From the brash, banging tracks all the way to the idyllic soft touches, Beautiful Rewind is captivating and completely refreshing to hear.

The resulting 12 tracks find Freeman both revelling in and lost within this musical yin and yang.

Granted, the guitar and sax rocker "Sed Knife" stands out for the wrong reasons — it's maybe a little too clean and straightforward given the context--but after years of flirting with the fringes, Half Free hits the art-pop bullseye.

Shame is not only hard to listen to, but also hard to swallow and hard to digest. It thought-provoking music which is guaranteed to make listeners feel uncomfortable in their own skin; what more could you want from a new Uniform album?

A lot of Aphex EPs are marred by fairly forgettable tracks (who's blasting "Nannou" in 2023?), but this latest one is solid tungsten all the way through.

Though not without its standout moments, Rabbit Rabbit can sometimes feel a bit too stuck in its comfort zone to convert new listeners. Having said that, the band's snarling, no-nonsense demeanour — not to mention Dupuis being unafraid to tackle heavy topics like childhood trauma and violence — often makes up for the relative lack of sonic diversity.

Although the band clearly wears its assorted influences proudly on their collective sleeve, this diverse approach can sometimes hinder progress, resulting in some songs that are vibrant, complex and uniquely Cola, while relegating others to the derivative badlands.

It's evident that the two were having a good time recording Hokey Fright, and though the album isn't always successful, it's encouraging to see creative individuals ignore genre boundaries in order to bridge gaps.

There are few artists who are as artistically uncompromising, and while EarthEE may not garner the duo many new fans, its quality will ensure it outlives the kind of transient hype they might have shot for.

Universal Themes is still overwhelmingly heart-on-sleeve, human; if it's not universal in the specifics, then it is in the way it rawly depicts experience.

Orchestra Baobab have truly mellowed with age--those expecting a rawer and urgent take on West African rhythms may come away disappointed--but Tribute to Ndiouga Dieng is a triumphant spin on their classic style.

While I Love the New Sky would have been a near-perfect nine-track LP, it's a rare treat that Tim Burgess can give fans something so inspired and inspiring this deep into his career.

Lapalux has found his home at Brainfeeder, with Nostalchic and its masterful genre crossings a fitting first release.

The understated maturity of the 24-year-old Hozier on his debut album is a beacon for young writers learning to craft significant compositions.

Grim Town is a concept in itself: it is a fictitious location, an embodiment of feeling that has been brought to life by the sentiment and memory that revolve around it. Through it, SOAK is able to explore emotion and turn it into something tangible.

After being out of the spotlight for years, Marshall hasn't lost her style. Producing Wanderer entirely on her own, you get the sense that she has ventured into new territory. Artists like Cat Power have all been wanderers at some point, but she is the one in control here.

925 is a cohesive, enjoyable, drug-infused debut about two longtime friends trying to make sense of being young in a dreary world. Despite a few hiccups, the record is a moody and exciting treat by an act to keep your eyes and ears on.

Stories from a Rock n Roll Heart is brash, loud, triumphant, and quintessentially Williams — her perseverance in the face of adversity is truly inspiring, and these stories are tales to live by.

This album, Segall's 13th, is a sonic buffet that will likely have you reaching for a second helping. If this is your first foray into the dense world of Segall, you're in for a mouthful with First Taste.

It's a wide landscape that Tindersticks illuminate with a palette of both vivid and muted colours.

What we get on Psychedelic Pill are stream-of-consciousness attempts ("Driftin' Back"), along with musings on the grim reality of old age ("Ramada Inn") and the regrets that come with it ("Walk Like A Giant").

Apart from the uprated production, there's not a great deal to offer to listeners.

Arguably Cattle Decapitation's best offering to date, Monolith of Inhumanity is a dynamic record, with many different elements working together to create one cohesive, disgusting and brilliant release.

This is easily one of their best albums, which is no small feat six albums into such an illustrious career.

Disarm The Descent is at least twice as good as 2009's uninspired Killswitch Engage. Although it's not quite the masterful return to Alive or Just Breathing that Leach's reappearance had fans hoping for, it's still damn good.

There's no question Hero Brother is a tremendously accomplished series of recordings that hold together as a whole, but one also gets the sense of being at the beginning of a journey that could get better as the years go by.

Stalley showcases eclectic strengths on this release, but focus certainly isn't one of them.

Within its niche, it satisfies, but Homeboy Sandman's irrefutable skill level and work ethic deserves a bigger spotlight.

The tracks are of such quality, though, that their position as part of something larger is mostly irrelevant.

It's a diverse mixture of sounds delivered in a cohesive and well-arranged package.

That Age of Transparency feels less like the collection of singles Anxiety was and more like the cohesive, momentous artistic statement his best work always suggested he's capable of.

GLADYB doesn't really deviate from the path that was laid down by previous albums Lucky Shiner and Half of Where You Live, but--perhaps even more impressively--it stays decidedly on it, rounding out a beautiful trilogy of semi-danceable, definitely nod-able records. It may even be his best.

The Necks don't exactly break new ground with Unfold, but it's refreshing nonetheless to see that they're also not regressing--a small miracle for any band 30 years into their career.

All in all, Feel Infinite is vintage Jacques Greene, but you're never left feeling like you've heard it all before.

Twerp Verse is a solid entry that should please fans of Speedy Ortiz and might also gain them some new ones with its hints of pop.

DNA Feelings is unlikely to show up in any club sets. It is far too complex and unconventional. This is late-night, "visions of alchemy" stuff.

On his terrific sophomore record, Wall paints a portrait of a mythic Canadiana, a western region of lonesome plains and grizzled frontiersmen, of rodeos and gunfighters, of hardscrabble existences and unlucky bounces.

It's a rare moment of ambitious sprawl in an album that's otherwise lean, loud, and a no-nonsense celebration of Cloud Nothings' strengths.

The brevity and strong melodicism of these songs is of course reminiscent of Field Music's work, yet You Tell Me feels like both an extension of the eldest Brewis brother's songwriting and an assertion of Hayes' voice.

Having rediscovered his split-lipped humour, and working with simple, yet propulsive arrangements, this is a league leader back in game shape. ... It's a master class in country songwriting, a series of lessons about how to work the expected tropes into what feel like as-yet-undiscovered shapes.

Regardless of the song or sentiment, Finn's skill for detail never wavers. In that, I Need A New War ranks among his best.

The Get Up Kids have a talent for writing catchy and infectious hooks and choruses and it's what has kept them on the map for over two decades. Both old and newer fans will find songs they enjoy and hopefully never stop listening to on Problems.

Colorado makes good on Young's promise that rust never sleeps — turns out, it gets better with age.

What brings to life the often spacious, simple melodies is Chadwick's deft storytelling. Most evocative, perhaps, are the throwaway details she uses to colour her songs with lived experience.

It's upbeat, fashionable and sounds great in the background when you're only half paying attention. Rather than seizing his moment in the spotlight, Parker sounds like he's just enjoying the journey.

It's Bulat's fullest-sounding record to date, and really excels in its loudest and most playful moments.

There is very little melody on The Upward Spiral; the sounds are more like drilling, sawing or machines beeping than traditional instrumentation.

Seasoned hardcore listeners may not love this avant-garde approach, yearning instead for something in a similar vein of the breakdown-heavy Good to Feel, but CANDY still deliver a solid handful of unrelenting, uptempo jolts.

This kind of underground indie pop, with its roots in DIY music like Orange Juice and the Feelies, always has a hardscrabble edge — but Ducks Ltd. find the cinematic grandeur in their scrappy ditties.

The album is an earnest, succinct group of tracks that freely flow into each other, and [b]y the end of its 33-minute runtime, every song deserves its spot on the tracklist.

The real surprise of Miss Anthropocene is that it actually sounds like a fairly standard Grimes album. She's a become a controversial public figure whose whole persona is like one big multimedia art project, so this is a welcome return to her wheelhouse.

While the album understandably contains some filler within its bottom third, POWER UP nonetheless falls securely within AC/DC's great B-level albums; just as solid and memorable as Let There Be Rock or For Those About to Rock (We Salute You).

Her smooth, rich voice dances gracefully over the rougher guitar riffs and drums found all over No Burden, her extremely confident first full-length.

The charm of Chromatics has always been their ability to create musical pastiche that winks at parody, but is so thoroughly and consistently within a world of their own redecoration that authenticity is never an issue. With Closer to Grey they've managed to harness the full energy from their chill fusion into their most ornately framed creation yet.

Music for Psychedelic Therapy is a magical union of nature and creativity, a space where the mind can open, and do so with transportive beauty.

With a fresh approach and a renewed outlook on life, DeMarco reaches a whole other level of cool, lush calm as well as an unprecedented degree of maturity and introspection.

In spite of the abundance of retro rock references, Adams' gut-spilling lyricism and vulnerable vocal performances (a waver here, a crack and a tremble there) still give Prisoner enough heart to steer it clear of sounding like a washed-up cliché.

While the group may have dialled back the volume in recent years, they've imbued their new material with a subtle emotional resonance.

By continuing to pare down their approach, Guerrilla Toss have crafted one of the year's most playful and beguiling pop records, an album that can claim a place with GT Ultra at the top of their catalogue.

Released more than 15 years after his debut as Rustin Man, Talk Talk bassist Paul Webb's followup, Drift Code, is atmospheric and moody, but too often forgettable.

They're still channelling the same types of youthful emotions that drove their best work, just with the experience and conviction to mould them into more compelling shapes.

It's an album that further solidifies his position as a genre-leading storyteller, and it will have you humming along as much as it'll have you looking over your shoulder.

The King of Whys is wrought with restless artistry, simultaneously looking for and finding emotional release through musical exploration, lyrical introspection and bits of dry humour.

This is a winner, another great release from a band that, really, has no problem delivering great albums. Shape Shift with Me occupies a perfect middle ground between their last two discs, and that's a very special, and unique, place to be.

On Constant Image, Flasher speaks to the realities of gentrification, self-discovery and escapism.

Indeed, Melnyk's quick fingers imbue his music with depth that, if explored, reveals harmonies within harmonies.

As this record's structuring and array of sounds seem somewhat self-consciously thought out, we look forward to hearing them get even looser on their next outing.

They balance killer musicianship and verbal panache with a bar-band mindset. Album of the year? Possibly, but that's just business as usual for Maryland's finest.

Their sixth full-length offering, Constricting Rage of the Merciless, is yet another step forward for the already venerable group.

The only downside to the album's stripped down sound is that while it makes for a solid play from start to finish, there isn't much differentiation, making it easy to forget which track is which amongst the dozen offerings.

Tejada's Signs Under Test comes across differently--there is a timeless quality to the album, one that suggests it will still be as relevant and appreciated long after many of its contemporaries have faded away.

A bit of a crime he's been laying low so long but thankfully, Adulkt Life is yet another mighty, invigorating musical force he's a part of.

Despite its slightness, Broken Hearts and Beauty Sleep nonetheless shows Mykki Blanco as an artist with big ideas to go along with their big personality.

It’s fast, furious, funny, sad and above all real.

There's no question that The Stand-In is a step-up from her previous effort; her delivery and songwriting show a confidence that previously lacking. However, The Stand-In is no stand out.

While Barnes is definitely well-versed in musical melancholy, there's also a thoughtful, sensitive part to balance all this pathos.

While it's hard to say whether or not it bests E•MO•TION, Dedicated does something arguably more important: as her first major work since 2015, it confirms both Jepsen's consistency and longevity as a songwriter.

Having had their murky fun, Sarah Pendleton and Kim Pack emerge with the confidence and breadth to wring every ounce of emotion out of their instruments.

With six of the nine tracks written in 2018, it's unbelievable how well this record flows and holds together — and that's without even mentioning how prophetic the tracks have proven to be over the last three years.

With nothing to prove, no features or flashy hooks or bells and whistles, it is his most accessible album in seven years.

Realistically, Alternate/Endings is not for everyone, but anyone who's intrigued by the dark and unconventional side of things--or thinks that jungle needs a new platform--will devour this album.

Civil Disobedience functions well as a single purpose stoner rock record, but fails to offer anything new or exciting.

UZU is an album that uproots us and transports us into the unknown, but it's an adventure that we would happily go on again and again.

This is another worthy addition to a wonderful discography from a genuine roots music hero.

If you're not familiar with Kinski, you may find yourself expecting vocals to kick in, but when they do on the next track, "Flight Risk," the skeezy, barfly style feels tossed off and has a cheapening effect on the song. Conversely, "Operation Negligee" features the most satisfying vocals on the album.

While longtime fans might be a bit thrown off by some of the more melodic traditional metal elements throughout Jomsviking, the music is well suited to both the concept's narrative and a natural evolution of Amon Amarth's more well known style.

Old 97's show no sign of mellowing out or pandering to their audience, making Graveyard Whistling a sort of stubborn achievement.

It all amounts to a strong album, one that should appeal to both modern, Editors-loving synth-rock fans, as well as older New Order, Joy Division and Cure heads who remember from whence it all came.

Despite being on the shorter side for an album release, Juice is carefully composed; it might not necessarily be a groundbreaking new release on the part of Born Ruffians, but speaks volumes in its playfulness nonetheless.

Across its 13 songs, the beats are crisp, the choruses pronounced and the hooks sharp.

Lenker's writing in general is vivid, and bursts with the kind of verve its subject matter demands.

It's the best album the Who have released since Who Are You in 1978.

Yet another highlight in a career overflowing with them.

Compared to Wolfgang Voigt's heyday, Rausch can feel a bit a like a protracted misstep. Although GAS's sound starts to sound a bit dated, Voigt can still be applauded for his approach to storytelling and patience in constructing his electro-orchestral worlds.

PHOENIXXX is a difficult listen, abrasive and angry, but it's expressive and worthwhile if you can manage to make it through.

THC is filled with indications that it's a labour of love, in every way. Single "Spread Love" feels like the main objective of the record. With help of BADBADNOTGOOD, theMind, Noname and others, the album comes together with live instrumentation and smooth production.

Taken as standalone stories, they're almost brazenly mundane; considered as a whole, Somewhere paints a picture of the small pleasantries and anxieties of everyday life.

It's the kind of brash, whiplash-inducing pop album that only she seems capable of making at the moment. It's a bit messy, but most crashes are.