Total Loss is a brave effort by an artist who's clearly not afraid to show vulnerability through risk-taking and soul baring.

The Main Thing is a warm, inviting record that slots nicely into the band's catalogue, and should reward fans of the Real Estate's understated yet powerful songwriting.

Mountain Man cling to the ordinary, but are able to make it extraordinary.

Old is a post-fame album done right.

Unlike her Polaris Prize-winning 2015 record Power in the Blood, there are no love songs; Medicine Songs is unflinching in its focus.

Black Radio 2 will leave fans hungry for Black Radio 3.

Windy & Carl deliver yet another significant and sublime release that's perfect for late night listening.

With an exceptionally dismal sound, and artwork by Anthony Lucero to match, Dragged Down a Dead End Path is set to be one of the best aggressive releases of the year.

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.

More Light is not only an all-encompassing trip that shows everything they're capable of, but also the best album they've made since 2000's XTRMNTR.

While I Declare Nothing wastes no time solidifying a ruthless groove and builds on its own breathtaking walls of sound, it's album closer "Friendlies" on which Parks and Newcombe shine brightest, a four-and-a-half-minute bliss-out that could soundtrack a pro-hallucinogen PSA.

AlunaGeorge have done the impossible with Body Music: they've made the dynamic, progressive pop album we all hoped for.

With Hobo Rocket, Pond once again step out from an ever-growing shadow to prove that they are far more than anyone's "other band."

It's the danger that comes from walking that fine line [the nexus of sonic experimentation and pop hooks] that makes the album such a welcome return.

There are moments on Superchunk's inspired and inspiring Wild Loneliness where ideas of isolation and connection are pondered and addressed but any despondency is met with righteous hope and a roaring conviction that all is not lost, and goddamn do we need records like these right now.

Mechanically, the hooks that adorned Shadow of a Doubt are largely absent, though Gibbs' increased attention to melody that was displayed on the aforementioned 2015 LP remains.

No matter how harrowing King's cries become, how punitive the increasingly industrial percussion grows, or how profound the agony of the textured sound becomes, it's these little moments of silvery beauty that make No One Deserves Happiness transcendent and unbearable. Settle in and endure.

The 14 songs clock in at only 34 minutes, so Killing Time never overstays its welcome, giving you that caffeine-type pick-me-up so few indie pop albums offer these days.

All Fiction is the mark of a new era for Pile. It's one that might take some listeners time to get used to, but it's an altogether richer and more mature sound that opens new avenues of sound for the band going forward.

Ritual, is some of the best work the band have done so far.

While his style here isn't too far removed from the melodic pop leanings of 2019's IGOR and the mixtape homage of 2021's CALL ME IF YOU GET LOST, he's continuing to expand his ambitions. There's theatrical Zamrock on "Noid," surprising sentimental softness on the polyamorous "Darling, I" and "Judge Judy," and a towering crescendo in the form of "Balloon" and "I Hope You Find Your Way Home," which end the album with celebratory grandeur.

With Junun, Shye Ben Tzur, Jonny Greenwood and the Rajasthan Express succeed in creating a textured and energetic collection of songs that transcend genre and the generalizations often used when describing non-Western music. This is music to be embraced and celebrated.

What makes We're New Again so fascinating lies in the fact that Makaya McCraven benevolently and sonically recognizes Gil Scott-Heron's grief, joy, and legacy, making sure these vital expressions remain the album's true focus.

Ballad takes Hardware's craft to new heights of sophistication and richness, establishing him as a master of melody, an exquisite popsmith, and a brilliant compositional mind.

Let's Try The After isn't a rehash, nor is it a rebirth. It's a move into the future by a group who know themselves. These songs are confident, seeking, and created of a love for communicating the essentiality of life--what better way to step into the unknown?

Teeth Dreams arrives to colossal expectations, but weathers them fine and showcases a band returning to form.

For fans of synth-wave instrumentals or for those who want an oft-compelling, free-floating soundtrack to their workday, nobody throws a throwback party like Com Truise.

Tough Love is a tour de force album, one that nails heartache with sophistication and class.

These songs proudly flaunt Lipa's affinity for all things pop, disco, and funk, spanning multiple decades.

Inner Fire further cements the Souljazz Orchestra in a class of their own on the world music circuit.

Not everything here was worth saving--the eight-minute jam "Country Brazilian Jam" could have been pared down--but overall, The Other Side of the River is a worthy companion to a classic, unsung album that stands on its own.

On Bad Vacation, the emotions may be heavy, but that won't stop listeners from dancing along to them and air-guitaring in their bedrooms.

A record with a tighter vision, but just as much frenetic energy as Mannequin Pussy's previous work, Patience imbues both its highs and lows with a constant sense of intense strain and desperation.

While cathartic moments of release abound, for the most part, Rostam Batmanglij and co-producer Ariel Reichstadt opt for understated beauty.

Dunn's ability to subsume the subject into his detailed sonic landscapes with minor shifts in the onslaught of drones speaks to this album's ability to impact a wide-ranging listenership. From Here to Eternity serves as a masterful articulation of the power of ambient music.

The result is a dozen highly listenable songs that don't sound like anything else in the world of rock music right now.

On New Bermuda, Deafheaven's myriad ideas are expertly, logically organized across five tracks. It's more proof that it's hard to hyperbolize when it comes to praising Deafheaven, a band that's nearly peerless in its ability to craft fascinating, forward-thinking aggressive music.

There are plenty of other highlights to be raved about in 4eva Is a Mighty Long Time's massive tracklist. Do yourself a favour: pick up this LP and immerse yourself not only in its impressive breadth, but also its practically unparalleled depth.

Times Infinity Volume One is a magnificent testament to the human heart in all of its complexity.

This album is yet another triumph in Bonobo's incredibly consistent career, and if the Black Sands and North Borders tours are anything to go by, the live rendition of Migration will be one of 2017's highlights.

Lyrically and sonically, Ruins helps First Aid Kit gives listeners a mature, realized and often heartbreaking version of this young band's oeuvre.

Smith's music resonates with the suffering and the dreams of a better life that embodied the decade of 1954 to 1964 that is the subject of this powerful compendium of compositions.

The best stuff on Short Movie sounds like it may have originated in the most painfully personal places.

Taken together, Butterfly feels less like a fusion of Daphni and Caribou, and more like an uninhibited manifestation of Snaith's ever-changing tastes and proclivities.

What should continue to draw longtime Lambchop fan in to FLOTUS is the fact that Wagner's songwriting, lyrics and arrangements remain as strong, insightful and clever as ever, making nary an eye blink at Wagner's odd journey into new musical dimensions.

With WORRY., Rosenstock builds on last year's We Cool? not by dealing himself a new hand, but by stacking his cards a little higher. The fast songs are faster, the slow songs are slower and the big songs are bigger.

With 16 tracks and a runtime of over an hour, Archive Series Volume No. 1 doesn't have quite enough stylistic or emotional variety to hold up as a proper album. As a vaults-emptying exercise, however, it's stunning to see just how much quality material Iron & Wine has had sitting around collecting dust for all these years.

A Year With 13 Moons is certainly a must-hear for those who favour their consonance shaded with a dollop of playful dissonance.

Kacy & Clayton craft timeless and detailed folk songs on Strange Country, an album that more than promises the duo's staying power.

The project is packed with enough ammunition to hit that mark.

While the tracks on Hill's End never stray too far from the sound evident in the first few notes of the beginning track, they never feel repetitive.

For all its fear and itching paranoia, PAINLESS is a buzzing thrill.

McGuire's reputation doesn't need any further solidification at this point, but Beyond Belief is another worthy instalment in his hugely respectable catalogue.

This young Australian singer-songwriter made a real mark with her 2016 debut, Don't Let The Kids Win, and subsequent international touring, and this compelling album sets the bar higher.

Melee is loaded front to back with depressive episodes manifested in the mosh pit. ... Yet, by the end of the album, all the words have been chanted, all the guitars have stopped shrieking, all the cymbals have stopped crashing and all energy has been exhausted. That's when a rich, lush string orchestra takes over, capping the whole thing with a sort of post-credits epilogue. It's like a calm sea after a thunderstorm.

The resemblance between J.D. Wilkes and the Legendary Shack Shakers is presumed, but Wilkes fixes his mistakes in After You've Gone with Fire Dream.

Minor evolutions aside, there's not a whole lot to set 7 apart from the six albums that preceded it, making it easy to see this as just another Beach House album. Don't take them for granted, since it's hard to think of another band that has delivered so reliably for this long.

Even the bangers on Brandon Banks are thoughtful. ... All that thematic ambition, along with the minimalist yet catchy instrumentals and Kream's unfussy, but deceptively thoughtful lyrics, make Brandon Banks the breakout debut of the summer.

On their fifth release, Simian Mobile Disco's dedication to challenging their tried-and-true formula has found them coming off looser and more resourceful than ever.

Jenkins' winding writing is cerebral and referential, nearly every song capable of opening a Wikipedia rabbit hole. However, much like Norwegian art-pop virtuoso Jenny Hval, she works wonders in the place between heart and mind; her intellectualism is never overbearing, instead revealing a dedication to explaining the unexplainable.

Think of Mist feels airy and accessible, even as Paas quietly presents herself as one of our most slyly provocative musical theorists working today.

It is an album dense with meaning, with excellent, full-throated singing, tempered guitar playing, and an elusive, decorative prettiness.

Packed with tight hooks, this record adds plenty of new songs to Operators' repertoire that are sure to keep the crowds dancing late into the night.

Grant's versatility makes Paradise an alluring locale that listeners will eagerly, and frequently, revisit.

Sirens is by far the most personal album Kevin Richard Martin has ever made.

The seven songs that make up The Times are stark and haunting.

With an album-long theme revolving around the ascent of an alien who joins forces with natives to save the world, Antibalas seem more than ready to push themselves to another musical level with Where the Gods Are in Peace.

There's vitality peppered throughout here, offering enough hope to momentarily forget the despair, as melodies lift the listener briefly before crashing you back down. This mercurial nature makes Arms Around A Vision a beguiling listen, one that's strangely difficult to stop listening to.

The compositions here are solid, but it's sonically where Vessel holds his own. In that regard, Punish, Honey is close to perfection.

It's an important record because it does dig so deeply into the tradition of folk music, as many records in black metal are tending to do. It digs into the sounds celebrated in days of old, and is the perfect addition to your collection.

If all of this sounds like it's a nostalgia kick for aging ravers, then that's because it is, but it's also just as relevant for this current generation of rug cutters. We now live in an era of constant throwbacks anyway, so Garave Vol.1 fits as snugly into 2017 as any other.

This thing may not have a commercial sound, but it is unequivocally memorable.

Wild! Wild! Wild! was a spontaneous, live-off-the-floor recording, with some enthusiastic chatter left in after "It Came From the South" that points to the relaxed, fun vibe. But while it's tempting to say it's a rock'n'roll album about continuing to rebel as you get older, it's also a love letter to all the music Lewis grew up with.

On Infinite Moment, the Field proves that he's such a master of his craft that he can generate the same excitement from briefly moving outside the box as he can revelling back inside it.

Mended With Gold, is a satisfyingly anthemic work wrapped around a highly emotional core that is distinctively--and eternally--theirs.

It's the best album the Who have released since Who Are You in 1978.

On Cupid's Head, the Field demonstrates his expert ability to move forward with his craft while still retaining his signature voice.

A welcome late-career gem.

Regardless of the song or sentiment, Finn's skill for detail never wavers. In that, I Need A New War ranks among his best.

Reign of Terror builds on the success of Treats without breaking from it, establishing Krauss and Miller as masters of their craft.

Arguably Cattle Decapitation's best offering to date, Monolith of Inhumanity is a dynamic record, with many different elements working together to create one cohesive, disgusting and brilliant release.

It's possible to detect elements of jazz, '70s soul, hip-hop and electronica in McFerrin's heliocentric mix, but through his intentional blurring of the boundaries, he underlines his mastery of and ultimate disregard for genre categories.

The Long Ryders show they are well-equipped to take a leading role in modern Americana.

What's impressive about Girl though is how strong Morris's vocals have grown, along with the maturity and uniqueness of each song. It's clear that Girl isn't a sophomore slump, but rather an album worth investing in.

Yet another highlight in a career overflowing with them.

While new beginnings aren't without their flaws, Big Boi's lyrical prowess and effortless delivery provide the thread that link the old Big Boi universe to this, the Boomiverse.

As her own boss, she doesn't need to request "let me do one more" to anyone but herself — and across these 12 tracks, she quite literally owns every aspect of her sound.

If Habits & Contradictions was a reinstatement of gangsta rap, then Control System is a giant leap forward in conscious rap.

The vibe is folk, rock, country and kind of homespun and laidback but, like early John Lennon records, there is sharpness to the starkness.

The beauty of Hurts Like Hell is rooted in this catharsis: transmuting pain — the good, the bad and the ugly — into a unit of strength and perseverance.

Melding pensive acoustic picking with sweeping synths and barely there rhythms, Raül Refree helps Lee Ranaldo sound daring, fearless and downright experimental again on Names of North End Women.

It has an honesty to it; a realness.

Optimistic but never mawkish, August Greene distinguishes itself from other socially conscious albums with its practical approach. It's motivational music that, for once, makes change feel less elusive.

With We Are Undone, Two Gallants have created an album that is enviable in its quality and consistency.

Rave 'Till You Cry is as brilliantly insane from start to finish as any other collection Raczynski has assembled.

White Lung sound both heavier and more accessible on Paradise, once again proving that there's far more to this band than meets the eye.

Unlike their first and, let's be honest, irritatingly indulgent live recording, Sonic Death, Walls Have Ears presents Sonic Youth as resourceful, patient and secure in their esoteric songcraft.

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.