One is never quite sure what direction Lawrie is going to head; all that's a given is that it's always a direction worth following, and Exploding Head Syndrome holds true to that theory.

When the album closes with the lucid "Song After Song" ("Song after song after song all about me and my misery..."), it's a touching, unexpectedly hummable end to a set that's intricate yet understated, and sad yet comforting.

Delivers a punitive amalgam of classic West Coast thrash and bruising groove metal.

An album that offers familiar comfort even if it doesn't precisely sound like any previous Crowded House record.

A frequently lovely album born out of introspection and loss, Love Drips and Gathers captures the complex ways life and music change while upholding Piroshka's musical legacy.

God Is Partying might be his most honest piece of work. Playing all of the instruments himself and singing in a more direct style than on any of his previous releases, he lays bare his soul with a newfound earnestness that compliments rather than conflicts with his longtime brand.

The detailing and variable arrangements here, combined with engaging songs, lift A Way Forward above the level of genre exercise, occasionally into something more compositional, as on the final two tracks.

Even though Arca narrows her focus on Kick ii, it's still the product of an artist who can't help but break boundaries as she creates the space she needs to innovate.

Though the down-to-earth crispness of Shadow Offering is sometimes missed, there's a lot of beauty here.

Like Deacon before it, Grip suggests serpentwithfeet's confessions and declarations can take many forms, and its light, limber songs don't sacrifice any of his innovation or soul-baring.

While Brijean's music is rooted in bossa nova, AM pop, and funk influences, Macro is one of their most stylistically well-rounded productions.

Other than the hypnotic 'Work' and the playfully geeky 'Hazel,' the set is punchless, more a pleasant mood album fit for casual background listening, lacking the unnerved tension that runs through the majority of "Last Exit" and "So This Is Goodbye."

Falling Down a Mountain isn't exactly a major reinvention, either, but it does back up the golden-hued sky gracing its cover with some of their most upbeat and optimistic songs to date (keep in mind those are relative terms), and a liberal extension of the looseness they've been gradually settling into since 1999's Simple Pleasure.

Imploding the Mirage feels like more than just one of their best albums, but a triumphant and invigorated rut-reversal that shines with a hard-won confidence.

The combination of precisely crafted pop and fiercely imaginative arrangements results in a thrilling listen.

Gangrene is dirty, underground hip-hop excellence as expected, but Vodka & Ayahuasca takes it to another level, or realm.

You keep wishing something would spread the information across a broader landscape so you can more readily take it all in. But then again, maybe the chemically enhanced listener will be better prepared to absorb all the color Shall Noise Upon enthusiastically radiates.

Technically impressive, immaculately arranged and performed, Destroyer of the Void removes the kitchen sink from the equation early in the record, which helps pave the way for Destroyer of the Void, the album, to unfold, and while there’s nothing here to match the instant gratification of songs like “God + Suicide” and the lovely title track from 2008’s Furr, there’s enough meat on these bones to suggest that the band hasn’t lost its knack for crafting spiritually charged, enigmatic woodcuts of 21st century Americana.

It's clear from the first notes of Trying to Never Catch Up that this is a band that knows what they're doing, and is pretty damn sure about it, too.

Artistic progress is as much about subtraction as it is about addition, and on III, Crystal Castles have made room to be sad, angry, pretty, and danceable at the same time.

Holding All the Roses delivers on every promise Blackberry Smoke have made to themselves and their fans.

The album is an ambitious and adventurous set of music that's every bit as engaged as anything they've ever released, and there's an undertow of discovery that makes their new music an adventure worth a spin or two.

The vibe is appealing and so is Hynde's performance. Unhurried and nuanced, she eases herself into songs she clearly loves, and that sense of warmth lingers long after the album's last notes fade away.

This band may take their time between releases now, but they get exponentially more sophisticated and adventurous, not only in their composed material, but in their approach to making records. This is just stellar top to bottom.

Two Suns is nearly as graceful and poetic as Bat for Lashes' best work; it's just that the album's massive concepts and sounds require a little more time and patience to unravel to get to the songs' hearts.

While it may not be quite as striking as Saturdays = Youth, it delivers a welcome mix of classic sounds and promising changes.

An apt, and winning, culmination of Khan's music. As she celebrates the renewal of disappearing into a new identity or the freedom of getting lost in the moment, her visions feel more vivid, and more real, than they have in some time.

Whether it's highly relatable or a bit paint-by-numbers is up to the listener, although the blueprint here is an auspiciously well-tested one.