While there aren’t drastic changes to their sound, there’s a sense of sureness to the songwriting, playing and Charlie Starr’s singing that reflects a decade and a half of the same dudes slinging it out together on the endless highway.

And so it goes for nearly 40 minutes. Clearly, this is not easy listening, but neither is it impenetrable either. Rather, Oberst’s naked presentation and generally obtuse concepts feel genuine and are worth mulling over for a deeper understanding of his expressive and largely enticing thoughts.

The combination of the macabre subject matter and the celebratory music feels akin to last spring’s Pile, an album by Houston, Texas’ A Giant Dog. But where that band explodes with party-friendly garage rock, Shovels & Rope let things sizzle a little bit longer.

This is music that fascinates on first listen but requires multiple spins for its complexities and idiosyncrasies to take hold.

The singer’s grainy, everyman voice works beautifully with this often sorrowful material, making it believable and potent.

22, A Million occasionally confronts and challenges with its willful weirdness, but Bon Iver can still locate that lonely cabin, if only in spirit, when Vernon really wants to dig deep.

Taken as a whole, American Band is the group’s most thematically coherent work since their pinnacle of Jason Isbell-assisted records in the early 2000s.

The entire set is as classy, often self-indulgent and challenging as the man himself.

Pixies’ full acceptance of the shifts in their schema only further solidify their inimitable identity. The exultant result: Head Carrier, a new classic.

Since their music so effortlessly recalls the best of Jackson Browne, consider We’re All Gonna Die to be Dawes’ version of Browne’s 80’s curve ball Lawyers In Love, a stylistic detour with high points that outweigh the misfires.

The production is raw enough for the guitar chords to slash and burn, yet clean enough for the words that are so integral to this band’s attack, to be understood and felt. Like the music of the Replacements, the melodies creep up on you and by the second time through, each one has a chorus that’s tough and memorable.

It’s required listening for even moderate rock fans. This upgraded version, while not necessary for casual listeners, especially those who already own the first pressing, improves on it with supplementary music and, almost as importantly, expanded liner info, rare photos and enhanced track details in a 44 page book that dedicated Zepp followers will revel in.

Grace sings with macho guts and Shape Shift With Me, with its provocative title and explicit, non PC cover art no major label would approve, continues the band’s string of powerfully uncompromising but surprisingly tuneful albums that make you think, but only if you’re not busy thrashing in the mosh pit.

Everything about the intriguingly titled Sea of Noise--from the classy but never predictable production, to sharp playing, clever lyrics, memorable melodies and especially the dialed down arrangements--is an enormous step forward.

Unless you are a White fanatic, the few hard to find selections generally aren’t compelling enough to purchase lots of songs easy to obtain. That makes this an interesting but hardly essential stop-gap release until White’s next official project.

Though he has many glorious accomplishments, with this album, Ian Hunter proves he is still incredibly active. As well as a man capable of taking his own advice.

As powerful as Dacus can be with the roar of a full band behind her, she only needs a guitar and a little bit of reverb to leave an impact.

Scott McCaughey, in his Minus 5 guise, funnels his eclecticism into a somewhat cohesive whole that marries folk, country and rock with disarming ease. He uses his veteran musical instincts to craft tuneful yet genre pushing material that thankfully is now widely available for all to appreciate.

A welcome if particularly edgy comeback that positions the album as Cook’s finest, most riveting and intensely personal work.

An immediate comparison that comes to mind is Van Morrison’s Astral Weeks, though by no means as expressive or adventurous. Away is, however, one of Okkervil River’s prettiest records to date.

The second, slower side is the less immediate of the two, but the one that features its most jaw-dropping moments, namely twin seven-minute monoliths “Sister” and “Woman.”

You’ll just go with the flow and appreciate the sheer songcraft of a journeyman who could probably release an album as solid as this every year without breaking a sweat.

This is shrewd, layered music that demands the songs be mulled over and scrutinized; even if that may not provide answers to questions McCombs poses.

The record is, in many ways, the very project longtime fans of the Alabama singer-songwriter might have been hoping for for years: a direct collection of sharply-written originals that place White’s vulnerable vocals front and center.

Melodies take longer to reveal themselves and choruses don’t have the natural hooks Loveless has crafted before. Which just means you’ll need to spend additional time exploring the songs, mulling them over, absorbing the lyrics and letting their more elusive charms sink in.

Occasionally the sound can get a bit monochromatic. But co-producer/multi-instrumentalist Jacob Hanson keeps Bonar’s voice--similar to that of Britta Phillips--up front. And these songs are so powerfully melodic, it’s difficult not to get swept into the world of an artist who is more than ready for her time in the spotlight.

Typical of these compilations, some interpretations work better than others.

Those who believe the singer’s best work is behind him will rethink that after one spin of the impressive Apache, an album--significantly the first on his own label--that ranks with the finest in Neville’s storied career.