Exclaim!'s 33 Best Albums of 2020 So Far

The Neon Skyline is a crystallization of everything Shauf has been working meticulously to perfect throughout his rise to international acclaim — his characterization, world-building and ear for arrangements.

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

Though Gunn's vintage sound might not work for everyone, Pray for Paris is a total delight for those who want to reminisce without feeling stuck in the past.

However difficult it might be to ingest his candour, there is also a maturity about Miller in which to take solace. There's a sense of growth and lessons learned.

Their fourth LP, Underneath, has every nuance they have ever dabbled with shifted into overdrive.

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.

As welcome as JAY-Z's frequent appearances on A Written Testimony are, it's clear that his purpose here is to serve as Electronica's human security blanket. That's forgivable for a first run, but if Electronica is to reach his full potential, he'll need to get comfortable with standing on his own two feet on future albums.

Saint Cloud is a refreshing listen from an exceptional singer-songwriter that shatters the myth of hard-living artists and proves that great artists can make great art without a drink.

Prince offers himself as an anchor for those feeling rudderless. This is the artist at his most inspirational, thankful and powerful.

The feel-good nature of Future Nostalgia is enough to momentarily divert our attention from the stress-inducing state of the world.

While the Weeknd's sound has veered off track from his early feel in the past, After Hours gives fans the closest taste to Trilogy that they will get.

Miss Colombia displays an artist who has a clear vision combined with a desire to experiment with sounds.

Despite its digressions, Have We Met is rich and varied enough to offer more than just throwback thrills. It's further proof that amid both destruction and devotion, Bejar's voice remains compelling.

Heavy Light, the remarkable new record from Meg Remy's U.S. Girls project, is a scavenger hunt for these elusive pasts — music devoted to reflection and retrospection.

A darker and more complex record, it displays a newfound maturity in Allison's arrangements and a decidedly higher set of stakes.

It's a thorny and ferocious record that beats emotional complexities into their most elemental form, each simple mantra or thunderous guitar containing mountains of unspoken meaning.

This sounds like the logical followup to 2015's Art Angels. It's a little darker and heavier than that prior record's vibrant palette, but it still has everything we've come to expect from Grimes.

It's the sound of a new kind of warped pop star — an artist capable of weaving the unending unknown of space and the throb of blood and skin, willing to take us and destroy us and create something wholly new from what remains.

Suddenly is a fresh perspective shift that encourages listeners to examine the bigger forces at play that act as a catalyst for change.

The scope of Fetch the Bolt Cutters' meaning, its infinite feeling, will likely take years to fully absorb. An album like this doesn't come often, and an artist like Apple will never come again — she's given us an invaluable piece of light, a reminder to stay alive and awake and angry and kind.