It is yet another in a string of excellent releases by her, but it's also something more. It integrates everywhere Richey's been yet inhabits a terrain completely of her own design.

Here on The Still Life she has begun to solidify and challenge her undoubted songwriting ability.

Top of the Pops is a thorough and lovingly compiled set, and it's only fitting that a band as incredibly geeky about music and pop culture as Art Brut is should get the deluxe treatment.

This grandiose set of songs cobbled together from decaying sound scraps has all the ominous mystery and majesty of a silent twilight, and all the implied struggle of the abandoned structures where and from which it was created.

Spring and Fall is a record for heartaches and healing, another understated gem from a singer/songwriter whose catalog is littered with them.

These are languid, gorgeously crafted tracks that find the band delving even deeper than on Shapeshifting into an atmospheric, slow-burn aesthetic that holds up on repeated listens.

Liberated from the weight of their history, they're just ready to rock while they still can, and that's why Ready to Die is, against all odds, a terrific Stooges album.

OK, it may not be not that timeless, but it's still high quality work from a youngster who is off to a fine start in the indie rock game.

This is a wonderfully entertaining collection of pop songs that just happen to be well-versed in history and political and economic theories.

X'ed Out is more fleshed-out, listenable, and revelatory than one could ever expect.

To Dust is body music for the spirit, a celebration of all that is human. It is the record that should finally put her over to a mass audience.

This is just one of those albums that works great either as a stoney throwback or a party-starter.

With New History Warfare, Vol. 3, Stetson explores scorched landscapes and heavenly scenes alike with his stylized playing.

This is a sweet-sounding album with subtle depths, not really bluegrass, but a precisely gentle folk album that grows more graceful and revealing with each listen.

Cheery in the moment but with a lingering poignancy, Bigfoot is a soundtrack to shared memories of summer, first love, and all the bittersweet things that can happen when those two meet.

This feels fuller, richer than any Chesney album in recent memory, but it's also unhurried and light, an ideal soundtrack for a long, lazy summer.

What's really impressive, though, isn't that the band can do spacious or aggressive or psychedelic, it's that they can somehow find a way to cram it all into one album and make it work without feeling muddled or diminished in any way.

In some ways Silence Yourself doesn't provide the full Savages experience, but it offers more than enough to make it a powerful debut that suggests they'll become an even more distinctive force to be reckoned with over time.

With Richard Formby and the MC himself on production, Ghostpoet remains the most aptly named rapper in the game with his excellent sophomore effort.

The quality of the record is still on par with the first part, so anyone who enjoyed the previous record will certainly find more to love here.

Ultimately, Modern Vampires of the City is more thoughtful than it is dark, balancing its more serious moments with a lighter touch and more confidence than they've shown before.

Clearly disciples of the era of album rock, Wolf People have created a record that works best when taken as a whole piece, and when experienced as such, it creates a unique environment that's cold, cryptic, mysterious, and startlingly direct all at once.

Potter's vision and compositions on The Sirens never lose sight of his goal: portraying the eternal essence of humanity in the mythos of his subject; his poetic lyricism as a soloist, and his empathy as a bandleader are consummate.

Despite a few moments of inconsistency, Fool Metal Jack fares far better than most records from bands returning to form after decades of silence, and in its best moments highlights the brilliance of a group that never lost its unique voice.

For those of you already caught in the band's spider web of eternal summer, this album delivers the goods.

Despite its short 31-minute duration, Four (Acts of Love) is a weighty, thought-provoking, moving experience.

Ultimately, with More Than Just a Dream, Fitz & the Tantrums have made an even more infectious, club-ready album than Pickin' Up the Pieces, while still retaining all of the band's organic soulfulness.

Ultimately, Walking Shadows is a mature, sophisticated album that can stand head to head with the best orchestral jazz albums of any decade.