More often than not, he delivers on High Drama, particularly on the insistent glitter march of "Holding Out for a Hero" and a smoldering electro makeover of "Do You Really Want to Hurt Me."

Suzanne Vega is an artist who was built for the long haul, and Flying With Angels is impressive and satisfying in its craft and distinctive outlook – her songs made her stand out from her peers in 1985, and they still do in 2025.

Moby's weary voice surfaces during the mournful "This Was Never Meant for Us," one of several songs that start out slow and sparse but eventually bloom when the strings hit. "Mott Street 1992" recalls the best of Moby's downtempo material, with dreamy breakbeats and lush synths conveying a slow-moving but expressive rush of feeling.

"Corporation" and "Ice Station Zebra," the two funkiest numbers here, illustrate this with their precise grooves, but even the self-consciously weird interludes show this same level of exactitude. While that keeps Boarding House Reach somewhat in a straitjacket, it also makes it a fascinating listen, because it's a document of a control freak anxious to get loose.

Deacon reassures the listener that inner peace "starts any moment you'd like." Mystic Familiar's triumphant victory lap is "Bumble Bee Crown King," a dazzling instrumental featuring Dustin Wong's unmistakable, spellbinding guitar work.

This being the Rhye album with the most layers, Milosh was wise to employ the brilliant Alan Moulder (My Bloody Valentine, Nine Inch Nails, the Killers) as mixing engineer. Every change pays off.

Cheap Trick can still make a solid and entertaining hard rock record. If that doesn't sound like much, compare Bang, Zoom, Crazy... Hello with the current work of their late-'70s peers and you'll see what a fine surprise that is.

If you're looking for something cool and groovin' to put under your tree or to slap on the stereo while you and your friends knock back some eggnog, It's a Holiday Soul Party is a hip, stylish, and rollicking good time.

What's different here is how relaxed Elliott is, how willing she seems to simply go with what comes naturally and sounds best.

Robust and fearless, Spirit may end up being one of the earliest and best salvos of its political era.

Surprises are around every turn.

The Joy of Sing-Sing is a divine first album -- fans will undoubtedly be delighted.

Blessed with a voice that immediately announces itself, Gray still hasn't found a musical personality to complement it.

True, Knopfler's basic approach remains the same - as a guitarist, he is still enamored of the minor-key finger-picking style of J.J. Cale, and as a singer/songwriter, he remains enthralled with Bob Dylan. But in one song after another on this album, you get the feeling that he started out playing some familiar song in a specific genre and eventually extrapolated upon it enough to call it an original.

References to fungus and food abound, but wrapped in the wooly blankets of Rawlings' signature picking and Welch's winsome harmonies, they take on a fireplace warmth that renders them amiably nostalgic rather than blatantly surreal.

The perpetually teenaged foursome still have their raw edges and sharp teeth, it's just that the edges rip deeper and the teeth bite harder with this more efficient and well-crafted rock assault.

Yet another triumph for the Beta Band.

This is ultimately an album that is catnip to those favoring a general sound and approach and otherwise will pass the time for most anyone else--no bad thing, yet nothing remarkable either.

On Fanatic, the Wilsons prove they can not only not re-create a sound they trademarked in the '70s, but can revision it creatively for the 21st century.

Kin shows that there's more than just gimmickry to iamamiwhoami.

As a whole, Upright Behavior is a lot to digest, and whether or not listeners will find enough incentive to spend time cracking Landlady's code depends purely on their appetite for this type of challenging indie rock.

All but the most stuck-in-the-'90s shoegaze fans will see that Sway is an album that would measure up to almost any album made by the first wave of shoegazers. And by the current wave of revivalists, grave robbers, and crafty thieves as well.

While Hold on Pain Ends is generally well played and well produced, little new ground has been broken and by and large it comes across as a fairly standard, mainstream pop-oriented metalcore record.

In its own claustrophobic, expansive, debauched, and sardonic way, 25 25 proves that less truly is more for Factory Floor.

Its gleaming surface feels shinier than previous McMahon productions, but rather than seeming like an attempt to chase trends, these inflections and accents feel like a culmination of craft. McMahon has long understood how to craft a song, and Zombies on Broadway proves he has the studio skills to match.

If Together at Last is a minor work in Tweedy's catalog, it's a simple but genuine pleasure that may convert a few doubters who haven't been won over by Wilco's eclecticism.

The set won't take the place of any of their studio albums, but it's a strong addition to their body of work that fans should treasure.

The two guitars pick out cascading notes--never chords--against one another, the bass borrows from both Interpol and Gang of Four, and Philippakis' voice cries out in repetition wonderfully, but it's these occasional horn bursts, the electronic chops and blips, that truly complete the songs, making "Antidotes" not merely a lesson in post-new wave noodling, but evidence of the power and excitement of the genre and music itself.