Her concentration on an especially brutal historical subject makes it one of her most bracing works, and it becomes more compelling and powerful with increased intention and awareness.

Visions is clear and light, its textures vividly articulated and its rhythms mellow and fluid. It's music that feels alive, inhaling and exhaling with a gentle insistence; it's never rushed, never clipped.

While at this point there's some unavoidable self-awareness to their craft, it does nothing to take away from the exhilarating fun and lawless excitement of the album.

For a band that often got lost in a hippie haze, this all-business approach pays off great dividends: it's easy to hear how the Robinsons are ideal collaborators, tempering each other's excesses and accentuating their shared love for the best of classic rock.

Letter to Yu's thoughtful sincerity seems far removed from the biting sarcasm of Pupul's acclaimed work with Charlotte Adigéry, but it's just as emotionally potent and artistically creative.

This is a return to the epic 12-minute suites of releases like Truant and Rival Dealer, flashing back to some of the same samples and themes. Second side "Boy Sent from Above" is the more soul-searching of the two, with lonely vocals calling out from the fog of vinyl crackle and spray can shaking.

Whether it's the caressing connectedness of "Evening Mood" or the air of pensive devotion on "Who Brings Me," this emotional immediacy makes Something in the Room She Moves an exciting and affecting addition to Holter's body of work.

Audio Vertigo brings it all together, distilling their many attributes into one of their most exciting albums in years.

Gary Clark Jr.'s catalog shows he has the talent, intelligence, and vision to make a grand scale musical statement out of any style he chooses, and JPEG RAW only reinforces that notion; he's been creating some of the boldest and most interesting guitar-based music of his time, and this is as exciting and rewarding as anyone could hope.

Akoma represents another impressive step in Jlin's remarkable evolution as an artist.

When the final piano twinkles of the heartbreaking ballad "Última" close the first half, the album shifts to mixtape mode with the flood of additional hits that pack the back end, making Las Mujeres Ya No Lloran a great two-for-one set that is essentially a short new album and a de facto "Greatest Hits 2022-2024."

The eponymous 2024 debut album from South African singer Tyla showcases her vibrant pop, R&B, Afrobeat, and rhythmic amapiano dance style.

This is an essential entry in Coltrane's catalog and a remarkable kick-off to Impulse's "Year of Alice."

While arguably Sam Evian's strongest set of songs yet, he's nothing if not consistent, and Plunge sits well alongside project debut Premium (2016) while at the same time offering something a little "more so" thanks to a live-in-studio recording philosophy that shunned headphones and playback and kept overdubs to a minimum.

While it won’t be able to please everyone, that’s not the point: this is an intensely personal statement about reclamation, belonging, and legacy, celebrating the past with hopes of changing the future. One can only hope Act III finds Bey going full rock.

Maybe Chastity Belt aren't always laughing and loving on this album, but the music is alive and eloquent, and this is a welcome return from an interesting, consistently rewarding quartet.

The amount of courage and skill on display is massive and apart from a few times where he falls off the high wire -- mainly when the balance tips too far to the inward-looking lyrically or he strays too close to played out trap territory -- this reboot just might win the band some new fans, while shedding none who have stayed the course thus far.

The vibe is familiar but the sound is fresh and, better still, Evolution isn't ponderous: it's brisk and bright, keeping its focus squarely on the gifts that brought Crow into the Rock Hall.

If this isn't Shook's best album to date, it's very close.

Moves in the Field is more Philip Glass than John Cage (in fact, Glass' longtime engineer Dan Bora recorded and mixed the album), with Moran's thoughtful writing and restrained use of what could have been show-stopping technology creating an insulated world of understated, wintery elegance.

Weaver's songs still sound beamed in from distant galaxies, but here she seems to be coming to grips with the feeling that love and loss are more universal than she thought, even when happening on planets far from Earth.

Even though they lighten the mood ever so slightly with "Lip Sync," a collage of detached vocals and lurching blasts that's the closest they've come to a pop song, every moment angeltape announces Drahla as a band worthy of far more attention.

Bob and weave as he might, Harcourt never fails to land an emotional punch on El Magnifico.

An album that is at times campy, earnestly romantic, and endlessly listenable. Part of the fun and endearing aspect of Gray's turn towards '80s Euro-pop is just how well he and his production partners captured the studio textures and anthemic energy of the genre.

Our Brand Could Be Yr Life may not be the group's most exciting album (Endless Scroll) or their most immediate (Broken Equipment likely gets that nod), but it is the one fans are likely to go back to more often as it provides the richest, best-sounding release they've had so far.

Chaotic, poignant, pretentious, fascinating, and thoroughly entertaining despite or because of it all.

Maggie Rogers embraces her creative and emotional independence on her third album, 2024's nervy and candid Don't Forget Me.

Even though her lyrics can be a bit on-the-nose at times, she's always sincere, and her best songs are fully relatable. No one else is making jungle that's this introspective while staying true to the genre's sound system roots, sounding raw enough to ignite a rave yet catchy enough for the radio.