Mount Moriah remains committed to a sparse, skeletal vein of Americana that values precision over ambition. That’s not to imply the album isn’t a rich and varied listening experience, but its ambiguities and complexities are shaded in charcoal, not paint.

Amok ends up sounding enormous through its mingling of analog and digital sounds. It’s intricately assembled, with more pieces to pick apart than on The Eraser, which feels a bit timid in comparison

Ten years into their career, Psychic Ills have tamed themselves, refining into a form, but the result remains a hypnotic set of songs that consistently achieve an introspective and cerebral kind of psychedelia.

There are more standalone tracks here, ones with memorable melodies and sing-along choruses coexisting with the band’s fatalistic lyrics and jarring instrumental twists.

This album has an eccentric palette and shows off Streten’s wide-ranging tastes; if you can’t find something to enjoy here, you’re not looking hard enough.

These songs won’t convert skeptics, but they’ll give the faithful a few bloody noses.

It’s altogether more synchronized, an album that pulls you along into its wonderfully mixed-up world without getting lost.

You’ll be hard pressed to find another album that’s this much fun to crawl inside.

While it may not be a distinct step forward creatively, the blue-collared Allentown, PA, quartet has managed another solid effort that maintains its edge.

The rest of Holy Fire is a counter-punch to “Inhaler,” a swerve that then hits all the more powerfully for setting us up with this false start.

Nowhere is safe--still beautiful and executed to perfection, but safe.

More often on the album’s 10 tracks than not, Nielson keeps the balance, giving each part equal time in the foreground and using understatement to his advantage.

They were scratching at the surface of their emotional capabilities on their debut. With Hummingbird, Local Natives show that they can dig deeper.

Forming an identity is a difficult task, and Reasons To Live is honest about the painful and revelatory nature of that process.

The Flower Lane is a testament to Mondanile's growth as an artist that translates a prolonged history of potential into a complete and well-crafted work.

Oak Island is an album that gets weirder and more confident as it goes along, slowing down and stretching out as it comes to a close.

Foxygen is never overpowered by its influences.

Ra Ra Riot's third LP, Beta Love, is a lot like a colorful box of candy--a bright and infectious collection of songs that hooks you on first taste.

Over the course of 14 songs, when the emotional range is the difference between singing, "I just wanna get really high" and "I feel like shooting up," the content [getting wasted and having a good time] can wear on you--or, much like Andrew W.K.'s party music before it, it can fuel you.

Love Sign escapes almost all of the sophomore LP pitfalls.

While Fade's sleepy charms can appear slight when compared to the canonical totems in the band's back catalog, it's best to remember that this is a record about serenity, endurance and mortality.

Instead of making the more personal record that he intended by telling his side of the tour story, Owens has created his most detached album yet.

While Light Up Gold's re-release is quite literally nothing new, it's sure to garner a rash of deserved credit this time around, opening Parquet Courts to a wider audience that can further foster the appreciation of this excellent album.

There is a blood on the dance floor at this party, and it sounds so refreshing.

Long.Live.A$AP, his major-label debut, is both cunning and desperate in its attempts to please every possible demographic without looking like it's trying too hard.

Though Loyal is a nail-biter at its core, the journey Alexander takes you on with this album ends with calm.

Despite its excesses and missteps, the album gives Big Boi room to be Big Boi.

With The Odds, the Evens have perfected the model of what we may consider post-post-punk: simple messages, tight instrumentation-this is grown-up grunge.