Lithium Burn's relative straightforwardness makes it easy to enjoy these songs for what they are--and stands as a testament to the growth that comes out of compromise and sacrifice.

While Young Widows might not be as loud as they used to be, it's possible that the band's sound is as heavy, or heavier, than it has ever been, making Easy Pain the band's moodiest and most engaging work to date.

It was obviously inspired by the live recordings of Lynyrd Skynyrd, and it blisters. Despite the single misstep, Live Rain is a worthy stopgap between studio recordings.

Toth's gift for songwriting gives emotional resonance to the album's softly lit, somewhat dazed ambience, and the result is one of the more interesting chapters of Wooden Wand's always twisting oeuvre.

Dark Arc is a mixed bag.

It's both club- and cafe-ready, artsy, cool, and elusive enough to woo the Williamsburg contingency, yet soulful and lightly sweetened with warm Southern honey.

While Shortwave Nights might not be for everyone, Hiss Tracts have made an album of experimental music that feels like it was made to engage rather than alienate, casting aside inscrutability to create something surprisingly fragile and soulful.

Perhaps there are no permanent additions to her canon here, but the remarkable thing is how satisfying an album this is: it sounds good and the songs are sturdy, proof that Parton is far from resting on her laurels.

All of it comes together for an album that's deep, attractive, and well-executed, but it's also incredibly wise.

This album easily captures Guided by Voices doing what they've always done and always will do--ride their seemingly endless font of catchy tunes and crunchy riffs into infinity, and though this is no career-defining masterpiece, as a make-busy project for five guys stuck in a snowstorm, it's pretty great.

Tuning out the conceptual aspect is close to impossible, but there are some moments--as in the hypnotic "Shanghai Freeway"--that can be enjoyed on a purely musical level.

It's a careful and moody album, but fortunately, Dare has the grace to pull off his sonic and lyrical meanderings without devolving too deeply into self-conscious philosophizing or experimentation for its own sake, showing that he has both content and mystique to spare.

The folk singer/songwriter side of Mulvey is the one that is shown for most of the record, while his extensive influences flit in and out of each song, leaving their mark in the percussion, melody, and arrangement, but never taking center stage in his impressive repertoire.

This is easily some of McMahon's prettiest and most accessible music, and it's also some of his finest. In its own simple, graceful way, Love adds more depth to the rest of Amen Dunes' work.

Perhaps this isn't provocative but it's not meant to be: it's designed to be handsome, satisfying lifestyle rock, and it is.

One iffy joke don't stop no show, so take White Women as fun, frivolous, and floor-filling stuff where that slick '80s flair is gloriously bolstered by that modern dancefloor punch.

While Whitechapel's capacity for hatred and discontent is nothing new (especially in the world of death metal/deathcore), the relentlessness of the album's execution is impressive.

Ultima II Massage is a uniquely Black Moth and Tobacco experience to be sure, and anyone who's been exposed to their odd and wonderful world in the past will find this album to be among the best things to come out of it.

There's a consistency to the EP that can get lost when a band is trying to work their way toward a longer running time, so although fans might not be getting a big a dose of new Down material as they might crave, they're certainly reaping the benefits of quality over quantity.

Hour of the Dawn is great garage pop, some of the best being made in 2014, and is the best La Sera album yet.

Without the energy and the sonic thrills, they are just another pop band making music that's little more than a momentarily pleasant diversion.

Dave (of De La Soul) co-wrote "Mirror," as well as one of the other darker highlights, "Killing Me," a slowly swaying kiss-off in which Nagano seethes, "I'll take my rocket ship and get the hell outta this/Nothin' that I'm gon' miss." That song, along with the satisfying closer "Let Go," was co-produced by Robin Hannibal (Quadron, Rhye). Subtract those contributions and this would still be the group's most accomplished work.

his has long been Amos' calling card, this shimmering space between comfort and pain, but Unrepentant Geraldines trumps its predecessors by accentuating its polarity; it either seduces with its sweetness or it provokes with its pain, and either extreme is compelling.

Timbaland and Reid evoke the Michael Jackson we all love and miss, finding songs that are worthy and giving them arrangements that are simultaneously nostalgic and modern. It's a difficult trick to pull off but they largely succeed, so XSCAPE is a worthy and memorable coda to Jackson's career.

Songs stretch out longer here than they have on any previous Black Keys LP, but this doesn't feel indulgent due to the precision of the production; things may seem to drift but every bit of fuzz and echo is in its right place.

Without drastically cleaning up their act, the album turns in a subtler, more thoughtful take on some of the same contradictory themes of enthusiasm and bitterness that made their debut so enjoyable.

Along with the pseudo-bossa nova rhythms of "Naturally" and rolling melodic synth pop of "Heartless," the album takes gradual steps forward and shakes out to be one of Savage's more consistent collections.

Shine On, as a whole, has a similar trajectory; it starts from simple, sad emotions, then builds out into an embrace of love and life.