It's the way they bring their pop skills to the fore that makes The Great Pretenders solid evidence that Mini Mansions should be as well-known as the company they keep.

He makes no bones that he's here for a good time, and the appealing thing about Postcards from Paradise is that it's as much fun to hear as it must've been to make.

This Is the Sonics is an outstanding return to duty for one of the great primal rock & roll bands of the '60s, and if they don't sound like kids, the flame that fueled their best discs is still burning bright, and they're louder, crazier, and wilder than most bands a third their age.

New York Before the War isn't quite a full-on rock & roll album, but it comes close enough that Malin has more space to move around than on his more subdued solo works, and he sounds energized and eloquent on these 13 tunes.

Whether singing new or old songs, he presents them in the moment as living, breathing entities. He remains a song interpreter who has few--if any--peers.

Gallows are certainly not getting any happier, but they've got torment down to a science.

While their debut acted more as a fairly straightforward (and cleanly captured) document of Drenge's live sound, Undertow's cohesion comes from its intentionally murky tone which provides just right home for their (mostly) controlled fury.

Like Everyday Robots, there's an existential loneliness thrumming throughout The Magic Whip, but there's also camaraderie, a sense that companionship can pull you through, and that's especially true of Albarn and Coxon, who prove once again to be the other's ideal collaborator, refining, expanding, and sharpening their ideas, turning a potential throwaway to something quietly resonant.

Born of D.I.Y. punk culture, Waxahatchee's fuzzy, introspective pop stands out due to the fearless honesty of the songs, and Crutchfield's refusal to dumb down her emotional currents or underestimate her audience. Ivy Tripp is another excellent and remarkably bold chapter of this exciting, unflinching sound.

While The Air Conditioned Nightmare represents growth for Doldrums, the caustic and sometimes overwhelming directions the album goes in are more difficult to unravel than the often blissful landscapes laid out in earlier songs. That said, deeper digging reveals Woodhead taking hold of the confusion, conflict, and ugliness of the record and sculpting it into something compelling in a voice all his own.

As a whole, Culture of Volume is an intense and fascinating album, one that leaves sequel-like anticipation for what else East India Youth may have in store.

No musical ghetto here as White Men Are Black Men Too suggests Young Fathers are quintessentially ahead of their time, even when their music is tight, attractive, and vital enough to be enjoyed today.

Grass, Branch & Bone is a low-key triumph from an artist who had made a career out of demonstrating that in music, simplicity is often the approach that tells us the most.

Ultimately, Deeper's most important location is his heart; by looking within it, he's made his most relatable, and compelling, music to date.

You don't have to care about wrestling to be knocked out by Beat the Champ, but Darnielle makes it clear that these stories mean something real to him, and this is a fascinating portrait not of who wins or loses, but those who play the game.

Even if the first cut is the deepest, second album Fast Food is still wicked sharp.

The resulting album successfully fleshes out Shlohmo's previous sound into his most accomplished work so far, and ultimately manages to find hope in darkness.

Ultimately, with Future Hearts, All Time Low have delivered an almost perfect blend of stadium-ready fist pumpers, ballads, and fuel-injected pop hits.

Despite their best efforts to thwart it, Stealing Sheep's intoxicating otherworldliness ultimately wins out.

The Ruffian's Misfortune shows the man is doing some of the very best work of his career 40 years on, and anyone who cares about American roots music in any form would do themselves a favor by adding this set to their collection.

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

It all makes for a breezy yet powerful expression of independence from an artist who is always true to herself.

Ultimately, it's this kind of life-is-short pop energy, imbued with Murphy's well-curated sense of time and place, that helps elevate the Wombats' Glitterbug from just a one-crazy-night soundtrack to an album that might stick with you for years to come.

While Black is lucky to have friends as skilled and giving as the Brewis brothers, he brings plenty to Slug, and though it's tempting to think that the Brewis brothers' participation is the main draw here, Black proves on Ripe that he's good enough to stand on his own.

The album borders on monochromatic at times (possibly because there are no songs by Graham Lewis, who provided some of Red Barked Tree and Change Becomes Us' finest tracks), yet its subtle subversions are thoroughly Wire, and thoroughly befitting the band at this stage in its career.

They play Southern soul-rock in an era where the past is indistinguishable from the present, and how the band interlaces the old and the new on Sound & Color feels startlingly fresh.

More accessible yet no less honest than their first two records, Bonxie is an expansion of Stornoway's best attributes.

No Sad Songs is a quintessentially solid and affective offering from the band, and with the continued rise of indie folk stylings well into the 21st century, the Nick Drake-inspired approach they've been loyal to since the '80s might not be embraced by the masses but should at least find itself in fashion.