All of these sounds may not surprise, but they're comforting in their familiarity, particularly because Sweet's execution as a writer and producer remains precise.

Like their disappointing 2014 album ...Honor Is All We Know, Trouble Maker is the sound of a band going through the motions, telling the same stories over and over, bashing out the same riffs, and ultimately not connecting any punches.

It's an enormous-sounding, splashy album.

Broadening the sonic palette helps sharpen the songs, and the result is a sophomore set that's ambitious and satisfying.

As with his debut, City Music feels very much like a postcard to New York, though this time Morby arrives with some accumulated miles to help support his wizened tone.

So You Wannabe an Outlaw is something plenty of Steve Earle fans have been wanting for years, a no-excuses country album that updates his breakthrough work, and it's an effort that should please his core audience while also sounding like an album Earle made entirely on his own terms.

There are other flashes of the past, good and bad, from the spring-loaded rhythms to reminders of the sometimes vast qualitative disparity between their melodies and lyrics. Ultimately, compared to their 1996 sendoff, this is more like it.

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.

This balance between discovery and reflection gives Melodrama a tension, but the addition of genuine, giddy pleasure--evident on the neon pulse of "Homemade Dynamite" and "Supercut"--isn't merely a progression for Lorde, it's what gives the album multiple dimensions.

Nau's delivery, if occasionally annoyed that the topics at hand aren't being handled better, remains unflustered, gravitating back toward calm appreciation. It's a high-humidity set for long summer days, present or imagined.

There's still a fair amount of skippable tracks here. Despite this, Goldie remains a hero and an inspirational figure, and even if The Journey Man doesn't quite stack up to Timeless, it's still a respectable effort, and its best moments confirm the man's legendary status.

Orchestral, experimental, and more challenging than either of the band's previous releases, it's a natural fit for the Nonesuch label, whose heritage was built on such attributes. For Fleet Foxes, it represents a shift away from their more idyllic early days into a period of artistic growth and sophistication.

Stylistically speaking, the 11-track set doesn't deviate much from the formula the band established on its prior outings, but it will no doubt please longtime fans just looking for something new to pump their fists to.

While it's an overall relaxing experience, Truth Is a Beautiful Thing is never boring; it's a comforting and often heartbreaking listen that really gets under the skin, especially with Reid's emotive delivery.

Overall, chronically anti-romantic moments are eclipsed by sweet, somnambulant melodies that may not quicken the pulse but often hypnotize nevertheless.

Growing up is working out well for Chastity Belt, and I Used to Spend So Much Time Alone is clever, satisfying proof.

Though it's hard to believe it's possible, Antonoff shares even more of himself on Gone Now than on Bleachers' debut, and it makes for some of his most immersive and satisfying music yet.

Throughout Towards Language, the emergent notion of "slow jazz"--music that unfolds deliberately in a communal context rather than the accepted soloist and accompaniment formula--is almost defined. Its individual utterances are elementary building blocks that collectively move toward an artfully realized goal of musical speech. It achieves its power from the sum total of its sounds and atmospheres. Magnificent.

Hopeless Fountain Kingdom as a whole feels quintessentially 2017 in how it jumbles styles and sentiment, streamlining a teeming, contradictory culture into something smooth, glassy and easy to digest.

Coldcut and Sherwood remain visionary artists, and Outside the Echo Chamber is (for the most part) a worthwhile hour of futuristic reggae.

With Iteration, Haley has retained all of the qualities that made Com Truise so appealing while blowing everything up into a higher resolution than before. If this is truly the end of the Com Truise saga, then it's the project's definitive release.

Overall, while a worthwhile inclusion in Gucci's catalog, Drop Top Wop is most likely to be appreciated primarily by the Wop faithful still hungry after a dizzying seven releases within one year.

Folk Songs is a smart and emotionally effective exploration of the folk tradition that respects musical history without being chained to it, and it's an experiment the Kronos Quartet would do well to repeat in the future.

While not as overwhelming as Craig's main albums, Slow Vessels is still a quietly powerful release that puts a spotlight on the raw emotional power of his work.

Ti Amo's first half is one of the band's most consistent stretches of songs since Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix, but the wispiness of its second half delivers mixed results.

Adiós ultimately seems more like a coda than a grand farewell, with the album displaying a suitable modesty that suits the somewhat reduced circumstances of the artist. But it's also a potent reminder of Glen Campbell's talent, style, and musical legacy, and this album is the recorded curtain call he truly deserves.

At times, the band's obvious affection for moody, Joy Division-esque post-punk feels a little too heavy-handed, but amid their ongoing sonic evolution there's some solid songwriting.

It's a sprawling effort with an over-70-minute running time, but also a haunting one, recommended for musically adventurous stargazers of all types.