A stunningly effective experience. ... The album, though emotionally weighty, offers a testament to moving on and surviving and makes for thoroughly unforgettable listen.

Collaboration is a good color on Bass Drum of Death as Barrett looking to outside opinions allowed for his ideas to take full form and provide us with 12 tracks of unfiltered rock with enough melody to plant itself firmly in your psyche and remind you of what album to throw on when you need to get lost in a cloud of harmonious garage rock.

On 2018’s The Other, Thomas was questioning and searching in sometimes morbid ways. Now, with the personally emotional Smalltown Stardust, he has found some solid answers in nature, love, friends, and hometown memories; King Tuff sounds gratifyingly grounded.

Ultimately, Fragments is yet another thought-provoking installment of the Dylan’s discography, not only in direct reflection of its source material but also on its very own terms.

Masterful. ... The band has created a unique sound that is both modern and retro, and the album features a wide array of styles and sounds. It’s a must-listen for fans of rock, funk and soul music, and for anyone looking for an album that is both musically and emotionally satisfying.

Despite it being one of their shortest albums, their feral-like energy continues to demand your attention for the full 40 minutes.

While their debut, The Power And The Glory, is not necessarily treading new ground, it is still a remarkably satisfying collection of straight-ahead college rock songs. Mantione’s vocals are solid, but it’s the unexpected lyrical turns that almost all of the songs take that make the band so compelling.

These songs have a light-hearted nature to them that is overtly pleasant without sounding like they’re trying to be. While this approach doesn’t leave much room for experimentation, it does leave us with a consistent, exciting, easily enjoyable album that toes the line between spacious ambiance and robust arrangements.

Through its simplicity, Five Easy Hot Dogs achieved a level of beauty that redefines Demarco as a musician. Instead of relying on cheeky guitar tones and whispering vocal melodies, Demarco created a project that expresses his diversity without it feeling forced.

Musically the band takes some really big swings here on songs like “Hell On Earth,” easily one of their best tracks in years, and the beautifully soaring “Living In the Grey”; and those experiments almost always pay off. Impressively, the band pairs those musical gambles with some of their most personal lyrics yet, singing about fatherhood, expectations of masculinity and showing vulnerability. This new creative spark and lyrical enlightenment makes for Circa Wave’s most ambitious record so far in a career that is already pretty notable.

Rick Neilsen’s stage patter has the earlier, maniacal tone, Robin Zander’s vocals are sublime, Tom Peterrson’s bass sounds mammoth and Mr. Bun E. Carlos proves why he is truly irreplaceable. ... To quote the band’s paean to the faithful, Fan Club, these four discs are truly the sound of “four kings and an army strong.”

While perhaps not a major cultural statement, Every Loser is an extremely secure album for the legendary mercurial artist to deliver this late in his career.

Four stands among the tallest in Frisell’s storied catalog and should be destined for classic status.

If MIKE had released Beware of the Monkey a few months earlier, a lot of the “Best Albums of the Year” lists you’ve been reading would look a lot different. He gracefully navigates a new season in his life through vibrant instrumentals and heartfelt poetry that is as direct as it is artistically ambitious.

While Me/And/Dad has its share of some genuine knee-slappers, such as “Way Downtown” and “Dig A Little Deeper (In The Well)”, the album ultimately draws its strength from the emotionally charged performances heard on some of the more somber material. ... Me/And/Dad shines thanks to its stripped-down arrangements of traditional material that serve as a welcome counterpoint to the progressive-fueled musical fireworks that often accompany Strings’ live shows.

Cuts like “Shakin’ All Over” illustrate how Petty and the Heartbreakers are individually and collectively rediscovering themselves as players and singers as they move out of their shared comfort zone. Even when the ensemble is sharing the stage, they transcend mere showmanship to depict their recommitment to the roots of their music.

Wand is most at home onstage, and Spiders in the Rain does a proper job of delivering the group’s unique mix of noise/psych/jam/shoegaze/alternative rock to those who have yet to experience them in concert as well as those who want to relive the majesty.

As on the previous record, these tracks are pieced together and arranged by bandleader Stu Mackenzie from group jams before being augmented with overdubs and vocals, and on Denim the band sound even less encumbered with the idea of traditional songcraft – though they manage to craft a great pair of songs here.

We’ve dubbed Lloyd a major spiritual force. There is nothing here to dissuade us from that. This could be arguably even a higher form of spirituality. It’s just a whole different trio offering than the previous two that shows the endless creativity and versatility of the inimitable Lloyd.

Weyes Blood’s And In the Darkness, Hearts Aglow is a revelatory baroque pop album forged in these recent chaotic days.

This forty-fifth studio album of Neil Young’s may not rank as one of his greatest, but it may well be the most true-to-life effort he’s ever released.

Though Love Songs For Losers has many of the familiar markings of the band, the album finds the trio at their most experimental, diverse in subjects and sound – all while still sounding very much like a Lone Bellow album.

Fertita pulls from all his edgy influences fortuitously throughout this solo self-titled debut, as Tropical Gothclub shakes with an infectious buzzing energy in line with Eagles of Death Metal and Them Crooked Vultures.

While the album is generally melancholy, he is able to squeeze in a full spectrum of emotions around the same topic, allowing the album to flow naturally lyrically while Mann’s arrangement work provides new dimensions and textures, creating an undeniably smooth listening experience.

Its seamless collection of earworm melodies and heady grooves make for a pretty compelling argument that it was well worth the wait.

The Murlocs continue their steeped-in acid look back at the 60’s Nuggets-inspired offerings on the convincing Rapscallion.

The Car definitely keeps with the trajectory that Arctic Monkeys have been following since the release of Whatever People… and Favorite Worst Nightmare. Depending on what your outlook on the band’s releases has been will determine whether you think The Car is in keeping with an upward or downward trajectory.

[Sloan] have certainly built up a solidly loyal following over the years but have inexplicably never been huge outside of their native Canada. Steady likely won’t do much to change that but is certain to make even the most casual fans of the band happy.