Foam Island is a curious, enjoyable album that abundantly showcases Darkstar's tendencies for experimentation as well as pop songwriting.

With No Closer to Heaven, Campbell and the Wonder Years have made an album that's more mature and thoughtful than before, but no less passionate and direct, and it ranks with their finest work to date as well as suggesting this band has an interesting and exciting future ahead.

By entering the mainstream one limb (album) at a time, Bring Me the Horizon are merely reaping what they've sown, and longtime fans should already feel acclimated to the water.

Kelly Jones and his crew know how to craft big music, knowing that often the atmosphere matters more than melody.

Shannon & the Clams have hit the peak of their powers here, making good on their promising early records and improving on the already strong record that came before. Here's hoping they can keep it up for many more great rock & roll albums to come.

Underneath its aggressive opening and occasional woozy electronics, it is anchored by two or three songs (the exuberant "Fallinlove2nite," the recycled "This Could B Us," maybe the Graffiti Bridge throwback "Million $ Show") that wind up revealing how the rest of the record feels like little more than nimble calisthenics.

[An] immersive hour-long dream sequence.

Hollywood Vampires is just a lark but it's a fun lark, and having fun is what matters in a party.

There's no disguising how Ryan Adams flips Taylor Swift's 1989 upside-down, turning a moment of triumph into bedsit introspection, a concept that is undoubtedly theoretically interesting, but the record works because Adams doesn't play this as a stunt.

While it's tempting to say Have You in My Wilderness is her most personal music yet, it might be more accurate to say that it's her most approachable: this time, her brilliance demands a lot from her listeners, but also meets them more than halfway.

Unlike their previous two albums, Arms Around a Vision isn't simple to get into. It might take a little work, but it's an enjoyable endeavor and it makes for an ultimately more enjoyable album in the long run.

New Bermuda finds Deafheaven continuing to effortlessly traverse genre borders and create transcendent music.

Cradle To The Grave relies on the sharp melodic construction of Tilbrook and Difford's diffident wit, a combination the crackles throughout this lean 44 minute record.

This EP dazzles and then disappears before the sun comes up, leaving listeners with the exhilarating feeling of "wow," and the less-pleasing feeling of "what happened?"

Better Nature suggests Silversun Pickups have an interesting future ahead of them as their sound evolves, and as for Billy Corgan--hey, buck up, buddy, you and the Pickups had a good run for a while.

While the occasional foray into the shallower end of the mainstream may divide some listeners, there's enough here to keep longtime followers satiated (and probably a little curious/nervous as to what the future holds) until the next ride.

They may be one of many, many neo-psych bands out there in 2015 whipping up retro-flavored noise, but this record proves that they are one of the best and most imaginative.

Servant of Love is an album that needs a few spins to be fully appreciated, but it's as sincere, heartfelt, and artful as anything Griffin has released to date, and if the form may seem elusive to some listeners, the content is powerful and satisfying, a reminder of why Patty Griffin is one of our best singer/songwriters.

With Savage Hills Ballroom Powers has expanded the Youth Lagoon sound without losing any of the intimacy of his bedroom pop beginnings.

Perhaps the first time the Dead Weather have truly lived up to their promise, Dodge and Burn is a joyride of an album--sexy, fun, and dangerous, it upholds the tenets of rock & roll.

It's this momentum that makes Sexwitch such a transcendent album, and some of the most exciting music any of these artists have made.

There is no band like out there like Le Butcherettes and A Raw Youth proves it.

[A] rare, pleasingly unfiltered debut that captures an exciting upcoming artist with little refinement.

Girl Band have similarly taken advantage of their expanded recording budget in order to craft their most bracing work yet.

Allas Sak proves that they are still as good as ever, if not better, and can still teach those who have followed in their wake a thing or two about crafting a satisfying album.

Although the tracks rarely surprise, frequently falling back on familiar sounds and structures -- loping basslines and synthesizer shadings that escalate at the same tempo always arrive on time, for instance--they're as well-built as those of the debut, and the Lawrences, along with their songwriting partners, cover the ups and downs of falling in and out of love in sharper fashion.

Even making an allowance for Hook's glaring absence, Music Complete is still a watered-down and uninspired album by a band that lost the plot long ago and can now only capture an occasional glimmer of what made it so great in the first place.

Polaris is the record that Tesseract have been working toward. The evolved maturity of their writing, playing, and arranging is matched by the experience and confidence Tomkins gained while away.