Natalie Prass is a beautiful record that does best when it prods the sweet ache of failed romance.

For now, the band seem content to maintain the status quo and refine the elements that made them so appealing in the first place.

The Planet works more than well enough as its own insular world, and is hopefully but a taste of more to come.

Their traditional characteristics and intellectual concepts, incorporated with new elements and ideas, make Apex Predator - Easy Meat another impressive addition to Napalm Death's spotless catalogue.

Although not as strong as Visiter, Individ comes off as a spiritual partner to their 2008 breakthrough, showing the duo working quite well in comfortable surroundings.

Dahlia's a talented artist, but though the album aims high, it runs out of steam landing in the realm of just okay.

While the Go-Betweens may not be as well known to music fans as the Cure, R.E.M. or the Smiths, this lovingly curated box makes a convincing case that they are more than deserving of being on any list of the greatest rock bands of the 1980s or any other decade.

Fall Out Boy have honed in on an arena-rattling brand of pop that is different for sure, but likeable nonetheless.

Whether that is especially important to Calder is another thing entirely, but regardless, Strange Dreams is an enviable platform for any musician to vault from.

With each song finely crafted and composed, Nervous is an exploration of sonic tension that ultimately wrings beauty from an undesirable situation.

Despite a few kinks and unnecessary tracks, B4.Da.$$ is a great album that revisits classic '90s boom-bap signifiers: the production, the delivery and cadences.

It's these frenzied, sharp-turn transitions are what make this band feel so vital, so alive and so different.

There's not enough space here to get into why Sleater-Kinney may be one of the most important bands of 2015, but one thing is clear: they've already delivered a serious contender for one of the year's best records.

The Pale Emperor is downright ambitious when it wants to be and lazy when it can get away with it.

Though it's far from perfect--the Balkan folk-inspired "The Everlasting Muse" and lounge-y "Perfect Couples" weigh the back half down just a little--Girls in Peacetime Want to Dance is a statement record that Belle and Sebastian are still expert songwriters, with more than a few musical cards left to play.

This is Snapchat-raised turn-up music, trendy and self-actualizing through its references to memes that come quick as they go.

Uptown Special is unapologetic in revelling in its musical influences and ultimately represents a light and mainstream-friendly primer to funk and soul.

On Nights in the Dark, California X are comfortable in their own skin and playing at the peak of their powers, but the album would have fared best as a pared down EP nonetheless.

With Reality Show, Sullivan delivers an R&B album that feels like how R&B used to sound circa late 90's/early 2000 while still coming off as forward-looking.

Aside from this titanic single, Club Meds is an album of subtle pleasures that's more likely to creep under your skin than hit you over the head.

By immersing himself even deeper into the world of dub music and its equally minimalist and maximalist tones and tropes, Grim Reaper sounds stronger than anything he's accomplished so far.

Though incomplete (those final Cale sessions are an important hole) presenting them as a whole paints a fuller picture of one of the most important bands of the rock era, and forces listeners to at least briefly reimagine one of their favourite records as a wholly different beast.

Within its niche, it satisfies, but Homeboy Sandman's irrefutable skill level and work ethic deserves a bigger spotlight.

The result is one of 2014's tightest releases.

It is masterful, it is heartening and it represents today's best from an R&B/soul perspective.

Nicki is more personal, more timeless and more connected to her own artistry here, serving some of the most superlative work of her established career on The Pinkprint.

More than a dozen collaborators--including Ariel Pink, Ariel Rechtshaid and Vampire Weekend's Rostam Batmanglij--helped realize these 14 tracks, but their voices never overshadow Aitchison, who is finally given the spotlight she's rightfully earned.

While Sings Christmas Carols could provide any miserable person some relief at Christmastime, it also works nicely for anyone who loves these songs to hear someone other than Michael Bublé or Justin Bieber sing them.