No matter which era or what record you prefer, as an album, Locked Down stands with Rebennack's best.

Explosions in the Sky doesn't shift as suddenly or jarringly on Earth Is Not a Cold Dead Place; the quartet has applied more structural predictability this time out, but is still quick about setting the sad butterflies in your stomach to fluttering.

Soul of a Woman is a rich, life-affirming work from an artist who valued her life and her music too much to not make the most of them up to the very end. This isn't just a fitting farewell to Sharon Jones; it's one of the best albums of her career.

Steve Earle proves again and again that he is the original alternative to the glossy side of Nashville.

Chavez Ravine is easily the most ambitious thing in Cooder's catalog, and it just may be the grand opus of his career.

Protest the Hero is having fun with their creativity here, and Fortress is a better album for it.

It's his signature sound and Harps and Angels captures it sublimely, as the production--a co-credit to Newman's longtime associate Lenny Waronker and his latter-day producer Mitchell Froom--has no fancy accoutrements and he's written another set of quietly wonderful songs.

At their best, they're an overwhelming sonic force, and Diotima is their best album to date.

Present Tense isn't as flawless as Smother; it's slightly top-loaded, and occasionally the spare instrumentation borders on monotonous. Still, it's a compelling album that shows Wild Beasts can build on their breakthrough in satisfying and challenging ways.

The Imagined Savior Is Far Easier to Paint is provocative: its moodiness, myriad musical directions, and 79-minute length may be initially off-putting. What is revealed with repeated listening, however, is that this set's achievement is commensurate with its ambition.

Smart selections make this the best and handiest introduction to a group crucial to the development of industrial, post-punk, and dance music.

This set manages to be reverent to Waller's original recordings, but since facsimile was never the goal, it also manages to create a completely new veneer for them, and the end result is a marvelous tribute that still retains its own shape and coherency.

In the Orbit of Ra is close to essential for fans and a pretty good place to start for the curious Sun Ra novice. He really was writing music for the 21st century.

The end result is something unexpected: a compilation that makes us hear an artist we know well in a whole new way.

Leaps beyond predecessor Stomachaches, Parachutes benefits from its creator's inner turmoil, providing as much emotional support to Iero as it does to listeners with similar struggles.

What could have been a nostalgia grab is instead the triumph of a band that chose to deliver on the initial promise of their seminal debut, not only to their faithful fans, but, more importantly, to themselves.

It is rich and gorgeous, elegant because of its exacting nature, an aesthetic that suits the film to a T.

Kanye West grants taut, grimace-inducing beats, assisted infrequently by Mike Dean and Andrew Dawson, enabling Pusha to pack each one of the seven tracks with characteristically trenchant and terse rhymes. The lyrical focus is similarly laser-sharp.

Incorporating varied delivery and production, TA13OO taps into his established style, which combines aggressive trap with rapid-fire bars ("Sumo," "Super Saiyan Superman"), while also adding smoothed-out hip-hop atmosphere and patient vocal restraint ("Sirens," "Cash Maniac"), which was only hinted at on Imperial's throwback gem "Zenith." TA13OO is split into three sections--Light, Gray, and Dark--and delves into introspective self-examination and unflinching social commentary that tackles politics, sexual abuse, and mental health.

Simply put, (After) is another brave and beautiful document tracing how Elverum's sorrow and love continue to change shape.

The previously released portion of the compilation, significantly less than half of its 36 selections, all dates from 2010-2017, an era represented with Teebs and TOKiMONSTA's warped beatmaking, Daedelus' MPB-tinged folk, Martyn's pellet-spraying U.K. garage mutation, and disparate varieties of funk from Mono/Poly and bass god Thundercat. ... Among the other exclusives and glimpses officially issued first through this set are Thundercat's trippy "King of the Hill" (with BadBadNotGood), Miguel Atwood-Ferguson's sublime "Kazaru," and Moiré's Prescription-meets-Dial beauty "Lisbon," progressive slices of soul, jazz, and house.

Shah presents as a mystery wrapped in an enigma, when in reality she's just innately talented and resolute in her convictions. Unsurprisingly, the mesmerizing Kitchen Sink distills those two predilections into something that's both compelling and otherworldly.

Data Lords is a poignant and pointed jazz masterwork that adds weight and spiritual heft to our existential struggle.

On every track, Minus gives listeners a clear sense of her worldview and balances all the elements of her music with an organic sophistication remarkable for a debut album.

An R&B-rooted set that glows with elements of atmospheric house, spangly garage, and racing drum'n'bass. ... It's just as enthralling -- and empowered -- as any of the club tracks.

What's particularly enjoyable about Mehldau's approach is how he keeps each song recognizable while making it his own.

He is a gifted songwriter and musician who delivers his art as public therapy. At some point, though, it would be refreshing to hear Christinzio sing about something other than his own turmoil.

The music is lush, advanced, and welcoming, and comes off without a trace of bloat or conceit. This is easily a top pick for best albums of 2023.