Carry On might be the most personal Willy Mason record to date and finds him unafraid to use traditional blues motifs--narrow roads, one-way streets, and fugitives--to fully express himself as a songwriter.

It's hookier and not as ponderous as ¡Uno! but not quite as breakneck as ¡Dos!.

Too bad it's a step back from Doo-Wops in so many ways, leaving people who saw promise in his debut shaking their heads in disappointment and hoping Mars can sort out his feelings about women and get back to being a sweet romancer, instead of an icky hater.

Big Boi adapts to the unfamiliar surroundings with little effort and often sounds comfortable, but the fusions are short on power.

By and large Construction Sounds is a restful and refreshing listen--and one that reflects how far his music has come during the years since he last used the Schneider TM moniker.

Horror and dark electronics fanatics alike will put this one on repeat for days, but its very powerful specificity will likely cut out a swath of listeners not interested in either ravenously dedicated sub-genre.

An occasionally thrilling, yet ultimately uneven set from a talented band in the midst of a huge transition.

While they need to focus more, there's enough potential here to ensure that there's plenty to choose from.

Price's material-starved fans are craving his words more than beats, so don't call it a comeback but a wicked, wordy return.

Quarter Turns Over a Living Line is the group's fine and uneasy full-length debut.

Released in celebration of the Preservation Hall's 50th Anniversary, the album is a rootsy, high-energy, and spirited mix of New Orleans jazz and blues with some gospel and country inflections.

If you're looking for depth and escapism, there are plenty of albums out there for you to dive into and explore, but if volume and intensity are what you seek, Pig Destroyer have just the punch in the face you've been looking for.

Sirens perhaps works best when it's not totally in thrall to grunge and the band allow themselves to enter unchartered terrain.

Pour Une Âme Souveraine is the best kind of dedication to Simone: it invokes her inspiration rather than attempting to re-create her character.

Hidden is not merely a second step for this duo, but real deepening in a highly individual sound.

On Privateering, his seventh solo outing, Knopfler has crafted his most ambitious and pugnacious set to date.

If State Hospital is an indication of things to come, then Frightened Rabbit should have 2013's unremittingly bleak indie rock scene sewn up.

If Dark Dark Dark are one of many acts who seem to define the realm of vaguely quirky and slightly winsome indie rock of the 21st century, the lean of the performances tends toward the quietly contemplative above all else, however much in a band context.

Once again, probably not a highly sought-after sound, but then again, when an album is this well put together, who really cares?

Despite its brevity, the songs strike with such languid, metered force they manage to slow time down, stretching an EP's worth of darkly ambient dream pop into a deceptively epic micro-journey.

If this isn't the album of the year, it's at least the art-pop album of the year, or the neo-sophisti-pop album of the year, or--beside Frank Ocean's Channel Orange--the alternative R&B album of the year.

They seem have found a sense of clarity amid the chaos at certain points.

The tactile crackle and hiss underscoring the calm piano makes this all Hampson's work, as excellent and remarkable as always.

For the moment, Lights Out suggests they are capable of producing compelling work even as they become increasingly comfortable in their own skin.

Bison B.C.'s creations for Lovelessness largely succeed on the strength of those imaginative arrangements and by proving themselves improbably infectious despite their brute façade.

Silly, savage, and willfully schizophrenic, Nookie Wood is at its best when its creator is channeling his more pastoral works.

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

Those who have been waiting for what seems like an eternity for Timberlake to return to the music scene could do worse than check out Contrast, which although rather front-loaded, is perhaps the most confident and mature teen pop debut of recent years.