EarthGang's rapping could often take a backseat to their grandiose production and arrangements, but Ghetto Gods balances quality vocal performances and detailed instrumentals.

Brandy Clark benefits from her songs being heard without the pleasing Nashville accouterments that decorated Big Day in a Small Town and Your Life Is a Record: in these spare settings, the emotional pull of her songs is undeniable.

Karate exhibit more verve and fun here than on much of their previous output, and continue to push themselves into new forms regardless of how dissimilar to their earlier iterations those forms may be. That ethos on its own is commendable, and the best results of it on Make It Fit are proof that Karate's ever-evolving approach is working.

50 years later, these demented rock & roll outsiders pick right back up as if no time had passed at all, and they have a blast doing it.

Ruins is never complacent, though, keeping its rough, rustic edges, and allowing for the sounds of fingers on frets on quieter tunes like "To Live a Life." Lyrics don't put on a false front, either, and that's ultimately what makes the album linger.

Two thirds of the way through the Body Talk project, it's clear that this experiment is reaping rich rewards for Robyn and her listeners.

Crazy for You is meant to be an album that creates a mood, a feeling of gentle despair and wistful longing that grows with each song. On that count, it's a complete success.

Shocking Pinks is an intriguing introduction for listeners who want to catch up with [Harte's] ever-growing body of work.

Sonny Smith will never be Buddy Holly, but if Buddy were around, he'd recognize a kindred spirit. So would Rick Nelson, Bobby Fuller, or Marshall Crenshaw (who isn't dead but still...), or anyone else who made simple but powerful pop music with brains, guts, and hooks sharp enough to cut glass. Hit After Hit is that good.

Shrines is a fine debut, full of lighter-than-air synth pop that manages to be dark, sparkling, innocent, and knowing all at once.

Without applying any analysis, there is much to enjoy here; their raucous energy shines just as bright, but underneath the surface Ultra Mono lacks the sparkle that made their first two records truly special.

Though its smoothness sometimes makes Moondust for My Diamond a little less immediate than Diviner, it's the perfect complement to that album's somber reflections and another confident step forward in his creative journey.

Although the rage gauge occasionally hits the red, the melodies are too sugary and catchy to feel sincerely scathing.

The warmth, sophistication, humor, and immediacy present on this set make it a welcome addition to her catalog.

Where the self-titled record felt like a vivid explosion of feelings, sounds, and ideas in line with the end of a summer full of motion and conflict, Anchor sounds grounded and wintery, a little older and making the space to look before it leaps.

They prove to be naturals at soundtracks, creating something here that works like they said it would. While no doubt the score would work in perfect tandem with the film, it stands alone as a sterling example of the band's mastery of psychedelic music.

South Texas Suite is infused with genuine passion: it's a love letter to the Lone Star State.

This questioning, comforting, quietly stunning album reveals the good things that can come out of pain and grief.

Noel knows how to construct a sturdy song and Holmes knows how to dress them up in flashy clothes, and the combination results in Gallagher's best album since splitting up Oasis.

Wilderness, the tenth long-player from the New Mexico-based husband-and-wife team of Brett and Rennie Sparks (The Handsome Family) lives up to its ecological moniker with a 12-track set that invokes both nature and nurture, with an emphasis on the shady bits in between.

In essence, the album is everything you could want, finding Mazzy Star older and wiser, but still as dreamy as ever.

It's painful that this will be the only Royal We record ever. Many of the band's members moved on to other quite good bands (Sexy Kids, Bricolage, Correcto), but the chemistry they had as the Royal We will be hard to replicate.

Everyone in the band is a seasoned Nashville vet, so while they never sound like they're trying to consciously stretch the limits of bluegrass, they do so just by being themselves.

Box these sounds whichever way you want to, but they are all Shooter Jennings, and as music, The Other Life is all killer, no filler.

Although From Death to Destiny might alienate some fans, the album's more grown-up sound gives them a newfound accessibility that is sure to open them up to a whole new audience hungry for some new heavy jams.

While some bands need that kind of safety net, these guys excel without it, making Dead Language an album that's sure to please fans of the band's live set.

Tales from the Realm of the Queen of Pentacles is a welcome return by an artist who has remained stubbornly true to herself and only records when she has something new to say.

Granular Tales is a pleasant surprise--an album that acknowledges the Woodentops' frantic glory days while offering them a way to move into the 21st century gracefully, and demonstrates how dance music can mature while still getting the party started; this doesn't exactly pick up where the Woodentops left off, but certainly finds them just where they want and need to be.