In all, My Morning Jacket may be a journey through the past, but it's also a solid step into something rock & roll has been missing for an awfully long time in the mainstream arena: melody, extremely catchy and well-written songs that aren't afraid of the mainstream, and a love of the great pop continuum that translates into something new.

Those who possess inside-out knowledge of the Prince and Jam & Lewis songbooks should be thrilled with it.

It ends School of Seven Bells in moving form and suggests a new and vital start for Deheza.

Electric Messiah proves that High on Fire can still blow the unholy horn of plenty, and while fans will know just what to expect when dropping the stylus, that knowledge takes nothing away from the Epicurean pleasure of sidling up to a favorite feast.

Bold production choices gel with this collaborative energy for an album that's inspired, driven, and sounds moved by the hand of unseen powers.

Visiter's experimental pop is so joyous and liberated-sounding that it's difficult not to get swept along in its wake.

While this set is saturated with hunger and ambition, it's also confident and sophisticated--the album sounds as if they meant every word but had a great time making it.

This is a great, high-energy mix that really gives a flavor of a night on the floor at Fabric, and presages a promising career indeed for Fitzpatrick.

Goodnight Rhonda Lee is hardly Atkins' first stylistic excursion into the past, but here, having an audibly sharp focus, a lot on her mind, and a leave-it-all-on-tape performance ethic make for her strongest impression since her debut.

Woodland Echoes can't be called a return to form for Heyward because he never lost his form; it just went unheard for years. Call it a welcome return instead, because the world of pop music always needs music this smart, tuneful, and unabashedly romantic.

Street Safari defies the sophomore slump with another collection of sharply crafted tunes that play like singles. It's a slightly more refined and thoughtful set on average, one that plays like an undergrad to Never Enough's skipping out on summer school, but it still struts and shrugs and keeps cigarettes in its shirt sleeve.

At its best, which it often is, Here If You Listen plays like a hybrid of Steely Dan, Joni Mitchell and CSN, a combination that is soothing and surprising in equal measure. It's an album that confirms that Crosby is at an unexpected and satisfying latter-day creative peak.

With Temporal, Julia Kent continues to craft cerebral yet accessible epics, encompassing a vast spectrum of emotions using a limited set of tools.

Immersive, joyous, but sometimes insubstantial, A Bath Full of Ecstasy lives up to its name in more ways than one. Even if it's not as consistent as some of Hot Chip's other albums, it's still a welcome, well-intended, and timely respite from the world at its worst.

A worthy follow-up and tonal cousin to B Boys' strong debut, Dudu hits its mark.

It's retro soul at its absolute best, and anyone who has a partner who makes them feel the way Bryant feels about Ann Peebles on this LP has plenty to be thankful for.

As grim as the album seems, something constantly pulls it back from sinking into utter despair, and the majestic closer "Stonefruit" feels nothing less than triumphant.

Such an ambitious, border-crossing project can't help seeming overwhelming and messy, but the participants' glee and love of expression comes through loud and clear, and the whole experience is a rewarding one.

I Came from Love is an informative, emotionally heavy album reminding listeners of the harsh realities and injustices of history, while encouraging resistance and change.

Darning Woman is at its most captivating when it doesn't even sound much like music at all, but more like the grinding gears of an overactive brain processing confusion and bliss.

Everything Squared is nearly as engrossing as anything from the group's past.

After he works his way through songs with titles like "Can I Mend It?," "Worms," and "God Knows Why," most listeners will likely be willing to give the sometimes anti-hero a second chance thanks to his deep self-awareness, charming turns of phrase, intention to do the work, and expressions of seemingly genuine affection.

https://www.allmusic.com/album/gods-favorite-customer-mw0003172246

Occasionally the vocals (and the constant name-dropping) become overbearing, but the musicianship is strong and adventurous, taking familiar instrumentation in unexpected directions, and Black Country, New Road are undeniably original.

[Jamie xx] accomplishes a difficult task in successfully (re)presenting Scott-Heron's music -- integrity intact -- in the present tense to a fickle yet discerning groove-centric culture without kitsch or excess.

The Imposters have never sounded better on record -- and they've never sounded more like the Attractions, either, which isn't entirely a coincidence -- and that helps give The Boy Named If its infectious kick: it may feel like an old-fashioned Elvis Costello album, but it sounds entirely fresh.

It's a gloves-off catharsis occurring in real time for the gifted singer/songwriter, and it leaves a mark on the listener as well.

As far as sophomore efforts go, Greys have stepped up their game considerably.

Black Country, New Road remain one of the most intriguing indie bands of the 2020s, and their flair for reinvention makes every release a thrill.

It's an oddly nourishing album that's as big a step forward for tUnE-yArDs as W H O K I L L was from Bird-Brains.

This is a keeper, one of those records that you'll still be listening to in ten years.

Each of Dehd's album's has been smarter, stranger, and more deceptively complex than the last, and the delightful and adventurous Poetry continues this upward trend.

Deface the Currency is gloriously intense and raucous, as avant funk, explosive jazz, free improv, psychedelia, and post-punk chaos meet in hallucinatory joy.

Whether they're sophisticated or visceral, Shame's energy and confidence makes Songs of Praise an exciting debut from one of the most vital-sounding British rock bands of the late 2010s.

The Smile take more risks with this follow-up, resulting in a gorgeous, sometimes difficult trip into the unknown that, if only briefly, can make you forget about their main gig.

As defined here, Soused accurately means "drenched" in sound. Walker's and Sunn 0)))'s individual identities, while always on full display, are brought jaggedly and thunderously together in an enthralling recording that equals the sum of its mighty parts.

"Nothing on Me" adds more variety yet by coming into view as if Cleo and company have found a sweet spot segueing out of a cover of D'Angelo's "Spanish Joint." "Love Will Lead You There," just voice and guitar, closes out the album on a serene note of togetherness.

It makes for a great second album, one that holds tight to all the things that made the first one so satisfying, while adding some new wrinkles that only serve to improve things. Try as you might, you're not likely to find too many albums in 2015 that rock as hard or bleed as much as High.

With ¡Ay!, Dalt succeeds at constructing and exploring an elaborate sound world that resembles a surreal reflection of her past.

Machines I-V is the Bug in pure club damage mode, and it's as heady and powerful as anything else he's done.

It's not difficult to call an album as multi-layered and fascinating as Age Of a landmark work.

With Four the Record, she's digging deeper than ever before and finding considerable riches.

Despite the often bleak themes at play on the album, there's also a refreshing hopefulness on many of the tracks that speaks to Healy's own recovery and willingness to say yes to even the most frothy pop trend. However, taken as a whole, the album is often as disparate and difficult to wade through as the social-media landscape it hopes to comment on.

Strange is a rare talent with a multi-tooled approach that encompasses thoughtful songwriting, surprising arrangements, and a sonically layered production aesthetic that feels both original and understated.

Compared to prior outings, their Zorn-like freewheeling spirit has been toned back and songs feel more like actual "songs" with defined structure and greater emphasis on the individuality of the performers and the negative space surrounding them.

Live in Dublin reveals Leonard Cohen is actually growing and improving as a performer as his 80th birthday looms on the horizon, and this unexpected and welcome new chapter in his career continues to reap surprising and delightful rewards.

Across the record, Lenker covers big emotions and small moments, noticing horse tails, eyelashes, and silences. The immediacy of the performances has the effect of eavesdropping on a late-night living room lament.

Using largely homemade acoustic instruments with farming tools often contributing to percussion, the three musicians create a sparse, rustic sound that while occasionally mournful, is also surprisingly buoyant.

Regret, longing, and grief fill the other songs, but Lusk's soaring, whole-hearted articulations of hope and reassurance prevent this transfixing album from being an unqualified downer.

By the time the finer details of closing track "The Diver" sink in (subsonic noise synth frequencies, muted and hypnotic drums, underwater guitar harmonics, and controlled muttering vocals), it's time to play the entire record over again and sit for another cycle in the beautiful, otherworldly loneliness it creates.

Joni's Jazz functions as a kind of sublime playlist, providing a stellar grounding of her work in folk, rock, and pop, while almost constantly reflecting jazz's musical vocabulary and influence.

Triumphantly romantic, Forevher announces Shura as an artist who's as deft at soul-baring songwriting and soaring pop as Carly Rae Jepsen or Christine and the Queens.

Miracle-Level is about seizing the opportunity to come together to create music and change -- a message that, like their other 2020s work, is just as eternal as it is timely.

Fear of Men come all that much closer to the mastery of their uniquely conflicted perspective on pop music with Loom, offering a set of songs as effortlessly enjoyable as they are smart, as inspired as they are hopeless.

We Are King is all about plush, impeccable grooves and spine-tingling harmonies. It's without fault.

The trio is often content to hover, swirl, and dissolve without resolution, saving only the last quarter of the 12-minute title cut for a truly needling rhythm and Wyllie's primal squeal.

They're more infatuated with Neu! and Kraftwerk or Public Image Ltd, but these jagged, difficult sounds are filtered through the trio's now instinctual arena-filling gestures and that tension is what gives Futurology a resonant richness.

It is desperate, important, and powerful music and it might just be the best album they've ever made.

Even at the album's bleakest, Sleaford Mods never sound completely beaten down. Not even a global pandemic and repeated lockdowns can crush their spirit, and Spare Ribs feels like a hearty, timely, and well-deserved two fingers up to the powers that be.

Ultimately, this record is a triumph for the band, born out of strange times, and although it may not be their best, their blend of bitter and sweet still rings true.

This is a worthy follow-up to its predecessor and, for all of its melodic sheen, darker and moodier.

Myrkur's music melds all of her adopted stylistic elements, lets their seams show, and emerges with an innovative, alchemical creation of her own. M expands on black metal's boundaries yet holds its dark, foreboding spirit close.

It all makes for a perfectly imperfect debut from an artist who already knows how to immerse listeners into his world, completely and immediately.

Party finds the sweet spot between raw and refined, and in doing so, feels very real.

By using her own empathic band for The Dirt and the Stars, Carpenter was able to erase all boundaries between singer and song; she entered their experiences nakedly, bravely, and completely, making this one of her standout albums.

The 2026 edition of Squeeze, anchored by bassist Owen Biddle (who produced the album), makes music that's rich limber, and they make the most of the ideas the group's songwriters dreamed up a few decades back.

The set covers the trajectory of one relationship and was recorded in concentrated fashion, and it consequently plays out like a complete statement made by a self-contained crew. What's more, La Havas' lithe voice forms a tighter bond with the lyrics, and her gently ringing guitar rarely leaves her hands.

While the album might not reach the heights and depths of True Widow's previous effort, it's a fantastic album in its own right that finds the band tweaking a proven formula rather than just sitting back and making the same album again and again.

This is a significant improvement over "The Love Experience" in every respect--somehow displaying an increase in both modesty and ambition, as well as offering a more refined yet bolder set of material.

This is a Shabaka album; it resonates with individuality, innovation, and abundant creativity.

This is sheer attack metal, played by a band that has run from simplicity to excess and incorporated them both into a record that is on a level with anything else they've done, even if not all the elements marry perfectly yet. Just get it.

Blue Sky Noise, with all of its spit-shine and modern rock luster, may not move mountains outside of its own pained and heavily marketed demographic, but as long as superhero movie franchises remain profitable, bands like Circa Survive will be there to play over the credits.

A standout. What the World Needs Now welcomes back a sorely missed S3 with all the rowdy joy intact. Nobody plays it like this.

Despite a couple of minor missteps, this album is a masterpiece.

Linda Gail Lewis may share top billing on Wild! Wild! Wild! with Robbie Fulks, but she's not playing second fiddle to anyone; they both deliver the goods here, and if you don't believe a 71-year-old woman can make a great rock & roll record, this album will show just how wrong you are.

No one was likely to have guessed that Wreckless Eric would be on a creative hot streak four decades after he made his debut, but that is indeed what's happening, and Transience manages to be surprising while also reflecting what Goulden has long done so well.

For Their Love is still almost alarmingly ornate -- some of that might have to do with the omnipresent cathedral-like reverb -- but much like 2015's similarly outstanding (and elaborate) Rituals, there's really never a dull moment.

Savoy embodies the abundant joy of its predecessor, Get On Board: The Songs of Sonny Terry & Brownie McGhee, but the album offers added nuance, color, dynamics, and musical sophistication. It seemingly accomplishes the impossible by taking these (overly) familiar standards and breathing new life into them while simultaneously honoring their legacies as well as that of the historic Harlem ballroom.

It establishes Pearson as an artist who's eager to experiment but in command of her musical identity.

The essence that Bell distills on Pinball Wanderer is one of happy exploration, indeed wandering from one creative idea to the next with very little second guessing or restraint. If there are any unfinished thoughts or untidy loose ends in that approach, they’re easily outshined by the feeling of radiant joy that carries the album.

Carner and his band create a warm, comforting sound on hopefully !, reflecting on life's trials but ultimately remaining confident and ready for the future.

All That Reckoning is a smart, compelling set of songs from a group that hasn't run out of things to say or the ability to say them with eloquence.

Throughout, Visser's earnest, quivery vocal delivery adds authenticity to emotionally raw, guileless lyrics, making Boniface an affecting debut with just enough hooks to compel repeat listens by pop fans.

Whether it's the caressing connectedness of "Evening Mood" or the air of pensive devotion on "Who Brings Me," this emotional immediacy makes Something in the Room She Moves an exciting and affecting addition to Holter's body of work.

These songs find the group's leader on more comfortable ground, and the tone of Star Wars is that of some good friends tossing ideas against the wall and discovering that a surprising number of them stick.

These subtle but confident, sneakily catchy songs reaffirm that Land of Talk is as relevant to the singer/songwriter movement of the 2010s and 2020s as they were to the noisy indie rock scene of the 2000s when they first emerged.

["The Moon Explodes" is] a perfect example of the witty resilience that makes Metalhorse inspiring and often brilliant.

After over 20 years of writing fine songs and making great records, John Darnielle and the Mountain Goats are actually getting better and more interesting, and Goths is a genuine triumph.

This is a very good Jay-Z album. He is, for the most part, doing what he has done before: what he does best.

An intriguing sonic experience from start to finish, Severant is a bold left-field first offering from an artist who's quickly establishing himself as the intelligent dance scene's "one to watch."

The whole thing succeeds as a sort of night music, and Parry's engineering team, sending the music rock-style among several different studios, gets superb results.

This is an utterly triumphant, uplifting album.

Suite for Max Brown may be a direct sequel to its predecessor, but it's nonetheless creative and thoughtful. It's also very accessible. Experimental music never sounded this welcoming.

Gomez has grown significantly as a performer since her early Disney years and Revelación further underlines that transformation.

On Mother Nature, Kidjo delivers not only an infectious, danceable transcontinental showcase for the African continent's musical influence on global traditions, but emphatically proclaims it a primary engine in pop's future.

TRU may have announced to the indie rock world at large that Ovlov had arrived; Buds lets everyone know they are here to stay.

Though most of the album doesn't feature the manipulated field recordings and found sounds often used in both artists' music, it still feels very localized and personal, as if they're interpreting various environments and locations through their instruments rather than direct sampling.