For more than a decade, Lady Gaga has encouraged us to 'just dance' regardless of the pain hidden deep within ourselves. While she may have veered off from her own advice over the past few years, Chromatica proves that Gaga is back and better than ever.

In so far as 'vibes' and 'moods' become more important in hip-hop, Nav captures the feeling of boredom exceptionally well. Surrounding himself with hip-hop's most superficial, NAV somehow manages to represent even less.

NO DREAM is punk rock that's fit for the masses without sacrificing any of its authenticity. For every catchy melody there's a brashness that says to the wrong people, "This isn't for you." But Rosenstock always makes a case for joining him in the good fight.

Although Dedicated might be a more comprehensive piece of work as a whole, Side B is so impressively strong that it could easily be a continuation of the album (its B-side, even). Side B is brimming with starry-eyed euphoria, glittery synth-pop confections and her characteristically odd lyrical syntax.

Ultimately, while not pushing beyond well-worn genre expectations, Hollywood Park does present the Airborne Toxic Event at their most sincere and vulnerable.

King Gizzard's offerings, by their experimental nature, are a disjointed product. Rather than fight this, Chunky Shrapnel thunders headlong into it. ... While this jarring approach may not give you the best sense of a King Gizzard show, it certainly captures what makes them so appealing.

Island represents a tender, more melancholic chapter in Pallett's repertoire, but one that offers a refined perspective.

If Future Teenage Cave Artists is the only cultural artifact left behind in an apocalypse, future generations will at least have an interesting scripture to use to rebuild.

There are at least two too many instrumentals, and songs that stand apart on their own start to bleed together near then end. But the ambition and execution can't be denied. This is the 1975 operating at the peak of their powers.

Don't Let the Ink Dry is a promising debut that showcases true talent.

This album feels like they need to take another walk in the trees to reconnect with their namesake.

While I Love the New Sky would have been a near-perfect nine-track LP, it's a rare treat that Tim Burgess can give fans something so inspired and inspiring this deep into his career.

Banana Skin Shoes is classic Badly Drawn Boy: Eclectic songs held together by heartfelt lyrics and rich instrumentation. The only thing that's changed is Gough has proved he can dance.

Instead of digging up coal like the miners grippingly depicted in these new songs, the Hardcore Troubadour and the Dukes unearth anthemic gems for America's marginalized.

Okkyung Lee has delivered an album so achingly tender that it is bound to stand as one of this year's best neoclassical releases.

For each song where the more minimal sonic approach comes up short, there are places on Temple where it succeeds.

Although Jim White and Marisa Anderson never seem to give themselves enough time or space to truly stretch out, The Quickening nonetheless captures two masters at their most free.

The Mosaic of Transformation is a generous record, a gift from Smith to those who need to lock into their body, to move quietly and deliberately.

Pretty much the only complaint is that, similar to all of his releases since the infamous EVOL, it delivers and lives up to the hype, but it doesn't build and surpass his previous work. It remains to be seen whether he will ever create an album that is better than everything he's done so far, but this is still an extremely solid release.

Despite its brisk pacing, Starz still suffers from bloat. Songs like "Iceheart," "Dance in the Dark," and "My Agenda" could have been left off the track list and made the album more coherent and enjoyable to experience.

Lovers Rock reflects the Dears' identity as a band, illustrating their development, both lyrically and musically, by intertwining a sense of being down in the dumps with intricate, euphonious melodies.

All That Glue is a great compilation, and one that should please fans and newcomers alike with enough unreleased or B-side material to fill a full-length and enough strong picks from the band's past to give new fans a perspective on what to check out next.

It appears that Williamson is always fleeing from somewhere and yearns to live a life with no regrets with the time we have left. Sorceress is her personal but inspiring, magical journey to get to that point.

Though without some of the magic of his debut, Hakim's sophomore full-length shows that he is still full of genre-bending potential.

While the album could be described as moody, and there certainly are dramatic shifts in mood throughout, there is also always the feeling of sunny skies above. The music conjures up the grit of the beach, the flow of the ocean, and the hot concrete below the unrelenting sun of the Pacific coast.

At times jovial and elsewhere solemn, Quickies is an anthology of flash fictions, thematically clashing against one another like "I've Got a Date With Jesus" and "You've Got a Friend in Beelzebub," yet otherwise twinning mischievously like "The Best Cup of Coffee In Tennessee" and "The Biggest Tits in History."

All Visible Objects is a welcome addition and one that offers a little bit of everything to everyone.

Though it lacks the alien opalescence of Charli's best record, how i'm feeling now contains a different sort of thrilling delirium. It's fun and sometimes silly, made on the fly and under a tight deadline. But it's desperate too — a frenzied call for release, an ode to the love that keeps us going, and further proof that no other pop artist today can make the digital sound so disarmingly human.