“If My Wife New I’d Be Dead” is a fully formed debut, replete with big choruses, imaginative song ideas, and enough charm to carry the album’s almost one-hour running time.

Suede have wisely sidestepped any 21st-century tropes which would have diluted their approach. They stick to their specialties here. ... One of the best records of their career.

The indefatigable tracks are softened by more ruminative numbers, affording respite and retrospection amid the jungle-thick maze of emotion and mood. Ultra Truth is both a danceable and listening collection that packs a corporeal punch and a spiritual cleanse.

All bets aren’t necessarily off in terms of whether or not Grizzly Bear have hit their plateau--recall that we did this with "Yellow House" in 2006; oops--but it’s hard to imagine them giving us more to enjoy in one sweeping statement than they have here.

Skinty Fia is rich, diverse, and suggestive. It self-consciously roots itself in identity, culture, and style while simultaneously moving forward with the maturation of theme and sound.

Understand that most of the tracks are excellent. If this were a stand-alone record, I would rate it more highly. As an overview of or introduction to Pavement, it is terribly flawed.

Bitte Orca is made of nine distinct and powerful songs, and perhaps that is what makes it more inviting than earlier albums.

Ware gives her most understated performance on the record, and ironically her most anonymous, but the track's hypnotic, uneasy lurch calls for this delivery.

Pink City is a real winner, and listeners will be swayed by its gentle beauty, all obvious comparisons that may seem pertinent be damned.

Tinariwen's music has a beating heart to it and a genius for connecting the group's specific experiences to a broader audience. No one puts the soul of the Sahara into music so intimately and ingeniously as Tinariwen, and Amadjar is a particularly well-polished jewel.

With smart sequencing and good production, the album documents one of rock's most engaging acts in the manner they deserve.

A sense of humor is definitely required, as is an appreciation for everything rockin'.

If the Fall... have not just released their best record in a decade, they have certainly released a more consistent and accessible one, just in time for the tail-end of the post-punk renaissance.

A tad more abrasive and rocking than the late-night blooze of Whiskey For the Holy Ghost and Scraps at Midnight, Bubblegum should appeal to fans of great songwriting.

They are more atmospheric and rhythmic than narrative and follow tangents into unexplored places. As both narrator and protagonist, Hval starts in a waking state and then lets the songs float away into unknown territory.

You'll probably find yourself spinning Good News quite often, as it becomes more and more pleasant with each listen.

American Kid successfully recaptures Griffin’s acoustic roots in haunting and moving fashion.

She continues that upward streak on Walking Proof, where each of the 11 tracks shines with imaginative playing, spirited vocals, and sensitive, literate lyrics. It's truly a kick-ass record.

Maybe it's churlish to hope for more than the sound of two friends doing something they enjoy but Sunn O))) have delivered so much more than that, over such a significant period, that it means the biggest surprise here is that a band famed for discovering the nuances and unseen potential of repetition, finally sound repetitious.

Creatively and ideologically, this is a perfect storm for Jain. Even in his already formidable body of work, Wild Wild East stands out as an album that not only deserves to be heard, but needs to be listened to.

So while Journal for Plague Lovers doesn’t quite match up to The Holy Bible, essentially it doesn’t need to.

If not for the superior variety and scope of Pale Communion, In Cauda Venenum would absolutely be Opeth's best album in a decade. Like most great records, it takes a few deep listens to appreciate fully, but the reward is easily worth the investment.

It is an album about the ways in which we recover, the ways in which we find ourselves after feeling loss. It’s also an album that, musically, full of fitful and exciting exploration.

I Am Not Afraid of You and I Will Beat Your Ass is nothing if not dazzling.

Another beautiful and deeply touching Simon Joyner record.

If Alice Bag is but the first politically and socially-charged salvo in the start of a belated solo career, it’s a welcome opening statement and (hopefully) harbinger of what’s to come.

Big Ups have created another substantial record in their discography. The two parts the album's title are referring to could be lightness and darkness; hope and fear; loudness and quiet. Nevertheless, there are more than two parts that make Two Parts Together impactful.

Parasol Peak works very well as a stand-alone, audio-only experience. The music is that good, and the musicians make an exceptionally tight ensemble. But the accompanying video pays off immensely.

Yes, with Clara, the sound sculptor Scott Morgan continues to astound. What’s most entrancing might be the fact that, without taking detours, the Canadian artist manages to keep his work feeling fresh and unanticipated.

The Chemistry of Common Life is made by an expansive search party of scalpels, each handled with surgical precision. And together, they make a pretty deep cut.

Stumpwork isn’t easily decoded on the first listen. John Parish’s production work needs some getting used to, particularly in how he treats Shaw’s vocals with a certain tinny harshness even as he pushes them to the front of the mix. Even outside of that, Dry Cleaning are still playing 1980s-era indie and languors in obtuse sprechgesang. But also like New Long Leg, Stumpwork is worthy of inhabiting completely and capable of rewarding multiple listens.

The individual tracks don’t have conventional beginnings, middles, and ends. Instead, they seem to dwell in a space where time doesn’t pass. The music exists as a presence. There is something cosmic about the experience, leavened by Tomberlin’s sense of humor.

The tracks here each carry a specific style and personality that speak to its theme of exploring love in all its forms. It's the usual theme for a country record, especially a modern one, but Yearwood's class as a performer shifts even the most standard dedication to love lost, contained, empty, potential, new, or dead, into an area all its own.

Chiu and Honer’s interpretations of this space build a sense of place at the intersection of their lived experience and the unique geography of the archipelago, and it’s this sense that they share with us on this new release.

Ultimately, the Brothers' forays into new styles and a slower pace equal something like a more listenable, more thoughtful, more cohesive version of Burn.

Each play of Grievances is like that triumphant, sweaty bar show, right there in your room.

E is one of the best songwriters America has to offer, and he has made as personal, poignant, and ultimately redeeming an album that you are ever going to hear.

By exposing the production devices and disrupting easy identification, Albini and Nastasia force intellectual engagement rather than mere reflexive emotional connection.

The new album is a willfully modest affair, its tracks stripped to their most basic elements: a synthesized keyboard and drum machine here, an acoustic guitar or violin there, meticulously arranged female voices everywhere as a counterpoint to Cohen's own increasingly cavernous growl.

The fact that after six full-length LPs Cult of Luna can still deliver an opus as challenging, engrossing and intricately layered as Vertikal is a testament to the abilities of this Swedish collective; a band who have now earned their place as one of the most essential in progressive metal.

Unlike the overstuffed Silver or Seacaucus, The Meadowlands manages to reveal the expanse of the Wrens' vision without trading on their intimate charms.

Celebration Day, it pleases me to say, is a resounding triumph.

Boys in Girls in America is one gargantuan anthem short of, and two bits of filler long on, the band’s Born to Run.

The album is not without its flaws, mostly coming from the disappointing length and one filler track. The record only lasts seven songs, and with the flood of ideas that Shepherd clearly brings to the table, it’s a damn shame we don’t have more time in his world.

Her lyrics are open to multiple interpretations. Her voice is accompanied by musical arrangements that range from the silly to the sublime to spoken word, depending on her message. Jamila Woods has a good sense of humor and engages in wordplay and childlike melodies to affect a mood or make a point.

As usual, there are just enough catchy pop songs to draw in casual listeners but the bulk of the material on the album is weird and idiosyncratic.

It has gorgeous moments that replace silence by reorganizing the background sounds of everyday life, which is arguably what all music should do. With Romantic Piano, Gia Margaret has perfected her voice.

Rather than rest on his laurels or deliver a bigger and better sequel, Tillman has instead created an album that covers a wider variety of subject matter with more focused and rich songwriting.

The songs are largely unedited, and this sometimes does not work in its favor. But thankfully, this is seldom the case.

The result is a set of modern piano jazz that covers a remarkable range and features three brilliant musical imaginations that play well together.

For my money, Newsom has demonstrated more nuance, depth of feeling, and originality than a hundred bedazzling pop divas.

Ode is a more traditional jazz record than Day Is Done in that it features concise themes and long improvisations, with brilliant rhythmic play running throughout the trio's incredible dialogue... And it's fantastic.

A singer-songwriter in the classical sense, Choi employs a wholly unique vocal and musical approach, each standing in contrast to the other to create a gloriously incongruous fusion. ... Ten Hymns from My American Gothic is nothing short of a 21st century pop masterpiece.

Spread out across three continents, the Amatssou team has nonetheless created a tight and exciting package of assouf (the term Tinariwen often uses for their music, translating to “nostalgia”). Tinariwen link Nashville and North Africa in ways well suited to a definition of outlaw country that includes their rebellious rock.

At times relentlessly dense and at others wistful, her back catalog at least hints at what’s on display here.

With catchy melodies and always engaging writing, the record brings Dacus’ early era to a sort of summation, a realization of what’s been coming, yet without any sense of her artistic momentum slowing down.

Quite how or where the new album fits into the contemporary music landscape isn't clear, but what's recognizable and of import is that somewhat out of time, Basement Jaxx have produced their best sustained effort so far.

Its only real flaw, though, is that it’s a little too long. Most of the songs achieve her general high standard, and the ones that don’t are far from awful.

We know intellectually it'd be impossible to make this music without modern recording technology, but it's still hard to believe this music came from the mind of someone with a car and a cell phone and a Twitter account. It feels like it's been floating around for eons in one form or another, waiting for someone to bottle it up.

Miranda Lambert, and Ashley Monroe seek to spread the truth of their own lives and the lives of those around them, and just like those church signs, offer a place of comfort in the midst of brokenness. The Gospel of Pistol Annies is not one filled with saccharine self-help soundbites. ... Instead it's a sermon fueled by heartbreak and regret.

For those of you who already own "The Way of the Vaselines," this 2009 upgrade’s imperativeness to own is strictly based on your own personal allegiance to the music of Kelly and McKee.

What’s amazing is that someone who has long been one of the finest and most difficult lyricists in hip-hop has now hit a high-water mark as not just a lyricist, but also as a songwriter and producer. The tones, beats, hooks, and endless variations and rhyming patterns are all here, and they come off as just as volatile and, perhaps, even more immediate than anything Aesop Rock has made to date.

For all it's pathos there's still a sense of detachment to the album, one that allows the listener to appreciate its beauty instead of continuously wallowing in misery. Landfall is a complex record that trades in gloom, comfort, and grace.

There isn't a single clunker among these 11 songs, which makes the record an easy, fun listen from start to finish even as the mood changes considerably from track to track.

Though demanding repeated listens, Tomorrow’s Harvest distinguishes itself by making intense commitment (e.g. What’s the better way to enjoy it, headphones or stereo, broken-up “side” listens on vinyl vs. one full immersive CD spin?) a welcome task for the summer of 2013.

Timeless, genre-defiant, and endlessly inventive, Architect is as accomplished a debut as any in recent memory.

Like the best art, Strange Mercy lets you know that it means something, though what the point is is as much open to interpretation as it is a matter of its author's intentions, which is how it should be.

Winter Wheat is an impressive record, ranking as one of the best of Samson’s career.

This is an album that benefits from its nods to another era. Anyone who pines for MTV's early years will find something to love here. Contemporary production values mesh nicely with an old-school execution.

While Lambert obviously sees herself as the headstrong country rock rebel that all the little girls will understand, the true joys of Crazy Ex-Girlfriend are to be found elsewhere.

As a gathering-in of all that's best about their duality, The Harrow & The Harvest eschews the cosmic Plough and settles instead for the blessings of a more earthly crop.

With the benefit of a song selection cherry picked from his Truckers years to his most recent solo work, he and a never-tighter 400 Unit make the best album-length case yet for Isbell as one of America's most underappreciated singer-songwriters.

Live at the 12 Bar features Jansch originals by majority, but the handful of covers that tossed into the set make the most indelible impressions upon first contact.

Ryuichi Sakamoto is back and shows no signs of being boring or predictable. For this, we should all be thankful.

Anjou have crafted a transcendent and moving ambient record, invoking not just the cosmos but also the human subjective experience of the universe’s strange and forbidding beauty.

This release offers more than it promises and should hold appeal beyond King’s fanbase. Tapestry: Live in Hyde Park chronicles King’s 2016 concert exquisitely and documents performances of songs that give her an immense legacy in popular music history.

We get to see and hear almost all the stages of R.E.M.'s woozy path to superstardom on At the BBC. ... For the slightly more conservative R.E.M. fan (or those of you unwilling to spend the time or the cash on negotiating your way through hours of R.E.M. live material) there's a double CD, which bolts together a healthy selection of the archive. ... There is a ton of great stuff here. It's time to retire those hissy bootlegs and remind yourself how great this band were.

The band became more fuzzy and loud for their 'comeback' albums in the 2000s: Realistes and Howl of the Lonely Crowd. And lastly, their 2014 record, Paperback Ghosts played with acoustics a little more and sounds a little more like a coffee shop in spots. All this leads to their most clear record to date: Fireraisers Forever!

He often hid beneath endless layers of reverb or incomprehensibly abstract lyrics in the past, but on these songs, his voice is front and center.

Carlisle croons in a clear voice layered with dust. He clearly articulates the words and emphasizes the important ones. The details matter. He also lets the syllables slide into each other to express emotions.

High Violet's greatness, above beyond the fact that it's a gorgeously arranged and performed set of songs of surprising tensile strength and grace, is that it rests its finger on some uncomfortably relevant truths about life after you no longer have the mental, physical, social or emotional wherewithal to spend every night at the bar and leaving the Silver City for somewhere quieter starts seeming like a good move.

Instead of locking itself into prescribed notions of success, emotions, or companionship, Miss Universe establishes truths and solutions of its own, on its own. Like Yanya's career, it exists and succeeds through sheer force of will.

His appeal isn't just in the wedding of hip-hop to the American folk tradition; other artists from Beck to Timbaland have taken respectable shots into that acoustic barrel. Buck 65 is doing something more ambitious: reading a tradition of American storytelling through hip-hop.

While tracks like "Animal" and "What a Heavenly Way to Die" are pleasing-if-passable--largely due to the fact that they lack that air of specificity that gives so many other of Bloom's songs their strength--Bloom remains a powerful, thoughtful, and engaging listen: an album about queer life that welcomes all listeners from all quadrants.

Over the course of five albums, Goldfrapp have proved themselves one of the most imaginative, artistic and entertaining bands of this new century... [Singles] offers an intriguing introduction to one of Britain's premier pop art bands.

She’s this decade’s Beyoncé, grown secure and prominent as ever.

It's achingly beautiful, disarmingly intimate, simply the best-kept secret in popular music today.

While not quite as replete with certified cottagecore stunners as folklore, evermore certainly has its fair share of strong tracks, all with varying levels of immersive realism.

Like the Seventh Seal, Memento Mori raises questions but never brings resolution. ... I It is a testament to their continued relevance and the unexpected wonder in remembering our shared condition.

This is no appendix, no addendum to Diamond Day, but rather a second solid installment in a career we music gluttons consider to be too sparse. Bunyan's songwriting, her assembly of musicians, and especially her voice are superb on Lookaftering, possibly more so here than they were on Diamond Day.

R.A.P. Music, a few slightly faulty hooks aside, is a definitive statement from Mike and a legacy changer for El-P.

The songs on Pageant are immediately catchy on first listen, but they have a melodic, lyrical, and instrumental power that will make them evergreen for years to come.

This is philosophy rap and if you're only enjoying it on a superficial level, you're missing the best parts.

Mirror Reaper isn’t so sanguine, but its visions of time fleeting and freezing brace us for the reality of the state from which no traveler returns.

Pink has an amazing ability to surprise and does so again and again on Before Today.

4D and Art of the Improviser aren't the sound of Shipp murdering jazz, just the sound of him quickly summing up his career before moving on. If this is a place at which one can arrive when they turn 50, just think of the future possibilities.

Made Possible is as great as anything else they've done... and they've done quite a bit.

Hearing this collection, countless Americana fans will understandably wonder why we have waited so long for this duo to commit themselves to record.