Mahashmashana, despite its weighty poeticism and nostalgic sonic grandeur, feels rooted in the here and now. Tillman is still a keen and sardonic observer of the human condition, but here he directs the proceedings with a gravitas that finally feels earned.

On All We Know, PVRIS take a crucial step on the right course toward finding their own trademark sound.

Landes is ready and willing to create her own spin on classic country, winding up with a generous and clever gem.

Even at its most bizarre and feral, Pick a Day to Die conveys a sense of positivity and excitement as the collective remains in the constant state of rediscovering themselves that they've made their life's work.

Coin Coin Chapter Five: In the Garden's collision of styles, genres, and individual and group voices are not only welcome, but essential to the process of Roberts engendering dialogue, celebrating difference, and communicating emotions, psychologies, and cultures, all testifying to the import and cultural and artistic achievement of her evolving project.

Madres deals with serious subject matter, but ultimately it's an abundantly thankful, joyous, and celebratory record.

By the time Luminescent Creatures closes on the wind-sampling "惑星の泪 (Wakusei no Namida)" ("Tears of the Planet") -- a fingerpicked guitar song that refers to dreams, the birth of a story, and "a melody of a million light years" -- listeners will likely have felt transported to another world.

It's a more subtle record with a comfortable, stripped-down feel that adds new shades to Plant's global folk fusion.

The 18 songs on the album are all in the heavily layered, chamber-hardcore style established on Chemistry of Common Life, but Fucked Up is taking the idea to the furthest reaches, and somehow pulling it off.

Tell Tale Signs feels like a new Bob Dylan record, not only for the astonishing freshness of the material, but also for the incredible sound quality and organic feeling of everything here.

It's a near flawless collection of dreamy vibes, shifting moods, and movement, and stands easily as Granduciel's finest hour so far.

The creation of Blue Rev may have been beset with trial and tribulation but the result is a heavenly indie pop hit guaranteed to make their already besotted fans fall even more head over heels in love with the band.

The quality control isn't quite as tight. Some songs meander long after making their point. A greater position of the sequence, however, is filled with indestructible art that consoles, challenges, and invigorates with gospel, doo wop, highlife, psychedelicized garage rock, dub, and post-punk funk all filtered with uncommon aptitude through vintage outsider soul. Highlights are abundant.

The style/substance balance is a difficult one to negotiate -- "Whip Cracker" transitions from upstart energy to Daft Punk-ery with minimal grace, while flecks of futuristic dance don't quite land on "I Don't See Colour" -- but for the large part, Owusu is a blessing to his genres, gifting them with his vivid personality and potent narrative threads.

They know exactly what they're doing, and the risks they take result in a debut album that brings a fresh energy to post-punk that's equally challenging and rewarding.

An utterly exhausting but consistently thrilling listen, L'Enfant Sauvage is arguably a career best which suggests Gojira have found their spiritual home.

The anger and disillusionment on Algiers' debut were expressed through its raw, unhinged mix. Here, while their outlook is overall less tolerant, it's voiced with more atmospheric control.

Another spectacular audio document of an enormously creative period for underground music.

Ayewa's poetry soars above the band, whose attack offers ancient-to-the-future sound narratives; they cross blues, free jazz, Caribbean grooves, and Afro-Latin folk with a universe of African rhythms. Open the Gates is a statement. It authoritatively signifies militant creativity as the only real language for expressing liberation and wisdom.

Equally rich and effortless, Gold Record is especially satisfying for longtime fans as part of a bounty of great work from Callahan since his return, but there's plenty here to delight anyone who loves brilliant songwriting and down-to-earth performances.

Delivering on the promise of her industry-shaking debut with confidence and grace, Happier Than Ever has the markings of a big career moment, one that signals artistic growth and hints at even more greatness to come.

more thought-through and sounds more honed [than her 2018 mixtape Last Day Of Summer].

All at Once is just as clever, impassioned, and purposeful as we've come to expect from this band, and it's a truly rewarding listen.

Throughout these songs, Taylor's lyrics and the grain in his voice reveal that, whatever truths there are in these songs, they come from antiquity, and the land itself, which is an extension of the divine.

His musical language has evolved into a sound that is not only ambitious, but instantly recognizable.

They stay true to the genre's penchant for loud/quiet/loud posturing, on-the-nose emotional cues, and strategically placed breakdowns throughout, but they do so while flexing some significant creative muscle.

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.

The first Get Up Sequence showed that the Go! Team was firmly back on the course they embarked on with Thunder, Lightning, Strike; the second might just be its equal. It certainly has the right sound, the right songs, and the same sense of bonkers experimentalism and life-affirming spirit to be at least in the running.