"Blurring" is an inventive trip-hop diversion, with booming illbient bass, slowly crushing breaks, and a downright lovely vocal hook. It ends up leaving a much bigger impression than most of the other tracks on the album, even if it isn't exactly the type of earworm one might expect from the artist's description of his intentions for the project.

Something to Give Each Other succeeds because Sivan has been freed: to be who he wants to be and express that through his most engaging and addictive album to date.

Its seven tracks are rhythmically labyrinthine, unhurried in tempo, with clamping drums and cosmic synthesizers that burble, prance, and sometimes create a sense of menace.

Ultimately, it's the singles that keep Angel Face interesting, an ironic twist, given that the period he fetishizes most certainly favored singles over LPs. So, in a sense, he has hit his mark squarely.

Selvutsletter is some of the duo's most expressive and widest-ranging work -- and given how committed Volden and Hval are to experimentation, that's saying something.

Joni Mitchell's powers as a songwriter and creative spirit are unparalleled at every step of her journey, but her output in the '70s was on a higher plane, even for her. Archives, Vol. 3 reflects this with behind-the-scenes material just as storied and worthy as the music that Mitchell was making during one of her finest hours.

All That Was East Is West of Me Now confirms that as an artist, he's not wasting the days he has left on the trivial, and the craft and the emotional power of this music is strong enough that we can all hope he might have another 10 or 20 years of music this good left in him.

Tirzah's music may be volatile, but it's also remarkably consistent; trip9love...??? is the third time in a row that they've turned a handful of sounds and a wealth of ideas into a haunting, forward-thinking album.

Offset seems equally at home in almost every style he tries on, and though the heavily varied production and artistic approaches from track to track can give the album a less-than-consistent feel, the steady stream of guest appearances from stars like Future, Young Nudy, Latto, and others all help to emphasize how Set It Off is more exciting than it is uneven.

Madres deals with serious subject matter, but ultimately it's an abundantly thankful, joyous, and celebratory record.

If Jenny From Thebes may be a bit more cryptic than his best work, every song contains a yarn worth hearing, and his quietly bold, ordinary-guy delivery is surprisingly flexible, adjusting itself to fit any situation he presents.

Twenty years after the release of Keep on Your Mean Side -- a time when many acts consolidate their sound into something safe and reliable -- Mosshart and Hince are still at the top of their game.

The Silver Cord was released in two different editions; one with the songs edited to around four minutes each, one where the songs stretch out over the ten minute mark. The extended versions don't add much to the overall effect of the album, merely giving the listener more time to wonder why the band chose to go down this route.

Action Adventure doesn't sound like DJ Shadow's other records, but it's exactly the type of album he would make -- a risky, expectation-bucking set that only fully makes sense to the artist himself.

An album that continues very much in the melancholy vein of its predecessor while taking a generally looser approach to arrangements.

With a more congruous title, "Anxiety's Rainbow" is an album highlight for its marriage of rousing melody, dissonance, and groove, while the rest is interesting enough to hope for more from this ambitious isolation-induced project.

It's always fascinating to hear Barnes take Forest Swords' distinctive musical vocabulary in different directions, especially when the results are as eloquent as Bolted.

The EP's wistful quality combined with its brevity can make The Rest seem almost unassuming, but it's not slight: it's a welcome coda to the relative exuberance of The Record.

While it plays a less-sure hand than classic predecessors like YHLQMDLG, it nonetheless proves a welcome gift for the star's dedicated fanbase.

At its heart, it's nothing more than the Rolling Stones knocking out some good Rolling Stones songs, which seems like a minor miracle after such a long wait.

It may not be the second -- or third to be more precise -- coming of Lush, but it's good to have Anderson back and making music as pretty, sweetly sad, and ultimately comforting as Pearlies.

Overall, it feels less like a comeback and more like the latest chapter in the ongoing saga Skinner has been spinning since 2002.

While this is far less downcast, the joy, wonderment, and fond reminiscences in the songs are complicated by worry, uncertainty, and longing.

One More Time... plays like a love letter, both to fans who stuck with them and to each other -- a letter that doesn't so much ask for forgiveness as offer it willingly, passionately, and without conditions.

More accessible than past Slauson Malone releases, Excelsior is still a strange, mysterious creation that warrants extensive, engrossed listening.

Chock-full of brusque rhymes that, even with occasional respite with the odd slow jam, become mind-numbing over the course of its hour-long duration, Scarlet is a fascinating follow-up to Planet Her.

Though Crazymad, For Me lacks a bit of the wit of If My Wife New I'd Be Dead, anyone who has had their heart stepped on in the past 20 years will embrace it as their own.

The deep involvement of McClenney, assistance from additional producers such as Wynne Bennett and Alissia Benveniste, and the familiar presence of Peter CottonTale all nudge and stretch Woods' sound into new realms of left-field pop, folk, and funk without squeezing out a drop of soul.