The resulting Clouds in the Sky They Will Always Be There for Me finds Porridge Radio still recognizably visceral and volatile but also a little wearier and occasionally resigned, as on the eerie, semi-rambling "In a Dream I'm a Painting" and on penultimate track "Pieces of Heaven."

A bold and bruising nine-song set befitting an architect of grunge and alternative hard rock.

It may not be Wasser's most cohesive album, but Lemons, Limes, and Orchids' discrete vignettes might convey life's multitudes better than any of her prior music. Without question, it reaffirms that for Joan As Police Woman, sincerity and creativity are better together.

Karate exhibit more verve and fun here than on much of their previous output, and continue to push themselves into new forms regardless of how dissimilar to their earlier iterations those forms may be. That ethos on its own is commendable, and the best results of it on Make It Fit are proof that Karate's ever-evolving approach is working.

The invigorated No Obligation is a breath of fresh air, a reminder that punk can be fun and pure without losing its impact or message. The Linda Lindas give us all hope that the kids will be alright.

Keep Me on Your Mind/See You Free is state-of-the-art contemporary pop-folk, and with each LP Bonny Light Horseman deliver stronger work; deciding to put their songwriting chops to work may be the smartest thing they've done to date.

While fans are bound to miss Abbott, Heaton's still got more to say, and his crew is in fine form.

Ultimately, Bleed is the Necks' most formless, abstract, and focused album, one that that points toward a brave new direction.

There's more than enough gas left in Goat's tank to keep them riding in style for years to come.

It may not match See Through You's consistent brilliance, but at its best, Synthesizer delivers the noise for which A Place to Bury Strangers is known and quite a bit more.

The release pauses for a moment of solemn reflection with the extremely vulnerable "LOST MY DOG." "SURFING A TSUNAMI" also deserves mention for its flood of ambient synths which elevate the drama. Otherwise, the release largely sounds like what fans would expect from Future.

Stung! is yet another hard-to-categorize but easy-to-enjoy chapter in Pond's ever-changing story. It's full of melodies made for both sunny summer days and solitary, reflective walks, and often changes gears with little notice.

The album levels up with its final four tracks, which fully commit to the rapid tempo of drum'n'bass.

It's still a privilege to hear another album from SOPHIE, and if this album is only creative and engaging instead of revolutionary, it doesn't diminish her legacy -- it just reinforces how irreplaceable she is.

Generally even more affecting are relatively spare entries like the lilting, piano-centric ballad "Sunset Hunting," the eerie "Violetlight" ("Enclosing a disaster"), and the environmental "Mother Tongue" ("I should be angry/But I'm just tired"), although nothing on See You at the Maypole is simple or without determination.

This collection is at its most intriguing in the brief moments where listeners can hear Reed experimenting with these ideas, ones he'd fully realize a little further down the road with the Velvet Underground. These moments show up fairly unambiguously in the sadistic sneering of the Primitives, but they're also there to be found just a little bit deeper below the surface of songs where Reed was trying his best to emulate simplistic pop music but couldn't keep his inherent darkness from showing.

A kind of survival tool, Quiet in a World Full of Noise is one of the most remarkable albums either artist has made.

With A Modern Day Distraction, Bugg further establishes his reputation as a modern-day British rock troubadour.

Susman and Simms definitely have an assured career in soundtracks, and judging by Memorial Waterslides, they will have a long run as one of the most impressive practitioners of the cinema psych genre.

As technically gifted as she is, Williams also plays with passion, and Acadia is easily her most ambitious release to date.

Bold and fearless, Chappell Roan's The Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess is the best kind of pop album: it captures a generational zeitgeist and introduces the world to a refreshing new voice that can hopefully stand the test of time and a fickle industry.

It's an active, engaging album from an artist whose travels ultimately brought her more knowledge of herself.

Top to bottom, this is a coveted no-skips effort, elevated by the fun, liberated approach that helps the listener escape reality and push the limits like the characters in the film.

These six discs certainly illuminate the studio albums they appear on, but their evolutionary processes in studio and on-stage make this set an essential companion to the previous volume.

If there's any bone to pick, it's that some of the slower, more atmospheric numbers don't quite gel as well as the rest of the tracks. Still, the high points make Cutouts every bit as worthy of devoted listening as the first two Smile albums.

The Hard Quartet reject no idea on their debut, and the results are usually familiar, strange, and fun, and at its strongest, the album reframes the individualized sounds of all four powerhouses as something new.

Highway Prayers is too long -- there is a fantastic 40-minute album in there -- but it's also a lot of fun, and it may take a young superstar like Strings to bend and stretch bluegrass enough to deliver it to the masses.

It does feel like a b-sides, here's-what's-left collection at times, for better or worse. However, for fans clamoring for more of anything from Berryman, Buckland, Champion, and Martin, this'll do the trick.