The results are both vintage QOTSA and something unnameable at the same time. [No. 146, p.58]

Orc is a continuation of the careening energy and creativity that has defined the most recent handful of Oh Sees' record, making it one of the most beastly in the bunch. [No. 146, p.59]

It's less an emphatic, assertive statement than a patchwork scrapbook of disparate moods and tunes that, taken as a whole, feels not unpleasantly unfinished, somewhat hazy and dreamlike and understatedly charismatic. [No. 146, p.59]

None of the tracks approaches the frenetic monstrosity of the Public Enemy song they're named after. But "Strength In Numbers" and "Who Owns Who" are some of the most ripping music anyone involved had made in years, and they're not all repeating themselves. [No. 146, p.59]

One of the more important metal releases of 2017. [No. 146, p.59]

Call it the musical equivalent of Cormac McCarthy's similarly brutal The Road. [No. 146, p.59]

There are hard and soft edges all over Every Country's Sun, and both accounts have made us happy campers. Again. [No. 146, p.56]

Choir Of The Mind is more often introspective and engrossing. [No. 146, p.57]

Vol. 2's Springsteen-tinged "Don't Hurt," Tom Petty-flavored "Look How Clean I Am" and punk-soaked "It's A Whale" stomp and romp with unrepentant rage and joy. [No. 146, p.51]

Vol. 1's gorgeous "Sea Of Clouds," Dylanesque "Hope IS Big" and crystalline "Limp Right Back" quiver with quiet emotional power. [No. 146, p.51]

Its songs are energetic and uplifting, with frontman and main songwriter Amayo's half-sung/half-spoken lyrics balancing snide humor with insightful commentary into the roots of the political quandaries we confront on a daily basis. [No. 146, p.53]

The broadest, strangest and coolest sonic canvas that Deerhoof has ever framed. [No. 146, p.52]

An exuberant, ebullient revelation, awash in the cascading guitar work of Alec O'Hanley and Rankin's sunshiney, slapback-treated vocals, for a full power-pop effect that falls somewhere between vintage Tourists and recent Camera Obscura. [No. 146, p.53]

By the time MacLean gets around to a spoken-word revisit to an old haunt, "The Museum Of Fog," you're happily along for the surreal ride. [No. 146, p.55]

The duo is only revisiting what made Death From Above faves 13 years ago without realizing how poorly it has aged. [No. 146, p.55]

While there's plenty to like here, and more to admire, he's never made a record quite so challenging to love. [No. 146, p.54]

Minus interludes and meandering artsy filler, many of the 11 tracks take fine-grain sandpaper to noise rock's jagged edges. [No. 146, p.57]

You have to admire the survivalist nature at hand here and the ability to craft an album that doesn't smack of inorganic hashtag laziness like those of many contemporaries. [No. 145, p.59]

The set is exhaustive, but it's not an overdose. [No. 144, p.60]

Seekers And Finders is the straight cannonball the world's premier Gypsy punks haven't quite offered since 2005's Gypsy Punks: Underdog Wold Strike itself. [No. 145, p.55]

A collection that's at once futuristic and timeless, Across The Multiverse is sure to wow friends, family and followers alike. [No. 145, p.57]

They sound much heavier and quite unburdened by commercial notions. [No. 145, p.61]

The results echo any number of indelibly British daydreamers, from Syd Barrett-era Pink Floyd and XTC at its wispiest on down to Saint Etienne and the Clientele: rife with memory and magic, as fragrant and saturated as a sticky, sleepless summer night. [No. 145, p.61]

Arcade Fire's tightest and tersest album since 2004's Funeral is by far its least ambitious, and the band is cool to riff on this. [No. 145, p.53]

If it's been a minute since you've spent time with BSS, Hug Of Thunder could be a revelation. Otherwise, you'll just have to settle for it being a very good album. [No. 145, p.53]

The obtuse nature of the song structures, content and riffing are exactly what one expects ... just dressed up as a "surprise." [No. 145, p.55]

If New Facts Emerge reminds the listener of any post-millennial Fall album, I'd have to go with 2003's The Real New Fall LP. [No. 145, p.55]

Even if some listeners might ding Lo Tom for playing it a little safe, there's really not a wrong note on the record. [No. 145, p.57]

Deep and communal, Barefoot In The Head is CRB's most impressive studio effort yet. [No. 145, p.59]

It's Newman's ability to paint such a scene [narrator's wife, on her deathbed, defending him against their concerned and/or churlish offspring] with humor, affection and honest humanity that makes his albums so thoroughly worth the wait. [No. 145, p.60]

It's hard to imagine the album's latent pacing and fragmented lyrical content piquing the interest of many outside of AnCo's hardcore fanbase, but it stands as a compelling step forward. [No. 145, p.61]

It's a fascinating document, well worth a look from fans of any of the above [Offa Rex, Trembling Bells and Eliza's Carthy's Wayward Band]. [No. 145, p.61]

Sonically, visually and thematically, this double disc is grandiloquent, like the great progressive music statements of rock history. [No. 145, p.61]

Although Beast Epic does not broadcast its complexity and depth as with some past Iron & Wine efforts, it's still lovely, dark and deep. [No. 145, p.58]

Their voices blend together beautifully. [No. 145, p.57]

With its simple riff and typically anthemic chorus, the immediately indelible "The Birthday Democrats" amply proves that Pollard's unprecedented creative spark shows no signs of going dark. The rest of How Do You Spell Heaven confirms that notion. [No. 145, p.55]

With a snarl on their lisp, drums set to bash and guitars red-lining all the way, snotty new Cribs anthems such as "Year Of Hate" and "Partisan" shine within Albini's typical sonic verite approach to recording. [No. 145, p.53]

It's sharply focused--and sonically beautiful--but also abstract, with an open-ended feeling to the swooping voices and lyrical ambiguities. [No. 145, p.51]

More often the singing is submerged in the mix, making it impossible to understand the dreamy wordplay that makes Oelsner's lyrics so memorable. [No. 145, p.59]

The Brazilian foundation is here but so are glimmers of his signature unhinged, skronky electric-guitar work. [No. 142, p.57]

Endlessly moody and surprisingly versatile, this record moves by its own secret logic. [No. 144, p.61]

There's no mistaking this unpredictable, lovingly tended aural scenery for anything else. [No. 144, p.53]

By focusing mostly on the early entries from Dylan's canon, Nile reminds us of Dylan's power and poetic brilliance. [No. 144, p.57]

It's difficult to imagine even a hardcore completist wanting to hear Chilton's interminable orgasmic noises on the title track, long stretches of drunken studio banter or yet another two versions of Third's "Jesus Christ." [No. 144, p.53]

The perfect companion piece for black-lit nights at home. [No. 144, p.61]

Nothing truly "new" but still revealing surprises and delights for the initiated. [No. 144, p.61]

Gangster Star features a much stronger single (the idyllic "Shine A Light"), while Jealous Machines waders a bit further into the narrative forest. [No. 144, p.59]

Gangster Star features a much stronger single (the idyllic "Shine A Light"), while Jealous Machines waders a bit further into the narrative forest. [No. 144, p.59]

This is an honest and harmless record that isn't trying to be anything but the summer 2017 soundtrack for middle-aged males operating, patronizing or loitering within tattoo/piercing emporiums everywhere. [No. 144, p.59]

Earle sounds invigorated and relaxed, and these are some of his best songs in years. [No. 144, p.58]

Cheap Trick sticks to its strengths. [No. 144, p.56]

Dirty Pictures (Part 1) is the perfect appetizer to the boozy, bluesy world of Low cut Connie. [No. 144, p.55]

Revolution is not a political screed, as the band scorches and eases its way through a fair number of life/love reflection. [No. 144, p.55]

The music's effortless grace contradicts the experiences f temporal and cultural unease that Elkington sings about in ways that'll keep the listener guessing and the record spinning. [No. 144, p.55]

The Singles is as good a starting point as any, as it highlights the diversity that spanned the band's entire career. All the classics are present and accounted for. [No. 144, p.54]

It makes music that tips its hat to the past without sounding derivative. [No. 144, p.53]

The overwhelming success of this unexpected Mac mashup is clear evidence that it's more than a one-off idea. [No. 144, p.52]

This shining-up of the Sgt. Pepper grail is gorgeous. [No. 144, p.51]

While Prayer For Peace is the duo's seventh studio album, their rootsy sound remains more or less unchanged and identified. [No. 143, p.59]

[The final track Love Is Love] has the sprightly energy that's missing on most of the record. [No. 143, p.61]

This new one sounds happily like a distillation of the best of Slowdive. The effects--and the effects pedals--are still dreamy. [No. 143, p.61]

These existential sonic sketches are minimalist in nature but come together as an electroacoustic whole far greater than its composite parts. [No. 143, p.61]

The mixed-bag effect of White Knight reaches its best moments on Runt's partnership with R&B shouter Bettye LaVette on the salty soul of "Naked & Afraid," and his teaming with Nine Inch Nails' film composition team Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross on the crushing, cinematic "Deaf Ears." [No. 143, p.61]

The rhythm section kept the sleazy blues and gutter grunge on track and moving forward with bass locked into a pocket provided by some seriously pounding battery while still allowing for a loose feel that gives you the sense you're peaking in on a cathartic discharge of energy. [No. 143, p.61]

Weller has always created a fine present out of traces of the past; A Kind Revolution is a funkier present. [No. 143, p.60]

At 30 years of age, it's only better than it was... It gets zero help from unnecessary remixes and wee heft from an era-appropriate Madison Square Garden concert recording. [No. 143, p.58]

Despite lyrics contending with crippling anxiety, suicide and relationship strife, what ultimately emerges in a celebration of the defiant act of loving and living fully in the face of a world gone mad. [No. 143, p.59]

Whether juxtaposed with string sections, dark electronics or thumping beats, Moyet's deeply sonorous voice is still the dramatic center. [No. 143, p.59]

When's it on, which is most of the time, it's deep and beyond category. [No. 143, p.57]

Even as he points out life's injustices and unpleasantries, there's an ease and comfort with which he accesses his long list of Americana influences. [No. 143, p.57]

A record that easily ranks among the heaviest, most remarkable releases in Constellation's recent catalog. [No. 143, p.57]

This is an album squarely in the spirit of the band's underrated mid-period venture Carnival Of Light, a classic-rock record with none of the baggage that phrase might imply. [No. 143, p.56]

Goofy and awkward, yet mature and sincere, this album showcases a band making magic from the mudpies of millennial angst. [No. 143, p.55]

Like his labelmates in Alabama Shakes, Booker takes inspiration from the past to make huge artistic leaps forward. [No. 143, p.55]

With two exceptions, he avoids the obvious hits, choosing to shine a light on Haggard's often downhearted love songs with arrangements that avoid country-music conventions. [No. 143, p.55]

Even when Black Lips operate more on the obnoxious side of the coin--"We Know" grinds to intolerable, screeching halts in an attempt to prove themselves both edgy and improved--the fuzzy, surf swing of tracks such as "Occidental Front" prove the band can be powerfully charming. [No. 143, p.55]

She's no longer interested in the simple pleasures of immediate hooks. Instead, we get something more complex, challenging and provocative. [No. 143, p.54]

On Somersault, Beach Fossils continue to expand their sound, and the band gets better as it ventures further from home. [No. 143, p.53]

Underscored throughout is how thoroughly Amidon embodies all of his material, regardless of is origins, and how much his art lies not simply in the songs themselves but in the distinctive, impressionistic atmospherics. [No. 143, p.53]

The album also contains enough experimentation and cleverness to stand on its own in !!!'s decidedly confusing and overpopulated sub-genre. [No. 143, p.53]

The album has more in common with the genre-bending and expectation-shattering records of Shelby Lynne and Sturgill Simpson. [No. 143, p.52]

Spades is a grower, as they say, only revealing its charms to patient listeners over repeated listens. [No. 143, p.51]

Hard, clear and carefully ornamented, their harmonies feel as ancient as the hills and as immediate as the wind hitting your face. [No. 143, p.57]

The wall of sound this band generates with distorted guitars, samples, industrial noise and live drums is overwhelming at times, but the message it conveys about race and class in America is an important one. [No. 143, p.53]

Kinks geeks will relish the autobiographical elements. [No. 142, p.54]

[Dave Davies is] mostly restrained here, content to strum as he and Russ sing together. [No. 142, p.54]

A thoroughly enjoyable and loving tribute. [No. 142, p.57]

They've abandoned songs entirely in favor of pulsing, predominately electronic pieces that radiate a warmth that contrasts dramatically with Labradford's chilly austerity. [No. 141, p53]

Toth's spare lines still keep you listening and wondering, reeling you in to music that starts out gently lyrical and ends up as immersive as the sea. [No. 142, p.61]

A classic totem of those times, given just enough new life to merit a repurchase for original fans, and an exploration for those who weren't there. [No. 142, p.60]

Not many bands release their best work six albums in, yet this could very well be the story here. [No. 142, p.61]

This tune ["Calling Planet Earth--We'll Wait For You"] captures Ra's formidable Arkestra bursting at the seams. ... The two other tracks included here are less essential, consisting of droning tones and percussion interludes. [No. 142, p.61]

It's all such lovely, elegantly refined stuff that it's easy to sink under the spell of its warm, somnolent glow. [No. 142, p.61]

What an odd, creakily compelling record this is. [No. 142, p.59]

The variety of The Weather definitely offers some spice to lives. [No. 142, p.59]

The album's greatest treasures are sadder and subtler, finding their place within the Willie trifecta of love, loss and loneliness. [No. 142, p.59]

Heartworms is a slow-burning grower that rewards repeat listens but requires some commitment to love. [No. 142, p.58]

The toxic muse behind Pussycat's bitter melodies and crunchy guitar solos is recognizable as the man who's made so many of us feel as dejected as a woman in a Hatfield song. [No. 142, p.57]