Pylon Live isn't perfect, but as a reminder of what made Pylon special and how well they worked on-stage, it does what it needs to do beautifully, and this is a splendid archival document of a group whose importance becomes increasingly evident with the passage of time.

The release does an excellent job of touching on several facets of Moss' personality, and will most certainly encourage newcomers to seek out as many of his other recordings as possible.

Rough and explosive yet perfectly controlled, Guidance is yet another powerful statement from the heavy instrumental rock behemoths.

Similarly, the loping "Occupational Hazard" and the militaristically epic "Dionysus" have a kinetic flow that is, as with all of Furnaces, both literate and cinematic.

A set of songs that stick and hold up to repeat plays.

Forget the sophomore jinx, this set delivers on the promise of that first album and then some.

This may be Cline's quietest recording, but it is one of his finest.

In its own claustrophobic, expansive, debauched, and sardonic way, 25 25 proves that less truly is more for Factory Floor.

This is the first Lawrence Arabia album that fully reaches the promise shown by the first three albums, the first that works from start to finish, and the first that edges Milne close to the rarefied air his heroes occupy.

It's another extremely strong effort for McKenna, whose growing catalog is already known for its quality.

Somewhere Else should make a point of giving Real a listen--at her best, she's quite simply as good and as brave a singer and songwriter as anyone working today, and Real finds her at the top of her game.

With Mutilator, and now this album, the band is firing on all cylinders and then some, making psych-prog-metal-punk jams for the ages.

There is a wide range of ideas at work on Home of the Strange, which makes for a satisfying, engaging listen.

[Jocie Adams'] musical eclecticism gives Arc Iris a leg up as they vanquish trendiness in favor of free-flowing exploration.

While Vulnicura Live may not be the most fun of Björk's concert albums, its powerful performances still make it a joy for fans to hear.

Wilder and stranger than Anika's previous work, Exploded View is an unpredictable ride that suggests listeners should follow wherever she beckons.

Lots of people are making music like this in 2016, but very few are making it this impressively.

A dark, turbulent, and welcome entry in Walker's catalog.

Slow Club's metamorphosis feels organic and, more importantly, embraced: this is their record, and the sound you're hearing is Slow Club overcoming their struggles.

Curious, ramshackle, and unapologetically rough around the edges, the two-disc, 24-track set is more sprawling than it is ambitious, but like everything else that the enigmatic Richard Davies (Moles, Cardinal, Cosmos) lays his hands on, the results are, more often than not, mesmerizing.

The sparser songs here have everything they need, however, and that's the album's most impressive feat, even topping memorable melodies: a feeling of stability in the territory of loss.

As per usual, it's Hannigan's otherworldly voice that provides the anchor, effortlessly shifting from smoky lows to crystalline highs like a precision sports car on a twisty mountain test drive.

Those who don't process the lyrics will be missing a lauded part of the McCombs experience, Mangy Love, arguably more than ever, works as a musical expression alone, mixing the sometimes caustic lyrics and roguish indie touches with an overriding smooth '70s veneer. For those who take it all in, the album engages both the intellectual and aural pleasure centers.

Animal Races comes a bit late in the season to be the smart indie pop album of the summer, but if you want to conjure the mood of a beautiful day in a warm California town, the Cool Ghouls are just the band to do it.

Alice Bag isn't a belated victory lap from a veteran of the punk rock wars, it's a diverse and deeply satisfying album from an artist who is finally getting a chance to live up to her great potential, and here she isn't missing a trick.

As he imbues his songs with more warmth than most synth pop and more distance than most singer/songwriters, Cameron charts his own territory on Jumping the Shark with striking and moving results.

While this is easily Horseback's most "laid-back" effort, it's also the one with the most going on musically. It's impossible to pin it all down; simply surrender, let it have its way. You won't regret it.

It's a welcome return, as is Glory as a whole: it feels as fun and frivolous as her earliest music while retaining the freshness of her best mature work.

Anything But Words is a stellar and truly collaborative endeavor between two creative energies, the result of an organic songwriting process that is anything but thrown together.

Prima Donna is an essential snapshot of 2016 that bears witness to the evolution of an artist coming into his own with an unflinching, socially conscious perspective.

The elements that are new here play out like a means to an end for a songwriter with a tale to tell, one chock-full of raw emotions. The songs stand just fine on their own, too, out of context.

Well over a decade after the release of Eluvium's brilliant 2003 debut, Lambent Material, Cooper continues to sound inspired and inventive.

From start to finish, Trick is arresting, with enough sonic surprises to excite and perplex listeners freed from the restrictions of genre boundaries.

Young Thug presents his best case for inclusion in the pantheon of hip-hop influencers with JEFFERY, a release as inspired as it is inspiring.

Yes, the references are abundant--in an homage, they're supposed to be. Wobble employs them with a curator's taste; his skill as a bandleader creates space for disparate tongues to communicate before evolving into a different musical language--his own. Everything Is NoThing is a monster.

Exodus of Venus is an achievement both redemptive and transformative.

Worship the Sun was pretty great garage rock revivalism filtered through a gently psychedelic filter; Calico Review might be even better.

They've always existed in their own space, and Trouble is yet another fine example of their fascinating art.

The record captures Dwyer and the group at their peak powers, and while maybe it's not as good as seeing the band on-stage, where Dwyer's gleefully wild antics take it right to the edge of being a spectacle, it's pretty spectacular.

What impresses is the consistency. Acoustic Recordings 1998-2016 not only is a strong set of songs but it makes it plain that White has been mining the same territory, finding something new within it for nearly two decades.

What gives KIN its weight is Tunstall's craft. Invisible Empire/Crescent Moon proved that she could turn inward and be gripping but by turning that aesthetic inside out—this is an album about embracing the outside world--she's every bit as compelling.

Wild World proves that Bastille can build on their success with style. They're the kind of band that sounds better as they get bigger, and their thoughtful lyrics, jaunty melodies, and huge choruses could fill a Coldplay-shaped hole in listeners' hearts.

It's up to the label's high standard, a riveting composite of grief and filth like no other.

Even if it's not as full of surprises as the original album was, E-MO-TION [Side B] might be even more cohesive--and should delight fans of perfectly crafted pop just as much.

Even by Cave's dour standards, Skeleton Tree is a tough listen, but it's also a powerful and revealing one, and a singular work from a one-of-a-kind artist.

Goodbye to Language is a powerful, intoxicating album and one of Lanois' best works in at least a decade.

Preoccupations is a more coherent, more accessible set of songs that proves this band doesn't need an edgy name to attract the attention they deserve.

While comparisons and familiar tones abound, they shouldn't detract from what Troy and Edwards excel at delivering. They mostly serve as touchstones to lock Deap Vally into the ranks of similar artists as genuinely concerned with rocking listeners into sweet submission.

The balance between these quiet, thoughtful songs, the needle-bouncing rockers, and the jumping Monkees-ish pop of tracks like "Stick Your Hand Up if You're Louche" makes for a thrill ride of an album, and a better example of modern guitar pop than Cosmonaut is pretty hard to find no matter where one might look.

Decades later, it's still thrilling to hear the band and the crowd feed off the excitement of the other.

Shape Shift with Me feels considerably lighter than its predecessor: Grace is reveling in her mess, resulting in an album that is lighter, fleeter, hookier, and more fun than its predecessor.

It couldn't be more dystopian. It's also a completely exhilarating thrill ride, and highly recommended for fans of other bass-heavy sound bombers such as Amnesia Scanner and Brood Ma.

Townsend has set such an impossibly high standard and this is another excellent entry in a catalog brimming with them. That said, it extends the boundaries explored on Sky Blue, and delivers--in full--on the promise it presented.

On the whole, while its more serious tone may disappoint some fans of Half the City, Sea of Noise's performances are just as tight and as passionate, and even more impressive in their maturity and scope.

These are dazzlingly collaborative performances that reveal Redman and Mehldau to be a highly intuitive and harmonically adroit team.

A bewitching album from an artist at the peak of her powers.

While the Frkwys series is known for its (mostly) consistent excellence, this volume is a clear standout within it.

As with any patten release, it takes a few listens to wrap your head around what they're doing, but taking the effort to decode their work proves to be incredibly rewarding.

This is the most pleasing Usher album in over a decade. In terms of ability, agility, and creativity, Usher's vocals still crush the commercial competition.

Personal yet inviting, If You See Me, Say Yes is a lovely debut and a strong addition to Wasner's growing canon.

It would be easy to say that I Had a Dream That You Were Mine rivals Rostam and Leithauser's past work, but it's better to say that it's the beginning of a great partnership.

At all times, Miller and his associates are on the same page. Another aspect that makes this the rapper's most fulfilling album is that all the lines about being saved and in awe seem to be expressed with as much ease as the anatomical references, like they're plain facts, not wrenching confessions.

ArtScience is an excellent step forward.

Assbring's discovery of the world of sounds, and the inspiration it gave her, has helped provide El Perro del Mar with a stunning upgrade, and KoKoro stands as one of the best works of her already pretty great career.

Secular Hymns feels like you are sitting in the front row of an intimate Peyroux concert.

Heads Up proves that the quick turnaround suits them; instead of seeming rushed, the album feels spontaneous and fearless.

Impressively, Krell continues to find new approaches within his style; even though Care's clarity is the polar opposite of Love Remains, it feels equally true.

The album's overall effect is one of strolling along a seaside path, maybe with a stray dog and a straw hat, in a less-frequented village somewhere far from home, and it's one of Banhart's most satisfying.

It's a tough act to consistently maintain, but they've delivered another artful, well-crafted release.

Iit's the assemblage that delivers the difference, and that's enough. Given its relative brevity, it's among the few albums in their catalog that doesn't leave the listener exhausted (not a bad thing by any means), but wanting more.

Ultimate Painting may not reach the commercial heights of either guy's main band, but it is fully the equal and in some ways more interesting. Certainly if you're a fan of Veronica Falls or Mazes, you'll want to check this out right away.

It's an impressive feat of reinvention that manages to keep Vernon's emotional core fully intact no matter how far the music strays from established Bon Iver territory.

Ultimately, with Young as the Morning Old as the Sea, Passenger has crafted an album that, not unlike the oceans, fields, roads, and relationships that inspired it, remains with you, calling you to return.

American Band is an op-ed column with guitars, and it presents a message well worth hearing, both as politics and as music.

Easily Forma's most ambitious work to date, Physicalist is a winning expedition.

On Orphée, Jóhannsson expresses the need to let some things and people go to let new ones in with remarkable nuance, as well as the affecting beauty fans have come to know and love.

The colorful textures and lush arrangements are a change of pace. Some fans may miss the heavier guitar attack of Commune, but the band carry off this new approach like the true sonic explorers they are.

Comforting but never dull, it's a reminder that the familiar can be just as inspiring as the foreign.

It's easily the most accomplished work yet from the mighty S U R V I V E, who tower over the majority of other synth-wave revivalists.

While it goes further musically than their two previous outings, it contains enough of the past to exist in a new space that claims the terrain between Watershed and Heritage. Brilliant.

Banks packs enough energy and zeal at the starting line to duly lay waste to whoever was foolish enough to break her heart.

Though Never Enough certainly succeeds in providing classic infectious rock that sidesteps the often formulaic glaze of contemporary pop, above all else, it's just great fun.

Due to its bright, open production and quirky presentation, Heart Like a Levee is a watermark for Hiss Golden Messenger. Seldom have hard times sounded this uplifting.

I'm Glad Trouble Don't Last Always isn't Luke Winslow-King's happiest album by a long shot, but it feels like his best so far, and finds him expanding his musical horizons without losing any ground along the way. This is a top-shelf exercise in soulful blues with plenty to say to the lovelorn and the satisfied alike.

Victor Axelrod's production is clear, dry, and accurate, and the final product is a superb example of a new band building something powerful from the sounds of the past. Dan Klein's passing means we may never get another Frightnrs album, and certainly not one with this lineup. But this is music about life, and the passion and gritty joy of Nothing More to Say are what make it essential listening, regardless of the fate of the lead vocalist.

Altogether, the album's palette and Jacklin's cracking, pensive delivery land her in a sphere with heavy-hitters such as Sharon Van Etten and Angel Olsen, with a touch of Lucinda Williams, making it a must for fans of thoughtful indie folk.

While not all of Utopia Defeated's tracks are as immediately engaging as the aforementioned highlights, Perry introduces a unique vision and his impressive debut is well worth the time it takes to let it decant.

Jones' originals feel as elegant as time-honored standards, and all her covers feel fresh. The former speak to her craft, the latter to her gifts as a stylist, and the two combine to turn Day Breaks into a satisfying testament to her ever-evolving musicianship.

Taking into account Whibley's dramatic and life-altering experiences, the hits land harder than ever, resulting in Sum 41's most honest and sincere album yet.

Their exploration and exposition of what lies hidden in tradition in the creation of new music make for utterly compelling--and perhaps even obsessive--listening.

His music is remarkably creative and avoids sounding like a cheap novelty, or the audio equivalent of an ill-conceived Halloween costume.

Ultimately, with WALLS, Kings of Leon have struck a nice balance between the garage band passion of their early work, and the large scale bombast that made them stars.

On The Violent Sleep of Reason, Meshuggah set out simply to capture the energy of their live shows in the studio. They accomplish that in spades, and reaffirm why they don't need to worry about innovation: their writing and playing accomplish that in their very nature.

With Gameshow, Two Door Cinema Club ultimately balance a growing pop maturity with a stylish strut worthy of Saturday Night Fever's Tony Manero.

Every Now & Then is the best kind of second album, one that improves on the first one without throwing away any of the elements that made it good.

It's a dense and lyrically challenging record, as you would expect from two highly intelligent individuals who have lived through the bars they deliver, but it ends on their most salient point: "Can't escape yourself, please love yourself," Riz MC's final words on "Din-e-llahi."

Like an Arrow doesn't simply feel like it's built to last, it feels like it's been kicked around the block a few times and has emerged all the stronger for it.

The entire album is a startling, exciting future-shock that resonates in an era when dystopian sci-fi seem increasingly less fictional, and it's easily DVA's best work yet.