Transporting and pastoral, Nature is a beautiful culmination of Owens' artistry.

Combined with a higher level of musicality kept in check with a greater sense of nuance, The Nature of Imitation is Johnson's most accomplished and enjoyable album.

No one interested in the bleeding edge of New Wave should be without 1978's Q: Are We Not Men? A: We Are Devo! and 1980's Freedom of Choice, but if you're looking for a concise yet thorough summation of one of the smartest and most inventive bands of their time, 50 Years of De-Evolution 1973-2023 will fill the void nicely.

Musically, the album is as hard as the group has ever gotten.

The Tangier Sessions' sound is warm and steeped in passion, wonder, and fascination.

The crowning achievement is that all of the musical and lyrical poetry works together to make a haunting, howling album that, despite outward signs, is above all tuneful and engaging.

Even on more restrained moments like these, Gately's audacious ideas and artistry make Color a dazzling debut album.

Heartbreaking Bravery is a fantastic slab of meticulous indie composition by all standards, but it's truly incredible in its ability to make almost every statement on the record come off like the last word.

Taylor has made an album that's happy without being silly, and positive while acknowledging just how much of a challenge it can be. Jump for Joy is an exercise in self-help and self-care, and a few spins might help you on the road to better days. It will certainly make them easier to enjoy.

Change Becomes Us is more than just a rehash or compare-and-contrast exercise; these songs sound great in their own right.

An engaging debut from a band that hits a graceful midpoint between The Basement Tapes and the Gourds, not to mention delivering one of 2015's more pleasant surprises.

While Maria BC's songs can float away into the clouded ether at times (or sink into the sea), Marathon's more tactile sounds keep it loosely tethered to human interaction.

Witching Hour is the album that Ladytron always seemed capable of, and its dark, dreamy-yet-catchy spell makes it the band's most sophisticated, and best, work to date.

Bouncing from Mexico City to Prague to Milan to Denver over the course of ten songs, DeVotchKa's fourth full-length shows a band aging gracefully and eccentrically.

All of these are very good tunes, but it's the heartfelt content at the album's thematic core that makes 'Em Are I not just Lewis' most consistent album, but also his most truly affecting and easily his most successful outing to date.

It isn't for everyone; it leaves questions of her versatility as an artist (though at this point in her career, it's not necessarily a priority); but most importantly, it's a singular, uncompromised vision that, in a world where the definition of beauty sometimes seems to be growing more restrictive, will resonate with listeners who prefer to find beauty in unexpected places.

On Telling It Like It Is, Marching Church sounds like a congregation running wild, searching for the truth. Even if they don't know where they'll find it, it's thrilling to join them on the hunt.

Perhaps it's simply the growing pains that follow a much-hyped introduction, but Storm Queen is more of an interesting record than an excellent one, though it still has enough high points to recommend it.

The Devil and God Are Raging Inside Me is the completion of their pop-punk molting process and one of the best surprises -- that isn't really a surprise at all -- to come out of 2006.

They're still a quirky band, no doubt, but now they're using those quirks to make their most accomplished album to date.

Once again, the Drive-By Truckers have made a strong album well worth your time and attention, but Welcome 2 Club XIII suggests they're having a problem embracing uncomplicated joy in 2022 -- but then again, so do most people.

It's an album that one can't help but to imagine making for impactful concert moments.

Virtually every song on Up the Bracket is chock-full of the bouncy, aggressive guitars, expressive, economic drums, and irresistible hooks that made the Strokes' debut almost too catchy for its own good.

The whole is still a game enough effort, if nothing else showing Houck's excellent taste in song choices.

Winehouse's record has the feeling of being allowed to grow on its own--without being meddled with and fussed over.

This is a remarkably mature and impressive debut from an artist who seems like he's just getting started and his best stuff lies ahead of him.

Fortunately, it's a warm and fuzzy gloom that sounds just right all the time. You won't want to miss Secret Walls, another step in the band's progression.

Best of Crime Rock is one "greatest-hits" album that lives up to the billing, and this is the best recorded introduction to one of the most interesting bands on the garage punk underground.

What makes S&M2 so absorbing and entertaining is how all the musicians involved embrace both the ridiculousness and seriousness of their endeavor, creating a glorious overblown noise impressive in its ambition, heft and unspoken absurdity.

While '70s and early-'80s pop informs all of Music, there's still something contemporary and deeply sincere in Benny Sings' songs. He's a quirky indie rocker drawing upon his vinyl heroes for inspiration and reassurance.

Highlights include the Carly Rae Jepsen-esque, synth-washed jam "No Problem" (with Felix of Stray Kids) and the frantic sing-along anthem "POP!" Front-loaded with the immediate, pulse-pounding fare, IM NAYEON closes with a trio of sensual and smoothed-out tracks that would make early '90s R&B girl groups proud.

On Face Down in the Garden, they have reached peak vibe, and if it is their last album, as they have said, they exit at the top of their very specific, very Tennis game.

It can all be a bit much at times, but this all-in approach to creativity has been VanGaalen's M.O. from the start and his talent remains something to behold.

As good as The Runners Four was, Friend Opportunity just might be even better.

With such a resounding sadness, it's doubtful that this will be the album to pull in new listeners, but it's certainly his most mature record, and packs a hell of an emotional punch.

Even if Joli Mai's presentation isn't quite as dazzling, the undeniable quality of these tracks makes it a welcome companion piece for more than just completists.

Ghost Forests offers listeners an expansive offering of the duo's strengths in improvisation, songwriting, and interpretation. Yet, for its considerable imagination and creativity, there is also an elegant restraint that allows listeners access to an interior world of sound and poetry perhaps previously unimagined.

Overall, Not All Heroes advances Metro Boomin's technique, utilizing an Avengers-of-trap team to amplify the drama in his atmospherics and focus the hypnotic appeal of his sharp beat pops.

Moving toward more mainstream sounds makes this album some of Autre Ne Veut's most distinct and confident music yet.

Westerman creates music to think and daydream and plot adventures to. Arriving among a musical landscape of clean, but often vacuous bedroom pop, he has created something of lasting substance and clarity.

Molina has a consistent--if downcast--view of the world in his songs, and the canvas he uses to express it does so perfectly.

A rather inoffensive listening experience, a middle ground that Idles have mostly been able to avoid until now.

The album's soft-focus allows Blonde Redhead to explore its relatively newfound romanticism more deeply than before... but with less tension between the fragile and harsh aspects of the band's sound, its soft-focus occasionally drifts into lack of focus.

Few bands can get away with being in a holding pattern like Tindersticks.

Jerusalem is the work of a thinking troublemaker with a loving heart, and while more than a few people will be angered by some of his views, Earle asks too many important questions to ignore, and the album is a brave and thought-provoking work of political art.

Like both Radiohead and Foo Fighters, Cave In is a stylistic chameleon that rarely uses its freewheeling taste as a crutch to present self-indulgent material.

It ranks high among his finest albums.

Andrew W.K.'s debut found meaning in partying, but The Wolf sounds like a party about finding some meaning in life.

The 74-year-old singer/guitarist rocks out furiously for the better part of the set, evoking obvious predecessors such as Muddy Waters and John Lee Hooker.

Brown turns the Versions material, drawing on both released and unreleased sections from the original sessions, into something closer to harsher rock at points, but on balance the various tracks turn into a series of tense counterpoints between loud and soft, always with an eye toward careful flow that transforms the material into slow evolutions.

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

Even if My Love Is Cool sacrifices some of Wolf Alice's earlier fury, the album is all the stronger for it.

Listen closely, it's evident that Star-Crossed is a quintessential divorce record--the story is laid out quite clearly in its 15 songs--but in a practical sense, the album delivers sophisticated mood music, providing a soothing soundtrack for all manners of quiet domestic activities.

Blue Mountain is very much an extension of his work with the Grateful Dead, particularly Workingman's Dead and American Beauty: he's tapping into legends, then spinning them for the present day.

All or Nothing is undeniably impressive, but at the cost of some of the heart that's as vital to Shopping's music as their brilliant interplay.

With Ladytron, the band proved they could more than hold their own with the like minded acts who sprang up in their wake. The thought and skill they put into Time's Arrow, however, could only come from years of perspective and experience.

Cole has yet to release a dud, but this is among her best work--somewhere between The Way It Is and Just Like You in terms of quality.

Their fourth album of 2017 may not be their most exciting of the year, but it is their strongest and shows that King Gizzard don't need any bells and whistles to make a great psychedelic splash.

While it's true that Immortal doesn’t break new ground here, it was perhaps more important at this juncture to reassert their sound to fans as they move forward in the aftermath of Abbath's departure. They not only carry on here, but sound more like their unhinged, malevolent selves than ever.

The fascinating thing about Loving the Alien is how it makes this period seem more interesting than the individual albums, and that's entirely due to the dance mixes, ephemera, and awkward live material. On these byways, it's possible to hear Bowie grapple with both his past and present in a hungry fashion and that desperation is alien to Bowie, so an immersion into this unease makes for compelling listening.

Still Slipping, Vol. 1 isn't the type of release that an artist would be likely to make at the beginning of their career. It's a labor of love requiring extensive reflection about how music and family have impacted one's life.

Keeping the industrial tradition alive in 2025, CONFLICT DLC is another satisfying effort from the Los Angeles trio.

For now, Return to Love is a fun and occasionally moving throwback, filled with nicely catchy songs, familiar sounds, and the overwhelming sense that the band's love of the '90s is being transmitted directly to the listener minus any irony and/or distance.

Taken together, they position Love Is All as one of the best post-punk revivalist groups, and arguably the equal of their influences. Whether you stand behind that statement or not, A Hundred Things Keep Me Up at Night is as good as indie rock gets in the late 2000s.

A crisply recorded set of bouncing rockers, sweetly strummed ballads and vaguely trippy mid-tempo tracks that are full of hooks, melodies and goofy fun.

It's the group's most lived in and emotionally authentic sounding release to date; it certainly doesn't fiddle too much with the formula, but that's hardly a negative.

Bless This Mess is another chapter of U.S. Girls' consistent evolution marked by pristine production and a deft balance of hooks and soul-baring beauty, with Remy pulling off the feat of intertwining some of her most emotionally complex material with what might be her most accessible sounds yet.

High-pitched coos gatecrash the song's chorus like they've just been kicked out of the Rolling Stones' "Sympathy for the Devil," and a harmonized keyboard solo injects a bit of the Steve Miller Band into an otherwise minimalist, Southern-styled slow jam. Such unexpected moves seem to be a new thing for Collett, and they combine to make this his strongest solo effort yet.

Though some might find it on the meek and lightweight side, many more will likely revisit Long Island Shores again and again.

Shudder to Think's zest in their return is palpable, this live recording both a fan essential and a good starting point.

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.

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.

Despite the relaxed, very informal nature of the playing, some deep music gets made here. While guitar freaks may have hoped for more guitar from Gunn, he's everywhere even when he's not running the show. Seasonal Hire is excellent country and Eastern.

A notion that acts as the foundation for the eight cuts on the hypnotic but illuminating Humor Risk.

The Ruminant Band is generally a happy affair, though, and cameo appearances by Califone's Tim Rutili and Jim Becker help chart the Fruit Bats' migration from bedroom side project to full-fledged band.

Her performances evoke all the anger and passion of the alt-punk heroes that inform White Lung's sound, but surpass many of them when it comes to control or the incredible clarity in her spitting, snarling delivery.

Sprout either can't or won't produce songs at the same pace as Robert Pollard, but what he does bring us is consistently pleasurable, and The Universe and Me is a lovely reminder of how many good things he brought to GbV--and how much he still has to offer on his own.

Based on the profundity of its content and the jagged beauty in its execution, Now belongs in the pantheon of culturally important works that include We Insist! Max Roach's Freedom Now Suite, Eddie Gale's Black Rhythm Happening, and Sun Ra's Nuclear War.

After several years' worth of darker and more obviously thematic work like Playground in a Lake, Kiri Variations, and Daniel Isn't Real, it makes sense that he'd want to make something more eclectic and exploratory, and Sus Dog's exhilarating creativity is a testament to trusting the process.

On Bring Me Your Love Dallas Green laments, pines, and celebrates loves both won and lost, employing a dusky, electrified patina of old and new country with a tinge of soul that's miles (sonically) from his work with the post-hardcore outfit Alexisonfire.

cal Business is an afternoon barfly telling his problems to anyone willing to listen and stump up for a drink, and fortunately for listeners, this drunk has a lyric book that they'll want to spend some time with.

It's a moody, atmospheric listen that never gets quite as melancholy as it suggests and holds together better than any Rilo Kiley album to date.

The combination of bright, '80s artifice, '90s cynicism, and 2020s uncertainty here works, if the "fun" is often tinged with consternation.

Everything on Twentytwo in Blue fits together perfectly; from the songs to the sounds to the performances, it's indie rock and pop at their thoughtful, searching, sweet, and punchy best.

Total Folklore is not for everybody, and the act of playing junkyard synths through scorching feedback is gimmicky by design, but he's successfully found his own niche in noise, and his creativity and determination to reinvent music is worthy of high praise.

Not only is Chalice Hymnal well worth the wait, it makes it even harder to choose which album is the pinnacle of Grails' ever-fascinating discography.

Stand Ins glows a little less bright than its' predecessor, but it shines nonetheless.

The thick veil of gloss that co-producers Joe Henry and Tucker Martine use to coat each of the 11 hypnotic tracks is entirely transparent, resulting in a glass-bottom boat ride that's both cathartic and uncomfortably voyeuristic.

Even if Nocturnal Koreans' sound isn't always textbook Wire, its imagery and wit most certainly are, making the album much more than the collection of leftovers its origins might have suggested.

It's a light, breezy affair that seems to take its title quite literally.

She continues to say her piece on alt-rockers like "You Can Be Mean," "Wasting Your Time," and the shrieking "Always," but takes a decidedly philosophical, even accepting turn on the more reflective "Losing" ("There is nothing I can do when the winds of change blow through") and a wistful title track that speaks of forgiveness. Along the way, De Souza delivers some surprises.

A stellar accomplishment from a truly singular band.

There are no easy answers or happy endings here; as Vasquez grows more skilled at expressing his pain, he delivers his bleakest--and most cohesive--music yet.

Every Time I Die are moving in some promising new directions.

The second half, where he traces his friendship with J Dilla, involves some brilliant storytelling, and perhaps the only moments during the album's sessions when Common cracked a smile while recording. It's a touching finish to the rapper's best album since Be.

A more-than-promising debut, Useless Coordinates makes good on the potential of Drahla's previous work and suggests they're not done evolving.

A near-perfect blend of Sparks and Franz Ferdinand's skills, FFS is a collaboration that works very well and offers just about everything a fan of either band could want.

As lyrically eclectic and clever as it is musically, this is one fascinating album.