Manic showcases Halsey at her nerviest and at her best.

Taken together, infectious rhythms, smart lyrics, and effervescent chorus hooks that deliver throughout Ur Fun make it more than a mere amusement.

No matter how many years go by between their albums, the adventures they embark on are irresistible.

It's fair to say that Been Around out-performs her excellent debut, both in terms of composition and execution, making it a release well worth the wait.

In concept and execution, Thin Mind is Wolf Parade in their classic form, but with a force and a sense of purpose that makes them sound fresh and vital. Losing DeCaro seems to have goaded Krug, Boeckner, and Thompson into showing their fans they still have the goods, and it works on Thin Mind.

Quite simply, there are precious few indie songwriters who can impress as easily as Andy Shauf, and Neon Skyline is the work of an artist delivering on their significant promise.

Through it all, Tennant and Lowe feel as confident and progressive as ever, honoring their signature sound while continuing to push it into the future.

A major step up for J Hus, and the first notable British rap album of the 2020s, Big Conspiracy was a well-deserved success, debuting at number one on the U.K. album chart and spawning several Top 40 hits.

The Unraveling is a dire yet vivid depiction of the American zeitgeist at a crucial time in the nation's history, and a decisive collection of songs these musicians clearly wish they didn't have to write.

After several records of heady composition and high-concept music, Be Up a Hello is refreshingly direct. Without simply revisiting a bygone golden era, Jenkinson reconsiders some of his old ways, taking some of his more familiar ideas to new, strange places. As always.

Like Torres' previous album, Silver Tongue takes some time to unfold, but it's well worth it; by fluently expressing the resilience it takes to bounce back from hard times, she comes into her own.

All in Good Time is well-rounded and balanced perfectly between punk energy and poppy songcraft. Though Eddy Current Suppression Ring may not have wanted people to make a fuss about their return, it's kind of a big deal and this record is proof of that fact.

Swirlings is another prime example of his brand of gorgeous, multi-dimensional sonic-shaping. Both lush and interstellar, his compositions contain drifting, spacy melodies that unfold at a natural, leisurely pace.

Deacon reassures the listener that inner peace "starts any moment you'd like." Mystic Familiar's triumphant victory lap is "Bumble Bee Crown King," a dazzling instrumental featuring Dustin Wong's unmistakable, spellbinding guitar work.

Recalling contemporary debuts by names like Anna Burch and Madison Cunningham in terms of its polished sophistication, consistency, and fault-finding lyrics, Trophy introduces a songwriter fully formed.

While Likewise still features the singer's peculiar, leaping vocal melodies, one of the album's biggest surprises is its sweeter, softer demeanor. That quality is partly manifested in lyrics and vocal performances that channel strong currents of compassion.

The soft, subtle tension between the deeply felt songs and the smooth, sophistication of the execution is quite rewarding, since the album can alternately play like a plea or a balm, depending on mood or timing.

While this set is not as immediate as their first two albums, Foolish Loving Spaces winds up being the one that is most rewarding after repeat listens, an enjoyable, nostalgic ode to pure affection. Coolness be damned.

If I Am Only My Thoughts is the work of a band already at the top of their game, and anyone looking for music that wraps them in a warm blanket of intricate sound and a calming embrace of restrained emotion could do a whole lot worse.

While Darkness Brings the Wonders Home finds Smoke Fairies toying with a new and different approach, it also reinforces what they do best; it's a detour that happens to take them someplace worth visiting.

Keeping Up Appearances is tuneful and exciting, morose and beautiful, noisy and sweet, and it should have heralded the triumphant arrival of Patrick Doyle as a solo artist. Sadly, he didn't live to see its release. The album is a fitting tribute to Doyle's music and also a tragic reminder of the great songs he will never write or play.

The production, sequencing, and performances on Chaos and a Dancing Star reveal Almond at his most sophisticated and ambitious, at the very top of his game; these songs are beautifully written and arranged, and they arrive as deep emanations from the singer's personal well of passion, pleasure, heartbreak, sin, and loss.

The instrumental pieces are a bit harder to suss out with, both "The North Carr" (laughter) and "Darbari" (peace/tranquility) coming across as more mournful than their subjects might suggest. As a whole, though, Navarasa: Nine Emotions is another strong effort from this agile and unexpectedly prolific trio.

Little details and the quality of the writing that help push the boundaries of what otherwise sounds like a quintessential Innocence Mission album.

It's the work of a master musician/producer paying wonderful tribute to Scott-Heron for sure, but it's also a fully realized McCraven album, chock-full of his instrumental, arrangement, and production prowess. If you didn't know better, you'd swear this was a collaborative date.

Just as vibrant and full of wonder as Popp, Scis is another imaginative, unpredictable world of sound.

Supervision is some of Jackson's most consistent work, and hearing her have this much fun growing into her music -- and herself -- is infectious.

Like the collage that adorns its cover, The Big Exercise can feel quite busy at times, but there is also a sense of refinement in the band's approach. A dueling sense of danger colliding with a strong attention to detail makes the Homesick all the more exciting.

Even though it's focused on loss -- in life and in love -- Perdida ends up feeling like a rebirth, losing the past to make way for the future. Like the barren tree on the album cover, life eventually blooms again in time.

It offers a series of tough, meaty, adventurous songs, that abundantly indulge raw power and emotion. Bogren's production and Sepultura's execution are in perfect balance. Further, Green delivers a career-defining performance here. It is the first Sepultura album in decades to measure favorably alongside the band’s classic output.

It's music for meditative mornings or for afternoons in need of a dose of consolation and comfort.

The effect of his well-matched partners' work is only a little less intoxicating than it is on the preceding numbers.

While nowhere near as accessible or crowd-pleasing as the first A.A.L. album, 2017 - 2019 is a compelling mixture of anger and beauty, and one of Jaar's strongest efforts.

It's a dense volume of street storytelling and especially reflective lyricism from this rap MVP, and even at its extensive running time, Born 2 Rap delivers lots of highlights.

Dark Matter cements him as one of the most exciting jazz musicians of his generation.

The production gives everything a hazy, ethereal glow, but it makes all of the blazing guitar riffs and pounding drums resonate, rather than washing them out. Easily the band's most accomplished album to date.

Thanks to the life the duo breathed into the album with their dedication and passion, Swimmer should keep fans on their toes for sure.

Alvin's roots in the blues certainly play a big role in The Third Mind, but so does hard rock, psychedelia, jazz, and improvisational music, and this context -- essentially a jam band without audibly hippie-like tendencies -- shows that his willingness to take a risk pays off handsomely.

Splid (which translates to "Discord") commences with a slow-building storm of distortion that gradually reveals a blazing, punk-metal core festooned with Iron Maiden-worthy guitarmonies.

Random Desire doesn't necessarily sound like the Afghan Whigs in their glory days, but it does a much better job of summoning the emotional energy and musical tension that made Congregation and Gentlemen classics, and it's the best music he's made since the end of the Whigs' first era.

Ultimately, four albums in, Spook the Herd proves Lanterns on the Lake to be one of the most consistent acts in the business.

Marshall duly stuffs his concise follow-up to The Ooz with the terror and negative liquid references, both literal and metaphorical, for which he is known.

71 years old at the time Ordinary Man was released, Osbourne's voice in in great shape, sounding more or less like he always has. How he's making music this strong after riding the crazy train for more than half-a-century is anyone's guess, but the better songs here rank among his best.

Frequently immersive and occasionally revelatory, Companion Rises feels utterly modernistic in its uneasy blend of earthy stability and distractive ambience, mirroring what for many is the normal mode of 21st century existence.

Though the songs here aren't quite as immediately infectious as Clean, its combination of deceptively warm surfaces, alluring melodies, and subtly distorted textures reward repeat listens with that sense of discovery.

With each album, they continue on the path of self-discovery and maturity, pulling off yet another effortless display of pop prowess without forgetting the fans that have helped them along the way.

These songs may sound fun, upbeat, and lovelorn, but there's a dour and utterly realistic undercurrent that makes Cape God Allie X's most relatable and human effort to date.

The album continues developing the language that Caribou has been working on for years, branching out from the clubby spirit and melancholic reflection of recent albums for more lighthearted sonic atmospheres.

The Family Songbook sounds pleasingly simple on the surface, though closer inspection confirms this is an album of tremendous craft that achieves its effects in a way that camouflages the effort that went into its creation, allowing us to simply appreciate the beauty.

Intense and thrilling, The Allegory is a powerful work with uncomfortably realistic and poignant snapshots of American life that linger long after the last song has finished.

These kids know exactly what they want to do and they have the skills and imagination to make it work like an improbable magic trick. Which is what a band needs to beat the sophomore slump as decisively as they do here.

Real Estate grow up gracefully on The Main Thing while keeping a tight hold on the low-key charm and talent that made them stand out.

At a time when deep Southern soul isn't doing a whole lot better than the blues in the marketplace, Robert Cray is an effective cheerleader for both forms, and That's What I Heard shows that after 40 years of record-making, he's in no way tired or short on ideas and inspiration.

It's another huge step forward for the uncontainable U.S. Girls organism, one that skillfully combines the immediacy of personal memories with Remy's uncanny ability to inject her singular creative voice into every sound she touches.

La Vita Nuova is a fine complement to the Chris era.

Elkhorn spends The Storm Sessions softly constructing the sonic equivalent of the situation they were in: stuck inside with no way out, passing the hours while the snow silently piled up outside.

Thanks to the caliber of players in the new James Hunter Six, he is challenged and supported in equal measure. While Hunter may be unapologetically retro in his inspirations, he is unrelentingly modern in his use of vintage music; for him it is ever present in the music he makes, and that's the exact opposite of being nostalgic.

Between its warm sonic patina and the personal nature of its material, Silver Landings stands as Moore's most mature work to date, making for a strong if understated comeback.

Starmaker is a subtle, yet quietly powerful record that feels like it's been hiding in your record collection for decades, just waiting for the right rainy day to make itself known.

Comforting but inspiring, lively yet contemplative, Eyelet is easily Islet's strongest and most accessible album, and being invited into their world like this is a delight.

From This Place integrates and illuminates most of Metheny's musical personas. His compositions allow this stellar collective to roam through them with their many strengths. They ultimately provide fans an abundance of listening pleasure. Even in a catalog filled with so many gems, From This Place shines brightly.

For his part, Jennings deftly plays to the duo's strengths and surrounds them with a complementary sonic environment that dips and swells in all the right places, helping to keep the Mastersons just slightly adjacent to Americana's more obvious paths and in their own unique little world.

At once exploratory, expressive, physical, and reflective, On Circles never forsakes musicality for dramatic affect but achieves it in spades nonetheless.

Despite its unconcealed outrage, Gigaton does have its share of shade and texture even before it settles into a number of meditative moments on its second side. ... Aural adventure adds a nice counterpoint to protests and pleas offered up by Pearl Jam, and helps Gigaton feel vivid, alive, and just a shade hopeful.

It's new territory for a producer known for his willingness to experiment, and finds Weber's unique voice growing as he plays with new instruments, tones, and ideas.

Dixie Blur is Wilson's most personal and direct collection of songs. They are wrought poetically from memory and inspired by the excellence of the sublime performances from his sidemen.

While some of Werner's solo efforts, brilliant as they are, can seem cold and challenging, Smith's vocals on the album draw out the levity and excitement for exploring new ideas that might not be apparent otherwise.

In The Color Out of Space, Stetson's score is, in its empathy, an actual character, one that accompanies the protagonists as a witness, portraying every encounter with an alien force without ever being intrusive.

Horse Lords make music for liberation, celebration, and revolution, and The Common Task is a prime example of their all-encompassing vision.

As his ex-1D crew continue their own solo careers, Horan maintains his position near the top of the pack with yet another relatable collection of emotive vignettes about everyday love.

The Night Chancers is the kind of record that hits instantly thanks to its smooth and strangely comforting surfaces, then each subsequent listen takes it deeper as Dury's delivery and outlook become more and more embraceable. He's struggled to make his own way in the music world, free of his father's influence. It seems safe to say that records as good as this prove that Baxter has arrived with a voice and sound of his own.

It is apparent that The Ghost of Orion was born in the aftermath of strife, strain, and fear; but these are balanced by gratitude, endurance, and even benevolence; the conflicting tensions exist with no attempt to alleviate them, and all of these qualities are among the many reasons My Dying Bride has, for more than three decades, reigned at the pinnacle of doom metal.

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 uplifting, ebullient music for the mind to dance to, and an absolute pleasure to behold.

Arguably, this edition of 8: Kindred Spirits, though only a first set, is one of Lloyd's strongest live offerings to date.

Infinity of Now is more adventurous, disciplined, and focused than any of their previous outings. Its dark and murky sonic vision is at once completely out of step with everything else, as well as miles ahead of it.

This is a fitting postscript and testament to Masekela's legend, and the music on this date, while historic, is absolutely defined by its title.

Tesfaye fills much of this neatly sequenced, ballad-heavy set with penitence and longing. He sets the tone with an escapist fantasy that turns into a nightmarish relapse, and is tormented for much of the duration by seeking and receiving salvation and ruination from the same relationship. Some of Tesfaye's most vivid and piercing lines are herein.

Myrkur's Folkesange is a balm for the soul, a stark and heartfelt offering of solace and comfort amid chaos and darkness; its warmth, resonance, tenderness, and lucidity envelope the listener in reveries of nature, mysticism, and love.

While Velvet's vintage vibe is impressive, it would only be stylish window dressing if the songs weren't as catchy and inspired as they are.

Arbouretum comes on as gentle as a rolling creek, never letting on the full range of their powers until the songs have silently grown from still waters to cresting waves.

While alternating between regretful slower tracks, midtempo drawls, and livelier, foot-tapping fare, the album never moves off dirt roads and adjacent orchards, and proves to be her most carefree-sounding effort to date. That's despite doggedly self-examining lyrics that keep Saint Cloud squarely in the realm of prior releases from an artist who continues to ward off complacency.

In classic punk rock tradition, many of the songs on High Risk Behaviour clock in at well under two minutes; meaning that it never drags.

In a way, New Me, Same Us comes across as a statement of renewed commitment from the band.

Over the course of 13 tracks, Sorry drifts into a wide range of sounds and experiments with subtlety. Their chameleonic approach is never garish, with strong songs being the main takeaway and all the experiments with production and style just the weird icing on the cake.

Bad Bunny does whatever he wants, even if that means quitting when you're far ahead. If he does, we'll still have YHLQMDLG, a transformative fever dream of an album that accents freedom by breaking all the rules without writing new ones.

She's not only exceeded expectations with Walking Proof, she's made an album that will be hard for her to top, though no one who has followed her music so far would count that out.

Although it's all over the place, Before Love Came to Kill Us radiates conviction from front to back, and is without doubt a true representation of its creator.

Even without some of the more advanced effects he's able to use in a proper studio setting, he's still able to do a lot with his limited setup, wringing unearthly sounds and textures from decaying tape loops.

He's in a league of his own when it comes to making the most of music's time-traveling, spell-casting powers, and like Drift Code before it, Clockdust proves that Rustin Man's music has only grown richer and more rewarding over the years.

Expressing a wide range of emotions in a short timespan, Allegiance and Conviction is a vivid, engrossing experience, and just as vital as every other entry in Windy & Carl's unbeatable catalog.

There is nothing subtle about 100% Yes. Despite the anger and activism in the lyrics, this set is saturated with the energy of hope.

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.

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.

["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.

Her productions have become far more ambitious, abandoning the straightforward house beats of much of her earlier material in favor of more expansive, detailed arrangements that incorporate trip-hop, electro, and drum'n'bass. Her lyrics are significantly more personal this time, and a far cry from the club-dwelling, cheekily hedonistic persona of earlier hits like "Raingurl" and "Drink I'm Sippin On."

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.

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