More of a well-crafted showcase for Benson's always strong tunes than a greatest-hits collection, You Were Right feels like a proper album and meets the same high bar set by his previous work.

For perhaps the first time, his solo work feels less like a tangent to his work with the Strokes and more like something sustainable in its own right.

This music seems clumsy and half-hearted, and Ginn's interplay with new drummer Gregory Amoore feels sluggish and leaden at every turn.

There are the purely lovely moments like "Midnight Glories" that help make Sumie a quietly compelling, inviting full-length introduction to an artist who can't help but bewitch listeners willing and able to embrace her stillness.

As the album opener, [Alien is] hard to ignore but it inadvertently sets the tone for the rest of Britney Jean: she's not one of us and doesn't feel comfortable where she's at, and that uneasiness underpins the rest of this vaguely dispiriting album.

As song after song of hazy quiet storm clouds roll by, it's easy to fall into an intoxicated trance that's only jostled into a dim awareness a few times by brightly strummed, very '80s-feeling guitars ("Light Through Lace"), finger-snapped basslines ("Under the Rose"), and the occasional vocal that cuts through the mist and almost delivers some naked emotion.

EVE has the undeniable edge in vitality when compared to More!, the duo's previous album, and there's much more depth and variety.

While these eclectic songs are intentionally less cohesive than either of the duo's albums, Nun's progression from Tracer and 7AM is equally logical and exciting.

It's mellow in the canyon tonight, so lie on your back and stare at the stars, let the music wash over you and don't "stop paying attention to the things that used to make you shine."

As on Woman, much of Jet Lag's lyrics slide between romantic and erotic, full of longing, discreetly laced with sexually suggestive content. It all adds up to a sophisticated electronic pop album with a serious lingering effect.

Ultimately, the Warlocks only do one thing, but they've learned to do it quite well (or rather Hecksher does it quite well and knows where to get the assistance he needs), and 2013's Skull Worship confirms his obsessions have not changed one bit with time.

No End will not appeal to everyone--especially not all Jarrett fans. But those who've closely observed his processes and evolution will likely embrace it, as will fans of experimental guitar-based rock.

The web of sounds here creates the same relaxing and breathable environments as Eno's most meditative work, just a far more lo-fi rendering of it.

Not surprisingly, Luque, a verbose and enigmatic lyricist, is the perfect match for Bejar (they're also both hirsute rock & roll outliers), and the five-track collection requires little in the way of translation.

Fellow Travelers makes the listener feel like they snuck in the back door of the club and are bearing witness to one of the coolest soundchecks ever, and while it may not be the follow-up that fans were envisioning, it certainly deserves a slot in every Shearwater enthusiast's collection.

They're a good match. Jones' suppleness sands down Armstrong's ragged voice, he gives her grit while she lends him grace and these qualities are evident throughout this lovely little gem of an album.

When the album ends and the various styles, songs, and moods are added up, Midnight Memories ends up as another satisfying album that does everything a One D album should do and then some.

Birdy's second release is a testament to her confidence in her own songwriting talent, and of course, to the fragility and intensity of her pure, unblemished vocals.

It's a serviceable bit of self-generated fan fiction that's as slight as it is artistically obstinate.

With 17 incredibly complex songs clocking in at almost an hour, the San Fermin listening experience is a commitment, but one that rewards greatly.

With its more considered, balanced approach, Surrender to the Fantasy feels more like a complete album than Balf Quarry's collection of moments did. It may take a few more listens to surrender to its fever dreams, but it's well worth the effort.

This is the kind of album that appeals primarily to hardcore fans looking for a new spin on the familiar; in other words, this is unlikely to convert EDM listeners to the pleasures of Linkin Park.

Last Patrol ties things up nicely with the one-two punch of "Strobe Light Beatdown" and "One Dead Moon," the former a blistering garage rock rager and the latter a midnight power ballad that shakes its fist at the inky blue and then disappears into its gaping maw.

No matter the mood and subtle variation in sound, Fulvimar is in full control at all times, and while some may miss the garage punk style of the first album, Shine Your Light is an impressive change-up that will thrill those who stick around.

Here he successfully creates a convergence of harmonious and dissonant sounds, tensions and spaces, which reflect the subtleties in the complex emotions that construct such a powerful force.

Even if every track here isn't quite as inspired as this song, or the music from the first movie, The Hunger Games: Catching Fire is a solidly entertaining soundtrack.

Daughtry has never allowed Daughtry to be silly before this record. This relative lightness makes a big difference--it also helps that the music itself is relatively nimble--and, ultimately, this turns Baptized into the best album he or his band has made.

As far as the argument over whether Death Grips are indie rap's great, destructive Dada Art crew or whether they are just the genre's Spinal Tap, the excellent No Love Deep Web suggests they're the sophisticated former.