If a touch weightier in tone, the album returns a distinctive palette and home-recorded finish to a heavy-heartedness firmly established on 2014's Picture You Staring, so fans and sentimentalists may take heart.

Easy on the ears, heartfelt, and subtly detailed, City of No Reply establishes Coffman as both an innovative and accessible artist.

Tonally, she counters urgency with some tenderness, and her voice only seems to be getting better with time. It's a compelling entry in her catalog, one with a solid base of songs that will stand up to any nonsense.

A balance of playful and earnest, Wild Imagination's warm melodies, affectionate tone, and quirky charm may provide needed respite even in good times.

Featuring a well-written and compelling history of the label from Sarah Sweeney, Sing It High, Sing It Low is an enjoyable overview of a forgotten chapter in early-'70s country-rock, though this story is compelling enough that the album really should have been longer.

Excellent work from both artists.

Anyone who thought maybe the band's moment had passed will be pleasantly surprised to hear that Beach Fossils are back and better than ever.

The light touch Powell has with deeply felt emotions on this album is a rare combination that grows richer with each listen; she sounds older and wiser but also happier, suggesting that Life After Youth is just the beginning.

The sheer size of The Bob's Burgers Music Album means that Gene Belcher might be the only one with the stamina to listen to the entire set more than once, but it's great for obsessive fans who can finally own the whole shebang.

Underneath its simmering shimmer Different Days offers spins on classic pop, electronic soul, and late-night chill. Perhaps it's quiet exploration, but the Charlatans embrace the elastic possibilities of new avenues here, and the results are rewarding.

Nektyr would've been perfectly at home on 4AD or Projekt during the late '80s or early '90s, and might have been among their best releases, but its weightlessness and otherworldliness can't be attached to any specific time period.

Hayman's later solo work has relied more and more on this type of historically oriented conceptualism, with the Thankful Villages project being among the most unique offerings of his career. Like the first volume, this set is a warmly captured and richly envisioned endeavor that is unlike anything else in pop or folk music.

Marika Hackman's latest evolution is a triumph that finds equilibrium amid both wit and heart.

Play What They Want is a powerful, necessary expansion of Man Forever's vision, and easily their most engaging work.

Black Laden Crown is at its best when the band keeps it slow and low, as they do with great success on workmanlike candelabra-burners like "Last Ride," "Skulls & Daisies," and "Pull the Sun" and it's in those solemn moments of churning, Jim Morrison-esque torment and woe that Glenn Danzig sounds the most sinister and at ease.

T the album feels like a coherent work rather than something assembled in different locations by a disparate cast of individuals. It also demonstrates that Péron and Diermaier remain fearless and vital, over 45 years after co-founding the band's original incarnation.

If you've been following him all along, The Song of Day and Night is something of a crowning achievement for a truly talented, truly idiosyncratic guy.

While Resin Pockets might sound a bit lazy and very bummed-out at first, repeated listens reveal how much care was put into the album's construction, and it glows with a resonant beauty.

It's one of the best records of their long run, and if Stewart and company keep making them this good, this real and this emotionally fulfilling, one can only hope they keep doing it forever.

This set is drenched in mystery; each track unfolds and transitions seamlessly as it builds and expands, enveloping the listener.

A worthy update of 7AM's tone poems, 8AM proves that seven years can feel like only an hour later when the music is this transporting.

Hatfield is protesting Trump because he offends her personally, and the specificity of her outrage makes Pussycat an unusually powerful protest album.

Simply put, For Crying Out Loud works because the band knows exactly what its listeners want.

United States of Horror boasts a sleeker and more crystal-cut produced sound palette than Ho99o9’s previous efforts; that’s not to say that the guts, grit, and feral nature of those releases are absent--they're very much here, breathing and festering from start to finish.

With the possible exception of that improvisation [the final track, "April"], by combining his appreciation of both free jazz and Appalachian folk music, Amidon seems to be creating a traditional folk for the future.

Kids in the Street doesn't sound or feel like a masterpiece, but it does suggest Earle was aiming higher than expected for this album, and he hit the target--this is among his very best work to date.

The constant recycling, along with the quantity and variety of other voices, detract from some of Evans' best, most impassioned performances, which are matched with some solid work from a roster of co-producers that includes Salaam Remi, James Poyser, and DJ Premier.

Kickin’ Child not only ranks with Dion’s best (standing between career highlights "Runaround Sue" and "Abraham Martin and John"), but it's absolutely one of the greatest folk-rock records ever.