If M:FANS represents a world that is colder and less forgiving than the time and place that spawned Music for a New Society, it also confirms that Cale is still a strong and vital artist, and one capable of offering two very different sets of perspectives on these songs that are both bold and compelling listening.

In some ways, The Catastrophist feels like a microcosm of the band's body of work; even though they don't repeat themselves, it all comes together in some of their most immediate music to date.

A Coliseum Complex Museum is further proof that the Besnard Lakes are a band with big ideas and real vision, and just as importantly, they have the talent and focus to makes those ideas into something worth hearing.

O'Hagan proves here once and for all that he's up to the job.

While The Waiting Room is a mixed bag, it's far more relaxed and sure of itself than Across Six More Leap Years was.

As extreme music, Bloodiest is excessive, unforgiving, and unrelenting. It's bent and twisted. As such, this album nearly dictates compulsive listening.

In these songs Maal continues to celebrate his people, his culture, and the Fulani language, even as he presents the listener with challenges to their preservation from inside and outside Senegal.

Lyrically LeBlanc is still mired in the faux-verisimilitude and myopic ruminating that are the bane of all twentysomethings, but with Cautionary Tale, his finest outing to date, he's stepped far enough out of his shell that the world around him is starting to come into focus.

Altogether elegant, moving, and often beautiful, Not to Disappear leaves Daughter, without question, on the heavier side of the emotional spectrum, but, like the Cure's "Dark Trilogy" 35 years prior, is sure to connect deeply with some listeners and stand out not only among pop contemporaries but among other emotive, textured indie pop.

It's exciting to hear someone so young and confident on the cusp of greatness.

A superb set of smart and literate pop music that nods to the past, present, and future, In Triangle Time is another great record from a man who knows how it's done.

Wildfire is the work of a determined singer/songwriter who prizes craft over poetry or introspection. Platten specializes in skyscraping melodies and big, bombastic surfaces and these are the elements that not only fuel Wildfire, they distinguish it from the singer/songwriter's clear antecedents.

The simple guitar leads and shared lead vocals of Cosials and Perrote are charming in their ramshackle way and their quirky back-and-forth interplay is the glue that holds it all together.

Goin' Your Way catches two top-notch artists in grand form, giving their best for their fans and seemingly having a lot of fun doing it, and this is an engaging souvenir of an inspired meeting of the smart pop minds.

Dying Surfer Meets His Maker showcases All Them Witches in complete control of their songwriting, arranging, producing, and performing. Slow-burning albums that provide this much weight, creativity, surprise, and enduring pleasure are rare.

Quietly fascinating, reaffirming that Halo doesn't have to make a grand statement to deliver another intriguing addition to her body of work.

Bowie's joy in emphasizing the art in art-pop is palpable and its elegant, unhurried march resonates deeply.

The movie and score are fun and entertaining, but at the same time, the ugly bits of hate speech are jarring and take away from the sheer pleasure of it all. Listen (and watch) at your own discretion.

The album just doesn't flow as well as his monolithic 2013 effort My Name Is My Name, but as a mere "prelude" to the next LP, it's miles above "throwaway" and comes with the quality control that would put it in the top tiers of both the mixtape and street release formats.

808s & Dark Grapes III isn't quite the Zeitgeist-capturing statement that II was, but it's still an enjoyable, highly focused effort.

The entire album pushes and pulls in such a manner, which is completely exhausting but ultimately cathartic.

Raw, organic, but ambitious.

Gorgeously recorded and mixed by Guip, Larry Campbell & Teresa Williams is 44 minutes of roots music gold.

Think of it as the Khaled collection with the most R&B (thanks to Brown), the most Future, or maybe the most Khaled as the DJ not only does his usual talking over tracks, but features his Finga Licking fried chicken restaurant right on the album cover.

Kid Wave may bear their fair share of '90s mystique, but they prove that quality always wins out and these sturdy songs are built to last.

While much of the material here falls pretty squarely in each vocalist's wheelhouse, there are a few surprises.

Their fusion of melancholy melodies, warm sounds, and truly beautiful vocals is still reliably magical, and the only complaint about Pleasure is that it doesn't last long enough.

Balancing transparency and grit with a knowing sense of proportion, Long Lost Suitcase, like the two albums that preceded it, demonstrates Jones' enduring strength as a singer as well as a powerful late-career desire to make music that matters to himself, and it's a powerful and welcome effort from one of pop's most powerful vocalists.