WILLOW's pointed vision and eagerness to push the envelope allowed her and Greatti to construct songs that consistently take unexpected turns yet culminate in her most cohesive project to date.

Overall, hardcore R&B fans will appreciate age/sex/location most, but this is an album made for cuffing season and should probably be listened to by lovesick single people still figuring it out.

There's rebirth in the swirl of destruction, but these days the Yeah Yeah Yeahs seem more interested in the stories that start after the cataclysm, where purple fireweed bursts from scorched hillsides and glass shards are rounded by the tides.

The songs on this album aren't going to be overshadowing the classics that the band built their name on, but they'll sit nicely alongside them, and The End, So Far is a worthy addition to Slipknot's raucous arsenal.

The Hum Goes on Forever finds the Wonder Years doing what they do best and doing it a bit better each time, all while raising the emotional stakes to make each record feel newly important.

On Hyper-Dimensional Expansion Beam, The Comet Is Coming continue their exploration of the wide wonders around us — the unknown, physical and metaphysical, light and darkness, life and death, and the connectedness and spirit laced between it all; broadening the scope, testing ideas and seeking freedom and rapture through rhythm and sound.

It works wonderfully camping on a relaxed beach or in the most ostentatious concert venue, worthy of rigorous intellectual inspection yet just as easy to get high and chill to. ... It gives something wholly original to the culture in a way similar to what Will 'Quantic' Holland did when he launched the Quantic Soul Orchestra in 2003.

Alex G is a genius at crafting intimately familiar feelings while injecting off-kilter miscues that satisfy the oddball compulsions living in our heads. The level of restraint routinely becomes unbalanced in an instant, yet the results are more reassuring than anxiety-inducing.

Although it lacks any true standout tracks, it makes up for it with Watson's most adventurous production to date and a clear desire to walk on new paths, which bodes well for any future releases.

They've managed to create an album that feels fresh while also being the closest they've come to recreating the magic of earlier records. This is a band that has finally found a way to evolve without eliminating what it was that made them so special in the first place.

Keery could have gone back to the alt-rock psychedelia that already earned him plaudits; instead, he took a risk and made DECIDE — a funky, sometimes goofy sci-fi odyssey with tons of twists both sonic and emotional.

Portions of SPARK may be too slick for its own good, as basic lovelorn lyrics that fill songs like "BACK THEN" ("Blue skies don't feel so wrong / Those times have come and gone") and the back end's more drippy melodies ("HEART WILL BEAT") go down a bit too easily. But on SPARK, Whitney prove themselves to be in the indie rock game for the long run, even if they've outgrown the type of indie rock that birthed them.

Even for all the newfound sheen, there's nothing on this new self-titled album that necessarily feels out of step with what's come before. ... Anchoring the songs to drum and bass grooves and keyboard loops gives Bixler-Zavala more space to flex his voice; once little more than a high-pitched rebel yell, it's now capable of delivering a rainbow of emotions.

Despite some bumps, Hold the Girl is full of passion and reflection, uninterested in holding back and unafraid to revel in the power of vulnerability and self-love.

Dying field or not, the Beths' third LP is a reaffirmation that the band are ready and willing to go down with the ship.

Someday Is Today pairs fragmented, stream-of-consciousness lyrics with soundscapes that flow and grow at their own pace, balancing the post-rock proclivities of Do Make Say Think with the lazy drum machines and synthesizers of Beach House (especially on the opening track, "Hold Me In Your Mind").

This time around, they've pulled from the world's ever-present deterioration to bring some much-needed heft and urgency to the formula.

Her identity is permanently stamped on As Above, So Below — the album both showcases Sampa's growth as an artist and delivers on fan expectation, taking them on a journey beyond bars into Africa's rich musical heritage.

Natural Brown Prom Queen is somewhat overstuffed with both tracks and ideas, and the album's chaotic, sometimes hurried nature doesn't always work to its advantage. But even if censoring herself a bit more would've made for a more concise project, the album is nonetheless a captivating glimpse into Sudan Archives' artistic palette.

Although When the Wind Forgets Your Name is by no means revolutionary, it's still a refreshing, cool-sounding record, one that finds Built to Spill revelling in the past and looking clear-eyed toward the future, some 30 years on. That's no small feat.

Repeat listens uncover a musician trying to arrange these musical insights into something as affecting and creatively grounded as her best ambient works.

Flood is much less didactic than its predecessor — it isn't Donnelly's job to teach us, but she still demands and warrants our attention.

Julia Jacklin is a unique talent. Know her. With PRE PLEASURE, Jacklin once again makes herself impossible to dismiss. She not only lives up to the hype, she deserves more of it.

Freakout/Release tugs on the bare threads of the moth-eaten sweater of our collective conscience while leaving us dope beats to step to and good thoughts in our heads. You can practically feel the cumulative effect of Joe Goddard microdosing mushrooms, opening the window of perception a tiny crack to let some fresh air in each day. Depression has rarely sounded breezier.

The album is emotionally mature beyond his years, and like 1999, it is a gateway to hip-hop sounds of the past while looking to the future, making for a project that shouldn't be skipped this year.

Cheat Codes stands as Black Thought's most fully fleshed-out and accessible non-Roots project to date. Despite not veering too far outside his comfort zone or breaking any new ground, it holds the perfect blend of accessibility and complexity, supported by an energetic cast of guests.

It's the samples in particular, though, that give Reset a sort of whimsical timelessness. ... Like much of Panda Bear and Sonic Boom's best work, Reset is disorienting — an album of songs that feels cyclical and never-ending.

While less vulnerable than Lemonade, RENAISSANCE takes the reins as Beyoncé's grandest record to date because of the technical achievements in production and seemingly effortless experimentation without losing any of her lyrical cool. ... Beyoncé's RENAISSANCE is a modern classic.