Ultimately, Ivy Tripp is the best record in Crutchfield's discography, but her rise is undoubtedly continuing. Where she will plateau remains to be seen, but she is already making her mark as one of America's premier songwriters and she shows no signs of stopping.

What sets Ty Segall apart from Slaughterhouse--and most of his albums--is the well-measured balance between the heavy Ty and the more melodious Ty. He moves back and forth throughout, but easily maintains unison under his idiosyncratic character; and the album is crafted to ebb and flow.

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.

There’s an incredible amount of space at play on Compassion; the instrumentation and samples inhale and exhale, breathing life into the tracks.

Sonically, this is the most Drake Drake's ever been, with the signature sound he's been dancing around ever since 2009's So Far Gone (released exactly 6 years prior) finally being cemented in wall-to-wall.

With Grievances, Rolo Tomassi seem ready to take their first step onto the stage in front of a wider audience.

An incredibly physical record (both tonally and lyrically) with a greater focus on percussion.

He brings a force with him that can't be found on any previous release of his, and if his brilliance hasn't swayed your take on him in the past, Who Told You To Think?! is an extremely attentive and translucent entry-point into the modern philosophies and ideals of one of the best emcees of this generation.

We are left at its end feeling reflective, yet somewhat lost as to how these feelings we just experienced could ever be rediscovered. It's something that only the power of music can create, and Bing & Ruth do it with style, elegance and tact.

Not only is Still Brazy, arguably the most sharply produced rap album of the year, emblazoned with the most pronounced storytelling of 2016, YG has un-apologetically used his gunshot as a metaphor for America in the time of Trump.

It's a tremendous record, that simply, and effectively puts their contemporaries to shame.

It feels like a tightly wound, meticulously crafted gem of an album. When you tack on the album's intense emotional resonance, Strange Diary has vaulted itself into the conversation for the year's most powerful albums.

A certain sadness does indeed pervade Margaret’s voice, but it never dominates her work. It reverberates against the beauty of her words.

The record is a lot of things and also unquestionably not, for the most part embodying an impregnable and extraordinary soundscape that fortifies itself against deconstruction, but its one truly distinctive quality is that it’s the precise opposite of boring.

No one has told the tale of Kurt Vile except Kurt Vile, and there is a diversity of expression on b'lieve I'm goin down.

Leaving aside their Chicago/Detroit-house inspired beats and diving into gloomier topics and luscious sounds, the power of Stelmanis’ lyrics is what makes this new release stronger than its predecessor.

Though Thalassa does not capture the most positive of emotions, Gika reassures her listeners that sometimes feeling something--even anger and sadness--is better than feeling nothing.

As we're thrown directly and unmercifully into 'Curtain Twitcher', we're already heavily bruised from the first half of the album, and will have to wait until 'Take It' to finally take a breath.

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.

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.

While infested by hooks, yet Life Without Sound bears itself with moral clarity and resolve while rocking damn hard.

Shackles' Gift was born in Maritius, yet constructed in London, it's as indebted to the past as it is to the present and it's to the band's credit that they understand that completely.

Every element that made Neon Indian such a joy through the first two albums has been polished and improved upon to make a record that truly must be heard.

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.

Jenny Hval has never come closer to a universal truth. If she’s often felt to have been speaking from on high, Hval has never been more purely human than on The Practice of Love.

Rather than betting the farm on a couple showstoppers while keeping everything else relatively muted and inconspicuous, Frost pushes himself further and further and creates an incredible experience.

This feels like a band overflowing with ideas in a productive way.

Inspirational work, yet again.