Gou has invited us into her musical world, showcasing the artists whose music she's studied to guide her into crafting her own sound. If the LP she's currently working on will sound anything like this, we will be in for a real treat.

With Crawling Up the Stairs, the masks are off for the world to hear.

Each Liars album has kept us guessing and WIXIW is no exception, offering us another glimpse of Liars' infinite supply of uncompromising, yet succesful ideas.

He's has created a blistering and often beautiful protest album. Let's hope his fever catches; it'd do us all some good.

Like that excellent mid-period of Entombed where they embraced raw production and an honest approach in every aspect of their music, Struck by Lightning have it all, minus any songs that worm their way into the listener's head.

Cool and calculated, it's sure to rub listeners who are anything but the wrong way.

Its tendency to slip into trance-like arrangements can make b'lieve feel a bit too sleepy at times, but moments pop up just in time to pull you back.

Now, Then & Forever is a more than worthy addition to the Earth Wind & Fire catalogue.

Fe3O4 ― Magnetite will not come as a huge surprise sonically to those familiar with his back catalogue. That said, it is nonetheless sufficiently perplexing, abstract and rich to offer much incentive to return to it for any listener willing to be absorbed into his forbidding sonic universe.

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.

The music — a mix of digital sound with electric and acoustic guitars and live (or at least live sounding) drums — complements their newfound humanist approach to songwriting. 2022's Glitch Princess shattered pop music into a million little pieces. Here Ćmiel has glued things back together, but the cracks are still visible in the way they pair genre tropes.

The music is raw, melodic and explosive, and captures the inner reflection one must undertake to properly envision the future.

The partnership of Stephen Ramsay (Young Galaxy) and Jace Lasek (Besnard Lakes) offers up five songs in tectonic waves, their instrumentation carefully modulating into a slow-burn intensity.

Hardy and her band have written an album that meets the daily crises of life head on, finding light in the darkness and the motivation to keep going. That victory was born out of a very personal fight, but with Survival, Wares make the personal universal.

This might not be their best work--that's still the cohesive, mind-altering Nootropics--but Escape From Evil finds Lower Dens continuing to push themselves into new sonic territory, the hallmark of any great band.

Stepa J. Groggs and Ritchie with a T are solid, if not remarkable, rappers. And that's fine. What sets them apart is that they feel like real dudes. ... Injury Reserve's real driving force, though, is producer Parker Corey.

It's a solid album from Mvula, but "beguiling potential" only begins to describe the musical authority this debut merely alludes to.

Red Night (helmed by UK pop producer Richard X) is a foot-moving triumph of ennui, minor chords and warped FX.

It's a new band, a new sound, but the same old, marvellous songwriting. It's a killer combination.

The crashing production and imperfections contrast nicely with the concise rock, creating a dangerous sound not often heard within the realm of such structured music.

New View is a lush and beautiful record that stands comfortably in such heady company.

As a group that have faced their growing pains together, Slow Pulp strike the perfect balance between soft, thoughtful and loud on Yard. Tangled up in nervousness about being either too selfish or too self-pitying, the band finds a way to wring out the drab fabric of discomfort until a bit of beauty trickles out.

By chronicling the redemptive rise and bittersweet resolution of DMX's plot-twist ridden third act, Exodus not only fulfills the tall order of giving a long-overlooked great a fitting send off. It's also the sound of hip-hop's Job finding meaning in his suffering — and, thankfully, peace thereafter.

Honest, clever and lively, Diet Cig's second record is a great juxtaposition: working through embarrassment and shame all while bouncing off the walls to the sound of sugary, cheery indie-punk. Do You Wonder About Me? turns worry and uncertainty into a celebration of being human.

Although CASE STUDY 01 may not receive the same critical reception as Freudian, it's a solid effort by an artist who is, more or less, still a rookie, attempting to diversify his sound early on in order to avoid cementing himself into gospel music for the entirety of his career.

Not an album you'd crank up at a summer patio party, but a quietly compelling work.

A LA SALA is an endlessly rewarding album. There's always something new to be discovered in its haze, a whispered lyric between the layers, a little pebble of meaning waiting to be overturned.

The Stoned Immaculate is just Curren$y at a higher grade, if you will.