Will Butler – Policy
‘Policy’’s eight genre-hopping, multi-instrumental tracks clearly illustrate Will’s obvious talent and versatility as a songwriter. The upbeat, sing-as-though-your-life-depends-on-it guitar pop of ‘Take My Side’, ‘What I Want’ and gospel-esque closer ‘Witness’ is closest to what would be expected of him as a solo artist. But the deep, lamenting piano ballads, ‘Finish What I Started’ and ‘Sing To Me’, as well as the more experimental, 80s synth efforts, ‘Anna’ and ‘Something’s Coming’ reveal a very different, much darker side to the otherwise infectiously enthusiastic character he channels onstage. Read the full review on DIY Magazine

Broadcast – Entire Discography reissued on Vinyl
Warp has announced plans to reissue the entire Broadcast discography including their four original albums: 2000’s The Noise Made By People, 2003’s Haha Sound, 2005’s Tender Buttons, and finally 2009’s Broadcast and the Focus Group Investigate Witch Cults Of The Radio Age. In addition to those they will also release 1997’s Work And Non Work, which compiled all their early singles and EPs as well as 2006’s odds and sods double album, The Future Crayon. Read the full story on FACT

Enslaved – In Times
The opening seconds of “Thurisaz Dreaming” are possibly the fastest and most chaotic introduction to any album in Enslaved’s massive discography. While the opener of In Times progresses like most of their recent cuts, it eventually gives way to one of their most atmospheric and dreamlike outros to date. Even thirteen releases in, they’re not afraid to continue pushing the musical boundaries of progressive rock, psychedelia, and experimental music under an extreme metal backdrop. Recent releases have had varying amounts of black metal influence, but In Times subverts expectations by being their most varied and diverse release since 2001’s Monumension. Despite having arguably reached their peak with 2010’s Axioma Ethica Odini, Enslaved continue to prove that progressing is more important than attempting to repeat past successes.Read the full review on Sputnik Music

Purity Ring – Another Eternity
After creating Shrines across a geographic void, the duo actually sat in a room together to compose this opus, the back and forth between the two yielding a more clear-eyed sound and vision. This is the group’s singer-songwriter album (as much as an electronic duo can make a singer-songwriter record), personal but rooted in traditional song structures that build to big, distinct choruses. Where Shrines was an album built on rounded edges, Another Eternity is all right angles. Read the full review on Exclaim!

Tuxedo – Tuxedo
Tuxedo is a duo comprised of modern soulster Mayer Hawthorne and hip-hop producer Jake One. The collaboration began with an exchange of mixtapes almost a decade ago. Realizing that they shared an affinity for the kind of string-laden R&B and disco artists such as Change, Kleer, and Chic favored in the late ’70s and early ’80s, Hawthorne and Jake One decided to create an album of original material under the Tuxedo moniker. Read the full review on No Echo

Brandi Carlisle – Firewatcher’s Daughter
The album starts like a house afire: Carlile totally nails the vocal on the gospel influenced “Wherever is Your Heart,” and this one makes you realize just how good she is. When she sings, you’re a believer. She’ll have you singing along on the infectious “The Thing I Regret” with its chorus “Let them roll over me /let them roll over me.”

One of the album’s highlights is “The Eye,” a song penned by Tim Hanseroth, which is very stripped down and nearly a cappella, featuring little more than acoustic guitar and the lovely harmonies of the trio. You can hear Brandi’s country music and Fleetwood Mac influences on this one. Carlile and company performed this one in The Current studio late last year, and Brandi declared, “It’s my favorite song on the album, probably my favorite song ever.” Read the full reivew on The Current

Dan Deacon – Gliss Ripper
On record or in concert, Deacon offers escapism at its finest. As he explained before the release of America, Deacon uses music as a means to make sense of his surroundings. At the most basic level, he excites an unbridled dance party — even if only attended by one. Bodies react to “Sheathed Wings”, “Mind on Fire”, and “Learning to Relax” before minds can wrap themselves around the narratives contained within. That is the technique that Deacon has been so mindful of since he began instigating collective performances in clubs back in 2002. He understands that attention spans can be short, and if you want to get a message across, you’d better make the beat infectious. Read the full review on Consequence of Sound

JJ Grey – Ol Glory
Like many of the group’s previous albums, “Ol’ Glory” is rooted in the Jacksonville area of northeast Florida, where the band got its start in the late 1990s. “I don’t venture too far away from home, or at least the spirit of home,” Grey says, though the songs he prizes the most have a universal feel. “I just want it to be as free as a conversation with someone and let it go where it will,” he says. Read the review on WSJ

Torche – Restarter
But Restarter push Torche back toward the more punishing pole of its sound. The brief “Undone”, for instance, counts as one of the heaviest pieces in Torche’s catalog. Brooks leads multiple marching sections, but when he pauses, they slip into the sort of down-tuned, instrumental slogs that consumed multi-minute chunks of their early records. This allows Torche to be brutal while still moving, a trick they’ve rarely mastered. This doesn’t mean they’ve suddenly slid into doom or sludge metal. These 10 songs are actually no less memorable than those on Harmonicraft; “Minions”, “Blasted”, and “Undone” rank as new shoo-ins for any hypothetical best-of-Torche collection. Read the full review on Pitchfork