In KAINA’s sprawling but concise little world, her truths feel universal.

UZU is stunning and melodic, and consistently absorbing.

The mixture of gentility and dissonance is somehow more unsettling than if Power was to go full on into harsher, angrier territory. The balance that he maintains throughout is what makes the album work.

Bully’s new album, Lucky For You, is her finest work to date. Never before has Bognanno crafted a record so consistently captivating, able to fire on all cylinders even in its quieter moments.

This record encapsulates a unit who have perfected their chemistry so much that they are approaching their prime with precision, passion and grace. As the ladies continue to propel forward, it’s important to remember Under My Influence as a bold collection of thoughts and experiences that tap into a generation of women who maybe don’t even know they need it.

Oxford Collapse is uncommonly muscular for this type of band, rather like Les Savy Fav by way of R.E.M., and they’re most engaging when flexing this muscle

Throughout Laughing Matter, Hanson and Burrows’ lyrics take everything known about defined forms and senses and turn them on their head—sounds can be swallowed, the future’s neck can be cut and life can eat into life--and the album’s improvisational jams, winding outros and emotionally crushing melodies result in perhaps Wand’s most realized release yet.

Jones and the Dap-Kings make the kind of music that moves them, and their feverish passion is contagious.

Oh My God, the dizzying and fantastic fifth album from the increasingly prolific folk-rocker, is preoccupied with the language of exaltation, from its gospel-choir refrains to its outrageous album cover, which depicts Morby, shirtless, posing beneath a famous painting of Saint Cecilia playing piano for the angels. Somehow, none of this scans as ironic or overtly hokey.

The lion's share of Incredibad is without a doubt one of the funniest albums, music or otherwise, in years.

These are some of the sweetest and sauciest love songs ever recorded, and no one should have any doubt that he means every word of them. This set should also lay to rest any questions about the importance of Half Japanese.

Déjà vu, ambition, whatever be damned. No help may be coming, but they don't need it in the first place.

Only Bejar knows the logic behind his musical metamorphoses, but that doesn't mean we can't enjoy an album as smart and as beguiling as Kaputt.

The restless vibe to this ramshackle collection suggests Rawlings’ greatest trait is his wanderlust. It’s allowed him to work closely with a range of different artists in the past, and it makes A Friend of a Friend a spirited affair.

Gaslighter is the best country album of 2020 because it forces empathy onto the listener while reminding us we don’t have to be superheroes to make a difference.

Sees the Light manages to squeeze a boatload of emotions out of simple verse-chorus-verse pop.

This bedroom project shakes with a gentle reverb and the snapping beats and upbeat percussion she programs using a drum machine. What connects Murray to her peers in Look Blue Go Purple are the similarly earnest lyrics, psychedelic dreaminess and low key production quality made modern with synths and other electronic touches.

When Horses Would Run comes as close to that perfect commendation as a debut album can possibly get.

When taken alongside recent successes like Chaos and Creation and his stunning orchestral piece Ece Cor Meum, Electric Arguments hints that a late period renaissance could be underway.

Originals offers a tantalizing glimpse of Prince as an artist whose creativity extended in so many directions at once that his own discography couldn’t contain it.

Death Magnetic is more than a paean to all things thrash--it’s the revivification of ambition dormant for nearly two decades.

The album is undoubtedly a jump from their first, with a gentle climb after the second.

Andrew Bird is a highly skilled musician capable of crafting an album full of delightful little moments that make the album worth a fair listen, and more.

What the world needs now, more than ever, is an album as valiant and compassionate, satirical and sensitive as Pageant.

Though these songs were recorded hastily by some standards, their welding of forlorn lyricism and comforting listenability makes the songwriter admirable not just for his craftsmanship, but for his ability to pull through an arduous time with what could be a benchmark album in his already prolific career.

Automaton is a pop/funk/acid jazz/disco/proto-house opus that succeeds in discounting the band’s growing pains within the confines of both fame and pop music.

Harper is in top form, crafting songs that succeed lyrically and musically, capturing much of the blues-driven energy of White Lies while mixing in a delicate simplicity that adds a layer of depth to the bluesman's latest effort.

Mann has earned her reputation as a master songwriter on the coherence of her artistic choices. As in good short stories, every element in her songs works to support a single theme.