It's good that he decided to stretch his creative muscles a little on You're Welcome. It's even better that he came up with a smart and compulsively listenable update on the Wavves sound that kept all their rambunctious energy, but also added some fun tricks and treats.

Ultimately, while DREAMCAR's debut surely exists as a byproduct of No Doubt and Havok's various successes, the album stands on its own, magnified by each bandmember's most charismatic elements.

He may evoke old sounds but all his songs are about the present, and that means Manic Revelations isn't a stylistic exercise: it's compelling commentary.

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 result is striking, unlike anything Jessi Colter has ever released: it's hushed and haunting, an elegiac testimonial to the power of enduring faith.

It's a brief outing at just over 30 minutes with seven songs and a short instrumental interlude ("Inbetween"). Still, it has time to transport and make an impression, emotionally and sonically, traits that all of Sóley's work to date has in common.

He's far from catering to the mainstream here, but through it all, the wistful chords and progressions that are such a trademark of his sound act as a sonic through-line. Also uniting the album are immediate, conversational vocals and, similarly, an impression that accompaniment is gathered in a circle playing along by ear.

This is an utterly triumphant, uplifting album.

The album's potent mix of soul-searching lyrics and spaced-out sonics lends itself to deep thought and accompanied stargazing.

What makes these moody moments striking is that Weiner hasn't renounced the power of rock & roll, nor his penchant for mischief; he isn't trumpeting a new direction, he's adding dimension to a band that already offers more than its fair share of surprise and pleasure.

Shake the Shudder is the work of a band that know exactly what works for them, while still being willing to try new things. It's a winning combination of past, present, and future that bodes well for !!!'s future making plenty more great albums like it.

Clipper Ship feels like a standalone statement, one of powerful simplicity and masterful control. In stripping away almost everything, Toth's songs reveal cores of sometimes blinding beauty and unsettling honesty.

Ultimately, Parking Lot Symphony is one of Trombone Shorty's most balanced productions, equal parts New Orleans R&B sophistication and loose, block party fun.

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.

Epithymía is uneasy and sometimes painful, but it beautifully conveys dark, heavy emotions and is well worth the time.

The presence of the Glorifiers adds an exclamation point as gospel music's past and present are seamlessly united. This is nothing less than essential for fans of American roots music.

Certainly, Is This the Life We Really Want? lacks the straightforward narrative or melodic thrust of The Wall, but it isn't as somnolent as The Final Cut, and if the songs don't call attention to themselves, they nevertheless form a long suite that works as a sustained mood piece.

Minimal, yet brimming over with emotions both bright and dulled by pain and loss, the 15-track set is a marvel of restraint and refinement, with Rachel and Becky Unthank's otherworldly voices accompanied only by piano and violin.

If you've ever dug the cool but fiery retro sound of Los Straitjackets, What's So Funny... will once again remind you of their brilliant chops and sense of fun, while Nick Lowe fans will definitely want to give a listen to this homage to one of rock's best living songwriters.

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.

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

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.

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.

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.

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

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

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.

It may not be flashy like their early work, experimental like some of their mid-period albums, or punchy like Words and Music, but the album takes in elements of everything they've done along the way and repurposes it in a lovely, extremely satisfying fashion.