Four compositions of heavy, deliberate sonic, thematic, and existential exploration by guitarist/vocalist Aaron Turner, bassist Brian Cook, and drummer Nick Yacyshyn.

Favorite track:
New Rites

Dr. Dog returns from hiatus with an album of perfectly on-brand alt-rock and 11 more reminders of the void they'll leave when they step away for good.

Favorite track:
Still Can't Believe

Casual, spacey alt-folk that shares a likeness to Here We Go Magic (String), Belle and Sebastian (Everlee), and Cass McCombs (Under Burden, Lady's Mantle).

Favorite track:
Hex

Marbled Eye's second full-length builds on their strong debut, Leisure, released five years earlier. Ten songs of angular count-me-out post-punk.

Favorite track:
Spring Exit

Intricate, explorative art-rock by Ulrika Spacek guitarist and vocalist Rhys Edwards, full of beautiful melody and captivating sonic diversions.

Favorite track:
Daffodil

On what might be their last album after announcing plans for an indefinite hiatus, METZ continues to evolve its distinctive brand of sonorous, melodic noise rock. If this is the band's endpoint, Up On Gravity Hill is a reverberating final statement.

Favorite track:
No Reservation / Love Comes Crashing

“I can go anywhere that I want / I just gotta turn myself inside out and back to front,” Thom Yorke sings on Friend of a Friend. This sense of creative freedom helped Yorke's other band leap the chasm between OK Computer and Kid A, and it allowed The Smile to conceive the music on its second album, Wall of Eyes: visceral, limitless, of its own time and space, eerily brilliant.

Favorite track:
Friend of a Friend