Pleasant to listen to but lacking adventure, The Singer in My Band is the product of close study but fails to take liberties with established forms

So Much for Goodbyes can feel overstuffed at times, but no individual track runs overlong. Strings has plenty to say, and he says it. Often, he does so by blending where he came from with other places he's visited, and it makes for a truly distinct sound

Chat Pile’s sludgy take on metal and post-hardcore is full of clang and roil, and it suits the themes exactly, making Who Loves the Sun the perfect soundtrack for the apocalypse as it approaches in that classic Hemingway fashion: slowly, and then all at once

On his country-fried solo album, the Killers frontman doesn’t seem to have the attention span to work out the songs, offering half-hearted choruses and chiming bridges while he searches for an idea

Even if the moments of brilliance that once came so naturally to Interpol are harder to conjure, still pulling them off on their newest album is an appreciable talent

At this phase of his career, James sounds increasingly like a guide to relaxation, to being aware of rhythms and to paying attention to how cast-off sounds might become diamonds over time

Anyone expecting Mike D’s debut album to sound like the Beastie Boys without MCA and Ad-Rock may be disappointed, but Thank You is a breath of fresh air – a positive and forward-looking statement and a fresh start to build on, rather than just nostalgia for past greatness

On his latest, arguably best, record to date, Open Mike Eagle presents a relentless series of small scenes that sketch the dissolution of his relationship so well that you feel like you’re along for the descent with him

There Near is a very solid entry in Dinosaur Jr.’s discography and a stormier guitar record than most anything else released this year

Anyone expecting Mike D’s debut album to sound like the Beastie Boys without MCA and Ad-Rock may be disappointed, but Thank You is a breath of fresh air – a positive and forward-looking statement and a fresh start to build on, rather than just nostalgia for past greatness

A creative reset for an always creatively restless band, Punching the Clown is one of the best albums of the year

Anyone expecting an aging band to recapture the intense majesty of their youth will be disappointed, but if you’re looking for leather-jacketed slow soul, Soft Control will fill that role well

With added contributions from Brian Bell and Patrick Wilson, humor and playfulness, Weezer’s 20th album, The Gold Album, is a strong sign of life for the band, delivering on a clear statement of purpose and intent

The Outlaw Cherie Lee & Other Western Tales thrives on a fair bit of ambition — it's a 20-track concept album, after all — but doesn't move too far from Shaboozey’s established aesthetic

Days isn’t a collection of personal traumas but of memories held at a distance, and such material should be treated with the light touch John Darnielle applies here

John Carpenter’s Cathedral is fantastic listening, mixing what listeners likely love about the horror director’s scores with new sounds. When blending the soundtrack with the graphic novel, it’s a less satisfying experience, though still worth it for Carpenter fans

Closing a quadrilogy that began with her 2017 self-titled debut, L'Rain’s latest is built almost entirely from things slippery enough to avoid efforts to define them

By closing her artistic process off to the people and places around her, Laura Veirs has fully opened herself up to love and, hopefully, creative collaboration once again

The spiritual beacon of Radiohead is the latest in a long line of songwriters to use their art to face the void

Here in Inferno, all phantoms are welcome — and if their existences can be elevated with a haunting beat, all the better