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.

Powerful stuff itself, Stalley's excellent debut proves Funkadelic's hypothesis of "Free your mind and your ass will follow" while taking Dr. Dre's advice of "Keep their heads ringin'" to another level.

Homeboy Sandman's biggest attractor is still his pride, a quality that's even more up-front as his career matures. Hallways beams with it, making it one of those rare rap records where true talk meets the warm fuzzies, or the warm motherfuzzies, as it were.

Heartbreak Pass is, like much of Howe Gelb's best work, an ambitious project that still seems emotionally intimate, and revels in a ramshackle charm that belies how strong the elements truly are--it's one man's unique vision, and if he's proud of it, well, he certainly should be.

Confounding as ever, James nonetheless presents some of his most physical and ultimately electrifying tracks here.

Bookended by a pair of moody cuts replete with intoned prayers spoken in the background, Abandoned plays to the severity of the Catholic faith, and if Defeater's thematic tendencies have begun to wear a bit thin, they still manage to pack a pretty big punch on a musical level.

As an artistic statement about warmth vs. transparency, Ashin has hit his mark with an album that is as beautiful as it is uncomfortable.

Wild Pendulum makes a strong case that the Trash Can Sinatras may never lose the plot. It's also quite likely the best sophisticated guitar pop album anyone is likely to hear in 2016, made either by whippersnappers or old-timers.

Inspired by a trip to Japan, Good Luck and Do Your Best is one of Gold Panda's warmest, sunniest releases, reflecting the colorful foliage of the island nation.

What makes Young in All the Wrong Ways resonate is how it touches upon her bluegrass and folk roots while feeling entirely different: the work of a musician who is integrating the whole of her influences into an idiosyncratic voice.

It's not pop, and you can't really sing along to most of it, but it is exciting and sometimes even thrilling music that's spilling over with ideas and real-deal emotions.

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

Silver Tears is steeped in musical knowledge but delivered with a lighthearted touch and plenty of personality.

Joined on several tracks by lush-voiced shapeshifters the Smoke Fairies, Garwood is in his bailiwick throughout the set, drifting through spacious landscapes with his rumbling poeticism and dark-toned riffs.

The dovetailing of a traditional Indian melody deftly arranged by Khan and Yorkston overlaying Thorne's reading of Roger Eno's drolly English "You're Just a Bloke" is the kind of offering that makes this collaboration so unique.

The result is striking, unlike anything Jessi Colter has ever released: it's hushed and haunting, an elegiac testimonial to the power of enduring faith.

It's a brief outing at just over 30 minutes with seven songs and a short instrumental interlude ("Inbetween"). Still, it has time to transport and make an impression, emotionally and sonically, traits that all of Sóley's work to date has in common.

Sure, the set meanders a bit too far into the woods here and there, but overall, Elizabethan Times is a winner from two great minds of U.K. pop.

It's easily the band's most direct album, but rather than dumbing things down, they've removed anything that might get in the way of their messages. The more defiant they are, the more accessible they get, and they kick off the album with some of their hookiest songs.

As alluring as his spooky, skeletal arrangements are--steel guitars are used as howling accents, not solos; he occasionally gooses his band to follow a train track rhythm, but is usually content picking out support on his hollow acoustic--it's Wall's concrete sense of time and place that gives Songs of the Plains an unusual resonance.

Five albums in, Cloud Nothings version of maturing is to go harder and louder than ever--and they sound all the better for it.

It will be interesting to see if You Tell Me is the start of something long-running or just a one-off. However it turns out, the album works as another argument in favor of the on-going genius of Peter Brewis and as an impressive introduction to the lovely music of Sarah Hayes.

Staples sounds more energized and in control here than on the 2008 set.

Some regular guys craft occasional masterpieces, but Hayes Carll more often is the guy who delivers a good, solid, and enjoyable piece of work and then moves on, and that's what he's given his fans on What It Is. Like the cheeseburger that regular guy ordered at the bar, it may not be fancy, but it sure leaves you satisfied.

A recording that will surprise and delight TTB fans as their most adventurous to date.

After a pair of impressively strong solo releases, Craig Finn has made it a hat trick with I Need a New War, and the passion and superb craft of these songs make this a must for anyone who cares about American songwriting.

Unlike Kicker, which worked as a short, sharp blast to remind people the Kids were still around, Problems is the sound of the band figuring out how they want to sound in their new incarnation and pretty much nailing it.

While it might be easy to slap tags such as Fourth World or techno-primitivism onto Leon's music, his Interplanetary Folk concept seems to encompass a much grander scheme, and The Canon proves to be just as visionary as the first volume.