Her lyrics feel like they're whispered directly into the ear; her guitar playing (the only accompaniment aside from the occasional flute) is even more meticulous. But the true leap is in the set's many quietly arresting moments.

Part of the fun of The Lone Bellow is playing spot the influence: James Gang here, Staples Sisters there, Warren Zevon, Faces, lots of Crosby Stills Nash & Young. But to its credit, the band channels these icons with a commensurate amount of tact and respect.

For 2012's The Connection, the steroid-heavy production was somewhat tempered so emotional catharsis could propel the album, and the same holds true for new collection F.E.A.R. (Face Everything and Rise).

The stripped-down songs on Terrible World--guitar-driven variations on God-fearing gospel ("Carolina Low") and Laurel Canyon country ("Lake Song")--are its best. After years of extravagance, dressing down turns out to be The Decemberists' strong suit.

On this adventurous LP, the critically lauded Scottish sextet waits until track nine, "Ever Had a Little Faith?," to offer one of its patented gently strummed character studies.

Panda Bear Meets the Grim Reaper, Lennox's fifth studio LP, is his most direct and accessible statement yet.

While it's too early to tell if The Pinkprint is a classic, it's safe to say it's her best album to date. Minaj was finally able to out-rap herself and purge issues she's struggled with in private in her most exposed fashion yet.

Perhaps more than any other young hitmaker, Charli has a sound that is distinctively her own, despite the murderers' row of producer-songwriters onboard.

While it's not the Clan in full, you'd be hard-pressed to find a better supporting cast. If Tomorrow is, in fact, the group's swan song, 36 Seasons proves that Wu's members can do just fine--and maybe even better--on their own.

Its fifth album is another successful step toward the mainstream.

Thanks to [Lorde's] vision, and her grip on the series' most important thematic elements, the 50 minutes of music behind Mockingjay Part 1 ably function as both a glance at 2014's finest purveyors of complex, downcast pop and a complement to the start of the series' chaotic, brutal conclusion.

Brooks doesn't do half measures, as evident on the title track, screeching guitar-rock in which he rails against technology by referencing folklore hero John Henry, who died in a steam drill competition against a machine. But it's the dramatic tunes about love gone bad that stand out.

The album builds on the pair's impressive collaborative EP with Robyn, Do It Again, reinforcing that project's themes of legacy, repetition and dedication.

["Louder Than Words" is] a riveting and beautiful piece of music, yes, but not quite a definitive statement. The same might be said of The Endless River as a whole.

The diversity and focus has paid off, as Cadillactica is K.R.I.T.'s best and most cohesive work to date.

The missteps are few, but grave: on "Gimme a Chance," she transitions from bouncy rap to full-blown salsa, complete with Spanish singing, while the retro surf-pop of the Ariel Pink-produced "Nude Beach a Go-Go" confounds. And yet, both merely amplify how creatively combative Banks can be--especially when she focuses that energy into her music.

It's a more consistent album than its predecessor. And perhaps more importantly, it shores up the duo's country flanks, and demonstrates that FGL intends to aggressively protect its progressive place in the genre, one that the act essentially designed on its own.

Pain Killer is an in-your-face album with rock bombast, though there's enough occasional twang here to keep the country traditionalists happy.

Coyne doesn't actually sing on the majority of these covers, but regardless, the album is decidedly refracted through a Flaming Lips light.

With 1989, she expertly sets up the next chapter of what is now even more likely to be a very long career.

The uptempo songs are entertaining, but it's the ballad performances that set this disc apart.

One that makes us hope the Queen takes a stab at even bolder covers in the future.

While it does have a couple of moments, much of the album sounds like he is just, filling out paperwork.

Jason Aldean's Old Boots, New Dirt, the singer's sixth studio album is a mixture of the party songs he has become known for--but also shows a little bit more of an emotional and sensual side than listeners might be accustomed to.

The result is a lustful listen that often centers on either coming together or breaking apart.

Lady A has always demonstrated the potential to deliver a little something more. On 747, we finally get a glimpse of it.

Art Official Age isn't just the stronger of the two--it's among his most imaginative albums since the '90s.

Lady Gaga promised her fans (perhaps a tad prematurely) that her new album would be the greatest of the decade. But even if the next nine years bring something better, we're unlikely to hear anything bigger than Born This Way.

The Texas native reclaims her spot as one of country's most expressive and distinctive vocalists.

Hudson links with a long tradition of powerful female vocalists making highly danceable music. And the spare templates she uses here, which are heavy on rhythm and relatively empty otherwise, give her plenty of space to flex her powerful voice.

On the disc, co-produced by McGraw and longtime collaborator Byron Gallimore, the singer stretches a little more than usual--and takes a few musical chances.

Once gratuitous fillers are skipped, gems appear, especially on the closing half, where Brown is lucid about his tabloid love life.

Songs of Innocence is a colossal-sounding record from rock's ultimate stadium wreckers, and a quick listen reveals why no other marketing strategy would have worked.

It's 'party of one' music to overthink with and lines to quote when angry at a significant other--the soundtrack for hard times.

Along with some quiet surprises, there are also potential hits, including the first single/title track, where Lovato almost sounds like Kelly Clarkson's kid sister.

El Pintor succeeds in besting 2010’s Interpol, whose reception was so deflating, it could have killed the band’s career. But against even 2007’s ho-hum Capitol Records excursion Our Love to Admire (let alone Turn On the Bright Lights or even Antics), El Pintor fails to do much more than tread water.

Levine's hummingbird vocals and passionate delivery are as earnest as they were on their 2002 debut Songs About Jane.

As a result, My Everything is a less cohesive project than Yours Truly, although its best moments eclipse the highs of Grande's 2013 debut.

A tight, spirited follow-up to 2010’s bluesier, less essential Mojo.

A welcome, long-awaited return after a troubled hiatus, but it hums along comfortably without striking any innovative poses.

Overall, 5 Seconds of Summer is a delightful debut from a group that cannot be easily pigeonholed, and is worth paying attention to.

The Weird One delivers the reprocessed goods, though it's his original tunes — done in the idiosyncratic styles of his favorite artists--that truly warrant repeat listening.

What he's got, now, is an invigorating change-up record that shines in an already impressive discography.

It’s essential listening not so much for its quality--uneven, if generally high--but for the strange place it occupies in Morrissey’s discography. Not since 1991’s “Kill Uncle” has he given us anything quite so puzzling.

After the devil-may-care disco of "Blurred Lines," Thicke's career peak, Paula's introspection seems half-baked. It is Thicke's personal love letter for Patton--and comes off as relevant mostly just to the two of them.

x finds a hungry artist doing everything possible to elevate to another level, simply by abiding by his instincts.

It's not high art, and it won't land them on any year-end best-of lists, but it will sell a load of copies, and it's just the thing for your next lousy day.

Sprawling, ambitious and mostly well-executed, While (1<2) may confuse his fan base’s Ultra-attending electro house contingent, but deadmau5’s double album undoubtedly marks his most mature and forward-thinking release to date.

Smith bares more than his vocal cords on this record. Every story of unrequited love that's been put to song is powerful in its own right.

Auerbach offers a more sedate take on the "Born to Die" template, lightening the orchestrations, ditching the hip-hop beats, and presenting Lana as a perpetually scorned pop-noir fugitive--part Neko Case, part Katy Perry. It's a delicious contrast that makes for a surprisingly great album.

With some hits and misses, A.K.A. journeys through some predictable refrains with a handful of prospective triumphs.

On Lazaretto, White rummages through his cart and emerges with fiddles, organs, slide guitars, and fuzz boxes powered by hand-cranked generators. And is that a leftover plate of Ennio Morricone's Western spaghetti? Indeed, it is, and if it all adds up to a better album than his debut, "Blunderbuss."

The usual, more or less. Musically, it’s her typical mix of pop-classicist balladry and hip-hop-tinged summer jamming, and if Carey doesn't exactly go strutting into new territory, it’s because she knows most people like her right where she is.

In many ways, Coldplay's sharp left turn is also its most listenable album in years, an evocative concoction of sullen phrases, sparse arrangements and powerful themes.

Jackson's music mixed celebration and terror, as if he was unable to find, or maintain, the division between the two. His music offered a place to both explore and escape those tensions. On this album, it does again.

The Black Keys' eighth long player isn't loaded with obvious hits, and that's more than okay--because this is a brave, varied and engaging collection of songs.

I Never Learn is a brave album--it could very well alienate more fans than it brings in. But Li's songwriting is exquisite in its vulnerability; she has never sounded more sure of her aesthetic than she does in her most miserable moment. Like Beyonce's self-titled LP last year, this is a "grown-woman" album, but one focused on the sobering end of youth rather than the blissful beginnings of adulthood.

There are no immediate anthems like whokill's "Bizness" or "Gangsta." But these 13 tracks hum and bounce with contagious enthusiasm, posing a challenge worth rising to.

Some of the experiments on Corazón don't work.... Still, it's fascinating to follow Santana through his Latin journey.

Sheezus is Allen's most uneven record yet, but it's also her most mature.

Food is just as tangy as the concoctions Kelis whips up every week on the Cooking Channel, in spite of the stylistic departure from her R&B albums like "Kaleidoscope" and "Tasty" as well as 2010's dance-focused "Flesh Tone."

Get ready for a set of convincing, honest music, on which the Colombian star often unabashedly professes her love for boyfriend Gerard Pique.

With Supermodel, his goal is not to make you like him, but rather to give you a sense of what it's like to be him. He pulls it off, and he throws in plenty of hooks along the way.

As strong as this album is, it’s hard to pick out a standout track.

Lyrically, Louder is rather one-sided, as she often sings about the perils of relationships, over and over, in ways that we've all heard many times at this point. Still, it's a solid effort that shows she has promise as a bona fide pop artist.

The album is loaded with luscious orchestration, motivational mantras and playful sex metaphors. Its taught 10 tracks bring to mind the record Justin Timberlake could have made last year, if he had dared to leave anything on the cutting room floor.

While Lamar dazzles with precise storytelling, Q conjures attention with brusque physicality. Both MCs are aiming for different marks, and although Q's style is too unkempt to produce an album full of clean shots, his misses on Oxymoron are often just as compelling.

[Morello's] contributions feel inventive, versatile and natural, like an extension of the direction Springsteen was already moving in.... Aniello's production work definitely enhances and does not distract from or obscure the tracks.

Once the initial novelty and shock wears off of Beyoncé's impressive stealth-release feat, the brilliance and creative audacity of the album itself can sink in.

Britney Jean, her first album released in her thirties, is a subtle shift away from frantic bangers and into more forthright songwriting.

Midnight Memories, the third full-length from the "X Factor"-formed quintet, follows up on what worked best on last year's "Take Me Home," and tosses in some proficient new ideas to keep listeners eager for the band's continued evolution.

Coherently channeling R&B, techno, disco and rock music as a pop artist while discussing sex, drugs, lust, God, fame and creativity, Lady Gaga has offered fans her most sonically and lyrically diverse album to date.

For the most part, Lavigne's fifth full-length encapsulates everything worth loving about the 29-year-old's long-running artistry.

Clocking in at an hour and twenty-five minutes, Reflektor drags in parts, though it contains plenty of moments (most often in its uptempo, dynamic first half) that sound ready to breathe life into the middling state of commercial rock in 2013.

With a string of hit singles under her belt, Perry has aspired to create a multi-faceted full-length and has consummately succeeded.

How did they do? Very well, to be honest.

Sometimes, the 20-year-old's vision needs to be adjusted, as on the manic French Montana collaboration "FU" and on "Someone Else," which feels like the album's hundredth dramatic breakup song and plays for nearly five minutes. But more often than not, Cyrus' daring attitude guides her to invention.

September has been a profoundly great month for new female vocalists in popular music, but Lorde is easily the most vocally striking and lyrically thought-provoking. Pure Heroine is honest and addictive.

He makes up for the lack of addictive anthems and playfulness with his impressionable stream of sentiments--our kryptonite, his superpower.

This Is... Icona Pop, like Carly Rae Jepsen's "Kiss," may someday be viewed as a full-length that included one pop masterpiece, but that underscores the delectability of the treats Icona Pop has sprinkled around that triumph.

She may be changing direction, but that swagger is still intact.

It allows listeners to refamilairize themselves with the Weeknd's aesthetic, which was striking and singular to begin with.

Ariana Grande's debut LP is a surprisingly varied affair for a 20-year-old Nickelodeon star with a devastatingly strong voice.

What follows is Doris, a slow (rarely rising above 70 bpm), introspective album where Earl Sweatshirt combats pressures when returning to a life of stardom after time spent at a Samoa-based boarding school for troubled youths. 


Singer-songwriters Joy Williams and John Paul White brought in more instruments, added deeper textures and, in general, upped the intensity of the songwriting for their second effort.

The album finds the 36-year old singer trying to take advantage of his newfound spotlight by striving to become the full-fledged pop star he's never quite been.

What's left, then, is a collection of 11 shinily produced pop songs that find Gomez trying on a series of different personalities with her slight-yet-capable vocals.

Bareilles' new album was the result of unrest, but as its title suggests, she has positively embraced her dissatisfaction and subsequently grown as an artist.

The journey of its latest change has been bumpy, but by blending its storied past with the musical present, Queensrÿche's members prove the band as a whole is indeed greater than any one person.

Those looking for vintage soul sounds or even full-on raps from start to finish will be thrown several curves here. It’s an album with numerous emotional layers as well.

The brothers have tapped into the amorphous joy at the heart of dance music, and have peppered Settle's masterfully executed tracks with that feeling.

It's arguably the most potent lineup since Josh Homme put QOTSA together in 1996, and it's embellished on the band's sixth studio album by guests.

Some of the music occasionally leans toward being overwrought, but mostly Love Lust Faith + Dreams--along with its Leto-directed visuals--invests itself fully and artfully in its own vision.

Just like with the Troubadour release, the songs here touch a few nerves and hit a few more emotional spots than just merely the ups and downs of a male-female relationship.

The National had reached a level of comfort very few indie rock acts achieve. That feeling of comfort permeates every part of their new album, Trouble Will Find Me.

Thomas Bangalter and Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo have made an analog album that's less of a "throwback" and more of a salute to the idols that would now do anything to hop on the duo's full-length.

The singer has a strong grip on her skills as a performer, but is still chiseling away at the formula that works best for her as an artist, and is unwittingly putting that self-discovery on display here.

Vampire Weekend's most cohesive and musically accomplished album to date.