Music for Objects is a fine listen, offering CFCF fans the restrained, smart music they crave.

It's a joy to behold.

It takes real nerve to pull something like this off, but Nutini's swagger is easily matched by the quality of the material and his inspired performance.

The result of hearing Ishi in full is a desolate, somewhat submerged feeling, with both the sounds of space travel and the light years of loneliness and isolation coming through in the album's many layers of gentle noise and spiraling synth leads.

If the individual components occasionally drift or sit still, the overall construction of the soundtrack has momentum, warmly wandering from a 14-year-old tentatively plucking away on his acoustic guitar to a singer/songwriter who never quite seems as confident in his art as perhaps he should.

It never gets boring, it moves quickly, and it often hits lofty heights where the melodies, music, voices, and beats all combine as one to do what the best dance music does: Transport the listener to a sweaty, uplifted dancefloor packed with like-minded revelers.

As grim and hopeless as the album may seem, it's ultimately about escaping day-to-day reality and entering a state of transcendence. It's startling and uncomfortable, but it's highly compelling.

On The World's Best American Band, White Reaper knock it out of the park, drive over it in a noisy Mustang, and deliver nothing but a good time.

His personal embrace of the political galvanizes the album, which has a sense of purpose lacking on his debut, but what's truly startling upon first listen is how Booker's broadened his palette considerably.

While Year clearly felt like a devastating reflection on loss and abandonment, Echoing Green is an album of rebirth, new possibilities, and optimism. There are still shades of lingering doubt and distant regret, but overall, it demonstrates a renewed sense of hope.

Wintres Woma envelops you like a warm wool blanket on a dark, snowbound evening. Elkington has a woody, naturalistic voice that fits well with his introspective style. However, it's his adept fingerpicking, lithe fretboard skills, and inventive harmonic structures that impress the most here.

The entire EP is haunting, surreal, and undeniably beautiful.

A late-summer bonfire of an album, Expect the Best proves once again that when it comes to hazy introspection and reflection, few bands are better at it than Widowspeak.

While likely of interest mostly to dedicated fans due to the eclectic nature of the recordings, it may also pique the curiosity of those less familiar with Olsen's growing, distinctive catalog.

Foxwarren remains both off-kilter and irresistibly comforting, like the feeling of the pull of sleep.

The focal point of the EP is the jaw-dropping "I Need You," a nearly ten-minute epic blending the type of lush, dreamy synths she's been known for with rough, forceful breakbeats, as well as her first vocal performance since her transition. ... The EP's other two songs aren't quite as emotional, but they're still highly enjoyable house tracks.

Far removed from the developments of the Teklife collective and other figures of the scene, DJ Nate stands out just as much as he did at the beginning of the decade.

In opting for a ruminative approach, Parry has crafted more of a guided meditation than a cosmopolitan fun house, resulting in a collection of songs that often feel less tangible than those that populated its antecedent. Still, it's an ambitious work that is undeniably widescreen, but far removed from the grandiose chamber rock of his meal-ticket band. It celebrates family, self, friendship, and the existential pain and wonder of life.

Mini Mansions are remarkably witty, and the way they combine their cleverness with newfound emotional depth makes Guy Walks into a Bar… their most satisfying album yet.

On Black Love & War, they channel love for one another and their people, vexation in the face of escalating tyranny, and seemingly inextinguishable positivity into some of their most determined and stimulating funk.

Stott's music is disorienting and sickly, but it's also undeniably full of life, and It Should Be Us is just as fascinating as one would expect.

Show Pony is his declaration that if he's offered the spotlight, he'll claim it as the place he deserves to be, and on the basis of the talent and audacity shown here, only a narrow-minded fool would bet against him.

These 13 has little to do with Mathus and Bird recalling past glories, and much more to do with the beauty and mysteries of the music of the American South. Anyone who wonders why they love this stuff so much need only listen to this splendid album to find all the answers.

The most diverse RP Boo release to date, Established! finds the innovative producer stepping back and observing the big picture, and reflecting on his place in the lineage of dance music.

An album that's trying to move forward and ultimately relieved things are ending, Tell Me That It's Over may not find Wallows any luckier at love, but they're a little older, a little wiser, just as catchy, and more sonically adventurous.

While frequently poignant, If I Never Know You Like This Again feels like a post-catharsis moment of hanging out, talking into the late hours, and making music with friends.

Entering Heaven Alive feels of a piece with White's previous work, yet the ideas are synthesized and executed in fresh, inventive ways, suggesting that the ungainly Boarding House Reach was indeed a transitionary album to allow him to do music that's as relaxed and vibrant as this.

Just as rewarding as the deeper dives into Garson's discography, Journey to the Moon and Beyond's breadth makes it a tremendously entertaining time capsule and a must-listen for his aficionados.