Daphne & Celeste may not save the world, but a listen to this album is sure to make the world a better place for about 45 minutes or so, and sometimes that's enough.

Sometimes, Expectations can be generic, like on "Sleepover" and "He'll Never Love You," which could have been released by any of the aforementioned singers. However, despite this occasional dip into indistinguishable pop territory, Kiyoko's debut hints at untapped potential from a fresh voice with a relatable perspective.

While Liberty is more often than not gentler in tone than Ortega's preceding albums, it is by far her most innovative and powerful, and stands as her masterwork thus far.

With its beautifully chosen material and unorthodox construction, What News has that rare timeless feeling to it, effortlessly placing the ancient within the present as only the right group of artists can manage to do.

This is essential and irresistible vintage American weirdness.

Overall, Chemistry Lessons is more in line with Carter's late-'90s solo albums or his expansive soundscapes as part of CTI than the aggressive experimentation of Throbbing Gristle or darkwave synth pop of Chris & Cosey, but it maintains a distinct character and immediacy which set it apart.

It all makes Freedom McMahon's richest album yet, as well as his most accessible--as the sound and scope of his music grows, so does its humanity.

Your Queen Is a Reptile is easily Sons of Kemet's most compelling outing. It offers inspired stylistic contrasts, canny improvisation, and killer charts. It's tight, furious, joyous, and inspirational.

Seventeen years into their recording career, Dead Meadow sound as primal and potent as ever on The Nothing They Need, a notion that ought to cheer them up. But don't count on it.

Skits like "Close Talker" draw out a conflict between Czarface and Doom, but the former seems to be a bit more aggressive--Doom doesn't really seem to fight back, he's just doing his thing, talking sharp and candid like always. In any case, the album is still a whole lot of fun, and shouldn't disappoint fans of either act.

It's a breezier listen than its predecessor, but the Voidz's willingness to try anything--whether it works or not--still might be too much for all but their most die-hard fans.

The tape sources are all official: The Copenhagen gig is remastered from a state radio broadcast and the other two concerts are from producers' archives, making this historic set among the most essential in the Bootleg Series.

Tthe effect is utilitarian for lethargic revelers and humorous for teetotalers.

The word "Akokán" means "from the heart," and the playing here underscores the translation. While the recording was meant as an homage, the innovations in both charts and performance make it simultaneously modern and timeless.

Previously, her cleverness was her strong suit, but on Golden Hour, she benefits from being direct, especially since this frankness anchors an album that sounds sweetly blissful, turning this record the best kind of comfort: it soothes but is also a source of sustenance.

While the band's involvement, particularly more active drums, help the sound lean forward, Frankie Cosmos' essential musical qualities remain: hooky melodies, a disarming lyrical style, and impressive efficiency (Vessel's 18 tracks clock in at 33 minutes).

Ultimately, No Mercy in This Land is solid if not (quite) as strong as Get Up! That said, it is more diverse, immediate, and instinctive, making it a worthy listen, and provides further evidence that this pair should work together more often.

Big K.R.I.T., Rapsody, and CeeLo Green boost PRhyme 2 with their distinctive voices and energies. At a time when multiple producers and playlists/mixtapes rule the rap game, the focus and intent on PRhyme 2 are comforts that PRhyme effortlessly nail.

Chris and Oliver Wood, along with jack-of-all-trades Jano Rix, have settled into the kind of easy groove that can only stem from spending the last decade or so enduring the myriad inside jokes and stale air of life on the road.

It's a knowing, melodramatic Southern fantasia, where the pleasure comes from how every element--from the lyrics through the performances--is exaggerated, turning this into fetchingly surreal Americana.

Her every-few-years release schedule was maintained with this short album, in which she responds to a habitually philandering lover with her distinctive mix of fire and finesse. This has more of the former element than any previous Braxton release.

As Cavern of Anti-Matter embarks on a deep space voyage with the album's suite-like final third that culminates with the lovely "Phantom Melodies," they prove their music has an irresistible momentum, no matter how ambitious it gets.

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.

Bucolic, pastoral, and often willfully impressionistic, Extralife imagines a future that's not bereft of suffering or hardship, but tempered with hope and brimming with life.

His ideas are expressed in a far more succinct manner, but they offer similarly powerful commentary, and the album's starkness works to its advantage, driving the tracks' points so they hit home.

Another evolution in the way Preoccupations bring poetic soulfulness to post-punk, New Material lives up to its name--it's not just another batch of songs, it's a fresh approach that feels like a breakthrough.

What isn't bleak is just as powerful.

Castles exists in a bit of a netherworld--it's commercial yet idiosyncratic, classic in its structure yet contemporary in its sound-but that's also it's a quietly compelling record, revealing an artist who is starting to hit her stride.

Generously spackled with clever instrumental bits and imaginative but never flowery lyrics, Used Future is the most effective and compelling distillation of the Sword 2.0.'s sound to date.

Everything on Twentytwo in Blue fits together perfectly; from the songs to the sounds to the performances, it's indie rock and pop at their thoughtful, searching, sweet, and punchy best.

Space Gun doesn't quite match that underappreciated masterpiece, it comes close enough to confirm that Guided by Voices are quietly in the midst of a late-career renaissance.

"Corporation" and "Ice Station Zebra," the two funkiest numbers here, illustrate this with their precise grooves, but even the self-consciously weird interludes show this same level of exactitude. While that keeps Boarding House Reach somewhat in a straitjacket, it also makes it a fascinating listen, because it's a document of a control freak anxious to get loose.

What keeps Longwave's distinct improvisational character upright in the rocking chair, lost in thought instead of asleep like the cat, is a gentle melodicism and an impressionistic bent that's as pretty as it is simple. Part of that design is subtle organ, piano, slide guitar, and effects that fill in some of the space around lead guitars in broad strokes.

Post- is actually a pretty wild ride. ... Perhaps surprisingly so, Post- is also one of his most accessible solo outings yet.

May Your Kindness Remain impacts with these evocative snapshots of the 99-percent, but it also does so with Andrews' rich voice and melodicism as well as a lingering sadness.

When a band decides to go with an eponymously titled release several albums into an established career, it often works as a statement about reclaiming their identity, or making a new creative start. If that's the case here, the Neighbourhood have done both with their own cool aplomb.

It's hard to say if Sallee gets a lot out of a little or intentionally little out of a lot here, but the album is at once rich, restrained, and beguiling.

He's certainly less distinctive as a rapper than he is as a singer--both lyrically and vocally--original only for the level of his combativeness and the number of times he references his luxury coupe and wrist wear.

Oneida never left, so this isn't a comeback by any means, but they certainly seem re-energized, making this their best work in at least a decade.

World Beyond amplifies how efficient Erasure's own arrangements are, while at the same time giving Bell more space to command the room, which he does, with nuanced performances.

While it's not so much a step back as it is more of the same, fans of this emo revival sound should find enough pain and yearning here to elicit pangs of nostalgia (or, if the wounds are fresher, a sympathetic shoulder to emote on).

While a bit uneven in spots, Both Sides of the Sky is well worth it for an avid Hendrix fan.

Bible of Love is an admirable turn for the former Doggfather--now grandfather--and serves as a wholesome but inessential addition to Snoop's protean catalog.

Chenaux has made a gorgeously hypnotic record that feels like a genuine break from life's often aggressive pace.

For a couple days working things out on the spot, Myths 003 came together almost perfectly and is a worthy addition to each band's impressive catalog.

Given its experimental origins, Mr. Dynamite is a little scattered, but Creep Show's sophisticated mischief is so entertaining that it's a pleasure to hear each unexpected turn they take.

Jericho Sirens is rock & roll in its purest form; angry, white-hot, and overloaded with energy. It's good to have Hot Snakes back to show the posers and fakers how to do things the right way.

Like A Crow Looked at Me, Only Now overflows with love, but Elverum never romanticizes death. Instead, he vividly captures the nuances of grief, absurdity, and hope as he and his daughter leave the "blast zone" immediately after Castrée's passing, and that makes Only Now a remarkable portrait of loss--and growth.

There's a Riot Going On is, in its own subtle way, Yo La Tengo at their most uncompromised; it's an album that's likely to separate their most hardcore fans from more casual admirers, though if you loved "Night Falls on Hoboken" from And Then Nothing Turned Itself Inside-Out, you'll likely savor it.

On BLUE LIPS, Lo refines her unmistakable sounds and moods more satisfyingly than she did on Lady Wood, and transforms betrayal and denial into some of her finest songs.

Because the Fratellis are no longer rushing toward the finish line, In Your Own Sweet Time can seem a little stiff and fussy, but the group's instincts remain sound, and that helps turn this album into something handsome instead of something stuffy.

The quartet, occasionally joined by players such as Doyle Bramhall II, Jeff Parker, and Levon Henry, roams fluidly through funk, roots music, and unclassifiable stylistic amalgamations, like they're doing so on an intuitive level.

This 2018 album shows they haven't lost their knack for hooky-heavy hard rock that wedges its way into the subconscious. The album can't be called a comeback--the group were toiling away during the 2010s, after all--but it certainly opens the door on another act in their career, one that is sonically tied to their past but feels brighter (and more relaxed) than their first chapters.

While Meloy's lyrics are sharply honed and evocative, it's this cavalcade of sounds that not only makes I'll Be Your Girl compelling, but distinctive among Decemberists albums.

New Path is perhaps the most challenging release yet from the already confrontational duo, and while it's not as accessible as Demain, it's still rewarding and often exciting.

She's made the most interesting album of her career to date.

The set's predominantly reflective mood and nuanced composites of jazz, soul, and hip-hop make it sound like an extension of Glasper's Black Radio Recovered, Everything's Beautiful, and reinterpretation of Kendrick Lamar's "I'm Dying of Thirst" as much as the trio's meetings on Black America Again.

Best of all is "Sleeprydr," where they contrast the song's drowsy verses with a guitar maelstrom that feels like it's been brewing for the entire album. While Slow Sundown could use a few more epic moments like this, there's a lot to be said for its sleepy allure--it's hard to resist sinking into these songs.

Fittingly, this final chapter for the Skull Defekts is easily the most explosive, most elaborately conceived, and still fully realized work in their catalog, and a monolithic note to go out on.

Victory Lap is not just a celebration from the scrappy MC: it's a deserved moment marking his journey from Crenshaw to the majors.

Tantabara puts on an ever fiercer show than its two predecessors, its wild polyrhythmic grooves and ebullient group vocals lending an unyielding sense of vigor to every song.

American Utopia is an album of beautiful and witty surfaces stretched over a sea of troubled waters, and if Byrne is rarely inclined to give direct answers to the questions he asks, it's obvious this isn't a joke, it's an ambitious work from an important American artist.

Though its second half isn't quite as deft as its first, Francis Trouble continues the streak Hammond, Jr. has been on since the AHJ EP. With albums like this, his identity as a master of smart, emotional guitar pop is secure.

Riddles is easily his grandest work yet.

Automata I is excellent on its own; its writing, production, and performances are all top flight. Additionally, it whets the appetite of anticipation for part two.

At times, he can push his influences a little hard--"Hey Mama" is essentially a mash note to Van Morrison--but the impressive thing about Tearing at the Seams is how he and his band seem to be synthesizing their clear influences into their own voice. That's why Tearing at the Seams works.

With Violence, the Editors have crafted a big pop album on their own terms, rife with grand, operatic gestures and heat-seeking hooks that cut deep, just as they put salve on your wounds.

Still Trippin' builds on Taye's past triumphs, such as the remarkable 2015 EP Break It Down, and ends up a sprawling yet cohesive work that reaches toward mainstream accessibility without diluting or compromising the genre's essence. If you're new to footwork, this is just as valid a starting point as DJ Rashad's Double Cup.

Taken together, White Is Relic/Irrealis Mood offers convoluted yet catchy dance-rock that lures with flamboyant basslines while capturing a dancing-while-anxious Zeitgeist.

AmeriKKKant is just a depressing slog through and through, perfectly summed up by its Statue of Liberty faceplant cover art.

While the downtrodden Fading Love was a noteworthy debut full-length from an artist who had built up a solid discography of club singles, FitzGerald seems re-energized this time around, and the excellent All That Must Be is a clear improvement over his previous release.

I'm Bad Now may be billed as a closing chapter in their first act, but Nap Eyes give the feeling that their narrative will continue on indefinitely.

Closing in on their 50th anniversary, Judas Priest still possess the musical rigor, showmanship, and force that make other bands bow down. FIREPOWER smokes.

It's a bit of a shame that the record is so half-baked, but somewhat predictable as their creativity has been slowly waning with each new album.

Even if it's not always as coherent as Poliça and s t a r g a z e's own albums, Music for the Long Emergency's experiments balance ambition and emotion in admirable ways.

A commanding, confident debut, Basic Behaviour goes well beyond the ordinary.

The set comes across as remarkably crafted and measured, from its predominantly slow tempos and recurring elements to the coalescence of shrewdly applied samples and participants who also include pianist Peter Gabriel and saxophonist Kamasi Washington.

Mutual Horse is an album of superb craft and no small degree of inspiration, a major work that refreshingly has its ego in check, sounding warm and intimate. It's further evidence that Holly Miranda has quietly matured into a major artist and an estimable talent.

If you're fond of the notion of rock & roll as folk music, A Productive Cough is something you'll want to hear, an album that captures the roar of the masses in an unexpected way, and if you've loved the songs of Titus Andronicus as much as their music, you'll find this isn't quite so different as you might think.

The music here is not only solid, but attractive and clever to boot.

While Black Times clocks in at more than an hour, its incessant drive, appended by lush textures, a diverse sonic palette, rich dynamic, and melodic variations keep it edge-of-your-seat compelling. All told, it's evidence that the younger Kuti has come into his own with Egypt 80; he is charting his own path from the roots of his father's music.

McDonald's songwriting is melodic and bittersweet, more often than not tumbling into catharsis and wounded outrage midway through. There's an intense magnetism to her vocals as she wields her emotional sword, channeling vulnerability and danger into something unpredictable and uncomfortably human.

The production by Joe Henry is superb, matching Baez's vocals with subtle but simpatico accompaniment from a studio band that knows how to shine while making room for the protagonist. Whistle Down the Wind is a portrait of an artist who, at the age of 77, has not given up on her muse or her ideals, and while it's subtle, it's also a deeply moving piece of work that demands attention.

As promising as Von Hausswolff's earlier records are, this one towers over them and above it in terms of musical imagination and emotional impact. It's not an easy or gentle listen, but it is unforgettable and constantly rewarding.

Throughout the album, Allison's vulnerable delivery and quietly tormented lyrics stick as much as hooks, artfully gradated guitar tones, and haunting echo that's mostly reserved for accompaniment, but they all work together in unsettled harmony.

Ultimately, the forte passages don't encroach on the songwriting, as they underline emotion, but they do, at times, step on Dacus' voice, when she's clouded by high-volume accompaniment or even vocal processing. Thankfully, those moments are brief and rare, allowing her lyrics and expressive sense of melody to shine.

The album's scope and ambition are admirable, but the group sound best when they're full of energy, and their slower, more reserved moments can be difficult to get excited over.

Buffalo Tom are still firmly in control of what was best and most important in their music, and Quiet and Peace is a fine reminder of why they mattered then, and why they matter now.

It's clear that she feels strongly about the words she is singing, and she inhabits every song fully. The music, words, and voice come together on Le Kov like fragments of the past put back together and made into a satisfying new whole that works as a lovely tribute to Cornish culture, while also solidifying Gwenno's place as an important artist.

It's clear that Superorganism know exactly what they are doing at all times, slicing and dicing like master chefs, then reassembling the bits and bobs of pop ephemera into a concoction that has a sugary kick sweeter and fizzier than an ice-cold cola.

Rare Birds is dizzying in ambition and (mostly) dazzling in execution. It offers hours of enjoyment to anyone who takes it on.

All Nerve lives up to its name: the Breeders' one-of-a-kind toughness and vulnerability are the heart of their music, and that it's still beating strong is cause for celebration.

At 53 minutes, You're Not Alone might have benefited from some trimming, especially given its relentless volume and energy, though it's not without its dynamics.

This clear-eyed view of the past and the care put into the sound make this one of the most rewarding albums Thorn has made in a career full of great records and classic songs. She shows no signs of slowing down on Record; her voice and songs are as impressive and important as ever.

As with their debut, Sunwatchers' second album is sprawling and all-encompassing, but they make their intentions much clearer this time around, and it lends a greater sense of purpose and power to their righteous, freedom-seeking jamming.

More engaging and more thoughtful than a standard best-of, Last Night All My Dreams Came True is a rousing goodbye from one of the most acclaimed bands of their generation.

Despite the overwhelming melancholy that drenches the album, it remains a gorgeous collection that is mostly indebted to trip-hop and his pre-millennial output, with a few nods to the quieter moments on 2013's Innocents.

Moaning is an undeniably powerful debut which sounds astonishingly mature and accomplished for a first effort.