His storytelling chops are only getting sharper with age. [Jun 2022, p.74]

They're still great at delivery wry prettiness. [Jun 2022, p.74]

The best moments come when Post looks within for inspiration.

Versions of Modern Performance doesn’t just revive a certain sound; it revives the idea of mystery and tension in rock & roll.

The country-tinged beauty of this album is a revelation after the grand, gloomy orchestration she summoned for 2019’s All Mirrors and stripped away for 2020’s Whole New Mess, and a rewarding payoff for fans who’ve always known she had a record like this in her.

Despite its length and musical theme, Cruel Country doesn’t at first feel like a grand statement, but Tweedy has subtly laid out the ambitious concept of tying his classic American music to the classical theme of American social and political alienation (this, Uncle Tupelo fans, is where the record truly becomes roots music).

The album hits its strongest points when Morby opens himself up to reckless abandon, stripping himself of the introspective pretenses of soul-searching and instead embracing the unpredictable chaos of life and all its imperfection.

Kendrick has never been one for subtlety, and the vulnerability at the core of Mr. Morale & The Big Steppers brings out moments of his reflexive overreach.

He’s pulled off the neat trick of making his music at once elegant and more refined but also warmer and more intimate — the polished-marble smoothness of Steely Dan with the generosity of an Al Green or Yo La Tengo record.

By and large, it lives up to the legend, or at least what anyone would have wanted it to be. The you-are-there ambience of what we’d already heard runs throughout the entire album, as does the same bravado and ferocity, whether the band is rolling out “Jumpin’ Jack Flash” for the hundredth time or a cover of bluesman Big Maceo’s “Worried Life Blues.”

A Light for Attracting Attention contains some of the songwriters’ most easily enjoyable music in years.

Dance Fever may be Welch’s most ecstatically extra work yet. [May 2022, p.75]

A concise and seamlessly flowing collection of insurrectionary rhymes and propulsive beats by one of rap’s most heralded duos.

Rather than feeding into speculation about the ever-expanding scale of the genre and what peak he’s out to conquer next, he chooses to lean back and have fun with a loose, leisurely set of 23 songs, his longest tracklist ever.

The svelte, 34-minute Dropout Boogie — which comes out the day before the 20th anniversary of their first album — keeps things similarly crunchy.

All told, the singer-songwriter’s latest is a testament to her dedication to songcraft and an impressive mid-career statement on restlessness, contentment and everything in between.

As warm and soulful as ever. [May 2022, p.79]

Their most sonically surprising - full of brash lust and tender beauty. [May 2022, p.79]

I Never Liked You is no DS2, but it has a compositional sweep often absent from his work. Most importantly, it’s an album with layers that’s more engaging than recent fare such as 2019’s appealing yet boilerplate Future Hndrxx Presents: The Wizrd and Save Me EP; and 2020’s one-two punch of desultory hive-bait, High Off Life and Pluto x Baby Pluto, the latter with Lil Uzi Vert.

There are numerous nods to classic rock throughout. ... Lambert’s more adventurous side comes out on “I’ll Be Loving You,” which combines echoing piano notes and thick coils of electric guitar into a booming anthem that’s more Arcade Fire than Alan Jackson. ... The LP’s final track, “Carousel,” is a breathtaking ballad of trapeze-artist romance and long-buried secrets.

Leray gives a vivid performance throughout Trendsetter’s ups and downs, even if a distinct portrait of her “pain” lies just out of focus.

It’s Almost Dry, Pusha’s fourth solo album, adds levity to his troubled-conscious colloquies, presenting a well-balanced portrait of a complex man with some serious burdens on his heart.

What could have been a tasteful salute becomes a record that’s bristlingly, viscerally alive; it’s like a ride in a classic old car with long-gone shock absorbers.

He stretches out and gets comfortable on his loosey-goosiest jams to date, handing out 74 minutes of mellow wisdom off the dome. He’s wisely stopped searching for the next level up, focusing instead on the beautifully unfocused be-here-now beatitude that’s always been his greatest gift.

When Fivivo brags, “This is the town of the big drip, smooth talk, Milly Rock, Shmoney Dance, Woo Walk,” the vibes feel electric. B.I.B.L.E., for the most part, proves that he’s about keeping that same energy.

Chloë takes many twists and turns around the movie set, pulling off the impossible feat of making sure its mellowness never grows tiresome.

There are a lot of great things happening on this record — trickier flows, piercing beats, and acerbic writing — that make it feel significant. But if you suspect it isn’t, I know how you got there.

Across Ivory, Apollo slips from English to Spanish, singing in whatever language best serves the music. He eludes labels when it comes to his identity and sexuality; instead, he often lets the music speak for itself. He doesn’t hold back in his lyrics.