An LP so irresistibly danceable and irrefutably topical that it'll also leave generations of up-and-comers clamouring to team up with Janelle Monáe.

Great art isn't great art because it's easy, and this 90-plus-minute, five-act rock opera inspired by Stickles' experience with manic depression is absolutely worth spending the time with.

This gloriously woozy record is era-ambiguous and the sonic equivalent of a contact high.

There's no denying the album is catchy.

LP1 is a fantastic debut from an artist who is quickly becoming the curator of her own mental museum.

it's also about how those feelings of weariness and romantic ambivalence can so quickly knot up with ones of jealousy and longing. There is, of course, no resolution in sight by album's end. But it's in these in-between-spaces where Deland thrives. It's a gestational document, thrilling to witness.

The Big Day has enough ideas, sounds and flows to justify its vast breath. What's more: it finally gives us a glimpse at Chance's multitudes, letting us accompany him to the altar and the confessional, instead of restricting him to the pulpit. (Independent)

It's a piece that Basinski apparently revisited and refined throughout 2016, a year made monumental by its cultural losses--and it's one of his very best.

I AKA I is a shedding of the shackles, a great example of what can happen when someone jettisons rigid structure for boundless creativity. This, above all else, makes Ash Koosha one of 2016's most important players and solidifies I AKA I as one of the most unique records to come out in years.

The urge to greet the commercial and artistic triumph of a major league debut hip-hop album with a subversive stiff-arm on sophomore efforts has notable precedents in De La Soul's De La Soul Is Dead and Digable Planets' Blowout Comb, but few have been as audaciously challenging and heavily layered as Lamar's To Pimp A Butterfly, which will likely be one of 2015's most discussed, dissected and debated album releases, regardless of genre.

Childqueen demands patience and a receptive ear to pick up on the care and detail Bonet has taken in crafting every moment. She is in complete control of her artistry.

On Take Flight, Coles provides a stunning journey of immersive and emotive house music. While most artists would buckle under the weight of 24 tracks, Maya pulls off the feat with ease.

Retribution is immersive, cathartic, potentially even transformative.

Friko play with more lift and propulsion, creating songs that sprint and bloom with a confidence their debut, 2024's Where we've been, Where we go from here, only hinted at.

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.

The New York rapper-producer's greatest contribution to RTJ4 is his vivid and varied sonic backdrops. His on-point production offers the lyrically superior Killer Mike both space and sonic support as he rises to new heights of artistry and activism, making El-P the kind of ally worth emulating.

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.

Heart-rending, arterial and woundingly authentic, As The Stars is a hell of a record to drop on Valentine's day.

It's the type of album that shifts with every listen, making you discover unknown corners of certain songs, with nary a lowlight or highlight in sight.

It's a deliberately weird record, but authentically weird; it's chaotic yet cohesive, full of sound, colour and unshakable vision.

The transition between blasting drums and metal riffs on "Blot" from Automata I into "The Proverbial Bellow" is surprisingly smooth without feeling like there is any disconnect between records. Overall, splitting up the release made it much easier to digest a full Between the Buried and Me album, which is never an easy task.

Howl is a well-crafted structure, built on the foundation laid by its predecessors. It's certainly the pinnacle of West's career so far, and up there for electronic album highlight of year.

A sound collage like no other, Garden of Delete finds Lopatin engaging listeners with an album that almost defies description.

The songs just sounded great, and were played with such precision, at these shows.

Bark Your Head Off seem like a gamble, given its broader palette. It only takes a few listens to realize that it is really the fulfillment of the band's potential, though. ... Hop Along are truly a band at the top of their game.

The Ghost Inside proves that the band are back to operating at their creative peak, with an expert synthesis of theme, composition and delivery that makes for their strongest material to date.

Little Oblivions is generous and giving; it's not only a public display of personal catharsis, but also an act of collective commiseration and an invitation to heal.

Nosaj Thing isn't just a brooding, melancholic minimalist, but an interior designer finding the perfect shade of white — not for some high-fashion contrivance, but for the psychological and emotional effects a colourful sunset will bring to it.