Blanco takes on characters and stretches her voice into new shapes, easily switching from feminine to macho over the course of a single track, while her lyrics summon up vivid imagery and raw emotions.

A courageous statement that should resonate far and wide.

Not a single note feels unplanned, yet every lick also comes across as completely natural.

I have seen Esco­vedo’s future, and its sound is rock ’n’ roll.

The spacey, meandering jams flow effortlessly, bringing to mind sunny afternoons with an old lover and a big bag of weed. No, it’s not the kind of album that’ll change the world, but it might just be the perfect summer soundtrack of the year.

Despite the mainstream references, the album is a much more emotionally wrenching experience than anything on the actual pop charts.

Prima Donna bristles with paranoia, anxiety, depression and anger about racism, violence, the music industry and his own psychological state. Loco distills all that. Staples's vicious, suicidal fever dream sees him alluding to Van Gogh's mental illness and dropping references to The Great Gatsby and James Joyce.

It’s a taut, punchy album full of winning charm, and blessedly free of cynicism and ego.

The band’s second album has terrific production values, and beneath all the industrial edges and gothic stomp, Dean Tzenos’s vocals are surprisingly melodic.

Pants wraps everything effectively in a dreamy fizziness that softens some of the stranger dark edges, but he doesn't hide his increasing interest in pop song construction.

Whatever he calls himself, Young Thug is still one of the most distinctive voices in hip-hop, and Jeffery lives up to the best moments from his Barter 6 and Slime Season mixtapes.

You Want It Darker is frightening, aching and, finally, sad. But, on this gorgeous, essential record, the sadness is illuminated. It glows.

It's like Koster has a wellspring of positive vibes that he channels into songs without engaging in schmaltz or clichés.

Practically every bar the 21-year-old spits is full of fiery indignation, aimed not just at exposing (and undermining) entrenched social hierarchies, but at the insecurities that might also hold her back.

Many of the familiar signifiers are gone, yet their well crafted and characteristically tuneful compostions still have a recognizable Calexico feel.

It’s less cohesive than the high watermark he set with Malibu, but hitching a ride back to Oxnard is a freewheeling and occasionally exhilarating quest into Paak’s sonic curiosity.

Ferry manages to breathe new life into [the songs] while maintaining their integrity and original purpose.

It’s slightly less menacing, yet without a discernible drop in power, which should go down well in the burbs without alienating their hipster metal following.

It's a trip, a varied one with heavy/light and ugly/beautiful balances in perfect moderation.

A few rhythmically awkward moments detract from the album’s overall flow, particularly on 'High Life,' but chalk that up to two competing staccato production styles.

Beach Slang are doing this as much for us as for themselves, and if you're down with them, it's hard not to feel awesome listening to this album.

It’s much more in line with Shabason and Adams’s work on Destroyer’s soft rock epic Kaputt, with its smooth sax, jazzy rhythms and 80s synth pop, but Elle’s breathy voice meshes remarkably well.

On the stylistically diverse Good Bad Not Evil, they confront many of the problems facing America today, taking short, sharp stabs at the Katrina disaster, neurotoxins destroying the upper middle class, juvenile delinquency, false prophets and an apocalyptic holy war.

Occasionally, songs sound a little too derivative of older Scream, but Gillespie's desire to look inward feels genuine.

Scott Reitherman, the multi-instrumentalist behind TMTS, switched to a full band following 2007’s "Moonbeams," and it paid off. Creaturesque stays aloft thanks to its big sound and well-placed handclaps.

How The West Was Won stands on its own as a clever, mature and scathingly witty record with memorable melodies and choruses. It also marks the return of a true rock ’n’ roll anti-hero.

If any rap group could pull off a project this unwieldy, it's the Roots, and they make it seem effortless.

It all informs this feel-bad album of the year, which sounds fantastic thanks to Sanford Parker's no-frills yet full production.