Melodrama finds Lorde producing the best work of her career so far, crafting an ambitious and uncompromising pop statement suffused with intensely personal artistry. Both jubilant and frightened, insecure and proud, the album establishes her as a pop star on her terms.

Imperfect and ambitious, sometimes startling and always smart.

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.

His ability to purge himself on every track is contagious. You don't have to go there with him to enjoy this album, but don't be surprised if you do.

The London performance has yielded one of the finest live albums to come our way in a long while.

Swift lays the groundwork of her songs with good chords in Red (Taylor’s Version), but she also enhances the songs’ power with catchy lyrics and melodies (“You fooound me / You fooound me / You fooound me-e-e-e-“).

Lamar concentrates the ideas of hip-hop narrative and nonfiction into such a form that's shocking for how simultaneously accessible yet full of depth it is.

With this record, Skinner is now in a class all his own; nobody else is making music like this.

It was as powerful a set of players as Davis ever played with, but it also did its own thing, carving out a space that was equal parts eccentric and classic, innovative and authoritative.

No More Blue Skies – a follow-up arriving four years after its predecessor – is a welcome return for fans of Gold Dime, as it includes all of Ambro’s brilliant touchstones. It can be loud and fast, but will also disarm you and create a deeply unsettling atmosphere. Gold Dime are thankfully never boring.

Renaissance succeeds as a post-Covid soiree and massive PR campaign, though one can’t help but note that the album occasionally sports more style than substance.

It's funky and fantastic, futuristic but retro. It's in a category of its own.

Baizley shines like never before, Thomson and Jost continue to excel as a rhythmic duo, and newcomer Gleason infuses the set with rewarding and required vocal and instrumental supplemental shades. Together, their faultless unified elegance harvests cherished templates and innovative techniques in equal measure. As a result, just about every listener—no matter their history or prior opinions—will deem Gold & Grey Baroness' masterpiece.

Ultimately it’s a reaffirmation of that original gambit and breakthrough, a renewal of vows between artist and audience, and a reminder that second acts are possible.

Places of Worship is highly recommended for fans of Miles Davis, Jon Hassell, David Sylvian, Triosk and Fennesz.

The Guitar Song quite firmly cements Johnson's place at the forefront of today's country music songwriters, performers, and singers. The fact that he had the courage to put out a 25-song album after achieving some success is not as significant as the courage he had to keep following his vision of what country music can and should be.

Ultimately, Elitism for the People 1975-1978 functions as a veritable primer for not only those interested in the band, but also those looking to explore the possibilities of popular music.

Whichever end of the spectrum you might land on, there’s rage, yearning, and reckless behavior here that transcends generations, which is a soaring accomplishment.

It solidifies the group’s track record for absolute greatness, adding an unexpected sixth turn to a career that followed one aesthetic path but was always moving.

An electronic album that is utterly original and not easily forgotten.

A big leap from the already high elevation of Michigan.

Carrie & Lowell is tough to nail down, but it’s also tough to listen to.

Lal and Mike Waterson’s Bright Phoebus more than lives up to its legendary status. Long lost, it’s a necessary purchase for fans of British folk.

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.

No Cities to Love exceeds all expectations of what a reunion album should sound like by not sounding like a reunion album.

Despite its girth, Shout! Factory's The Complete Beat isn't really complete....Complete still gives you three Peel Sessions, a mini-concert, and some fine dubs and 12" mixes along with the original albums.

For fans, Joni Mitchell Archives, Vol. 3: The Asylum Years (1972-1975) is a towering achievement. (It should be noted here that the set is also available on an edited, four-LP box.) However, the uninitiated would be better off purchasing the remasters of the original releases, The Asylum Albums (1972-1975). That said, it’s weird that the two complete live concerts are not available separately from the boxed set and are spread over more than one disc. They are worth buying the boxed set for in and of itself because they are so good.

Great songwriters build fully realized worlds in their songs, but on Punisher Bridgers is often able to do it in just a few lines.

This is essential for fans of Texas singer-songwriters, Americana, idiosyncratic albums, or for anyone looking to have an intimate exchange with a sensitive man during a turbulent time in American pop culture history.

Rio is a full range of emotion, created on the spot. All these years later, Keith Jarrett remains great.

While 1989’s vault tracks aren’t necessarily as immediately attention-grabbing as those from other re-releases, they still pack an emotional punch like only Swift can deliver.

Original Pirate Material, to put it plainly, is the most vivid evocation of life as a young person in the UK since Blur's Parklife, and yes, even The Clash's first album.

Mitski’s forte in her work has been her willingness to discuss her vulnerabilities. In The Land Is Inhospitable and So Are We, she imparts the idea that such vulnerabilities are better understood as mutual.

Completists may want everything and not be satisfied until that happens, but in the meantime The Rolling Thunder Revue: The 1975 Live Recordings is a remarkably healthy--and even at its mammoth length (ten-plus hours) still not exhaustive account--of a time when the magic of a traveling carnival show, under the aegis of Dylan and theatrical director and co-conspirator/writing partner Jacques Levy, could accomplish anything.

Tom Waits has never made an album quite like Alice before.

It's really good, good enough to make you wonder why you haven't heard of Candi Staton (more often).

Even by Mdou Moctar’s high standards, Funeral for Justice is extraordinary. It is searing in music and lyrics, with messages that are essential in a world on fire and whose sounds can carry those messages far and wide. More than any previous Mdou Moctar album, it feels alive.

It's a shame only Church and Remy Zero fans will be inclined to check this out because it is a masterpiece lying beyond the power of the descriptive word.

These five discs show Hooker's talents in all their glory.

Funeral is a truly eccentric rock record: bizarre at turns and recognizable elsewhere, equally beautiful and harrowing, theatrical and sincere, defying categorization while attempting to create new genres.

The vastly competent array of MCs each have their own distinct flow and pace, but very little--from Flowdan’s lightning-fast verbal gymnastics, to Rick Ranking’s slow-cooked esophageal rumblings, to Roger Robinson’s soulful melancholy--clashes in a way that dulls or vitiates the album’s impact.

If you care a thing for rock ‘n’ roll, country, or American music in general, No Depression is simply essential.

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.

Throughout its 12 quality tracks, it's interesting enough to engage listeners and engaging enough to keep the listeners interested. It's a step well above most of the hip-hop that has been released in recent years and will be played frequently until a new OutKast album materializes.

The human voice, the most striking change in Burial’s sound, renders Untrue superior to its predecessor.

Democratically curated and effusing a palpable enthusiasm, the project stands as a testimony to the power of aesthetic commonality, enduring friendship, and the magic of teamwork, something we could all use more of these days.

It’s a little short in the tooth, but a little always went a long way with this band.

The eight albums collected on the two anthologies are offered as originally released with no extras, and this makes the collection especially effective for new fans discovering this extraordinary work.

If, by chance, Spaces happens to be the very first record which you pick up by Nils Frahm, I must proclaim to be extremely jealous--you have a beautiful and highly rewarding journey ahead of you, my friend.

G Stands For Go-Betweens Vol.1 tirelessly catalogues the beginning of the story for this band, and it will be a delight for enthusiasts. It is however almost certainly not the place to start for absolute beginners; it would be an overwhelming introduction.

While parts of previous My Morning Jacket albums sounded sloppy, Z is crisply-produced and markedly more refined, in part due to co-producer (with James) John Leckie.

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.

Converge has not been going so much through a process of transformation as one of maturing. Still angry and rebellious as in their early releases, they also display a much wiser and patient perspective that only years of experience can bring.

RTJ2 is filled with such thoughtful, penetrating moments, tightly wound up in 11 bona fide bangers.

Although Rounds isn't quite the jaw-dropping masterpiece that Manitoba's Up in Flames is, and despite the fact that the album lags on the meandering "And They All Look Broken Hearted", it's still a remarkable record, one that, like the work of Dan Snaith, gives a usually stale musical genre a undeniably human feel.

Neon Golden is one of the most exquisite electronic albums to come out in ages.

A charming, witty pastiche of mashed up samples, beats, bangs, and bobs.... Truly a breakthrough in the world of dance music.

Robyn's Honey is the lead contender for best pop album of 2018.

Kiwanuka could very well be one of the best albums of 2019. But Kiwanuka is also a beautiful, deep place that feels like it will be worth visiting, not just in the last month of this year, but throughout a listener's lifetime.

An embarrassment of singular and, yes, genius riches to be found in these albums, albums worth going through again and again for the steady stream of reveals, not the compounding of mystery.

Some of the songs are two minutes too long and the album is sometimes so breezy it nearly dissolves, but Dylan’s lyrics are in top form and his band is impeccable.

It’s albums like That! Feels Good! that younger generations and trendsetters should be paying more attention to, as incorporating the still-relevant past into new work is not only what can make some of the best art but some of the bravest art.

Pain remains a fertile ground for compelling art, but the brilliance of Rat Saw God lies in how the band also captures the resistant luminance within that pain. The characters in these songs suffer, but Hartzman draws them from places of empathy and honesty.

Woods, herself, a poet, singer, activist, and teacher, casts Legacy! Legacy! as a beacon for a type of self-empowerment informed by the predecessors who built and shaped culture.

HoboSapiens is still dense and difficult for much of its running time, but the challenge comes from following the author through his many compositional twists rather than sitting through passages that drone on far too long.

It’s a work of complex, unified brilliance that will leave you chomping at the bit for a Bloodmoon: 2.

RTJ4 is exactly what you'd expect from two guys who have been down this road three times before without ever missing the mark. They see no need to step out of their comfort zone but have the ear and openness to adjust to their surroundings.

In the end, though, it may be the power of the sound that undid this two-minded performer. Two decades on and that power, tragic as it is, has yet to diminish.

The effect of the album is soothing and challenging all at once; full of complex messaging yet equally suitable as backdrop for studying; worthy of lingering concentration on each and every note or dozing off to on an airplane.

I Love You Jennifer B is provocative and ambitious, testing attention while operating on a fine line between listenability and overkill. The way Jockstrap play with expectations keeps listeners on their toes. Trying to anticipate the next 180-degree turn or sudden zero to a hundred acceleration makes them an exciting listen.

Fans of footwork and devotees of percussion will be sure to gravitate to this achievement, and it will likely earn her some crossover followers as well. It is a challenging and demanding, yet wholly edifying, work of rhythmic art.

It is the sound of a group that have fully clicked and have fine-tuned their signature sound into another high point. The rage is more deeply felt, the self-examination is more bracing, the wins more hard-fought, and the songs are up to carrying the thematic weight through to cathartic highs.

Focusing on the demos and previously unreleased stuff would do both Bottle Rockets and The Brooklyn Side a disfavour. Both have moments of flash and grit, and yet showcase the more polished side of the band.

If we’re talking about Wilson in relation to his ability to piece together a meticulous concept, Hand. Cannot. Erase. is a definite winner. [Brice Ezell review]

It’s an album that, even in its quiet moments, refuses relegation to the background. In short, it serves to announce the arrival of a great talent who promises to find new ways to keep us singing the old songs well into another century.

Revisiting their debut through Leftism 22 finds the material continuing to sound fresh and relevant many years later.

What pushes Safe in the Hands of Love beyond the producer's previous works is the emotion that the record transmits. No matter if the synths are harsh, or the rhythm section arrives with the perfect groove, this is a work filled with an emotive purpose, and it is that core that makes it such a wonderful listen.

The Chaos Chapter: FREEZE makes bold statements in unpretentious ways with its production and creative choices. It feels like a natural continuation of TXT’s path, while it also showcases new sides of the members’ potential as singers, songwriters, and producers.

The 2015 Live at the Fillmore East acts as a necessary meditation on the group’s formative material, and its firm belief that earnest positivity could be funky as hell.

Coloring Book is another exceptional release from a vital artist only now coming into his own.

The Big Fish Theory is a powerful and troubling record. It’s an epic in miniature that shows a natural progression from Staples’s previous work.

I believe that if you can get past the record’s obvious shortcomings, there is quite a bit of beauty to be found.

The Order of Time is unique and presents a confident and dynamic songwriter and performer with a rich background in stylistic and regional influences.

The best songs on Chris are the outliers, the ones that are either fully intellectually-engaging or completely poppy. The songs in the middle, that plainly try to balance between the two, only underwhelm because of how common they feel.

The best thing about Rat Conspiracy is the reminder that this stuff feels fresh now, cutting edge, even timeless.

Daunting and at times exhausting, A Seat at the Table is still an undeniably important work.

Last Exit, while being one of the year's most cutting-edge releases, is, most importantly, a warm, friendly, entirely accessible pop album.

The music itself feels like a sort of cocoon enclosing the singer. It doesn't use reverb and distant samples in the way ambient music does, to suggest the world opening up around it. It leaves great amounts of space between the beats, as A Seat at the Table does, and then ties up the ends with searching synth chords (jazz band Standing on the Corner backs her for much of the album). The sense of engulfment is uncanny.

Half of the album is magnificent, and stylistically contradistinct, while the other half exists in some offbeat and off-putting terrain that will either elude its listeners, or alienate them.

Merriweather Post Pavilion finds Animal Collective tight and sharp, and it suits them. Animal Collective’s music is for everyone’s world.

Whether or not Songs for the Deaf manages to break through to the ever-fickle TRL crowd remains to be seen; those people with the patience to sit through this remarkable album a few times, though, will know the score.

This is a deep, darkly beautiful work. The interplay between these two men is exceedingly rare in any type of music. Ali and Toumani is profound and powerful, with a soft accumulating force, like the individual drips of ice that form a river.

Those who bought the album first time round may well feel tempted by the goodies on offer in the second disc. But for those unacquainted with High Land Hard Rain, or know Aztec Camera only from their 1988 hit “Somewhere In My Heart”, you are in for a treat.

They’re Calling Me Home memorializes and breathes new life into a set of songs that feel familiar and entirely unexpected.

Hell Hath No Fury stands as one of the most entertaining releases of the year, patched with glorious lyrical play, blinging exercises in fantasy and a jaunty half-seriousness.

The results are less like a rarities collection and more like an unlikely greatest hits album.

We're not left with the emotional impact I feel Saigon desired, but we are left with supreme evidence Atlantic should have put this album out years ago.

The best "new" material here are the 15 demos, 11 of which were previously unreleased, that were recorded at Blackberry Way Studios in Minneapolis during the summer of 1986. ... And covers songs such as Billy Swan's "I Can Help" and B-sides like "Election Day" have merit. One might quibble and not include every track on this compilation, but old fans will find many diversions here.