The biggest drawback, one that can make the listener tire of the album long before it ends, is her terminally flat, undisciplined voice. More often than not, her compelling song structures suffer because of it. Ultimately, Junior feels more like a band record and furthers the sounds explored on Dreaming of Revenge.

Throughout all of King Night, the feeling of a séance being held or a spell being cast is palpable, but Salem's ability to be affecting and menacing at the same time is pure alchemy.

This may not be an expectations-defying album, but it is a satisfying and well-rounded one that shows once again what a well-oiled man-machine Trans Am is.

With this album, Kristin Kontrol makes claim to the top tier, and if she continues to make records this powerfully good, she may find herself alone at the top before too long.

He might have made an album that doesn't follow the Blues Explosion's template so clearly. If you dig Jon Spencer, you'll have a good time with Spencer Sings the Hits. But probably not as great a time as you had with him before.

There isn't much lyrical substance on Colores, and there doesn't need to be. It's a party record whose lyric flows are effortless and laid-back enough -- a Balvin trademark -- to attract listeners inside and outside musica urbano's big tent. The album's brevity adds depth and dimension to its direct, seductive, welcoming mix and garish presentation.

While one can certainly hear touchstones echoed throughout New Fragility, it has the singularity and focus of one artistic voice.

The tracks feel more like musical poems than songs. Poetic lyrics that refer to ogres, unicorns, and ghosts only reinforce this impression. Taken together, the album may challenge even some indie-tuned ears, but at its best, its catchy, composed strangeness is refreshing and compelling.

Dense and sometimes overwhelming, Arrangements is a testament to Preoccupations' willingness to stay in their discomfort zone and document everything that happens. This time, however, the results are admirable but not always easy to connect with.

What My Disco might lack in dynamics, they more than make up with atmospherics, showing again and again on Little Joy that sparse arrangements can feel just as spacious as grander recordings.

Swapping out the sonic and mental clutter for a host of centered, unconfused rock tunes is a curveball move, for sure, but the end product is the most memorable, lasting, and relatable albums in Of Montreal's extensive catalog, and easily one of the best.

Even if More Is Than Isn't doesn't flow as well as his previous efforts, this everything-and-the-kitchen-sink experience is dazzling, always leaving the listener wondering what might come next.

Outperforming what was an impressive debut, Which Way to Happy takes its immersive qualities to another level.

Although the album seems like silly fun on the surface, there is enough complexity to the interlocking synth lines and clattering rhythms to give the music some weight.

Bulat's melodic, folk-leaning tendencies as a songwriter lend themselves well to this kind of makeover, one that adds a touch of elegance to nuanced vocal performances, if rarely improving upon the original recordings.

Songs stretch out longer here than they have on any previous Black Keys LP, but this doesn't feel indulgent due to the precision of the production; things may seem to drift but every bit of fuzz and echo is in its right place.

It's overflowing with excitement, optimism, and overwhelming beauty that distract you just enough to disregard the sounds of rustling footsteps behind you growing closer.

Peñate's enthusiasm for not only his source material, but for the empty canvas of 21st century commercial music itself, feels genuine enough, resulting in an infectious club- and radio-ready collection of cosmopolitan pop that feels both familiar and expansive.

There are no real standouts, no (relatively) big hooks as heard on Scary World Theory's "Lowdown"; instead, there is a steady stream of hushed electronic pop songs that is as easy to enjoy as it is to ignore.

New Misery may be uneven, but it confirms Cullen Omori has a musical future one might not have expected based on the Smith Westerns.

The album's remainder employs assorted hit-angling producers connected by pop success with young women. The Pains of Growing is consequently more fragmented and less consistent than Know-It-All, but Cara makes the best of it, generally writing in a slightly wiser and sharper manner from the same introverted homebody perspective.

On their seventh outing, Resolution, Lamb of God prove once again that the right ratio of barnstorming riffs and relentless intensity is all you need to make a solid album.

She manages to sing through her torment on Voyageur, in hope that the journey is ultimately redemptive.

The overall impression of Parks' second solo album is less a collection of tightly crafted songs than of a willowy chunk of music captured during its slow passage on the timeline. How appealing this is depends on one's proclivities, but there is enough ear candy here to hold the attention, at least for a little while.

Overall, there's nothing very slick to be heard. Like they did on the excellent Feast of Love, Pity Sex do a great job of balancing noise with melody, using both in equal amounts throughout the record and always making good use of shoegaze's standard loud-quiet dynamics.

Most listeners won't care to follow this particular rabbit down the hole because of the bracing cynicism, paranoia, misanthropy, and betrayal they'll hear at every turn on this record.

Much of The Pursuit mines this fertilely mellow vein, producing a bunch of understatedly melodic music whose consistency only suggests that Cullum should stop dabbling with detours and just accept his strength as a soft rock singer/songwriter.

An album that is fashionably slick, altogether tragic, and deceptively beautiful.