She crafted something challenging, mysterious and memorable. Gorgeous was simply a by-product.

The Mobb aren't exactly reinventing the wheel here, but on album highlight "Timeless," the effect is beguilingly hypnotic.

Back with arguably more certified bangers than before, clipping. throws caution to the wind with soul-rending sonics and elite-tier rapping. At the very least, Visions doubles the likelihood of a hapless Disney+ user following Diggs from Hamilton to a horrorcore masterclass.

While the Black Dahlia Murder have always been an impressive band, Nightbringers finds them on top of their game and performing better than ever before. The album has elements of their earlier material, but present them with a polished and perfected vibe across the board.

They embrace vulnerability, taking time to address modern issues (read: symptoms of capitalism), while also imbuing a real sense of fun, artistic merit and instrumental democracy in the record's 11 tracks.

By immersing himself even deeper into the world of dub music and its equally minimalist and maximalist tones and tropes, Grim Reaper sounds stronger than anything he's accomplished so far.

There's not enough space here to get into why Sleater-Kinney may be one of the most important bands of 2015, but one thing is clear: they've already delivered a serious contender for one of the year's best records.

Beach Fossils have found a balance that's better than anyone could have hoped for.

Never before have the band felt so complete and realized in causality of their sound than on Modern Mirror.

Remains an unlikely and absolutely wonderful and essential listen.

Hearing it now, After the Party is delightfully bittersweet. Years on, when time has continued to pass and age has continued to set in, it'll be devastating.

Harlan & Alondra feels like an older album in the same way that Buddy gives the impression of rappers from the past, but when you add in modern day energy, the album becomes very special.

Juice B Crypts responds with 11 tracks of knotty, electronic rock puzzles.

Kiwanuka is therapeutic for all parties involved. It's honest, psychedelic, enlightening and recalls blackness defined by acoustic folk and the organic soul of past artists like Gil Scott-Heron, Bobby Womack and Otis Redding.

Baker is careful not to glorify life's darkest moments, and certainly doesn't on Turn Out the Lights. Rather, her candid portrayal of pain is a rare and beautiful gift.

This is DIY revolution groove and as such, is an inspiration to those who wish to express outside the norms.

Vibrant, it colours outside the lines. Poignant, it's transparent with altering modes of bravado, vulnerability and desperation. It is, thoroughly, a Frank Ocean album, yearning for perfection, sating the audience's hunger for dynamism, yet with the persistent feeling that the artist feels it's all a failure.

Menuck and Doria found a new creative partnership, and each return to are SING SINCK, SING provides that crucial reminder while offering a shoulder to cry on.

As the musicians begin to ebb and flow toward the ninth and final movement, it's clear that Pharoah Sanders and Floating Points are so metaphysically in tune with their latest creation that their respective musical personalities almost disappear into the waves of sound, making Promises a recording that is more of a transcending mind meld than it is a collaboration.

De Doorn is not only a continuation, but also a rebirth of Amenra's pilgrimage of apocalyptic heaviness.

What this songwriting team has to offer isn't just pretty, though it can be that--it's also pretty profound, passionate and substantial.

Power In The Blood is a masterpiece in a storied career.

As short a release as it is, the tight six-track EP packs a punch. This is essential material for both country listeners and fans of Orville Peck, who, through his dedication to authenticity in aesthetics, joins the likes of Shania, Reba, Dolly, Johnny, Kenny, Merle, Hank and countless others among the genre's greats.

It's surprising, deeply moving and occasionally stunning.

Strait is doing what most contemporary country artists shy away from, which is successfully bring back the real deal. He is effectively and triumphantly making traditional country music cool again.

At the heart of it, Morbid Stuff just still sounds like friends having fun and making catchy, cathartic punk anthems for teens and almost-adults alike--offering a brief, but much needed respite from the hell that is everyday life.

Full of prodigious riffs, intoxicating vocals and a narrative you just can't ignore, So When You Gonna… exemplifies just what happens when talent meets passion.

Minimum Rock N Roll is a dynamic and vibrant good-time screed; it's not anti-consumption but it is out to have people consume discerningly.