Where her peers have scaled down their ambitions, she's reaching for grand ideas and emotions on Keep Your Courage, turning her personal journey into something universal.

Some songs come across as organic as anything from Michels' past. Whatever the method employed, all the productions are worthy of the hard-boiled South Philly griot. Glorious Game does not dilute the Black Thought catalog, either. Thought switches subjects and vantage points with typical ease and is almost as piercing throughout as he was on Cheat Codes.

More than anything else, In Pieces is a strong showcase for Chlöe as a vocal dynamo, as much of the material is hollow, lacking distinction.

The arrangements and musicianship are consistently top-notch throughout, and the mood maintains a balance between reflection and optimism, making for one of Alfa Mist's most accomplished and enjoyable works to date.

Star Eaters Delight is less of a uniform statement than Acquainted with Night was, but this collection of versatile songs acts as a tour of different neighborhoods in the beautifully smeary nocturnal dream world Neale began building on her last album.

Their most tender, intimate album yet.

Fuse is nowhere near as club-friendly or single-driven as the stacked-with-hits Walking Wounded and Temperamental, but it contains the most adventurous production EBTG have ever attempted, showing that the duo haven't lost their touch for pairing up-to-date music with relevant, affecting subject matter.

These final four compositions on The Forest in Me invite listeners to eavesdrop on a creative process, in the process of emerging, from musicians undaunted by physical separation. They always find a compelling way of establishing a collective voice.

Somewhere Under the Rainbow manages to feel intimate and hushed even when it's rocking hard and spilling out messily. All of the Official Bootleg Series releases are valuable documents of various phases of Neil's career, but this one has a personality that sets it apart.

It's a shame the Ducks didn't have the chance to mature and cut a studio album, because they clearly had talent and potential to spare, but there's no shame in being a truly great bar band, and High Flyin' shows the Ducks were something special for just three bucks.

Mess is part of the appeal of Crazy Horse, whether they're heard with Young or on their own, so it feels right that All Roads Lead Home occasionally feels as if the sum is less than the individual parts; these are old friends not so much joining forces as they are grooving on the same wavelength.

Kid Koala's music remains as inventive and conceptual as ever, but Creatures of the Late Afternoon is the most stylistically varied, adventurous, and straight-up fun release he's made in ages.

Lightning Dreamers is among the more interior statements Mazurek has crafted with ESO. The alternating of beat-conscious, vamp-driven electric jazz, experimental electronic abstraction, and improvisation is focused, subtle, and creatively resonant. This band's creativity is inexhaustible.

Henry St. seems no less sincere or heartfelt than anything Matsson has recorded in the past, yet here he embraces an unforced joy that connects in a way his more dour work did not, and it makes this one of the Tallest Man on Earth's most purely pleasurable releases to date.

One does have to wonder if the songs would have had more impact if they were a bit less produced and mixed. Ultimately, the fault lies with everyone involved and their combined efforts lead to an album that is nice to have playing while idly doing household chores, but is unlikely inspire too many repeat listens.

It's difficult to discern how 72 Seasons could've been tightened yet it's hard not to wish that it was about a third shorter: the force would've had a greater impact if it wasn't quite so diffuse.

I Came from Love is an informative, emotionally heavy album reminding listeners of the harsh realities and injustices of history, while encouraging resistance and change.

The album goes on to offer a range of dreaminess, arguably reaching its lushest and loudest point on the jammy outro to "Superglued," its liveliest on the appreciative, post-breakup "Lights Light Up" (though there is a case to be made for the jaunty but fatalistic "Pick"), and its sparsest on the brittle, comfort-seeking "Henry," which still features a full band. The musical contrasts aren't far-ranging, however, and similarly, even the most optimistic lyrics seem to be biding time.

Perhaps the most impressive thing about Multitudes is that virtually any of its 12 songs would be showstoppers in less consummate company.

Balancing both his vulnerable and fiercely intense sides, he manages to reveal more of himself in 20 minutes than he has to date.

It's crowded, confusing, ridiculous music, but despite its scary intentions, the album's renegade production and impressive performances make it more exciting than frightening.

The songs that make up Sremm4Life are lean, purposeful, and to the point.

The whole set affirms the band's continued relevance with a clear sense that they're having a ball with their past and influences while linking with another cohort of homegrown talent.

While it may not cull from her deep well of personal experiences, Heaven still ends up being one of the most immediate and compulsively listenable efforts in her catalog.

Produced by Tonra and bandmate Igor Haefeli, Stereo Mind Game is an album that sounds like it was assembled with care, as Daughter change things up while remaining instantly familiar.

Plastic Eternity shows Mudhoney are capable of surprising us (and themselves) thirty-five years in, and judging from the results, it won't be the last time they'll pull that off.

Gately's meditations on mothers and daughters, and bodies creating and betraying, are fascinating, and Fawn/Brute's expressions of the darker corners of childhood and motherhood might be even more revealing than more conventional musical memoirs.

Even though With a Hammer is Yaeji's most cathartic work to date, it's still playful and optimistic, preferring joy, comfort, and creativity over rage as a form of release.