Her smooth, rich voice dances gracefully over the rougher guitar riffs and drums found all over No Burden, her extremely confident first full-length.

Unlike some of Will Oldham's previous collaborative albums, this one really works.

Full Circle as a whole feels anti-climactic. It's a rough start for Haelos, aren't exactly short on potential--here's hoping they branch out and find themselves on future releases.

On The Narrows, Phillips hasn't so much reinvented his craft, he just reinvented his perspective.

While the second half of the album almost makes up for its flaws, it doesn't quite manage to make Compassion a memorable whole.

If there's one thing that Aa demonstrates in spades, it's growth. The record not only shows a wide array of styles, but lays a solid foundation for Baauer to build on in the future.

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.

It's an uneven effort by a band that specializes in doing whatever the hell feels right.

As per usual, every song Homme touches ends up being undeniably sexy, but it's unlikely you'll want to take it off and get it on, listening to it. Post Pop Depression isn't the sound of an acclaimed artist seamlessly slipping away, but a wild animal screaming with all his might into the night.

Petrol mixes ambient and free jazz with satisfyingly cohesive results.

Weiss long ago found his own voice, and on Standards he finally captures it on tape for the world to see and hear.

Luneworks is not a lulling listen; rather, the album seems to turn restlessly with sonic insomnia, the songs tracing the arc of some sleepless passage like a night plagued by intense longing.

All told, Painkillers does many things well and few things poorly. It's not a Gaslight record, but it's one that fans will find familiar.

When Collegrove is good, it's very good. Unfortunately, it's tough to hear this project as anything but a crude marketing move to keep both rappers relevant until their next solo projects.

All said, untitled unmastered. is a brilliant mini-album that stands well on its own, but it works even better as a fascinating To Pimp a Butterfly appendix, expanding on and balancing the themes of that album both sonically and lyrically.

The highs aren't quite as high as they might have been ten years ago, but Nada Surf are dependable purveyors of indie rock, and on YKWYA, they are as solid as ever.

Each of the 11 here tracks deliver much the same mood however, and if one were to quibble, it might be to suggest that Moomin's beats strive so hard to be tasteful and inoffensive that they sometimes verge on blandness. That being said, if you love your house sepia-toned with plenty of TR808, Moomin's latest is for you.

Heavily arranged around Hans-Joachim's piano playing, much of the music on Echtzeit is surprisingly melodic, as Qluster keeps a thawing pace throughout the album.

Without Goodman's unique artistic voice anchoring and guiding the proceedings, Music for Listening to Music To feels set adrift, done in not by its makers' stylistic diversions, but by their unwillingness to give the album a proper focal point.

There are moments here where she falls into a nice pocket that the listener might wish she'd remain in for a little while longer.

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.

While this album is masterful in a number of ways, it's Thao's confessional element that ties everything together.

In these subtler moments, Ward's genius is undeniable; if he employs more of that lighter touch on his follow-up, it'll be the classic that More Rain falls just shy of being.

As is, it's a great outing by Anthrax, if slightly frustrating in its lack of ability to keep the great momentum going consistently.

The Art of Hustle has vision, but it's occasionally weighed down by Gotti's efforts to recreate the success of his biggest single yet.

Given some judicious editing, this could have been a truly great album; as it stands, we'll have to settle for just really, really good.

The cumulative result of these exploratory tracks is a meditative collection that stays true to Submotion Orchestra's house background despite exploring new auditory combinations.

Bullion makes the weird wonderful on Loop The Loop, painting streaks of heartbreak and sadness onto a bubbly, almost animated canvas that evokes as much as it mystifies.