There is plenty of warmth, sadness, kindness, and quiet desperation in Tyler's lovely pieces that drift liminally between musical score and ambient soundscapes, leaving plenty of room to roam among the gaps. As an artistic collaboration with Reichardt and accompaniment to her warm-hearted tale, Music From First Cow is a gem.

The results are mixed if always entertaining.

A bit more low-key than Hecker's other albums, Shards is nevertheless representative of his signature sound, encapsulating the emotional depth and innovative sonic weaving listeners have come to associate with his work.

The moody astral tones of opener "Good Mourning" get the album off to a slow start, but in general there are plenty of standouts scattered throughout Third World Pyramid that could stand up to BJM's best work.

Alternating between fingerpicked acoustic and electric, the remaining tracks are hardly deficient of introverted charm, but with the exception of the semi-propulsive 'Rebecca,' the pace is sluggish at best, resulting in a collection of songs best listened to in threes, or all at once with one's forehead pressed against the window waiting for the rain to pass.

In the end, a necessary acquisition for fans or an easy way for newcomers to judge whether they are wacky enough to join the Major's cyberpunky reggae party.

Scotty's redefinition of himself as a sports bar-hopping bro is plainly shameless but, strangely enough, See You Tonight works, partially due to the Rogers-shepherded collection of cheerful country-pop but also due to the malleability of McCreery's dude-next-door persona.

Musically, Charmer is a more polished and pop-oriented album than most of Tigers Jaw's previous work, but the core of their melodic style has changed little, and the moody urgency of the lyrics is as strong as ever.

Death Magic presents a 2010s version of HEALTH that fits in with the likes of the Soft Moon and Blanck Mass while delivering their most accessible music to date.

Gustaph and Rouge Mary also prove to be ideal foils for Butler, who still makes his songs tight, powerful, and optimally shaped.

If you heard Mankind without hearing their other work, you might think it was a decent record with a couple of memorable songs--kind of generic and bland, but not awful. It’s only a disaster if you were charmed by High Places' original sound and left cold by their new approach.

We All Belong is a little bit cleaner and dressed a little bit nicer than "Easy Beat," but the rustic appeal of the music still comes through loud and clear.

Peppered with swears and PG-13 imagery, not all of Return to the Moon is radio-friendly, but it is ear-friendly, even at its most earnest or wry.

Even if said listener is inundated with shiny, R&B-based pop, as is anyone who has access to a radio or the Internet in 2016, there's something about the way Chairlift operate that helps them to stand out just enough to truly shine.

Maybe Krol isn't cool, but Power Chords shows he's fierce, fun, exciting, and real, and that always means more in the long run.

The 16 songs use a wide variety of stylistic approaches while centering around Durk's lyrical narratives of desperation and survival. While not all of it feels essential, the high points are fantastic examples of the rapper at his best.

Much like contemporaries Sleeping with Sirens and Bring Me the Horizon, they've changed with the times -- for better or worse, depending on the fan -- and the results are no less immediate and impactful.

Top to bottom, this is a coveted no-skips effort, elevated by the fun, liberated approach that helps the listener escape reality and push the limits like the characters in the film.

Free the Bees is all worth hearing, a lot more than once, and it could be the Album of the Year -- the only question is if that year is 2004 or 1968.

A radical -- but successful -- departure, We're Animals might have slightly fewer instantly memorable songs than In My Mind All the Time, but it shows that Numbers are continuing to develop and experiment in ways that make this album exciting in a completely different way than their previous work.

Angel feels like a continuous, slow-motion sunset on a coastline in a dream. It's new territory for Pure X, but when the elements of '70s radio rock and Sunday-morning soul come together, it results in some of their most tuneful moments.

Refreshing, comforting, and accessible, Kiss All the Time. Disco, Occasionally. is a fine transition album that points to even bigger and better things for the pop star.

Apart from a couple fumbles, By-the-Numbers turns out to be a successfully executed concept and a very pleasant listen.

Steady never feels rote -- these guys are in love with rock & roll, and their joy and passion is never far from the surface. If a new band made an album this good and joyously pleasing, they'd be hailed as heroes, and don't let the fact Sloan are grizzled veterans keep you from celebrating Steady on a regular basis.

The album is a well-written love letter to yesterday's rock & roll. Though this means the album's sound isn't nearly as revelatory as the sonic assaults of their earlier work, the Men continue to prove that, above all, they're a band that know what they're doing, even if they don't know what they're doing next.

This sounds like a lost Coral album down to every last detail, which means that it seems silly to venture here unless you've at least bought one Coral album already.

Saviors sounds cleaner, stronger, and purposeful, all due to the still-sharp pop instincts of Bille Joe Armstrong. Age may dampen Green Day's roar, but it has also heightened their songcraft, and that's reason enough to give Saviors time to let its hooks sink in.

The singles aren't as obvious as 2008's "Knickerbocker," and the cuteness is replaced by suave aloofness; Ventriloquizzing is seamlessly somber, and all the better for it.