By bringing things down to the basics, Khruangbin seemingly reinvented itself yet again without pushing too far into the future and looking too much at past success. The band is stubbornly present and takes its time creating a meditative album lined with moments of instrumental bliss and newfound territories for the band to explore.

Medicine at Midnight is the most upbeat and poppy Foo Fighters album. While the band has always incorporated elements of melodic pop as far back as “Big Me” in 1995, this is the slickest and most radio-friendly album to date.

Muzz is a familiar culmination of previous individual sounds that mesh well together, but Muzz not only blends influences, but they also undertake new sonics to further push the progressiveness of the project. Muzz is nuanced in how it shifts from intimacy to defamiliarization, this indie gray area riffs off the familiar and transforms it into something entirely new.

Mádé Kuti removes any doubts, announcing himself as a vital torchbearer of his family’s incredible musicianship infused with a fighting-for-the-oppressed spirit.

This is a fresh, meticulously arranged but still casual-sounding big band outing.

The duo of Dan Auerbach and Patrick Carney have found that creative musical joy again, with the overarching feeling on the album being, fun.

At eleven songs, Ocean to Ocean is Amos’ lithest, most condensed album of original songs since 1999’s To Venus to Back. The album benefits from the tracklist’s economy, and for the first time in over a decade, there are no songs that stick out as filler or potential b-sides; rather, all eleven songs on Ocean to Ocean are vital parts of the album’s whole. Even on some of the less immediately engaging ones, like “Flowers Burn to Gold,” the lyrics offer some of Amos’ most striking imagery.

This is a highly creative album that only Robertson could deliver. It’s not perfect but it’s highly memorable and well-conceived.

In more ways than one, these renditions fulfill the duo’s ambition to avoid just cranking out the hits.

Another complex, solid effort from the Drive-By Truckers, one of the great American bands, who are happy to keep on writing songs about trains and people who died on Welcome 2 Club XIII.

This is a leap forward for Hiatt who delivers her most fully realized album yet.

At only eight tracks, Heartmind is a perfect length to listen to multiple times. If a song doesn’t grab you the first time around, upon repeat listens the nuances that are layered throughout tend to pop out and give the listener a new appreciation for it.

Its seamless collection of earworm melodies and heady grooves make for a pretty compelling argument that it was well worth the wait.

Yet even as Volume 16 turns enervating from certain vantage points, the distinctive quality of the content ultimately renders omissions moot. ... The formatting and the content of Springtime in New York 1980-1985 thus mirrors Bob Dylan’s discography at large, especially in recent years. Accordingly, both fans and dilettantes will find it rewarding, though perhaps in ways neither demographic might expect.

The sound quality is crystalline; remarkable considering how long this has been sitting in the vaults. The tone remains most serene for the first five and half minutes. .... The audience applauds after Jimmy Garrison’s bass solo thinking it’s over but the tenors and piano resume to take it out. This music is by contrast so ridiculously intense compared to the first half.

Theirs is a very relaxed approach, two longtime friends totally immersed in joyous music. The feel is far more important than precision. ... The gritty, gravel-toned voice of Taj is always a treat and Cooder’s masterful picking and slide skills are always impressive.

With Never Not Together, Nada Surf adds more songs destined to become fan favorites to their catalogue.

The album is as raw as it gets, simply down-home porch music. .... We now have a vivid reminder of what traditional Black string music sounds like, at a time when those in power want to ignore and even erase such important legacies.

A less-cluttered and more intimate take on “Remember You” might well have increased its potency as the closing cut. Nevertheless, the ‘less is more’ premise remains in effect just often enough on Blue For Lou to certify the record, name associations aside, as a memorable entry in the lengthy discography of Nils Lofgren.

It ["May I Never"] brings the album’s journey of self-examination and introspection to a powerful close.

Vedder has been open about his struggles with mental health and he seems to be in a very positive place with this record, expressing himself as his love for classic rock comes to the forefront on Earthling.

His fourth solo effort but first for ANTI-, the album like those before it is an unpretentious affair, filled with plenty of sly, smart humor, packed with underdog energy.

The Fleshtones continue delivering their no-frills version of what they dub “SUPER ROCK” throughout It’s Getting Late (…and More Songs About Werewolves), via confident riffs, banging drums and vocals filled with jokes, immediacy and just a touch of yearning honesty.

In The Real World stands with his best because it’s one of the few with all original material, and it has perhaps the most pristine production of any of his studio work.

A surprising reunion, The Secret Machines have successfully opened a new decade with Awake in the Brain Chamber, a comeback album that sounds right at home with their past releases while painting a way forward if the band continues to explore their rock cosmos.

Edwards’ vocals are vibrantly strong, framed beautifully by the accompaniment, whether driving hard or in a more sensitive mode.

Generations is a more mature album than Policy in that Butler creates a cohesive narrative throughout. ... Butler also proves that he is adept at creating music on his own without having to rely on past sounds from Arcade Fire.

While not as accessible as It’s A Shame About Ray or as punk-focused as Hate Your Friends, Love Chant is an impressive blending of both styles.