Even with the dark lyrics, which at times overshadow some strong poetry, this album is a great listen due to Kacy’s lovely, lilting voice and Clayton’s all-over-the-fretboard guitar playing. And, for all the ballyhoo about moving to a full band sound, the rhythm section support is mostly subtle and Kacy and Clayton rightly assume the duo spotlight, as Tweedy stayed hands off, knowing that Kacy and Clayton had the songs and the chops.

Masterful. ... The band has created a unique sound that is both modern and retro, and the album features a wide array of styles and sounds. It’s a must-listen for fans of rock, funk and soul music, and for anyone looking for an album that is both musically and emotionally satisfying.

While the full arrangements are stunningly mesmerizing, like the punchy horns on the title track, or the twinkling, alluring guitars on “On The Rocks,” it is when Hanson is left alone at his piano that the album achieves its singularity. .... Whether he’s pontificating over nimble pieces of soul or telling tales fire-side with piano-driven arrangements, Hanson proves to be a modern songwriting giant on I Love People.

Shame’s style clearly display influences from classic post-punk bands like The Fall and Wire on Drunk Tank Pink, while carving their own path in this unknown spastic present while leaning towards an uncertain bleak future.

The distinctly raw sound is a cross between his usual folk-rock sound, and mountain music with generous hints of bluegrass, an area he explored earlier in his career.

His songs remain deeply personal, revisiting his drinking days and happy to be done with them in “It Gets Easier” and paying tribute to his wife, Amanda’s natural mothering instincts in “Letting You Go” yet there is not a song as impactful as “Cover Me Up” or “Elephant.” Nonetheless, his material is consistently strong enough to merit the four-bagger. Yes, four in a row equals a grand slam.

At 12 tracks long, and finishing just under 37 minutes, Sunshine Rock is relentless. It’s heavy without being dark. It’s catchy without being light. And while the bones of the album are Mould and his electric guitar, he has very carefully added different touches, like strings and keyboards, that enhance the tracks without being distracting. Sunshine Rock is an album worth hearing.

Any topic Scott touches across the album (sexuality, religion, oppression, et al), she does so with bold self-confidence and a sharp pen.

Final Transmission is a touching tribute to the life of Scofield, allowing his immense talent to be enjoyed by the world one last time.

From the few singles they’ve released to the soon to be hits off of Cave World, they are no doubt trying to widen their audience. But you can’t help but think they just don’t care, in the best way. They’ve unsubscribed to a version of punk or rock that places any sort of limitations on itself. They just want to make weird shit and command crowds with it every night.

It’s interesting that while the previous album had an intergalactic feeling, this seems a bit more acoustically grounded, a deceptively simple yet complex sound that grows in appeal with continued listens.

Yes, this should be a contender for Album of the Year in roots-rock circles. It is stunning.

The result is easily her strongest effort to date, and a perfect take, both musically and lyrically, on the conflicting emotions and themes of love.

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.

Musically the band takes some really big swings here on songs like “Hell On Earth,” easily one of their best tracks in years, and the beautifully soaring “Living In the Grey”; and those experiments almost always pay off. Impressively, the band pairs those musical gambles with some of their most personal lyrics yet, singing about fatherhood, expectations of masculinity and showing vulnerability. This new creative spark and lyrical enlightenment makes for Circa Wave’s most ambitious record so far in a career that is already pretty notable.

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

Sit Down for Dinner is an album you need to hear multiple times to understand the nuanced beauty of it all, allow Blonde Redhead to wash away the worries of reality and view these stressors through their technicolor, melodic lens.

Instead of the fire-burning street-taking bloodlust of your 20’s, the fight in your 30’s feels seated deeper in the belly. Birth of Violence feels like it’s about that fight: finding strength, power and will, and rising up to exert it all in the face of unending victimization and marginalization. Wolfe draws parallels between the treatment of women throughout history and the treatment and disregard of Mother Earth, also in the throes of shaking off her human oppressors.

With its complex sonic textures, use of repetition, and few standout hooks, The Million Masks of God is Manchester Orchestra’s least accessible work, but it’s an achievement in its own way. It doesn’t have many stand-out singles but is best appreciated by repeated listens in its entirety as the narrator, as a stand-in for the band, confronts his spiritual and emotional pain without a clear resolution.

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.”

The music is textured and production exquisite as layers of sounds and instrumentation ring clear, but if there is a weakness it is that lyrically the album is lacking. White and Benson both come off as blasé at times not offering much in the way of memorable lines, disengaging while moving towards generalities.

Throughout it’s impossible not to feel some goosebumps and chills in his poignant, raw delivery. ... Finley and Auerbach vary tempos and sound and with Finley’s changing vocal treatments, the album does a nice job of blending classic blues, R&B, and soul in an inviting mix. This project will likely receive much consideration for awards and year-end lists.

The cohesive Other You finds Gunn comfortably delivering gorgeous layers of guitar sounds over relaxed songs which are in no hurry to do much more than reflecting the Southern California sun.

She closes, rather surprisingly with the flamenco guitar-driven acoustic tune, “Chimayo,” revealing the nuances of her vocals, which can go almost instantly from sultry seductive tones to window-rattling power. It’s a surprisingly great touch, and at least for this writer, is the kind of tune we’d like to have heard more of on this eclectic effort.

Her artistic identity is on full display with each individual talent reaching a height we haven’t seen from Bully, and it appears there is no ceiling to hold her back.

It’s an effective blend superior to earlier attempts at versatility, as on the Bright Lights EP and, during the aforementioned “What About Us,” comparable to the absorption of musical elements present on previous full-length studio albums like Blak And Blu.

After years of recording under various aliases, he seems to have made peace with it and settled back into Wreckless Eric as his moniker. As his past several albums prove, he is just as vital.

She never meanders when storytelling, opting instead for a couple of spare verses with tight turns of phrase punctuated with humor and gravitas. Webster’s forte is silken expressions of lonesome introversion, and she does it with a radiating confidence that compels rapt attention.