With the cohesive and captivating Morning After, dvsn have used soothing vocals and layered beats to paint a sonic portrait of modern R&B.

Not an album you'd crank up at a summer patio party, but a quietly compelling work.

Fujita is a rare talent and Book of Life should announce him to a much wider audience as a vital composer with a unique voice, one I hope and expect we'll hear grow and evolve for many years to come.

Merton shows great confidence in her abilities as an artist across her debut record, without losing her sense of fun.

Lee Ranaldo/Jim Jarmusch/ Marc Urselli/ Balázs Pándi is an egoless collection of ideas from four musicians who sound like they've been working together for an eternity.

Both his darkest and cheerful record to date.

No Age's latest is not ground-breaking, but it doesn't need to be. It's an enjoyable rock record from a pair of sonic auteurs whose instincts for DIY noise-punk are as strong as ever.

Fancy Some More? is a lot of fun. It leans further into the '90s/noughties than its predecessor, intensifying its jungle and D&B undercurrent while also adding some Madchesterian flavour with SEVENTEEN's mix of "Illegal."

We All Want the Same Things won't quench the casual fan's thirst for new drunken bar rock anthems, but for those willing to listen a bit more closely (and quietly), Finn's solo work still provides some stories worth hearing.

They would have been wiser to trim more of the fat from the 12-track, two disc affair. In comparison to Death Magnetic's thrash-first approach, Hardwired features more mid-tempo material reminiscent of the band's divisive Load/Reload years, which bogs down the record's second disc in particular.

The results are sporadic and schizophrenic, in the sense that it's hard to pinpoint a solid foundation within the album, and easy to get lost in its infectious melodies.

Sure, he did appear on a Tame Impala remix last year, but few could have expected such a vivid and exploratory psych album as Let's Start Here.

Låpsley has expressed a fondness for writing sad songs, and while there's a pervasive melancholy to Long Way Home, it remains both accessible and sonically explorative throughout.

There are few surprises in Roosevelt's brand of dance music, but that seems decidedly the point; the synapses it triggers feel like the most welcomingly comfortable sort of sparks, firing on familiar-but-welcome cylinders.

Deer Tick are so wonderfully straightforward and stripped of all self-importance that Deer Tick Vol. 1 and Vol. 2 manage to make up for lost time without compromising any of the acute writing or boisterous energy the band are known for. The records aren't epic returns to form that beg to be lauded; rather, they feel like four guys remembering how much fun it is to make good music.

The Stoned Immaculate is just Curren$y at a higher grade, if you will.

Mileage on the more pastoral, slow tunes may vary, but bar italia are now a band in flux: they've mastered the chaos, and here is their first, true attempt to merge the hypnagogic impulses of their early efforts with the choleric punk of their present.

Guv I [was] an all-around more solid record, making Guv II feel a bit more like leftover parts than an essential second act — but Cook's knack for songwriting is nonetheless clear. At the very least, this sequel is an extra show of musical prolificacy and a good portfolio-stuffer with which to chase more work as a hired gun.

ANTI is perhaps her most complete and confident record to date.

It's a gritty, soulful sound that holds The Solution together, seemingly aspiring to be nothing more than "Boot Camp meets Little Brother": familiar and stress-free for an audience seeking a vintage feel in their hip-hop.

Paradise is a record with a big personality that demonstrates how much your integrity as an artist informs your music and why that slippery qualification separates someone like Hood from the legions of lesser producers out there.

This Too Shall Light is Amy Helm's second album outside of her group Ollabelle, proving further that risks pay off when you put your soul into it, and even within the unfamiliar, there is always light.

Where Black Is the Color was a debut of haunting folk-noir, Deluxe Hotel Room is a collection of emotive ballads that reveal an artist on the go who isn't afraid to make space for herself.

Where it stumbles as a concept record, it only sometimes succeeds as an art-rock record. As it turns out, an important idea does not an important album make.

"Let's Rock" is stripped-down, straightforward and ultimately, a blast. Not a single track meanders past the four-minute mark, bringing the band's best to the forefront: Fun jams chock full of Big Riff Energy.

A Folk Set Apart demonstrates not just his punk rock side, but all of the many facets McCombs has shown over the years. It would be an odd place to start your voyage of discovery, but then odd is kind of McCombs' middle name--so wander in.

While it can be a pretty heavy and involved listening experience at times, Undying Color should more than satisfy long-time fans and impress connoisseurs of avant-garde/ambient music.

It's a solid, long overdue return of one of America's great rock'n'roll bands.