Smote Reverser has a strange sense of uncertainty. While Dwyer hasn’t veered away from his band’s unmistakable proggy garage rock sound, he doesn’t feel as invigorated as usual. The multiple flavors of Oh Sees are swirled together, and it ends up a bit diluted.

At Weddings doesn't allow itself to wallow. If anything, it's Tomberlin sharing with us her own form of catharsis, a collection of intimate and powerful songs that sift through life's more disappointing and challenging moments to find the beauty we sometimes overlook.

While Tangerine Reef inspires as a pseudo-political statement regarding the deteriorating environment at the hands of mankind, Animal Collective ultimately disappoints with this record--it’s yet another forgettable checkpoint within the band’s recent run.

It’s a solid debut that establishes Dizzy as a band to watch out for because, like their beats, they’re sure to linger.

Thank You For Today is uninspired but competent and honest, a laudable addendum to an unquantifiably meaningful legacy.

Mulberry Violence isn’t a letdown because it doesn’t live up to expectations of what a Trevor Powers album is supposed to sound like. It’s a letdown because an immensely talented and creative spirit is struggling to let his instincts speak for themselves.

Though it’s a record perspiring uncertainty and the fear of becoming stagnant, Be The Cowboy is Mitski’s most personal and confrontational thus far. It’s violently poignant and the mark of an artist who’s barely tapped into her singularity.

If you need a good dose of enthusiastic summer sunshine then Louis Cole has crafted a superb hideaway.

On Devotion, she cordons off her own corner of modern Rn’B with a statement destined to become a genre staple.

Pick things apart, and it’s a fine addition to the St. Louis band’s catalogue--there are several songs here that will catalyze their already electric live show.

It's fun music and nothing about it is haphazard or casually tossed off.

It’s refreshingly spur-of-the-moment on an album that’s let down by constant overthinking and underestimating of her abilities. If Minaj wants to make a mission statement of an album, worthy of this title, she needs to figure out a mission statement for herself.

In an album where everything seems to be allowed, at first it may feel uneasy to understand but dissecting the elements is the key to understanding Physical.

The shiny production helps to carve a gigantic wad out of what is already a pretty full live sound, with crunchy guitars and some impressively Animal-esque drumming from Ivan Luketina-Johnston.

Ultimately, Book of Life feels like a confident step forward for Fujita. It opens up his compositions to new sounds without sacrificing the core of what made his earlier records such an intriguing listen.

As a whole, Gulp’s new long player is a very pleasant experience from start to finish, and reminds you that Gruff Rhys is not the only member of SFA to have played a major part in delivering so many classics over the last near-three decades.

It’s an album that shows the past and the future of this artist, and it’s one that seems to have boundaries well beyond the usual fare that we hear from PC Music.

He doesn’t need to hop on the emo rap bandwagon and a more stoic presence is always welcome, but this feels like the first YG album that’s coasting on reputation rather than inspiration.

Qualm is her inauguration. Its agitated kineticism and flagrant oddness, blossoming from Hauff’s intrinsic charisma and craft, is exhilarating. It is techno gorgeously streamlined; straddling the fucking weird and the primally gratifying, as present in the grimiest tunnel raves as in soundtracking the imminent robot revolution.

If Astroworld suffers from any sin, it’s a nearly endless ambition.

Whatever headspace produced Swimming, it captures this perfectly.

Phantastic Ferniture’s chemistry, then, is convincingly smooth. Their new self-titled LP dashes through fields of warm riffs and detailed melodies, scooping up a bouquet of wildflowers whose imperfections only add to its beauty.

Khalifa’s persona isn’t nearly ready to hoist up what’s essentially a double album, and, yet, this is largely the most focused and invested he’s sounded since Taylor Allderdice.

Rather than fall in love with this record from the get-go it needs a little airing and breathing time to get to grips with the finer notes, but it's sure to keep you coming back.

The Switch isn’t anonymous or soulless, but it does have an unhuman aesthetic.

Yolk In The Fur proves Wild Pink as a band that proclaim a strength in authenticity that is matched by a growth in character.

Produced by Vu herself and boasting a lush and warm sound, it sets itself apart by striving to be something more ambitious and it shows in every little detail be it the sudden burst of bright brass soaring through breezy guitars on the gorgeous sway of '426' or the shimmering chords of 'Crying on the Subway'.

While Raw Silk Uncut Wood may alienate some in its distinctness from her back catalogue it finds a firm place in her ever-growing oeuvre.

Sundays may not be a collection that will live long in the memory, but when it rises out of its spiritual funk there’s a glimpse of something sparkling in amongst the fuzz and breathy introspection. It’s certainly not a dog of an album. But perhaps it’s not as cute, or as diverting, as a Tanuki.

While Power conjures up one of the most hectic, impenetrable, and eclectic listening experiences of the year, it’s above all, a true rags to riches story, one that complexingly captures a struggling artist on the verge of fulfilling immense potential.

They’ve experimented with vocals, concentrated their musical chemistry, further polished their production, and tweaked their songwriting so that the transitions between movements in their songs are less sheer cliff-faces of fury and more lithe passages. All this, combined with some of the best songs they’ve ever written, makes Ordinary Corrupt Human Love the band’s most irrefutable credential as a leader in modern Rock.

Gunn is a highly skilled rapper, but he doesn't quite bring Supreme Blientele together to be the street epic it could’ve been.

Although it brings nothing new sonically, Jellies is a magnificent example of how a déjà-vu doesn't have to be a mere repetition: it constructs instead of occupying, pays tribute instead of mimetising, carries on instead of resurrecting.

Whatever the expectation might have been ahead of the album, Wet Will Always Dry is, all in all, an extremely Blawan album; wall to wall club bangers with no fuss and no fanfare.

So Sad So Sexy is by no means a bad record, but while the Li of previous records was refreshing and stark showing us her vulnerability, the slickly produced nature of this means that’s often lost and in its place is cliché as Li tries to hang onto the weighty romance of youth.

It is a (relatively speaking) stripped back effort that brings Florence grounded firmly to the earth and perhaps is her greatest achievement to date.

It’s not that Scorpion is bad music - it’s exactly what you’d expect, and too much of it. Its maximalism offers plenty for the converted (and the charts), after all, this far in, nothing is going to turn those set against him. For those of us with more complicated relationships with Drake’s music, there’s also nothing here to overwhelm the sense of stagnation dominant since Views.

Freddie is an easily digestible trap album, not revolutionary or underwhelming but average considering Gibbs’ catalogue of work.

Gleams and glances of Albarn’s potential are almost omnipresent, yet never really come into fruition.

These are sprightly, assured, gratifying pop songs, pirouetting with enough agitated inventiveness to ensure each run is sunny, surprising, and fluently fun; a damn fine Summer record.

Year of the Snitch elicits the same anxiety-ridden feeling as having two dozen browser windows open at the same time. In its sensory overload, its embrace of ugliness and beauty, of chaos and calm, of proficiency and slackness, and its willingness to by turns troll and impress the listener, it reflects the complicated, frustrating nature of the Internet in 2018.

Between horns, strings, synths, guitars and all the rest this record is definitely an attack on the senses and shows Urie's knack for constructing a radio-friendly hit, but delve below the surface and it doesn't have much to offer. Certainly not enough to justify diminishing returns for a long running act, definitely not enough to keep me coming back for anything but the first few beats.

The somewhat dated soundscape presents the album one relative weakness, but truthfully, sticking to her guns serves Allen and No Shame just fine, with the clear spotlight allowed for her vocals.

While Kazuashita might not be a completely perfect album, it is as close as you can get to perfect when it comes to fulfilling the potential of the album as an artistic concept. Every piece fits together, it has a message without pontificating, and it’s absolutely crucial to experience it all at once.

Across the sixteen tracks that make up this entire project they’ve by and large avoided the awkward moments that have made listeners cringe on previous releases, they’ve finally nailed how to produce and mix Reznor’s voice so that his still somewhat heavy-handed lyricism doesn’t distract attention from the considerable craft that’s gone into the music, and they’ve found a way to organically explore new sonic avenues which mean that, while Reznor might feel like he’s trapped in a loop, doomed to continually find himself back where he’s already been, Nine Inch Nails are no longer simply repeating themselves.

Smith curated these tracks to showcase her insecurities to fans that will relate to the transparency of her work. Lost & Found is a strong foundation for the up-and-coming Smith and her R&B fused experiences. The gushing warmth of her emotion resonates into a digestible, easy listening album.

This isn’t an album of ‘Crazy In Love’ or ‘Drunk In Love’ successors. It’s an album of love, and all the forms it can take in and outside of you.

OIL’s resonance and bravery--underlined by its acutely mapped volatile and enrapturing production--is inspiring, and the conception and execution of its testimony remarkable.

NASIR is the weakest of the recent Kanye output, though perhaps more consistent than ye it fails to put a dent in the current hip hop conversation, feeling especially limp in comparison to the sudden arrival of a one-time nemesis and his wife.

Immersion do well to paint imagery in the listeners mind with, “The Humming Sea” rising up with an ocean of analogue synth pad like sounds representative of this image as though it is a reality. It is this ability to create an easily interpreted image of the sounds that make this album so easily accessible to a listener.

With Hope Downs, Rolling Blackouts Coastal Fever have adroitly taken their trademark sound and expanded it into a thoroughly enjoyable album--and they’ve done it in rapid time.

The gamble pays off because it's frankly an astonishing achievement for Vynehall and one that solidifies him as one of the more exciting and inventive artists currently making music.

Unpacked individually, there’s a lot to love about each track and a laundry list of potential inspirations.

Beautiful things take time to properly come to life, and this is no exception; although this reading obviously comes in the aftermath of her accident, Bon Voyage sounds like a rebirth of sorts for Prochet.

Uniform pull their weight but it feels like they’re (smartly) saving their strongest material for their upcoming third LP. As for The Body, they’ve shown they can play well with others, but here they feel like they’re indifferently inserting themselves into Uniform’s world, and Uniform was fine with it. It’s an album that aims to make you uncomfortable, but it feels too comfortable with itself.

soil is an album that delves into the dirt of passion, be that artistic, romantic or religious. For every moment of ecstatic energy there’s another equal moment of debilitating disappointment, for every igniting of love, there’s wilting relationships.

While it undoubtedly packs in a humongous swath of influences and touchstones from today’s pop culture, the overall piece created is completely unique, unreplicable and ultimately undescribable.

Too often there doesn’t seem to be a definite roadmap. Other than a few brief moments, this record feels like a missed opportunity.

This is a cosmopolitan voyage throughout markedly different places and eras, humbling touching a variety of more or less exotic influences without merely appropriating them--showcasing their uncanniest beauty with the highest respect instead.

It is polished in the sense everything has a place. Sleek track productions can’t hide the energy rattling in the bones of the band. They were able to bottle and utilize the catchiness found in electro-pop and showcase the best of those elements when applied to a rock band eager to branch out.

The extra-textual background isn’t as impressive as her music is enjoyable.

We are guests in her world, after all, and Hell-On is precisely the breezy rock record we may need right now. If you need proof, any of the 12 tracks here will suffice.

Complex, surreal and divine. Noonday Dream is Ben Howard's best work to date.

Still feels modern and reflective simultaneously along with Mazzy Star continuing to produce romantic songs fitting for long road trips or evening drinks.

God’s Favorite Customer isn’t a bad album, yet it still feels like the weak link in the grand scheme of things. Fans of his previous work will still get a lot out of Misty's latest, but despite its subject matter, this album feels a little safe and inconsequential.

There is evolution on The Future and the Past and a real sense that Prass has done what she set out to do: make an album that, like the work of Marvin Gaye, gets people thinking and resolving to take action, all the while shaking their hips to the undeniable groove.

Ye is an ambitious misfire.

LUMP is a creation that both composers stressed passed through them and they look upon parentally and this is evident as an articulation of the artistic detail of the contemporary, through Lindsay’s colourful soundscapes.

It’s evident that Pusha T is at his most confident on DAYTONA; his rhymes carry confidence and clarity paired with a high head and a release that was well worth the three-year waiting period.

The arrangements of the album contrast between moments of minimal instrumentation, layered with her vulnerable vocal melodies that seem complementary of the overall theme. It could be felt at points that the musicality seems to move without increased colour, but it is only when you venture further into the album and the lyricism that it becomes clearer that this is likely to be understood as a reflection of the concept.

Love Yourself: Tear shows off each individual member’s qualities fairly and acts as a well-structured introduction to a wider global audience that is all too eager to pick out negatives.

The album could have benefited from a further exploration into Barnette’s flirtation with punk and hard rock riffs. Nonetheless, the album still manages to improve on the song structure of the first and show a more mature side of Courtney Barnett and some of her best instrumentals yet.

Hundreds of Days is as charming as a novel unravelling a story, but it’s all over in what feels like the blink of an eye.

Their vocal frustrations make perfect fodder for their post-punk blasts, and in combination they add up to some of the most invigorating music currently being created, making Wide Awake! a valuable and vital call to arms.

People will certainly be talking about Tranquility Base Hotel & Casino in the short term because of how much of a surprise it is, but it will be interesting to see how it will be talked about in the long-term.

7, Beach House’s seventh album is definitely not their approach to the finish line, but a positive view on what’s yet to come. As their message of optimism and a cry of coherence is strong, this release also solidifies of their efforts and dedication, hence the Baltimore duo becoming titans in the music industry and being worldwide sweethearts.

Singularity would be a dependable record to show someone in the process of discovering the wider world of electronic music, as it is exceptionally accessible, yet at the same time I feel that that same sense of accessibility and friendliness is what is wrong with it.

In the end, Lost Friends is a shape-shifting, intimate, and reflective body of work.

Their ambition and drive is truly ‘Beyondless’, and that’s the galvanising effect and feeling you get as a listener when finishing Iceage’s latest statement album.

Longtime fans of the band will not find a rebirth in Critical Evaluation but you made find an upbeat improvement on recent efforts.

A scary, fucked up kind of beauty. Consider Lavender a salve. Or, at least, an honest, genuine listen.

The production makes everything sound suitably epic and heart-strained, but tends to overwhelm its strongest suit--Gracie’s voice.

Favouring whirligig aimlessness, knock knock doesn’t repurpose electronic music like Amygdala; but in avoiding “things and sounds,” it never has aspirations otherwise. Pleasure both innocent and decadent is its prerogative.

Albums like this are refreshing for that exact reason; you actually have to have enough patience to allow the beauty and grace of her work to reveal itself, but in the end your patience is more than rewarded.

Despite the lack of variance from song to song, each of the 10 songs here are finely written candidates for radio. ... The issue is that it’s not worth it to dig through all 10 of these tracks to find the nuanced intricacies that so frequently play second fiddle to loud rock and roll.

This album feels like the training wheels have come off, and Speedy Ortiz can really show what they’re capable of. For one, this is Speedy Ortiz’s poppiest album yet, with plenty of synths, hooks, and an overall brighter sheen. However, it’s not like Lazar infected their grunginess with an overwhelming flavour of the top 40.

All in all, Everything’s Fine lays bold claim to being one of the most unique rap albums in recent memory. It cuts through the repetitive commercialism of the modern experience with dryly comedic lyrics over a vast collection of beats influenced by decades of hip-hop, r’n’b and jazz.

The end result is a clean, seriously impressive hour and seventeen minutes of restless, good old-fashioned hip-hop. Zombies' are here to stay, whether you like it or not.

The problem with A Perfect Circle now is that Keenan and Howerdel basically follow whatever creative whims that grab them. After a particularly soporific instrumental track, the album enters its most experimental phase, with unsurprisingly scattershot and lacklustre results.

He's created an album that stands as one of his most evocative and ambitious so far.

None of the songs here are particularly lengthy, but the way ideas evaporate almost instantaneously makes it a slog of an album. It doesn’t help that one-third of the tracklisting is made up of befuddling interludes, with only one (a reprise of another, no less) offering any intrigue thanks to some well-rendered telephone rings.

Her debut is in fact very well crafted despite wearing a lot of influences on its shining sleeves. It succeeds though in combining those influences into a very enjoyable album that mixes retro and contemporary genres.

You can hear the band's fearlessness in every fun-soaked note on Where We Were Together.

The main take away from The Straight Hits! is that Josh T. Pearson has a lot more facets to his music than he may have previously let on.

The songwriting is on point and the production subtly augments without obfuscating or distracting.

Sex & Food gives the audience a closer look at the chaos-wrapped disco frenzy inside Ruban’s mind.

I Don’t Run can be misread as an album of fun alternative rock songs, but under the surface, it is so much more. Every instrument feels perfectly in place to create a wide range of songs. Varying emotions and a distinctly more mature Hinds.

Ephorize signals the true genesis of a fully realized, ambitious voice in hip hop.