It integrates them in a 21st century musical language that is holistic and accessible while remaining fully exploratory.

The passing of time has only increased Blur's stature as a British treasure and this is a concert that suits their status: it's crowd-pleasing without pandering.

While the roots of the songs remain familiar, the Polyphonic Spree inject enough psychedelic charm and whimsy into the album that, if you don't think about it too much, just might have you forgetting you're listening to seasonal jingles, and that beats the hell out of "Jingle Bell Rock" any old day of the year.

Plenty of hot air pushes it forward, while cold steel keeps it on the ground, just like the kinetic, magnetic Paz.

It is not a comeback record but a late continuation, a great work of art.

Just like East of Eden, Other Worlds works both as a sonic experiment and as an expression of Bergsman's adventurous soul.

Thanks to the high level of Tatum's songs and the sound he and Vernhes create, it's just the kind of album that could connect with lovers of slick, catchy pop with real humans behind the controls.

On Born to Sing: No Plan B he's compiled the various elements of his musical oeuvre and assembled them into a seamless, glorious whole.

Despite a couple of minor missteps, this album is a masterpiece.

It is, in the purest sense, a back-to-basics move for Buck: he's turned the clock back 25 years, making the album he may have always wished R.E.M. made instead of Fables of the Reconstruction.

Despite the amount of new material, some of which is not up to par with the earlier smashes and certain album cuts, this is a handy sampling of Girls Aloud's biggest moments.

Clever, eerie, and beautiful, Berberian Sound Studio is the perfect accompaniment to a film that examines the nature of fear and sound's part in it, and it's wonderful to hear Cargill continue Broadcast's legacy with a project so tailored to their strengths.

This 2012 overview of Laibach has eight extra years to cover, and with one bonafide career highlight occurring during that time, the absolutely epic "B Mashina", which was a key feature of the Nazis-on-the-moon, dark comedy film Iron Sky.

Drones is a necessary acquisition for anyone interested in Muhly's work outside pop.

In the end, A$AP Rocky comes off as rap's Jim Morrison, offering an accessible, attractive, and brutish journey into darkness while remaining true to his spirit.

The rest of the album follows suit with an energy that mixes in just the right amount of mirth, mayhem, and maudlin, making Signed and Sealed in Blood an album that's sure to please Murphys fans both old and new.

Fade is rich with details and grows richer the closer one looks.

Wolf's Law, the second studio album from The Joy Formidable, finds the Welsh trio building upon its already gargantuan sound with remarkable aplomb.

Blood Oaths is perhaps the closest to plainclothes Wooden Wand has come.

The opposite of a sophomore slump, Wash the Sins Not Only the Face is sleek and spectral, and finds Esben and the Witch casting their spell even more successfully.

The creative progression O'Brien exhibits here leaves no lingering questions of doubt whether he would succumb to the dreaded second album syndrome, and regardless of awards, wayland sees the Irishman at his best, both musically and lyrically.

McKeown's seventh studio album is as bold and determined as anything in her repertoire, but it never sacrifices musicality for message, resulting in a taut, compact, and engaging set of 21st century urban folk songs that invites the listener into the fold before unleashing its directive.

It may not be the most immediately exciting album of his career, but it is the most impressive and affecting.

While longtime fans might be a bit perplexed by the shift, they will find plenty of familiar ground to cling to as the record plays and the smartly written and tear-filled songs follow one after another.

It's fascinating to find that his dogged research has loaded these self-penned pieces with all of the mystery, language, and myth usually found in years-old traditional ballads.

McCombs and crew have painted a portrait of endless highways, ghost towns, and sunburnt moments of ecstatic possibility.

Short-sighted as the party-hearty concept may be, the unbridled enthusiasm makes the album a helluva lot of fun even for those who have trouble relating to wasted youth.

Almanac proves that Widowspeak can embrace more traditional sounds without feeling stuffy, as well as make music that's much more eclectic than might have been expected.