Rateliff leads his crew through a panoply of '70s-touched roots rock, delivered with warmth, sincerity, and occasional bursts of grit. Even amid its themes of anxiety and overcoming trauma, South of Here manages to stay buoyant, and at times playful.

That Black City is Dear's most creative and individual album is not, however, up for debate.

The Sun Awakens is the record he's been promising. Where School of the Flower was a leap, placing his singing and guitar playing in equal measure -- though there were numerous instrumental pieces -- The Sun Awakens is the place they burst forth, fully entwined, completely formed.

While Take Care's charms may be a little more hidden, with a couple exceptions, than Thank Me Later's were, repeated plays reveal a record that is just as strong and more powerful emotionally.

The wonders never cease on this adventurous and street-tough effort, but they never sort themselves well, either, and with accessible highlights like "Blind Threats," "Break the Bank," and "Man of the Year" all bundled toward the end, this LP requires a surprising amount of patience.

The band's ninth album continues the Austin-based ensemble's penchant for offbeat Southern minutia and melodious, after-hours juke joint revelry, but despite boasting production values that rival anything before it, Haymaker! feels less like the blow to the face that its title implies and more like a last quick rummage through the basement before the garage sale starts.

What really matters is that nearly ten years after Songs for the Deaf, Josh Homme's influence finally rears its head on a Foo Fighters record, Dave Grohl leading his band of merry marauders -- including Pat Smear, who returns to the fold for the first time since 1997's The Colour and the Shape -- through the fiercest album they've ever made.

The high points are so affecting and brief as to provoke small acts of violent ebullience, like the destruction of fragile objects on shelves. But it will never tire. It's another remarkable achievement in magician-MPC interface.

With Né So, Traoré feels completely dialed in and in control, delivering her most compelling record yet.

Another fine addition to his solo work, Rock N Roll Consciousness proves that Moore's search for enlightenment through noise remains vital.

K.O. is their most successful collaboration so far, and a flat-out thriller above all else.

It's a unique document of reflections a time that felt suspended, and at points its sadly beautiful atmospheres feel outside of time completely.

Antibalas is a welcome return; its slight shift in direction and production nuances reveal just how sophisticated this ensemble is, expanding the Afro-beat sound in the 21st century without sacrificing its heart.

As crucial as Hitomi and Robinson are to the album's effect, one of the highlights is a doleful 14-minute instrumental with faint bass, creeping drones, and chilling vibraphone reverberations.

Williams remains the data-age Gil Scott-Heron plus a collaborator who elevates, as Reznor, and now Warfield, have both upped their game in the presence of such a radiant creative force.

Tragicomedies itself is, unquestionably, garish (not to mention inventive, befuddling, and delightful) enough to fully deserve anyone's love.

Ghost Notes is their most consistent--and consistently enjoyable--album yet.

This excitement can be exhausting over the course of nearly 90 minutes, but that's also an attribute: this version of Against Me! throws everything it has into a performance and while that passion may be overwhelming, it's also potent and thrilling.

Graffin remains a potent evangelist of the punk idiom, and while there's nothing on Age of Unreason that would sound out of place on anything that came before it, the band's commitment to keeping the genre vital, both musically and lyrically, feels as necessary as it does timely.

Blackbirds is proof that she's not resting on her reputation, and hearing her explore the architecture of a great song is a rare treat to be valued.

Most of the time, Nelson just sounds like an old pro happy to play with whoever is in the studio, happy to sing whatever the producer puts in front of him--and that's what makes Country Music not all that different from Songbird or Countryman, which were also driven by their respective producers to places that don't seem as classically country as this purports to be.

All in all, At Mount Zoomer is a remarkable achievement, and another soon-to-be classic from Wolf Parade.

While it might be counterproductive if Field Report were to shrink past a quartet, the streamlined approach of Marigolden is a superb example of how less can truly be more.

Abdel-Hamid takes her sound in numerous directions and explores several moods on Distractions, and while it seems scattered enough to live up to its title, it's as engaging as anything else she's released.

All the songs make sense narratively and on their own, so they hold together well and would amount to a first-rate soundtrack, if it weren't for those meddling dialogue tracks, which wind up sapping any kind of momentum for the album.

His own hope for Deciphering the Message is to point new listeners toward the originals. As wonderful as that intention is, this album is a phenomenal listening experience in its own right.

The sounds will be familiar (even comforting) to longtime fans, but there are so many unpredictable turns and head-scratching moments that Vile ends up taking his music somewhere new by approaching the same kind of songwriting he's been doing since he started from unlikely angles.

At times, Return to Archive rivals Ultimate Care II when it comes to the more challenging, cerebral side of Matmos' music, but its fascinating reflections on how we build on and reframe the past make for a hip, thoughtful celebration of Smithsonian Folkways' forward-thinking legacy.