Making A Door Less Open is a worthy addition to the creative evolution of Car Seat Headrest.

The ten-year hiatus hasn’t diminished anything about the Millers” unique partnership. The songs are as good as ever, Buddy still sings passionately and rips his guitar with determined fury. Julie sings as well as she ever has.

Murdoch and company have done a great job in creating a live album that includes a little bit of something for everyone. What to Look for in Summer does a fairly good job of capturing the magnetic energy of a Belle and Sebastian show and since we have been starved for live music this year, this is a welcome release to help tide us over.

Everything Was Beautiful pulls heavily from throughout the Spiritualized catalog, whether it be the Ladies and Gentlemen-era “Best Thing You Ever Had”, the soft, sentimentality of Pierce’s mid-career work on “Crazy” or the lush balance of And Nothing. All those influences, and their tonal similarities to his last album, never distract or take away from the conceptual success of Everything Was Beautiful.

Mavis has always strived to make us feel stronger. She is a remarkable role model bringing us remarkable, enviable spirit, captured here as well as it’s ever been.

Collaboration is a good color on Bass Drum of Death as Barrett looking to outside opinions allowed for his ideas to take full form and provide us with 12 tracks of unfiltered rock with enough melody to plant itself firmly in your psyche and remind you of what album to throw on when you need to get lost in a cloud of harmonious garage rock.

“Beye Bu Beye Ba,” may be the consummate track that combines brass, Taylor’s vocal, and his background singers, sounding authentically African as if one were transported to a ceremonial dance in a village. The final track is the other English titled tune, “Feeling,” with Taylor and his substantial accompaniment sailing off in blissful, horn and vocal punctuated glee.

It takes a while to get through this collection, but it’s time well spent. This collection is full of songs that will get your head bobbing and your body moving. On top of that, it is a must-have for collectors due to the rarity of some of the tracks and the presentation of the box set.

It’s an album that invites you in with warmth, unsettles you with its peculiar details, and leaves you somewhere between the past and the present, not entirely sure which is which.

Most of the songs maintain a decidedly hollow-eyed sound, one that requires the listener to lean in and patiently wait for the songs to reach a crescendo. Happily, it’s well worth the indulgence.

The arrangements here are spacious and dreamy, anchored by rich, righteous organ topped with airy falsetto and mesmerizing four-part harmony. Belying his sometimes-bleak persona, the writing here is buoyant and soulful – geared in every way to offer hope.

Brother Sister feels bigger than just the siblings, but it is essentially a gentle folk record with lovely instrumentation and gorgeous harmonies. With Sean primarily on guitar and Sara on fiddle, and both sharing vocals, the sound comes across at times like a full band but it’s usually just the two of them making stirring music.

The Sick, The Dying … And The Dead doesn’t have anything as epic as “Holy Wars” or “Hangar 18” or a riff as instantly memorable as “Symphony of Destruction.” But from start to finish, it offers unrelenting intensity and an outlet to channel anger and fears from a world ravaged by a pandemic, war, and economic struggles into shouting and head-banging along with Mustaine’s somewhat-fictional tales of the same. ... All these years later, the band’s music is as relevant as ever.

Gold Past Life operates almost on two levels for Fruit Bats, the sheer pleasure of making fun music that draws on the things we’ve treasured from ages past, while consciously rejecting the temptation to live forever in that space. The result is a record that is both easy to leap into, and rewarding to stay in.

Silver Tongue is an excellent collection of Scott’s strengths as a producer, performer and songwriter as her sounds run the gamut from modern pulsing anxious odes to open confessional natural pleas, each delivered with grace and ease.

Tare achieved something magical on 7s. The collection of music presented on the album changes with every listen, almost like watching a plant grow. The more your surrender yourself to the album’s intensity, the more you find solace in the hecticness.

Nada Surf has evolved into one of the most consistently satisfying indie pop/rock bands out there. Moon Mirror shows that their music is still evolving.

The mix of songs that sound like they’re being written on the spot sitting on a stool in a bar, with tracks that are a bit more polished and contain several musical layers makes for a compelling listen.

Raspberry Moon on Third Man Records finds Hotline TNT unlocking buzzingly beautiful guitar rock that washes shimmering tones in all directions as the band seems to be truly coming into their own.

Pernice, rightfully lauded for his classic pop songwriting and arrangements, has been compared to Burt Bacharach over the years. You can hear that influence in songs like “What We Had” and “December In Her Eyes,” two tracks that sound a bit dated and out of place on an otherwise great return for Pernice and his band.

One of the best bands playing today just keeps striding forward with confidence as Desires Pathway is yet another successful offering from the Screaming Females. The New Jersey trio continues to shift and create new sounds while keeping their hard driving style intact.

Yes, while the previous three revealed a gentler side of the band, this one flat-out rocks until we hear the spoken dialogue from St. EOM for whom the closer, an epic 12-minute instrumental, is named. It’s rendered simply by the quartet of Trucks, Dixon on B3, Boone, and Greenwell. As expected, it showcases the phenomenal spiraling, stratospheric guitar of Trucks. ... TTB, as expected, is off to a flying start.

History Books is a layered outing from Gaslight Anthem that is as familiar as it is refreshing. Longtime Gaslight Anthem fans will be pleased with the varying arrangements as the band traverses a colorful palette of moods and tones. Newcomers will be taken aback by the band’s unique diversity and lyrical dexterity as Gaslight Anthem pens gorgeous words to drive their latest outing.

Through its simplicity, Five Easy Hot Dogs achieved a level of beauty that redefines Demarco as a musician. Instead of relying on cheeky guitar tones and whispering vocal melodies, Demarco created a project that expresses his diversity without it feeling forced.

Ghosts of Otis Redding and Wilson Pickett float among the slinky groove that could set out on the tide forever as it gorgeously gets the head bobbing and hips swaying around the only non-political track. Those lyrics are the exception though as the upbeat post-punk of “The Perilous Night” bubbles and bounces while sarcastically saying Amen to fascism on the rise, cars cutting down protesters and Red Square shining in the White House; it is a dance party at the end of the world with splashes of the Talking Heads mixed in.

The album is one powerful, deep dose of positivity, purposely overstated, with the whole bigger than any single song. Whether any of us need the tidal wave of healing power DeMent summons may be debatable but the album brings an indelible, lasting quality that few others achieve.

If you are unfamiliar with the band’s music, this release may be the perfect place to start.

Earle has made a gorgeous tribute, every bit as good, maybe even a shade better than TOWNES.

These three-part harmonies and killer songwriting mix light and dark to muster a complex ode to memory, a call for hope, and an exercise in empathy, yet the overriding result is joyous. Careful planning and years of work went into this project that breathes a spirit of collaboration and freedom beyond the meticulous decisions about instrumental textures.

Coming out of a decade where many bands decided to incorporate electronics (for better or worse) into their sounds, it is refreshing to hear the new generation of bands returning to more traditional rock instrumentation. Horsegirl not only does this, but does it well.

While not a must-own for non-fans, it is the truest testament possible to the finale of The Stooges original lineup.

His most effortless success yet. Sundry Rock Song Stock is a breezy trip through the life of a confident and naturalistic performer, someone whose best work still may be ahead of him.

Despite containing infectious anthems like The Cure-inspired “One More Day” and pop-punk powerhouse “Chain Reaction,” Cotton Crown is a complex yet highly rewarding listen.

Unlike the last two albums, there really isn’t really a strong theme to this record aside from the rowdiness of many of the tracks here (the slow tempo “Drunken Moon” and “She Leads Me” being the two big exceptions). But after a couple of strong yet musically restrained records, it’s fun to hear Lucero tapping into their more raucous side again.

Mustaine and Mäntysaari tear through complex, heavy riffs and blistering solos with speed and precision. .... While the album may not reach the level of the band’s first six albums, it’s a fitting farewell for Mustaine, with enough heavy riffing and histrionic shredding to make those last notes memorable.

That effortless mixing of European folk, South American soul, Caribbean groove, cumbia, and dub makes returning to Chao’s style a joy. While it has taken seventeen years to arrive, Viva Tu is classic Manu Chao, a bit more mellow with age, maturity, and an easy-flowing sense of musical comfort.

This is indeed as animated as we’ve heard Lucinda in some time. Her articulation and her songs are strong, while buoyed by excellent backing musicians, vocalists, and superb production values.

The Ballad Of Darren has the band sounding as tight and crafted as the first time we heard from the Brit-pop trailblazers except this time around a sense of maturity rings through these 10 songs.

The World Is Still Here and So Are We is a wildly refreshing departure from the manicured world we live in, and welcomes back one of punk’s most innovative and underappreciated bands.

Each tune is hummable and lovely, the kind of soft-spoken tune that Bonnie weaves around acoustic guitar strums. The latter half of the album remains slow and steady—a pace broken only by the snaking horns on “Thick Air”—in contrast to the first half that culls the all the upbeat optimism into a packed room.

Albums don’t get much more soulful than the Memphis sound the two channeled on Robert Cray & Hi Rhythm, yet this continues in a similar vein, plunging deeper to include not just soul but some deep gospel too.

Lydia Loveless’ Nothing’s Gonna Stand In My Way Again is a cathartic release without a strong resolution, as the journey is the focus, staying strong through heartbreak, mental stress, and much more.

The Tubs’ debut album Dead Meat is a solid effort that showcases the band’s energy, attitude, and ability to blend punk aggression with melodic hooks. Fans of punk and rock music will find plenty to enjoy on this album, with its driving drums, snarling guitars, and impassioned vocals. The band is not afraid to take on difficult and controversial subjects and their lyrics are biting, politically-charged and true to their roots. It’s a must-listen for anyone who appreciates punk and rock music.

It’s not just a sequel to its counterpart, but an extension of that prior work as well as the live autobiography-in-song that is this group’s their eponymous debut.

Lennox’s Sinister Grift proves that the artist is far from done evolving. Its loss of its refreshingly underproduced consistency is a testament to Lennox’s maturity and songwriting.

Dayton not only renews these classics; he infuses them with an energy we didn’t even realize they had.

Ivey has a gift for peppering purposely vague lyrics with direct messages as if today the world is often dark and chaotic but there is a path through it. While the musical aspects of the project began rather experimentally, he ultimately delivers pleasing soundscapes that carry us through the bleakness. Somehow, we emerge feeling better.

Into The Blue introduces us to Frazer’s ambitions of redefining the modern soul landscape while reminding us he had a hand in shaping it.

This recording is difficult to describe but treasures abound with each new listen, especially in the orchestral sequences.

Sunrise on Slaughter Beach by Clutch is both a celebration of what has made this such a great band and a venture into new territories. It is unmistakably a Clutch album that will have you pumping your fist and singing along. And yeah, it probably does sound better in a slightly rusty 70s muscle car, but that’s not necessary to enjoy the album.

Made of Rain manages to be both vaguely nostalgic and groundbreaking at the same time. There are no obvious rewrites of their old songs here, but between Butler’s easily identifiable vocals – vacillating between anger and vulnerability – and the curiously heady mix of hard rock guitars alongside sax, the sound is still clearly built on the classic foundations of the band.

This is a no-bells-or-whistles effort from DeMarco, staying true to the Guitar title by tying together string-driven emotional releases with jaw-dropping consistency.

On its own terms, as a soft, singer-songwriter album, Weapons of Beauty is a showcase of deft storytelling from a singer with a captivating voice.

TANGK is an artsy outing that is polished and honed while refusing to stay complacent and neat, their range as a band now seems limitless as IDLES release the riskiest and most rewarding music of their career.

Non-Secure Connection is more than just a strong & cohesive collection of well-written material. It also represents a continuation of Bruce’s keen ability to adapt to the ever-changing musical & societal landscapes that shape our world today.

Lightning itself is a competent record, but more importantly it’s another notch in the belt of one of America’s most overlooked and underappreciated songwriters, someone who has consistently proven that he’s always worth hearing from.

Atlas Vending is a transitional album in the best of ways as METZ has proved they can create piercing noise with anyone around, now they deploy a wider scope without losing their foundation.

Ultimately much of the charm of Peculiar, Missouri was in its stripped-down, consistent sound. In contrast, Critterland is certainly not consistent. Rather, it’s a disparate collection of ambitious, oddball tracks that sometimes grab you instantly and sometimes take a while to sink in, but ultimately make for a compelling listen.

Robyn Hitchcock’s easy-going sense of whatever-will-be-will-be floats through the varied compositions on SHUFFLEMANIA! as the artist (with a little help from his friends) slips and slides around his Beatles inspired pop offerings.

Against the Dying of the Light is an admirable work whose musicianship in the telling far outshines what is ultimately told and creates many beautiful moments of reflection.

The sisters pour out their emotions fearlessly in this effort, making it their strongest album yet as their trajectory continues to steepen.

The gauntlet is thrown down directly at the start and while the following songs are all strong, nothing tops this dynamite performance.

There’s no pretension. It comes across here as well as it does in his live performances.

She can be both old-timey and contemporary. She’s a master at bringing polar opposites into a cohesive statement. The tension that lives in her songs and album sequences usually ends with a blissful takeaway and, despite a few new twists, the same is true here.

Savor this one.

Though Marr has always been more musically creative than his former, outspoken songwriting partner, Fever Dreams Pts I-IV proves it. With such a broad array of influences drawn from in the formation of this album, there is much to discover in each track and multiple listens are bound to reveal much more.

The album finds a comfortable middle ground between the warmth of your own bed after a long vacation and the anxiety of entering a new era in your life. She deploys just enough ambiance to keep us listening without distracting from her overall message, allowing the hushed melodies and simplistic arrangements to thrive under the all-encompassing creativity of its creator.

The musical conversations span different genres and styles as Marc Ribot’s Ceramic Dog hit new highs on Connection as the band throws out any sort of expectations and just delivers highly vibrant music that goes where the spirit takes it.

Haunting re-workings of “Private Hell” from the Jam’s 1979 Setting Sons resides next to solo favorites such as “You Do Something To Me,” both of which fit seamlessly into a set overtly and deliberately lush from its very start on “One Bright Star;” subsequently book-ended by “White Horses,” the program concludes with the appropriately emotional, but decidedly unsentimental flourish of “May Love Travel With You.”

Sonic Youth is criminally underrated and fans of adventurous, guitar-driven rock will find tons to like from their wide-ranging, rich career. Walls Have Ears is just an early drop in the sonic bucket.

Sangaré sings with as much if not more freedom and passion as she did on her debut some 30 years ago. She more than upholds the Malian traditions of rebels, undaunted in fighting for causes they believe in. And, in doing so, her voice and the entire musical presentation sounds joyous, spirited, and beautiful.

Two misses aside, this is the Delbert we’ve long known and enjoy, doing it as only he can.

We have one of the best in their series, one that sounds like one infectiously grooving continuous track.

The made-for-the-dance floor opener “Chasing An Empty Dream” begins with a ridiculously funky bass line from Steve before percussion kicks in, and Simpson’s smooth vocals singing about focus on materialism and a loss of family values to the punchy, syncopated horns and vocal harmonies. .... The pulsating tempo recedes to orchestrated strings in the first of two ballads, “Road to Zion,” sung beautifully by Simpson and enhanced by the band’s other vocalist, sounding like late-night R&B blaring from boomboxes in the ‘70s.

It is an album that refuses to confine to a single vibe or genre and can thus be seen as inconsistent. ... But further listens and history will show “Empath” to be an incredible neuro-spazzing journey into the mind of a musical master.

The 9-song record is certainly Hiatt’s most ambitious body of work to date and one of her best albums yet. The music is strong, confident and personal without being too earnest. And while she expands her sound and influences quite a bit on this one, it is still every bit a Lilly Hiatt album.

As always, it’s Bazan’s words that bring people to the table and keep seated. Rolling out of his mouth with no real set sense of intonation or melody, Bazan beautifully interweaves pinpoint specific tales of his churchgoing suburban youth with greater universal ideas of truth and meaning, all wrapped in his dark wit and humor.

With his rock solid, half Crazy Horse-half Heartbreakers sounding band, the Extraterrestrials, Ivey not only expands his sound from last year’s The Dream and the Dreamer, but he brings a passionate sense of urgency too.

Spirit Counsel is a testament to Moore’s musical vision, no wave roots, tonal sound and guitar style as he remains both clanging and melodic. Adventurous listeners will reap rewards from the textures and endless twists/turns Moore brings to these three long guitar-based passages.

Flea’s mission for Honora was simple: create something that feels both natural and impressive, something the listener can take with them throughout their day, and he achieved that, and more.

As the album nears its end, it gets more luminous.

Earth To Dora is very much a turn up the volume, open the windows and let everyone enjoy it type of record.

Genesis Owusu crafted an out-of-body experience of a sophomore LP. In a fit of cascading synths and lively flows, STRUGGLER has the artist not only attempting to understand the world around him but reimagining his already innovative style

While Highway Prayers may surprise some fans due to its genuine old-school bluegrass environs, it ultimately stands as yet another testament to Strings’ unmatched artistic genius.

It’s just like calling up an old friend you hadn’t talked to in years and within the first few moments of conversation, it seems that the time gap just evaporates.

The album keeps a lot of the fun experimental nature of their first couple of releases and blends it with a much more confident lyrical side that doesn’t shy away from personal revelations and vulnerability. As a result, it’s the perfect record to introduce the band to a much wider audience.

The Price of Progress as a whole prove The Hold Steady is in a great space, shifting, experimenting, and willing to try almost anything while still delivering their brand of well-worn, classic rock-influenced sound.

It’s refreshing to hear from the icon directly, especially with his quartet in such fine form.

To be sure, those moments on Sam’s Place that sound like vintage Little Feat are fleeting. But there’s no denying how this unit’s bond retains an authentic feel for numbers like those of the inimitable blues poet Willie Dixon.

While the album is generally melancholy, he is able to squeeze in a full spectrum of emotions around the same topic, allowing the album to flow naturally lyrically while Mann’s arrangement work provides new dimensions and textures, creating an undeniably smooth listening experience.

Bocoum seems to have certainly mastered the art of collaboration judging on the assemblage gathered for this jubilant set.

Ritter delivers a thoughtful, impressionistic work that is almost abstract and direct in equal measures. Yet, it’s difficult to absorb in just one listen, or to even single out individual songs. His well-crafted work is in essence a symphony with subtle treasures, both musically and lyrically, within the movements.

The Mountain successfully captures Gorillaz’ individuality without repeating it, pushing the band even further into this new era of experimentation with some of their most daring yet honed music in years.

There is a certain struggle to be found in these songs but it is hidden underneath her self-assured cadence. Her storytelling on this album is direct and authentic and introduces us to a new side of Archives’ creative personality.

These songs have a light-hearted nature to them that is overtly pleasant without sounding like they’re trying to be. While this approach doesn’t leave much room for experimentation, it does leave us with a consistent, exciting, easily enjoyable album that toes the line between spacious ambiance and robust arrangements.

As a consistent work of songs gestating over many years, Radical Romantics is a remarkable composite of Dreijer as they exist in 2023 and of the emotions that brought them here.

The duo’s employment of a more ambient soundscape pairs beautifully with the raw, often hard-to-hear emotional songwriting. Not that Lost Cause Lover Fool doesn’t retain the welcoming warmth of previous Milk Carton Kids’ outings, but this is a particularly vulnerable side of the duo. There is longing in every moment of this LP that forces the listener to sit in the uncomfortable truths detailed in these songs.

Green To Gold is one of the best Antlers albums to date and an album unrivaled in its essential need to exist in both in Silberman’s life and in ours.