This is a good album for a band as deep into their career as Elbow, but it’s also worthwhile even without that qualifier. The band aren’t getting any younger, but they are getting wiser and, dare I say, more fun.

The songs that hew closer to pop than hip-hop are the strongest because they show the most confidence, both vocally and musically. That there is even a disparity, however, points to the biggest problem with thank u, next: its occasional lack of a clear identity.

A couple of 50 year olds have just made the most vibrant, youthful record you'll hear all year. What's not to love?

Some listeners may find the album samey or too similar but one aspect of Mirrored that can't be disputed is that it is a unique album with little to no similar peers.

The entire album is a collaborative project, in that sense; yet each song acts like a personal journal entry, documenting Justin Vernon's experience back with the living, after being with the ghosts of memory for some time.

Songs on Fake History sometimes sounded like they were simply vehicles for Butler’s frenetic performances instead of complete songs. That isn’t the case here, which means that most of these songs aren’t as immediate, but lack of immediacy is generally a good indicator of an album’s longevity, especially in post-hardcore.

What we have here will likely go down in history as the band’s magnum opus. It’s just so fucking massive and Netflix-level binge-worthy. Without a slow song or acoustic number, Brave Faces Everyoneis ten tracks of loud, abrasive rock music that should connect with anyone who’s life isn’t perfect.

American Siren is the kind of album that connects with you on a personal level, leaving all kinds of potent thoughts dancing around in your head. Few songs in recent memory have stunned me with a rushing flood of emotions like the heavy cuts here did with ease.

Nas sounds as energized as ever in his current era and he’s dealing some serious bars across the 15 tracks composing Magic 3. At the same time, it sounds as if the Hit-Boy partnership is finally losing steam--something evident in a record that is stretched thin (cough 15 tracks) and inconsistent, capable of reaching commendable heights and consequently worrying depths.

Hercules and Love Affair is a killer work from Butler, an album not meant to break down any barriers or start a revolution.

Syro stands as a quiet achievement, an un-fussy, humbling, and excellent release.

Killer Mike and El-P release a short, 33-minute record absolutely brimming with ten of the hardest bangers known to man.

While often a little too unfocused, The Anthropocene Extinction is a fine addition to their catalog.

It just finds this fantastic middle ground, not only in the way that its frantic smattering of ideas somehow presents not as overwhelming, but comforting - the exuberance infectious, the fuzz electric - but, also, in how Night Palace ties in with the broader Elverum catalogue.

It’s easily the most charming she’s ever been--she's no master hunter, but she doesn't need to be.

While not reinventing the wheel, and still struggling with occasional blandness, there are plenty of moments here which simply provoke more excitement and emotion than I’ve felt from Foo Fighters’ music for a while.

Bird Machine impresses both as an unexpectedly resurrected album with that classic Sparklehorse feel, and as a distinct entity which sees the project move in a comparatively polished and refined direction. Even without the mournful context of its release, it’s one of the best indie albums of the year.

Make no mistake, the payoff that Promises promises is by no means immediate. This is music to savour with eyes closed in a dark room, headphones on and all other distractions firmly yeeted from sight.

A great album, tweaked.

It towers over the vast majority of contemporary rock music with its controlled tunefulness while ever maintaining the effortless modern appeal of Jack White himself.

Time will tell if "Cosmogramma" is the most definitive moment of his career, but at this point it seems the realm of electronic music is open for Flying Lotus to be the next big visionary of his genre.

Koi No Yokan is a passable alt-rock/metal album by a band that is capable of much more.

Little Wide Open certainly isn’t grandiose or over the top, but it does feel like most of his best material settled into one place here. It possesses all the marks of a year-defining folk/Americana release – and while I’ll stop short of calling it an instant classic, I do think time will be kind to this album.

It's the construction of it all that's so perfect: that the music can follow, this time, but still be what Grizzly Bear are all about.

The sum total of their 2022 opus is a straight upgrade to SOUL GLO’s already brilliant back catalog, bursting with scorching new takes on old ideas and enough spirit and passion to set the entire scene ablaze.

Together is a finely-crafted work which should hold up to listening under widely varied circumstances, likely to feel as much at home amid the windswept, skeletal trees of late autumn as on the porch on a humid summer evening. All told, there’s plenty to rejoice about, the sad boys are back in town.

By listening to What Does It All Mean?, you're giving yourself a vital history lesson, a blast of fun, and above all, some 130 minutes of fantastic music.

The result is a record that's immediately familiar yet inventive, funky, fun, and always impressive.