The songs on The Traveler are tight and streamlined, with no particularly lengthy solos and little frenetic fretboard shredding. ... Instead, the focus is on good blues-based rock songs with catchy grooves, sing-along choruses, and memorable lead moments. Shepherd still shows his six-string mastery, especially on “Turn To Stone,” but he does so in much smaller doses.

Michaela Anne has been on a steady rise since her 2014 debut Ease My Mind. Desert Dove will certainly steepen this trajectory. She is deservedly a major emerging voice in country and Americana circles.

Swimmer doesn’t quite reach the peaks of other Tennis albums but is a solid album featuring expertly composed and performed piano pop.

Twenty-five years into it, Jurado can still write compelling, emotionally powerful songs driven by little more than his commanding voice and a stripped down acoustic guitar. But the unevenness of this record makes it a hard entry point for those unfamiliar with his work. Longtime fans of Jurado can still find enough to rally behind this one.

Brijean’s new album Feelings is an exciting lush and layered sophomore effort.

While it would be difficult to ascribe the term ‘organic’ to the original album, the original bears more melodic qualities and the ebbs and flows are musician-driven versus effects-driven. It’s a preference – dancefloor or couch and headphones. It’s not every group that can deliver both experiences and that makes GGP special.

The album has a joyous feel and familiarity even by those who have never heard U-Roy before. Each tune rings vibrantly with highlights being the artist’s earliest hits of “Wake The Town” and the cheeky “Wear You To The Ball.”

Side-Eye NYC (V1.IV) is, again, a natural and comparably diverse extension of his ongoing ambition(s). Satisfying as it is as (re)new(ed) Metheny music, this album will also whet the appetites of his aficionados and jazz lovers in general for future installments in the series.

Royce Hall, 1971 is a solo acoustic gig, recorded in January of that year on the UCLA campus, while Dorothy Chandler Pavilion, 1971 is a similarly executed performance, with Young on vocals, guitar, piano and harmonica, on the last US show of his solo tour. While these first two may seem redundant in the wake of the aforementioned prior releases, they are also a testament to the consistently high level of Young’s performances.

The story there [on “Birdsong”] and on “Losing You” is almost as absorbing as the depth of sound for No More Worlds to Conquer: the audio quality compels more than a passing thought about how that less than three-minute latter track might go on longer. But Robin Trower repeats himself no more often in his solos than with each successive record of his, so “Waiting For the Rain to Fall” also whets the appetite for more of his rich, thoughtful playing.

It’s quite conceivable Noise & Flowers will convince aficionados as well as more casual listeners of the potency of these musicians as they collaborate in the spontaneity of the moment. In so doing, it may simultaneously join Hitchhiker (recorded in 1976 and released in 2017) as one of the highlights in Neil Young’s ever-expanding discography.

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.

["Goodnight" is] one of the strongest album closers heard recently and takes the edge off the hard-hitting statements that make up the bulk of this provocative, lay-it-all-out-there effort.

Never shy with their political activism, Plastic Eternity is a battle cry for those who share the band’s beliefs. For those who don’t, it’s still a fun alternative album that channels political fury into a fiery collection of aggressive rock.

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

Yes, it’s as good as you’d imagine.

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.

The first release from these Australian friends finds firm footing as GUM / Ambrose Kenny-Smith Ill Times pumps up the jams and rocks the house.

Overall, Andrew Gabbard plays to his vocal and guitar playing strengths, hinting at even more with digital beats and vibrations throughout the enjoyable ride that is Ramble & Rave On!

There’s no denying Robin Trower’s writing and playing with a freshness that bespeaks deliverance on Come And Find Me.

The track ["Stick Around"], like all the others, runs short, getting to the lyrical point without overdoing it. Those lyrics can sometimes feel generic and straightforward; however, Bird’s vocals have taken the next step, as she manages to sound both vitally urgent and more subdued and heartbroken with ease.

Lyrically, it’s not deep — focusing on living life with its ups and downs while finding time to enjoy the in-betweens — but it’s undeniably fun. .... It’s the quieter moments on The Dreamin’ Kind—such as “Stealin’ Time,” “Rickety Ol’ Bridge,” and “Dance On Thru”—that feel slightly out of place here. The album closes with “Engine 99,” a song that best ties together the quieter moments with the new rock-focused tracks.

"I'm People" is honest and so accessible that it seems as if the storytelling MC Taylor is engaging a single listener, both seated in a cozy room.

On the band’s newest release, Open Door Policy, The Hold Steady moves to fully incorporate Finn’s more muted solo offerings, and the result is a disjointed transitional work.

There is no doubt that Little Rope is much more successful than those recent efforts [2019's The Center Won't Hold and 2021's Path of Wellness], but it never fully pushes the artists in new directions or completely recaptures the group's immense past magic. That said, as an outlet for one of the best duos to deal with smothering grief and loss, it is a blessing that it exists at all.

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.

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.

Ferrell’s unique approach and broad sonic palette will have this album garnering plenty of attention. Don’t be surprised to see it land on several year’s end best lists.