Shauf clearly didn't want to repeat himself, and he hasn't, even though the soft suede of his voice still dominates the tracks, seeming even stronger when his characters are in emotional retreat. One might be tempted to play this story for laughs, and it's commendable this album feels straightforward and sincere, even at its least plausible and possibly blasphemous.

Her lilting, rough-hewn cadence carries with it the weight, strength, and spry humor of her homeland, and her storytelling rings true and grounded, even at its most mystic and confounding.

Electrophonic Chronic plays like an old-fashioned long-player instead of a stack of 45s, a heady experience that nevertheless is anchored in R&B. Maybe the thrills aren't as immediate as they are on Yours, Dreamily, yet the free-floating psychedelic soul is alluring, as well as a worthy tribute to Swift.

None of these uninhibited songs could have been half as convincing voiced by another singer. That said, it's evident that she's using her platform to speak for others who have lived through anything remotely similar.

Pollen is yet more proof that Tennis make the kind of music that feels comforting and exciting at the same time. It's rare that a band can ever manage to find that magical sweet spot, even more amazing that a band can hold steady right in the middle of it for as long as they have.

Dynamic is just what it is -- these songs show Weiss is again living up to her status as one of the best rock drummers on the planet. ... The songs are splendid, full of clever, catchy melodies, and Coomes' dramatic delivery is a great vehicle for his often topical and always quotable lyrics, taking on a variety of political and social maladies with a wit that's as charming as it is venomous.

Yo La Tengo have been doing what they do long enough that they know and trust their process, and This Stupid World doesn't seem radically different from their work of the last 10 or 15 years. That said, this music feels warmer and more emotionally satisfying than anything YLT have given us since 2009's Popular Songs.

Constant if fluid oscillations between diaphanous ballads, pulsing slow jams, and modern street soul bangers are just as suited for the greater number of songs based in relationships. The water and flotation metaphors keep flowing, too. ... In several other songs, Kelela is dealing with a lover who is noncommittal, elusive, and inexpressive. They're just as affecting.

Just when you think they've hit an artistic plateau, they take another creative leap into the unknown, only to return with what feels like a deeper, more heartfelt statement of who they are. With This Is Why, Paramore underline that notion, pulling the artistic and emotional threads of their career into a cohesive, ardent whole.

While there are moments of quiet reflection and affection here, Paul still embraces dissonant alt-rock textures on parts of the album, including on opener "My Blood Runs Through This Land," a noisy, borderline shoegaze-metal entry with menacing chords and barely intelligible lyrics.

Eye of I showcases the immediacy and range in Lewis' musical imagination in composition, improvisation, and communication with a freer, more immediately instinctive persona on full display. All killer, no filler.

The album was reportedly rush-released due to hackers threatening to leak the album unless he paid them a million dollars; the album wasn't fully mixed yet, making it seem raw and unfinished. (Trippie stated plans to later release a cleaned-up mix of the album.) On top of its sheer roughness, the album is as bloated as 2020's Pegasus, lasting 76 minutes and 25 songs.

Every Acre is H.C. McEntire's third solo album, and with each release she has demonstrated that she's a major talent who deserves to be recognized by anyone with a taste for a well-told story of one woman's life.

A meeting of the minds that will satisfy and excite fans of either or both artists, Colours of Air is a testament to Morgan and English's artistry that grows richer with each listen.

The follow-up, Portrait of a Dog, leans more heavily into jazz influences, including instrumental explorations and improvisation, while still processing the familial and adding a breakup to the mix.

The songs are honest, deep, and direct, but never heavy-handed. Mostly, The Candle and the Flame finds Forster taking stock of his long and storied life, and grasping at some of the many moments of love and beauty he experienced along the way.

It's largely unobtrusive and serviceable, distinguished mostly by Smith's elastic voice and increased specificity and complexity to the reflective and romantic songs.

Furling never feels like a mixed bag, primarily due to the control with which she moves through her songs. The softer acoustic folk tunes and heavier, more far-reaching dives into piano and densely stacked arrangement all feel like similar parts of a whole, and the album flutters by beautifully like an unbothered mind wandering through various thoughts on a sunny day.

The first Get Up Sequence showed that the Go! Team was firmly back on the course they embarked on with Thunder, Lightning, Strike; the second might just be its equal. It certainly has the right sound, the right songs, and the same sense of bonkers experimentalism and life-affirming spirit to be at least in the running.

Tightening up some loose ends might have made The Waeve more cohesive, but at its best, it's elegant, unpredictable music made for the sheer rejuvenating pleasure of it.

Let's Start Here. may be more loud guitars than 808s, but Lil Yachty still commands the songs powerfully, making vessels of expression out of whatever sounds he chooses.

Deftly executed and ideal for repeat listens, Diamonds & Dancefloors makes it two-for-two for Max's catalog, delivering on the promise of her debut and pushing her even further toward the top of the early-2020s pop pantheon.

The album is a grower, and its odd confluence of reference points is better absorbed than examined. Getting too caught up on the particulars how U.K. folk and jangly college rock fit together only distracts from the Tubs' neat presentation of their first batch of deceptively complex and solidly constructed tunes.

In some ways, Compositions feels more like a film score than other Deathprod albums, not quite resembling variations on a theme, but aurally illustrating a specific scene with each track. Unfortunately, nothing here really expands past being interesting sounds or settings, and these pieces don't elevate to the haunting, mesmerizing level of Deathprod's best work.

Heavier than ever, Oozing Wound find no resolution or peace with these songs, but continue banging their heads against the wall in beautiful fits of rage and exhilaration.

It's that feeling of needing to get out of the house and away from your family, or perhaps yourself, that We Are Scientists distill with lab precision on Lobes.

With Say I Won't, Bass Drum of Death evoke the sweaty album rock of the '70s, infusing it with an undeniably raw and sultry immediacy all their own.

Aided by Ashworth's sure hand, the new leaf Thomas turns over here means that Smalltown Stardust is just as good a mellow, meaningful King Tuff album as Was Dead is a rollicking, down and dirty rock record. Which is to say, really, really good indeed.

It's an intelligent, compassionate, heartfelt album from a man who knows how to make them, and we should all be as grateful as Joe Henry that he's around to sing these songs.

It's as viscerally effective as anything Fucked Up have ever recorded and smart enough to speak to the mind as well as the heart. If this is what the band can do in just one day, imagine what they could have done if they'd given themselves a week.

Whether autobiographical or a thought exercise, Honey is evocative and often relatable, if in turn inevitably alienating and mercurial.

It's a lot of samey-sounding material to wade through just to find a slightly different version of "Mississippi." While the remix is instructive, offering insight into Dylan's intentions and making Time Out of Mind seem less like an outlier in his discography, this set is ultimately for the hardcore heads, who don't mind hearing minute variations on familiar themes.

Much like the natural world it describes, Complete Mountain Almanac is a deeply nuanced record of layers and unseen details that only reveal themselves with time.

The resulting album is perhaps surprisingly uplifting and affectionate in tone. Based in a reflective, if dance-minded, bedroom-R&B zone for the most part.

The wonderful paradox of John Cale's music is his best albums don't often sound like one another, but they're all driven by music no one else could create, and his heart, soul, and vision are visible and intact through the dense, free-flowing atmospheres of Mercy.

With Rush!, Måneskin make good on their Eurovision rock promise, delivering an album that's campy, inspired, and thrilling all at the same time.

The enthusiasm of the execution helps keep The Power and the Glory from sounding like an exercise in nostalgia, as do Mantione's earnest, unguarded songs: this is music that exists entirely in its own moment, not as part of the past.

Coombes remains a rocker in repose, avoiding the temptation to make a racket, yet Turn the Car Around carries a sense of adventure that World's Strongest Man lacked, which ultimately makes it a richer listen.

Though it's often a slower burn than Who the Power, Internal Working Model reaffirms Moss is an artist with something to say and a distinctive way of saying it.

With Ladytron, the band proved they could more than hold their own with the like minded acts who sprang up in their wake. The thought and skill they put into Time's Arrow, however, could only come from years of perspective and experience.

This carefully constructed introspection does fulfill Rowntree's intention of Radio Songs mimicking the shape-shifting nature of late-night listening, acting as an aural journey to an astral plane.

La La Land captures the incredibly rare state of a band still sounding fresh and curious on their 37th LP, and shows no indication of Pollard and co. stopping anytime soon.

This release is probably more for Mac DeMarco super fans than casual listeners, as there's nothing resembling the happy-go-lucky hooks of his best-loved songs, just the incidental sounds collected on a slow, aimless wander.

There's a heady joy in his bile that's infectious, and Every Loser is a weirdly joyous celebration of life from someone who knows why you shouldn't toss it aside.

Often moving. ... It's that distinctly human sense of discovery and the yearning for a better tomorrow, even as the world crumbles around you, that Circa Waves capture on Never Going Under.

Despite all the changes she introduces on Cacti, the honesty of Maries' music remains paramount, and the savvy and polish she brings to the album confirm she's an excitingly hard-to-pin-down artist.

Yorkston has couched his thoughtful, insightful songs in many musical forms, all of them quite successful. His teamwork with the Second Hand Orchestra, and especially with Persson, results in some of the most beautiful and moving music he's made, which is high praise indeed.

Even the inclusion of an older tune somehow doesn't feel like they're content to stay cycling through past ideas. If anything it serves as a stark example of just how far they've come since those timid, mawkish early days, and the rest of the songs give a glimpse of how far they might yet go.

All told, Prize acts as a companion album to What a Boost, further distinguishing Plain's idiosyncratic sound.

Sharp, incisive songwriting remains at the heart of her music, allowing Price to weave different sounds and rhythms into her probing, emotionally open songs.

Snoop Cube 40 $hort is largely a funky good time.

A must-listen for anyone following Harvey's archival series, B-Sides, Demos & Rarities serves as a fascinating parallel primer to her music and the multitudes within it.

Heroes & Villains is the worthy and meticulously assembled sequel to Not All Heroes Wear Capes.

Indigo is an eye-opening taste of what RM is truly capable of outside the bounds of the K-pop powerhouse.

The album runs more than an hour, with 23 tracks ruminating on similar musical and topical themes, but somehow Me vs. Myself stays fresh throughout.

That nobody saw fit to release anything from the tapes at the time wasn't too shocking -- it probably wouldn't have had the impact of Budokan. That it has finally come out is cause for rejoicing for Cheap Trick fanatics and lovers of real, rugged, and insanely catchy rock & roll.

It plays to her strengths with an ideal balance of solid craft and relatable humanity, and it's a more than welcome return from a singer and songwriter whose every release feels like a gift.

Despite Four's gentility and lyricism, it is a striking, intimate, and abundantly creative exercise in modern jazz interaction and improvisation.

Comradely Objects seems like some of the most complex, demanding music Horse Lords have made, yet, amazingly, it's also their most danceable album.

That Little Simz was able to deliver such a crafty set so soon after the career-making Introvert is impressive enough, but No Thank You stands out for its own merits.

Yet another effortless display of ear-bending production, wild energy, and creative synergy from a team of preternaturally blessed artists.

The results are naturally a bit scattered sonically, as any record featuring Steve Vai and the Roots would inevitably be, yet it's tied together by Rundgren's aural aesthetic and sense of mischief.

Hour-plus length and stylistic variety likewise signal that SOS could be the overreaching kind of highly anticipated follow-up. Still, it's an advancement from Ctrl in every respect apart from cohesion

Densely packed with historical references and acute lyrical imagery, Aethiopes requires numerous listens and extensive research to fully comprehend, yet even on cursory listens, the album's scope, detail, and creativity are highly impressive.

On DMIZ the rapper finds a third gem in the post-T&Y crown, building his incisive pen into smaller frameworks -- with stunning consequences.

Featuring production from P2J, Kel-P, Sammy Soso, and others, it's an able follow-up to its breakout predecessor.

While other 1D members might grab more of the public spotlight, Tomlinson proves his strength as a songwriter and voice for fans with more complex, deeper emotions.

Only a few select moments that are more illuminated provide enough clarity to give you an idea of where things are going. Still, the drive for exploration is what makes the voyage worth taking, and rRoxymore's music eludes easy comparison.

Three albums into a burgeoning career, Strings could go anywhere at this point, but the mix of time-honored songs, heartfelt nature, and great playing really anchors this return-to-roots set.

Repetition and rumination are frequent throughout Choosing, as Jamieson ultimately makes a message of the album's economical title. While this lends itself to a certain amount of musical stagnancy, some changes of pace unfold along the way in the form of the catchy "Runner," which begins with spare electric guitar and voice but progresses at a tuneful, accelerating gallop.

The set sees the band channeling their anger about world events into a blistering mix of metal and alternative hard rock.

The result is a fine archival release that goes a long way toward proving that 1972 wasn't a lost year for the band and that their growing pains and tribulations make for fascinating listening.

It could be argued that Live at the Fillmore, 1997 is the definitive live portrait of Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers: not only do they sound mighty, this freewheeling eclecticism rooted in 1960s rock and pop is the best showcase of the band's aesthetic.

The end result is historically significant but also a pleasure: for anybody who has wanted to live within the world of Hunky Dory, this offers an excellent place to do just that.

Listeners willing to approach The Ruby Cord on its own terms will be treated to a remarkable, thoughtful, and emotionally literate cycle of songs that ranks with his most rewarding work.

The release seems like a major personal achievement and he deserves to be proud of it, but there isn't anything here that matches the best tracks on his first two albums.

Prior to the album's release, White Lung announced they would be breaking up after Premonition, and if that does end up being the case, they've gone out with a magnificently gutsy farewell.

Part singer/songwriter folk, part 19th century chamber song (one track is called "Tone Pome"), and part ambient score, the album arguably climaxes with the theatrical "Wash It Away," which most dramatically combines all of the above -- although the elegant, tonic-shifting, harp-accented closer, "Maya, Please," also does little to readjust listeners to the material world.

Now that they're veterans, Nickelback doesn't try so hard to be heavy, nor do they indulge in their tasteless side: they're craftsmen who know how to deliver the goods, which--on its own terms--Get Rollin' certainly does.

L.S. Dunes' defiant, topical, and anthemic sound draws from a wide array of punk and hardcore subgenres.

Her Loss is scattered, flowing more like a mixtape than a well-designed album, but there are plenty of highlights to balance out the less fully formed inclusions.

Live at the L.A. Forum, April 26, 1969 is a superb reminder that most of that music is still vital, rewarding, and well worth hearing.

The album does a masterful job of presenting Wand's powers as a live act, with the songs sounding every bit as strong as their studio counterparts, and often much more exciting.

Throughout Cherry, Snaith creates a new kind of tension in Daphni's music, as well as a spontaneity that seduces his audience into movement ever more cleverly.

Stylistically uneven, unsettled set, though one never loses the sense that Warren is presenting a central, ill-fated-relationship narrative.

It certainly slots in a level below their more considered releases, but if one is fully onboard with the King Gizzard experience, Laminated Denim is certainly worth adding to an ever expanding collection of works.

While Tinariwen would hone their sound and achieve even greater sonic depths in the decades following their cassette releases, Kel Tinariwen offers a compelling and charming aural window into that development.

Due to its length (nearly 50 minutes), cerebral constitution, and tenuous songs structures, SAP can take some effort on the part of the listener by the end, although its unpredictability, enveloping intimacy and creative restlessness are just as likely to engage.

Trios: Sacred Thread is the fitting sendoff volume for the project. Its tunes are wrought with nearly symbiotic aesthetic interplay, spiritual connection, intimacy, and even tenderness.

Pole continues advancing musically on Tempus, stowing away new sounds and approaches so subtly that they only surface when zeroed in on.

Along with delivering the abundance of colors, moods, and first-rate songwriting expected from a Bill Callahan album, Ytilaer is more exciting and engaging than his music has been in some time. This is how an expert singer/songwriter captures the tenor of the moment: with songs of timeless quality.

While it doesn't always reach Sinning's heights, the deeper sexuality, deeper grooves, and deeper understanding Daniel seeks and finds on Is It Going to Get Any Deeper Than This? make it a triumph in its own right.

Standouts aside, Profound Mysteries III feels like the weakest link in this ambitious, year-long project which, while exciting to behold, probably could have been condensed into a one exceptional album.

BROCKHAMPTON have consistently been on an upward trajectory, improving upon each previous effort with the maturity and skill of much more seasoned artists. Ending this part of their story with grace and simplicity, The Family is not only a thank-you letter to fans but to the guys themselves -- a band of brothers who came, conquered, and clocked out while still on top.

And in the Darkness, Hearts Aglow is another step forward for Weyes Blood, building on the stunning sonic and emotional environments she tailored on Titanic Rising and using that lushness as a means of processing destabilized times.

The Lone Bellow took a risk in self-producing Love Songs for Losers, and they pulled it off. Through this deeply moving collection of songs with a wide range of musical expressions, the album offers creative abundance and possibility.

This is deeply intuitive, subtly detailed, endlessly grooving, holistic jazz-trance music that was improvised at an extremely high level.

[The] spirit of fun and togetherness carries even the heaviest moments of the record, making it another valuable example of the unique magic Neil and Crazy Horse keep tapping into, even so many years on.