This is Animal Collective at their finest folks, inviting everyone in to see them at their peak and loving the freedom that comes with being on top of the world.

[A] thrilling and possibly definitive album, it's impenetrable, multifaceted, and irrepressibly imaginative.

["The Magician" is] an astounding piece of music that has to be heard to be believed, and cements The New Sound as a triumphant success for Greep’s burgeoning solo career.

'Prisoner' is unquestionably a captivating LP where the whole is greater than the sum of its parts, since the cohesive nature of its songwriting is clearly intended to suit a beginning-to-end listening experience and enhance longevity.

Lisbon is an album from a band finally using the full palette of their talents to adapt and come out the better for it, and that's a pretty picture to behold indeed.

Carrier, finally, brings that emotional subtext to the front, and the result is a Dodos record that is thrillingly translucent and crushingly intimate, almost uncomfortably so. It’s love and loss, as straightforward as you please.

It may be early, but get ready to etch their name alongside some of the all-time greats. Bright Green Field is already an album rife with the qualities of a classic.

There isn’t as much outright variety as there was on Impossible Past, but there are subtle refinements that make Rented World perhaps the most musically solid album the band has released.

Tomboy is every bit as good as it promised to be, and more.

By combining these previously worked on sounds in new ways Thursday have created an album that is not only new and unique, but also unmistakably their own.

Even more than any of their previous outings How To Stop Your Brain In An Accident bridges the gap between efficient noise rock, whip-smart comedy and timely social commentary.

Go Tell Fire to the Mountain and WU LYF by extension soar on how excitingly singular they are; I want nothing more than to love this, just this, forever.

It’s safe to say that, Person Pitch just might be album of the year (so far, at least).

A rousing vessel in which Wolf has finally had the chance to channel his newfound zany confidence into his most extravagant and captivating record yet.

It seems that Blue Lambency Downward while sonically easier to comprehend has become Kayo Dot's most diversely opinioned album.

Harlem River Blues is Justin Townes Earle's crowning moment. It's relaxed without being tiresome, vintage without being gimmicky. Most importantly, it's great. The songs are great, the lyrics are great and there's not a weak song on it.

Listening to the joyous simplicity inherent in the album's mood, you get the feeling that love, for all its pitfalls, really is the simplest thing in the world to feel; you need only to be inside your house, the city without, the falcons overhead, the days stretching off into the future, and listen.

The point is that MAYA has to be taken as it comes, culture jam and all, and it's precisely at this point that it works out to be one of the most refreshing albums to hit the shelves in a long, long time.

What truly elevates Relaxer for me is that it finally feels like Alt-J is extending their creative reach.

An Evening With Silk Sonic lives up to its billing as a true experience: it’s sexy, ever-so-smooth, and radiates confidence and charisma. ... An Evening With Silk Sonic marks the pinnacle of Bruno Mars’ and Anderson .Paak’s respective musical careers.

You, You're a History in Rust is nothing short of an experience; emotional enough to take the listener on a journey, and subtle enough so that not a moment of the record feels contrived.

It is perhaps the most unforgettable work of her career.

[Moms is] about lamenting family trees and the things that created us worse for wear. Together, Harris and Seim have created a rock album punching the stomach the way their lyrics do.

There is both a braggadocios confidence and an honest humility across all of If My Wife New I’d be Dead, a masterfully created dichotomy that is at the center of everything that CMAT creates.

There’s not much else to say that you shouldn’t already know: thick, melodic and endearing, Life...The Best Game in Town is essential listening.

On paper, not a lot differentiates Saintseneca from the glut of indie-folk bands that saturate the scene. Unlike the rest of the crowd, however, the band offers up an unparalleled sense of wonder within each song.

Themes and lyrics aside, the record is simply full of great songs.

The Hazards of Love is shockingly good.