This is Kendrick Lamar playing the game, and making everything else look dangerously irrelevant while he's at it. Be afraid.

Vocally, Black Messiah is sparse, but sonically, it is accomplished and fulfilled. Every sound, every instrument, every lyric and harmony is in the place it needs to be.

The death enveloping Skeleton Tree doesn't get in the way of his limitless sense of emotional elaboration.

It may not be one you play often, but it's also one you will never forget. It's omnipresent. Words fail.

Pop culture's reigning diva appeared in raw form--a vulnerable mess and unapologetically enraged as she thematically confronted her husband and father's alleged infidelity publicly, through visceral imagery and emotionally loaded sonic offerings.

An ambitious, varied and ardently rewarding listen, Titanic Rising is pop music for ages and worlds far beyond our own, and an emphatic show of prowess from one who is sure to be one of indie’s new radiant lights.

With Gold & Grey, Baizley and his cohorts have produced a monumental work of art that’s as dark and forbidding as it is bright and triumphant. It perfectly balances light and dark, revels in the creative possibilities of music-making, whilst plumbing emotional depths that might have you worrying a little for Baizley’s state of mind.

Carrie & Lowell is just the latest in a long line of unimpeachable achievements.

No Cities To Love finds the trio facing inwards, rocking out in a tight space, writing short and punchy punk songs and just generally enjoying bouncing off each other once more.

This is an exhaustive, but not exhausting collection. It will be fascinating to hear what surprises lie ahead on Volume 2.

It's an album that, despite its placement more as high art, isn't afraid to embrace pop music for everything it's worth, managing to be accessible while also challenging, drawing the listener in with familiarity to then unleash upon them this cryptic, paradoxical world that just begs to be explored over and over again.

On The Dusk In Us, we have a handful of tracks that see Converge pushing at the boundaries of their sound, even escaping it entirely. This leads to some of the most accessible, catchy, and (uncoincidentally) most emotionally resonant work of their careers.

This is not the work of somebody wanting to shortcut their way into making “atmospheric” music by cutting and pasting old ideas. Rather, it’s the mark of someone establishing their unique authorship with the utmost certitude.

Angel is unprepared to commit to anything in the long term, but is always fully committed to now, and this has allowed her to make her boldest and most purposeful step yet.

The music found on Safe in the Hands of Love thrives. It's just as boundary pushing but at the same time, it offers easier access points to the complex and often messy but brilliant world of Yves Tumor.

By turns distant and unknowable, fleeting and eerie, and even serenely gorgeous, Apollo found Eno continuing to toy with, and reach for the edges of, a sound he himself perfected. ... The album stands out of time, never ageing, forever seeming to beam in from a future just out of reach. Much like the event it memorializes, forever there may it stay.

Sonically and conceptually, the all-purpose artist isn't interested in coloring in between the lines, but focused instead on offering a vibrant option to things once defined as black and white.

While this album is being heralded as a triumph by many, to this writer it feels more akin to an in-between; furtive steps in a new direction that will almost doubtlessly be mined even more successfully next go round--assuming our hero doesn't veer in yet another direction. What's sure is, we'll never be bored.

A Seat At The Table--like the headlines of 2016--is the score of black pain, black rage, black strength and black joy. And for everyone else enjoying the enticing R&B, it's for the rest of us to quiet ourselves, listen, learn and respect.

Incredibly, they're becoming even less safe, even less predictable, as they near pension age; on this evidence, long live Michael Gira.

This is an album that is constantly unfolding over its themes, so the only option remaining is that of acceptance of her ingenuity. If you want to make it easy, you can acknowledge the density and move on. If you want to understand the core of the record, you'll have plenty of details to work through for what now seems like forever.

Very few records are able to transport the listener to a different world full of visceral, palpable feeling for even just one listen. A Moon Shaped Pool manages to do it over and over again with the feelings deepening rather than cheapening with each successive listen.

From the very start you can hear and see the ideas that were explored in the clips and videos stretched to their fullest, most histrionic range.

Barnett's emotional candour on Sometimes I Sit and Think, and Sometimes I Just Sit shows us that sometimes she brushes off her mistakes and sometimes she dwells on them--just like the rest of us.

We've had countless albums predicating calls for mobilisation before, and they're generally provocative and valued but ultimately specious, but on RTJ3 there's a visceral directness that cuts to the aorta.

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

As a collective package, POST- is incredibly accomplished. You’ll relate--hard--you’ll be shook, you’ll feel attacked, because this record underlines in red marker some uncomfortable truths which are articulated uproariously. POST- has set an extraordinarily high bar for the rest of punk in 2018 to clear.

At their core, the songs are fundamentally concerned with unguarded and confessional intimacy yet the manner in which they are presented is a hindrance as, on the whole, there is a sheen to Designer which it could well do without.

Unlike so many reissues of late, the out-takes and demos on Painful genuinely do give an insight into how the record was made, how the band honed their sound and what direction they were headed.

There was a lot riding on this album to be a worthy successor to Piñata, and Gibbs and Madlib ended up with something that unfortunately doesn’t come close to those heights, but something that’s still worth thoughtful evaluation and plenty of discussion.

IDLES believe that community spirit and togetherness will be what ultimately guides us closer to happiness as a whole, and in Joy As An Act Of Resistance they’ve created a monumental banner for the movement.

Visions put Grimes on the map as pop's pure misfit but Art Angels secured her tangible place as the genre's most unconventional star. For those that doubted, she's done that thing she does, but better. More defined.

A complement to Homer, whose exquisite myth catapulted the bard himself into the realm of myth, Crampton fashions a performative poetics that performs its own brown, queer, and sublime reality.

Negative Capability is sure to stand the test of time, much like its creator. Marianne Faithfull has delivered a searing late career masterstroke, as vital as any in her storied career.

This record is a wholly singular work; not only does it defy expectations of what a Flying Lotus album should sound like, it totally obliterates any preconceptions about what can be released by a remotely popular contemporary musician.

As an approximation of the band’s legacy and a reckoning with Lacey’s vocation of confessionalism, this record feels made for them. Science Fiction feels like an Event, similar to the releases of To Pimp a Butterfly and My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy.

He immediately introduces us to his new titular “Shepherd” persona, and continues to act like the consummate host to the listener throughout the record’s beautifully interwoven 20 tracks and 64 minutes.

She seems a lot happier, or at least more energetic and outgoing, coming into second album Plunge. But that only seems to bring her up against more frustrations in the world around her, which are wrought vividly throughout.

In all, Holter has made an album about blissful, hypnotic escape in many forms, and in listening to it and engaging with it, you'll be overwhelmed by these feelings too.

The new release of Twin Fantasy never panders to the original. Nor does it feel like Toledo is forced to adhere to the limitations of his previous work. It’s a development, not a remake; the full realisation of what was always supposed to be--and it sounds all the more incredible for it.

Big Thief’s most empathic and ethereal work yet. U.F.O.F. is by no means an album that will grab for your attention, it just rests in the atmosphere like a wavelength, waiting for you to tune in – and you’ll be richly rewarded when you find it.

In some ways, Microshift is Hookworms’ equivalent of that album [Animal Collective's Merriweather Post Pavilion]. A band with an established sound embracing electronics and pop songwriting like never before, but managing to do so without it feeling remotely forced, and finding their biggest audience yet as a result.

The bag is mixed, and the lyrics often seem a bit familiar, but Sundfør's shadowy contributions to an often-tired genre are undoubtedly unique.

It’s a wounding, life-affirming ride.

Much like its cover art, Cocoon Crush can be recognized as something familiar, but you’re unlikely to be able to glean just what that is. It lies, distant and in waiting, ready to challenge you, with Objekt ever-seeking to open, both for his listeners and himself, new possibilities.

Reward could easily exist in a decade long since past but become a hidden gem, along the lines of Linda Perhac’s Parallelograms or Vashti Bunyan’s Just Another Diamond Day. Thanks to streaming, far more people will be able to hear it.

Everything about You Won’t Get What You Want is carved out of sheer insert-synonym-for-unhappiness-here, from the guitars to the drums to the vocals, but there’s more than enough nuance and versatility to earn your respect, even if it’s not something you’re typically drawn towards.

Too Bright is a strident and bold statement from an artist who has finally undone the knot of his past. It won't be the record which brings him mainstream success but it will be the record that frees him from the pigeonholing of his bruised and broken singer-songwriter image.

Whether he feels every emotion he’s describing or is putting on a mask, the songs remain enjoyable and lighthearted.

It's sometimes easy to forget that Mitski didn't technically enter the greater music consciousness until last year, and what makes that worth pointing out is that despite her hitting her stride and turning out the most accomplished album of her career yet, she sounds like she's only getting started.

It’s a challenging but rewarding listen which uncovers itself most rewardingly when given full attention on a dark and melancholic night.

While unrelentingly committed to his personal story, Vince rapturously integrates dense and conscious-filled narratives of his inner life, packaged vibrantly over layered and unpredictable production executively produced by No I.D with support from DJ Dahi, Clams Casino and Christian Rich. Among 20 tracks, there's no filler to be found.

Great art takes pain and turns it into something that can help us heal. Vulnicura does exactly that.

Honeybear is rich with sarcasm, flagrant in some places and barely discernable in others. It is impossible to take seriously, but too damn compelling to be dismissed.

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.

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.

This is the most rewarding album from the project yet, as it only seems to unfold further and further as you delve deeper and keep replaying.

None of these influences are worn on Young Fathers' sleeves and Cocoa Sugar is further proof that when the band puts something out that you can prepare for a unique, engaging listen.

In Colour breaks no new ground to be sure, but as an accessible crossover record it does a perfectly serviceable job. It's light, breezy and pretty, as ephemeral as the exhilaration of clubbing without really evoking the thrill of it all.

McMahon’s record here is a more challenging listen than most, but you won’t know it at first. You’ll be enamored with the sunshine atop the themes of pain and love. Returning to reveal the darker elements is not a prerequisite for enjoyment, but keeps Freedom engaging long after the first listen.

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.

The sum of its parts adds up to Bon Iver’s most challenging work to date; 22, A Million is an album that rejects comfort and expectations in favor of provoking listeners to make new discoveries. If this challenge is taken, it is a rewarding experience that only grows in beauty with each listen.

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.

Remind Me Tomorrow, then, isn’t only a return to her calling, but a grand surprise. Sharon Van Etten has finally, truly, embraced just how appealing her unique voice can be.

Are We There is one of those rare albums when you stop listening to the music as simply a combination of chords, melodies and carefully constructed instrumentation, but as essential, emotional communication from one person to another.

To say New Energy is a consolidation rather than a progression may seem damning with faint praise, but its palate is so substantial and nourishing that such slight ambition is peripheral. If you’re served a basic carbonara by a Michelin-star pasta chef it’s still a damn fine carbonara.

The imperfections and the what-ifs are exactly what make it so intriguing as a glimpse of where Holley could take things. It’s an album which poses more questions than it answers. It gets under your skin like a tick. It leads you to the river but never forces to drink. It leaves you wondering what Black Foxxes are trying to say, but never gives you the answers. The scab of the question itches, and you’re left wanting nothing but to scratch it.

He wants to continue to be happy the way he is and that contentment is helping him to produce some of his finest work. For a musician, that's truly unique.

Toledo's riffs could pass for classic rock on speed and make for a heady mix when paired up with such razor-sharp wordplay. The references here are as oblique as they are intelligent.

Midsommar may offer limited mileage when it comes to daily listening. Still, it accomplishes its goals with deadly conviction, and for those with a penchant for unnerving listening sessions, you may just discover a dependable companion here. It's a nightmare to linger within.

This is not an album for a breakthrough, nor is it a bastion in the storm. It's something grander.

House of Sugar is not only special because it is the most consistent, detailed, adventurous Alex G record so far, but because it also clarifies what Giannascoli has been working towards all along and positions itself as an opus of one of this decade’s most defining indie artists.

50 Song Memoir is as much the story of Stephin Merritt’s life as it is a love letter to song. It is a certifiable masterpiece and one that music lovers ‘round the world will not soon forget.

For the most part, the album sears with sharp-witted tales of urban life set to a tense and restrained musical background but there is a waning of the insistent energy towards the album’s end.

With Double Negative, Low maintain all fronts of their fanbase. All the elements of the bands chilling atmospheres are there.

If you've got the patience, then this is a remarkably rewarding listen.

You don't have to be a strict devotee of the R&B underground genre to realise that this is a great album. The sound is her own, and she's capable of making an album work as an album rather than just a collection of songs.

When all is said and done, Soul of a Woman cements itself as a fitting send-off for a woman who flat-out owned the stage and spearheaded a scene, transcending the notions of “neo” and “revival” to make music that was impassioned and pure. Sharon Jones lives on every time you press play.

On their past albums Wild Beasts have shown us their savage and raw sides, which have been gloriously charming and exciting, but by opening up on Present Tense and revealing their true hearts, their music has ascended to new heights.

It goes without saying that this is a must have collection that will educate, entertain, and most importantly, remind us of Cabaret Voltaire's lasting influence and cement it in an approachable collection for further generations to delve into.

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.

Though Some Rap Songs may come across as a collection of underdeveloped vignettes of previously covered subject matter, further and deeper listening showcases an economical poet at his most striking self.

Each song compulsively and unabashedly recalls fragments from their oeuvre but when unified these fragments are cleaner, more assured, and more essential, than possibly anything they’ve thrown at us before. From head to toe, front to back, it bangs; but more importantly, it actually has something new to say.

Unafraid to delve into their every whim, from the accomplished to the adventurous to the absurd, CHAI are just about as now as you can get without stumbling into the unrealized.

The musical event drips in unprecedented additions that welcome alternative vocals from Erykah Badu, Janelle Monae and Jesse Boykins III to the track list, along with fervent features from King Louie, Big Sean, J Cole and Quavo, that lure the rap artists out of their comfort zones and onto intricate live compositions.

By the end, Lost In The Dream is similarly as sprawling and textured as its predecessor, harnessing the affirming, heartfelt sentiments without becoming corny or meek (mostly).

From the patient, rising tension and ecstatic release of the Black Sabbath-esque opening of ‘Glasshouse,’ right through to the heady-guitar-noodling-meets-full-throttle-pop-punk of closer, ‘Step Outside,’ Screaming Females manage to keep things, not just interesting, but wall-to-wall, grin-inducingly entertaining.

He continues to hold our attention as he makes sense of his own findings on God and race and legacy and perfection.

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.

Joseph’s songwriting is descriptive and its simplicity is one of the most fascinating aspects of her artistry. She does not only sing her dark hues, but she also wants us to listen as if we were reading pages of her diary.

Stranger to Stranger is a pleasure-filled exploration of rhythm, melody, instrumentation and lyrical themes which has joyful experimentation at its heart.

PUP feel stretched and loose on Morbid Stuff. As rambunctious as the songs can be, that wouldn’t be achieved without the seriousness that they approach their art.

The year’s first R&B masterpiece.

Although it is thoughtfully sequenced, Central Belters is more of an anthology to dip in and out of, mainly due to its running time.

Relatives in Descent, right down to its title, is an enigma of free thought and aggressive, yet powerful sentiment.

It’s the best National album since Boxer; and for argument’s sake, Devendorf’s drumming hasn’t been this vital for ten years.

An album that is stacked full of mind-transporting moments, rendered by carefully selected, produced and deployed analogue elements. It’s a lot to pack into 40 minutes, but it ensures that Theory Of Colours is not only a noteworthy debut album, but a statement of beautiful, fascinating intent from Dauwd.

There is a sturdiness to the xx. The band’s innate talents for melody and texture, even when expressed in the wrong proportions, persist.