The sleek, dramatic title track sets the stage with a lush, grooving indie rock bolstered by shimmery synths, textured guitar effects, and a somewhat oversaturated sound that permeates and distinguishes the album.

Russell converts extemporaneous dialogue from the participants into collage-like pieces across the LP. Other thematically relevant choices for samples and interpolations -- including songs by Shawn Smith, Jackson C. Frank, and Molly Drake, all of whom are deceased -- add even more emotional resonance. Melody is foregrounded by a cross-generational ensemble of 18 featured voices and winds players.

It may not be an instant classic, but it's still clear that no one can do it like Gaga.

Jason Isbell is a singer and songwriter who is never afraid to do the work to make his music something special, and even when he's performing in stripped-down fashion, he delivers great songs and the commitment to make them special. Anyone who questions that hasn't heard Foxes in the Snow.

Channeling technological paranoia, City of Clowns contains some of Davidson's most futuristic work yet, as well as some of her most commanding and personality-driven.

The craft of Here We Go Crazy is superb, and Bob Mould is one of the very, very few musicians who came up in the 1980s hardcore scene and is still making powerful, relevant music in the 2020s. However, if he wanted to make an album that reflects the chaos of the culture that witnessed its creation, he may have hit the bullseye just a bit too close to the center.

New Dawn is a powerful work from a celebrated artist who has never stopped exploring new territory.

The steps forward on Cotton Crown are subtle but undeniable, with the Tubs' vision growing clearer through these increasingly enjoyable and well-crafted songs.

Consisting of skillful (mostly) first-person character sketches, the songs seem like intimate Stratton remembrances until the settings crystallize.

Seamless yet challenging, All Worlds should appeal to Lust for Youth's more open-minded fans, but the new vistas it opens for the band are what make it exciting.

Dead Channel Sky is clipping. at their most techno-shocked, reconnecting with the nexus of hip-hop and sci-fi fused by pioneers like Afrika Bambaataa in the early '80s.

Nation Shall Speak Unto Nation stands with Edwyn's best work.

There's a lot going on here in composition, performance, and production, but it's always focused, never excessive, and always accessible; in some places, it actually approaches the profound.

Both introspective and commanding, Halo on the Inside charts a path between the club and the cosmos.

The band touch on virtually every stylistic and production nuance they've explored over 30 years in a startlingly focused collection.

Lust for Life is weirdly joyous and joyously weird, and it's marvelously entertaining either way; it's the band's strongest and most cohesive work yet.

It’s been said that one can’t go back home again, but as the return of the Loft and this excellent debut album prove, sometimes a trip back to an adjacent neighborhood can be nearly as fulfilling.

Whatever the Weather clearly feels more "outdoors" than the music James makes under her own name, but it's just as introspective and personal, and the project's second album is another powerfully expressive work.

Bursting with ideas and near symbiotic ensemble play, Cline's Consentrik Quartet is a bracing statement by this wonderful group and a future-forward approach to jazz.

Her most fully realized album yet and a highlight in a career dotted with really good pop records.

There isn't much on is that My Morning Jacket couldn't have done on their own, but having a neutral observer on board certainly appears to have helped them up their game as a recording act, and it's one of the most purely satisfying albums they've delivered since they changed their game with Z.

Lewis remains a vividly funny observer and masterful storyteller, and his work remains relatable and relevant.

Though most of the album doesn't feature the manipulated field recordings and found sounds often used in both artists' music, it still feels very localized and personal, as if they're interpreting various environments and locations through their instruments rather than direct sampling.

There is a certain haunting quality of moving into a transitional space from this music. However, there is also a sense of hearing musical traditions combined in a way unique to a single performer, and this is indeed something well worth experiencing.

The album as a whole is tender and affectionate, seeming to accept and appreciate even the awkward and unrequited as part of her embrace of complexity and queerness.

Lonely People with Power finds Deafheaven incorporating the most successful parts of that album into their usual sound, resulting in one of their strongest works.

Arcadia is a long-awaited return for Krauss and Union Station; here they reframe American traditional music in a context informed by modern production aesthetics, yet still sound kinetic and completely organic.

Portrait of My Heart is Spellling's most accessible work, but it's still unconventional and unpredictable, reflecting her uniquely magical vision.