The album has one major issue--it’s got too much going on in places.... But despite that flaw on this effort, it has a lot going for it.

Oceania sounds louder, better, and altogether more revelatory than any Pumpkins album in years.

Lenker has a penchant for songs that mine deep emotional depths, but even by her standards, the ten songs that comprise abysskiss are some of the most starkly vulnerable songs of her career.

This is a solid album that will make fans happy without an instant classic like "Waiting For The Sun" or "Blue."

While REVAMPED is enticing enough as a filler project, it doesn’t hold up as a major release. Perhaps that wasn’t the point, but apart from a few powerful moments and some buzzy names, the album is a little lackluster.

C’est La Vie is a welcome return for Madness, an outfit most wouldn’t have expected to deliver a project so musically or lyrically complex, and enjoyable, this late in their career.

High Road is fun, frilly, and fanciful – and Kesha has more than earned this moment. It suits her.

There is still a lot to like on Welcome 2 Collegrove. Wayne is still rapping like he is in his prime as an artist, as his auto-tuned, crooned flow will never get old. Add to this the ever-amusing, boisterous flows from 2 Chainz, which contrast well with Wayne’s delivery. It just feels like, at times, a sharp-minded executive producer could have done wonders for the rhythm of the track list.

[Producer Ryan Adams] allows Johns’ emotionally driven music to simply and effectively do its job, capturing a two day moment in time that will continue to resonate for years.

It’s unfortunate that a platter which runs less than 25 minutes includes filler, but there is little else to call the closing 1:40 studio instrumental jam “How ‘Bout a Hand for the Band.” It’s clearly fun for the musicians involved but not interesting enough to pad an already too-brief release.

For anyone who feels similarly disenchanted about country music, Outlaw’s songs--closely bound to tradition, endlessly romantic--are the perfect remedy.

His latest, Songs and Stories, is simply Clark doing what he does best: relating life's joys and sorrows, from "Homegrown Tomatoes" to "The Randall Knife," in song.

McBride is still singing--and now occasionally even writing--songs that employ specific, substantial storytelling to speak to modern women's experiences.

This is a unique and poignant album that was clearly a labor of love for all involved.

Dylan's talent for matching, smart plentiful (arguably too much so) words to chiming melodies supported by a solid, unpretentious rock band and sung with conviction has returned.

Existing fans will take this in stride since it’s cut from a dense cloth that Dulli has been stitching for the majority of his nearly 30 year career. They will find plenty here to pore over and try to untangle. Newcomers may scratch their collective heads yet still appreciate Dulli’s unconventional, minor key songwriting, distinctive vocals and playing that, even with guests on every track, comes primarily from his mind and hands.

On their self-titled debut album, country duo Meghan Linsey and Joshua Jones Scott deliver a sound that is familiar and cozy, as if the songs have always been there.

The singer is in fine voice and seems inspired by this outlaw move to revive the time-honored music he loved when he first hit Nashville as an impressionistic kid in 1972.

For all of its immediate sonic beauty, however, IE//CM’s slow, languid reveal requires patience and time to get acclimated.

Rejoice in the music of Beggars Banquet that sounds as vital today as when it was released five decades ago. But unless you’ve got money to burn, it’s best to stick with the existing versions of one of the Rolling Stones’ most immersive and enduring works.

At just over a half hour, the short but compelling set finds a generally chipper—if somewhat guarded—Andrews expanding her musical boundaries and peering cautiously to a brighter, more fulfilling, and looser future ahead.

Everything about Beast Epic feels true to Iron & Wine. Beam neither abandons his greater ambitions nor overindulges. He’s making a return trip to his roots, offering a gentle reminder of his early records’ simple beauty while allowing himself the freedom to build.

Archive Series, Vol. 1 is a collection of 16 pop prayers and private whispers that offer a striking alternate version of Iron & Wine’s mythic inaugural release.

You just need to listen and enjoy without reading too much into the material. That is easy to do here.

On his latest album, Millsap continuously plays with the tension between motion and stability, and the result is a rewarding, weighty LP that will surely serve as a trusty emotional roadmap for years to come.

He makes each of these tracks reverberate with the best aspects of the Americana genre that has clearly influenced him, while carving out his own space in it.

Those willing to put forth the effort will be rewarded with a beautiful, stimulating and eclectic album that stands alone in a genre of its own making.

While the result can’t be dismissed as a gimmick, the best tracks of both would have made a great single album. Spread out over two shorter ones, the effect is diluted.