Conscious builds upon the promise of their debut and goes well beyond with a tight vision of a glimmering pop future for the Notts.

How to Be a Human Being's sense of wonder and joie de vivre feels as instructive to Glass Animals as their listeners, and their willingness to try anything results in some truly great moments.

If Soundwalk Collective's music is often lovely but understated, Patti Smith's vocals give Killer Road the pale fire that makes it come alive; she never sounds like Nico, but she ably brings forth the voice of a poet facing her final crisis, and Smith understands that just well enough to communicate it to the audience.

Redemption & Ruin is a fine covers album: it not only illuminates and adds new dimensions to these songs, but it unmistakably reflects the Devil Makes Three's musical persona, making it a welcome addition to their catalog.

"Charlie Brown" is a swirling circle of doom, "I'll Take It and Break It" punishes with its stomping riff, "Bums" races along, while "Nightcrawler" revels in its menacing depravity. All this makes The Deaner Album sound a little excessive but there are also moments of madcap pop ("Bundle of Joy," "You Were There"), twisted country ("Tammy"), and funk ("Mercedes Benz"), all parceled out with expert pacing, so the album plays like a drunken, giddy party.

Sillion is all top-shelf and one of the strongest releases of his career.

A few songs do depart from expressing pain and the documentation of recovery. Brightest of all is "Find the Love," pure early-'80s boogie throwback. Just beneath that is the title track, a theatrical empowerment anthem that would likely close just about any other album. Instead, extra punctuation is provided by "Hello Father," another gem.

Maybe it's missing a little bit of the thrill that came along with hearing TERRY for the first time, but there isn't much anyone can do about that. All the band can do is keep cranking out these kinds of smart and snappy pop songs an album at a time, hopefully for as long as possible.

Judging by how well they execute this pop/rock hybrid sound, Gossip is a risk that paid off.

Compared to the debut, this has a little more definition.

Seventeen years into their recording career, Dead Meadow sound as primal and potent as ever on The Nothing They Need, a notion that ought to cheer them up. But don't count on it.

The National Jazz Trio's style can seem too sparse and basic to make an impression at first, but their approach exposes genuine emotions, and it's unconventional enough to elude easy comparison.

The EP is classic Mazzy Star, showing none of the ravages of time one might expect and still making beautiful music that weaves a spell that's hard to break.

Across the album's 12 yearning songs, the performances not only breathe but seem to sigh in concert with the main duo, arriving at what is much more an expansion of their trademark sound than a renouncement of it.

On ["Love Means Taking Action"] and throughout The Anteroom, Krell sounds revitalized; by revisiting his noise-drenched past with the experience he's gained since then, he delivers an album that's just as impressionistic as his early work, and possibly even more adventurous.

A front-loaded set song-wise, it maintains an effervescence and living-room danceability that has the potential to charm the masses.

While it's doubtful anyone is looking to Giuda for their depth of content, there is a bit of déjà vu to these ten songs which, thematic setting aside, sound very much like the band's first three albums.

The mood here is much bleaker than the previous album, and there's more of a feeling a desperation in Jason Molina's vocals.

Goons Be Gone isn't the perfect synthesis of chaos and control that No Age have been searching for their entire career, but it finds some of their best songs and most fruitful experiments presented in a style that's never sounded more singularly their own.

Nowhere Generation may lack the nervy zeal of peak efforts like Siren Song of the Counter Culture and Appeal to Reason, but it most certainly has the gravitas.

Windflowers is a wonder of detailed production and easy elegance, though it also suffers from a sameness in tone that dulls its overall impact. It's certainly comfortable, and maybe that was Efterklang's intent, but they are at their best when throwing in the occasional left-turn or sonic shake-up.

Unsettling and plaintive throughout, the soundtrack ends with its sole song, the also mournful "The World to Come," which calls back earlier musical themes. A striking score debut, it does much to establish the film's tone.

If formulaic in approach, cosmopolitan rhythms and trippy hooks vary, and any track or combination of tracks on the album is well-suited for front-of-house play or for a soundtrack to get the party started.

Fueled by the long-promised light at the end of the tunnel after the COVID-19 lockdown, it's also the band's most vibrant and accessible outing to date.

It's not all the hits, but as they run through "Just Got Paid," "Heard it on the X," "La Grange," "Tush, "I'm Bad, I'm Nationwide," and "Legs," it feels like they are -- but there's still energy and a palpable joy in how they launch into a groove or extend themselves in a jam and it's still a wonder to hear Gibbons solo.

Doe and his accompanists sound fully engaged even when this music is whisper-quiet, and it's impressive that a record that sounds this casual is so compelling.

Apart from "Zone 1 (24 Hours)," the selections are generally brief and concise, and the shortest ones sometimes feel like sketches that could've been developed further. Still, the techno side of Mount Kimbie is just as creative as the pop/R&B/hip-hop side, and both halves of MK 3.5 contain several gems.

Racing the Storm is a potent return with quality songwriting that nods to her past, but introduces a new element that suits her quite well.