Each song’s darker instrumental aesthetics balance the fun with an undercurrent of rumination.

Alt-rock guru Steve Albini is back at the helm and once again proves the ideal midwife for the Breeders' fiercely independent vision.

Composition is just part of what makes pop music work, and the best tracks on In Conflict succeed on the arrangements and production as well as the writing.

The multi-instrumentalists expertly weave the country flavors of their fiddles, dobros, and banjos into a beguiling folk-pop-singer-songwriter sound that could appeal equally to fans of their main gig and of artists such as Indigo Girls or James Taylor.

Mascis doesn’t just go unplugged here; he pulls back the curtain to reveal a troubadour at his most vulnerable.

This is the unusual album that’s beautiful and ugly, tender but tough, and that much more rewarding because of it.

This delightful album revisits artists that Miller recorded during cruises in 2014 and 2015.

Cue up any of the songs on Nashville and you hear the sound of Stuart's mission being fulfilled.

With these songs, Bains surely wants to make you think; he surely will make you shake.

Common Ground has the pluck and swing of a porch pickin’ party, with the Alvins swapping licks and vocals on a number of Broonzy classics.

There is nothing hesitant about this collection of songs which manage to be fraught with heated emotions while simultaneously composed of chilly, fidgety grooves.

Nearly every song on the new Courtney Barnett album has something to recommend it--a familiar melody that takes distinctive turns, a lyric that grows deeper with each listening, strong backup from a band led by Barnett’s rough-hewn guitar riffs.

LaMontagne is a complex man who won't talk about his personal life, so we don't know how many of these songs are autobiographical, but they touch upon universal themes and they touch deeply.

They take prime garage rock and global beats from past works and flirtatiously commingle them to craft a gossamer rock - steady creation.

The production throughout is more soulful and seamless than on previous efforts.

Here, it’s less about what Y.G. does than how he does it; digging deeper into vintage G-funk flavors with a blend of personal, party, and political tracks, the young Compton rapper takes a sizzling step forward.

An album that’s incredibly enjoyable even as Jepsen stands on the precipice of heartache.

Throughout, Harte infuses much of the record with the chopped-up high-hat propulsion of DFA-style dance-floor abandon that makes studying your history a lot of fun.

This isn’t complicated, just tasty, and performed with wit and expertise.

Ripatti's restraint is still his strongest suit; he's not so much leading the way as lighting it.

Brad Mehldau is back in his comfort zone with Live in Marciac, a solo set of two CDs and one DVD recorded at the jazz festival in France.

The Next Day offers many sides of a multifaceted artist and almost all of them mesmerizing, as the songs grow richer with each listen.

Thomas Mars sings with a casual amiability so hard to resist that it helps carry Phoenix through some of the less immediate material on the album's back half.

She & Him, the duo of Zooey Deschanel and M. Ward, cover a lot of ground here, rendering each song with warmth and radiance.

The Bravery’s adrenaline-rush, retro-new-wave/punk rock is back with a flourish. The album is a sonic high, but a mixed bag of lyrical ups and downs.

Sixteen radio-length tracks that include a gorgeous, ethereal version of "Across the Universe" whose somber violin and country twang could bring on tears; a honky-tonk take of "Revolution" that makes you want to square-dance; a sleepy, dreamy redo of "Imagine" in which Frisell takes considerable care to pick just the right notes not only when he plays the melody but when he improvises; a folk cover of "Julia" that contains not an ounce of cynicism; and an almost ambient sketch of "Give Peace a Chance" that dares the listener to find the original melody buried deep within.

The Everything But the Girl gal follows up her superb 2010 solo album, "Love and Its Opposite," with this gently lovely seasonal release.

While there is a handful of tracks that will pass airplay muster--the inane but catchy “Truck Yeah,” the breezy Swift and Keith Urban-assisted “Highway Don’t Care”--it’s more interesting when McGraw goes either a little sideways or steps back into contemplative mode.