This third chapter in the Budos Band's legacy is a giant step forward. That said, for band and listener alike, nothing is lost in this gambit; everything just gets deeper and wider and the payoff is nearly immeasurable.

Combative, defiant, and teeming with Victoria's distinctive mix of streetwise poeticism and literary depth, Silences is a strong and inventive follow-up.

Atrocity Exhibition is Danny Brown at his least diluted, almost unrelentingly grim and completely engrossing.

Having entered the limelight early, the 27-year-old singer/songwriter has now settled into a comfortable groove to on this finely honed career highlight.

McCombs ultimately delivers one of his catchiest and most uplifting albums to date, while touching on enough various musical styles, improvisation, relaxed melodicism, light hooks, and wit to satisfy fans of most any of his previous work.

With its loping, relaxed grooves and patina of sweetened strings, $10 Cowboy could be mistaken for a product of FAME Studios in Muscle Shoals, not an album originating from a small studio in Austin, Texas.

Tindersticks' fans will simply have to own this package as it offers an equal but different dimension of their pop persona.

Their skill at being witty but not arch, emotional but not overwrought, and calling out hypocrisy wherever they see it has only become keener, largely because Waronker is an even sharper, more articulate songwriter. ... A celebration of that dog.'s music that makes peace (or at least frenemies) with the past and proves, finally, that time is on their side.

If you've somehow managed to avoid hearing Billy Bragg's work, The Roaring 40 1983-2023 is an ideal starting point, and if you're already a fan, this is a top-shelf mixtape of the songs that made him a legend. Either way, it's great music with heart, soul, and a conscience.

My Favorite Picture of You is simply a wonderful, balanced gem of an album from a masterful songwriter.

Transangelic Exodus is a scrappy yet poignant rock & roll narrative of inner conflict and acceptance; its songs are a confessional and confrontational commentary on a historic period when so much is possible, even as fear, hate, and paranoia still hold the reins of power. Its energy, vulnerability, rage, and crafty poetics are awe-inspiring.

Wild Beasts continue to find finer ways of expressing themselves while still holding onto the primal passion they've always had, and Smother is some of their most accessible yet creative work.

At its best, these songs have the feel of an intimate live performance; at their worst, they’re lovely, but exhausting. Have One on Me is quite a technical achievement, but since Newsom has proven she can do just about anything, next time she shouldn’t try to do everything.

This set is a great introduction to James' early raw recordings; however, it excludes a few tracks from the superior The Best of the Modern Years on Metro Blue.

While De Vermis Mysteriis is probably not the group's finest hour (2002's Surrounded by Thieves still bears that distinction), it is nonetheless a very fine hour indeed.

The group doesn't disregard songs; the songs are nimble and open-ended, inviting exploration but also ready to be played simply. The result is the CRB's best record to date: one that captures their trippy side as easily as it showcases their sturdy foundation.

Bettye LaVette has been enjoying a remarkable career resurgence in the 21st century, and Things Have Changed demonstrates why--she's as strong and compelling an interpretive vocalist as you're likely to hear in this day and age, and given a set of great songs, she can work magic with ease.

With nine short songs, Tyler Childers has deepened and expanded the world he etched in Purgatory.

Descendants of Cain proves an exceptional listen. Pairing Ryan’s sublime lyricism with organic production and a precisely constructed concept, the MC’s fifth project is a superb statement piece from one of rap’s most ingenious poets.

While Megan Thee Stallion presented herself as a force to be reckoned with from her earliest material, Good News finds her triple-X-rated sex rhymes, imposing charm, and ability to make it all appear effortless reaching new levels.

The finished album, mixed by Mario Caldato, has an immediacy that reflects its relatively quick conception and, coming after the nimble electronic experiments of 2019's Pang!, there's something bracing about the directness of Seeking New Gods.

Confident, inward-looking, forgiving, yet bruising in all the right places, it's not just a great album by Cantrell's standards; it's a great record, period.

The home-brewed spectacle of this album makes it easy to visualize CMAT tackling bigger stages in the future. It's a witty and thoroughly delightful debut.

With such a vibrant canvas to rap over, its good to hear Curry come at the project with a refreshed pen game.

The last time Suede sounded this muscular and urgent they were still in the process of discovering themselves. Here, the quintet know how to deploy not just their strengths but their distinctive blend of nervy post-punk, overheated glam, and yearning poetry to make an album that sounds full, complete, and utterly alive.

Ultra Truth is easily one of Avery's most powerful releases.

With its imagination, startling creativity, and sheer pop soul, Oceans Apart is the first great Go-Betweens' record of the 21st century.

It's clear that Veckatimest was made for a lot of listening. Nearly every song feels like the musical equivalent of a big meal: there's lots to digest, and coming back for second (and thirds, and more) is necessary.

Their stylistic shifts never feel contrived, especially when the results are as stunning as "Cool & Collected."

Giving such acute insight into Fontaines' headspace that it borders on uncomfortable. This is what they have always been best at though, bringing the listener into their world and showing them the darkest corners alongside the rays of light.

Think of Quarantine the Past as a cousin to Hot Rocks or the Red and Blue Albums: it doesn’t tell you everything you need to know, but as a primer, it’s hard to beat.

David Longstreth isn't quite trying to make things easy for his listeners on Bitte Orca, but there's far too much pleasure in this music for its eccentricities to put off anyone who is open to its gleeful, eclectic, internationalist heart.

If this isn't the album of the year, it's at least the art-pop album of the year, or the neo-sophisti-pop album of the year, or--beside Frank Ocean's Channel Orange--the alternative R&B album of the year.

That Tinariwen continue to extend invitations to outside inspirators, even on their own literal turf, is a testament to their unyielding collaborative spirit and on this hybrid of an album, they again summon a common musical language while sounding as authentic as ever.

Kicking Television is the best sort of live album -- a recording that doesn't merely retread a band's back catalog, but puts their songs in a new perspective.

While the acoustic D sounds better, weirder, and purer, this still is a hell of a record, particularly because it rocks so damn hard.

Making up for some momentum lost last time out, The Real New Fall L.P. gives the faithful another reason to believe.

The dank emotional caverns of Bubblegum offer some territory well worth exploring for the strong-willed.

On songs as different as the poignant protest song "Freedom" and the title track's winding musings on existence and creativity, it's both comforting and thrilling to hear Hval breathe life into the everyday so fully.

With its immediacy, economy, cagey strength, and vulnerability, Griffin delivers these 12 songs not as gifts or statements, but as her own evidence of what is, what was, and what yet may come.

She's not only exceeded expectations with Walking Proof, she's made an album that will be hard for her to top, though no one who has followed her music so far would count that out.

Recorded at Abbey Road in London, the eight-track set makes good use of the legendary studio's analog infrastructure, peppering the proceedings with fragmented loops and rewinding reels, all the while maintaining a radiant classic rock core. It's also the group's heaviest outing to date.

Life Metal is the dawning of a new phase for Sunn 0))), one that resonates with more power and complexity than anything in their catalog.

It's a moving album throughout, one by a multifaceted musician whose songwriting outshines even artful arrangements.

With Wild Wild East, Jain has crafted a masterful, robust celebration of America's immigrant cowboy soul.

Jeff Rosenstock is a Regular Joe, something that genuinely matters, and No Dream reminds us that sometimes the right kind of ordinary guy is something very special; may he never become jaded about the music and scene he clearly loves.

Their compositional creativity is at once complex and sophisticated while remaining inherently accessible. They match a ferocious appetite for muscular musicality with intricate attention to production details and rigorous energy.

Not just the best album of 1999, The Soft Bulletin might be the best record of the entire decade.

It documents a gifted artist in full command of her gifts, and it's more than worthy of your time and attention.

Journal for Plague Lovers winds up being The Holy Bible in reverse: every moment of despair is a reason to keep on living instead of an excuse to pack it all in.

The album just doesn't flow as well as his monolithic 2013 effort My Name Is My Name, but as a mere "prelude" to the next LP, it's miles above "throwaway" and comes with the quality control that would put it in the top tiers of both the mixtape and street release formats.

On In Cauda Venenum, Opeth have thoroughly revisioned prog rock for the 21st century. While there are referents to the past, they have merely been folded into a brand of heavy music that reflects not progressive rock's history, but Opeth's enduring, evolving image.

What is clear, even through the sometimes heavier-than-necessary arrangements, is that Muchacho has some of Houck's best songwriting since his early days, seemingly tapped into the grainy pain, hard-living tendencies, and wandering muse of his subconscious with the most listenable results Phosphorescent has produced in years.

If there's a bit less childlike élan here than in the past, there's also an intelligence and joy that confirms Yo La Tengo is still one of the great treasures of American indie rock, and they haven't run out of ideas or the desire to make them flesh in the studio just yet.

Your Past Comes Back to Haunt You: The Fonotone Years, 1958-1965 is a massive John Fahey document that was a full decade in the making by Dean Blackwood of Revenant, guitarist Glenn Jones, and Lance Ledbetter of Dust-to-Digital.

While Norma Jean were no doubt exhausted by the creative process that went into Wrongdoers, fans will be happy to reap the rewards of their hard work and the perseverance of a band that still holds true to the spirit of metalcore.

Grass, Branch & Bone is a low-key triumph from an artist who had made a career out of demonstrating that in music, simplicity is often the approach that tells us the most.

Everything flows naturally, and that ease is so alluring upon the first spin of Traveller that it's not until repeated visits that the depth of the album becomes apparent.

Alice Bag isn't a belated victory lap from a veteran of the punk rock wars, it's a diverse and deeply satisfying album from an artist who is finally getting a chance to live up to her great potential, and here she isn't missing a trick.

It's hard to say if it's enough to warrant a purchase of this hefty box, but in either its CD or LP incarnation, A New Career in a New Town is a handsome, alluring, and exceptional-sounding reissue that earns its price tag.

Though this isn't the cleanest and tidiest album of his career, the emotional honesty of this material is striking, and this is some of the boldest and most inspiring work of Joe Henry's career.

A potent 11-song set that injects the genre's key trope of overcoming adversity with some considerable gravitas.

Descension is a collaboration for the ages: It is ecstatic, improvised jazz that reverberates inside the human body like a heartbeat.

A beautifully nuanced work, Clara is both revealing and mysterious -- and Loscil fans wouldn't expect anything less.

Gay more than succeeds in weaving all of these seemingly disparate sounds together, and Open Arms to Open Us has the engaging feeling of walking through a kaleidoscopic multimedia art installation.

This Is Brian Jackson's music is timeless, a musical montage reflecting his multi-disciplinary immersion in jazz, funk, soul, and hip-hop, without sacrificing the focus, generosity, inspiration, and openness that have been at the very heart of his music all along.

The Chemistry of Common Life, is a lush, expansive masterpiece that dismisses the theory that punkers have to follow a concrete formula of short and fast songs with raw-edged production.

Hearing Dry Cleaning's words and music travel in different ways to the same destination remains fascinating, and the ways they open up their music on Stumpwork with warmth, sensuality, and humor reveal their originality even more fully.

Older, wiser, and more ambitious than on her collegiate debut, Tomberlin finds a musical artistry on i don't know who needs to hear this… that rises to the level of her lyrical perceptiveness.

An album that's not just one of Yearwood's most entertaining albums, but one of her richest records, in both musical and emotional terms as well.

A revelatory experience that's somehow been hidden within her all these years, Girl with No Face is a bold reclamation of artistic self from a thrilling pop auteur.

Crimes keeps a tight lid on the nervous energy that's always defined the group, channeling it into aggressive songs that often suggest the damaged, exciting grooves of vintage Brainiac.

Aptly named, Patience is the sound of a band who have spent a few years growing into themselves and it honors Mannequin Pussy's raw punk past while opening doors to new creative possibilities.

Blinking Lights and Other Revelations is blessed because of -- not in spite of -- its excesses.

The astute and eclectic programming makes for a better listen than other attempts that have been made to compile '80s alternative rock.

Whatever spaces the arrangements leave enable the imagination to play as much of a role as the instrumentation.

A remarkably spare and focused collection?

Old Ideas is a very good Cohen album; it may be great, but only time reveals that when it comes to his work.

It's possible that The Meadowlands might be a "better" album if it were more focused and logical, but there's something to be said for its immersive, stream-of-consciousness approach.

This is so good that this is how you want to remember them: older, perhaps wiser, and still majestic.

Only Ron and Russell Mael could have made this album, and while they've always done what they needed and wanted to do as artists, it's extra satisfying that this peak in their popularity coincides with music this vibrantly engaging.

This is a smoking little record. Its focus is small, its reach is large; it's a winner.

Elaenia is fated to become one of those albums that inspires ritualistic listening parties held by small groups of audiophiles. That shouldn't be held against it.

The words offer a lot of food for thought, but the music and arrangements are every bit as remarkable.

For all of its epic grandiosity, May Our Chambers Be Full only clocks in at a mere 37 minutes, but in doing so leaves a more indelible impression.

Second album Glitch Princess is more futuristic than yeule's past work and perhaps more dystopian as well.

The deep involvement of McClenney, assistance from additional producers such as Wynne Bennett and Alissia Benveniste, and the familiar presence of Peter CottonTale all nudge and stretch Woods' sound into new realms of left-field pop, folk, and funk without squeezing out a drop of soul.

With Hell-On, Case has once again given herself an ideal showcase for her talents as a vocalist, songwriter, and producer; it's lush but intimate, and one of the strongest and most satisfying records she's delivered to date. Which, given her catalog, says a great deal.

There are two expertly executed albums here, each highlighting just how this group has grown from being rascally jokesters to hardened, concerned members of society. As far as swan songs go, Heaven :x: Hell is a heartfelt goodbye to fans, an overly generous gift that aims to please the full spectrum of diehards and thank them for all their years of dedication.

Pure Comedy is indeed a very grand record, an old-fashioned major statement designed to evoke memories of classic long-players from the '70s. Often, its stately march and decorated pianos call to mind early Elton John, suggesting the hazy vistas of Madman Across the Water.

When Art Department stick with their signature sound, even though it might not be exactly unique--it's easy enough to trace a lineage through seminal Chicago jack tracks, early-'90s disco house and the sleeker end of electro-clash to contemporary peers like Soul Clap and Benoit & Sergio--the results are nothing short of mesmerizing.

While it's hard to talk about Two Hands in 2019 without the context of the stunning U.F.O.F., the album's quality stands on its own, offering its own grade of intimacy, sound, and feel for alternate moods.

Uneasy offers a portrait of an emergent trio discovering a multivalently complex language while simultaneously articulating its myriad possibilities. The end result is centered, action-oriented music that is at once gloriously colorful and brilliantly articulated.

Yes, Ys is a demanding listen, but it's also a rewarding and inspiring one.

Matthew E. White's Hometapes' debut, Big Inner, is as frustrating as it is cosmically transcendent.

They're in an increasingly crowded field but hover well above all of their contemporaries.

While the title may reflect a a certain ponderousness, these 11 tunes are anything but.

Big and bold the whole way through and with nary a stumble, Something Else is another triumph from Tech.