Sure, there are slight variations on the formula and some additional instrumentation (namely strings and harpsichord), but this is still Thee Oh Sees being the very best Thee Oh Sees they can be.

On Oh No, Jessy Lanza reveals a range of new emotions, influences and styles, further establishing a distinctive sound that blurs the lines even more between pop and club music.

Hamilton + Rostam synthesizes two distinct musicians for a sound that's ultimately greater than the sum of its parts.

At just an hour in length, Immunity savours every moment, pulling on your heartstrings, lifting you off your feet and inviting you right back for more.

Bilal describes creating A Love Surreal as a surrealistic exploration of love and, indeed, he delivers on this end.

Die-hard Windhand fans won't be disappointed by Grief's Infernal Flower, and new fans mind find it serves nicely as a jumping off point to get more familiar with the group's material. Either way, it's an excellent addition to a record collection for doom fans everywhere.

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

Much of what Duterte has accomplished on Anak Ko reflects the balancing act depicted in its album artwork: songs that weave together contributions from a range of players, carried by Duterte's singular vision.

Radical Romantics is as joyfully alive with sound as anything that Dreijer has created in their three decades of music making.

Thug really makes the most out of the seven notes he has. It's impossible to hear him get all guttural on "Harambe" and not feel it in your stomach.

Much of The Lookout is subtly fraught.

Awe-inspiring and unforgettable.

WILLOW's pointed vision and eagerness to push the envelope allowed her and Greatti to construct songs that consistently take unexpected turns yet culminate in her most cohesive project to date.

Wide Awake! is a letter-perfect musical contemplation of modern times, where social uprisings are actually affecting positive change. It's urgent and potent music that's thought-provoking and danceable, and whose rage is measured by a pointed optimism.

It's the discomfort, the restlessness, and inability to settle that makes Anxiety's Kiss hang together, and while it's a hard way to think and live, Coliseum do it exceptionally well.

Don't Shy Away is ultimately as gratifying as it is ambitious. Brian Eno was right: Loma are the real deal.

Though the tail end of the LP drags thanks to throwaway dirges like "Justice" and "Sometimes," Love Will Be Reborn is nonetheless as surprisingly and pleasingly intimate and stripped down of an album you're going to hear from someone as naturally theatrical as Martha Wainwright.

A little more understated than her recent collaborations with Jeff Tweedy, who similarly wrote songs and produced them for Staples, We Get By is still a gem and Mavis Staples and Ben Harper clearly hit upon something special in working together.

Everybody Works suffers when it loses this eloquence. ... But the stunning closer, "For Light," more than redeems any shortcomings, pairing weary lyrics with mournful acoustic guitar and cementing Duterte's talents both as a songwriter and a producer.

Overall, this is YOB in their purest form. No tricks, no gimmicks, and of course, no bullshit. YOB is comfortable in their own skin, and making their most honest music to date with Our Raw Heart.

The album's 11 tracks are anthemic, rhythmically driven, and infectious, perfectly blending industrial and electronic elements with hard rock and heavy metal in a distinctly unique way.

The experiences feel lived and the emotional crescendos genuine, but the inferred vagueness of the title belies the certainty at its core: For All We Know is a masterwork.

Mastodon have crafted the fullest realization of their artistry, revelling in primal, visionary euphoria.

One of the only drawbacks is a lack of memorable hooks from otherwise outstanding vocalist Christine Davis, but the vibe of this album is more than strong enough to warrant a proper listen.

If All Our Gods Have Abandoned Us was an Olympic gymnastic performance, it would have nailed the double backflip but stumbled just a bit on the landing, leaving onlookers blown away by the trick and barely remembering that last wobble.

The trick to With Animals is its brevity, as only two of the album's 12 tracks surpass the four-minute mark.

In spite of its occasional faults, Chura's distinct vocals are captivating throughout Midnight. Stef Chura lets her voice crack, crease, and crumble however it wants, pairing vocal fry with vulnerable vibrato. Her voice matches Midnight's offerings perfectly, walking the line between visceral passion and an exhausted shrug.

Sirens is by far the most personal album Kevin Richard Martin has ever made.

Disarming listeners with a palette of sounds that merge laidback rock landscapes with grungy grit, Madeline Link's lyrics are jagged and abrupt, with abstract lines fused together by vividly visceral imagery. Deciphering deeper meanings may prove difficult (particularly as filtered through her languid drawl), but the endlessly listenable, breezy rock tunes encourage plenty of exploration, and any efforts will be handsomely rewarded.

It's opulent and immaculately composed but lacks the strong perspective that's usually central to FJM's work.

The fearless formula, the genre-blending, the artistic craft on display marks Reyez's latest as one of the better albums in an already interesting 2020. Before Love Came to Kills shines a light on homegrown talent done great.

Now with a larger band, rapid-fire lyrics don't serve the same spatial purpose they did when Graves was stomping out his own drum beat. There's a busy conversational quality to the songwriting that strict economical poetics couldn't achieve. There's not a lot of wordless space on Can't Wake Up.

Analog Fluids of Sonic Black Holes does not always work, but in the moments where it does, it is bound to sit in your stomach for a long time.

Though drumming on tracks like "make it right." and "hypnotized" occasionally overpower the songwriting, the songs are redeemed by Garbus' vocal wizardry. In the verses, she meanders all over the scale in an offhand way, but dishes out a cathartic climax of soaring harmonies that make for some epic choruses.

Words and Music further demonstrates this while helping us realize just how lucky we are to still have them around.

The band's 14th record finds Yo La Tengo settling into a late career renaissance that revisits the timbre of some of their best records (especially the quiet grace of And Then Nothing Turned Itself Inside Out) without rehashing them, providing a welcome counterpoint to their slightly louder and more bombastic later efforts.

Too Many Voices is a breath of fresh air for anyone who found Faith overwhelmingly claustrophobic.

Her most ambitious work to date, both conceptually and instrumentally.

The sheer breadth of styles Ishibashi incorporates might well throw the average listener for a loop, but if an exceptional talent employing any tools she sees fit to make the sounds she hears in her head excites you, The Dream My Bones Dreams contains a wealth of sonic treats worth exploring.

Its explorations are well considered and the rewards for following along are many.

Reflecting on their shared experiences in the rural landscaping of the South Central states, Pedigo helps the band break out beyond the confines of their genre, sawing through the crust to bask in the heat of a molten core.

She's turned that feeling into an album as glittery as it is gut-wrenching, making Tourist in This Town a point on the musical map that's well worth a long, enriching stay.

The result is a superb rock'n'roll record, bristling with energy and defiance while digging deep lyrically.

This is the kind of odd, idiosyncratic record that makes collaboration so compelling; whether or not it appeals to you, there's absolutely no way you've heard a metal release quite like it this year.

A solid album but also not a surprising one. To boot, the main thing that grounds this album with a sense of time and place is the political side of it.

Dream Theater are by no means breaking any new ground on Distance Over Time. The album pulls from the same bag of tricks as the rest of their discography. What Distance Over Time does offer, however, is that "it" factor you can't quite put your finger on. Many lifelong fans claim the band lost their mojo the day founding member Mike Portnoy left the band. If that's the case, they seem to have found it on this release.

The Car is a beautiful calling card for this opulent new version of Arctic Monkeys, even if it lacks the immediacy the band built its reputation on.

4:44 is a refreshing, full-circle moment for hip-hop lovers--and a true pleasure to hear.

With clear priorities and unsaddled creative impulses, Horsegirl are the authoritative future of noise pop. With their help, we too can run free.

In its lyrics and tone, Infinite Granite is remarkably blue, and beautifully so. Some fans might not appreciate the direction the band has taken towards the light, but nevertheless, the heart of Deafheaven remains.

Doris isn't the classic many anticipated, but it is a strong, uncompromised debut from a very talented young rapper. For now, that's enough.

The theme of being a descendent in a musical sense is extended to Rashad's familial reality on Cilvia Demo, delivering some of the EP's strongest moments.

Fans of Animal Collective, Avey Tare and the psychedelic sound they are so strongly identified with will find much to enjoy here. On the other hand, Avey Tare cannot be said to be pushing boundaries or taking many risks here, other than on final track "HORS_," which shows hints of newer experiments into electronic music that could be developed further in the future.

Though he tackles politics ("White Man's World," "Hope the High Road"), mental health ("Anxiety" and "Chaos and Clothes") and other highly present concerns, the overall effect is slightly more timely than timeless. Perhaps it's unfair, though, to hold Isbell to his own lofty standards. Compared to those of his contemporaries, these songs are still miles ahead.

Gibbs' genuine reflections on being broke, losing the girl or simply growing up help to break things up a bit and add a welcomed bit of realness where both humour and originality are somewhat absent.

An incredibly concise and cohesive project, Dark Times clocks in at an airtight 35 minutes across its 13 tracks.

They're the kind of songs you pull out once a month as reassurance that the mundanity of normal life can be beautiful, and/or we are all in this together. That's true today and it will be true tomorrow.

It's good both for bobbing heads and bopping feet — both for being alone-alone, and alone-around-others, too.

There's rebirth in the swirl of destruction, but these days the Yeah Yeah Yeahs seem more interested in the stories that start after the cataclysm, where purple fireweed bursts from scorched hillsides and glass shards are rounded by the tides.

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

All doom fans should check out this album; those who aren't yet Inter Arma converts will more than likely be swayed by the cohesive chaos and neurotic introspection that define this album.

Part Two is a serpentine tour of disco, psych-rock, folk and funk, with a touch of house and a generous glaze of unabashed love. It's Romare at his finest so far, and whets the appetite for whatever honeyed treasures Part Three might hold.

Listening to Conway's latest is hearing the sound of an underground king ascend to the status of the esteemed guest artists he attracts.

In its entirety, the collaborative effort is compelling; Plastic Bouquet is the furthest thing from a plastic collection.

Guided by tiered mixes and honest lyricism, POSTDATA has, for all intents and purposes, succeeded in transporting any inclined ear to a place filled with imagination and whimsy. While it may occasionally wander in finicky obscurity, it nevertheless oozes character and individuality.

Tagaq's talent as a throat singer and capacity to weave meaning through chaos is as breathtaking as ever. That said, Tongues demonstrates that her musical toolkit is only growing with the refinement of her message.

If 2023's Blame My Ex was the Beaches testing out new dimensions of their sound, they've honed it on No Hard Feelings, cementing themselves as a band that's earned a place in the public consciousness internationally, possibly for years to come.

The Chicks have always had strong backbones, and Gaslighter shows that their conviction hasn't faded in their time away – if anything, they've only become more indignant, more willing to explore, more ready to speak. It's an inspiring, swift-footed return.

The group made a conscious decision to experiment and give more of themselves rather than a rinse and repeat of what's worked before. 7 smartly makes the decision to focus on exactly what makes BTS special: its members.

Though highly unlikely to unseat Hometowns or Departing as fan favourites, The Wild follows in the footsteps of the band's previous album, Mended with Gold, as a very strong album that doesn't yet hold the same sentimental value as their earlier material.

The singer elicited production help from Noah Georgeson ( Joanna Newsom, Devendra Banhart), a smart decision, given the subtle yet always effective sonic touches here. The result is a stunning work that will draw you back to repeated, if oft intense, listening.

There is also a vibrato-drenched version of "Moon River" that seems more of an afterthought than a statement, but even that hangs in the air quite well. There is some pretty astonishing virtuosity as well as clear thought, and that's what sets this record and Orcutt apart from the excesses of technique. The man makes music as well as notes.

Ghostly, graceful and deceptively deep, Goodnight Summerland establishes Deland's concise power as a songwriter. As her artistry continues to evolve, it's clear that there's more than one way for her to tell her trademark stories of the infinite worlds within our own.

The irony of Kneecap's urgent political potency is that FENIAN is fun as hell.

The sense of velocity and flight, paired with Meiburg's dramatic vocals, delivered with Bowie-like flair here, making Jet Plane and Oxbow a natural progression for Shearwater, and a nice departure from their typical offerings.

Lodestar is true to Collins' roots.

While the Antlers may struggle to escape the shadow of Hospice's success, they have undoubtedly succeeded in making another spectacular, cohesive record.

For this seventh album in just under a decade, the duo continue their upward trajectory, finding new and casually complex ways of expressing their musical minds.

Even though it's rammed full like a powder keg of discontentment, the opinions expressed on Running Out of Love don't stop it from being the elusive indie pop band's most unified record to date.

Fresh and ambitious without taking a step too far, Sister Cities is the Wonder Years' most fully realized work, and an artistic statement that deserves to be taken seriously.

It certainly was a long wait, but finally Slowdive have given us the album that we have been dreaming about for the last 22 years.

L.W. may not boast many surprises, but it cements its makers as masters of their realm.

Duterte and Kempner manage to break the mould with Doomin' Sun, proving their chops as singular visionaries as well as synergetic collaborators.

On Black Times, Seun Kuti continues to be one of the most important voices in music, by simply reinforcing to us what we already know.

The vocals on Unfollow the Rules are unmistakably Wainwright's — remarkably indistinguishable from his younger voice. With the strong drumbeat on the opening track, "Trouble in Paradise," it also becomes apparent that this album possesses some spark: if it represents coming home at dusk, then it is not without fireworks.

Combining Latin rhythms, call-and-response vocals and funk stings, the brass'n'bass music of the Marković Orkestar relies on pure fury and sexuality in a genre built upon romantic passion and tradition.

This is a forward-looking release by a group still searching for reverence.

The Wild Feathers makes a solid first impression, but if they can dial down the earnestness a bit in the future, they'll have a better shot at becoming the great American rock 'n' roll band they clearly have the potential to be.

While Detox seemed poised to erode Dre's sonic reputation, Compton, reputedly his last record, instead solidifies Dre's already ironclad claims to all-time status. Not only does Compton make you forget about Detox, it also makes sure you won't ever forget about Dre.

Self-produced and written almost entirely while isolated in a lake house outside of Mexico City, Me is Rodriguez' most fully-formed artistic statement yet, an intensely personal, self-assured outing that cements her as a powerhouse producer, sonically harkening back to her Colorminutes days and establishing her as an expert songwriter.

A consistent, flawless catalogue that spans nearly three decades.

There is something innate about Bernice's music, full of Dann's knack for honesty, observation, and language that reflects on the natural beauty around us. It is a joy to hear Bernice's musical identity coalesce.

While 99% provided the initial space for Kaytranada to make his mark, BUBBA is where it matures.

On ENTERTAINMENT, DEATH, every fragmented idea is thoughtfully ripped apart and stitched back together with the gusto of a delirious genius. The band reframes reality and mixes the euphoric highs with the sinking lows in strangely surreal collages that are freakishly beautiful, leaving you feeling kinda stoned and a little bit sinful.

With Struggler, he's proven that he's a singular talent, overcoming the sophomore slump and putting the world on notice by taking everything that made Smiling with No Teeth so special and digging deeper, building a world that's uniquely his own.

With Human Performance, Parquet Courts have managed to cram in a lot. Lesser bands might have made a mess attempting a project like this, but what separates Parquet Courts is their adaptability and understanding of the subject matter.

On Treasure House, Cat's Eyes continue to forge a unique path, as Badwan and Zeffira blend the old with the new, pop with classical and melancholy with drive.

By not only fearlessly facing grief, but also honouring Justin's sly humor, raw vulnerability and nimble songwriting, Steve Earle fittingly sees his young Cowboy off into the sunset.