Even though her lyrics can be a bit on-the-nose at times, she's always sincere, and her best songs are fully relatable. No one else is making jungle that's this introspective while staying true to the genre's sound system roots, sounding raw enough to ignite a rave yet catchy enough for the radio.

It's personal, it's cryptic, it's hilarious -- it's Laughter's Fifth, and Sam Jayne is definitely some kind of genius.

The wisdom, humor, and literate, biting world view, is all balanced with the wisdom of tenderness, and a poetic sense of the heart's own aspirations and disappointments.

While both performers are too iconic for Better Oblivion Community Center to truly feel separate from their respective bodies of work, there's still a strange magic that comes from the combination.

To Believe is very much an experience that requires engagement if a worthwhile connection is desired; otherwise, it makes for a terrific soundtrack to a film that resides purely in the soul.

Stronger than ever is the group's proclivity for shiny pop.

Although it's unlikely In the Silence will have quite the same impact on the charts beyond the shores of Iceland, it does suggest another musical gem has been unearthed from the island's formidable pool of talent.

The moderate pacing and more personally derived songwriting make the album one that demands closer attention to fully understand and enjoy, but it rewards that attention with some of the band's most nuanced and subtly detailed pop constructions to date, ultimately revealing new depths both musical and emotive.

Though Chris fully commits to Paranoïa, Angels, True Love's sweeping scope, as a whole it doesn't feel as rewarding as the diamond-like clarity and brilliance of Chris or La Vita Nuova. Even if it's missing some of the electrifying immediacy of those works, there's a lot of challenging and emotionally powerful music here for fans to appreciate.

Though the concept and the band’s handling of it are impressive, listeners don’t have to be aware of it to appreciate the almost tangible moods Liars create on each song.

If the music on Go-Go Boots is less physical than what the Drive-By Truckers typically deliver, it's emphatic and passionate, with an impressive sense of dynamics and as much soul as these folks have ever summoned in the studio -- they've rocked a lot harder, but they've never cut a more natural and telling groove.

The six-song Heretofore breaks down fairly neatly into a clutch of songs where the more unsettled side of the band's work exists as shading to fairly formal compositions and one big song where that overtly exploratory side is front and center.

Released in celebration of the Preservation Hall's 50th Anniversary, the album is a rootsy, high-energy, and spirited mix of New Orleans jazz and blues with some gospel and country inflections.

This is Saginaw's most colorful and accomplished release, and it indicates a vast range of individualistic possibilities for his next move.

It's another triumphantly jubilant album by a band who are second to none when it comes to that kind of thing.

Gou's DJ-Kicks set, as with some of the series' most interesting volumes, feels like a music-obsessed friend enthusiastically sharing all of her favorite tracks with you, and the results are always charming and exciting.

More than a few of Lanegan's longtime fans will be puzzled by his transformation into the party animal of the dark side, but his vocals are typically strong, and he sounds fully engaged with the material, happy to be visiting the VIP section of the Place Where Nothing Living Goes, and he's excited and challenged in a way he's hasn't sounded in a while.

La Femme's passion for seeking out new (or vintage) sounds to add to their omnivorous pop is contagious, and never more so than on Paradigmes.

Personal, endlessly catchy, and a mature step for the new father, this consistent effort might not shake anything up in the zeitgeist, but it's one that was made for his own personal and artistic growth.

There really are spaces everywhere, and most would be better served if they were filled with Monochrome Set albums.

Fans of James Blake's Overgrown and Bon Iver's self-titled second album should find this appealing, but this stands apart from both those records. It's not only smart, it's honest, emotionally and musically.

Where some see restraint, others may very well see refinement, and those who appreciated Antidotes' more spacy passages will find that Foals' reinvention of their sound is a calculated risk that definitely pays off.

A Giant Dog aren't necessarily offering anything that hasn't been done before, but Pile is definitely a fun listen with enough bright spots and kinetic energy to sustain it.

From the serene liquidity of "Karuna" to the spatial experimentations of the instrumental title track, Silberman's personal transformations are revealed on this thoughtful and understated debut.

Even if it occasionally borders on being too indulgent, Metronomy Forever still gets at the contradictions and surprises that have always made their music special.

Not all of the melodies are as striking, however, and song for song, it's not quite as memorable as the previous two Molchat Doma records. Still, it's a massive step forward in terms of production, sound design, and overall ambition, and it signals the beginning of a new era for the band.

The California-bred Hoop does indeed have plenty of additional idiosyncratic ideas to offer, not just lyrically but musically, on her second album, Hunting My Dress.

Back once again with the ill behavior, Lonely Island's second effort is more of the same, which for many means that life is still worth living.