All the Ways You Let me Down is a charming record with plenty to like, just not enough to love.

To The Recently Found Innocent explores welcome new directions; rather than messing with a good formula, Presley has opened up to new ways of approaching it.

Alvvays' debut feels like a warm and fuzzy memory, forging a deeper sense of nostalgia with each repeat visit.

The band manages not to compromise their sound, but on The Black Market, the formula is growing stale.

"Nuage d'Ivoire" is one of Par Avion's highlights, while some slower pieces, like "Reflections," seem to drag on a bit.

Throughout Free Will, Webb sounds calm and inviting, having seemingly settled into his mid-30s. It suits him incredibly well.

Dollars to donuts, there's not one song or style here that "Weird Al" doesn't enhance with his sly social commentary or absurdity. All hail the weird king.

As Morrissey's ability to deploy his wit and worldliness fades, it's nice to hear him wax romantic, but for the first time on record, he seems more obsessed with others than himself. Sadly, it doesn't suit him well.

Hard Believer has a simmering urgency, but though the album seems like it's always building to something, when it ends, you can feel how far it has come.

On their debut, Jungle show that you don't have to reinvent the wheel as long as it's travelling down brand new, unexplored avenues.

Peaceful yet highly engaging, Ishi invokes the masters of modular synthesis, a music rooted in technology that somehow comes across as utterly primeval.

Unlike the conceptual rock opera project that was Nostradamus, Redeemer of Souls is pure metal joy, full of surging anthems, martial stomps, unbridled passion and huge, crunchy production values.

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

Unfortunately, the band play it safe on No Coast.

Just consider it a solid project from an artist who, after creating albums since the late-90s, is finally getting her recognition in front, instead of behind the curtain.

Either as a companion or a standalone, it's a consuming piece of music that reminds us of the Weavers' ambition to always lead and never follow.

One of the best Americana records of the year.

Venetian Snares is a veritable virtuoso when it comes to drum programming, and as was to be expected, My Love is a Bulldozer is littered with downright slick percussion.

Overall, In My World is a first-rate sophomore effort.

Using a finite set of equipment to create these seven tracks, much of EX comes off strikingly similar in sound, but Hawtin being the staunch veteran that he is, uses it to his advantage, reusing and appropriating signature tones and modes to craft the most solid live set you weren't lucky enough to attend.

The band one-up Ex Lives in every regard.

Frankie Rose might not be the face of Beverly, but Careers is one of the best things she's done to date. But Drew Citron deserves most of the credit.

Blissfucker is not quite as perfectly crafted as Darker Handcraft, trading control for the broken and the strange, but though the results are less even, the finest work on the record still finds Trap Them at their very best.

On Gamel, OOIOO praise the traditional while eschewing the benign to create a truly original rhythmic screed.

As their name suggests, they have all the control over the music, and how they channel that is through wonderful anarchy.

With LaCaze's drum tracks on the record, Eyehategod is a fitting tribute, but also signifies a new beginning for this band that just don't quit.

Not everything here works--Shahid Mustaf MC's needless reworking of Parliament's "Getting To Know You" simply doesn't improve on the original--but exclusive mixes like Joey Negro vs. Horse Meat Disco's "Candidate For Love" should ignite the dance floor.

Hopefully ASDIG will never give in completely to conventional songwriting, because it's the little idiosyncrasies that make their expansive music so breathtaking--which, incidentally, really is the best word to describe Sea When Absent.