One needn't take in all 90 minutes of America's National Parks at one go; it might work better, for some, to absorb slowly. Either way, it masterfully balances solo and group improvisation, chamber sounds, modern jazz, and avant composition.

By and large, Heaven Is a Junkyard finds Powers in pastoral mode. Even in its most orchestrated moments, the album feels primarily reflective and still, like Powers is gazing out on a silent field of wheat and offering us a look into his brain as the thoughts, memories, and scattered hopes all float by.

Letter to Yu's thoughtful sincerity seems far removed from the biting sarcasm of Pupul's acclaimed work with Charlotte Adigéry, but it's just as emotionally potent and artistically creative.

A lot of the album feels inspired by the Ghostwriting project, and while he's definitely injected himself into the songs, it feels oddly detached and writerly, as if he's taking pains to create a buffer zone of distance between his real feelings and the listener.

The key to Bradfield's album is how it respectfully salutes Jara while conveying the emotions and ideas stirred within the singer/songwriter -- a rare trick that is quite compelling on this urgent yet nuanced song cycle.

It is their most holistic, inventive recording to date and ups the ante for anyone trying to follow them.

As the mainstream becomes more and more predictable, Shabazz Palaces' inscrutability is a welcome change. Because the beats are so abstract, roots take precedent, and a strong presence on the microphone becomes the most important aspect.

Personal yet inviting, If You See Me, Say Yes is a lovely debut and a strong addition to Wasner's growing canon.

The creeping lurch and distressed fuzz damage of final track "Aurora" bring the likenesses and differences of previous phases of the band into clear focus, closing out Sonancy with a sound that could fit anywhere in the Loop discography but feels especially visceral, more dynamic than ever, and somehow new.

The resulting 11-song set, The Window, is a volatile one that continues a gradual shift in balance toward harsher guitar tones and more energy without shunning the ambling, jangly alt-country that has co-existed with the band's Breeders-revering alt-rock side since their full-length debut.

Evidently remaining under no pressure to assimilate with commercial R&B or even commit to traditional song structures, the musicians whip up another mixture of loose dance grooves and languid ballads. The effect is only a shade less stimulating than that of their previous LP.

Andorra may be a bedroom record, but it certainly doesn't sound like a bedroom record; it has the energy and intensity of group participation, and that makes it Snaith's best yet.

Live at Goose Lake, August 8, 1970 isn't the gloriously transformative historical document some might have dreamed it would be, but it is a recording of a genuinely great rock band playing a pretty good show with genuine enthusiasm, and you can never have too many of those on hand.

The Maui recordings don't find him exploring much in the way of anything new, but he's in excellent form, playfully relaxed and fully engaged at the same time, and Mitch Mitchell's drumming is, as always, an excellent foil for Jimi's melodies and instrumental attack, while Billy Cox's subtle but solid bass anchors this music better than his predecessor, Noel Redding.

It's another extraordinary musical experience from the Claudia Quintet, who deserve all the high marks they receive as an innovative, thought-provoking, singularly unique contemporary ensemble.

These tunes, as rendered, are far more complex in arrangement and presentation than they appear. Combined, they reveal the artist's pursuit of creative excellence as an aesthetic practice with a spiritual dimension.

More complex and idiosyncratic than his previous full-length works (and much less danceable as a consequence), Unreasonable Behaviour focuses on midtempo jams in the verge between evocative techno, electro-jazz, and even melancholy synth-pop. If 1997's 30 was his Chicago album, this one is definitely the Detroit installment...

This soundtrack is a powerful tribute not only to the time-honored but commercially ignored genres of bluegrass and mountain music but also to Burnett's remarkable skills as a producer.

Skyscraper National Park is an amazing record that tells its entire story with a hushed voice and subdued instrumentation, but is still more affecting then being screamed at for hours on end.

With Come to Where I'm From, Joseph Arthur shows a willingness to ease up on the stifling angst that dominated his previous efforts. To be sure, the album still has more than its share of gut-wrenching misery -- there's no shortage of lines like "I feel like taking a razor blade and on my wrist write an invitation" -- but this time out, the anguish is balanced by healthy doses of self-awareness and a winking sense of humor.

What sounded austere on Fan Dance sounds simple on A Boot and a Shoe, and it's the differing inferences of those two adjectives that makes all the difference.

XXX is a bloated album; 19-track albums are a thing of the early millennium past. But this bloat is a gluttonous glory.

The resulting Violet Psalms is more measured, but no less distinctive (and destructive) than previous outings, delivering all of the architectural twists and turns, fragmented rhythms, and surreal narratives that have come to define the group over the years.

El Último Tour del Mundo is Bad Bunny's most adventurous outing. With so much going on, it may take longtime fans a few listens to fully grasp, but the record will ultimately leave its infectious hooks, earworms, and strangeness fully embedded.

Whatever was involved, the sound of the cello is ravishing. Listeners interested in microtones and their possibilities in a close-up focused environment are advised to hear Blue Veil.

B'lieve I'm Goin Down... is an impeccably arranged album beneath its soothing, sleepy surface, with every element assisting in an illusion of deep, shimmering, and alluring melancholy.

It is searing, raw and lusty, tender, open and vulnerable.

More than any other recording issued by this excellent band, Leucocyte captures the art of music making at the moment of conception.