Showcase[s] improvements from the highly publicized 2019 album, Metttavolution while seeming humble and curious. Rodrigo y Gabriela have never cowered away from the challenge of funneling their influence and experiences into one solid format but on this new album, they took their traditional style of doing so and implemented a sense of urgency that gives the album a certain zestfulness that is infectious.

It’s not really necessary to be familiar with the source works to come away impressed by the ingenuity on display here: that surplus of inspiration lends itself to enough solo piano from Mehldau to anchor the narrative and remind us why he is so worth listening to in the first place.

Jack White’s surprise album retreats from grandiose musical ideas (that could be hit or miss), back into the safety of his bluesy rawk. However, that doesn’t diminish the ripping results, as No Name is a blast of direct six-string aggression that is ultra rare in 2024, which puts it in its own timeless class.

Morby remains open and inventive, partnering with Dessner, who brings on board what he does best, while also contemplating times passing, life/death, and the great beyond.

The music is never afraid to insert something new, to a fault at times, as programmed beats, punk thrashing and groove metal clash on the schizophrenic “Coming Correct Is Cheaper”. ... Better is the overloaded “Thumbsucker” which pushes upbeat punk with hip hop influence, the screeching “We Wants Revenge” that kicks up to total blissful chaos, and “GODBLESSYALLREALGOOD” which fluctuates between screaming punk and hip hop breaks with an ease and dexterity rarely displayed in this style.

Relative to the two previous releases, Happy Today is much shorter and far more accessible as the band combines their patented immersive ethereal space jazz with tangible, expressive playing. The music has groove and suspense, delivering an uplifting feeling, with some credit due to the passionate audience.

Exploding Trees & Airplane Screams is a massively deep and rich literary and musical album that reveals more colors and lyrical insights each time through. It may even encourage you to challenge your own memories, which change so much over time.

Expect this project, at a minimum, to be a Grammy contender with perhaps historic recognition in the wings at some point.

All four of these pieces revolve around a simple idea, with the band wringing every possible nuance from that primary platform. Although Johnson and Parker are exploratory, the vibe remains calm and within guardrails. Collectively, the four are the musical equivalent of a fresh shower. The listener emerges renewed.

Though the album sounds remarkably fresh, it also has that vintage sheen of albums from yesteryear – a dozen songs, each only three-four minutes long, comprising a digestible, head bobbing, enjoyable 40 minutes.

At its best, the music accentuates the songs’ difficult subject matter. At other times, it becomes monotonous, with the immersive layers distracting and turning into a wash of indistinguishable noise.

The Mountain successfully captures Gorillaz’ individuality without repeating it, pushing the band even further into this new era of experimentation with some of their most daring yet honed music in years.

It’s an album that invites you in with warmth, unsettles you with its peculiar details, and leaves you somewhere between the past and the present, not entirely sure which is which.

We Will Always Love You, their third album, is just their latest achievement in flawlessness, a record that continues the sound that is undeniably The Avalanches.

On the career-spanning Mahashmashana, things are not connected musically, but they still manage to thematically tie together lyrically around Tillman’s thoughts on aging and death. The self-centered artist still conjures up thought-provoking and, most importantly, enjoyable songs.

While the repertoire is not especially revelatory, it is superbly executed.

Gold Record is simple, but packed with lyrical mastery and it plays through without any hitches. Each song encapsulates a lesson or a character that Callahan wants us to either learn about or learn from, and his voice sinks in comfortable in the life that he has lived.

Sun Without The Heat is an engaging musical journey through Leyla McCalla and her band’s vast influences as the impressive artist keeps crafting engaging music for the body and mind.

Many of the songs on There Is No Other are structurally simple but most of the arrangements are compellingly imaginative. This is a magical listen from as tight a partnership as you’ll hear. As the title implies, it’s incomparable.

This album is not easy to digest and that is a good thing. It is a cinematic experience that requires multiple listens to truly understand the nuances of ILION.

Lucifer on the Sofa is a very good Spoon album, one that borrows from They Want My Soul more than anything on Hot Thoughts, but none of that comes through until about 13 minutes in.

Nothing new here, just Hunter and company wearing their love for rocking soul music on their sleeve as they dive through the thirteen tracks on Nick of Time with vigor, affection and professionalism.

There’s no pretension. It comes across here as well as it does in his live performances.

The album is one powerful, deep dose of positivity, purposely overstated, with the whole bigger than any single song. Whether any of us need the tidal wave of healing power DeMent summons may be debatable but the album brings an indelible, lasting quality that few others achieve.

This terrific project has its shining moments, with a few missteps along the way, yet it will likely go down as a winner. This aggregation of talent doesn’t come along often.

This one-night-only piece marks a point where creativity transcends commerce, further preserving what’s unarguably one of the pinnacles in Neil Young’s artistic history.

The album finds a comfortable middle ground between the warmth of your own bed after a long vacation and the anxiety of entering a new era in your life. She deploys just enough ambiance to keep us listening without distracting from her overall message, allowing the hushed melodies and simplistic arrangements to thrive under the all-encompassing creativity of its creator.

Cowards is an album that takes multiple close listens to unearth the nuances of Squid’s third outing. While the songwriting steals the show, what the band is doing sonically is equally head-spinning.