There’s a careful sequencing to the record that one can only appreciate listening to it in its entirety. Let it take you places.

You don’t need to have read the book to appreciate the honesty of the album, which makes a compelling argument for Lanegan as a contemporary Lead Belly. ... The tracks aren’t designed to be ornate; they’re designed to support his lyrics. The result is a beautifully haunting journey.

Each listen reveals more layers in each song, the first listen might sound like The Beach Boys and the second listen maybe sounds like Donovan, and by the third it just sounds like Max Clarke. Yet it’s entirely original the whole time and perhaps one of the best albums to be released so far this year.

On the band’s first album of original songs since 2015, Martsch is back, on top of his game throughout When the Wind Forgets Your Name. Whether it was the Brazilian inspiration, Covid isolation, or just plain time for another solid BtS record, Martsch and company deliver.

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.

The energy and the seamless fusing of these genres create remarkable, infectious, foot-stomping grooves that rarely relent. Instead, they threaten to explode at times.

Personnel differs slightly on each selection and the support is both sturdy and nuanced. It’s as if you need to listen at least twice even for the initial listen, once for the vocal beauty and again for the instrumentation. Even though the year has just begun, expect this marvelous project to show up on many Year’s Best lists for 2020

Throughout, as we’ve come to expect, Armatrading sings fervently and delivers a batch of songs that at first listen, seem fairly simple, but echo with a bit more intensity each time.

On BOOK (the record) They Might Be Giants continue to pump out what they always have, smart earworm pop tunes that are slightly odd, tastefully corny and instantly catchy.

It is impossible not to hear Hewson’s father’s band, U2, everywhere on the record. “Still Young” feels directly out of Bono’s wistful memory as French horns, yearning/echoing vocals, and climatic choruses are dramatically drafted. While those high-profile connections can’t be ignored, neither can Inhaler’s strong sense of catchy pop-rock flowing throughout Open Wide.

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.

THE BPM is Parks’s riskiest and most rewarding album to date, and proves that the artist can manipulate her tendencies into whichever form she pleases.

Power introduces us to a new side of Illuminati Hotties that takes the pressure of the guitars and drums and places the weight of the album on its words, creating an enticing juxtaposition that may take a few listens to understand fully. Still, once it clicks, you’ll appreciate that Tudzin stumbled upon hit records while expressing intense emotions.

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.

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.

Down in the Weeds, Where the World Once Was is very complicated lyrically and also very fresh. The trio championed the moody music that college English students sat in their dorms and cried too, and Bright Eyes doesn’t leave that signature out, but they doctor up the sonics resulting in a dense return from a long hiatus.

While 13 years is a long time to wait, the gap melts away between the sounds of this 86-minute masterpiece. Difficult though it might be to fully process, it eases right into the Tool oeuvre and cements its place among their small but towering pantheon of prog-metal art.

Unlike the 2017 pair of albums which were rather short, Stapleton delivers a generous heaping of 14 songs here. He has nothing left to prove, but somehow, he just gets incrementally better as he takes more control and confidence in his own songwriting.

McKagan is an interesting artist. He seems to have no trouble moving between musical genres and he’s equally good at writing in different styles. ... Tenderness isn’t just good for a hard rock guy or a member of Guns N’ Roses. It’s a good album, regardless of whomever, McKagan has played with.

On 2018’s The Other, Thomas was questioning and searching in sometimes morbid ways. Now, with the personally emotional Smalltown Stardust, he has found some solid answers in nature, love, friends, and hometown memories; King Tuff sounds gratifyingly grounded.

Wand loves to play with a variety of influences, touching on everything from psych rock to art pop to noise to indie to jam with equal confidence as Vertigo touches these different subgenres but manages to keep an interesting, cohesive tone for the full, dizzying ride.

This is a vital and worthy addition to Jones’ diverse catalog, surely with the potential for her tenth Grammy win.

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.

Musically, songs like the rollicking “Dogbane” and the classic country vibe of “Stone Door,” find the Disarmers at their most adventurous taking risks that manage to pay off just about every time here. Revelations finds Shook and their band at their best across all 10 tracks.

The meaty rock foundation with touches of psychedelia and skylark folk that fans have come to love are still here, now with a soulful heft that nods to Muscle Shoals and Memphis, which in one sense, makes it a bit more tangible than his previous work. Yet it remains moody and vast, cohesive and compelling.

While Me/And/Dad has its share of some genuine knee-slappers, such as “Way Downtown” and “Dig A Little Deeper (In The Well)”, the album ultimately draws its strength from the emotionally charged performances heard on some of the more somber material. ... Me/And/Dad shines thanks to its stripped-down arrangements of traditional material that serve as a welcome counterpoint to the progressive-fueled musical fireworks that often accompany Strings’ live shows.

Ochoa’s music will inevitably have you smiling and perhaps reaching back to the Buena Vista Social Club recording and its various offshoots.

The NYC disco-pop outfit delivers a lot of grooving, dance-ready options.