The lo-fi approach largely works to his benefit, giving the album a homegrown charm. Even though the album has a couple stumbles and is a bit all over the place at times, the fact that he took a risk to redevelop his entire sound and still released an album as cohesive as Revelations is a feat unto itself.

There isn’t anything here that you haven’t heard previously on Oceania (“Run2Me”), either Machina LP (“Dorian”), or Adore (“Being Beige”). That isn’t necessarily a bad thing.

For All Kings--like Repentless and Dystopia and Death Magnetic--is a safe and agreeable slice of thrash, but it’s also robotic, formulaic, and dated.

Best Behavior has its share of highlights, as did their previous outing, %, but fails to deliver as a long-player. In the end, what we are left with are a handful of excellent singles, and sometimes that can be just enough to get the party started.

What we get is truly stellar introspection from a young adult on the verge of something big.

These songs are rarely exciting in their movement and few listeners will hear the album as more than just a good debut, but like The Velvet Underground and The Smiths, some styles never go out of style.

Not every experiment on This Is Not a Safe Place succeeds, but that’s okay; failures still signify work in progress, and we can all agree that a world in which Ride’s at work is always preferable to the alternative.

Greene's efforts of merging the decidedly low-key sounds of bedroom music and the urban thump of hip-hop represent a good first step in the continued evolution of the genre, but in the end, the resulting efforts feel warped by the confines of Greene's bedroom pop dedication.

While the record doesn't completely clear the bar, all things considered, it doesn't fall too far short.

It’d be thrilling to hear Neufeld compose a score that emulated this new fusion, yet paced in more easily traceable narrative arcs. In the meantime, this intriguing album more than suffices.

A mixed blessing. The musical edifice that he and his cohorts have built is strong and daringly modern, but they’ve decorated the insides with spray paint and hashtagged sentiments.

Unfortunately, Amen & Goodbye largely works in the realms of humongous. There could well be a clear, concise thesis buried somewhere in all that business, but it’s very difficult to pick out amidst all the signifiers.

Range Anxiety is an album of endearing earnestness and jangly charm, and it will stand on your doorstep asking to come inside and chill for a while.

Although it's top-heavy, Manifest! is a strong debut and proves Friends isn't just a singles band.

Tyler is his own worst enemy, of course. But the buoyancy of the production and the overall intrigue of hearing him struggle with his idle hands prevent the album from getting mired down in too much vanity.

An album desperate for texture, flavor, and risks, Giant Orange is the aural equivalent of middle-of-the-road musical tragedy.

The beats are luminous, the melodies enlightening, and, most importantly, the record is guiding a path to much brighter things for the producer.

Her vocal abilities are as strong as ever.

Despite a few missteps, Acousmatic Sorcery is still a unique debut announcing the emergence of a fresh talent worthy of the buzz Beal has been receiving.

A 20-track album is a lot. But with The WIZRD, one can barely feel it because of the smooth flow from track to track. Even the few misses don’t disrupt the rhythm of the project.

Shoot for the Stars, Aim for the Moon neither blights nor burnishes Pop Smoke’s legacy. It’s fine. Better to remember Smoke as the dark-horse MVP candidate for summer 2019.

This seeming juxtaposition of entirely retro leaning, concise pop sensibilities and massive, atmospheric tendencies shouldn't meld seamlessly, let alone adjoin each other, yet Hauschildt repeatedly finds a way to fit the pieces together.

Gone Is Gone plays smooth, finishes rough, and gets a little eccentric where it ought not to. Thankfully, the EP is far more good than bad.

Despite the record’s production, some of the group’s most ambitious to date, it feels incomplete, seemingly ending five or six songs early. It’s a grower, yes, but there’s too much to unpack for it to sound vital to modern hip-hop’s equilibrium.

Despite the successful musical navigation, there are moments on the record where the band loses its way slightly.

On the whole, everything proceeds much too predictably and with far too much caution and restraint.

Zeus has become more focused and, in turn, more enjoyable; this is the one that'll bring the band's sound into its own.

Naturally, the beats are excellent across the board, although 21 Savage uses a little more Autotune and makes more of a play for the pop charts with some slinky R&B jams. ... Unfortunately, these reflective moments are outnumbered by repetitive odes to getting high, getting laid, and getting lots of money. What’s worse, some of his lyrics aren’t just bland, but blatantly homophobic.