A lovely, stimulating debut album, Contrepoint is a beautifully written love letter to musical history and creativity.

Higher Authorities doesn't seem to have any ambitions beyond being an informal extracurricular venture, but it sounds decent and trippy enough.

Odd as it seems, the majority of the track titles resemble those of an R&B release. That's far from the only feature in support of the notion that Too Many Voices is Stott's brightest and most open-hearted work.

With this solid album, he ain't the A$AP Mob's second banana anymore, either. Cutting-edge production from Clams Casino, Lex Luger, Cashmere Cat, and DJ Mustard help him get the job done.

Even if Nocturnal Koreans' sound isn't always textbook Wire, its imagery and wit most certainly are, making the album much more than the collection of leftovers its origins might have suggested.

As a celebration of GbV's core virtues, Please Be Honest really does honor the sound of the band as much as the skills of its frontman and founder.

All their records to this point have been really strong; Malamore is where they make a grab for brilliance.

Take All My Loves: 9 Shakespeare Sonnets reaffirms that the songwriter/composer is an arranger at home in many styles, with the ability to make this kind of sprawling, genre-surfing project unfold with elegance.

Ambitious and masterful, Atomic is another peak in Mogwai's career.

The Peace & Truce of Future of the Left is one of their most roaring dissents against the increasingly frustrating state of the world in the 2010s. Of course, this band is angry even when it isn't fashionable, but even so, this is some of their most cathartic music in a while.

Oh My Goodness is informal and intimate, but with enough grit and groove to make it a joy. Given its quality, one hopes that Fritts will record again, and soon.

English Heart is a great concept, and for the most part the execution works, but one can't help but wish it had been recorded in the '70s or '80s, when Ronnie's voice was strong enough to make the most of the material.

A thoroughly delightful album, it's hard to imagine fans of Jóhannsson and Dunckel's other projects not falling hard for Starwalker's charming galactic pop.

Overall, Blind Spot works well on many levels. It shows the bandmembers aren't just exercising their nostalgic muscles while looking for a quick buck. It shows they are still capable of writing and recording very Lush-sounding music.

It all makes for a more balanced, arguably more enjoyable listening experience than the original Lost Themes, and with the triumphant yet suspenseful "Utopian Facade" suggesting a threequel, it's another must for Carpenter fans.

[Cuomo's] eccentricities slip out from the cracks in his carefully constructed songs. Sinclair wisely decides to accentuate all these quirks, whether they derive from Cuomo or the band's interplay, so The White Album crackles underneath its tight presentation.

The ten tracks here range in character and texture, but all generally fall into MacIntyre's wheelhouse of warmly crafted, introspective guitar pop.

Tweet has lost nothing vocally while gaining a decade's worth of wisdom. As ever, she exudes euphoria, longing, and irritation with the slightest of adjustments, and remains one of the best soft-voiced, low-volume singers around.

Befitting its origins, the album's sound is blunt and raw, mixing rock, blues, jazz, spirituals, and field recordings into the musical equivalent of photojournalism.

There's something admirable about the album's solemnity: the Lumineers are on a quest to be taken seriously, and even if they overplay their hand, the earnestness is ingratiating.

Love Letter for Fire sounds like Beam and Hoop were born to work together. The yin and yang of their individual perspectives fit together marvelously, and this rests comfortably with the best of both their recorded works.

The Diary of J Dilla might not rival its maker's best output, but it's a pivotal and illuminating chapter, even when heard out of sequence. Just as importantly, it fulfills the wish of a master musician.

Le Bon's clever and often abstract turns of both melody and phrase are abundant throughout.

All Saints' sound has matured with confidence--much like Kylie Minogue's or Melanie C's--resulting in an album that is both secure and content.

If calling Nosebleed Weekend the Coathangers' most professional work to date sounds like damning with faint praise, it admirably confirms this band isn't messing around.

The match of songs and sounds on Singing Saw delivers on all the promise of his earlier records, while firmly establishing Morby as one of the best singer/songwriters going.

It's heavy stuff, but it's delivered with the humility of someone who has enough road behind him now that the rear-view mirror is no longer a window into the past, but a seconds-old snapshot of the present.

PersonA finds the group still offering music-festival-friendly fare, but of a nature that's more jammy than jamboree.