It’s a loud record, but everything’s all there. It shakes, it rattles, it rolls, and that’s sort of a nagging issue.

Låpsley’s technical abilities are not to be questioned; her stamp is all over this album’s production, and her sonic impulses rarely stray far from “on point.” But when her heart starts to catch up with her head, as it does intermittently on Long Way Home, whoo boy: Watch out.

With each effort, BJM continue a transcendence from their early days feigning the swagger of their namesake's band toward a more complex realization; Aufheben is certainly no different.

It's just fun and fresh and, as a whole, good pop music.

It’s often messy and sometimes masterful, with the two records reflecting a revitalized band that’s found the footing that eluded them not in youthful disquiet, but in the complexities of getting older.

This LP helps demonstrate variance and unseen skills within those confines [infectious bangers and more romantic, nostalgic odes] to truly set Curren$y apart

Anti takes risks and disregards convention in a way that only a true superstar like Rihanna could pull off.

Time Travel has some stellar moments but is not quite the album to make a star of Alessi's Ark. The singer has time on her hands for that to happen, and happen it surely will.

It might be tempting for some to initially dismiss Planningtorock as weird for the sake of being weird, but W exposes an artist who is experimenting with musical conventions, with bizarre and often captivating results.

It’s as good a rock record as The Black Keys have in them in 2019, and odds are that will satisfy most fans.

These songs dance around themselves, swaying with confidence, before getting lost in a grey area between jaunty and confused.

His legacy was going to live on whether The Diary was released or not. This just broadens the scope of the legend and gives us even more to appreciate.

III is a slow, methodical record that commands listeners’ full attention, but it rewards the investment.

Rolling Blackouts doesn't move away from what the Go! Team is known for. Instead, this is a snapshot of a band both honing their skills and creating a fun piece of music.

They've created for themselves a unique soundscape and vibe to explore in future releases. In short, they've proven that knowledge is great, but a rocking album trumps all.

It’s the sound of a band digging deep, sharing the lessons they’ve learned, and channeling their experiences into something bigger than all its members combined. Even if it’s slightly lopsided and occasionally heavy-handed, this album undoubtedly proves that Arcade Fire have a lot of gas in the tank, and they’ll do whatever it takes to… (I’m sorry) keep the car running.

While TLI never rival the best of those bygone styles in terms of memorability, this is the first album of theirs to make clear how well they’ve grown to understand the dynamics of making rap songs, fake or otherwise, beyond basic song structure.

He doesn’t finesse his points; he douses them in gasoline and blows them up. And that’s great! We could all do with more fiery explosions in our music. Sometimes Cole gets wacky, but thankfully he’s never dull.

This LP is loud, clanging, and communal, but also, in its own way, dreamlike. There’s something warped at the core of these songs, as if they’ve been yanked through some kind of wormhole and have reemerged into our world as aliens. And, for the most part, that makes for some fascinating listening.

St. Catherine shows a far more delicate, subtle, polished version of his bedroom pop.

For those who already believe, it represents a promising comeback that, while never fully hitting the marks set for it by time or the band’s own peers, points to even more inventive, invigorated music on a horizon that likely isn’t another two decades away.

With the release of his 11th studio album, Write Me Back, Kelly has found a balance between both sensibilities, and forged an album that's a definitive career landmark.

They’ve produced an album that is a highly entertaining asset perfect for coasting out of summer.

Earle further proves that taking the straight and narrow and settling down can reap the most rewards.

On this album, the tracks that are lacking in length often sound as if they–well–are lacking in something else as well. Not to say In the Mountain is a poor effort; it merely seems like it would benefit from a bit more development.

What We Saw From The Cheap Seats could've been Spektor's magnum opus, but the flashes of brilliance here are enough to keep us hoping for her next release.

Some fresh attention on Gentry’s short but blazing career with the help of Mercury Rev and their co-conspirators here is a welcome development. That notion alone helps ease the minor disappointments that this well-meaning tribute serves up and elevates the best work on Delta Sweete Revisited even higher.

For those awaiting more of Hawthorne’s soul revivalism, his new carefree mentality has also had a positive effect on the songwriter’s more straightforward soul affairs.