While these songs rarely sound like they're brimming with joy, they act as an affirmation of life and hope even as they acknowledge the shadows, and it's his best and most rewarding solo album to date.

An emotional and musical breakthrough.

Dynamic, taut, feisty and clever as ever, Send is this group's fourth-best album.

More so than ever, Elbow's greatest asset is that the band is capable of making big sounds without being bombastic or flashy.... The only setback? Gospel choirs.

The album almost sounds like an original cast recording of a musical -- the next best thing to being there, but not the same by a long shot.

Both celebratory and melancholy, this is an exceptionally strong album which effortlessly compels repeated listens.

If Godfather really is the conclusion of Wiley's recording career, he's ending it on an extremely high note.

Everything swirls in cacophonous, ever repeating, four-beat drones; only Trudeau's violins offer variation in a frenzied, harmonic counterpoint.

More than any other Black Keys album, El Camino is an outright party, playing like a collection of 11 lost 45 singles, each one having a bigger beat or dirtier hook than the previous side.

Beauty & Crime is, without reservation, the defining creative moment of Suzanne Vega's career thus far.

Vibrant, unapologetic and expertly crafted, Sexistential may not be a stunning leap forward like Honey, but when Robyn sings "I'm still having fun," her joy is contagious.

The collection does a fine job of living up to the title--it's certainly a celebration of Madonna's career and includes some of the most celebratory and thrilling pop music ever created.

With Dream River, fans already know what to expect from the man lyrically, and it can't be argued with qualitatively. When you place those lyrics in the context of something so subtly adventurous musically, the result is both engaging and seductive.

The Badu influence on Lennox hasn't been clearer, but the song ["POF"] is also a showcase for some of Lennox's most striking vocals and her strongest, pithiest writing -- singular qualities that remain throughout the album.

Alluring and thought-provoking, Iris Silver Mist plays the heart notes expertly.

While Double Infinity is an album more likely to wash over listeners than stick, its collaborative, impromptu spirit has infectious qualities of its own, and it's interesting to hear that the band expanded outward instead shrinking with the first departure of a member.

Hunter is the record where, more than any other, Calvi's talents have fully crystallized. The true character of her music has been unleashed and will likely see all those PJ Harvey comparisons finally fade, eclipsed by the radiance of this tough yet open-hearted work.

Ultimately, Dude Incredible is a good but not great album from an undeniably great band; it doesn't sound lazy, just short one or two top-rank songs that would bump its status up a notch, but it's clearly the work of as strong and interesting a band as you can hear these days.

Besting the already star-making Sawayama, the triumphant Hold The Girl is the sound of an artist taking their rightful place on the pop throne. Sawayama was born for this.

That this trio interprets such a difficult work with this degree of faithfulness is remarkable; that they do so without sacrificing their personality in the process is worth celebrating.

Filled with bold, entertaining wordplay and plenty of well-executed, left-field ideas, Tha Carter III should be considered as a wild, somewhat difficult child of Weezy's magnum opus in motion, one that allows the listener an exhilarating and unapologetic taste of artistic freedom.

It's a very promising debut that definitely positions Vagabon as one to watch in the future.

As fine as that is, it comes from someone who is capable of better work, and though this is still recommended to fans, it's ultimately a good album from someone who has been consistently great in the past.

Right from the outset, the album is filled with dense, complex vocal arrangements, with both MCs (as well as their guests) delivering dozens of vicious caricatures of fake rappers and "woke" folks. ... They complement each other well, and both drive the album's concept.

Though Crazymad, For Me lacks a bit of the wit of If My Wife New I'd Be Dead, anyone who has had their heart stepped on in the past 20 years will embrace it as their own.

On the whole, More Than Any Other Day is a deeply refreshing listen, bursting at the seams with joy and anger and less indebted to its long list of influences than it is an entity greater than the sum of its parts.

Emma Jean even stands out from its excellent predecessors in performance, arrangement, production, and inspiration.

The follow-up delves into dysfunctional relationships, death, and despair with a more polished yet still hooky, jagged indie rock co-produced by De Souza and Brad Cook (Bon Iver, Waxahatchee).