Changephobia might not necessarily win over skeptics, but it's the most coherent vision — lyrically and sonically — of Rostam as a solo artist so far.

If you're a longtime fan of the source material, you're bound to find some stuff here to amuse and intrigue you, but you'll still likely see this as a collection of throwaways, of generally inferior covers of your favourite songs. But if you don't know the Dead from a ham sandwich, you may well hear tunes on this collection that turn you toward exploring that chaotic, marvellous, maddening, singular American band.

Mama, You Can Bet! highlights Muldrow's encyclopedic knowledge of jazz, hip-hop, funk, R&B and soul, making for a stylistically eclectic album. The 15-song sequence, however, is eminently cohesive, each track building on or seemingly responding to the previous one.

While ψ certainly isn't for everyone, it's nonetheless an important album that strives to get us to think outside the boom box.

Dacus brings a sense of wit and sensitivity; Bridgers a quiet melancholy; Baker a raw ferocity. the record combines those individual instincts into a group effort that's compelling in all sorts of ways — and one that's also charmingly (and, in a way, fittingly) imperfect.

With Always Foreign, TWIABP's chaos is more calculated and controlled, even as their fiery resolve burns from the inside out.

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.

Whether you can consider this old-school, new-school, or somewhere in between scarcely matters. What we have here is yet another brain-melting album from an artist who refuses to stand still.

Across U kin B the Sun, Ford's first record in six years, she offers affirmations that are deeply touching and inspiring.

Between his riffy, arpeggiated acoustic strumming and the strongest vocal performance of his career, he cries out, grief-stricken, to hold on to life yet to be lived. With a record this strong so deep into his career, he’s definitely making the most of his own time.

Hval's knack for the conceptual can make her an elusive songwriter, but The Long Sleep offers plenty of immediate charms. Like the disco ball that hangs through the EP's first half, Hval breaks down her ideas and refracts them into something luminous.

Whether she is quite literally questioning her own happiness in "Hannah Happiness" or dealing with the act of sharing feelings with others in "Stranger Sat by Me," Read awakens the overwhelming feeling of second-guessing choices or misremembering a specific experience.

The only real disappointment here is that it arrives just as summer ends, because few albums have been better suited for beach life as this one.

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.

Blending themes of politics and modern science into his fashion of storytelling, My Finest Work Yet is a true tour de force.

Between only a couple hiccups, If You're Reading This It's Too Late weaves personal raps, 6-side boosts and absorbing production in cohesive fashion. It's an engaging preview of the upcoming Views from the 6.

Lyrically, the album is poignant and clever, though it does occasionally falter, as on the grungy nu-metal number "Happy Song."

Wuthering Heights expertly plays with the joys and violence of love, always leaving space for the nuances of both. As the sun finally rises at its finish, it's clear that this album is ultimately an optimistic love story, even if it's a Gothic horror set within Bluebeard's castle.

This might not be the most urgent Sigur Rós album, but it'll surely be remembered as one of their most gorgeous. For a band so well known for all things beautiful, beauty for its own sake is hardly a problem.

By giving their songs more directness, Local Business succeeds in what the band set out to do: present Titus Andronicus as a charged, dynamic live band.

At just nine tracks and 36 minutes, Silver Tongue runs the gamut on aural and ethereal moods, leaving Torres with one her most emotionally fulsome and satisfying records.

The set list here, drawing a bit from 2013's Push the Sky Away and then from throughout their catalogue, features longer songs, each drawn out patiently, and rewards fans before trying to impress novices.

With no shortage of hooks and crescendos, Wonderland continues to revel in the spirit of TTA, demonstrating more greatness by this industry anomaly.

Your Queen Is A Reptile, is 55 minutes of ecstatic insurgency.

Like many bands with a "core" attached to their sub-genre, Emmure are adept at making every song into an almost continuous, ferocious breakdown and it's a formula that keeps the album's momentum at its peak at all times.

Like a punk rock Watch the Throne, No Life for Me finds two of the genre's leading lights working at the peak of their powers.

Its sparseness allows the listener to reflect, in the time and space, on the moments of staggering beauty in the poems.

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