Sun Coming Down gives us just enough new ideas while highlighting everything that makes this band great.
Chirping Half Free‘s most compelling of its many indelible hooks, she tries to convince whoever listens “You all have nothing here / You have so much to fear”.
A massive, sprawling mess of styles and genres, all rooted in Stickles’ wordy lyrical catharsis, Tragedy reflects the wild mood swings associated with those suffering from bipolar disorder; raging one moment, euphoric the next before settling into a seemingly bottomless depression.
Shamir might not be the most conventional of vocalists, and Ratchet might not be the perfect pop record “On the Regular” hinted it could have been, but this is still one of the most dazzling debuts of 2015.
Despite such strong highlights dropped in the album’s middle section ... Beauty ends up having a strange beast of a failing: none of the guest spots really add to the album’s overall vibe.
The fact that he can make this into a compelling tale without overdramatizing the details reveals his knack for narrative. He can sing a story.
This is a confident record that focuses on beat and melody, while still allowing the group space to throw in other musical ideas.
The Expanding Flower Planet is a confident declaration of independence from a vital artist operating at the top of her creative game.
They did push themselves like they’ve never done before, and they’ve rewarded their millions of worldwide fans with a late-career zenith.
Abyss may not be a go-to for either late-night or summer listening, but it ably solidifies Wolfe’s presence as a devastatingly unique voice in our current musical climate.
Everything works on Tomorrow Is My Turn, an album that heralds the arrival of a major American artist.
It’s a very good approximation of a very specific sound and furthers Dâm-Funk’s reputation and worthiness of his chosen sobriquet.
She’s as huge and commanding as ever on How Big, How Blue, How Beautiful, the third album under the Florence and the Machine name, but the music that surrounds her is coupled with hints of restraint, making the record her sleekest and most gorgeous yet.
The songs on Every Open Eye move better, evolve cleaner and hit bigger heights. It’s a subtle evolution, but a big step for this kind of pop band.
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.
Some minor, targeted deviation from the formula would have pushed Depression Cherry to an unprecedented level of novelty for the band, but as it stands, the record falls into a creeping, achromatic daze far more ambitious than it is visionary.
The Blade is her first album that can’t be construed as a debut. It’s also the first that doesn’t feel like a debut. It’s coming from a place of confidence in talent, of assurance in what she’s doing.
In its least engaging moments, Platform feels more like a homework assignment geared to some equivocal set than an album. In its better moments, it’s electronic music for the fourth-dimension.
Voice, both the sound that emanates from vocal cords and the perspective from which songs are written, is what’s been honed on Torres’s second album Sprinter.
Never in any danger of overstaying his welcome, Kgositsile shows an overall maturity on Outside that suggests great things in his future.
Tetsuo & Youth finds Lupe Fiasco returning to the ambitious abandon that defined his first two albums.