But brooding in a deeper level of sonic misery and great hooks doesn’t necessarily make You’re Nothing the excellent punk album it manages to be, as it’s the growth the band displays throughout the album that really makes it worthwhile.
Enthusiastic and strange, a perfect good-time balance of the artfully absurd and the sonically robust.
Antipodes is that rare record that looks at the demise of grunge/post-hardcore as a popular medium while glorifying its dying days, an unfortunate fate brought upon them before big labels turned their attention towards pop rock earnestness.
Orchestrated almost entirely by Hynes and rounded out with numerous guest artists, this latest effort is thoroughly modern, oozing with style, and backed by gifted musicality.
This was an interesting direction to go in and it definitely has a lot of potential. But the duo will need to do a better job balancing the synths and the songs to succeed.
Cronin certainly does share some commonalities with his longtime collaborator Ty Segall, particularly a fondness for guitar solos, nasally vocals, and bombastic percussion. However, MCII sounds much more concise and meticulously assembled than any of Segall's efforts.
It’s like a walk in the woods on an autumn day – it might be vast, yet it’s also pleasingly intimate, and while there’s a definite chill in the air, it’s still a nourishing experience
Through their first two releases, Foals were able to showcase their evolving sound, but with Holy Fire, their evolution stops dead in its tracks.
With the exception of the single Mirrors, which seems best suited for a supermarket checkout line, The 20/20 Experience is an absolutely delicious guilty pleasure.
Exponentially mature lyrics for this young woman. Her words are cultured and grounded.
While questions may frequently come up over how much of a band project Amok really is, the music for the most part, makes up any misgivings people may have.
Nothing Was the Same is the work of someone who is not happy to sit on his laurels and determined to build, which is admirable in this day and age of get rich quick artists who quickly fade when they have to build upon and repeat their original success.
There probably aren’t enough moments that make the hairs on the back of your neck stand up, but after the initial struggle to get into, it’s a rewarding record to return to.
It at least represents the culmination of all of The Flaming Lips’ oddball experiments and elongated, anti-sonorous jams into a single, abrasively beautiful cacophony.
Fade is a sign of perseverance for the group, as the album perfectly details just what is so essential and appealing about the group, and why there will always be a place for these guys in the world of indie rock.
What it does manage to do ... is function as an engagingly visceral work of provocation, on balance interspersing his trademark beauty with enough challenging moments to reward repeated visits, even if listening to it never exactly feels like a pleasurable experience, and maybe that’s enough.
Disclosure have found an erratic blend of deep house and pop that, while not entirely original, has moments of greatness.
Sunbather is an absolutely massive, all-encompassing experience, one that’s both frighteningly intense and indescribably beautiful – often simultaneously.
On this, her latest and most emotionally charged album, she's managed to create a painful outpouring of honesty, one that strikes that coveted balance of both melodic and lyrical expression; her message is equally powerful from each direction.
Old is all about developing the character of one very conflicted dude, and to me that’s its crowning achievement.
Monomania is arguably their most imposing, and by far their most courageous, proving that Deerhunter have a frontman who’s willing to open up his soul to fit the demands of the stage.
This mind-expanding record will inspire a more inexpressible connection: you will carve your own niche within its deep and absorbing textures, and you will find new things upon every listen.
On True Romance, Charli XCX manages that rarest of things – a straight-up pop record that’s inventive and rewards repeated listening.
We know better than to call Push The Sky Away Nick Cave’s best album, but if you want a portrait of the artist, as an artist, the album qualifies as “essential” even by the strictest definition.
Tomorrow’s Harvest’s greatest strength is how it brings the classic Boards of Canada sound into the modern age and makes it feel totally fresh and alive again – a rare feat for almost any electronic artist.
Grant’s work here aims at something much more rare than perfect – to be entirely necessary, serving to not only function as an essential outpouring for the artist, but as a well-intentioned fount of advice to the listener
The Bones of What You Believe is a huge, disappointing bummer.
Lopatin ultimately leaves us with a marvelous instance of artistic clarity. A moment where concept and execution synchronize perfectly and allow us the unique opportunity to experience sound as a purely emotive device.
What’s particularly striking about its ten romantic sketches is how ‘mature’ they are. And mature in the traditional sense of the term, rather than as a euphemism for the cheap and tawdry.
It’s one of the year’s best albums, and a genuinely great work of unashamed pop music that finds a way to be adventurous.
It’s difficult to complain when it sounds so good, and it’s easy to say “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it,” but eventually you have to play the game on “Hard,” even if that means falling short once or twice before you come through.
Wakin’ On A Pretty Daze strikes with a gust of pent up emotions, a trailblazing record that openly affirms a personal accountability for self without slipping into heavy-handedness.
It could be the closest post-punk has come to full-bodied artistry since Interpol took their own post-punk influences and gave us Turn On The Bright Lights all those years ago.
Of course, no-one genuinely expects something so monstrously obtuse to make much of a difference at all, but at least The Knife are still daring to believe that it could, and there is every chance that Shaking The Habitual could be at the cutting edge of a resurgent wave of socially-conscious electro-pop
Ultimately, AM is the latest jewel in a crown that will continue to increase in value for a long time to come. It is flawless, and a true ascendance from boys to men.
The bottom line is, Overgrown is an unforgettable album by a limitlessly talented songwriter who, at 24 years old, may just be beginning to approach his prime.
All the personalities put themselves in the background to let the songs shine and the moods are laid out in such a manner with the music that the flow is nearly perfect. ...Like Clockwork is easily the best release from the band since Songs for the Deaf.
There are two primary things that make Once I Was An Eagle take flight: Lyrics and progression, which together make the album intelligent, confident, and, perhaps most importantly, recursive.
Reflektor hits too many high points to entirely consider it a failure, and despite its convoluted lyrical content and overreaching scope it still crosses the double album finish line with satisfactory results.
What Daft Punk have done on Random Access Memories could be seen as a methodically curated, musical museum of the future, rather than a conservatory for experimental collaboration.
Modern Vampires of the City is nothing short of a pop music achievement, a standout album in a year full of standout albums.
It’s a dense, difficult listen, nigh impossible to compare to the rest of Kanye West’s work, and its rewards come slowly.
Janelle Monáe has not simply lived up to our expectations here; she has shattered them, delivering a confident, creative, and enormously entertaining record that marginally betters her sublime debut.
mbv follows its predecessor without aggrandizing its past resources, and as such, delivers a wallop of sweet, sweet distortion in a way that comes naturally to them.