Here, production is the star, adding excitement and variety to Future's reliable, trap-star flow. 808 Mafia's Southside is at the top of the pack, with a hand in at least half of the album's tracks.

Carthy deftly wields her rogue ambitions, making for an inspired creative partnership.

Joined on several tracks by lush-voiced shapeshifters the Smoke Fairies, Garwood is in his bailiwick throughout the set, drifting through spacious landscapes with his rumbling poeticism and dark-toned riffs.

It makes for a diverse album within the tight framework that Lytle operates in, and even if it could have been a solo album just as easily, it works as a Grandaddy album too. If not quite as compelling overall as their best work like Sophtware Slump, it's a worthy successor to the very good Just Like the Fambly Cat and a welcome return for the "band."

Fans of the first album may be disappointed by the changes, especially since the band takes most of the psych out of its pop. Those who stick around will find that Volcano is a pretty good modern pop record.

With Sensorimotor, Lusine takes another evolutionary step forward, seeming strangely natural in his skin of manipulation.

There's a bit more pure pop intention to be found on Voids, but it retains the left-field charm that made them one of the more captivating acts to watch amidst the alt-to-indie rock shift that dominated the late '90s and early 2000s.

Released just a week after his self-titled fifth effort, Future's HNDRXX provided an introspective and confessional complement to the more extroverted Future.

As they head further down this cerebral path, it would behoove Newcombe and his gang to work a bit harder on their core offerings before they paint on all the fun stuff.

Like a yodeling Lana Del Rey, the affected vocal presentation is bound to annoy some, but for others her delivery, along with the album's brooding tone and poetic essence, will make fast fans.

Oddisee's all-round strengths as producer, mixer, and lyricist make for a more cohesive record, allowing for his personality and message to shine that much brighter.

Uyai is a fine, boundary-pushing follow-up to an arresting debut.

Moh Lhean sounds a little more mature, but only relatively speaking. The project remains a creative burst of sounds, grooves, and stylized observation that's uniquely refreshing to those open to its quirky complexity.

While the holistic craftsmanship of Ounsworth's musicality is impressive, ultimately it's his anguished, romantic vocal croon that sticks with you on The Tourist, ever dichotomously imbued with both a deep sense of loneliness and a pop-centric sense of self-determination.

The Nashville-based quartet's fourth studio long-player, and second for New West Records, Sleeping Through the War is All Them Witches' most fully realized set to date, a sprawling yet remarkably focused effort that takes their exploratory, often spliced-together work ethic in a more stridently song-oriented direction.

It's a very promising debut that definitely positions Vagabon as one to watch in the future.

Arguably his most coherent album to date, while off-kilter touches add a layer of artfulness, the songs themselves are engaging, even riveting by nature, and made more so by Blakeslee's performances.

The record's hazy harmonies and sauntering pace provide a cozy sanctuary for daydreams that may not lead to happy outcomes but feel good while they last.

This is undeniably a Julie's Haircut record, which is as surprising and genre-defying as you'd expect.

Overall, Tears in the Club may aim for the melancholy, but it's also pretty enough to please those in search of a lush, soothing escape.

All in all, Preservation is a fine record that finds this young artist really hitting her stride.

Shine on Rainy Day is personal and soulful, with little of contemporary country's gloss and a stripped-down, earthy poeticism that some have likened to Kris Kristofferson's early albums

Scott H. Biram remains one of the rawest and realest honky tonk men wandering our lost highways in the 21st century, and The Bad Testament finds him howling just like the hellhound on his trail.

In Between is usually quiet, but it's never cautious; this is very much the work of one of America's best and most venerable independent bands, and it confirms the Feelies are still a genuine creative force as they approach their 40th anniversary.

Additional guests Kendrick, Pharrell, and Wiz Khalifa add to the star power, but the main attraction is Bruner's singular combination of tremulous yet fluid bass and aching falsetto.

At the outset, it seems austere, but by its conclusion it's a robust celebration of all the weird, wonderful parts of America.

Little Big Town cherish the gentler moments, and this ease with sensitivity turns The Breaker into something of a quiet triumph: it's intended as a balm, and it succeeds.

The album's tempo could have been more varied, but that's a small complaint; there's plenty to enjoy here.