While the ballads here ("Hurricanes" and "Bruised Fruit") offer little more than vocal histrionics, they're still immaculately crafted and performed. The fact that these missteps are still compelling is clear proof that Young Sick Camellia is by a band at the height of their powers.

It’s trippy and majestic head-music spun from moonage daydreams and made for gliding in and out of life.

Even though there are eight months left in 2016, it’s impossible to imagine any album having nearly as much personality, experimentation, or superb songs as Fool does, and will certainly be one of the best albums to come down the pipeline this year.

Every Bad is fragile and robust, confidently flawed, and above all evidence that Porridge Radio is in their ascendancy. They are a real force to be reckoned with and a band with a strong chance of winning this year's Mercury Prize.

Clark’s songwriting has a peculiar gap to it, and St. Vincent’s best moments are the ones that happen between sense and nonsense, between the long story and the primal reaction to it.

No Way There from Here is packed to bursting with influences from country to pop, tons of different instruments, happy songs, sad songs, fast songs, slow songs--but each in such a measure as to blend to near perfection.

Consistently exciting, always surprising, and full of soul, it is undoubtedly one of the most remarkable releases of the year to date.

Brainwashed is a rich musical treasure trove well mined in execution and production.

Smart, unpretentious, and classy all the way through.

Mountain Goats have just added a further chapter in an ongoing saga of (micro) relationships examined against a backdrop of (macro) global concern, We Shall All Be Healed being the most explicit yet.

At the Party With My Brown Friends is another exquisite installation.

Act IV: Rebirth in Reprise is yet another masterpiece in its creator’s canon.

The Greater Wings is sublime and difficult to fault. Fans of Byrne will be delighted and moved to hear her grow even further as an artist and songwriter, not least in her coming to terms with grief and pain. New listeners to Byrne will surely find an artist of great pathos and empathy whose talents may now get the wider hearing they deserve.

Made in the Dark is a great album, varied and surprisingly heartfelt.

2011 may reward us with releases that are just as bright, witty, and engaging as Generation Indigo, but it is unlikely that someone as singular as Styrene will be behind them.

The fact that a woman of Lynn's tenure can slide so easily into what is essentially an alt-country environment without losing any of her down-home authenticity simply underscores her versatility and timelessness.

In the fiercely competitive pop world, the coalescence of earworm melodies, lush production, and dynamic performances is usually the unlikely result of an ensemble effort of high-salaried professionals; alone, Boucher beats them at their own game and then some with one of the most rebellious, uncommonly bizarre records of the young post-modern pop era.

It is a staggering portrait of a man willing to divulge his insecurities, his passions, his failures, and hold them up for the entire world to examine and devour. Three albums in, and his remarkable voice still dazzles as it did on his masterful debut, but now you actually might find yourself dancing to everything around it.

Black Dog is the sum of these past strange adventures. The mysterious vibes of The Entiry City, the cold, brutal post-industrial of Unflesh, and the avant-pop musings of Pastoral. It is a work reminiscent of Gazelle Twin but also forges a new path. One that is able not only to merge these disparate aspects but also to surpass them.

For those who only know Amy Ray as an Indigo Girl, or as a socially active label owner will find this record a snarling, beautiful surprise.

The Sadies' best album yet.

Black Belt Eagle Scout teaches us, guides, and inspires us, all the while dazzling us with lush atmospheres, seismic rhythms, and a voice that unfurls from another and perhaps a better world.

It is a must for jazz fans and anyone with an appreciation for rich and reflective creative art.

Brexit (let us look forward to the day when we no longer have to speak of this blight) may be this album's context and its backdrop but what we might be getting here is ultimately a form of contemporary elegiac lyricism rather than full-fledged social polemic. Perhaps that is a more useful and rewarding reference and access point for this remarkable piece of work.

Her bold delivery and fresh take on classic tropes show she’s a master of detailing the chaos of life. She’s a double threat who can write ‘em and sing ‘em.

On As Above, So Below, just as on The Return, she makes music with incredible clarity of purpose and affirms a sense of interconnected self and heritage that makes her writing, arranging, sampling, and guest list all the more compelling. Sampa is soaring, and she’s not afraid to let everyone know.

Through music, Kuti received redemption and power. The Best of the Black President gathers his best singles in one place. Here are the strongest moments of a musician that never played a single unnecessary note.

Saadiq puts his artistic skills to use in full, reaching new emotional and technical heights while delving into heartbreaking lows. Jimmy Lee shows why, even though he so often stays behind the scenes these days, his is one of the most compelling voices in modern-day soul music.