If you're a fan who may have been disappointed after the release of 2008's Shudder, this is the album you've been waiting for.

With its slow, even pacing and spaciousness, As High as the Highest Heavens and From the Center to the Circumference of the Earth is a fantastically understated piece of headphones-ready post-rock goodness that will draw you into its depths with deceptively simple arrangements before trapping you in its sludgy melodies, making for a fantastic follow-up from this promising band.

Basinski approaches the varying chapters of Lamentations with an openness and fluidity that gels together even his most dissimilar ideas. Lamentations wanders cautiously between dark and hovering gloom, tender reflection, and moments of wistful nostalgia that almost feel gleeful. It's one of the more accessible of Basinski's offerings, and continues building on the delicate language of subtext and observation that makes his work so important.

By marrying this thick haze -- somewhere between shoegaze and analog drone -- to introspective, melodic songwriting, Soccer Mommy winds up with an album that feels simultaneously familiar and fresh, a record that delivers deliberate surprises while also acting as a soothing balm.

Six years after Whack World, Whack has only grown more accomplished at contrasting brightly colored surfaces and what lies beneath them.

Even more so than on the already impressive Small Medium Large, SML have mastered their own musical language with How You Been.

Balloon Balloon Balloon is pure pop music for now-and-then people, skillfully crafted from bits and bobs of the past, then melded together into a sound that is exactly what the smoothed-out, homogenous mid-2020s need.

Sparhawk and Parker are still trying to make sense of a world that seems increasingly alien, and the paradox of raging against the artificiality while using it as a creative choice is powerfully effective here.

Rips mixes simple pleasures and complicated ones into a completely life-affirming debut.

It is a music of sense and memory perceptions, a sonic projection equal to but different from the sources that inspired it. When all are assembled, they constitute a deep, mysterious, and occasionally disruptive journey into shade, texture, nuance, and seductive persuasion.

The resulting album Look to the East, Look to the West is both a fitting tribute to what the band once was and a powerful new beginning.

Thanks for the Dance might not seem to be a major statement at first glance, but it's a missive that carries startling power, and it's clearly not built from scraps and leftovers, but assembled with a love that's equal to the knowledge Cohen put into it. This adds more documentation to the wholly unexpected and satisfying final act of a truly great songwriter, and it deserves your attention.

All told, The Migration is an exciting and surprisingly fun album filled will take listeners on a journey through its soaring heights, provided they're brave enough to handle the thrills.

Despite Plant's clear favor of the heart and head over primal pleasures, Carry Fire retains a visceral kick, because the singer/songwriter understands the transportive power of music, how the old can seem new when seen with a different light.

In its still-life reflections, Seven Psalms doesn't play like a summation as much as an epilogue to a major artist's career, music that doesn't deepens appreciation for his lasting achievements, of which this mini-suite is certainly one.

It's partly a party album like 2001's Bulletproof Wallets, but freer, more inspired, and tempered with pure street tracks that were missing last time round.

The sheer joy of their music is undeniably persuasive, evoking the otherworldly brilliance of everything from Pet Sounds to The Soft Bulletin.

Funny, beautiful, and moving, Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots finds the Flaming Lips continuing to grow and challenge themselves in not-so-obvious ways after delivering their obvious masterpiece.

Bittersweet is a strong, satisfying album from one of the best and most distinctive singer/songwriters of her day, and this confirms she can move in any number of different directions and still offer her listeners something remarkable.

Brutus sound more focused, more visceral, and more locked in with each other throughout. The songs are heavy and ominous but also tap into a sense of passion and vulnerability. The combination is powerful and sophisticated, and the beast that Brutus is becoming on Nest feels unstoppable.

Channeling technological paranoia, City of Clowns contains some of Davidson's most futuristic work yet, as well as some of her most commanding and personality-driven.

Negro Swan sonically is as fluid as it is fragmented, synthesizing and bounding between bedsit post-punk, desolate dream pop, chillwave-coated quiet storm, and low-profile hip-hop soul.

While All Time Present moves through various moods and approaches, from Krautrock reenvisioned as rural guitar rock to floating ambience, it remains knowingly tied together by threads of dazzling playing and boundless exploration.

If you fell in love with Sunflower Bean's early indie-pop and marveled at their turn towards alt-rock cool, Mortal Primetime is the best of both worlds; an assured album of rock and roll magic, dusted with emotive pop pathos.

Maggie Rogers embraces her creative and emotional independence on her third album, 2024's nervy and candid Don't Forget Me.

Both [Tape One and Tape Two] are uniquely imaginative and scattered, and with this one, it becomes wholly apparent that Young Fathers have carved out their own distinct style.

Fueled by megawatt energy that never lets up, Cuz I Love You is a triumphant showcase for every part of Lizzo's talent, physicality, and sexuality.

While Velvet's vintage vibe is impressive, it would only be stylish window dressing if the songs weren't as catchy and inspired as they are.