With Remember Us to Life, Spektor foregoes some of the whimsical narratives on previous albums and digs back into more personal thoughts, showcasing her inimitable vocals and piano talents.

Sun Coming Down is succinct without being rushed.

She uses the body and the spaces it consumes and shrinks within as a driving theme throughout Crushing, uncovering the journeys her own body has taken as a romantic partner, a friend, a woman, and a world-touring musician.

While it all may seem rather bleak, rays of light eventually cut through the gloom. The Bride’s captivating story and thoughtful arrangements prove addictive, as Khan’s impressive songwriting rewards multiple listens, another step toward the vaunted pantheon of British art rock.

While Post Pop Depression is full of life, it’s also checkered with countless allusions to Iggy’s musical mortality.

Virtue delivers a bracing set of experiments and amounts to the most interesting record of Casablancas’ career.

Katy B is a master of capturing that oceanic feeling when individuality melts away, and every soul rises and falls together on the wave of the beat.

The record is a posse cut without pretense and the showpiece of a stylistic partnership that feels long overdue.

Kvelertak are able to traverse across sub-genres and pull from dozens of influences within four minutes and still maintain purpose and direction confidently.

Popular Problems flashes the exact same brilliance and suffers the exact same setbacks[as his last album]--namely that Cohen’s vocals continue their dark, leathery tumble into the lowest registers and that the production can be too syrupy, respectively.

Their democratic process and persistence has resulted in an elevation of their sound.

Eleven years is a long layoff, but Head Wound City sound just as peerless and hard to pin down as they did more than a decade ago.

YACHT balances its snark with just enough warmth to keep its dystopian dreams engaging.

Though not specifically a jazz project, V has indeed embraced all the hallmarks of the genre: bluesy lyrics, strong rhythms, great instrumentalists, and a spirit of creative freedom.

M doesn’t differentiate itself greatly from the early work of many black metal artists. That said, the album shines with potential and the promise that a more unique followup waits further down the trail.

We’ve been graced with a look into his personal refuge, and it’s been beautiful.

An interesting bunt that adds color and flavor to an intriguing sound, Making a Door Less Open is a classic transitional album, which they may double back from and they may double down on; frankly, either result will be more exciting.

The content of Two Vines doesn’t need to truly illustrate that concept to succeed. Empire of the Sun have managed to remain steadfast in the sound they’ve carved out for themselves since day one, which can be a challenge for a band that has pushed as big and wide as these two have.

Though less immediate, Why Hasn’t Everything Already Disappeared? still bristles with the spirit that makes Deerhunter’s work mystifying. Along with Fading Frontier, the album presents a new era for Deerhunter, one more contemplative and spacious yet continually beguiling.

All the songs here are pretty much worth their salt, but there are a few lyrical moments where the complexity and contradictions feel a little boiled-down.

Luminous is a shot across the bow, letting the world know the punks have grown up.

Asunder is polemical in its trudge, drawing out notes the way a politician pauses between words to emphasize their meaning. As with 2012’s Allelujah! Don’t Bend! Ascend!, Godspeed pulls it off.

Mystery has forever shaped the mythology behind The Strokes, and they’re rarely so forthcoming. Which is why Casablancas’ peculiar transparency is one of the more alluring accomplishments of Future Present Past.

Like the rest of the LP’s most successful tracks, all of these songs latch their loosey-goosey lyrics to an ironclad repetition, the core guitar line of each tune distinguished by a clarity that turns it into a hook. Because Gunn has a solid foundation, he can wander the earth, air, and ocean freely.

Serpentine Prison isn’t the drastic change of pace that many frontmen create when they do a project outside of their main band, but it does enough to justify itself as separate from The National’s catalog. At the same time, longtime fans of the group will undoubtedly feel at home here, too, while also admiring what Berninger does differently.

Segall’s output over the last decade is proof that making music is truly its own reward for some artists, and over the course of 11 songs and 38 minutes, Mugger epitomizes that passion like no album of his before it.

Cyrus has always been more interesting — eclectic, provocative, upending expectations — as a public figure than as a musician. But on songs like “Midnight Sky”, Cyrus has found a sonic mode where listeners can more fully hear her distinctive voice and unruly perspective. Like her hero Elvis Presley perhaps, Plastic Hearts proves that Cyrus can be derivative and still be an original.

Most of these songs are an extension of the excitement and novelty that he’s not only bringing to the Latin market, but to the music world at large.