There's no song on Black Mile like "Wolves at Night" or "April Fool," the kind of high-energy howler fit for an EA Sports game, but their efforts have paid off with an artistic triumph, the kind worth regarding as a creative masterwork among their collection.

Roadrunner: New Light, New Machine achieves artistic exploration while maintaining the unmistakable hip-hop aesthetic without it feeling pretentious or forced.

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.

It's a potent celebration of their past work and a capable endnote to the band's career, whether it truly is the their final release or not.

It certainly has a strong first half, opening with "Eve of Destruction" and "Bango," a pair of high-energy tracks that play to the Chems' strengths. ... Similarly, just-okay tracks like "We've Got to Try," while boasting some exciting elements, seem b-tier in light of past triumphs. That said, even b-tier work from the Chemical Brothers is worthy of interest--an opportunity to respect one's elders.

Excluding its minor gaffes, More Life cements a place for genres long-overlooked by mainstream media; dancehall, grime, Afrobeat, house, trap and, of course, rap, and takes Toronto on a world tour to celebrate life--More life.

Listeners should strap in and brace themselves for some stylistic hairpin turns. Thankfully Simpson is at the wheel, his Teflon tough voice, high torque guitar playing, and vivid lyrics steadying this thrilling journey through a world on the brink, and ensuring the wheels never come off, which would surely happen with a lesser artist in the driver's seat.

It's inevitable that lately i feel EVERYTHING will be relentlessly compared to its influences and predecessors, but Willow manages to pay homage to the subculture while putting her own spin on it.

Pratt's succinct lines can spill out so naturally and conversationally it's hard to believe someone wrote them, except that she messes with the syntax a little, too.

Wenu Wenu does a decent job presenting the veteran singer, but your desire to return to this disc hinges upon your enthusiasm for that instrument's unique sound.

He might have the Midas touch when it comes to genre, but when it comes to his last word, Terje is wise enough to say it in his first language.

He really can write a song, and the fact that it never wears out its welcome makes his music damn enjoyable.

With their debut full-length, WEVAL have proven that they're willing to approach their music with their ears wide open and their possibilities endless.

From the diamonds on the chains he hedonistically spits about while prospering to the shameless confessions he unveils at the nadir of despair, the way Lanez embraces his flaws makes his music stand out.

The album is an ode to all that Khruangbin have achieved and a look forward to everything that is to come.

Every track on Texas Moon is a moment of catharsis, delivered with as much swagger as spirituality.

If you can get past the haughty lyrics on "Fickle Sun (ii)," for instance, then its minimalist piano notes will surely impress. And yet, even that song's musicianship sounds downright conventional compared to preceding tracks "Fickle Sun (i)" and opening track "The Ship," a 21-minute composition that begins with solemn synth moans like a distant vessel's horn.

These songs don't contain the spine-tingling embrace of death that fuelled Leonard Cohen and David Bowie's final albums, but Nelson faces his realities head on here, with grit and a grin.

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.

The Heliocentrics' most beguiling effort to date.

The tracks on Apocalypse, girl flow into one another like smooth, glassy water, and the collaborations, with improv cellist Okkyung Lee, harpist Rhodri Davis and Swans' Thor Harris, add texture.

Dulli and company manage to elatedly deliver everything long-standing fans crave in an Afghan Whigs album--and they do so in spades.

On Brill Bruisers, the band's glory days have returned.

Didn't He Ramble shimmers, saunters and charms; Hansard has never sounded so good.

Lux Prima certainly isn't Karen O's most urgent or explosive work, but it all sounds exceptionally lovely.

Otherworldly and full of enchantment, Deerhoof's 13th studio album, The Magic, finds the wholly original and ever-engaging band at their most cohesive and versatile.

For more than a decade, Lady Gaga has encouraged us to 'just dance' regardless of the pain hidden deep within ourselves. While she may have veered off from her own advice over the past few years, Chromatica proves that Gaga is back and better than ever.

Sol Invictus isn't perfect, and it's not their best work, but Faith No More creaking with a little rust and blinking cobwebs is still a glorious thing.