While it has plenty of memorable moments, paired with an unfettered desire to explore and innovate in the studio, it lacks the immediate throughline of its successor. It’s still Squid at their most experimental, but it has more bark than bite.

Expired Candy marks a significant leap forward from their fantastic debut, Everything Is Dangerous But Nothing’s Surprising, proving that Body Type’s musical repertoire possesses far more depth and subtlety than some dismissive “music industry dudes” may have initially credited them for when they first emerged as a band.

Roach is a brutally honest and brave interrogation of self, a struggle powered by Folick’s towering vocals as she plunders the depths of her psyche, in songs that confidently straddle taut indie rock and mainstream pop, illuminating both.

There’s still a gingerliness to her songwriting, where at points you wish for less apologies and a more strident course—but that’s the take from someone whose 30s are in the rearview and knows fully well the world still doesn’t make sense. Besides, Parks’ candor and lyricism aches with a youthful tenderness so full of heart that it can trump any perceived failing in this near perfect follow up.

The Girl Is Crying In Her Latte is another funny, sad, clever, stupid, artful, basic, beautiful journey into Sparks’ peculiarly well-crafted universe, resistant to external gridding, and a spectacular example of one of music’s most beguiling and bewildering bands.

Ultimately, Everyone’s Crushed is the summer soundtrack for those that hate summery soundtracks.

A Fistful of Peaches proves that Black Honey continue to pack a huge punch both musically and lyrically, as they continue to evolve and grow.

End of Everything is an efficient and tightly packed record, and one that should be required listening for all generations.

Lahey grounds the whole endeavor in the everyday, but elevates those experiences in a pointedly emotional and supremely accessible way, making The Answer Is Always Yes an absolute, unfettered joy. [Apr - Jul 2023, p.81]

Maybe it was inevitable that Johnson’s Rose City Band would drift into extended noodles over time. A threat that Earth Trip neatly avoided until its closing moments. Even that album’s centerpiece, “In The Rain,” steered clear of excesses in spite of running longer than anything here.

An Inbuilt Fault never unravels its hypertension into something as easy as “Confirmation (SSBD),” which makes it both more interesting and less satisfying listen that its predecessor. But that’s the fine line Westerman works in. An Inbuilt Fault plays with that line, and it’s tightly wound as ever.

If you’re looking for any influences from anytime later than 1975, I’m afraid Everything Harmony is not for you. But this is never pastiche. This is just music that harks back 25 years before the writers were born.

As with previous Telescopes releases, Experimental Health is both an unsettling and rewarding listen that sits proudly alongside some of Lawrie’s finest works.

What’s Your Pleasure? is a glass of red wine and a cigarette; That! Feels Good! is a shot of tequila and a line of…something stronger. ... It takes a steady hand to be as over-the-top as That! Feels Good! and still retain an air of class, something Ware manages to do almost impossibly. She saves the full poignancy of her vocals for just the right moment.

The album closes with the astonishing "Younger & Dumber," which should go on the short list of greatest final statements in recent memory. ... Like the rest of this glimmering record, there's hope at the heart of it. [Apr - Jul 2023, p.80]

This is a collection that should reaffirm Annelotte de Graaf as one of the finest European songwriters of her generation. Barefoot on Diamond Road is a magnificent return that also whets the appetite for what might come next, as the scope of those wares holds no bounds.

Even if V isn't as shadowy or nuanced as its reference point, it's a reminder that sometimes, it's nicest to just sit in the sun for a bit. [Apr - Jul 2023, p.82]

Feels almost like a victory lap, a new offering of their classic sound. [Apr - Jul 2023, p.81]

Scrupulous in its detail, Radical Romantics is both innovative and entertaining, showcasing an original and unique spin on nuanced electro rock with seductive grooves. [Apr - Jul 2023, p.80]

Its Chappaqua Wrestling’s unerring ability to create a record where no two songs sound the same that makes Plus Ultra a delectable listen from start to finish. All killer with no time for filler. So, across all 11 tracks it feels like a ride, or more specifically a collection of diary entries set to music.

Given Star Eaters Delight’s briefer running time than its predecessor, Neale has put together a tight package of an album with no stray notes but one also brimming with a sly multitude of ideas. Kudos to Neale for not playing it safe and simultaneously doing something wholly different than anyone else out there.

In both the familiar and the unexpected, Black Thought is perfectly at ease. He finds ample room and inspiration in Michels’ thoughtful production to reflect on his life.

Fantastic, four-CD set.

This is a golden-hued, multi-faceted gem of an album that charms and impresses in subtle and carefully shaded ways. If somehow you’re not familiar with Johnson, this is the perfect moment to dive in.

The record is the most full, warm, and light Lily’s songwriting has ever felt.

So while Del Rey is still the same sepia-tinted, sun-soaked American aesthete that she once was, there are real lifetime stamps all over Did you know that conjure a biographical sincerity, instigating a personal closeness.

In every sense, it is a union of its creators’ art and voices. It’s an album in conversation with their EP, with their inspirations, and with their solo work, resulting in one of the rare cases where the whole is truly greater than the sum of its parts.

It’s a testament to her songwriting skills and sensitivity that she can take potentially difficult subject matter and still make it feel both relatable and uplifting, and it’s certainly an album that serves as a reminder that there is light even in the darkest of places.