The band sounds like they’re having fun, and humor is such a scarcity in the super serious realm of modern metal. Deeper Than Sky is fun to listen to, like the carefree thrash of old.

While there is nothing groundbreaking about Blind Spot, there doesn’t need to be. It sounds like Lush in 1994, right at the top of their game. Truly the only complaint is that there are only four songs.

Face Stabber stands as arguably Oh Sees’ most mature and nuanced work to date, and as evidenced by this album, the band is riding a steep, upward trajectory that has continued for an astonishing period of time.

Deeply satisfying on multiple levels, Always Tomorrow is great guitar pop and a bracing account of one person’s struggle to construct a new life. Free of sugar-coating or easy answers, it should speak to everyone who wants to take better care of themselves.

Lotta Sea Lice, Barnett and Vile’s first collaborative album together, makes for a remarkably sublime pairing that brings out the best in each artist, an unexpected gem that sits near the top of either’s discography.

It is an album you should breathe, if only for one play.

Down in the Weeds is still a Bright Eyes album, with its share of obsessiveness, narcissism, and angst. Many songs have their sights set on calamity, from climate disaster to Oberst’s failed marriage. And yet, there’s also a refreshing maturity, a perspective that seems a bit wiser, a bit less ready to revel in self-loathing. ... That culmination — from grief to love — is what truly makes these Bright Eyes songs feel new.

Are You Alone?, as its title suggests, is an incredibly personal experience, one that benefits from conversing with Welsh as much as he is with you.

Asperities conveys a similar sense of place [as previous albums] without ever explicitly detailing where it’s set or why, allowing the listener to envision their own wrinkles stretched over Kent’s richly drawn skeleton.

From Assault on Precinct 13, to Halloween, to Escape From New York, to even Vampires, this set has literally everything fans would want from the guy, going so far as to include tracks he didn’t even write (see: The Thing, Starman).

Telefone shows a great sense of promise and complex beauty.

Megan is her own best advocate, and Traumazine is a testament to this principle. Elsewhere, Megan displays her penchant for bringing out the best in her collaborators, molding herself to bring out the most recognizable aspects of their style.

Miss_Anthrop0cene is the perfect Grimes record for 2020, delving into topical themes such as climate change with an eclectic mix of genres. It’s certainly her darkest, most ambitious project yet, and it works on nearly all levels.

With a little more time and money to burn, Price and co. spiced up the nervy and raw sound of Midwest with the addition of a string section on some tunes, some gospel-like backing vocals when needed, and a little ProTools augmentation to create the collage of presidential speeches that floats in and around the title track. Otherwise, she and the band stick comfortably to their chosen lane.

Levi expertly evokes the story and emotion even without any visual cues.

The record and its seamless transitions from one heavily enticing, tender, and softly delivered track to the next paints a captivating and enthralling self-portrait.

For those who have paid close attention to the band’s evolution, it seemed inevitable that he would get to this point. Accordingly, A Corpse Wired for Sound feels like a culmination.

From the creative songwriting to the engaging performances, Metal Galaxy is certainly out of this world. With its awesome blend of musical styles, all infused with some form of metal aggression, this record is BABYMETAL at their most adventurous.

The precise beauty of their production work, specifically the refusal to dump gratuitous instruments into the mix, places Magnifique at the top of Ratatat’s catalogue. Stroud and Mast let guitars beat at the album’s heart, and their balance of bubbly and peaceful elements ushers a return too fluid to ignore.

Too feels like a transitional record, but it’s also as trashy and as thrashy as they come.

Despite its intimacy, Piano & A Microphone doesn’t feel like trespassing on Prince because it doesn’t truly expose him. This recording doesn’t reveal the nuts-and-bolts inner workings of one of the greatest artists of all time. How could it? We get to listen as a visionary works with simple tools--and in the end, Prince’s genius remains as mysterious as ever.

7 is a lush record that grabs you from the onset and contains tremendous depth beyond the surface. Not quite a full rebirth, the band feel free to indulge their experimental inclinations and loosen up, filling the record with a bright spark that makes it as exciting to listen to as it must have been to make.

The music on the record seamlessly ebbs and flows while not sounding repetitive, and Alison Goldfrapp remains one of pop’s most charismatic, if underrated, singers. In all, Silver Eye has a little bit of everything for fans of either the band’s uptempo electronic or reflective folk-ambient phases.

Not many artists reach 20 albums, and even fewer do it with such aplomb. Or, to put it another way: here’s to 20 more.

This is the biggest Benny album to date, but he doesn’t lose what made him great and such a beloved underground rapper. His boasts are as strong as ever, and his flows are cold like the air in the Buffalo streets.

These albums are as close as we can get to traveling back in time to see one of our greatest at his best.

The snarling enfant terrible with a go-it-alone attitude is now a mentally and emotionally grounded 29-year-old capable of cherishing his loved one. Without question, Brandon Banks is among the best and biggest-hearted rap albums of the summer.

Existential Reckoning is certainly another worthwhile effort from the acclaimed singer and his ever-revolving musical collaborators.