Rack is living, breathing, sweaty proof the Jesus Lizard can write songs and give them shape in the studio just as well as they ever did, and it honestly stands beside the best of their Touch & Go catalog in both spirit and execution. And they still hit like a crescent wrench to the face. Which is a compliment.

It may not equal his best albums as a crooner, but it's a cheerful, fun, sweet -- and melancholy at times -- record that consolidates and validates the revival of Lowe the rocker and for that, his fans should rejoice.

Cascade is yet another marvelous Floating Points album, and easily the most successful work he's made as a dance producer.

My Method Actor is a soft-spoken, probing outing for Yanya, one whose dreamy web of acoustic instruments and electronic accents persistently allures while scrutinizing.

Tindersticks sound like they are fully invested here and anyone still listening will be glad of that, as will anyone just checking them out for the first time. They are a band with a catalog worth getting lost in and Soft Tissue stands as one of their finest moments.

With the suggestion of metal even peering through from time to time, it's also his most consistently grunge-centric material to date. As usual, though, Maine makes the sound his own, not only with his distinctively weary and wary baritone vocals but with production touches.

Memoir of a Sparklemuffin greatly expands and dramatizes the sound and scope of her relationship laments, putting it in the territory of Lana Del Rey and Angel Olsen's most extravagant works.

Yet another late-era treasure trove that highlights all the facets of Snow Patrol's pure emotional catharsis and introspection.

Fujita clearly listens to nature as intently as he listens to music, and Migratory is a wondrous reflection of our environment.

The later discs reflect the relative comfort Dylan and the Band performed with, leading to a more polished joint effort. That said, there's plenty of rawness here, but the chaos on the early discs is missed. The 1974 Live Recordings will only appeal to Dylan completists and historians. The music is entirely (and wonderfully) remixed.

Throughout, Eisenberg defies the concept of following a single path, instead finding a way to arrange it all so deftly that every disparate sound and conflicting idea becomes a passenger on the same vessel.

It may not be Wasser's most cohesive album, but Lemons, Limes, and Orchids' discrete vignettes might convey life's multitudes better than any of her prior music. Without question, it reaffirms that for Joan As Police Woman, sincerity and creativity are better together.

The result is near prefect psychedelic pop that puts the half baked efforts of most of their contemporaries to shame.

By the time the finer details of closing track "The Diver" sink in (subsonic noise synth frequencies, muted and hypnotic drums, underwater guitar harmonics, and controlled muttering vocals), it's time to play the entire record over again and sit for another cycle in the beautiful, otherworldly loneliness it creates.

Moody it is. Having said that, it's singer and songwriter Anouska Sokolow's engaging, spoke-sung recitations that are the focus and defining component of Real Deal, which gets off to a proggy start with "Hide."

Top to bottom, this is a coveted no-skips effort, elevated by the fun, liberated approach that helps the listener escape reality and push the limits like the characters in the film.

It's still a privilege to hear another album from SOPHIE, and if this album is only creative and engaging instead of revolutionary, it doesn't diminish her legacy -- it just reinforces how irreplaceable she is.

Dance, No One's Watching is an ambitious step forward from Where I'm Meant to Be, and a musical extension of its creativity. In all, it proves Ezra Collective's prize-winning debut was no fluke.

It's an active, engaging album from an artist whose travels ultimately brought her more knowledge of herself.

Much like his longtime collaborator Four Tet, Snaith has fully entered his festival dance era, making some of his most outwardly expressive music by injecting his own personality and emotions into superbly crafted club tracks.

As with all of the band's work, this album is inspiring and life-affirming.

It has a rustic elegance stabilized by workmanlike drums and lively acoustic guitars.

Highway Prayers is too long -- there is a fantastic 40-minute album in there -- but it's also a lot of fun, and it may take a young superstar like Strings to bend and stretch bluegrass enough to deliver it to the masses.

These six discs certainly illuminate the studio albums they appear on, but their evolutionary processes in studio and on-stage make this set an essential companion to the previous volume.

Susman and Simms definitely have an assured career in soundtracks, and judging by Memorial Waterslides, they will have a long run as one of the most impressive practitioners of the cinema psych genre.

With A Modern Day Distraction, Bugg further establishes his reputation as a modern-day British rock troubadour.

There's more than enough gas left in Goat's tank to keep them riding in style for years to come.

It may not match See Through You's consistent brilliance, but at its best, Synthesizer delivers the noise for which A Place to Bury Strangers is known and quite a bit more.