Help(2) is a fantastic collection of artists contributing album-worthy tracks to a very deserving effort. It's just a pity that it's even needed in the first place.

The Way I Am crystallizes that primal need for grounding via an assured set of songs rooted in themes of family, gratitude, mental health, and retaining authenticity amid the chaos of fame.

It's overstuffed and bland at once, with some legitimately great production spoiled by vacant lyricism and lack of personality.

The most compelling songs rank it above a mere curiosity piece, and fans who cherish both the Melvins and Napalm Death in equal measure will be pumped for this collaboration that extends the range of both acts.

With its lyrics, textures, and production detailing working together, Life Slime is Pictish Trail's most substantial and affecting album to date.

Even if it is an acquired taste, Kammerkonzert is still a fascinating release and a remarkable achievement.

While it's not exactly equal to any of his catalog classics (i.e. everything up to Yeezus or Pablo, depending on where you draw the line), that old Kanye -- the masterful producer with revolutionary ideas and endlessly quotable bars -- is still in there, somewhere. .... Objectively, Bully could be considered a great late-era Kanye West album.

Taken together, and with credit to Picton and his dexterous collaborators, My New Band Believe is at least as compelling as it is unhinged.

His lyrics and performances are lacking in original thought (sometimes clear thought) and charisma. The power and range of his singing voice are limited to the point where the musicians often sound constricted, and the mix is just as sympathetic, rendering Stéphane Clément's trumpet -- presumably the answer to "We need a Roy Hargrove type" -- close to inaudible.

Vulnerable but full of punk-rock spirit and lessons hard-won, No Need to Be Lonely is also consistently hooky, with singalong choruses that often double as calls to action.

There's no creative burn-out on Boycott Heaven as Ruess and Means offer an inspired third album that feels like two old friends reconnecting and finding that they have even more in common than before.

Volumes: One (Selections from Music Concerts 2019-2023 6 Piece Band) might not be everyone's first choice for an archives dig, but it's clear the Vernon felt great love for this band and the sound they were able to whip up on-stage, so it's hard to complain too much.

Personal, endlessly catchy, and a mature step for the new father, this consistent effort might not shake anything up in the zeitgeist, but it's one that was made for his own personal and artistic growth.

The Gaia II Space Corps may not be the fulfillment of Motorpsycho's dream, but for listeners it's a resplendent exercise in pure rock & roll pleasure.

Hornsby may be taking stock on Indigo Park, but he does so in a profound creative present loaded with possibility.

House on Fire is Billy Childish's show, the latest volume in a long and utterly uncompromised run, and it's the work of a man whose art still matters and never gets stale. He means all of this, every word, silly or vengeful, and we should be glad he sees no reason to stop.

It's a holistic, warm, and beautifully executed record melding blues, R&B, guitar rock, and Americana in an integrated vision that revels in tradition while offering a new, roots-rich vision of popular music.

With New German Cinema, Weiss expresses her angst and existential dread in terms more vivid than she did even with the brooding pop of Fear of Men, crafting a debut that bears all the heavy, understated power of the Fassbinder films and personal experiences that inspired it.

Into Oblivion lives up to its name by confronting the void with a cleansing blast of sonic malevolence.

Birding delivers listeners back to populated, earthbound spaces with the warm piano and wind chimes of its instrumental title track. It makes for an exquisite and fitting debut for the Bella Union label.

While this isn't unexplored territory for the duo, there's none who do it better than Sunn O))) or Earth.

This is a collection of songs that focus on his introspective side, and he can ponder a dark night of the soul or the mistakes he made long enough ago to make the failings obvious with a literacy and unflinching honesty that makes this one of the most affecting albums of his career.

Parks has always had a light, airy voice, and here it often seems like she's struggling to be heard over the bass, while the breakbeat-driven grooves are more immediate than the songs' hooks. Nevertheless, there's still some quality material on Ambiguous Desire, even if its pleasures are nearly as ephemeral as the nights out that inspired the album.

Hitting on the familiars and blanketing the listener with worthy obscurities is a one-way ticket to compilation glory, and CBGB: A New York City Soundtrack 1975-1986 is a triumph of sound and education that brings an important moment in time fully to life.

He's still finding joy inside the pain, supplying the high notes with that ethereal contratenor and the low end with those sinuous basslines.

It's fiery and unflinching, but fun, a reflection of Johnny Blue Skies' outlook over the sometimes more dour Simpson.

An improvement over & the Charm, Written Into Changes demonstrates Emerson's growing prowess as a pop songwriter.

Stardust is among his more adventurous collections to date. When paired with the clarity and vulnerability of Brown’s lyrical portrayals of his victories and failures, the fearlessness with which he embraces every creative impulse he considers make Stardust even more of a triumph.