It's thrilling to feel all the hooks in this thing; one gets to feeling all Hellraisery, exploding with joy everywhichway.

While Blackstar features a fair amount of indulgence, especially on the aforementioned 10-minute-long title track, it never feels labored, and the music never even once imitates the nightmarish soundscapes of Scott Walker.

What one rarely finds, however, is the synthesis of the sounds brought by such a group's various components into a new form that nonetheless retains their recognizable trademarks. But Channel Pressure is such a beast.

No one wants to see a zombie in the rear-view mirror, and nobody wants music that reeks of old trends, but both have their uses. Bands like Weekend have us looking nervously over our shoulder as we drive recklessly into the future.

Every track on Axes offers something exciting for those who care to listen.

It ensnares the listening consciousness, simultaneously revealing the trap and pacifying the listener.

The ultimate judgment of Going Places ought to be that of a great record that should and will be listened to often.

As an unsettling exercise in pop terrorism, The Horror is a rare treat.

If you like gorgeous folk, then this album is for you. If you don’t, well, The Hold Steady released something not that long ago.

This album has the power to make you feel uncomfortable enough to look away from yourself, which isn’t easy.

After repeat listens, the content of El-P’s more afflictive lyrics begins to fall away so that only the rhythm and timbre of his smoky growl remain to complement the record’s malevolent chorus of synth effects and samples. A beautiful use of negative space, indeed.

Despite the flying dog daydream that inspired the record, Cabral often underlines the more fantastical elements of her work with a deep sense of melancholy.

As good as Hastings’ production is, however, it is Young Fathers’ vocals that make Dead great.

Barter 6 is an obvious, tight application of Thug’s lawless style brought into the space of a linear album, letting his flow drip and collect in horizontal spaces, as opposed to being sharply crafted like in his iconic hits, “Stoner,” “Danny Glover,” and “Lifestyle.”

Kaito could be the best band in the world, but Band Red isn't the best album in the world. What it is, though, is a record that shows just how good this band can be when they get it right, even if that isn't all the time.

Ishi may be a lullaby, calling Ishi’s and Gengras’ friends to rest, but ultimately it imparts a peace to all who oscillate within the flux of the universe.

God Save the Clientele is more of the same for the group’s fans, who will find the record near-faultless.

With only six tracks, Lala Belu shows that being hypnotized is what we secretly want.

It is one of the better EDM records in recent years due to its well-mired quality, and it feels neither trendy nor throwbacky nor settled.

Clue to Kalo may give acts like Postal Service and Her Space Holiday a run for their money.

Rausch is a portrait of nature as the birthplace of modernity, and the birthplace of modernity is here.

If you think you’ve heard songs more successful at melodrama and heavy mood than “Bad Magic” or more successful at the naked, perennial mode of “pure beauty” than “Requiem For Forgiveness,” I want you to forget them, because you are kidding yourself.

If Melnyk’s technique hasn’t changed, he is breaking new conceptual ground.

What makes The Historical Conquests Of... a great album and not just Ritter’s foray into stylistic versatility is the integrity of his musicianship. The album is thorough; it is complete.

While spare in its construction, Copia offers a bounty of emotion for those who give it the chance.

For an album so complex--one that’s simultaneously funny and fearless--it has an uncanny way of simplifying things

Through tackling the repercussions of vocal processing and by demonstrating some of the most profound uses of it, Love Streams gives credence to the act in a way that vilifies the most obscure uses of it, even when the end results yield little more than the evaporated phantoms that we continue to chase in our everyday lives.

In Rebound, Friedberger meets mementos of happier times and opportunities for immediate joy with identical ease. And that is the promise, making her latest album an intriguing open door from an artist who continues to grow in all possible ways.