The record is strikingly patient and meditative, even to the point of being hypnotic.

At over an hour in length, Teenage Emotions is more quantity than quality.

For Play What They Want, Colpitts and Brooklyn-based ensemble TIGUE Percussion partner with some legendary guests, and the result is an expansive, writhing body of busy, ego-less playing delivered with a beating, beaming heart.

While some of this album's material might seem pretentious or esoteric, Amidon's strengths--his musicianship, rustic voice and taste for innovative arrangements--still shine through.

Thankfully, he quickly debunks any clichés about artists needing to be tortured on Kids, which marks the grown-up Earle's glorious return to form.

Evans tries to preserve authenticity by enlisting producers like Chucky Thompson, Stevie J and DJ Premier (who all worked with Biggie in life). It's an understandable move, but the album's production is simply too dated to resonate.

You don't have to be a churchgoer to recognize the positive, life-affirming role music this powerful can play. Given the state of things in the American South (not to mention various hotspots around the world), music this soulful is clearly timeless.

It's the second half of the album where Reinhart takes over the vocals to sing a string delightfully warped groove pop songs with math punk flourishes that the band feel the most cohesive.

Jukka's production style and Boucher's lyrics and singing are strong on their own, but together, their chemistry has led to one of the year's strongest debuts.

To say Black Origami is an album that grows on you with each listen is correct, but undermines the energy you feel upon the album's first listen. It's earthy and futuristic, complex and linear, dance-y and a total mind-fuck.

The songs are short and punchy, and nod to the anything-goes attitude that pervaded the jams sessions from which they were born.

Here they are with the emotionally eloquent Spin, rejuvenated and sounding just as good as a duo as they ever did as a quintet.

They have a warmth and earnestness that permeates their complex emotional movements. Their soundscapes seamlessly blend the organic and rustic infrastructures of urban life.

Rocket is a true tour de force that cements (Sandy) Alex G snugly in the company of indie rock's great auteurs.

Besides one failed experiment of a song, You're Welcome's 11 other tracks are not only some of the best songs Williams has ever penned, but some of the freshest, most inventive tunes the genre has heard in years.

The LP is both amusing and poignant, full of strange imagery and punch lines that are characteristic of Mountain Goats.

With Life After Youth, Powell has gifted us a beautiful treatise on how to think about life, relationships and what's important.

Grant's versatility makes Paradise an alluring locale that listeners will eagerly, and frequently, revisit.

There's a handful of above-average tunes here, and an earnestness that suggests Harry Styles will have a fruitful solo career.

All the Beauty in This Whole Life is a welcome work by an artist who's put it all on the table over the past six albums; his seventh was well worth the wait.

The genre is wide, but Stapleton's Room is so narrow and old-fashioned that, despite its quality songwriting, it feels stifling at times.

It's singular, creative work with pure intent; that makes Girlpool an important band, and it makes Powerplant an authentic, beautiful, effective record.

The 45 songs, presented chronologically, exhibit a somewhat expected musical maturing--from the raw piano attack of 1984's "From Her to Eternity" through to 2013's contemplative mantra "Push the Sky Away." ... It's the DVD, which jumps around in time, and includes both professionally shot official concert footage and fuzzy bootleg gems, that's the prize here.

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.

Beats are enjoyable, ranging from murky piano and trap drums on "Fish n Grits"--despite Travis Scott's painfully sung hook in stark contrast to his killer bars --to absolute winner "Fashion Week," with infectious, sexy vocals laced into the drum line.

I Go Missing in My Sleep really shines when Wilsen are at their most intricate.

The fact that it's essentially more of the same might make it uninteresting to some, but to fans of the band or any of its widely known predecessors like Jimmy Eat World or Taking Back Sunday, that sameness will bring a welcome sense of comfort.

Although Versus is certainly not a place for casual Craig fans to start, nor is it designed for the dance floor crowd, it's an achievement that appropriately showcases one of Detroit's finest exports.