Voids is yet another taut and lavishly detailed, yet never congested, set of productions that hybridize U.K. garage, dubstep, drum'n'bass, house, and techno, with an emphasis on the rhythmic friction of the first two styles.

Expressing grief, angst, and uncertainty just as loudly with a croon as a scream is no easy task, but Death Lust archives it masterfully.

Automata II can be listened to on its own, but it holds much greater power when taken together with its predecessor. It is easily the more musically adventurous of the two recordings, making it an indispensable part of Between the Buried and Me's provocative catalog.

Another exhilarating triumph from one of the most original underground electronic artists.

A welcome return, Across the Meridian reaffirms that music is a little weirder and a lot more wonderful with Pram back in it--it's as if they spent the past decade globe-trotting a world of their own and returned with these brilliant vignettes as souvenirs for their listeners.

Blueprint confirms that album's excellence was no fluke, and as she approaches 60 years of age, Alice Bag is one of the most exciting and compelling new artists currently making music. Let's hope she has another album this good in her to make this a hat trick.

That Tanukichan have come up with an album that sounds original and true while bringing deep emotions along for the ride is truly something worth commending.

Thanks to its wandering nature, Cloud Corner is the kind of album that benefits from repeat listens, unspooling, shifting, and then settling a little more with each meditative revolution.

Subtlety is the strength of The Tree: it can be heard as soothing, healing music, but its real rewards reveal themselves through close listening.

Family Portrait is an uncommonly original album, keeping listeners guessing while making a significant, sometimes unexpected emotional impact.

His harmonic components (his solos, chord voicings, and overall soundscapes) are all improvised and worked out in the studio. Ultimately, what could sound like average contemporary jazz fluff, in Kiefer's hands sounds instead like the liquid dreams of jazz-funk aliens.

Winslow-King's accompanists on Blue Mesa deliver strong work that complements the songs beautifully, especially guitarist Roberto Luti, keyboard man Mike Lynch, and drummer Chris Davis. Blue Mesa may find Luke Winslow-King going through some changes, but the result is some of his very best music to date.

The Public Image Is Rotten presents a thorough and uncompromised portrait of Lydon's work with PiL, and anyone interested in the many contexts he's created for his unique vision will find plenty to take in.

It may lack some of the bite of his best work with his previous project Ovens and his early solo releases, but it's nice to follow his career as he grows and experiments (gently) with new sounds and a new-ish approach, while still delivering songs that are super-hooky and flat-out nice to listen to.

The feelings of yearning, sadness, and grief expressed through these songs aren't beholden to any genre or time period, and the album sounds fresh and poignant regardless of when its songs were written or recorded. Gate of Grief easily fulfills the promise of White Ring's earlier efforts.

Here, he winds up finding depth within his signature mellow good times, and the result is one of Chesney's best records: it goes down smooth yet lingers in the memory long after its gone.

Qualm generally shifts away from the Drexciyan melodies of Discreet Desires, but it's just as precisely focused as that album, and anyone who has enjoyed her prior recordings or Hauff's unrelenting DJ sets should enjoy this one as well.

Among the Ghosts demonstrates how smart and versatile these guys can be; it's a brave and satisfying set that finds beauty and meaning in the valleys on the human experience.

Physical provides ample proof that he can take the skills he's honed with that group [Factory Floor] in entertainingly different directions.

Despite his busy release schedule, Jim Lauderdale seems incapable of making an album that isn't heartfelt, well crafted, and thoroughly engaging, and Time Flies is further proof that he's making some of the best country music in the 2010s.

Combined with a higher level of musicality kept in check with a greater sense of nuance, The Nature of Imitation is Johnson's most accomplished and enjoyable album.

Someday Everything Will Be Fine is an object lesson in how maturity and progress don't have to be the enemies of snarky, passionate rock & roll, and this is music that satisfies on several levels at once.

The modulation and echo treatments on the vocals, combined with the frequently torpid tempos, nonetheless make Astroworld ideal for being pumped through an (18 and over) amusement park's sound system near closing time, when the challenge of hitting all the rides has started to turn into an overindulgent, overheated chore.

With his laid-back charm, wit, and earthy sincerity, Baxter has shown his acumen for quality songcraft before, but on Wide Awake, he ties it up in one wholly engaging package.

The album's vérité feel draws listeners into its ever-changing moods so completely, it's almost a shock when it ends. It's this skill at hypnotizing and disarming her audience that makes Devotion such a captivating reintroduction to Tirzah.

Gulp show that they aren't just masters of cheerful avant pop; they can do other things at a high skill level, too. It makes for a well-balanced listening experience that fans of Broadcast or any of the other bands mentioned above would certainly find right up their alley.

The album plays like a greatest-hits collection, and since it doesn't seem to cater to a musical or emotional middle ground, it makes for a guilt-free pleasure.

While the emotions expressed on Coup de Grace often have a literate, philosophical complexity, the music crackles with a bright, youthful immediacy.