This recording seems a vital one, and time will tell if the musical is a watershed in big-budget musical theater.

Mausoleum is a rare recording in that its appeal is vast.

I Wanna Run Barefoot Through Your Hair highlights how Owens can write songs detailing life's harshest miseries and somehow twist them until the main takeaways are hope and gratitude. It's a rare feat, and Owens accomplishes it on many of these songs, making the album not just a collection of some of his strongest work but a humbling reminder to remember to be thankful for what we have while we have it.

Do It Afraid is another impelling triumph from a thriving musical dynamo.

If it's more of an archival release than a necessary one, it's very listenable and catches an eccentric, odd little band of three fine songwriters doing that thing they did--and that they still do.

As a thematic mood piece, Panhandle Rambler hits its mark squarely, and the songs themselves are of the consistent high quality listeners have come to expect from Ely who, for reasons unknown, still seems to be one of Texas' more underappreciated exports.

This "calm before the storm" aesthetic dominates Rook, and in another testament to its short running time, works beautifully, illuminating the few straightforward pieces like "Century Eyes," "Leviathan, Bound," and the brooding title track like a centuries-old woodcut, and allowing the tension that permeates the entire affair to ebb and flow naturally, resulting in one of the most heady and satisfying albums of the year.

Runaway's Diary is the rarest kind of concept record: one that wears the seriousness of its topics like a light jacket, and whose inventive musical savvy counters the restlessness of the soul at its subject's core.

It's easy enough to be moved by Edwyn Collins' recovery and continued progress; he's truly an inspirational figure. What his continued presence in the recording studio even more wonderful is that his albums keep getting better and better too; deeper and more fully colored and nuanced both in melody and sound.

Thanks to the caliber of players in the new James Hunter Six, he is challenged and supported in equal measure. While Hunter may be unapologetically retro in his inspirations, he is unrelentingly modern in his use of vintage music; for him it is ever present in the music he makes, and that's the exact opposite of being nostalgic.

He openly draws from history but situates his original music expansively in the here and now; his many stylistic referents combine in new ways to offer a stubbornly holistic, emotionally resonant, and visionary approach.

Weather Alive nestles into a comparatively hushed, atmospheric blend of acoustic and electronic timbres that's meticulous and nebulous at once.

DeMent's acute sense of humanity remains her greatest asset, and it has rarely sounded so graceful as on this wonderful set of songs.

3TEETH harness that frustration and helplessness, creating cathartic sonic therapy for anyone at their wit's end wondering if the planet will still be spinning decades from now. Thrilling and depressing, it's another wake-up call for those who aren't listening.

Blackgrass shows he can make a memorable bluegrass album as easily as he can craft a potent soul groove. The surroundings are unexpected, the quality is not.

Think of Mist is another affecting and impressive release from an artist who should have more eyes on her creations.

Simon seems at peace on Stranger to Stranger, acknowledging the twilight yet not running toward it because there's so much to experience in the moment. He's choosing to push forward, not look back, and the results are invigorating.

Party Music doesn't really break much new ground for the Coup; it's more a consolidation of their strengths, touching on a little bit of everything they've done well in the past.

Life... showcases a band that has carefully refined its sound, creating an album that is daring and experimental enough for longtime fans, but accessible enough for anyone looking to discover one of Athen's heaviest bands.

It's steady growth all around for these fine Canadians who keep showing up with buckets of great material.

While it shares sheer ambition with Scott Walker's The Drift and PJ Harvey's Let England Shake, it sounds like neither; Bush's album is equally startling because its will toward the mysterious and elliptical is balanced by its beguiling accessibility.

Way Down in the Rust Bucket isn't one of the more revelatory items to emerge from Neil Young's archives since he began major excavation in the mid-2000s. However, for those who consider the joyous stomp of Neil Young & Crazy Horse rock & roll comfort food at its best, this is a feast to savor, a long and rollicking celebration of the pleasures of turning up the amps and inviting in the spirit.

Sakamoto died two months after 12 was released, and being aware that it was his final work adds emotional weight to music that appears fragile and delicate.

Fox Confessor Brings The Flood is a rich, mature and deeply satisfying piece of music that deserves and demands attention -- if this isn't Album of the Year material, it's hard to say what is.

On the whole, these aren't the boldest reimaginings of her songs that she could have delivered, but it makes for an extremely uplifting listening experience that works as a lovely placeholder until her next album--and as a calling card for anyone unlucky enough to not already be familiar with Weaver's sound and songs.

Far from being the second coming of Dylan, Oberst is as precious as Paul Simon, but without any sense of rhyme or meter or gift for imagery, puking out lines filled with cheap metaphors and clumsy words that don't scan.

Iit's the assemblage that delivers the difference, and that's enough. Given its relative brevity, it's among the few albums in their catalog that doesn't leave the listener exhausted (not a bad thing by any means), but wanting more.

This volume charts Jansch's development as a songwriter as well as an interpreter who remains devoted to his roots while restlessly expanding the reach of his oeuvre This music has aged exceptionally well.