All in all, The Now Now feels fresh and present. Gorillaz have performed a type of sonic reset by stripping back their cast of collaborators, yet it exemplifies the strength of the songwriting at the group's core.

Drake aims to come out stronger, more focused and more righteous than ever. ... He goes hard at addressing his industry ops on Side A, and it's full of the effortlessly cut-throat Drake we've come to love. ... Drake gets all the way into his feelings on the second half of Scorpion.

It's a heartening LP, both because of the top-notch, life-affirming beats throughout, along with the renewed vigour in the voice of a man who clearly takes nothing for granted now that he's on the mend.

High As Hope is a welcome chapter in Florence + the Machine's career. Welch is writing reflectively but with a firm rooting in the present; singing with clarity about life's biggest questions as she and her fans continue to figure it out side-by-side, in both the loud and quiet moments.

K.T.S.E. is a strong start with an anticlimactic finish. With a bit of additional time and effort, it could have been so much more.

Essential is a strange, adventurous and ultimately enjoyable collection of half-finished, fully realized songs that could only have been crafted by artists as musically brazen and tenured as Soulwax.

Satisfying as both a sophomore effort and streamlined pop album, I'm All Ears establishes Let's Eat Grandma as a band that need to be heard.

Chaney moves with ease from nearly operatic to contemporary and casual and sounds equally at home.

If not the most focused entry in the project's storied discography, it's a delightfully wide angled glance at what the Orb still have brewing and perhaps a projection of a vital new period of experimentation.

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.

Although its brighter moments ("Adam and Eve," "Cops Shot the Kid") save it from being a complete fall from grace, overall Nasir is disappointingly heedless. Hopefully his next effort is more honest.

All the elements that have made for their most enjoyable material are still here, and the band shows they are just as capable as they have always been on captivating listeners.

Plenty of tracks here end abruptly, which likely works well for their use in the film itself, and maybe less so in an independent listen. But even removed from visual and narrative components of Hereditary, Stetson's compositions still manage to conjure a deeply unsettling, unrelentingly tense mood.

Throughout simply titled/simply written tracks like "Lullaby" and "Journey," Washington has astonishingly revealed another element to his budding songcraft.

This is the kind of music that, in 20 years, we may look back on as a pivotal point in changing the trajectory of the pop music sound.

Nothing is off limits, and their chemistry on wax continues to be just as powerful as it is in real life. It's not only a top-to-bottom banger, but it's also relationship goals.

Please Don't Be Dead is virtually airtight in terms of musicality and intent. Fantastic Negrito continues to live to his "black roots" moniker--a weary, weathered soul survivor raging against the coming storm.

Music this nakedly derivative requires sharp pop instincts to be successful, and tracks like these prove that Chromeo are still able to create magic within their well-worn source material, even if they are retreading old ground.

[Kelley Deal] sings on two of the new EP's songs, and that all-too-fleeting taste will leave you immediately hankering for more.

Every piece on New Bodies is painstakingly detailed and full of emotion--but experimenting with tempo and mood as much as they do with every other facet of their music would give the album even more weight. Regardless, it's one of 2018's best offerings so far and an exceptional entry in its sonic field.

RBCF are a welcome addition to the range of Australian guitar bands taking the world by storm, their confident debut an exploration of angular v. melodic guitars and energetic rhythms.

You can tick off a number of dream-pop heavyweights as influences here: Lush and Cocteau Twins, whose Robin Guthrie remixed "Sure," immediately come to mind. But Pillbeam makes the sound her own, putting heavy emphasis on the pop side of things via a brilliant synth sheen. Yet it's her ability to wring emotional drama out of rote subject matter that makes these songs so special.

Bay Dream is a great example of a band living up to the potential hinted at by their early work, and while day-one fans might be turned off by the album's cleaned-up production, it would be ungracious to begrudge a young band their newfound opportunities. Culture Abuse make the most of them here, with an album that should find its way into many a summer playlist.

Alvin's rugged and bluesy delivery contrasts nicely to Gilmore's signature ethereal tenor, and their harmonies are sweet. Given that both are accomplished songwriters, it's a mite surprising there is only one joint original tune here, the opening title track.

Every one of these seven tracks is like a J.G. Ballard car crash--the violence is beautiful and the beauty is ferocious.

[Song One is] the album's crowning achievement and yet, at under two minutes, it's gone all too soon, a bittersweet reminder of the album that Nightstand could have been had Abbott built on this blueprint instead of sticking with a well-worn sound.

There is a conceptual weight to IRISIRI that accompanies the expert songcraft and meticulously produced arrangements without ever being burdensome. That the music itself stands on its own is testament to Drewchin's maturity as an artist; the presence of a thematic cohesion demonstrates the seductiveness of her universe.

Nothing Is Still is an excellent demonstration of what Leon Vynehall is capable of when he emerges from the confines of club music.