Walker may tip his hat to Chicago's experimental underground or prog behemoths like Genesis, but with this release, he's very much his own man.

While Homecoming is missing some of the eccentricity and intimacy that made Lung Bread for Daddy so powerful, its frankness and playfulness proves Du Blonde can give her music a pop makeover without losing what makes it real.

La Femme's passion for seeking out new (or vintage) sounds to add to their omnivorous pop is contagious, and never more so than on Paradigmes.

Each one is more exploratory and/or less commercial than any of its counterparts. This is evidenced most strongly by the bleak post-punk electronics of Perfect Mother, whose "Dark Disco -- Da-Da-Da-Da-Run" convulses like an outgrowth of Throbbing Gristle or Cabaret Voltaire (and was previously excavated by the Minimal Wave label). Starker still and more alien is an alternately thudding and twinkling cut from R.N.A.-Organism.

Holley's observations are as powerful and poetic as ever, and White and his band simply sound out of this world, making Broken Mirror a spirited, magnificent collaboration.

While '70s and early-'80s pop informs all of Music, there's still something contemporary and deeply sincere in Benny Sings' songs. He's a quirky indie rocker drawing upon his vinyl heroes for inspiration and reassurance.

A few of the first names that come to mind with this sort of thing aren't here. Whether due to familiarity, licensing restrictions, budgeting, or taste, the exclusions are of no consequence given the depth and range of what's on offer.

Made Out of Sound is their third studio album together, following 2018's acclaimed Brace Up!, and it's their most refined collaboration to date.

The pair find comfort within each other, yet they cannot shake the yearning for other people and places, a complex set of emotions that were quite universal during 2020 and 2021 and are richly conveyed on this soulful, searching album.

Aptly named, Ultrapop administers a constant barrage of sonic information that shows no delineation between discomfort, reassurance, pain, or pleasure.

Sweep It Into Space boasts some of the catchiest and most immediate songs Dinosaur Jr. has released since their reunion. There aren't many sharp turns or wild surprises, just a one-of-a-kind band doing what they do best.

What might look and sound like merely another Stott album has the deepest well of emotion.

They are pop journeymen who can bid a fond farewell to one member as they look forward to where the music and the Endless Arcade will take them next.

Pale Horse Rider is lonely, lamenting, and distant but beautifully warm, marrying Hanson's love of psychedelic experimentation with a more cosmic take on country. It's more immediate than his sometimes-deranged earlier work, but never so straitlaced as to feel safe or predictable.

Full of smart nods to their pop inspirations, Field Music's Flat White Moon is a poetic and beautifully realized production.

Surrounded by Time is magnificent -- it's redolent with wisdom and a raging lust for life that is free of camp. It offers abundant proof that despite the passing of years, Jones has lost none his power or swagger.

With 11 Past the Hour, May has crafted a generous, collaborative album that feels like she's lifting others up, just as they are lifting her.

There's also an unexpected flow to the album, with the more robust, high-energy tracks appearing earlier and the more subdued, introspective ones coming later; all of which beautifully reflects the ebb and flow of life. The Million Masks of God captures this flow, taking you on a theatrical journey that's often as moving and poignant as it is aurally engaging.

She Walks in Beauty is a loving testimony to the power and lasting vigor of the Romantic poets, and also a reminder of how lucky we are to have an artist as gifted as Marianne Faithfull giving us this remarkable tutorial.

Smart and fun in equal measures, In Standard Definition's love letters to long-gone formats and feelings are similarly bewitching.

Although there are fewer flat-out astonishing moments here than on the earlier LPs, numerous cuts elicit blues-shedding movement and seem unfadeable.

Fortitude is a fitting, welcome follow-up, and a brave new chapter in Gojira's continuing musical evolution as they weave old sounds with new ones in creating a sonic tapestry that showcases startling imagination, thought-provoking musical and human intelligence, complex emotions, and immense physical power.

Even at its most experimental, Vynehall's music radiates with energy and spirit, and Rare, Forever brims with a different type of excitement than his past work.

The few songs where Oldham and Sweeney strike up the band -- guest shredding and revved-up rhythms by Tuareg guitarist Mdou Moctar and his band on "Hall of Death" or the tense brooding of album closer "Not Fooling" -- are lively fun, but much like Superwolf many years before it, Superwolves is at its most powerful in its calmest, most clearly articulated moments.

Typhoons is designed as a late-night party record and if Homme occasionally pushes Royal Blood to lean in a bit too hard in this direction, the results are quite effective.

Aside from that final somber moment, the rest of the LP is an absolute blast, yet another collection of reliable singalongs to "Oi!" your cares away.

The lack of instrumental country accouterments heightens the album's stylized spaciness; it's not earthbound, it floats upon a breeze. Sometimes, Rosegold threatens to drift away yet it's never threadbare: it's a singular mood piece, one that suits a spell of twilight reflection.

Earth Man Blues stands out slightly from the several records that came before it, for both its abundance of hooks and its tendency to take the songs even further off the deep end. As with most GbV albums, it's a wonderfully bizarre and occasionally disarming ride through warped thoughts and cracked beauty.