Musically, it takes listeners through a dystopian dance-floor dream universe, with the shiny but comforting hand from its cover as our guide.

It's authentic enough for natives to appreciate, but universal enough to maintain broader appeal.

More Scared of You is a booming, jumbled and explosive work that's the best kind of mess.

Though less dark than his defining album or his latest soundtrack, Clark's latest balances whimsy and savagery just enough to know it's his.

Sincerely, Future Pollution is Timber Timbre's most confident record. The lyrics remain obtuse, but even if it's not clear that Kirk knows what he wants to say, he surely knows how he wants it to sound.

Triplicate proves that his ability to interpret the Great American Songbook is equally worthy of recognition.

It's true that Fujiya & Miyagi have a particular formula, and they seem to follow it on their self-titled LP, but they've managed to figure out when to use this formula to satiate listeners and when to tweak it to make listeners salivate.

August By Cake gets interesting when tracks like "Warm Up to Religion" and "What Begins on New Year's Day" tap into the melancholy that's occasionally haunted Pollard's melodies. Aside from those tracks, though, he shows little interest in the tinkering that made his earlier work so interesting.

Courageous and passionate, Bada$$ is a well-timed soundtrack to social and political struggle. While the album specifically chronicles the horrors of being a young black man in America, Joey articulates his angst in a way that easily resonates with anyone stumbling under the weight of oppression.

Mechanically, the hooks that adorned Shadow of a Doubt are largely absent, though Gibbs' increased attention to melody that was displayed on the aforementioned 2015 LP remains.

This is pop music designed to give you all the feels, and even with a disruptive pseudo-reggae track thrown into the mix ("Candles"), Future Islands prove that they can do it better than anyone else right now.

Swear I'm Good at This is an assured debut with a unique voice, one that finds humour in catharsis and catharsis in humour.

They're firing on all cylinders on Whiteout Conditions, working as one to deliver their most cohesive--and one of their best--albums to date.

This back-and-forth is carried along throughout Arca, demonstrating that Ghersi hasn't lost his fondness for tempered electronic cacophony (see "Castration" and "Whip"), but has expanded his palette, to mind-bendingly gorgeous results.

While its 'realness' likely won't win Roc too many new fans, it's sure to satisfy those down with the brand, and fans of that underground aesthetic he's become known for.

Orchestra Baobab have truly mellowed with age--those expecting a rawer and urgent take on West African rhythms may come away disappointed--but Tribute to Ndiouga Dieng is a triumphant spin on their classic style.

Penultimate track "Your World" is perhaps the most forward-thinking item here; with the unusual mash of R&B and dream pop, it offers something novel, where some other parts of the album do have a tendency to be a touch heavy on paying homage to styles past. But the sounds and homages on offer are diverse enough that this is a minor quibble with what should otherwise be held up as a model debut album.

Coco Hames is a skilful debut that explores the softer angles that the Ettes' last effort hinted at, trading in the spark-plug energy of Hames' former band for a more reflective flavour of songwriting. Luckily, her talent and enthusiasm for her craft are as strong as ever.

Pure Comedy is packed with so much meaning and complexity, it feels as overwhelmingly absurd, joyous, curious, tragic, extraordinary and contradictory as life itself.

Fussell has created a world of supernatural, natural and mundane forces on this record that gets better and better with each listen.

On What If, Hauschka delivers an unbuttoned works that's just as revitalizing for the listener as it sounds for the artist.

A Hairshirt of Purpose is a remarkable, disorienting and rewarding listen that captures a band in their mature, creative prime.

It's a spiritually holistic, potent dose of manna fit to feed a weathered movement.

The result is a better-than-most modern pop record filtered through an indie aesthetic that nevertheless lacks the forward-thinking drive of the best of either genres.

Weak spots include "Superfresh" and "Hot Property," staid disco-pop ditties offering outdated synth and vocoder machinations. But overall, Automaton is inspired, experimental and timeworn.

Much loved indie group British Sea Power have returned with a collection of songs that showcase the strongest elements of their music, giving listeners space for contemplation while also bringing a healthy dose of high-energy rock. Exquisitely crafted.

The result is a sprawling, warm and idiosyncratic album that doesn't sound as much like collaboration as it probably could have.

Bold and stirring, Darling of the Afterglow further establishes Lydia Ainsworth as a master of arrangement and melody, and pushes her just a few more inches toward the mainstream, where a larger, captivated following surely--and deservedly--awaits.