It is not surprising that Empress Of has produced yet another gorgeous and memorable collection of songs, yet her consistency does not diminish the unique achievements of this album. This is a perfect album for finding comfort and beauty in the things and people closest to you.

Andrews grasps her songs tightly. Her lyrics are considered and heartfelt, her vocal performances are clean and pure and the songs are produced and arranged with nuance and precision.

Whipple's previous PAN release, the Scythians EP, hinted at the greatness to come from this Janus club night co-founder, yet was a little too short to really demonstrate his true power. It took a full-length release to truly suss out the immensity of M.E.S.H.

This is the fifth album in nine years from the still-young Saskatchewan folk duo, and it continues their sustained level of excellence.

While the narrative correctly serves to examine our relationship with machines, and the execution feels as precise as something purely from the world of artificial intelligence, A Separation of Being struggles to find a sonic identity, which might make this a polarizing listen.

Just as deep and cosmic in scope as its predecessor, this album eschews traditional beats in favour of a primordial throb, a rhythm that seems to originate deep within the planet's core.

Heartless continues to build on the band's reputation as one of the biggest acts in doom metal.

Not Even Happiness is a triumph of subtlety, proof that music doesn't have to be forceful to be powerful.

With The Dreaming Room, Mvula has mined her personal conflicts to yield beautiful, boundary-pushing artistry. It's fearless, meditative, soulful and buoyant all at once.

Rocket is a true tour de force that cements (Sandy) Alex G snugly in the company of indie rock's great auteurs.

While the constant need for creative freedom and instrumental variety means that Drunk Tank Pink begins to meander towards the record's back end, a handful of sprawling epics showcase Shame's enviable talent for vivid storytelling.

Unlike some of Will Oldham's previous collaborative albums, this one really works.

Intensely frantic and intimately vulnerable, Girl with Fish proves that sometimes letting things run off the rails pays off, so long as you have hands to grasp onto.

Love What Survives is a grower for sure. Mount Kimbie may never return to the height of those first few releases, but we'll still be here for another while yet.

Though Short n' Sweet falls a few inches short of the masterful pop its singles suggested it could be, it's buoyed up by its incredibly high highs, and establishes Carpenter's identity in a pop landscape saturated with next-main-pop-girl hopefuls.

With this album, they've proven that they're a band with substance, staying power and the ability to question everything--and that's worth a lot.

Instead of digging up coal like the miners grippingly depicted in these new songs, the Hardcore Troubadour and the Dukes unearth anthemic gems for America's marginalized.

Painted Ruins is best enjoyed when you let each song carry you through its many twists and turns. And are there ever twists and turns.

Not everything here works--Shahid Mustaf MC's needless reworking of Parliament's "Getting To Know You" simply doesn't improve on the original--but exclusive mixes like Joey Negro vs. Horse Meat Disco's "Candidate For Love" should ignite the dance floor.

If this isn't Jacques Greene's magnum opus, we'll be very curious to hear what is.

Nothing Is Still is an excellent demonstration of what Leon Vynehall is capable of when he emerges from the confines of club music.

With Reunions, Isbell unites the disparate aspects of his craft — soothing acoustic and fiercely electric; Hemingway's word economy dashed with Oscar Wilde-worthy asides, relatable details and otherworldly allusions. ... For listeners immersed in similar bittersweet nuances on a daily basis, there's no better musical accompaniment than Isbell's latest.

Lyrically, Brown is still one of the best we have. .... Charismatic guests like Bruiser Wolf, Overall and MIKE manage to make their respective marks without taking up too much space — This is Brown's story.

Emotionally tactile and blossoming with feeling, The Kid is a stunning record that demands attention, absorption and meditation, two LPs rich with wisdom.

Vampire Weekend have never taken themselves too seriously (they've had plenty of critics to do so instead), and now that they're mostly unburdened from the narratives of their past, Father of the Bride finds them at their most relaxed, jovial and inviting.

It's not often to encounter music this conceptually sophisticated and well executed that also, in its most secret depths, simply hates you.

This string of downtempo songs, while soothing and catchy, will leave fans of Shovels & Rope's more upbeat fare feeling restless. A more balanced reshuffling of the track list would have solved this issue, and might have made this already excellent album a classic. But as is, Little Seeds is a fantastic LP that showcases Shovels & Rope's uncanny ability to both rock out and rest easy.

Feel Your Feelings Fool! is an energetic, empowering romp of a debut that would feel more rebellious if not for the overly safe production.

She's quite literally found her groove, nicking pieces of '70s and '80s pop and R&B to give the tracks, performed once again by producer Matthew E. White and his Spacebomb Studio's crack house band, a bit more swing. Though they lack the natural funkiness of say, the Dap Kings, the crew once again deftly evoke the past without ever inhabiting it, creating a record that, while conceivably could exist in any moment in time, still feels modern.

It's a super-charged R&B record, laced with throwback Motown/Philly grooves, that hits hard but fails to land a knockout blow. It seems to be a case of not being able to fully satisfy the hip-hop heads, the R&B fans and the amorphous genre-less Venn diagram in between.

It's not perfect – there's a spoken-word bit tacked on to the end that is less than satisfactory, but the lyrics aren't really the point here. This is a record that fills up a room and begs to be turned up loud.

This hodgepodge of ideas, irregular pacing and abrupt transitions are oddly compelling; though it can be tough to make it to the end of the hour-long work, Elverum makes it worth it.

Fans put off by Blake's perceived sentimentalism won't have their minds changed by Overgrown, but that's hardly Blake's worry; he's too busy establishing himself as a consistently rewarding songwriter.

The album doesn't quite match their punishing live show, but neither does it betray their purpose or message: to fiercely silence the white noise of psychosocial oppression. It is one missive they convey without ambiguity.

Experiencing the music of OOIOO is an incredibly satisfying series of sensations that seems to form an exclusive bond between creator and listener. It's a plunge into unbridled creativity that is the true essence of psychedelia.

Virgin is the kind of album that makes you realize something you hadn't really before: until now, Lorde was operating at an emotional distance. .... Virgin feels like a rebirth.

Final Transmission feels like an intimate farewell letter to a lost friend, and a fitting tribute to former bass player Caleb Scofield.

Much has been said about jazz in the new millennium, and alongside names like Kamasi Washington, Flying Lotus and Robert Glasper, Yussef Kamaal should now be considered in that conversation.

The Consuming Flame is Matmos at their finest. Daniel and Schmidt have taken the simplest of concepts and manipulated it into a gorgeous and grotesque beast of an album.

They continue to look forward and create music that feels unlike anything else out there. This one is no exception: it's the perfect antidote for these bleak, modern times.

On paper, the inclusion of saxophones, bass clarinet, flute and cello should make Ultimate Success Today expansive. In practice, the auxiliary musicians often add the sonic equivalent of extra seasoning to an already good dish; it's often unclear whether Protomartyr needs the addition.

Ada Lea's workmanship is striking on what we say in private, as she delicately showcases both the chaos and beauty of change.

Cave World is thoroughly conceived and smartly realized. It balances high-energy ragers with mellower, introspective numbers while the interludes keep things progressing smoothly, adding some cohesion to Viagra Boys' signature chaos.

Necrocracy is as perfect as we're all hoping Carcass will be when they bring their good ship back for another gruesome go at it.

The album starts off relatively strong, with hard-hitting choruses in "Narrow Mouth" and upbeat, catchy verse lines in "Magnolia," but lose momentum quickly thereafter.

On What If, Hauschka delivers an unbuttoned works that's just as revitalizing for the listener as it sounds for the artist.

The Pool feels a tad disconnected to qualify as one of the year's major releases. There's a kind of connective tissue missing; the groove is there, but it lacks flow.

Short on hooks and obviously memorable moments, Songs You Make At Night is an album that excels in texture and dynamics instead, each thoughtfully composed song an intricate clockwork of whirring percussion and interlocking guitar and synth work.

While Marked For Death felt more cathartic and Some Heavy Ocean felt more plaintive, there's no denying the emotional heft of On Dark Horses. This is another confident step forward by an artist who continues to dazzle us with new sides of herself.

At 70, Melnyk is producing some of the most physically demanding work of his career. And he's doing so in front of a bigger audience than he's ever enjoyed. This is a recording of a composer/performer very much at the top of his game.

Aside from a few less-than-strong features, Rap or Go to the League allows 2 Chainz, a veteran rapper, to use his powers to acknowledge a picture much larger than him--it's one that's rooted in his past, but is planting the seeds for the feature.

Amnioverse does still err, at times, on the side of industrial and abstraction, but is anchored in a softness rich in texture and weighty with emotion.

Mid Air champions feeling and shared connection. You'll remember it for a long while.

You can't help but wish he'd leaned into the dive bar clatter and freewheeling wildness that always feels just at the periphery of his music. As it is, And the Wind acts as a solid addition to your deep-summer-backyard-beer-drinking soundtrack — sometimes that's all you need.

Vile could have chopped most of these songs in half and they would have worked just fine, but the overall effect wouldn't have been so blissfully druggy.

Real, Loveless's confident and poppy fourth album, builds on what Loveless and her band were doing on 2014's grittier Somewhere Else.

It's Foxing in a new shape, a first-hand witness of the evolution of a band that were really good just the way they were. While these changes may not be welcome with open arms, the thoughtfulness and artistry deserves a round of applause.

La Dispute are more or less doing what they've always done. They're just continuing the refining process, whatever that is, for better or worse.

They've managed to create an album that feels fresh while also being the closest they've come to recreating the magic of earlier records. This is a band that has finally found a way to evolve without eliminating what it was that made them so special in the first place.

Diggs finds all of the quicksilver tales of sex, drugs and violence that '90s gangsta rap used to trade in — except here, they're wired together yet dislocated, provocative yet impersonal. Hutson and Snipes gleefully resurrect the adrenalized club beats of that same era, with occasional breathers that flirt with the ambience of Massive Attack or Tricky when darkness starts to suffer the threat of dawn, all tied together with the static pulse of electricity and the flow of information.

Dig in Deep treads familiar territory both musically and lyrically, but it bristles with energy and feels like an expertly paced live set by a singer and a band having an especially great night.

Lanza zooms between feelings and situations so nimbly that every time you revisit All the Time and the accompanying artwork, it's just as easy to imagine a freewheeling Lanza doing gleeful donuts in that parking lot as it is to envision her having a breakdown behind the wheel.

There is a simmering sense of joy and positivity throughout, even while the lyrical content often remains affectingly bittersweet. Lay's voice is soft and lovely, and her vocals are more meandering than melodic. But her voice also carries an unpretentious gravitas that helps to ground the album.

Hopefully ASDIG will never give in completely to conventional songwriting, because it's the little idiosyncrasies that make their expansive music so breathtaking--which, incidentally, really is the best word to describe Sea When Absent.

Joe Strummer 001 is bursting with endearing, heartbreakingly excellent stories and songs about and by a guy with an endless passion to create and affect change. Here's hoping this series continues.

You don't just feel unburdened of "progress" dysphoria, you feel like you've emerged from the paradigm equipped with a new language to help you navigate the next one.

It's an intricate record, one filled with peaks and valleys, high points and low. It gets a little messy at times, but it finds beauty in it all.

It does little to dispel any of the mystery that surrounds the band, even while proving them worthy of the praise they've received across the pond.

Front Row Seat to Earth might not be the most immediate record released this year, but it never turns its back on you. Accessible without ever being simple, it's one worth getting into, even if the way is labyrinthine.

It is an abstract, melancholic and affecting body of work that is not only another incredible addition to a stellar discography, but a magnificent and moving tribute to a friend gone too soon.

Where the drums of Joli Mai were, more often than not, ready to roll one over at any given point, Cherry blossoms as a listen worth savouring as Daphni's melodious detail leads the dance.

Guided Tour is not a bad record, but it's not a particularly memorable one. It features some excellent work by a powerful band ("Mind's a Lie" is possibly the best thing they've ever committed to record), while also forcing the listener to sit through some truly bland, unoriginal filler.

Despite these four musicians' predilection towards abstraction, The Film is at its most impactful when SUMAC and Moor Mother's most obvious musical building blocks are conjoined.

Howling, for the Nightmare Shall Consume is a landmark release for long-time metal miscreants Integrity, and a brave, brutal new direction for Hellion's life project.

After 17 odd years of making solo albums, Neneh Cherry surfaces with the force of a jab rather than an uppercut. We appreciate the contact regardless.

What Whitfield lacks in originality he makes up for with a tireless push to the end zone.

The depth of Cantrell's songwriting is best appreciated the second or third time around, once you're over the sheer prettiness of her voice.

On Hyper-Dimensional Expansion Beam, The Comet Is Coming continue their exploration of the wide wonders around us — the unknown, physical and metaphysical, light and darkness, life and death, and the connectedness and spirit laced between it all; broadening the scope, testing ideas and seeking freedom and rapture through rhythm and sound.

Childqueen demands patience and a receptive ear to pick up on the care and detail Bonet has taken in crafting every moment. She is in complete control of her artistry.

The talents of Crutchfield and Williamson cannot be underplayed, nor their deft ability to convey and intuit emotion.

Heavy Light, the remarkable new record from Meg Remy's U.S. Girls project, is a scavenger hunt for these elusive pasts — music devoted to reflection and retrospection. ... Never before have her narratives felt so personal and resonant.

PLUS is certainly a stronger example of Autechre's range than SIGN. This does come at a cost, where the cohesion of their previous album is somewhat lost on this most recent one; this is especially telling in the latter half of the album, where the programming becomes somewhat disjointed. Nevertheless, any Autechre project is worth praise solely due to the duo's consistent aural innovation.

Sit Down for Dinner proves the band is as compelling as ever, circling in and out of each other's vocals and rhythms with ease.

The juxtaposition of her soft yet strong vocals draws you into her ghostly world, both dark and thrilling. Birth of Violence is a work of art that will please old fans and draw in new listeners too.

The Dream Is Over has no pretext or pretence; the band did what they did best in 2013, and then did it a bit better here.

Underneath its few flaws, an electrifying energy shines through, even if its not as potent as it might have seemed in those halcyon 2000s days.

The takeaway from Takeoff is that good art is deliberate, enjoyable and actually takes effort. It's good to see he's capable of all these, can't wait to see what he gives us next.

The steep conceptual angle imposes a significant hurdle on casual listening, but Treanor rewards engagement with hypnotic, off-centred rhythmic cycles, and elements like the Nauman sample only represent a small portion of the runtime (Lancaster's assertions fall off before the two-minute mark).

Wildcard represents courage, strength and vulnerability as Miranda tells her story. The album is a timeless snapshot that measures a moment in this superstar's life.

Free I.H: This Is Not The One You've Been Waiting For is Illuminati Hotties defying the record industry while balancing purposefulness and playfulness at the same time.

This is razor sharp pop — fine-tuned, sincere and defiant as all hell.

For seasoned fans looking for their next fix of boundary-pushing explorations, this will likely seem a tad pedestrian, but SIGN is still an incredible piece of work, even if it's not bending the rules of music production into infinity.

The Million Masks of God goes for an emotional gut-punch, but it's a bit light on impact. Much of the power of this music comes from the mind when it ought to come from the soul.

Bring Me The Horizon have crafted an album that, while not as post-rock-influenced as hinted at, is definitely post-Bring Me The Horizon, at least as we once knew them.

While the Body are experts at playing with aural textures and layers, the decadent variety of sounds on Christs, Redeemers is next level, even for them.

This is certainly one of the best dancehall releases of the year.

Heaven Is for Quitters follows no pattern except that of disconnect, so while many of the tracks work as they are, it's far from a cohesive album.