Since this is Tanya Tagaq, no moment of the album feels excessive or perfunctory, making Animism one of the most challenging and listenable albums of the year.

Clark can do it all and it's entirely likely that Blak And Blu will be recognized in the future as a moment when American music suddenly got a great deal more interesting.

In its enhanced and alternate history, complete with more stunning liners by Mehr, this Let it Bleed edition tells the tale as beautifully, clearly, and boldly as fans of the Replacements could ever hope for.

Fuck Off Get Free We Pour Light On Everything is the most personal outcry of righteous indignation they've mustered. The result is something for a broader audience of like-minded people constantly muttering 'What the fuck?' at the world at large to connect with.

In A Dream is brand new, but has the feel of a timeless dance record, the kind of record that is pulled from the crate on the most special (and danceable) of occasions.

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.

Iit's her softer singles that add a new dimension to her artistry. While Cardi B's own relationship with Migos's Offset has been thrown into the spotlight, Invasion of Privacy feels like her Lemonade moment, one that magnifies her insecurities for public consumption.

Jaime, Howard's first solo album, complements her distinctive croon with R&B, hip-hop and funk sounds, marking an adventurous departure that reveals unseen depths to the vocalist. With some of the most emotive, direct lyrics of her career to date, the dynamic range of her new collaborators — including jazz maestro Robert Glasper — informs the flavour of each track for an eclectic collection stockpiled with loose grooves.

The band one-up Ex Lives in every regard.

Coloring Book is a spirited musical sermon, and Chance's fellow MCs will covet its perfect union of gospel and rap.

In a discography as impressive as Lamar's, GNX stands as a major highlight, sitting comfortably in the upper echelon of a rarefied body of work.

A darker and more complex record, it displays a newfound maturity in Allison's arrangements and a decidedly higher set of stakes.

It is minimalist yet lush, hopeful yet rooted in a stark and sometimes grim reality.

There's no song on Black Mile like "Wolves at Night" or "April Fool," the kind of high-energy howler fit for an EA Sports game, but their efforts have paid off with an artistic triumph, the kind worth regarding as a creative masterwork among their collection.

The glowering strength of If I don't make it, I love u is in its commitment to both sides of the coin, an album both experimental and laid fully bare — The result is one of the best rock records of the year.

The intent, execution and expression is pure. But the ominous feel of the entire project overwhelms, in parts, with a forlorn sense of distance and dread — which appears to be the point — yet its subsuming sense of femininity, sexuality, free will and determinism paradoxically draws us in.

NYC's Roc Marciano follows up his 2010 critically celebrated solo debut, Marcberg, with a sequel nonpareil in its originality and craftsmanship.

The Last Spire, their tenth and last release, combines all that the legends do well: snail-paced doom, upbeat Sabbath stoner rock and craggly sludge.

An effort that is even more emotionally ambitious an undertaking, and all the more wounding for its beauty.

NEVER ENOUGH is a cohesive display of genre experimentation that cements Caesar's place as one of the smartest and most talented artists in today's constantly mutating R&B pantheon.

Despite its name, Agricultural Tragic is also deeply comedic. That, along with its irresistibly catchy alt-country rhythms, make it one of 2020's most well rounded and re-playable releases.

Shauf brings the same mentality to pop music as the songwriting greats of the '60s and '70s did, with gorgeous instrumentation, subtle arrangements and an all-round organic feel. Paired with his very human and humanizing lyrics, The Party is relatable and honest, simply marvellous.

What makes Interior Architecture such a success, though, is how effortless his attention to detail feels, as each movement flows into another to help create an experimental noise concept album.

It's an emphatic step forward, a gorgeous album that, rather than running from it, reflects our fractured world back at us.

The Road: Part II is doubling down at its finest. The sixth studio album from UNKLE is nothing short of a musical odyssey, and takes special care to bring back the prestige of the playlist. Split into two acts, Lavelle masterfully builds a beginning, middle and end to each section, moving "from light to dark, from brute force to tenderness" in a way that documents the highs and lows of being out on the road.

With Reunions, Isbell unites the disparate aspects of his craft — soothing acoustic and fiercely electric; Hemingway's word economy dashed with Oscar Wilde-worthy asides, relatable details and otherworldly allusions. ... For listeners immersed in similar bittersweet nuances on a daily basis, there's no better musical accompaniment than Isbell's latest.

King Krule is an artist moving a mile a minute, and 6 Feet Beneath the Moon is just the beginning of what will be an amazing career to follow.

At only nine tracks, the album delivers big time in such a short trip and definitely leaves the listener wondering what gems this super duo left on the cutting-room floor.