In spite of the abundance of retro rock references, Adams' gut-spilling lyricism and vulnerable vocal performances (a waver here, a crack and a tremble there) still give Prisoner enough heart to steer it clear of sounding like a washed-up cliché.

This is her best album yet.

DROGAS Light isn't quite memorable, but Lupe's talent shines enough to save it from total obscurity. Not a bad effort, though.

For an artist who's given his name such a despairing title, No Future shows Moiré at his most ambitious.

Here's hoping they ditch the alt clichés and find their own sound on the next record.

Saturday Night is a confident debut from a creator who's best when he seems uncomfortable. So long as he keeps evading his comfort zone, Darcy's songwriting should remain potent for years to come.

Written by a person whose conscience seems to keep him from having too much fun, Hard Love is a conflicted yet summarily good record that breathes new life into good ol' rock'n'roll.

They are shaping their own pop form, and what an incredible listen it is.

Life Will See You Now tackles life's most drastic ups and downs with good-natured empathy, making it both complex and comforting.

Born in the UK, based Stateside and of Sudanese descent, Sinkane has been able to draw his worldly experiences into something that's at once relatable, abstract and pertinent.

Notes of Blue is a solid effort overall; here's to riding the wave of change and surprise as Farrar's songwriting continues to evolve.

The Necks don't exactly break new ground with Unfold, but it's refreshing nonetheless to see that they're also not regressing--a small miracle for any band 30 years into their career.

Generally, The Temple of I & I is another satisfying Thievery Corporation affair.

On Vermont II, Plessow and Worgull have crafted an experimental piece founded upon its creators' departure from their respective comfort zones.

All Sadies albums feel like instalments in an ongoing saga of an incredible band who've been playing forever, and Northern Passages is no exception.

A very cohesive, if slightly precious, album.

By making the geographically distant feel welcomingly familiar, Tinariwen have made Elwan a can't-miss release for curious audiences from all corners of the globe.

Big Sean exhibits growth and wisdom on I Decided., and that's definitely worth a listen. This is a solid effort.

Fin serves as both introduction and transition.

It's a traveller's record, but not one for the wide-eyed, "wanderlusting" tourist; rather, it's one for the detached and disoriented, Bill-Murray-in-Lost-in-Translation voyager. It hits this note strikingly, but it's a shame about the sonic mishmash.

Calm, cool and collected, Fresh Air is a record you'll have playing in the background while you light a candle, anticipating your lover's knock at the door--or something like that.

Along with his own cuts, Dear works dialled-in dance floor weapons from Randomer, Matrixxman, Simian Mobile Disco and Thatmanmonkzn into this heady, satisfying mix.

Aquilo captivate most when they vary the tempo and instrumentation within their songs, and they do it often enough to make Silhouettes a strong debut overall.

Crossover Ministry is a well-made crossover thrash album that's sure to be a hit with fans of the genre, and could be the selling point for people just getting into it.

Fiddle, accordion and plenty of steel guitar frame her pure voice, while the fact that this was recorded over just two days helps account for the freshness of the sound.

Though billed as a Mr. Tophat project first and foremost, Trust Me is ultimately weighed down by his collaborator's past triumphs. Though they are no doubt killer floor-fillers, outside the club, these three songs can't quite hold listeners' attention.

Hearing it now, After the Party is delightfully bittersweet. Years on, when time has continued to pass and age has continued to set in, it'll be devastating.

Although those moments may be too fleeting to call Snowdonia a complete departure for the band, fans can will appreciate the added ambition here, on top of the elements they've come to know and love.

Occult Architecture Vol. 1 isn't as daring as its literary influences would suggest, but it succeeds often, particularly when it varies from its central sounds. Moon Duo should embrace the change on volume two.

Pure, Beyond Reproach feels lost and directionless at times.

Process was a long time coming, but the wait has resulted in one of the most assured debut albums in recent memory.

The subject matter isn't new, but the trio's knack for delivering humorous one-liners, tasteful adlibs and memorable hooks in impressively technical fashion remains a winning formula here.

Love in Beats finds Omar's brand of R&B at its most peerless, timeless and, yes... mature.

Myths 002 certainly delivers in terms of a successful, collaborative and twisted effort between two rather different artists, and may they find themselves recording together again in the future.

If you dig Baldi's work, this is as fine a collection as any in the Cloud Nothings discography.

There's a lot to unpack here, and as a result, SweetSexySavage feels a bit overstuffed at times; numbers like "Thank You" and "Hold Me By the Heart" are expressive in nature but aren't lasting. But by getting intensely personal, Kehlani adds a human side to the recordings that's multilayered and unapologetically self-determined.

Jardín serves straight-up soul and funk with a pop sensibility. Garzón-Montano's vocals are solid and serviceable, the album production robust and efficient and the musical mindset supported by a strong level of craft.

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

Coming across as a viscera-churning blast of pure sub-bass propulsion, Borders demonstrates that while Emptyset's methods may have morphed, their madness is still intact.

There are flashes of influences--Ministry's late '80s, early '90s run is a clear antecedent--but the pair never succumb to mimicry or idolatry. This is Berdan's pain, writ large and loud for all to hear.

The album perfectly captures the abrasive and raw sound that Sleater-Kinney have only strengthened throughout the years.

The band only falters when they lean on stock symbols, as on the materialist-baiting "Pink White House." If those lyrics sound lazy, it's only because Nothing Feels Natural is so taut and particular otherwise.

Near to the Wild Heart of Life isn't the record fans waited five years for. But backed into a corner, Japandroids have penned a truly great record filled with all the guitar hooks, shout-along choruses about nights spent drinking, sweating and longing to be somewhere else that we've come to expect.

She's turned that feeling into an album as glittery as it is gut-wrenching, making Tourist in This Town a point on the musical map that's well worth a long, enriching stay.

Ty Segall is a mixture of boisterous and blissful, and certainly is a great place to start if you're looking to introduce someone to Segall's ever-fattening discography.

Tift Merritt and her wonderful band deliver big time with this record ... Despite it being very early in 2017, it's safe to say this album will be on many year-end lists come December.

Modern Ruin is a solid, well-balanced effort that showcases Frank Carter's versatility as an artist while pleasing fans of his previous work.

There's a lot of stuff there, and sure, not everything seems crucial. But when the ecosystem works as well as it does on Pas pire pop, it's worth taking the time to get lost in its dense flora of sounds.

Lonely Planet is a pleasing collection of well-crafted, often beautiful sketches, and while they may not always end up anywhere specific, you'll always enjoy the journey nonetheless.

Originally envisioned as the first in a series of efforts to help inspire artists (hence the title), this is the perfect album to sleep, cry or meditate to, an album for life on this planet from an artist usually obscured by the whirring of machines. Imagine that.

Though the production lags at times, Wiley's performance overall is still a fitting conclusion to his groundbreaking journey in music.

Embers could (and should) start over then, urging all software to "repeat all" and every DJ to throw side one back on the bed of coals.

He's Got the Whole This Land Is Your Land in His Hands is a minor gem in the Joan of Arc discography, as Kinsella gives listeners more simply by pulling back.

Although it's an intertextual and oftentimes challenging listen, Future Politics is also a compelling call to action to collectively conceive of the future and its manifold possibilities.

As Foxygen continue with their disparate series of throwback experiments, Hang finds them closer than ever to striking a balance between their wild, ambitious ideas and innate strengths

It's hard to shake off singer Davey Havok's sterile lyrics, especially when many of the choruses lean heavily on his bold, operatic delivery yet are somewhat squandered on half-cocked one-liners.

With Forever, Code Orange have put together a record that few others in the genre would have the nerve to attempt making, and have found a number of ways to stay engaging across the set without losing any of their previous weight or momentum.

Diehard fans of the Brazilian band who rekindled their interest in the band with the return of Roots producer Ross Robinson will find Machine Messiah lacklustre, possibly even forgettable, when held up to Sepultura's better past work.

Although Romans is a collaborative effort between two dance floor heavyweights in their own right, the largely dark sound that has distinguished previous releases from Haslam emerges as this record's strongest aspect.

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.

The best moments here are either instrumental or wordless, when Coyne's voice--which, though never technically impressive, always fit perfectly with each album's sound, whether it was the ragged bombast of their Soft Bulletin-era epics or the hushed haunt of The Terror--becomes a whispering (or even whistling) texture. Lyrically, though, Coyne appears to have exhausted any last nuggets of profundity he once had.

For the first time on record, the xx sound happy. Lyrics about growing and taking a chance, especially, resonate throughout "Dangerous," "Say Something Loving" and "I Dare You," further substantiating the already-palpable sense of ambition here.

It comes in flashes, and then it's back to a sort of dull, flat affect.

With this fearlessly vulnerable, triumphantly anthemic album, Little Simz asserts herself among the queens of her genre--Janelle Monáe, Lauryn Hill, Missy Elliott and Erykah Badu. Stillness in Wonderland is a wonder to behold.

Not only is Passion, Pain & Demon Slayin' loaded with hits, but it also draws attention to Cudi's renewed sense of self. Cudi has finally slayed his demons, and he sounds all the better for it.

Rather than offering a bold new step in Reznor's long, winding career, Not the Actual Events feels more like tentative first steps towards something bigger.

If "bloody," "urgent," "enraged" and "heartening" were enough description to sum up El-P and Killer Mike's latest Run the Jewels album, this review could end here. But they aren't; this late 2016 LP, along with the duo's various collaborative tracks with several DJs and rappers all year, have officially placed RTJ high on the shelf of the "hard to describe" category.

Ab-Soul is more successful when he mines his own sorrow.

On Epoch, Hansen, Brown and O'Connor are in the prime of their careers.

TerraForm may not be groundbreaking, but it's an enjoyable album that begs to be turned up loud, and sometimes that's all you need.

[An] astoundingly distinctive album.

Dark Sacred Night is a non-traditional Christmas album, but one of great import nonetheless. It makes a perfect companion for those of us whose Christmas experience is absent of the typical festivities and jubilation.

On What's Your Sign?, Oneida and Rhys Chatham show that sometimes the most obvious collaborations are the ones that end up surprising you the most.

While the self-examination he committed to tape this time around isn't quite as pointed as those of other figures in the genre this year, it's a worthwhile story to hear as we welcome Hodgy back to the mic.

Darkness and Light comes off balanced and bursting with humility knowing and being what it is--mainstream soul framed by pop parameters.

It may be a bit platitudinous, but Temple's delicate voice and songwriting make it an enjoyable listening experience.

It's a love letter, and yet, it's astonishing just how hard-hitting it is.

Though a lot of this material might come from a damaged place, by foregrounding that, a defiant perseverance shines through on Heart Song. Williamson isn't revelling in self-pity--rather, by carving out her insides, she demonstrates agency, action and an embittered sense of hope.

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.

Last Night on the Planet is a solid followup with enough variety to please listeners both on and off the dance floor.

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.

The London producer emphasizes structural variety over substance, and relies on former sonic signatures to push a release that remains distinguished within the electronic landscape. However, in the context of his oeuvre, Young Death / Nightmarket listens like just another cut of the same.

Although Box oddly and quite disappointingly omits Voigt's 1995 Modern EP and 1996 self-titled debut, the vinyl version adds in tracks that were previously unavailable in the format, along with the inclusion of 1999's Oktember EP and the hard-to-find "Tal 90" single.

Surrounded by ambient hiss and faint female backing vocals, The Benoît Pioulard Listening Matter shows Pioulard expressing emotion through simple but intensely personal songwriting.

While the album is far from his best work (the disjointed opening track is a strong first clue), it still merits a listen.

Brandt Brauer Frick are still immensely talented, and you can hear glimmers of greatness crop up in the background here, but they've sadly jumped the shark on this one.

Despite this galling blunder ["California," an infuriating interruption to an otherwise cohesive project], Gambino knocks Awaken out of the park.

Broken Knowz does hit a few snags, with some tracks pushing the six-to-eight-minute mark and remaining pretty much static throughout (single "Knowledge of Selfie" comes to mind, the eight-and-a-half-minute track perhaps mirroring the constant repetition in our self obsession), but its shorter, more contained tracks override and stand out, showcasing what Daniel has to offer.

Tonality and instrumentation aside, the overture of All The Right Noises is subtle, reserved and warm.

The songs on On the Green Again are long, and some listeners might find the album a little wearying by the end. But Tiger & Woods are first and foremost purveyors of party music, and in the hands of a skilled DJ, all these tracks should be able to ignite a floor.

Set against the billowing fog, blinding strobes and distant sirens of 3 a.m., Scuba's fabric 90 is a versatile mix that draws heavily on the experiences now held forever captive behind the closed doors of the legendary nightclub.

If you're not in a particular mood, listening to this can be a chore. If you are in the mood, though, this is another solid entry in a series full of them.

While the band's attempts to recapture their old glory have typically felt like attempts to give fans what they've wanted from them--and the idea that of a bunch of old white men tying their authenticity to their black cultural forbears feels something like an ugly metaphor for this mess of a year--this is the Stones making music for themselves.

Boots' more rough and intimate look behind the duo's evolution and process is in its way no less compulsively listenable than the cohesive Revival itself, which would introduce Welch and Rawlings to the world sounding basically fully formed.

Those wishing for a return to the Trilogy days will have to bit a tad longer; across 18 tracks, the Weeknd proves he's ready for primetime here, but there's still a sense of feeling out the new parameters.

Blasts of powerful guitar and rhythm that sounds like two, sometimes three percussionists carry along their tradition of satisfying grunge here, but the songs feel more cathartic than celebratory, the crashing cymbals and flurry of toms reflecting the honest, raucous lyrics.

What a mess. ... The album sounds more like a rehearsal than a completed record, with Keltner's pacing off, Young flubbing lyrics and Bushnell at times just guessing.

It's obvious he has a consummate ear for quality and potential. Listeners who share these sensibilities should be all over this release.