Tantabara puts on an ever fiercer show than its two predecessors, its wild polyrhythmic grooves and ebullient group vocals lending an unyielding sense of vigor to every song.

Victory Lap is not just a celebration from the scrappy MC: it's a deserved moment marking his journey from Crenshaw to the majors.

Fittingly, this final chapter for the Skull Defekts is easily the most explosive, most elaborately conceived, and still fully realized work in their catalog, and a monolithic note to go out on.

She's made the most interesting album of her career to date.

For a couple days working things out on the spot, Myths 003 came together almost perfectly and is a worthy addition to each band's impressive catalog.

Jericho Sirens is rock & roll in its purest form; angry, white-hot, and overloaded with energy. It's good to have Hot Snakes back to show the posers and fakers how to do things the right way.

Like A Crow Looked at Me, Only Now overflows with love, but Elverum never romanticizes death. Instead, he vividly captures the nuances of grief, absurdity, and hope as he and his daughter leave the "blast zone" immediately after Castrée's passing, and that makes Only Now a remarkable portrait of loss--and growth.

The quartet, occasionally joined by players such as Doyle Bramhall II, Jeff Parker, and Levon Henry, roams fluidly through funk, roots music, and unclassifiable stylistic amalgamations, like they're doing so on an intuitive level.

Space Gun doesn't quite match that underappreciated masterpiece, it comes close enough to confirm that Guided by Voices are quietly in the midst of a late-career renaissance.

Chenaux has made a gorgeously hypnotic record that feels like a genuine break from life's often aggressive pace.

Everything on Twentytwo in Blue fits together perfectly; from the songs to the sounds to the performances, it's indie rock and pop at their thoughtful, searching, sweet, and punchy best.

Oneida never left, so this isn't a comeback by any means, but they certainly seem re-energized, making this their best work in at least a decade.

As Cavern of Anti-Matter embarks on a deep space voyage with the album's suite-like final third that culminates with the lovely "Phantom Melodies," they prove their music has an irresistible momentum, no matter how ambitious it gets.

It might take more listens to connect with Alpha than with Drone Logic, but it's just as powerful and fascinating.

When a band decides to go with an eponymously titled release several albums into an established career, it often works as a statement about reclaiming their identity, or making a new creative start. If that's the case here, the Neighbourhood have done both with their own cool aplomb.

May Your Kindness Remain impacts with these evocative snapshots of the 99-percent, but it also does so with Andrews' rich voice and melodicism as well as a lingering sadness.

Another evolution in the way Preoccupations bring poetic soulfulness to post-punk, New Material lives up to its name--it's not just another batch of songs, it's a fresh approach that feels like a breakthrough.

Generously spackled with clever instrumental bits and imaginative but never flowery lyrics, Used Future is the most effective and compelling distillation of the Sword 2.0.'s sound to date.

With eight tracks and a playing time of 30 minutes, it's an efficient debut without a weak song in the bunch, one noteworthy for its poise as well as its engaging eccentricity.

While the band's involvement, particularly more active drums, help the sound lean forward, Frankie Cosmos' essential musical qualities remain: hooky melodies, a disarming lyrical style, and impressive efficiency (Vessel's 18 tracks clock in at 33 minutes).

Chris and Oliver Wood, along with jack-of-all-trades Jano Rix, have settled into the kind of easy groove that can only stem from spending the last decade or so enduring the myriad inside jokes and stale air of life on the road.

Big K.R.I.T., Rapsody, and CeeLo Green boost PRhyme 2 with their distinctive voices and energies. At a time when multiple producers and playlists/mixtapes rule the rap game, the focus and intent on PRhyme 2 are comforts that PRhyme effortlessly nail.

Your Queen Is a Reptile is easily Sons of Kemet's most compelling outing. It offers inspired stylistic contrasts, canny improvisation, and killer charts. It's tight, furious, joyous, and inspirational.

It all makes Freedom McMahon's richest album yet, as well as his most accessible--as the sound and scope of his music grows, so does its humanity.

It's hard to fault the album overall; even though there's a trend for magpie-esque records, Sex & Food still has an instantly identifiable sound. It may not reach the peaks of the previous album but it's stuffed with ideas, and proves that Nielson's consistently shifting tone finds creative strength where others might stretch themselves too thin.

Bettye LaVette has been enjoying a remarkable career resurgence in the 21st century, and Things Have Changed demonstrates why--she's as strong and compelling an interpretive vocalist as you're likely to hear in this day and age, and given a set of great songs, she can work magic with ease.

No previous knowledge of his catalog is necessary to get happily lost in the blissful layers of 2012/2017.

This is the album where Hinds become a great band. They've got the songs, they've got the attitude, and they've got the sound; all their potential has been realized and it's a joy to experience.