Overall, Blind Spot works well on many levels. It shows the bandmembers aren't just exercising their nostalgic muscles while looking for a quick buck. It shows they are still capable of writing and recording very Lush-sounding music.

As a celebration of GbV's core virtues, Please Be Honest really does honor the sound of the band as much as the skills of its frontman and founder.

If Mockingbird Time was a reminder of how well Olson and Louris compliment one another, this album demonstrates that Louris still knows how to make a memorable album as the group's sole leader.

The heavy-hitting social commentary of "America" is an example of Royce in the spotlight and exceeding expectations.

Higher Authorities doesn't seem to have any ambitions beyond being an informal extracurricular venture, but it sounds decent and trippy enough.

The cathartic and wounded moments here resonate in a manner matched by few, if any, of Beyoncé's contemporaries. She sometimes eclipses herself in terms of raw emotion, as on the throttling Jack White encounter "Don't Hurt Yourself." At the low-volume end, there's more power in the few seconds she chokes back tears while singing "Come back"--timed with the backing vocal in Isaac Hayes' version of "Walk on By"--than there is in most contemporary ballads.

Congleton's unhinged vocals add to the visceral nature of the outing, and some fatigue sets in toward the back half, but at just under 40 minutes, Until the Horror Goes is certainly digestible. However, listeners should definitely wait an hour before going swimming.

The album sounds like it was spontaneously recorded and bashed out on cheap instruments onto a malfunctioning tape deck, and there are several tracks that cut off or feel like the tape has been smudged. Even as the music barely holds together, it still sounds like something Moothart obsessed over and poured all his conflicting emotions into.

Ty Segall's influence may permeate Feels, but these musicians have enough ideas of their own to give this a compelling sound and personality of their own.

The album is a hypnotic, slightly silly expression of physical as well as spiritual desires.

The piano ballad "I Still Make Her Cry" stands as the lone truly intimate moment of the record which, despite its enthusiastic choruses, harbors reflective, self-doubting lyrics.

With 12 songs that include the band's usual absence of lazy filler, Delusions of Grand Fur is a sturdy and worthwhile outing that's likely to please and impress fans.

Taken together, Craft delivers a fun and loose breakup album replete with colorful characters, memorable tunes, and an even more memorable vocal delivery--a noteworthy debut.

Fans of Zombie's rockabilly occult schtick will appreciate this new volume--not only for its respectful nod to his legacy--but also because it's Zombie giving them what they want: freaky fun that entertains, shocks, and rocks.

Frothing with haze and sultriness, Luck or Magic is unlikely to either surprise or disappoint established fans, and likely to seduce, in general.

His mixtapes certainly feel more "alive" and offer more variety, but couple them with this deeper, hard-hitting album, and the full Young Dolph picture becomes both clear and more attractive.

Metal Church seem to have finally found the sweet spot between the thrash-kissed days of yore and the more traditional yet no less meaty metal stylings of their 21st century incarnation.

Spiritual Songs is not a casual listen and can be emotionally overwhelming at times, requiring complete attention in order to fully enter the intimate world of these star-crossed lovers. Once inside, Spiritual Songs for Lovers to Sing is as intoxicating as falling in love for the first or last time.

If there's a knock against Take Me to the Alley, it's that it feels a bit long. Editing out two or three tunes would have heightened its impact. That Porter doesn't break new ground here isn't a big deal; he doesn't need to.

Compared to the self-titled debut and Overgrown, this a more graceful and denser purging, one that can soundtrack some intense wallowing or, at a low volume, throb and murmur unobtrusively in the background.

As If Apart maintains a laid-back, weekend-afternoon feel, but it never seems too lazy, as Cohen is clearly adept at crafting pleasant yet sophisticated songs.

Testarossa is a perfect road trip album, albeit one that's best put to use when the listener takes the road less traveled.

For the most part, the gambit is a success and, with a little help from Fife troublemaker Lone Pigeon (Beta Band, the Aliens) and First Aid Kit drummer Scott Simpson, he's landed on a sound that suits his mix of downbeat humor and warm sensitivity.

The Triad is an expansion of Pantha du Prince's otherworldly sound into a more human realm, but it still maintains its ethereal, magical qualities.

Kidsticks isn't the sound of Orton closing her circle but opening it wide. In her restlessness and self-discovery, she looks outward and comes away fresh and renewed as a result.

It's not easy to grasp at first, but it reveals van Dinther as a restless creative spirit, and seems to only hint at the directions his artistic career could take in the future.

Stewarding them into their next phase is producer Joe Reinhart (Joyce Manor, Hop Along) whose outside influence helped streamline their powerful sound into a surprisingly cohesive album, given the album's unusual sequence.

She's smart to keep things light and positive--it's a deliberately youthful sound in an era that yearns for maturity--but by working the same territory so carefully, the seams in her construction are difficult to ignore.