Fancy That is some of Pink's most carefree work, but it's still highly emotional, and its songs are as well-crafted, catchy, and creative as anything else she's done.

Even more so than woods' other albums, GOLLIWOG is a challenging work dealing with grim yet truthful subject matter, but it's fascinating and enjoyable due to the rapper's brilliant writing and focused delivery, as well as innovative production from his collaborators.

Often earnest, anguished, and euphoric, Ten Crowns delivers the catharsis while keeping it real, so the occasional clunky lyric or corny dance trope can be -- in line with the album's themes -- forgiven, especially when it's intentional.

Finely nuanced shades of gray are all he needs on Lake Fire, a formidable, beautiful return to Loscil's fundamentals.

Confrontational in ways quiet and loud, Abyss is a testament to Anika's fierce artistic independence and gift for haunting moods.

His brand of wistfulness is appealing, never cloying, with just the right amount of windswept drama and to tickle the heartstrings.

PUP have made albums a lot more fun than this, but for sheer impact and focus, this feels like their best work to date, even if the recently dumped might find it a bit too relatable for comfort.

Here's to Thackray seeing a payoff beyond this brilliant and enriching work of art.

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

On Face Down in the Garden, they have reached peak vibe, and if it is their last album, as they have said, they exit at the top of their very specific, very Tennis game.

While this album will undoubtedly be embraced by those who have been following the L.A. group since their early days in Brooklyn, it's never too late to get on the Lucius train, and this eponymous LP is a great representative of what they do.

Suzanne Vega is an artist who was built for the long haul, and Flying With Angels is impressive and satisfying in its craft and distinctive outlook – her songs made her stand out from her peers in 1985, and they still do in 2025.

Toledo is young enough that it's premature to call The Scholars a masterpiece, though it's unquestionably his finest work to date and one of the best albums of 2025.

Many fans and newcomers alike will have been won over by another album that disarms and charms with its flawed universe while offering just enough musical catharsis.

he mercurial Hex Key is compellingly weird and rhythmically and melodically catchy, with each of its fluorescent, silver-, or neon-colored tracks holding earworm potential.

Saying this is Viagra Boys' best album to date is as much a reflection of taste as a matter of quality, but Viagr Aboys shows they're only getting better at channeling their sonic havoc into workable form, and it's some sort of wild triumph.

Though less immediate and accessible than his earlier work, Time Indefinite is another career highlight that pushes Tyler boldly into the future.

Engaging and enlightening, Noble and Godlike in Ruin is political art of the highest order -- and more proof that Deerhoof will always find something deeply felt to communicate about the state of the world.

The Melancholy Season confirms that was a matter of inclination rather than a lack of the needed skills: he can write, sing, and play like the seasoned veteran he is, while also sounding as if he has as many ideas as a promising new artist. He ought to consider doing this more often.

Music is a cyclone of weird turns, big ideas, and choices that don't really make sense together, but are still somehow enjoyable under the banner of blissful confusion that Playboi Carti has made his brand from the start.

The second chapter in their collaborative work is such a natural progression that it feels simultaneously like a continuation of a single moment and light years ahead of where they started.

Luster is an accomplished, affecting work that finds strength and clarity through introspection and forgiveness.

With Dream into It, Idol underscores his legacy as one of the original pop-punk prophets, a kid with spiky, peroxide-blonde hair who saw the future of punk and lived to tell the tale.

If you fell in love with Sunflower Bean's early indie-pop and marveled at their turn towards alt-rock cool, Mortal Primetime is the best of both worlds; an assured album of rock and roll magic, dusted with emotive pop pathos.

Whether, taken together, the take-me-or-leave-me Bloodless is ultimately appropriately chaotic and admirably confrontational or, rather, overcooked is up to the beholder, but Samia's knack for strong melodic hooks and open vulnerability here are unquestionable and consistent.

The Film is a powerful work from two unstoppable creative forces on the same wavelength.

There Is No Space for Us sounds more holistic than its trilogy predecessors, with leaner production, deft arrangements, and extremely inventive songwriting.