Jonestown Massacre, but if it is, it's a fine sample of Anton Newcombe's work, and anyone who thinks Take It from the Man! or Strung Out in Heaven represented the limits of his abilities will encounter a pleasant surprise with this album.

If Metz's debut was unnerving in its most powerful moments, II is the rock equivalent of Wes Craven's Last House on the Left; just keep telling yourself, "It's only an album ... only an album .... only an album ..."

Throughout Perfect Abandon's nine vocal songs, Brosseau's unhurried delivery transports the listener from her own world into his seamlessly.

Ultimately, The Longest River is a brave album in which Chaney presents her music without filters, and reveals herself as a major talent who embraces the past and present with confidence and remarkable skill. In short, she really is that good.

The only disappointment here is that the album is basically only five songs, so here's hoping it's just a taste of more to come.

On California Nights, they made a risky choice and it pays off in a big way. They come off assured and confident, fully in control of the songs and the sound in a way they never have before.

Cronin could have just kept cranking out the same album over and over; that he chose to take a risk and go big showed some real guts. That he was able to make it work as well as he did shows some real skill and should make anyone who liked the first two albums really happy.

Gary McClure knows how to write a strong melody and a great hook, and he's no slouch on guitar; those are gifts that would serve him well under any circumstances, but on American Wrestlers he's shown that he can make a great record with any old junk at his disposal, and quite simply, that's just what he's done here

There are no outright clunkers in the mix, but a light trim would have further distilled the power of this excellent sophomore release.

When he indulges in a wash of Vox organ and a rush of 12-string guitars, or when he updates Curtis Mayfield on "Phoenix," they play like transmissions from the past on an album that is focused on the now, and the willful, harmonious collisions of history and the future give Saturn's Pattern its kick, while the warm thrum of the grooves gives it its soul.

Millencolin are no doubt a tad older and wiser, but even bereft of any of that context, True Brew manages to sound refreshingly vital, which is more than can be said about many of their contemporaries.

Based on Weird Sister, Joanna Gruesome didn't seem like the kind of band to bow to pressure or to fall down on the job. The intense and quite wonderful Peanut Butter is bracing proof of that fact.

Rituals oozes dread, but ultimately it's that contrast between finery and paranoia that makes it so vital.

Solo work, if he can keep making records this special, should be where he focuses his prodigious talents.

Building on the strong foundation of their last album, Anxiety's Kiss adds even more sonic and emotional variety to Coliseum's sound, and is easily their most interesting album to date.

The album is a true meeting of mood, melody, and sound that any of the bands Death and Vanilla so clearly take inspiration from would be proud to call one of theirs.

Throughout, It's All Just Pretend is infectious, warm, and bright, offering positive but not airheaded guitar tunes for a melodic, feel-good fix.

Just as Holly Herndon's debut album Movement had abundant layers in its title alone, its follow-up Platform is just as nuanced in how it combines political, technological and structural and ideological concepts into a single word.

Sol Invictus is their best and most compelling work since Angel Dust, and the rare reunion album that truly adds to the strength of the group's legacy rather than diluting it.

Though this is some of Braxton's most abstract music, it might be the purest expression of his cerebral playfulness yet.

A danceable memento mori, Dumb Flesh is mischievous, poignant, and quite likely Sacred Bones' most accessible release of 2015.

He may be prolific, but he certainly isn't spread too thin, as The Good Fight is inspired, infectious, and artistically grand.

Accept Bush as a delayed dank disco triumph, and then drop it like it's hot, one more time.

Boys is where they solidify that position and really start to have some fun with it.

After Drop some might have expected Thee Oh Sees to continue to explore their softer side, Mutilator Defeated at Last confounds those expectations. Blows them up, really, in a giant fireball of guitars, noise, and psychedelic power.

The genius thing about all this is that Flowers doesn't steal Jeff Lynne's hooks or ape Mark Knopfler's guitar sound (well, not exactly), he just imbues his productions with a distinct level of tangible homage.

He reaffirms his connection to hip-hop and remains distinctive from the scores of beatmakers who have followed him.

On this album, Della Mae expand their roots-and-groove quotient, and extend the margins in their writing without sacrificing either the virtuosity and sparkle in their performance or the root persona in their sound.

All these years on, Soul Food may sound as revolutionary as its predecessor, but it is stronger and far more adventurous musically.

Ratchet is a fully realized, entertaining portrait of an artist who knows where he's from and where he's going.

Relatively straightforward compared to the drastically misshapen makeup of 2014's Ghettoville.

He's one of the rare artists who can lay claim to four (or five) albums that are all distinct from one another, all him, all high quality.

Ceremony have a strong handle on this style [Ian Curtis'], and after nearly a decade together, these new clothes fit them quite well.

A satisfying land where they receive all the drive, the snarl, and tribal drums they require, while late album highlights "Quit iPhone" and "Fibre Book Troll" (which is really "Facebook Troll") are screaming examples of the band's rockabilly-punk in overdrive.

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.

Bold, inventive, and exhilarating, the eight songs on Zoy Zoy are in a genre of their own.

Mystery Glue isn't an album about aging gracefully so much as aging right, and this is just about perfect for a 64-year-old Graham Parker, a proud survivor who lives to gripe another day, putting him far ahead of plenty of his peers.

She's blurring the lines between R&B and Brill Building, soul and girl group pop, coming up with a vivid, spirited record that ranks among her very best.

The production sound is also very Strokes-esque, with Shudall's vocals often layered with a delicate haze of fuzzy EFX à la Strokes frontman Julian Casablancas. That said, the comparison might be a bit more of a critique were it not for the sheer high quality and infectious nature of Circa Waves' songs.

She's clearly making her own way, unafraid to knock suitors down a couple pegs ("How That Taste"), allowing her vulnerability to shine through ("You Should Be Here"), and affirming her individuality.

Rachel Grimes has given us a collection of new pieces that quietly dazzle with their evocative power, intelligence, and strength, and The Clearing is something lovely and truly extraordinary that ranks with the best, most enveloping music of recent memory.

As it moves from reflective to engaging and back again, In Colour covers the entire spectrum of Jamie xx's music, delivering flashes of brilliance along the way.