Beach Fossils have found a balance that's better than anyone could have hoped for.

Never before have the band felt so complete and realized in causality of their sound than on Modern Mirror.

Remains an unlikely and absolutely wonderful and essential listen.

Hearing it now, After the Party is delightfully bittersweet. Years on, when time has continued to pass and age has continued to set in, it'll be devastating.

Harlan & Alondra feels like an older album in the same way that Buddy gives the impression of rappers from the past, but when you add in modern day energy, the album becomes very special.

Juice B Crypts responds with 11 tracks of knotty, electronic rock puzzles.

Kiwanuka is therapeutic for all parties involved. It's honest, psychedelic, enlightening and recalls blackness defined by acoustic folk and the organic soul of past artists like Gil Scott-Heron, Bobby Womack and Otis Redding.

Baker is careful not to glorify life's darkest moments, and certainly doesn't on Turn Out the Lights. Rather, her candid portrayal of pain is a rare and beautiful gift.

This is DIY revolution groove and as such, is an inspiration to those who wish to express outside the norms.

Vibrant, it colours outside the lines. Poignant, it's transparent with altering modes of bravado, vulnerability and desperation. It is, thoroughly, a Frank Ocean album, yearning for perfection, sating the audience's hunger for dynamism, yet with the persistent feeling that the artist feels it's all a failure.

Menuck and Doria found a new creative partnership, and each return to are SING SINCK, SING provides that crucial reminder while offering a shoulder to cry on.

As the musicians begin to ebb and flow toward the ninth and final movement, it's clear that Pharoah Sanders and Floating Points are so metaphysically in tune with their latest creation that their respective musical personalities almost disappear into the waves of sound, making Promises a recording that is more of a transcending mind meld than it is a collaboration.

De Doorn is not only a continuation, but also a rebirth of Amenra's pilgrimage of apocalyptic heaviness.

What this songwriting team has to offer isn't just pretty, though it can be that--it's also pretty profound, passionate and substantial.

Power In The Blood is a masterpiece in a storied career.

As short a release as it is, the tight six-track EP packs a punch. This is essential material for both country listeners and fans of Orville Peck, who, through his dedication to authenticity in aesthetics, joins the likes of Shania, Reba, Dolly, Johnny, Kenny, Merle, Hank and countless others among the genre's greats.

It's surprising, deeply moving and occasionally stunning.

Strait is doing what most contemporary country artists shy away from, which is successfully bring back the real deal. He is effectively and triumphantly making traditional country music cool again.

At the heart of it, Morbid Stuff just still sounds like friends having fun and making catchy, cathartic punk anthems for teens and almost-adults alike--offering a brief, but much needed respite from the hell that is everyday life.

Full of prodigious riffs, intoxicating vocals and a narrative you just can't ignore, So When You Gonna… exemplifies just what happens when talent meets passion.

Minimum Rock N Roll is a dynamic and vibrant good-time screed; it's not anti-consumption but it is out to have people consume discerningly.

While her previous two solo records did not quite reach the high bar set by her work with Paramore, this record is in a tier with the group's absolute best, and is Williams's first solo masterpiece.

Why Does the Earth Give Us People to Love? is an album of great substance, one that both rewards and demands close listening.

Bonny Light Horseman's eponymous debut is rich in folk history and offers a fresh take on centuries-old traditions. For trad-folk fans who like to dig deep, this record is a perfect launching point — there are endless avenues of history to be found here.

Rose shines a disco light on shame, lets panic leap into a bouncing gait that's faked-till-it's-made. And though she masterfully wields the absurdity of hubris, she also doesn't ridicule what she finds. She asks the misfits of the human psyche what they want and what scares them, and gives them a whole floor to do their dance. They laugh together, let loose and sweat off their blush.

Besides the remastering work and a detailed 40-page book with notes and photography, it is producer Nick Phillips' decision to present the recordings chronologically that is key to this collection's value proposition. Hearing the material organized for the first time by session, as opposed to original LP release, provides additional perspective on a master entering his prime.

Röyksopp and Robyn have not only traversed new territory, they've made it their own.

Rawlings-Welch are so good and natural in their borrowing that Nashville Obsolete evokes familiar sepia-toned moods almost without ever sounding worn-out or dated, the only exception perhaps being "Short Haired Woman Blues," on which the tempo feels sluggish.

As much as Championships is filled with nonchalant club/street anthems, it's also about healing. Tempered by both celebration and struggle, Championships shows the duality of Mill's world--one that still reflects on the past, but has made leaps towards his future--and that's perhaps the greatest win of them all.

All of Something is a unique fusion of sounds that cements Sports' songwriting as a compelling mix of impressive and inventive.

A Hound at the Hem has the chance to gain the fervent cult following deserving of its hypnotizing layers of analog bass, fuzz bomb riffs, pensive organs, soaring strings, nostalgic harpsichords and a creepy lyrics.

Like her LP, ANOHNI's PARADISE is a poignant, smouldering reflection of society's current, crucial conversations.

The result is an album in which millions will find their own struggles reflected back to them, as therapeutic as it is utterly dazzling. If you've ever been handed lemons, you need Lemonade.

Crenshaw is a deeply funky jazz record with a sensibility that incorporates the best of this L.A. neighbourhood's long fascination with hip-hop and R&B. It captures the full breadth of the region's rich musical history. ... This is, at the very least, the record of the summer. For some, it might just be the record of 2017.

Yet because the beats are so fierce and the flows so varied, there is no slogging through this 39-minute hurricane. It's been a minute, but RTJ have reminded us that, yes, rap music can be fun and opinionated simultaneously.

If Selfless had the producer disappearing into the commotion of modernity, sublimating himself among multiple narrators, here, he's retreating inward to rediscover who he is, each swirling entry rendered from a more subdued place of quiet contemplation.

White Men Are Black Men Too is a perfect storm of influences and talent that make for an unforgettable album.

With Sun Choir, this Edinburgh trio found a way to pull a thousand (almost literally) voices together to create a singular vision.

This record is just as unique and innovative as each album before it. It's truly and honestly a breath of fresh air, it's just once again under the helm of the producer who fleshed out their unmistakable and haunting sound in the first place.

This is nostalgia in essence and in practice, and it's pretty much everything that fans could have wanted.

The textured, varied sonic flourishes provide a sumptuous foundation for Omar's malleable voice to articulate the album's lyrical theme of embracing maturity and responsibility, preserving and reaffirming his impressive artistic relevance.

There is craftsmanship here, but its genius lies in letting the raw quality of his sound speak first rather than arranging it into something new.

This record is an artefact of the finest quality released to keep our ears cool and hearts throbbing, whether our future brings endless summer or nuclear winter.

Saint Cloud is a refreshing listen from an exceptional singer-songwriter that shatters the myth of hard-living artists and proves that great artists can make great art without a drink.

It's clear that White's bravery in baring his soul has resulted in a quiet masterpiece.

Ghosts is the thinking electronic music fan's subtler and more paranoid alternative to Amon Tobin's brick-smashing A/V opus, ISAM.

From powerful riffs to heartbreaking melodies, Down IV – Part II is yet another example of Down's flawless work.

With All My Heroes Are Cornballs, JPEGMAFIA captures the feelings of existing in an era fuelled by mindless scrolling and compulsive tweeting, positioning himself as both a participant and vocal critic of the happenings of the current millennia.

This is a fluid expression of both jarring and accessible concepts that hit you square in the jaw. And like the two previous albums, these Scots still sound like nothing else out there.

Overall, the trio showcase legend influences in their lines, while still authentically being themselves.

Book of Ryan is a welcome origin story, an issue zero that leaves no stone unturned.

This is a must-hear. Baroness are back, and they sound as good as ever.

The band had already pushed well beyond their initial territory with Nearer My God. Draw Down the Moon transports them out of that world entirely and into a galaxy of their own.

It is an abstract, melancholic and affecting body of work that is not only another incredible addition to a stellar discography, but a magnificent and moving tribute to a friend gone too soon.

Resistance is evidence not only of the Souljazz Orchestra's abilities, but also of their audacity.

Heavy metal at its finest, Luminiferous is a brilliant, dynamic release, showcasing High on Fire's penchant for diverse, thoughtful songwriting and impeccable musicianship.

It's Kanye West baring his fangs, over-sharing and consciously grappling with this over-reaching, over-indulging beast within.

Factory Floor might be known for their life-changing gigs, but their album proves that, in the studio, they also have the ability to induce shivers, body jerking and a rush of blood throughout your entire body.

The age-old saying goes if something isn't broken, don't fix it, but the re-release of Twin Fantasy shows that, seven years later, Car Seat Headrest are capable of re-contextualizing their work in ways that cement the faith that we have in them as revolutionary musicians.

Motivational Jumpsuit, the band's fifth studio album since the band's recent reformation finds the band continuing to the mix of psychedelia, garage-rock, post-punk and pop that they've perfected over time.

While we wait to see what lays in store for Röyksopp's future, we can be thankful that they've offered us such fully realized package, one that reminds us of the power of the full-length and of what has made them such singular figures in electronic music.

A dozen listens to Train on the Island, the New Zealand songwriter's mesmerizing fifth record, will yield a dozen interpretations, a century's worth of pondering and re-pondering condensed into 40 minutes.

Planetarium does the solar system justice with almost every conceivable sound--from metallic auto-tune to rippling organ, to angelic strings and forceful horns--from four powerful multi-instrumentalists at the top of their respective games.

With Black Encyclopedia of the Air, Moor Mother uses her genre-agnostic style to tackle to world's most popular genre and make it undoubtedly her own.

Each song feels carefully placed, but many end abruptly, leaving something unfinished.

For all the internal nuance of the record, Devotion is primarily an album built on the invisible ties between us, shifting between shades of love, rupture and unsteady silence. In the sparseness of its haze, Devotion feels ephemeral.

They are shaping their own pop form, and what an incredible listen it is.

A Hairshirt of Purpose is a remarkable, disorienting and rewarding listen that captures a band in their mature, creative prime.

Dacus has long been heralded for her ability as a raconteur, and Home Video further cements this reputation. It is a deeply personal album filled with raw vignettes of young adulthood that claw at our collective consciousness.

The Hope Six Demolition Project implicates all of the Western world's complacency, making for a complex and challenging, though gorgeous, listen.

On Salad Days it becomes a lot clearer. He's honed his skills to write wonderfully weird, often gentle pop songs.

Spending time with this dreamscape of a collection--and it's definitely worth spending time with--unveils themes of masculinity and, especially, femininity, all the quiet dangers associated with womanhood, whether it's "Flash Company" or the complex dynamic between rapist and pregnant victim in "Bonnie May."

Under Pressure finds Logic breaking out as an all-star emcee, raising the bar higher than anyone could've predicted.

There are no false steps here in this forest of dreams.

While BE is a slight departure from BTS's usual offerings, its more matter-of-fact and laidback vibe could pull in new fans who are looking for music to relate to in this crappy year.

Like Maus's best work, Screen Memories converses primarily through its musical and instrumental affect. These songs are so clearly laboured over and full of detail that their impact as a whole, coupled with bizarre and often-obfuscated lyrics, can easily wash over a first-time listener. Spend some time immersed in their depths, though, and watch as they unravel and fill in Maus's immaculate vocal sketches.

Though Alcest have left the majority of their metal signifiers behind, they've discovered another kind of heaviness via gorgeous, shimmering melodies.

They have a warmth and earnestness that permeates their complex emotional movements. Their soundscapes seamlessly blend the organic and rustic infrastructures of urban life.

Beautiful Thugger Girls--which lists Drake as executive producer--pushes the boundaries of Atlanta hip-hop while adding yet another groundbreaking project to the trapper's discography.

True to its name, Uyai is also a glorious, world-conscious party. Beautiful indeed.

It's a true joy to hear talented women juxtapose their obviously more gifted vocals with the rough-hewn Prine in dramatic, textured contrasts. On For Better, Or Worse, they help this old mailman deliver once again.

These are original compositions with a modern polish, yet they stay very true to the styling of yesteryear.

If Future Teenage Cave Artists is the only cultural artifact left behind in an apocalypse, future generations will at least have an interesting scripture to use to rebuild.

Everything's Beautiful, indeed.

Stranger in the Alps is a gorgeously written record, and Bridgers shows her brilliance consistently across its 45-minute runtime.

Javelin finds Stevens at his most vulnerable, yes, but like Carrie & Lowell, he paradoxically hides behind a wall of references and metaphor (many of which I'm sure are biblical in nature, discreetly whizzing past my woefully secular ears). Now posited in plainer language than ever before, he makes its cipher even more challenging to crack. That's what makes these records so healing to their audiences, though: the universality.

The album pops with memories of a time we might not have been in, and English's words make you feel alive. It's the perfect soundtrack to the next few months that may feel like an eternity under COVID-19.

Sun Structures is a simply wonderful record.

These musicians understand that heaviness is most effective when balanced by some light, making their debut both inventively punishing and soaring.

It isn't easy listening, akin to catching up with an over-sharing friend going through troubled times, but the stories are sad, funny and surprising, and the rewards are plentiful.

On the rich, rewarding Sparrow, the singer has found the perfect marriage of songs, arrangements and performances. In the process she has also crafted a captivating Southern Gothic country-soul masterpiece, one that can stand proudly next to the timeless works that inspired it.

It works wonderfully camping on a relaxed beach or in the most ostentatious concert venue, worthy of rigorous intellectual inspection yet just as easy to get high and chill to. ... It gives something wholly original to the culture in a way similar to what Will 'Quantic' Holland did when he launched the Quantic Soul Orchestra in 2003.

Apparat's foray into ethereal compositions is a powerful, vivid work of art. Krieg und Frieden deserves a standing ovation.

The result is a stunning balancing act between ingenuity and accessibility.

With LaCaze's drum tracks on the record, Eyehategod is a fitting tribute, but also signifies a new beginning for this band that just don't quit.

The Denzel Curry x Kenny Beats team up is a master-class of hip hop — few artists in today's landscape have the talent and longevity to consistently deliver good music. Thankfully, Denzel Curry is one of those few.

As musically fun and riff-heavy as it is lyrically direct and meaningful, Need to Feel Your Love is exactly the debut album fans wanted from Sheer Mag--not to mention one of the best of 2017 so far.

Radical finds the group doubling down and levelling-up their expansive, swaggering metalcore in every way possible.