At times, The Neon Gate is transcendent, though it's easy to get lost in its labyrinth of unicorns, demons, and castle grounds. It's certainly a more challenging listen than their earlier albums, but Nap Eyes have never been a mainstream concern. To that end, a sprawling D.I.Y. art-pop composite merely feels like one stop on a larger journey.

Butler's voice navigates masterfully through the cosmic slop. In a way, it too is a softly narcotizing beam, coursing through slow-motion, spaced-out avant-funk and lurching creep-show house rhythms with typically mind-bending wordplay. Compared to Lese Majesty, this similarly concise set is a bit murkier and only slightly less enticing.

Holley's observations are as powerful and poetic as ever, and White and his band simply sound out of this world, making Broken Mirror a spirited, magnificent collaboration.

At a brisk ten tracks, Ancient Dreams is a quick dose of what makes Marina great: heartfelt honesty from a fellow misfit consistently pushing the boundaries of pop.

Hitchcock is clearly having fun here, and while that sense of joyful, mad abandon may not always result in quality, it's hard not root for a guy who, at 60, isn’t afraid to stand behind his "honey naked and uncooked."

It's not easy to face up to and present the worst parts of being alive, much less in a way that's artistically pleasing or relevant. The Lips don't make it sound easy, which is why The Terror is so powerful.

Any band can go out, buy the right pedals (or dial up the right effects on a computer), and come up with a reasonable facsimile of the shoegaze sound, but it takes a band with extra skill and imagination to make it sound fresh and vital like No Joy do on Ghost Blonde.

Close to a full mélange of all the band's various sounds thus far over the years.

It's a great reminder of how weird and one-of-a-kind Avey Tare has always been, and how he's still refreshing his strangeness with every new record.

While it may lack some of the focus of its predecessor, it retains every bit of its oddball charm.

Viet Cong were a group full of promise on their debut EP, Cassette, and with their harder, heavier, and more powerful debut album, they're making it clear they have the talent and smarts to become a major force in Canada's indie community.

These songs puncture the gloss, so they make the greatest first impression, but that glimmer remains the reason to get lost within Ryan Adams: his blend of song and studio craft turns this eponymous album into the equivalent of a substantive, new millennial version of the Eagles' Long Run.

American Twilight is more than just a triumphant comeback by C&CS--who were not fully appreciated for their uniqueness the first time around--it is a literate, sprawling, bruising rock & roll record that convincingly addresses the crises we face--cultural, spiritual, integral--and the choices we make.

An intentionally fragmented portrait of change, Will's cracks show the growth in Barwick's music, and its pieces are facets that allow different aspects of her talent to shine.

Archer Prewitt returns to the whip-smart pop sensibilities that defined his first two LPs, upping the ante to reveal an altogether new sophistication and complexity that spur his music to unexpected heights of brilliance.

Selling Live Water follows the Anticon party line (double-timed, singsongy half-sensical ramblings countering slow, lumbering beats) through to conscious hip-hop's most logical dead end.

Poetic, languid, spoken/sung vocals similar to Lou Reed weave between lovely melodies whose appeal is evident usually after repeated listenings.... Its highlights recall the past glories of this commercially overlooked band, and adds a handful of keepers to their best work.

Ambivalent and unexceptional.

The ladies of Northern State deliver funky breaks and tight grooves on Dying in Stereo, and keep the hip-hop flavor without being vulgar and crass.

And just like their studio LPs, this one works so well, not just because the tracks are so excellently produced, but because Underworld is so good at placing sympathetic tracks next to each other and creating effortless-sounding transitions.... excellent track selection (evenly distributed from all three LPs) and a winning performance let the band get nearly everything right on their first live album.

So even when Lucky tries to turn down the glow, it still radiates with the oomph of a solid power pop release, making Nada Surf's fifth album a fine finale for a weekend well-spent.

Away from the World is a bit of a rare thing: a return to form lacking an ounce of nostalgia.

On Privateering, his seventh solo outing, Knopfler has crafted his most ambitious and pugnacious set to date.

Though none of this will be particularly useful to anyone who isn't already familiar with the band (and if you're one of those people, run out and buy Oceanic and Panopticon right now), but for the initiated, Temporal makes for an essential and illuminating listen.

The Raven That Refused to Sing and Other Stories is the best of Wilson's three solo projects; let's hope this particular group stays together awhile.

While Hard Boiled Soft Boiled's polarized presentation sometimes makes these songs seem more monotonous than they actually are, the album's highlights are on par with Odonis Odonis' previous bests.

Faulty Superheroes sounds like Pollard and his cohorts were aiming to make a solid rock & roll record rather than killing a few days in the studio, and that certainly makes the difference, especially if you're a fan of the man's endless well of melodic invention.

An extension of their ever-evolving canon, The Sovereign Self is possibly Trembling Bells' most colorful journey yet, with a wayfaring rock & roll spirit and a madcap zeal that keep it sounding fresh.

International Blackjazz Society is not only smartly conceived, Shining's songwriting, arranging, playing, and production are also completely inspired.

Manual elevates more often than it wallows, and most importantly, it never fails to surprise or entertain.

The album sounds as billowing and ethereal as one would expect from a solo harpist, but Lattimore's sense of experimentation gives her a distinctive sound, and At the Dam is simply a magnificent album.

All of these sounds may not surprise, but they're comforting in their familiarity, particularly because Sweet's execution as a writer and producer remains precise.

Keyboardist Cleo Sample and singer/songwriter Kendra Foster are among the variable cast that joins that trio, so the set unsurprisingly has the densely layered, spaced-out, and fiery qualities of D'Angelo's Black Messiah.

It's the final nail in the coffin for their garage roots, but they sound rejuvenated and excited in their unbridled exploration of new sounds.

Both confounding and compelling, Office Politics, like much of Hannon's work, feels a bit like a magnificently rendered lark, but as per usual, it's hard not to admire the craftsmanship.

When it's good and the band comes across as confident and focused, it feels like they made the right choice to head off into the pillowy dreamland. Other times, when a duff synth sound or a tinny drum machine lets them down, it's hard not to miss the traditional Moon Duo approach.

Given its mercurial disposition and fleeting playing time -- nothing here reaches the three-minute mark -- Lily We Need to Talk Now ultimately feels like a sampler, if one that whets the appetite for more.

It's difficult to discern how 72 Seasons could've been tightened yet it's hard not to wish that it was about a third shorter: the force would've had a greater impact if it wasn't quite so diffuse.

Though Cat Power Sings Dylan: The 1966 Royal Albert Hall Concert doesn't -- and couldn't -- have the same revelatory feel of Dylan's original concert, Marshall's wise, loving performances strengthen her reputation as one of her generation's most gifted interpreters.

The finished product is so muddled in many of its would-be fleeting spaces as to elicit the phrase: Just because you can doesn't necessarily mean you should.

The result is an album full of songs like "For the Girls" and "Many A Day A Heartache" that come across like best case scenarios for what one have hoped that the band might sound like someday, blending together elements of all their eras to end up with a powerful rock & roll sound, while the ballads, especially the album ending "Everything Now", have an emotional depth that feels earned.

Not only did Moore record Trees Outside the Academy with some of his closest friends, but the album's good-natured sprawl is so appealing that it makes its listeners feel like friends, too

By far the tightest record SFA has released since "Radiator"--boasting no song over five minutes and four clocking in under three--this is a concise, song-oriented record, which is somewhat ironic since it began its life as something as a concept album.

The results are understated yet extraordinary, an idiosyncratic, romantic vision of 20th century America.

As they reclaim the sounds of their roots on Send a Prayer My Way, Baker and Torres bring out the best in each others' music.

I Can't Imagine is confident, assured, and fiercely independent.

It is a more stripped-down affair compared to Broken Social Scene's more ambitious material.

Bajas Fresh is a masterful union of the group's jazz, Krautrock, and new age inspirations, and another rewarding chapter in their saga.

With Love Hates What You Become, Lost Under Heaven hit you in the heart right out of the gate, but then spend the rest of the album building you back up, hammering a crack into reality to let the light in. The album sticks with you even after coming to its crashing end.

It's an amazing, cool, and filling mix, and with Homeboy himself being that right mix of persuasive and challenging, First of a Living Breed is an easy recommendation for any lyric-loving hip-hop head.

T.I.'s fourth album isn't the leap forward he's been threatening to make, but it does carry the best set of productions he has been given to work with, and it guarantees that he won't be leaving the singles charts any time soon.

Like most live albums, Dream Attic is more about the playing than the material, which is a bit different from the way a new Richard Thompson set works, but when it captures a band this good playing with this authority, that's hardly anything to fret about.

Even with thirty-plus years behind them, Corrosion of Conformity can still reach the nosebleed seats without sacrificing any integrity. It may all feel a little familiar, but it still burns going down.

Californian Soil is a standout in London Grammar's catalog and a significant step forward in the trio's artistic maturation.

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.

While Root for Ruin isn't the creative reawakening that Let's Stay Friends was, it might be the band's tightest and most polished album yet.

Celebration, Florida is a brave step forward for the Felice Brothers, but one taken with care and confidence, and it's a powerful achievement from a talented and genuinely important band.

While there are definite left-field aspects to Life Fantastic, fans of crossover-indie rock groups like Modest Mouse and Spoon should be able to get behind the angular pop of "Shameless" or the backwater bluegrass-rock of "Life Fantastic."

The nine songs here represent her most ambitious and daring experiments yet, while retaining the considerately dreamy core that sets her work apart from any number of other soft-spoken spaceheads.

"Awaken, My Love" is a stone-cold blast from beginning to end.

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

Origami Harvest may not work for everybody, but for those who take the time to explore the unexpected bends and folds in Akinmusire's construction, a wealth of discoveries can be found.

Dear is proof positive that this trio are far from running on empty; hopefully, the rest of these sessions will see release soon.

As familiar as the psychedelic reference points may be, Jennifer Gentle are able to distill them into something contemporary, or at least make listeners feel like contemporaries of a psychedelic era, both past and present.

On their sixth album, the Caribbean find themselves in perhaps their strongest sonic mode yet.

Arty tropes aside, with Undivided Heart & Soul, McPherson continues to pull all of his varied stylistic influences together into his own vibrantly coherent brand of visceral, emotive rock that grabs you by the collar and demands your passion.

Rushing through in a cloud of distortion and broken snares is fine, but a little subtlety goes a long way to making a band stick around longer. Beach Bunny and Lili Trifilio seem built for the long run and it will be fascinating to listen to them grow.

Emotional Mugger is a stiff shot of raw, cocky joy that hits its target beautifully.

Three Easy Pieces is the sort of reunion album that happened for the right reasons - because these players still work well together and have good songs to share - and anyone who ever cared about this frequently underrated band will want to hear them in this impressive return to form.

The Tree of Forgiveness is autumnal John Prine, but it's also a potent reminder that his remarkable skills as a songwriter and his rough-hewn excellence as a singer haven't failed him yet.

Time will tell, of course, but in The Calling, Carpenter may have her finest moment yet; it also feels like an artistic rebirth.

The Hard Way, his debut for Hear Music, is a tad tougher--the horns are more prominent and sharper, Hunter's guitar has more bite to it, and the rhythms cut deeper--and quicker; at times Hunter veers closer to soul-rock than he has in the past, but he's still working well within his favorite genre.

Such tunes may not have suited the bittersweet beauty of Stairs, but they're quite good in their own right, making The Open Door EP something more than a fans-only release.

En Form for Bla feels of its own space and location rather than simply an addendum.

It's hard to know where to start in praising her: she has a voice as clear and carefully modulated as that of a young Alison Krauss; her songs are rooted in tradition but full of sly and subtle complications that will take any careful listener by delighted surprise, and her mandolin playing is a thrilling combination of sparkling precision and jazzy abandon.

If Jones' performances and compositions over the years have touched on themes of yearning and the past, with a soft echo into the present day, then it stand all the more to reason why the album title and the cover art--a guitar-playing cat, looking at the moon--should sum up the feeling of The Wanting so well.

Strange Heaven shows that Mrs. Magician have a lot of potential, especially if they keep the biting wordplay and broaden their sonic horizons.

Fossils is not only an auspicious debut, but one that lives up to, and at times even exceeds, the promise of its potential.

Push Any Button is what Sam Phillips fans have come to rely on over her course of her career: a perfectly crafted album that overflows with melodic hooks, musical grace, lyrical insight, and emotional depth.

The moments of pop are catchy and engaging, but far more compelling are the songs that dig deeper into tense dynamics and protracted storytelling.

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

Raw, organic, but ambitious.

With their debut album, E create urgent music for chaotic, uncertain times.

It's mature and sophisticated, sure, but more than this, its wildly imagined journey through the musical cosmos is a hell of a lot of fun.

There's certainly enough here to prove that post-Nitro AFI are a better and stronger group, unafraid to continue pushing their sound with each release.

As a whole, Cryptoriana: The Seductiveness of Decay is a welcome step further ahead from Hammer of the Witches in its force and economy, and even with its missteps it's a stronger album for it.

The Endless Shimmering displays ASIWYFA's unrelenting optimism, and demonstrates their mastery of their singular brand of math-grunge.

While other hitmaking urbanos (J Balvin, Bad Bunny, Ozuna, Farruko et. al) have also pursued crossover domination, Maluma is poised to succeed due to the seamless adaptability he offers on 11:11. He displays over and again here that he not only indulges stylistic diversity, but masters it.

GospelbeacH are a great rock band, but on this album at least, it's their softer, more stripped-down tunes that carry the day and provide Let It Burn's most memorable moments.

At times the songwriting just doesn't hold up to the inventive production, but there's plenty of ear candy to fill the gaps on this extremely fun LP.

A triumphant return for longtime fans and a winning introduction for newcomers, Crave shows Kiesza has only gotten better at reinventing the idealism and big emotions of a bygone era for another generation.

For the most part, it's a continuation of what the giants have done over the preceding several years with the likes of Dave Hollister, Johnny Gill, and Peabo Bryson: compositionally rock-solid adult contemporary R&B with an emphasis on ballads and slow jams. And, as always, the songs are tailor-made for the singers.

Rashad sings with restraint the whole time, giving each line an air of secrecy and/or seduction -- almost as if he's self-conscious about breaking an unreasonable noise ordinance. The approach is fitting, with Rashad riding just above the warmly reverberant grooves and background voices to heady effect.

Gately's meditations on mothers and daughters, and bodies creating and betraying, are fascinating, and Fawn/Brute's expressions of the darker corners of childhood and motherhood might be even more revealing than more conventional musical memoirs.

Kid Koala's music remains as inventive and conceptual as ever, but Creatures of the Late Afternoon is the most stylistically varied, adventurous, and straight-up fun release he's made in ages.

Despite the preponderance of lighter tunes, the heart of the record lies in "Miles Away," a bittersweet reminiscence Secor co-wrote with Molly Tuttle and sings with Willie Watson, a founding Old Crow Medicine Show member who left years ago whose presence gives the song deep emotional resonance.

His words are worth hearing, but the appeal of Southern Star lies in its mellow vibe. Its funk can seem as deeply felt and idiosyncratic as Leon Russell in his prime, while the backyard balladeering is as tender as James Taylor's, a combination that's cozy and endearing.

Unlike such fine latter-day Hunter albums like Shrunken Heads, there's not a driving theme behind Defiance, but there doesn't need to be. The fact that Hunter can sound this tuneful, sharp, and engaged when he's well into his eighties is a triumph worth celebrating.