If Stuff Like That There isn't as revelatory as Fakebook, it's a splendid, beguiling album that's perfectly suited for late nights and rainy afternoons, and a welcome reminder of one of the many, many things Yo La Tengo do so well.

Compton crackles with life and spirit.

Kill the Lights winds up feeling happy and generous, an inclusive record that plays to teenage desires as effectively as memories of an adolescence left behind.

Like Alexander's debut, this is one of one of Ghostly's highest-quality releases of the 2010s. There's no excess.

They probably could have sold themselves as a revival band or pretended to re-form in their poppier guise; that they have made an ugly, snarlingly dark album like Hidden Fields instead is truly impressive.

These are recordings that have never seen release on vinyl and, collected together, they do amount to a vibrant, exciting snapshot of Pavement at their wildest. For that specific audience, this is certainly worthwhile.

Slick guest artists Tyga and Kid Ink help the listener bridge the gap between the album's maverick moments and the sweet songs aimed at teens, and with smooth-voiced Royce showing equal grace with love and lust, Double Vision becomes the great and infectious model for a 2015 pan-global pop album.

Both Potter and Valentine delight in celebrating and inverting the clichés of overblown '80s AOR and that's what makes Midnight such a fun trip.

While High Country doesn't always work, it's constantly working toward moving the band forward, which means that were probably only a few albums away from a hair metal makeover.

Winning results on From Far Enough Away Everything Sounds Like the Ocean.

An even more consistent album than Kiss, E-MO-TION further defines Jepsen as an equally stylish and earnest pop artist.

With durable songs, classic melodies, an idiosyncratic manner, wit, and a transportive quality to the arrangements, it'd be greedy to ask much more of a singing songsmith.

It makes for a great second album, one that holds tight to all the things that made the first one so satisfying, while adding some new wrinkles that only serve to improve things. Try as you might, you're not likely to find too many albums in 2015 that rock as hard or bleed as much as High.

London producer Slime creates sumptuous, swaying music that flows so freely that few rappers could ride it.

Myrkur's music melds all of her adopted stylistic elements, lets their seams show, and emerges with an innovative, alchemical creation of her own. M expands on black metal's boundaries yet holds its dark, foreboding spirit close.

An album that deliberately side-steps many of Thomas' signature moves while still sounding unmistakably like him.

Meliora jumps so quickly from classic hard rock to prog to glam metal it can be dizzying (and perhaps even dazzling) for listeners. What holds it all together is solid writing that sticks close to stock pop/rock methodology.

Those who still believe that rock & roll can and should make you move ought to put Under the Savage Sky on their playlists pronto; it's the raw real thing.

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

Ultimately, What Went Down should please fans of Holy Fire, and they may not be the only ones drawn to its gloomy and persistent energy.

At his best, he's as poignant, heartbreaking, funny, sad, and creative as Stephin Merritt, and Nephew in the Wild is a gentle reminder of this.

As Battles evolve, they remain true to their unique mix of brains and brawn, and La Di Da Di just might be their most engaging music yet.

As The Light in You's title implies, Mercury Rev are seeking life's brightest moments, and they find them--along with some of their most satisfying music in many years.

Substantial enough to require three pieces of vinyl (the CD version is a single disc with three fewer tracks), it's more outward-looking than Toeachizown, not only through its dizzying and multigenerational list of collaborators, but also through Riddick's increased ability and confidence as a vocalist who promotes positivity, whether it's blissful escape or strong-willed perseverance.

Fleming may have lost some of the outsider charm that bubbled through the first Diane Coffee record by going big, but he went big in such a sure-handed and spectacular way, it's hard to complain too much. In fact, an album this crazy and good deserves nothing but praise and adulation.

Taken all together, the set is a fascinating document of a band you see change from the kind of band who'd release a cassette in weird packaging to a band making a grab for the brass ring of success. Along the way, there were considerably more hits than misses, though, and any fan of Flying Nun will find much to love here.

With repeated listening it earns shelf space with their finest records.

While the songs are good--there's canny craftsmanship behind the Stylistics salute "Stay in My Corner" and the steady crawling "Put a Flower in Your Pocket"--it's this immersive, trippy atmosphere that distinguishes the Arcs and makes Yours, Dreamily live up to its name.

It's a winningly low-key record, where the atmosphere matters more than the songs, yet Richards doesn't neglect writing tunes this time around.

In all, Cranekiss is a beautiful pop fantasia that finds Tamaryn expressing her music's passion and sensuality in exciting new ways.

"Girls" illustrates the dance between jealousy and affection simply and brilliantly. Moments like these make All Yours Widowspeak's most self-assured and vulnerable album yet.

Discreet Desires is a fascinating debut album, demonstrating the right way to transition from an underground, 12"-only electronic producer to a full-scale album artist, greatly expanding upon previous ideas while avoiding sounding overblown and remaining rough and exhilarating.

This excitement can be exhausting over the course of nearly 90 minutes, but that's also an attribute: this version of Against Me! throws everything it has into a performance and while that passion may be overwhelming, it's also potent and thrilling.

So Brace the Wave reveals that Lou Barlow hasn't changed all that much in the past quarter-century--he's just better at this stuff, and has finally grown more comfortable with it.

With No Closer to Heaven, Campbell and the Wonder Years have made an album that's more mature and thoughtful than before, but no less passionate and direct, and it ranks with their finest work to date as well as suggesting this band has an interesting and exciting future ahead.

This music declares that Clark is one artist who will see to it that the blues does indeed have a future, which is what makes him important and Sonny Boy Slim a serious leap forward from Blak and Blu.

In trying to re-create the music he's long admired--all at once--through The Last Hurrah!!'s kaleidoscopic persona, he's moved beyond the trappings of mere nostalgia. Via the music of Mudflowers, the historical past is vital and ever present.

With Rodeo, Travis Scott becomes a designer drug.

This busy collection is really just more free.

For those who made his acquaintance on the Mute albums--Cole's Corner, Lady's Bridge, Truelove's Gutter--or even Standing At The Sky's Edge, this loose-knit set just might be revelatory.

A lovely, stimulating debut album, Contrepoint is a beautifully written love letter to musical history and creativity.

So There is both ambitious and down-to-earth, impeccably constructed, and utterly accessible.

Empire is hardly an ideal introduction to Unwound's singular musical world-view, but for fans looking for a writ-large celebration of this band's remarkable final act, this set is a luxury and a necessity at once.

Like Wright's previous albums, Freedom & Surrender is graceful and exacting, yet those qualities come across in a fashion that does not seem deliberate--remarkable for material that draws from folk, blues, jazz, soul, and gospel and often fuses two or more of those genres.

On Versions, Idjut Boys inject a bit of spice into tracks that occasionally verged on being too mellow in their original forms, resulting in a set of trippy, blissful reworks that are easily recommended over their source material.

With every album, Souljazz Orchestra bring provocative surprise and musical delight. Resistance is no exception; it's chock-full of vitality and adventure.

If Dave and Phil Alvin want to crank out an album like Lost Time every year until the sun finally sets on them, no one who loves blues and roots music would have any room to complain.

By entering the mainstream one limb (album) at a time, Bring Me the Horizon are merely reaping what they've sown, and longtime fans should already feel acclimated to the water.

Ropewalk finds the View further maturing into a tight, sophisticated outfit, capable of balancing the punk energy of their early work with a more nuanced sense of song craftsmanship.

loss. Didn't He Ramble shows that as a performer and a songwriter, Hansard can create powerful and satisfying work that's up to the standard he set with the Frames, and this is a step up from 2012's impressive but uneven Rhythm and Repose.

Beautifully captured on tape with the mix of spontaneity and professionalism expected from a Rawlings/Welch performance, Nashville Obsolete has something of a brooding grandeur to it.

An almost uncannily well-crafted second album.

Initially, the noise is the allure, but subsequent spins reveal these songs are as tightly constructed as those Howard writes for Alabama Shakes and, in some respects, maybe even a little sturdier.

This sophomore release named after his hometown's zip code is raw and ready to fight, including taking down all the industry folk who helped hold up this second LP.

While Higher Truth never seems as self-consciously confessional as Euphoria Mourning, this mellow simplicity is an attribute: a relaxed Cornell creates a comforting mood piece that's enveloping in its warmth.

B'lieve I'm Goin Down... is an impeccably arranged album beneath its soothing, sleepy surface, with every element assisting in an illusion of deep, shimmering, and alluring melancholy.

With Savage Hills Ballroom Powers has expanded the Youth Lagoon sound without losing any of the intimacy of his bedroom pop beginnings.

Shannon & the Clams have hit the peak of their powers here, making good on their promising early records and improving on the already strong record that came before. Here's hoping they can keep it up for many more great rock & roll albums to come.

An interesting and infectious LP that's also his strongest to date.

This album does find the fine band reaching for something different, and they hit their target with skill, assurance, and clarity.

Lerner's easy and reliable delivery is the glue that keeps everything together, and while there's little doubt that Ad Infinitum was conceived and created during a time of artistic upheaval, it retains all of the warmth and humanity that's made his prior outings shine.

Songs To Play finds Forster at his most energetic and free. While this set can't be regarded as "unrestrained," these spirited, well-crafted songs offer rock & roll in a manner he's never even hinted at before.

Tune in, come down, and drift about because Bob Moses remain the masters of restrained bliss house.

Luckily for everyone else, Night School has cleaned up the tapes, stuck them in a nice package, and given more than just McDowall fanatics a chance to hear some of the most enchanting music of the '80s at last.

As crucial as Hitomi and Robinson are to the album's effect, one of the highlights is a doleful 14-minute instrumental with faint bass, creeping drones, and chilling vibraphone reverberations.

Although the tracks rarely surprise, frequently falling back on familiar sounds and structures -- loping basslines and synthesizer shadings that escalate at the same tempo always arrive on time, for instance--they're as well-built as those of the debut, and the Lawrences, along with their songwriting partners, cover the ups and downs of falling in and out of love in sharper fashion.

There is no band like out there like Le Butcherettes and A Raw Youth proves it.

Allas Sak proves that they are still as good as ever, if not better, and can still teach those who have followed in their wake a thing or two about crafting a satisfying album.

A record that's not only easier to enjoy than most of his solo records, but also stronger song for song than many of the early Eagles albums.

It's this momentum that makes Sexwitch such a transcendent album, and some of the most exciting music any of these artists have made.

Perhaps the first time the Dead Weather have truly lived up to their promise, Dodge and Burn is a joyride of an album--sexy, fun, and dangerous, it upholds the tenets of rock & roll.

Servant of Love is an album that needs a few spins to be fully appreciated, but it's as sincere, heartfelt, and artful as anything Griffin has released to date, and if the form may seem elusive to some listeners, the content is powerful and satisfying, a reminder of why Patty Griffin is one of our best singer/songwriters.

In the end, there's something amusingly kooky and undeniably likable about a band that can evoke both the acid house, Rolling Stones spirituality of a band like Primal Scream just as it can, perhaps unintentionally, summon the ghost of early-'90s Duran Duran.

They may be one of many, many neo-psych bands out there in 2015 whipping up retro-flavored noise, but this record proves that they are one of the best and most imaginative.

Cradle To The Grave relies on the sharp melodic construction of Tilbrook and Difford's diffident wit, a combination the crackles throughout this lean 44 minute record.

New Bermuda finds Deafheaven continuing to effortlessly traverse genre borders and create transcendent music.

Unlike their previous two albums, Arms Around a Vision isn't simple to get into. It might take a little work, but it's an enjoyable endeavor and it makes for an ultimately more enjoyable album in the long run.

Not many bands are able to rekindle their fire when the flame goes out as drastically as in Wavves' case. V shows that they're one of the few to pull it off, and they even sound better than ever.

At nearly an hour long, Grey Tickles, Black Pressure is a dense, rewarding listen from an artist who's becoming more complex, and more direct, with each album.

This is an album of highly compositional, slow-burn epics that build with Kubrick-ian intensity and attention to detail.

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

For Kylesa, Exhausting Fire marks not only a giant step on their ever evolving journey (one that effortlessly looks forward and back simultaneously), but is also the bedrock of an idiosyncratic, clearly demarcated sonic terrain no other band can claim.

The pleasing, alive, and diverse Stories is a fine reason to think of Avicii as a producer of attractive music, with EDM, pop, and all other genres on a sliding scale.

The songs that pull in the attention are the lumbering riff-rockers, the ones that open the album and set a muscular, nostalgic tone that, if you're of a certain disposition, is pretty hard to resist.

Shopping make listeners lean in and pay close attention, proving along the way that they don't have to choose between tradition and growth to make a strong second album.

The Agent Intellect is an album that challenges both the mind and the body; if you're looking for further confirmation that Protomartyr are one of the smartest and toughest bands of their day, this album is what you need.

Despite its experimental elements and trippy sensibility, Beach Music is relentlessly intimate, moving, and hard to shake--a notable trait for a young if experienced recording artist.

The duo's work here complements what they've done beside Chrisette Michele, Alicia Keys, Tamia, and especially Elle Varner.

The main difference here is the overall feeling of buoyancy, as Hutchcraft and Anderson apply their top-shelf pop songcraft to a decidedly more energized and euphoric collection of tunes than we’ve heard from them in the past.

Where All Is Fled builds on Hauschildt's Berlin-school/kosmische influences while exploring new dimensions, resulting in his most immersive, accomplished solo work yet.

Musically and emotionally, this is one of Deerhunter's most powerful--and delicate--albums.

An album that's a noisy, abrasive joy from front to back.

Most of the songs exceed the four-minute mark and the lack of an obvious single makes If I Should Go Before You feel even more like a single, lovingly crafted entity.

If this isn't quite up to the standards of his '80s high-water marks like Night and Day and Big World, it comes close enough that longtime fans will find plenty to enjoy, and some bits that will challenge them.

From their clever songcraft to the very natural manner in which they've presented it, Promised Land Sound have delivered a gem with a rambling country-folk feel and plenty of rock vitality.

Change is good. Growth is necessary for survival. Fans should not be disappointed.

The pairing of Lund and Cobb on Things That Can't Be Undone is a feather in both their caps; as an album, it forges a new path in country music, yet remains exceptionally close to the tradition's heart.

Thr!!!er felt like it might have been !!!'s peak achievement; As If makes the case that they may only be getting started.