More than just a remix album, Heavy Rain stands out on its own merit, demonstrating that Perry's inspiration and creative drive haven't dulled in his advanced age.

Who feels like a Who album: The two still bring out the best in each other.

If Romance is an album about Cabello feeling loved and seen by someone else, it's just as much about her seeing and understanding herself as an artist.

The effect of the short chunks of music is somewhat minimalist, but Henson doesn't stop there. He has arranged performances of the work where audiences are wired up to devices that measure their emotional responses. The whole idea definitely gets points for ambition, although that aspect is lost in this performance by the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra.

Everything clicks into place right from the start and the emotion, the songcraft, and the power hooks never let up. Comet Gain may have been around a long, long time, but they have never felt as alive or as vital as they do on this amazing and important album.

Along with her pop hooks, what makes Straus' music so indelible on Cheap Queen is her strong sense of self. As King Princess, Straus is both the chilled-out R&B loverman and genderqueer lesbian songwriter, a tangible combination that's anything but cheap, and always real.

Not everything on Hot Pink is a knockout, but the experimentation results in some amazing standouts and other songs that are still fun or intriguing, even if they're not as memorable.

Arguably heavy-handed but regrettably timely, even if allegorical, After You marks an ambitious return for the long-absent musician, one that ultimately rewards with musicality.

Williams may like to act like a bad boy but at his heart he's a sentimental cornball and, ultimately, he winds up making mawkishness seem merry on The Christmas Present.

Cut during the same sessions as Trust in the Lifeforce of the Deep Mystery, it's not a collection of outtakes or even a sequel, but a holistic mirror image that comes from the same sphere of aesthetic investigation and font of inspiration.

Shlon is the album where Souleyman reveals his comfort with his new band, who have, after all, traveled tens of thousands of miles together. He also returns to the incendiary approach of his early albums, worrying not so much about hip textures and beats as delivering these songs as soulfully and energetically as possible.

Maybe it's not perfect, but it's more than enough to be an unexpected gift from Harry, one that he deserves as much as his devoted fans.

Like the online living some of the rappers rail against, the album can be fatiguing with extended periods of exposure, and there's an excess of information to process.

There are quite a few moments where they come close to a meaningful hybrid of their past and present, some that are truly wonderful. Unfortunately, there aren't enough of these, and it's just as easy to remember Girl's misfires, questionable choices and half-baked lyrics as its successes.

Thanks for the Dance might not seem to be a major statement at first glance, but it's a missive that carries startling power, and it's clearly not built from scraps and leftovers, but assembled with a love that's equal to the knowledge Cohen put into it. This adds more documentation to the wholly unexpected and satisfying final act of a truly great songwriter, and it deserves your attention.

The Order of Nature is a good showcase for the individual talents of Jim James and Teddy Abrams, but somehow the two halves don't always make an ideal fit, though all parties concerned certainly deserve a tip of the hat for ambition and audacity.

Released to coincide with the albums' 40th anniversary and lovingly encased in a gnarly black biker jacket box, the vinyl-only collection includes half-speed mastered 180-gram vinyl reissues of Bomber and Overkill, a pair of double-live LPs featuring previously unreleased material from the era, a collection of B-sides and outtakes, a 40-page magazine, an Overkill sheet music book, a "No Class" 7" single, a Bomber tour program, and a 1979 badge set.

The 19 tracks here are all over the place, true to form for Russell and his ever-expanding inspirations. ... For all the fans who discovered Russell after his passing, collections like Iowa Dream are bittersweet time capsules, holding new evidence of his one-of-a-kind talents that still occupy a space all their own, even when unearthed decades later.

Goldblum sounds good, and his fans probably wouldn't mind hearing more of him and less of his friends.

Despite some stylistic diversity, Little Common Twist still feels largely consistent. The songs here offer a deeper view into both Rumback and Walker's individual talents as players and their profound chemistry as a unit.

Springsteen's earthy phrasing helps ground these songs and makes for an intriguing, occasionally moving complement to the main album.

Beck never lingers upon either his melancholy or his celestial flights of fantasy: they exist simultaneously, resulting in a tremulous and pretty soundtrack for moments of fleeting introspection.

Coldplay manages to grow even bigger with Everyday Life, absorbing flavors from across the globe with their most indulgent and, perhaps, poignant album yet.

It manages to enrapture thanks to solid layering and intricate patterns -- even if those patterns never really go anywhere -- yet wholly relies on listening to dance music for relaxation. With that requirement fulfilled, Bedroom Tapes shows that Woolford can embrace his softer side with effective results.

If you're looking for music that will suit a quiet night with intelligence and style, you should certainly give HARMONY a listen.

While the majority of all-cover releases feel like a holding action while the band comes up with new ideas, Play the Hits sounds like their music through and through, even if someone else wrote the material.

Favoring authenticity and catharsis, Champion is simple and straightforward, forgoing fancy concepts and cluttered production in favor of a classic set of emotive, broken-hearted breakup anthems.

Subdued and graceful, Clarke never succumbs to sad-sack tropes on In All Weather. The songs are introspective and pained with no hints of self-pity, leaving plenty of space to drift away on any of their many airy melodies.

Only the folksy "Yani's Song" harkens back to the group's more homespun genesis, but the likable A Blemish in the Great Night, despite housing some significant lyrical undercurrents of discord, retains enough residual heat to keep your feet warm, like a thin wool blanket designed for mild evenings.

The mood here is much bleaker than the previous album, and there's more of a feeling a desperation in Jason Molina's vocals.

There's really no one else who does exactly what Tindersticks can, and No Treasure But Hope confirms they can not only create music of striking and forbidding beauty, they can do it in a hurry if need be.

Though it's a smaller-scale work than either A Crow Looked at Me or Now Only, Lost Wisdom pt. 2 is filled with just as much insight and compassion.

Everybody's Everything is sometimes inconsistent, but it offers a complete picture of how quickly Lil Peep's short career ramped up from making tracks with friends to worldwide fame and influence.

Stitched together as it is, One of the Best Yet is a priceless benefaction. Premier was no doubt compelled to see it through for himself and the memory of his deteriorated union with Guru. That regard for the Gang Starr legacy is felt throughout the set, a gratifying listen for anyone who can get past Guru's incapacity to authorize it.

With unprecedented access and insight into Dion's world following such a life-changing few years, Courage is a triumph of spirit and resolve.

It's obvious that Broadrick and Martin left a considerable amount of space for Ayewa's righteous venting, as the bass and drums get bigger and louder during the album's instrumental second half.

Though this isn't the cleanest and tidiest album of his career, the emotional honesty of this material is striking, and this is some of the boldest and most inspiring work of Joe Henry's career.

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.

There's a slight de-emphasis on his lyrical genius, but that's fine. It's clear that Ronnie Wood & His Wild Five love playing this music and that palpable joy makes Mad Lad a fine time.

All My Heroes Are Cornballs manages a mellow, even reserved instrumental tone without losing any of the scathing social commentary or frenetic energy that defined earlier work. If anything, the album is more intense, hiding biting and bilious (and often surreal) lyrical threats beneath a deceptively low-energy facade.

Both polished and revealing, New Age Norms, Vol. 1 reflects how Cold War Kids continue to broaden their horizons.

Blood may have been written and recorded as a companion piece to Moorer's book, but the work is powerful and eloquent, and stands on its own as a vital addition to the catalog of a talent who deserves and demands greater recognition.

Easily surpassing a thematic exercise, 2019 has some essential original material by Dacus -- particularly "My Mother & I" -- and a handful of covers that are bound to provide a lasting preferred version (or two) for fans.

In Hatfield's hands, the songs of Sting and the Police don't necessarily sound like hits -- nor are they performed with the technical proficiency of Andy Summers and Stewart Copeland -- but they sound fresh and alive, once again feeling like punk-inspired pop.

Like Ruinism, Amnioverse is an ambitious, striking record that seems to assess the entirety of existence, and it's hard not to feel moved by it.

The album offers a lighter and mellower reading of Bonnie "Prince" Billy as he walks further down a perpetually twisting path with each new set of songs.

The elements are familiar, but Hawkins assembles fuzz guitars, glam beats, New Wave synths, and operatic harmonies with flair and wit, turning Get the Money into a giddy journey to the past that's remarkably devoid of nostalgia.

While Thirst's generous length means it meanders occasionally, it gives SebastiAn plenty of room to show how much he's grown since the early 2010s. Even if his music has slowed down, it's not standing still.

The seven tracks represent different, curious branches extending out from the seeds planted by Some Rap Songs, each reaching for new ideas and switching gears when another thought arrives. It continues Sweatshirt's streak as an innovator and as one of the more compelling artists of his time.

Their earlier recordings were all top-notch indie rock, worthy of all the Omni comparisons that were flung their way. Junior is Corridor's coming-of-age party, and now Omni might have to work a little harder to keep up with them.

There are some glitchy electronic beats and questionable structural turns during the album's back half that feel a little bit out of place, but the overall vibe remains one of deep and heavy existential pain. Wave is an acutely overcast album, but Watson's gift for melody, narrative lucidity, and retro-pop sensibilities help to keep things more melancholic than maudlin.

In revisiting the traditional directly, and investing it with such a disciplined application of freedom, Xylouris White's The Sisypheans is their most compelling record to date.

What You See Is What You Get is a solid album, proudly made just the way they used to back in the 1990s.

At once more delicate and more concentrated than any of her previous work, Magdalene is a testament to the strength and skill it takes to make music this fragile and revealing. Like the dancer she is, Barnett pushes through pain in pursuit of beauty and truth, and the leaps she makes are breathtaking.

A Son may be a return to Nelson's roots, but it still fits snugly within his catalog of spacious meditations.

The tracks do an excellent job at establishing a mood, but a lot of them don't particularly go anywhere. Leaving meaning. is a decent album, but ultimately it sounds like a sort of reset or palate cleanser that will hopefully lead up to something greater.

Kiwanuka stands head and shoulders above it as a complex, communicative, poetic, and sometimes even profound collection that wears its heart on its sleeve and its sophistication in its grooves.

At times, Le Bon and Cox hit on something entertaining or interesting, but it's far from essential work from two of the best songwriters of their era.

Altogether is perhaps the lightest and most pop-oriented release in the band's canon, doubling down on bright guitar tones and jazzy chord voicings, and relying even more heavily on lush synth parts to augment their sound. While its feather-soft tone flirts with the smooth banality of easy listening, parts of the album are far more clever and well-structured than first impressions might suggest.

This is anything but bombastic, and there's much greater attention paid to intricacies and subtle details than before. The arrangements consist of calm, patient pianos, gently swelling strings, and deftly integrated modular synthesizers, which help the pieces glow and vibrate. It's a vast, involved recording, but it doesn't bowl the listener over with heavy-handed sentimentality. Nevertheless, if certain pieces catch you at the right moment, they can be tear-jerkers.

Taken on an individual basis, each track is clever and playful, yet the cumulative effect of Wildcard is ever so slightly slight, a possible side effect of an album meant to be nothing but a party. Perhaps that may mean that Wildcard isn't as emotionally resonant as some of Lambert's other records, but there's no denying she's delivered exactly what she intended with this album: It's one hell of a good time.

As elegant as they are, the melodies don't easily lodge in the subconscious, but the bigger problem is that the production -- by Lynne, who plays virtually every note on the record -- is airless and precise. This dryness is a remnant of the digital age, where every element in a recording is exactly in the right place, and if it's not quite a drawback, it does mean From out of Nowhere can be a bit of an uncanny valley: it's close enough to a genuine item to satisfy, yet different enough to disarm.

At a time when a great album from Neil Young would have been more than welcome, Colorado is instead a good one, but it's recognizably the work of a great artist, and that's more than can be said of the last few offerings Young has given us.

Punching with more focus and power, by the time the last note fades they emerge from the ring with the post-punk revival title belt slung around their triumphant shoulders.

A sleepier song like "Blue Spring," which features pedal steel and sparse, strummed guitar, only provides contrast within a very narrow range of expression here, like when eyes adjust to dim nocturnal lighting, then notice the shadow of a stray moth.

If the results aren't epochal, they're nevertheless illuminating, revealing how these two American icons shared the same musical vocabulary.

It's a clear and focused return to the peaks the band found in the mid-2000s, and as enjoyable a listen as the best of their work.

All the added instrumental layering and effects -- wriggling synthesizers, buzzing basslines, ricocheting percussion, apparition-like vocal processing, and suchlike -- are nuanced, not once getting in the way of a musician who can put forth an affecting message with just her voice and violin.

On a Clear Day feels like Lindstrøm going back to basics, while also starting a new chapter of his career.

Daylight works best when Potter is steering the ship. Even with the considerable and seasoned talents of Valentine, Nocturnals alum Benny Yurco, and keyboardists Larry Goldings and Benmont Tench behind her, Potter commands the room.

Despite the occasional lyrical misstep, Jesus Is King is a wonder of production, housing some of West's most focused and inspired work since 2013's Yeezus.

This record is both a note-perfect summing up and a great introduction to the Young Guv universe.

Sweating the Plague is best taken as a whole rather than in smaller portions; it works as a clever but swaggering dose of rock & roll, and it plays to this band's strengths while showing how much they've expanded their sonic palette in over three decades...or in a single year, for that matter.

MacKay and Kleijn have performed and recorded with a large number of musicians in their careers, but STIR reveals they push one another to especially imaginative and expressive work, and this collaboration hardly appears to have made use of all their inspiration just yet.

The album is one of Gucci's best post-prison efforts, matching Everybody Looking and Mr. Davis in style, catchy production, and big trap fun. Unlike its predecessors Evil Genius and Delusions of Grandeur, Woptober 2 is energized, addictive, and packed with quotable lines that find Gucci hungry, defiant as ever, and revitalized by his younger, up-and-coming guests.

more thought-through and sounds more honed [than her 2018 mixtape Last Day Of Summer].

These are the elements of White Noise/White Lines that make this feel like the arrival of a major singer/songwriter.

Whether or not they needed two full-length albums to fill up the dancefloor this time around is up for debate, but while Foals may be peddling a familiar product, there's no denying its efficacy.

Given Three Chords and the Truth's 70-minute run time, there's a lot to digest, but it's worth it. Morrison is in excellent voice throughout; his energy is kinetic and his songwriting -- even when he's complaining -- is fresh, humorous, soulful, and insightful. A natural companion to Keep Me Singing, this is Morrison at his best.

Alcest don't pursue darkness or dwell in it; they understand it as a part of the unbearable light that holds everything in its embrace. The end of the journey on Spiritual Instinct, while deeply satisfying, signals yet another beginning.

No matter the name, it's impressive that O'Hagan continues to examine this one small corner of the musical universe, still finding new ways to combine sounds in ways that please the ear and stimulate the mind.

They work best as intimate revelations about his own experience and never achieve the level of universal pop standard that his forebears made their stock and trade. Nonetheless, there are a few memorable moments here in the cheeky, synth pop-influenced "Never Had the Balls" and the orchestral R&B groover "It Gets Better." Both songs make good on O'Connor's developing talent, and prove he has the ability to translate his quirky, wordy aesthetic into the occasional hooky anthem.

The Livelong Day is a challenging album made up of long, droning songs with numerous verses and arcane sounds. It will not be for everyone, but to the discerning listener, its dark majesty is well worth the engagement.

FIBS takes listeners for a ride, so to speak, along the meticulously plotted rhythms of its very physical, narrative-free presentation, one that, in Meredith's hands, is both stimulating and engaging.

With its surprising warmth and immediacy, Bigger Than Life is some of Black Marble's most affecting music.

For anyone who thought MCIII was heading in a direction that sounded promising, Seeker arrives at the destination in a tumbling, exciting cloud of dust, sound and craft.

None of these parts seem to fit on paper, but on record it's a gas hearing a group of gangsters and pranksters giddy on their own good times.

Often, his good cheer comes across as corny, a situation accentuated by the big, bright surfaces -- it's the work of pros who are working at home, seeking only to please themselves. As the spirits are sunny and the songs tuneful, it's hard not to find What's My Name ingratiating, even though much of the album is so good-intentioned, it's silly.

A sense of nearly parental patience and understanding flows throughout, reflecting some of the maturation and new feelings Teebs was living through while making Anicca. It's another excellent slice of the producer's developing language, one that manages to be mellow without fading into the background.

Pirog's imagination is just as strong as his technique; whether he's tossing out a flurry of notes at light speed or inviting the spirit in using a more languid structure, the music feels great throughout. Anthropocosmic Nest is a must for anyone with a taste for music that's smart, challenging, and exciting, and it's a step up from their impressive first effort.

The forward evolution of Life Metal has been balanced and extended into a mercurial spirit through formless, receptive interaction on Pyroclasts.

Aside from a few monochromatic shades, there's not a lot of variance here and each track arrives at its four- or five-minute terminus at roughly the same languorous pace. For a project based on amorous and sensual pleasures, Cigarettes After Sex feels a little too one-dimensional.

That Jules is so hard to pin down is a big part of its appeal; wondering where he'll go next is almost as exciting as the music he's already made. One thing is for sure: This album is an introduction to a first-rate musical mind.

Cave hasn't played much honest-to-goodness rock & roll in the decade prior to this release, and in its place he's created something that's rich and emotionally potent, and he's truly mastered his own creation.

Everything is streamlined and stitched together with consummate finesse by producer Jay Joyce. None of this good-time, borderline silly music is going to earn the band any critical hosannas and anyone who had hopes that the group would ditch this sound and go back to howling garage punk is going to feel let down. That being said, people who don't take their music too seriously might find that You Deserve Love is just the kind of record to put on when some mood elevation is required.

GospelbeacH are a great rock band, but on this album at least, it's their softer, more stripped-down tunes that carry the day and provide Let It Burn's most memorable moments.

Battles pack so much into Juice B Crypts that, perhaps more than any of their albums since Mirrored, it needs to be taken as a whole to appreciate its constantly changing, consistently engaging sounds.

As immaculately crafted as anything else in Greene's catalog, Dawn Chorus is a bleary but vivid journal of the thoughts clouding one's head as morning finally breaks after an earthshaking night out.