Brothers and Sisters of the Eternal Son is long on atmospherics, but woefully short on songs.

As with The King of the Limbs, Beautiful Rewind is always keeping us at arm’s length, coldly allowing us to admire the craft without letting us in on the secret. It can make for a lonely listen.

Universal Themes covers so much ground, it can’t help but live up to its name.

A heavy-hitting, beautifully arranged EP that might or might not have been recorded between 2006 and 2008.

Good Luck and Do Your Best is dull, an affair that lacks curiosity because the answers are in front of him. None of the production is outright bad, just done before by the likes of Four Tet, Nujabes, and John Talabot.

Nothing Was the Same is filled with beats that are a joy to listen to and Drake often has worthwhile things to contribute. But, more and more, his confidence is getting the best of him.

On No Burden, Dacus follows up the stellar opening track with a wonderful debut album full of bigger, bolder slow-burn anthems and subtle epics.

On The Moon Rang Like a Bell, Hundred Waters offers an album of quiet moments of subtlety juxtaposed with crashing waves of desperation.

Catchy as anything choruses, short track times, tight and sparse rhythms make this a record I wish came out when I was in high school. If the record does have a fault, is that it colors inside the lines.

Forest Swords' second record is simplistic on purpose, but that doesn’t make it feel less empty.

Clocking in at 61 minutes, Alternate/Endings haphazardly splices together twelve breath-stealing drum & bass tracks recorded throughout 2012 and 2013; the result is more a tasting menu than an actual statement.

The art-rock band’s third LP Infinite House combines tentative dips into R&B and soul with a firm foundation in jittery, spindly, angular NYC rock, resulting in pop songs with a deliberately nervous, ungainly, everything-but-the-kitchen-sink feel to them.

Beat the Champ, while it ain’t Songs in the Key of Life, keeps up the move toward eclectic instrumental color.

Its arc is more satisfying than those of Narkopop or Konigsförst, though it lacks either of those albums’ sense of vastness. It certainly pales next to Pop and the underloved Zauberberg, which I’ve always felt were tied for the title of Voigt’s masterpiece.

What makes The Healing Component most compelling lies in the confidence behind its explorations, Jenkins probing various subjects and, oftentimes, coming to less formal conclusions and more open-ended questions.

Even songs that aren’t so charged are worthy of our attention, either for her vocals or some other worthwhile detail.

It seems as though Dylan Baldi has effectively evolved from a musical loner trying to go it alone to a mature frontman fully integrated in a strong and cohesive band. It seems as though Dylan Baldi has finally become a punk.

Title track aside, this a really good album by a really sketchy guy.

Woman works because it balances restraint and candor, presenting love in neither a chaste nor debauched light. Milosh, through his gossamer vocals, delivers a message of stunning clarity: despite the risk, love is beautiful.

Not quite the panacea that will usher in world peace, Days Are Gone is still a remarkable effort.

While this sort of economic chords and vocal/guitar/bass/drum hardcore punk rock record is easy to come by, what’s rarer is when its aggression--not necessarily just in the vocals and lyrics--comes from someplace genuine.

Perhaps one of the most macabre albums of the year, Okovi shines in its ability to beautifully illustrate a disturbing but ultimately shared human experience.

Quavo, Takeoff, and Offset breeze through it all with a contagious confidence that makes for a fun and surprisingly accessible album.

The record may be about repeating, but Jaar has yet to repeat himself.

Truthfully, every song is a goodie, except “Sense”, which is a minute of breathing room which won’t kill you to listen to.

Here and Nowhere Else’s disposition for self-examination coaxes out a superior depth and nuance when stacked against Cloud Nothings’ previous works.

While it’s no masterpiece, Pure Heroine is unique and engaging enough to keep the conversation going.