Admittedly, Taylor’s patented droning mantras can be a bit numbing when stretched out to an hour. But when his artistic vision hits exactly the right balance with his emotional thrust, it’s hard to imagine the music sounding any other way.

[Williams] remains agile, mobile and hostile as the Sadies choogle, twang and vamp behind him.

Giving seems to go on and on towards some distant, perhaps unreachable horizon.

Besides embracing improved recording and production, the album stands out in their catalog for containing a strong roster of outstanding songs, not a 98-pound weakling in the bunch.

Guitar player Wymond Miles plumbs deeper, existential questions on this four-song EP.

Finn's compelling without the usual bluster that provides him momentum--his voice never approaches its old roar but his nice melodic sense comes out here more.

Laid back beats, a high pitched effect methodically layered within the effects, vocals, bring in the bridge then loop the beat. Arguably this is the pattern to all electronic music yet there is not much variety within this paradigm; luckily there are enough winning moments on Flume to make you forgive this.

While the band was hardly in a rut before, it nonetheless sounds revitalized here, reveling in big melodies and even bigger riffs.

A good rock record is a good rock record, and The Stars Are Indifferent to Astronomy is a good rock record.

Sonik Kicks may prove his most intriguing effort yet, an album awash in psychedelic suggestion, cosmic noodling and swooping, soaring performances driven by fresh enthusiasm.

While the pomp and sense of urgency may be gone from the band's '90s heyday, this is a solid effort and a worthy choice for rock fans who want something loud to drive fast to.

A more subdued release, Happy To You is nonetheless quite mesmerizing in its methodical and complex layers of music.

She is better than you would expect, flexing a style that exists between Woody Guthrie and Def Jux as she calls out hypocritical hippies, turtle burning oil companies and the overdose that nearly killed her with effortless wit and grace.

An 18-track adventure into the joyous heart of classic African funk as colorful as the jacket it is dressed in.

A Place to Bury Strangers hadn't yet reached the point where it needed reinvention, but giving its sound a few well-considered tweaks pushes its creative momentum forward even faster.

Playin' in Time With the Deadbeat is the right kind of challenge, its knotty twists and cranky attitude adding to the noisy, visceral thrills.

If you like good tunes cranked up on pogo beats, you can hardly do better than Meltdown

Musically, Plumb is both rapturous and jumpy.

Grace & Lies works best when it lays it on thick - opting for textures over latticework -and is least successful when it strips back and relies on its acoustic-folk undercarriage. Thankfully, the former predominates.

Cut the World isn't a major new statement from Antony Hegarty, since only one of its 11 songs are new and he's no stranger to using string arrangements. But the material is mostly the cream of his four studio albums.

He delivers a drastic shift in style that anyone enrapt with the gauzy pop euphoria of the first two Crayon Fields classics never saw coming.

It's as if the Brian Jonestown Massacre hired J Mascis to write its material, solid songcraft disguised as stoned slack.

Shout Out Louds have produced a great, light-hearted and warm album that will lift your spirits, mellow you out and make you dance.

Each song can stand strongly on its own or the entire record can work as a cohesive whole (most records are one or the other).

From the first few notes, it's clear that the duo's signature blend of worldbeat rhythms and ancient melodies with rich electronic atmospheres is still potent, if leaning toward the synthesized side of DCD's lush sound.

There are no boundaries here to be broken, but there's clear indication of new-found confidence that obviously serves her well.

At times, Wand does become something of a scavenger hunt for dedicated fans.

Thomas' honesty, as much as any performance herein, is the commanding factor overall, making it easy, and in fact, all but unavoidable, to fall in love With Love.