Dave Alvin brings an authentic voice and extraordinary understanding to his chosen tracks.... This is the work of a scholar as well as a master craftsman.

Focused without sounding rigid or confined, Ears is imaginative and alive.

Live Drugs isn't essential for casual listeners, but for fans (especially those who have been following as the band's sound grew more complex) it's another testament to their unassuming but powerful songwriting.

They've tapped into the source of indie rock's greatness like few bands have been able to and Versions of Modern Performance isn't merely a homage or a neat trick, it's another very strong, very satisfying link in the chain connecting past to present.

Those expecting the organic post rock fusion of the bands McEntire and Prekop are best known for won't find it in the meditative lingering of Sons Of, but close listeners will hear the same airy melodic sensibilities and creative restlessness in these chilled-out synth tracks that are at the core of each player's best work with their respective bands.

Far from limited and much more than a gimmick, O.'s approach on WeirdOs is undeniably strange -- and a lot of invigorating fun for anyone who loves music that's as unpretentious as it is inventive.

The second chapter in their collaborative work is such a natural progression that it feels simultaneously like a continuation of a single moment and light years ahead of where they started.

No doubt there will be those who do want to hear all the gory details and be surrounded by big, billowing sounds and LP4 will be just what they need. Anyone in search of the sparse beauty and icy textures of their early work will no doubt be left reaching back to give their first two records a spin and give this one a pass.

Infinite Granite is a transitional record, but it's an enormously pretty one, and it suggests that their directional shift is an excellent idea that warrants further exploration.

Equally experimental and accessible, brimming over with aquatic atmosphere and pointed emotional feeling, and full of familiar joys and new surprises, everything is alive is the work of a group who are done reforming and have set their sights on brilliant evolution instead.

Doris is unsettled, messy, and takes a bit to sort, but there are codes to crack and rich rewards to reap, so enter with an open mind and prepare to leave exhausted.

He doesn't merely juxtapose instruments and sounds, he painstakingly combines them, bringing joy, intensity, political, social, and spiritual poignancy in a vision at once focused, restless, and playful.

Easy access it's not, but track by track, this is excellence and an appetite-whetting experience worth any progressive hip-hop fan's attention.

ltimately, The Dreaming Fields is a deeply moving, gloriously articulated album that should not only reawaken the interest of fans, but should win Berg a multitude of new ones.

Cows on Hourglass Pond is an uncluttered and beautifully direct reading of Portner's always-opaque songwriting. The best tracks are among his strongest and the entire record finds Portner opening up the gates of noise and abstraction that can cloud his productions just enough for listeners to get a better look at his mysterious but friendly world as it evolves.

The 11-track set is loose, yet never directionless, with melodies that are less stately, though no less comforting than those found on the album's predecessor--Shelley's voice itself is a marvel of sonic palliation.

The Nashville Sound finds him growing from strength to strength, and it reaffirms his place as one of the best and most emotionally affecting artists working in roots music today.

Richard Dawson is an eccentric but clear-eyed observer of the human condition, and just as he brought something fresh to the U.K. folk tradition on 2017's Peasant, 2020 reveals how he sees the details of everyday life in a way that slips past most writers. And if it isn't always fun, the honesty and passion in this music deliver more than enough reward for your time.

Essence sounds full and rich even in its quietest moments, and her sweet-and-sour voice blends with the arrangements with subtle perfection.

Startling numbers like the block-rockin' then dissolving "Real" crop up throughout the album and make this project even more than a sum of its parts, and with the track list flowing smoothly as attractive guests (Danny Brown, Raekwon, Scarface, Mac Miller, and the list goes diversely and gloriously on) come and go, Piñata winds up excellent overall.

Altogether, Suspiria is an appropriate accompaniment to the film, generating fear and discomfort as much by what's presented by Yorke as what's left to the imagination.

Fully realized debut albums like Vampire Weekend come along once in a great while, and these songs show that this band is smart, but not too smart for their own good.

Staples is in top form on Dark Times. It's another chapter of his uniquely smoke-colored narratives, form-fitting production, and perfectly balanced expressions of heaviness and acceptance.

Like Lambchop's best work, This (Is What I Wanted to Tell You) takes the listener someplace they haven't been before, and in this case that includes the fictive homelands of Nixon and Mr. M, but it's also a place worth visiting.

The decision to make the album an eponymous one becomes more meaningful as lyrics reveal themes of both self-sufficiency and, as in the case of "Home Soon," a sense of belonging.

They may never lose all their restlessness -- nor should they -- but it's undeniable that Cool It Down is one of their most consistent albums.

The Seldom Seen Kid is Elbow's most self-assured and enjoyable album so far.

Consistently challenging and infectious at once, Black Terry Cat is the kind of album that comes along only once in a while, where bold goes down smooth.