The LP is joyously nostalgic, decked with strings, horns, and a trio of background vocalists including secret weapon Sy Smith.

Haunting and gripping, New Decade is one of Mute's most striking releases in some time, and gives Phew a bigger platform to prove what her die-hard fans already know: she's at the peak of her powers.

For fans craving more of Kylie's excellent early-2020s output, Tension II delivers, even when it pales next to more immediate cuts on Disco and the first Tension.

It's easily the least sexually charged album in his discography, ideal for those who admire him as a singer, arranger, and producer but tune out the fantastical come-ons.

Last of the Country Gentlemen is a demanding listen; its wandering pace, startling, emotionally jarring terrain of uncalculated honesty, and obsession can be uncomfortable. That said, it is a recording of surprising originality and great beauty.

The Fool has flashes of brilliance, but Warpaint need to play to their strengths consistently.

King Gizzard aren't sugarcoating anything, either musically or thematically, and that makes for their most timely and political album yet. It's also one of their most musically compelling and impressive, too, and that's saying a lot.

It's the core group that delivers the most astonishing displays of hardcore fury and progressive musical exploration on Axe to Fall

While To the Bone sometimes seems inconsistent, it's an illusion; repeated listening reveals that Wilson's brand of progressive pop is so multivalently textured and expertly crafted, that its aesthetic and sonic palette refuse to be contained under a single rock umbrella. As such, To the Bone stands with Wilson's best work.

This soundtrack stands tall in the man's wide-reaching discography, offering fans a Wu-flavored vision of a world where both the damned and cursed still swagger.

It’s good to see Tyler having some real fun with it, but for a 28-minute project that should be all killer no filler, DON'T TAP THE GLASS warrants more bite.

While the album's ambitions occasionally get the better of the actual music, For the Season's intermittent brilliance is worth digging and waiting for.

It is attractive not only for its unusual, sophisticated musical presentation and smart, poetic lyricism, but for its canny instinct as well.

Only "Better When I'm by Your Side," which hews a little too closely to the Lorde template, does anything to darken the mood. It's a tiny stumble that does little to detract from the pleasing nature of the rest of the album.

The Baby's combination of breezy melodies and vulnerability makes for an engaging listen well worthy of the promising designation.

Berninger's incisive turns of phrase and refusal to isolate the bitter and sweet are the governing forces throughout the record, even on songs like the jaunty "Junk," a defeated love song that imagines flowers sprouting through his own grave in Indiana.

There's a sharpness that was absent before, a shift in focus and time that's strict in design.

All told, this album is probably the band's best balance of pop melodies and avant-leaning structures since Washing Machine; even if it doesn't rank among their most ambitious work, Sonic Nurse sounds like the kind of album Sonic Youth should be making at this point in their career.

[The Presidents] still make catchy, punky pop tunes, but dammit if they don't sound better than they ever did. Maybe it's because the album stands in direct contrast with the teen pop and rap-rock that dominate the mainstream rock audience, or maybe it's because their jokes are now clever and silly, the production is varied, the songs are breezy, melodic, and catchy. Or maybe it's just because in this stripped-back production, the band never sounds self-conscious.

With its subtle textural enhancement, the album renders the esoteric pleasures of Todd's compositions and highly individual songs considerably more accessible.

Bright Eyes has mixed badness with beauty for a sonic storybook that relates to everyone.

Tambourine is a remarkably mature, confident, and commanding release that defines then rides its groove with no low points.

The rest of the album follows suit with an energy that mixes in just the right amount of mirth, mayhem, and maudlin, making Signed and Sealed in Blood an album that's sure to please Murphys fans both old and new.

Harlem River is a journey worth taking and an excellent debut from an emerging singer/songwriter.

Sioux Falls' battles between disenchantment, sadness, joy, and rage are easily strong enough to support an album half this size, but at 16 tracks--with six of them over six minutes long--it's just too hard to stay invested.

Engaging and enlightening, Noble and Godlike in Ruin is political art of the highest order -- and more proof that Deerhoof will always find something deeply felt to communicate about the state of the world.

While this may not make it the most immediately exciting album of Explosions in the Sky's career, it easily stands to be one of their most rewarding.

It finds the perfect balance between the vibrancy of her poppier work in the '90s and her experiments in the 2000s.