On this stunning debut, Sawayama captures Dua Lipa's future nostalgia and Poppy's metal-meets-pop savvy, rightfully making it her own with more depth, bigger thrills, and a limitless palette.

Shifting from pounding rock to experimental jazz at a feather’s touch, the album’s sonics provide the theatrical soundscape to Sumney’s words, rising and falling in line with his crystalline tones.

While the bulk of the album may be less infectious than that tune ["How Could I"] or the record's defiant predecessor, Temple's wonky mix of pop, rock, and hip-hop hooks remains engaging and recognizably theirs.

The quiet and gently unfolding "18 to 1" stands as the album's prettiest and most tonally pleasing cut, though for the patient listener, there is plenty of magic throughout the set as these two masters intertwine their ample talents.

Appearing after the release of an album Smith composed for the purposes of yoga, Mosaic has a similarly meditative flow, but with much more expansive arrangements.

Though the work seems part and parcel of the Nightwish aesthetic, on its own it may not appeal to all fans. That said, it does add depth and dimension to Human. :II: Nature. which is, with one exception, a consistently and deeply satisfying outing that was worth waiting for.

At their best, the Dears make music so beautiful that you can sometimes forget how bitter and resigned they seem to be, and Lovers Rock works the "pretty music about ugly emotions" angle as effectively as anything they or their peers have done in ages.

A fine showcase for how Sleaford Mods boil down punk and hip-hop's frustration into eloquent outrage and anger, All That Glue helps the converted and newcomers alike play catch-up.

Sorceress doesn't feel like a slam dunk triumph for Williamson, in part because it seems like she's still working out the balance between the various sides of her creative personality. But she sounds solid and assured even when she's swimming through the darkness, and her consistent strength as a writer and vocalist makes Sorceress well worth investigating.

Hakim provides consolation that is flavorful and tripped-out. Moreover, it's a little reassuring that he's able to flash some of his pitch-black, bone-dry sense of humor. The first two lines of "Crumpy" in particular should not be missed.

At times the songwriting just doesn't hold up to the inventive production, but there's plenty of ear candy to fill the gaps on this extremely fun LP.

Here and throughout A Steady Drip, Drip, Drip, Ron and Russel Mael riff on their history deftly, and the results are both timely and quintessentially Sparks.

Much of Reunions mirrors a troubled present, but "Letting You Go" finds room for hope and humanity, and it reinforces the themes of what may be Jason Isbell's strongest solo effort to date.

Like 2018's Everything Was Beautiful, and Nothing Hurt, All Visible Objects is a highlight in Moby's late-era catalog, a revitalization that serves both his passionately held beliefs and his core sound.

All the nuances of desire that Hadreas explores on Set My Heart on Fire, Immediately enhance the individuality of each song, as well as his own individuality -- and as he honors every part of his music and himself, he gives listeners another rich, densely packed album to savor.

While it may not be the proper sequel to the ambitious Charli, how i'm feeling now's rawness and immediacy give it an appeal all its own. More than just an interesting social media experiment or a way to fend off quarantine boredom, it's an artistic challenge that's true to the very best parts of XCX's music.

With Paradise Gardens, Dorval finds the strength to acknowledge darkness instead of feeling trapped by it, resulting in some of her most healing, self-empowering music.

While some fans may prefer the more escapist dancefloor jams that introduced them, Regresa showcases Buscabulla as a band who can work in virtually any situation and deliver a truly original sound that inspires the listener. We need more records like this.

PITH is a thrilling leap forward for the band that sees them hitting all the marks they hit so well on their debut and then leaping past them into new dimensions of sound and energy.

I Grow Tired But Dare Not Fall Asleep has a despairing seductive power.

Even with the more tuneful tracks, the album has enough bizarre lyrical imagery, unexpected outbursts, and general freakiness to keep Man Man from losing the weirdness they built their sound on.

Too close to the original to be a worthy reinvention, and too flawed in execution to feel like a successful homage, although this will almost certainly remain the only Elvis tribute album to include a sample from Aleister Crowley, at least until Jimmy Page gets around to making one.

From the outset, Weight of the Sun feels less immediately accessible than Modern Studies' two previous albums and suffers a bit from its mid-tempo lull and more contemporary palette. Given some time to decant, however, it reveals hidden depths and more interesting layers than are at first apparent.

While the first two I Break Horses albums were heartfelt and promising, at times it felt like Lindén was looking for her true musical voice. On Warnings she finds it and has made a modern synth pop-meets-dream pop classic that is sure to melt the frozen heart of anyone lucky enough to discover it.

While there's certainly an audible sense of collaboration on Petals for Armor, it's Williams' ability to turn her dark, personal moments into anthems of survival that stick with you.

This collection is a nice gift for fans who wanted all these stray tracks gathered up in one easily accessible place and shows that Drake's cast-offs aren't far from his keepers and his minor moves are still worth following just in case he comes up with something genius. Nothing here quite rises to that level, but overall, it's a solid entry in his ever-growing catalog.

Songs for Pierre Chuvin is a rough-hewn gem that's a splendid throwback to the wild early days of the Mountain Goats, and it only took a pandemic to make it happen. It may not be that much of an upside, but that makes it no less welcome.

Outland is a bit more rhythmic and bass-heavy than his previous two albums. There's a much sharper bite to the way he uses distortion here, and the tracks with beats sound monstrous.

It isn't a major departure than his previous few records, but it is a bit punchier, delivering more of a jolt of electricity and replicating the energy of his live shows a bit more. The rhythms here are a bit tighter and more complex.

Ignatius isn't strictly about reflection, though. There's some lethal, laser-focused ferocity in the Pusha T collaboration "Huntin Season," grade-A boasts and signature cackles over looped Peabo Bryson in "Me," and streetwise sermonizing in "Gov't Cheese."

Fake's music has always been highly inventive and emotion-rich, but this is the most urgent and vital it's ever felt.

Whether compared to the progressions of Kirby's cross-continental inspirations (Tsegué-Maryam Guèbrou, Andrew Hill, Yoshio Suzuki) or those of his nearest contemporaries (such as Garrett and Bremer/McCoy), My Garden is its own gratifying thing.

While it's not as brilliantly cohesive as Future Politics, Hirudin's exploration of losing someone and finding yourself sounds like the music Stelmanis had to make.

The Mother Stone falls into a busy and confusing tangle of parts that becomes exhausting after a while.

What's New, Tomboy? is another moving collection of American snapshots from the troubadour, if likely less memorable than his higher-contrast outings.

Pokey LaFarge is still working out the math on how to exist in more than one decade at a time, but Rock Bottom Rhapsody has more than enough good things in it that he's probably going to be just fine wherever he finally settles down.

City Burials is not a reinvention, but it does contain periodic re-engagement with the steely dynamics of heavy metal. Renkse's excellent songwriting, coupled with his best overall viocal performance, serve to energize Katatonia, who remain vitally creative in their third decade.

Toledo isn't the first artist to discover getting what you want isn't the same thing as getting what you were hoping for, and the cooler, more precise, and less cozy surfaces of Making a Door Less Open suit these songs well, the inorganic tone meshing with the alienation that permeates the album. Despite all that, the simple yet effective melodies that buoyed Car Seat Headrest's earlier work are still recognizable, and the sincere, foggy tone of Toledo's voice adds a humanity that makes his uncertainty cut even deeper.

Do You Wonder About Me? is superior ear candy that won't hurt your intellectual teeth, and a more than worthy follow-up to 2017's fine Swear I'm Good At This.

The album's diverse arrangements but consistent, sighing mood give Floatr a low-key cinematic quality on top of its meditative one. Though it may not be Happyness' most playlist-friendly set, it still lingers.

It's simply fresh, exciting, beautiful music.

Shelby Lynne is a profound meditation on amorous complexity and cost; it's arguably the most powerful record in the songwriter's catalog.

Singing for My Supper is unapologetically rooted in the past, but James is just idiosyncratic and genuinely talented enough to avoid pastiche, as he effortlessly amalgamates Southern blues, country, folk, pop, and jazz into something that evokes Jason Isbell by way of Lee Hazlewood or Tim Buckley.

It's clear Cream went out on a peak, but it's also evident that the tensions between the trio were too great for them to regroup for another tour or album. Thankfully, this fine box preserves their glorious farewell, which happens to double as the best document of the band's on-stage prowess and might.

As a reflection of the times, Ghosts VI: Locusts might be the more accurate soundtrack to a world on the brink of an uncertain future, wiping away any goodwill fostered by the deceptive serenity of Ghosts V: Together.

Of the two, Ghosts V: Together is the one to help lift spirits and calm the soul, a welcome escape from the tension and paranoia of the real world.

It takes courage to make an album like La Vita Nuova, and it takes a rare talent to make it work, and this leaves no doubt Maria McKee has plenty of both.

Absolutely astonishing work, and easily up there with Delay's early-2000s masterpieces Multila and Anima.

Ultimately, Put the Shine On is a very CocoRosie album -- while it's not totally satisfying, it's another example of how they always challenge themselves and their audience.

Nothing Is True & Everything Is Possible is either the best or the worst Enter Shikari outing to date. What it certainly isn't is dull.

Simply incredible, timeless, and placeless music.

A striking and necessary companion to Hunter, Hunted expands that album's world -- and Calvi's artistry.

Sir Richard Bishop is an artist who has shown he can point his music in any number of directions, and the ten tracks on Oneiric Formulary each lead the listener to someplace worth visiting.

Where Stevens and Peel Dream go wrong is by not adding anything distinctive or interesting to the mix. All that's left is a nostalgia trip that comes across like the Rutles minus the jokes or Beatlemania minus the mania. Somehow Agitprop Alterna is even more pleasantly derivative than their first album, and that's saying a lot!

As fine as that is, it comes from someone who is capable of better work, and though this is still recommended to fans, it's ultimately a good album from someone who has been consistently great in the past.

Blame It on Baby is pretty evenly divided between strong songs and duds.

While Trivium have always been stubborn about following their own way, What the Dead Men Say sounds like an intentional gift to longtime fans. Its consistency, diversity, energy, and songwriting prowess put the set on par with the band's very best work.

Rose may tend to nod at the past but she's not a revivalist, she blends these familiar sounds in slyly idiosyncratic, personal ways that give We Still Go to Rodeos a handsome, modern feel that's distinct from other retro-minded Americana records, her previous albums included.

A warm throughline of empathy courses through the 19-song set, with tender acoustic numbers like "Splash of Light" and "Every Feeling," and nervy rockers such as "Love you So Bad" -- from the excellent Perpetual Motion People -- and "Restless Year" -- from the even better Transangelic Exodus -- dovetailing into emotionally satisfying moments that evoke John Hughes by way of Wes Anderson.

Written from the heart and dredged from pop music's boneyard, Shortly After Takeoff feels like the album Christinzio has been working toward his whole career.

Steered by the singer's winsome, breathy vocals, even that message goes down easy, with an implied fluttered lash extension, on an album that aims to please and largely succeeds.

It's exciting to hear Benson take some new risks with these songs, but also a relief that he never gets too far away from the deft songwriting and pop sensibilities that he's been refining for all these years.

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.

At times it almost feels like an alternate-history tendril of pre-Kid A Radiohead that kept its groove going into the coming decades. While those layered textures, pulsing beats, and unfolding guitar loops are fine, it's EOB as a reflective acoustic singer/songwriter that provides Earth's most authentic moments.

Rage sits alongside heartache and humor, the shifts in mood occurring with a dramatic flair and a disarming playfulness. The unpredictable nature feels complex and profoundly human, resulting in an album that's nourishing and joyfully cathartic.

The Ripple Effect is offered as a standalone purchase and is easily enjoyed as such given the high quality of the duo's interaction.

Canada's Born Ruffians continue to hone their exuberant sound on their sixth album, 2020's punchy and inspired Juice. Produced by Graham Walsh, who has previously worked on similarly inventive efforts by Alvvays, !!!, and Holy Fuck, Juice is a live-sounding album, full of hooky shouted choruses, and tactile, analog instrumentation.

Occasionally, Knuckleball Express' loose ends threaten to unravel, but for the most part, the album is held together by the feeling that Hagerty is having more fun making music than he has in some time.

The group does touch on that raucous, open-heartedness with a closing cover of Charley Jordan's old country-blues standard "Keep It Clean," featuring cameos from John C. Reilly, David Garza, and Gaby Moreno. Arriving after such a sweet, soft collection of songs, it's a welcome burst of gusto, yet the rest of Brother Sister is attractive in its own right, highlighting the family bond between the titular Watkins siblings.

By adding these new sounds, the Cadillac Three seem younger and savvier, playing country-fried rock & roll for every imaginable creed, knowing that the best parties are the ones where everybody is invited.

The group's first two post-reunion albums were fine and deeply satisfying, but The Universe Inside goes someplace most fans would never have expected. It's bold, challenging, and dreamlike stuff that stakes out new territory for the band and unexpectedly succeeds on the level of their best work.

Steve Albini recorded the sessions, and he's done a typically fine job of putting this music on tape with accuracy but no needless frills, and Antarctica suggests Flat Worms have a longer and more diverse future ahead of them than one might have first guessed.

The result is one of the brightest and most open-hearted LPs of Sexsmith's long career; his vocals in particular have always felt chronically pensive, but he sounds comfortable in a new way on these songs, not exactly outgoing but with just enough playfulness to be easily noticeable.

Compared to SP's conceptual third and fourth LPs, which arrived together in 2017, The Don of Diamond Dreams is unified by its funkier and humanized sonics more than its lyrics.

There are many layers in Miss Colombia's 11 vivid tracks, all of which are well-worth exploring.

While undoubtedly more developed and ambitious than the first Jackie Lynn record, Jacqueline still sounds like the work of an experimental side project, but it's clear that Fohr and her friends are having an awful lot of fun with this, and it's easy to get swept up in their immersive dream world.

Ever-Roving Eye plays like a logical and slightly more daring sequel to his debut, moving forward into loose psychedelic shapes with pastoral chamber arrangements -- courtesy of woodwind player Paul von Mertens -- dotting the otherwise sparse landscape.

Deeply introspective and pleasantly mellow, Lost in the Country is a mature step forward for Benton as a writer, and more firmly establishes Trace Mountains' vision.

By the time The Loves of Your Life closes with the joyous "The Old King," Leithauser stretches his music into a wide embrace of the past and present that's all the more impressive because it feels so lived-in and genuine.

The 2018 debut imparted a somewhat avant form of downtempo with singers, players, rappers, and samples -- crossing generations and genres -- all artfully woven into a contemplative statement. Friday Forever is similarly collaborative and collagist.

it's potent proof that the Strokes can still surprise. Full of passion, commitment, and creativity, The New Abnormal marks the first time in a while that the Strokes have made truly exciting music.

Calm is the sound of a band whose influences have continued to evolve right along with them and their fans.

At its loudest and most brash, the album is fun and cathartic on par with any good high-energy rock band. In the moments when punk vitriol meets reflective, thoughtful expression, Far Enough grows more intriguing and compelling.

There isn't anything startlingly new or different about Kings of the Medway Delta that will surprise fans, but in the great tradition of John Lee Hooker, Billy Childish is someone who can keep on doing the same thing while investing it with enough power, intensity, and honesty that it never loses its ability to drawn the listener in. If you've ever wished that your old Little Walter records didn't sound so slick, Kings of the Medway Delta should be just the thing for you.

Easily his richest, most complex music to date, A Western Circular is where Archer reaches the sound he's been striving towards.

Previously, Tumor has stated that they want to make songs listeners need to play. They more than achieve that on Heaven to a Tortured Mind, an album that suggests the easiest way to define Tumor is as an artist who consistently outdoes themself.

The album's title is repeated across the variegated yet flowing sequence, utilized as either a mantra or verbal spackle, always in tribute. Just as moving is Thundercat's heart-in-throat salutation in the closing title track, briefly stated just before his bass intertwines with Pedro Martins' guitar to gorgeous effect. As on the earlier Thundercat LPs, outer space and homeboy escapades, comic courtship and elusive companionship, and philosophical insights also inform the material. ... There are no throwaways or novelty tunes.

If you're looking for a soundtrack to the end of the world, which isn't necessarily out of the question in 2020, Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs are here for you, and Viscerals allows you to stare angrily into the abyss in grand style.

Recalling names like Tomberlin and especially Julien Baker, Ellis' melodies are much less memorable than her plaintive sentiments, likely limiting Born Again's appeal to the heavyhearted.

A masterwork of composition, control, investigation, and ultimately, realization with aplomb.

Moving the effervescent tempos and syncopated dance impulses of her first two albums from backyard parties and rumbling car stereos into the nightclubs, Empress Of's third studio album, I'm Your Empress Of, plays at times like a DJ set, keeping the music and the body in motion.

TOPS have pretty much mastered their distinctive niche over the course of four albums, and in that respect, I Feel Alive should provide a familiar comfort, if an off-kilter one, for established fans. Initiated and new listeners alike, however, will be treated to a batch of well-crafted, sensual songs for the down-time hours.

["Sparrow" and "Stone"] are melancholy grace notes on an album that's otherwise strikingly open-hearted and resilient, proof that McBryde is broadening her horizons while deepening her core humanistic strengths as a writer and performer.

Mellow, multi-purpose country-pop designed to soundtrack good times at home, on the road, at the office, or at a bar.

Womb's confidence and eloquence proves that a more grown-up Purity Ring still has plenty of sparkle and wonder -- and makes a fine way to round out Roddick and James' first decade of making music together.

The joy shared among these four musicians was abundant in everything they recorded, which is why this is a most beautiful and enjoyable album; it's also a bittersweet one.

Just as Fever captured a snapshot of a young artist breaking through to worldwide fame in real time, Suga finds Megan Thee Stallion experiencing the growing pains of success. The songs reflect this in their lyrical content, overall shift in tonality, and even in the small steps they take towards more commercial sounds.

It's definitely a step back in the right direction after the last album's stumble and stacks up to be their most consistent and enjoyable record to date.