Boss Hog don't kick as hard as they once did, but what they've lost in muscle they've certainly made up for in terms of atmosphere and creativity in the studio, and Brood X is worth a spin for anyone who digs their grimy glory -- especially since it's hard to guess when we might hear from them again.

Just as Fever captured a snapshot of a young artist breaking through to worldwide fame in real time, Suga finds Megan Thee Stallion experiencing the growing pains of success. The songs reflect this in their lyrical content, overall shift in tonality, and even in the small steps they take towards more commercial sounds.

A feeling of acceptance underpins Everything Will Be Alright in the End: there's a sense that Weezer made another record of massive, hooky rock not only because that's what the fans want but because they know it's what they do best.

The mellow is never harshed, and the promise of sunny weekend stoner music from the '80s is maintained the whole way through.

When you put together the sympathetic production, the strength of the songs, and the power of the performances, it adds up to another great record by a band whose members are in complete command of their thoughtful, tender, and sneakily hooky sound.

Whether or not they needed two full-length albums to fill up the dancefloor this time around is up for debate, but while Foals may be peddling a familiar product, there's no denying its efficacy.

Their sometimes winding songs seeming more taut than ever.

Why You Runnin’ may only be an EP--one can only hope Lissie has enough slow-smoked melody in her arsenal to sustain an entire album--but it's one of 2009’s finest folk releases regardless.

A highly addictive, lightly experimental mix of blue-eyed soul and psych-inflected indie-electronic pop.

Produced by Rancid member and Hellcat Records owner Tim Armstrong, Jimmy Cliff's Sacred Fire EP is a wonderful jumble of time and place that ends much too soon.

Third time’s the charm for horrorcore rapper Hopsin, as the angry and often awful character balances his aggressive, violent vocal style with more pop and approachable music during the rewarding Knock Madness.

How much Howe Gelb one needs is a question only fans can answer for themselves, but if you're up for a major journey through Gelb's universe, Little Sand Box delivers the deluxe guided tour with the sage himself as your guide, and there isn't a single false or insincere moment to be found in these eight albums.

Motion represents something different, with its first three tracks being composed and realized from the ground up in the recording studio, seeing Holtkamp move away from some of the live looping and sample-based composition of previous work.

You don't have to love baseball to love the Baseball Project (though it clearly helps)--on 3rd, this band has made an album that listeners who love a good story with some tough guitars can like, even if they're foolish enough to prefer football.

Wild Crush is the point where Archie Bronson Outfit move from being a good band to becoming a truly great band.

Impressions is a wonderfully fun and deep listen that stuns right away with its channeling of ABBA, but also sticks around thanks to the craft and invention that went into its creation.

Even if it doesn't have as much of the jagged need that sparked their best work, El Pintor is Interpol's most consistent album since Antics; fans who love the band for its pure sound will probably enjoy it more than those looking for stop-you-in-your-tracks moments.

Quite possibly We Were Promised Jetpacks' most vivid album to date, Unravelling finds the band making music that's harder to place than ever--and that much more interesting for it.

Howard expects you to meet him on his own terms and provides just enough aural enticement to give him not just one listen but a second, which is when I Forget Where We Were really begins to sink in its hooks.

Ixora (the name comes from a type of flowering plant common in Florida) finds Copeland embracing a more mature subject matter than they did on their early albums (as befits men in their mid-thirties), but with the same moody and thoughtful musical approach that marked their best-known work.

Apache could have easily slid into uninvolving sentimentality, but each song works some combination of the heart, mind, and hips.

Usually the album is quietly roiling, sometimes drifting toward the meditative (as on the otherwise profane "Tired as F***"), yet always circling back to fierce, searching spiritual rock.

Like a yodeling Lana Del Rey, the affected vocal presentation is bound to annoy some, but for others her delivery, along with the album's brooding tone and poetic essence, will make fast fans.

Cuidado Madame is a constantly surprising album from a veteran who is all too familiar with making intriguing contradictions.

Antisocialites manages the rare feat of a band topping their brilliant debut with a sophomore effort that's even more brilliant. Alvvays make it looks easy, and by the time the album is done spinning, it's hard not to start thinking about how great their next record could be.

Resolve is easily Ackroyd's most confident and mature statement. She remains devoted to lyric melody, but her re-combinations of sounds and textures inside these compositions are almost compulsively listenable, even as they move toward the undefined--and untamed--musical border she seeks.

Mutual Horse is an album of superb craft and no small degree of inspiration, a major work that refreshingly has its ego in check, sounding warm and intimate. It's further evidence that Holly Miranda has quietly matured into a major artist and an estimable talent.

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.