All in all, while sometimes dragging and repetitive, there are enough moments of epic tension-resolving buildups and sonically interesting tracks that make this album worth checking out.

Where it stumbles as a concept record, it only sometimes succeeds as an art-rock record. As it turns out, an important idea does not an important album make.

The Replacements were so luminescent because they played their bizarre, specific brand of rock for the kids at the front, all snot, spit and sweat. In trying so blatantly to recapture that magic, The Deadbeat Bang of Heartbreak City can't help but feel like a lot of smoke and mirrors.

Beyond the overt gimmickry of the singles "Concrete" and "BLOODMONEY" (the latter sounds like she went rooting through Skrillex's trash), I Disagree is often surprisingly unchaotic.

Each song stands out as its own unique piece of the puzzle, a quality that is easy to lose on electro-pop albums. The standout tracks will continue to impress while the rest will add to an increasingly impressive body of work.

With so many loose threads, JACKBOYS isn't the compilation album one would hope for — instead, it seems rushed and put together to make a year-end release.

Regardless of your level of faith or denomination, the 19-track album is accessible enough from a craft and sanctified standpoint. Whether it's for interpolations of Kanye tracks like "Fade," with "Follow Me – Faith" — itself a gospelized riff off the classic house track by Aly-Us — or for a new take on "Ultralight Beam," off 2016's The Life of Pablo, there's a lot here to vibe off of.

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.

Taken together, these 97 minutes of music provide a tantalizing glimpse of the direction the group could have taken had it not disbanded at the end of 1989. Absolutely essential.

Merriweather Post Pavilion remains as culturally important as it felt back in 2009. Ballet Slippers mines that very significance for its pure euphoria, and with carefully selected performances and interpretations, this celebration of that groundbreaking work does justice to its source material.

Utilizing a variety of different sound palettes, from glossy synths to pounding drums and chanting voices, Lopatin uses the Uncut Gems score to give the listener effective moments of tension, dreamlike airiness and triumph, all in equal measure, making the listening a journey all in itself.

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

While various artists-type vehicles do tend to feel disjointed in spots — this one included— the versatility and energy of the Free Nationals is bolstered by their upper tier level of craft, something a lot of backing bands rarely receive credit for. With that in mind, this self-titled outing is a treat.

With the band's integrity, commitment to their craft and immunity to the passing of time, they're sure to make their patient fans happy with Duster.

Fine Line is proof that Harry Styles has grown as an artist since his solo debut. He hasn't reached his full potential, but he's certainly well on his way.

There isn't anything innovative about their music, but every note of this album feels honest and considered.

Wu has elevated this genre and he excels at the DJ-set LP format. His ability to place artists that inspired him coming up into a more modern context is powerful. It celebrates the work and at the same time moves the rest of us to dig deeper into the history of this incredible music.

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

Two-and-a-half-hour compilation Tunes 2011-2019 works its way backwards through the last decade of Burial's output, but like many of the producer's post-Untrue undertakings, it generally resists neat and tidy execution.

Romance still relies on a structure that is becoming increasingly irrelevant, which ultimately overshadows many of the album's redeemable moments.

Information is a decent effort that unfortunately doesn't quite bite as hard as it should.

It makes for an album that impresses without overstaying its welcome, but it's more than just the sum of its parts. Hidden History has a vibe, like something old and undiscovered. It's the riffs, the all-analogue recording process, everything. You breathe the atmosphere of this record when you listen to it. That's why you'll return to it again and again.

Labyrinth is a site for self discovery: a place to get lost in and emerge with a new understanding of yourself.

There must have been considerable pressure on Diamond to deliver with this album, and she largely does with Reflections — it really does sound like pop music from 15 years in the future. Hopefully a more substantial collection of new material isn't too far into it.

Everyday Life has more blunders than hits, but let's give Coldplay some credit — they've got a "go big or go home" attitude that's entertaining, even when it misses the mark.

An album that is layered and diverse in its sound palette and execution, with something for appreciators of the many different flavours electronic music has to offer.

Their sound is hypnotic and abstract, as though they're disassembling and reassembling songs and sounds as they go — and the result is a quietly, dreamily thrilling listening experience.

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.