\tSombr, \u2018I Barely Knew Her\u2019<\/p>\n
\t\t\t![\"Sombr,](\"https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/wp-content\/themes\/vip\/pmc-rollingstone-2022\/assets\/public\/lazyload-fallback.gif\")
\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
\n\tSombr had a relentless run of singles leading up to his debut album, including the evocative \u201cBack to Friends\u201d and the Fleetwood Mac-esque \u201cUndressed.\u201d I Barely Knew Her l<\/a>ives up to the hype. He performs with a distinct internal confidence and external charm that has been notably absent in the withering releases from many of his male pop contemporaries. Every track builds up to a momentous bridge. \u201cCome Closer\u201d gets close to being the peak moment, with the lushest harmonies on the album, but it\u2019s hard to beat \u201c12 to 12,\u201d which is pop in its most riveting form. \u2014Larisha Paul <\/p>\n<\/li>\n \tSkrillex, \u2018F*ck U Skrillex You Think Ur Andy Warhol But Ur Not!!\u2019<\/p>\n \t\t\t \n\tAs always with Skrillex, you got everything, everywhere, all at once, the bass tones turned to taffy, the spoken sound bites knowingly and proudly cheesy.\u00a0There\u2019s something refreshed and charged about\u00a0the EDM star\u2019s latest<\/a>. It\u2019s a beginning-to-end journey that unveils new details over many plays. Skrillex\u2019s sound remains sharply textured \u2014 there\u2019s space in the mix even when he\u2019s stacking bass tones, bent to hell and all playing the same silly pattern. His low end still gleefully warps and woofs in almost comically outsized patterns. It\u2019s his cultivated style, a sonic trademark, an aural Skrillex logo. \u2014Michaelangelo Matos<\/p>\n<\/li>\n \tDemi Lovato, \u2018It\u2019s Not That Deep\u2019<\/p>\n \t\t\t \n\tAfter leaning into the punk-rock edge of her 2022 album,\u00a0Holy Fvck<\/a>, and revisiting her old songs with a grittier twist on 2023\u2019s\u00a0Revamped<\/a>, Demi Lovato is back to the sound where she shines brightest. Teaming up with pop-production mastermind Zhone, she leans into playful synths and club-ready energy.\u00a0There\u2019s still room for some introspection, but mostly she\u2019s\u00a0not digging too deeply into heavy subject matter. Instead, she delivers a dance-driven album<\/a> that skips the ultra-emotional ballads of her past to have some fun \u2014 with only a tad of regret. \u2014Tomas Mier<\/p>\n<\/li>\n \tLizzo, \u2018My Face Hurts From Smiling\u2019<\/p>\n \t\t\t \n\tGetting back in touch with her hip-hop roots has inspired Lizzo and her collaborators to dig in deeper and craft a mixtape that allows her more space to play. The raunchy, high-energy\u00a0My Face Hurts From Smiling<\/a> starts off with a bang \u2014 as Lizzo big-ups her ability to go \u201cthrough the bullshit, turn it to a boppin\u2019.\u201d That idea, where the only way out of a rough patch is through music, persists throughout the tape, with Lizzo sending fire in the direction of her naysayers and reveling in how unstoppable the idea of complete creative freedom makes her feel. \u2014Maura Johnston<\/p>\n<\/li>\n \tChance the Rapper, \u2018Star Line\u2019<\/p>\n \t\t\t \n\tWhen\u00a0Chance the Rapper<\/a>\u00a0announced his first album in six years, one couldn\u2019t help but wonder if the 32-year-old Chicago rapper had anything interesting left to offer. He hasn\u2019t lost his innate optimism, and it\u2019s that quality that ultimately makes\u00a0Star Line<\/a>\u00a0a worthy and even remarkable return to form. The album bursts with themes \u2014 Chance\u2019s affinity for Black people and his \u2019Raq hometown, the loneliness of being a bachelor, his love for his two daughters, and much else. Even when the big-tent vision falters, Chance sews the album\u2019s 17 tracks into a cohesive, memorable statement. \u2014Mosi Reeves<\/p>\n<\/li>\n \tLucy Dacus, \u2018Forever Is a Feeling\u2019<\/p>\n \t\t\t \n\t\u201cI\u2019m thinking about breaking your heart someday soon,\u201d Lucy Dacus confesses in \u201cLimerence,\u201d one of the highlights from her fourth album. On\u00a0Forever Is a Feeling,<\/a>\u00a0she aims for adult-specific love songs, rather than the coming-of-age and coming-out tales that made her name. \u201cIf the devil\u2019s in the details, then God is in the gap in your teeth,\u201d she sings in \u201cFor Keeps.\u201d In the jubilant title song, she takes a romantically charged road trip over sped-up piano. These songs take place in the middle of long-running messy relationships \u2014 some desperately romantic, some just painful. \u2014Rob Sheffield<\/p>\n<\/li>\n \tBlondshell, \u2018If You Asked for a Picture\u2019<\/p>\n \t\t\t \n\tFor her second album as Blondshell, L.A. singer-songwriter Sabrina Teitelbaum is figuring out how much of her life story she wants to tell the world \u2014 how much she needs to tell \u2014 and how much to hide away for herself. On her acclaimed 2023 self-titled debut, she was really letting it all hang out in searing, confessional indie rock. But on\u00a0If You Asked for a Picture<\/a>, Teitelbaum\u2019s more ambivalent, more questioning, reckoning with her painful past, from childhood misery to dysfunctional young-adult romance. These are the songs of an artist who wants to figure out who she is by singing about it. \u2014R.S.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n \tFreddie Gibbs, \u2018Alfredo 2\u2019<\/p>\n \t\t\t \n\tEach new Alchemist LP is greeted by a small but persistent audience clamoring for the legendary beatsmith to evolve from his palette of sleepy soft jazz and moody noir soundscapes. Others, correctly, never grow tired of filet mignon. This second link-up with Freddie Gibbs is predictably sumptuous, which is not a bad thing to be when Gibbs is still rapping with the intensity of someone with a gun to his head and the cool of someone who doesn\u2019t care. Gibbs\u2019 bitter edge cuts the smoky haze of Al\u2019s beats like a sip of cognac in a dimly lit back room. \u2014Clayton Purdom<\/p>\n<\/li>\n \tBar Italia, \u2018Some Like It Hot\u2019<\/p>\n \t\t\t \n\tBar Italia<\/a>\u00a0rose out of the London rock underground with their own seductive guitar buzz, three criminally cool types at home in the dark. Their terrific new\u00a0Some Like It Hot\u00a0i<\/a>s even cockier, steamier, more insistent \u2014 one of the year\u2019s kickiest indie-rock thrillers.\u00a0They\u2019re definitely not shy about showing off their moody rock influences \u2014 a little Slowdive, a lot of the Cure, plenty of the Velvets and Spacemen 3 and Sonic Youth. All over\u00a0Some Like It Hot, they mix up post punk, Britpop, shoegaze, and psychedelia with their own melodramatic flair. \u2014R.S.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n \tDrake and Partynextdoor, \u2018$ome $exy $ongs 4 U\u2019<\/p>\n \t\t\t \n\tBilled as an R&B album in time for Valentine\u2019s Day,\u00a0$ome $exy $ongs 4 U<\/a>\u00a0is the first official project, albeit a collab, from Drake after a year of basically the entire world dragging his name through the mud. It\u2019s a savvy diversion, given it was only a few weeks before its release that the entire country wondered if he\u2019d get called a pedophile at the Super Bowl. That in mind, the LP is a clean, well-executed production of Drake\u2019s signature product meant to push the plot along \u2014 a slick new offering from the embattled Drake Cinematic Universe.\u00a0\u2014Jeff Ihaza<\/p>\n<\/li>\n \tBob Mould, \u2018Here We Go Crazy\u2019<\/p>\n \t\t\t \n\tHere We Go Crazy\u00a0<\/a>wanders the same landscape of tumultuous noise and roiling emotions Bob Mould has been navigating since he co-founded H\u00fcsker D\u00fc in 1979. Gems like \u201cHard to Get\u201d and \u201cNeanderthal\u201d nail a quintessential Mould-ian mix of pounding aggression, oceanic guitar buzz, and teaming melody. \u201cWhen Your Heart Is Broken\u201d rockets to the top of his canon, right up there with the D\u00fc\u2019s \u201cMakes No Sense at All\u201d in its ability to mix effortless anthemic tunefulness with a harried feelings-first urgency. \u00a0The sense of constant growth and accrued wisdom in these songs makes them sink in.\u00a0\u2014Jon Dolan<\/p>\n<\/li>\n \tSelena Gomez and Benny Blanco, \u2018I Said I Love You First\u2019<\/p>\n \t\t\t \n\tFor Selena Gomez and Benny Blanco, turning their love story into an album is the least they could do. I Said I Love You First is a valentine that delivers exactly what it promises \u2014 a pop icon and a superstar producer celebrating a real-life romance that we all can root for. The album peaks in the middle with a trio of bangers starting with \u201cSunset Blvd,\u201d a romantic fantasy of coupling in the middle of the street until the cops arrive to pry them apart. These two crazy kids are young, they\u2019re in love, and they can\u2019t keep their hands to themselves \u2014 well, they could, but why would they want to? \u2014R.S.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n \tFola, \u2018Catharsis\u2019<\/p>\n \t\t\t \n\tFola has quickly and quietly become one of the most prominent new acts in Nigerian music, and his debut album crystalizes his solo stature as Afrobeats\u2019 next soul soother. He cruises across careful odes to courtship, heartbreak, and hustle in the bustling city of Lagos. Whether he\u2019s singing almost entirely in Yoruba over John Mayer-esque guitar licks on \u201cHealer\u201d or riding sensual Eighties R&B saxophone on \u201cYou,\u201d Fola\u2019s debut is like if your favorite low-fi YouTube channel got a whole lot of human heart and soul programmed into it \u2014 it\u2019s music you pop on to drop your shoulders and melt away. \u2014Mankaprr Conteh<\/p>\n<\/li>\n \tAmber Mark, \u2018Pretty Idea\u2019<\/p>\n \t\t\t \n\tAmber Mark is a lover girl mending her broken heart on Pretty Idea, a bottomless toolbox of pop and R&B songs to be deployed at any given stage of lovelorn grief. \u201cBy the End of the Night\u201d and the Anderson.Paak-assisted \u201cDon\u2019t Remind Me\u201d are perfect for momentary distraction, like the dancing that comes before the drunk texting. The unraveling cuts deep on highlights \u201cDifferent Places\u201d and \u201cCherry Reds,\u201d then she twists the knife with \u201cThe Best of You.\u201d But it\u2019s all good. Mark has everything she needs to stitch herself back up. \u2014L.P.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n \tChaeyoung, \u2018Lil Fantasy Vol. 1\u2019<\/p>\n \t\t\t \n\tChaeyoung has attained stardom as a member of the K-pop group TWICE. On her solo debut, lyrics about the loss of old friends, forgiveness, and embracing your own quirky self pour out of the singer-rapper, as she mixes neo-soul, trip-hop, and funk in her dreamy pop songs. \u201cBF\u201d reflects on how fame feeds into loneliness. But there\u2019s optimism, too: On the disco-inspired \u201cShoot (Firecracker),\u201d she sings, \u201cDon\u2019t say goodbye, there\u2019s a new beginning.\u201d Yes, Chaeyoung is living her lil fantasy, but she makes it clear she\u2019s a work in progress with room to grow. \u2014Jae-Ha Kim<\/p>\n<\/li>\n \tMomma, \u2018Welcome to My Blue Sky\u2019<\/p>\n \t\t\t \n\tMomma delivered their fantastic Welcome\u00a0to\u00a0My Blue Sky<\/a> just in time for a whole new summer of grunge. On their last album, they sang about riding around listening to \u201cGold Soundz\u201d; it didn\u2019t take long before they were opening for Pavement, and this album is twice as great. \u201cOhio All the Time\u201d is a bittersweet but damn-near-perfect guitar vignette about two kids getting lost on the road in the Midwest, trying to figure out if they\u2019re in love, yet neither one brave enough to speak up.\u00a0Welcome to My Blue Sky\u00a0is totally brash, always loud, always effusive, and usually funny even when their lives are falling apart, which is constantly.\u00a0\u2014R.S.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n \tOpen Mike Eagle, \u2018Neighborhood Gods Unlimited\u2019<\/p>\n \t\t\t \n\tChicago-raised, Los Angeles-based rapper Open Mike Eagle has been making albums filled with observational comedy, self-deprecating wit, and quietly devastating tragedy for nearly two decades. Neighborhood Gods Unlimited marks a new creative peak. That\u2019s partly to excellent production from Child Actor, Kenny Segal, and others, who complement Mike\u2019s \u201cDark Comedy Television\u201d with softly insistent bops that fit him like a pair of comfortable shoes. Then there\u2019s his own charms, which include imagining himself as a shitworker who transforms at night into a Superman-like bedroom rapper. \u2014M.R.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n \tKaytranada, \u2018Ain\u2019t No Damn Way!\u2019<\/p>\n \t\t\t \n\tKaytranada has said that\u00a0Ain\u2019t No Damn Way!<\/a>, his fifth album (counting\u00a0Kaytramin\u00e9, his 2023 collaboration with Amin\u00e9), is a deliberate step back into the DJ-oriented dance tracks that he made his name with \u2014 fluttering, crisp remixes of\u00a0Janet Jackson\u00a0and Teedra Moses that erupted on dance floors in the mid-2010s, well before his first album,\u00a099.9%, in 2016. But while most of\u00a0Ain\u2019t No Damn Way!\u00a0runs on house beats, it also works as casual listening; it\u2019s an airy amble through dance music history, not a blaring EDM festival or a speedy night out at a Berlin club. \u2014M.M. <\/p>\n<\/li>\n \tCuco, \u2018Ridin\u201d<\/p>\n \t\t\t \n\tThe L.A. singer-songwriter\u2019s music often has a futuristic psych-synth feel. But\u00a0Ridin\u2019\u00a0<\/a>is Cuco\u2019s most grounded and tradition-loving to date, a lavish love letter to the Mexican American \u201cbrown-eyed soul\u201d of the Sixties and Seventies. With its hopeful organ, swirling strings, sharp horns, cracking snare shots, tender melody, and flower-bearing vocals, \u201cICNBYH\u201d could have absolutely been an R&B hit in 1971, while \u201cMy 45\u201d is a rolling along with your girl. More than just historical cosplay,\u00a0Ridin\u2019\u00a0makes an old-school sound feel joyfully present. \u2014J.D.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n \tBrian Dunne, \u2018Clams Casino\u2019<\/p>\n \t\t\t \n\tBrooklyn singer, songwriter, and guitar hero Brian Dunne infuses one of the goofiest-titled albums of 2025 with a whole lot of knowing heart. Clams Casino mixes the songwriting of Paul Simon with jangle-pop sonics, painting a vivid picture of what it\u2019s like to eke out an existence as a thirtysomething artist in New York today: Joys are fleeting, self-doubt rears its head, and the struggle to perform achievement on social media looms large. Like the band of which he\u2019s also a member, Fantastic Cat, Dunne proves he\u2019s an expert in catchy melancholy. Just listen to the title track and try not to sadly sing along. \u2014Joseph Hudak<\/p>\n<\/li>\n \tThey Are Gutting a Body of Water, \u2018LOTTO\u2019<\/p>\n \t\t\t \n\tThey Are Gutting a Body of Water<\/a>\u00a0have been one of the most crucial American shoegaze bands over the past decade. Douglas Dulgarian began making noise as TAGABOW in 2017, playing house shows and releasing early cassettes like 2017\u2019s\u00a0Sweater Curse. Their new\u00a0LOTTO\u00a0<\/a>is their most intensely emotional noise yet, a showdown with addiction and disease and death. It\u2019s an exorcism of an album \u2014 heavier than heaven, hotter than hell, bold as love. Yet, even on a record with this much bleakness and terror, They Are Gutting a Body of Water make a beautifully uplifting noise. \u2014R.S.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n \tHannah Cohen, \u2018Earthstar Mountain\u2019<\/p>\n \t\t\t \n\tIn the six years since Hannah Cohen released an album, she relocated from New York City to the Catskills.\u00a0Earthstar Mountain<\/a>\u00a0is a dazzling love letter to her new home. The album navigates loss (\u201cMountain\u201d), family drama (the Sly and the Family Stone-inspired \u201cDraggin\u2019\u201d), and obscure 1960s Italian thrillers (the Ennio Morricone cover \u201cUna Spiaggia\u201d), and it features her upstate pals Clairo and Sufjan Stevens. \u201cI think that\u2019s what the Catskills are: this open door for people to take in the beauty of this place,\u201d Cohen told\u00a0RS. \u201cEveryone who comes here wants other people to experience the magic that we feel here.\u201d \u2014Angie Martoccio<\/p>\n<\/li>\n \tMobb Deep, \u2018Infinite\u2019<\/p>\n \t\t\t \n\tMobb Deep\u2019s Infinite represents the best-case scenario for a posthumous album. Havoc and the Alchemist built each song from the late Prodigy\u2019s verses and hooks, arranging them atop production that upholds the classic Mobb Deep aesthetic. His bars aren\u2019t the stitched-together, bottom-barrel verses that often plague posthumous albums \u2014 tracks like the Nas-featured \u201cPour the Henny,\u201d and \u201cClear Black Nights\u201d with Raekwon and Ghostface Killah, are missives from beyond. True to that album title, Mobb Deep have made a boundless impact that will resonate as long as human history itself. \u2014Andre Gee<\/p>\n<\/li>\n \tCMAT, \u2018Euro-Country\u2019<\/p>\n \t\t\t \n\tCiara Mary-Alice Thompson \u2014 a.k.a. the Irish singer-songwriter\u00a0CMAT\u00a0<\/a>\u2014 blends the storytelling-focused lyrics and twangy instrumentation of Nashville and the plush splendor of 21st-century folk-ish pop, with the occasional rock meltdown. Like the work of other sharp-eyed pop chroniclers of modern life (particularly Pulp\u2019s Jarvis Cocker), CMAT\u2019s music draws people in before they realize the depth of her (mostly correct) commentary on the world\u2019s ills. \u2014M. Johnston<\/p>\n<\/li>\n \tDeftones, \u2018Private Music\u2019<\/p>\n \t\t\t \n\tThe best thing about Private Music, Deftones\u2019 10th LP, is that it arrived with no gimmick or plea for relevancy. It\u2019s simply another great record from an outfit that already sounded fully confident in its core aesthetic \u2014 a juxtaposition of grinding alt-metal riffage, and deep, sensuous yearning \u2014 by the time of turn-of-the-millennium landmark White Pony<\/a>. Highlights such as the jagged, unnerving \u201cCut Hands,\u201d woozy power ballad \u201cI Think About You All the Time,\u201d and the grinding, anthemic \u201cEcdysis\u201d felt like instant Deftones canon, each a reminder of this band\u2019s unusual staying power. \u2014Hank Shteamer<\/p>\n<\/li>\n \tBrandi Carlile, \u2018Returning to Myself\u2019<\/p>\n \t\t\t \n\tFollowing her 2018 breakthrough,\u00a0By the Way, I Forgive You,\u00a0Brandi Carlile<\/a>\u00a0embraced many roles \u2014 from Brandi the Steward, ushering in the resurgences of icons like\u00a0Elton John,\u00a0Tanya Tucker, and\u00a0Joni Mitchell, to Brandi the Author, with her 2021 bestselling memoir. None of these roles left much space for Brandi the Person. That\u2019s the thesis of\u00a0Returning to Myself<\/a>,\u00a0a frequently moving statement that represents Carlile\u2019s finest work since\u00a0By the Way. It\u2019s more than a return to form, pointing toward new textures in Carlile\u2019s voice and always feeling uniquely of a piece. \u2014Jonathan Bernstein <\/p>\n<\/li>\n \tHannah Bahng, \u2018The Misunderstood EP\u2019<\/p>\n \t\t\t \n\tKorean Australian singer-songwriter\u00a0Hannah Bahng\u2019s lushly low-key music combines yearning and heartache with a Gen Z sense that any genre is ready for use, be it melancholy indie pop or introspective alt-rock. Each of the seven tracks here stands on its own merit as a self-reflective tale of vulnerability and longing \u2014 whether she\u2019s navigating a one-sided relationship on \u201cOrchid\/Flame\u201d or attaining self-discovery on the dreamy \u201cI\u2019m Me Again.\u201d The Misunderstood EP <\/a>tell a complex story that begins with desperation and ends with the promise. \u2014J.H.K.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n \tDavido, \u20185ive\u2019<\/p>\n \t\t\t \n\tOn\u00a05ive<\/a>, the Nigerian pop star leans into love and legacy at the ripe age of 32. Davido makes these contemplations an easy listen. He celebrates the resilience of love, lilting to his partner that she\u2019s the most important thing that he could sing about on \u201c10 Kilo.\u201d The album is pleasant enough to play top to bottom at a turn-up or on a long drive, rich with layers of perfectly programmed percussion and flowing easily between lust, pain, and triumph. Aptly, it\u2019s at its best on songs like \u201cCFMF\u201d and \u201cFunds,\u201d where Davido trades the amapiano-indebted Afrobeats he has refined for refreshing romances. \u2014M.C.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n \tMilo J, \u2018La Vida Es Mas Corta\u2019<\/p>\n \t\t\t \n\tMilo J was only 18 when he recorded this astonishing third album, a syncretic love letter to Argentine culture that weaves strands of folklore, trap, and tango into a panoramic journey framed by the restrained gravity of his voice. The cutting-edge production and dream gallery of guest features \u2014 from\u00a0trova\u00a0icon Silvio Rodr\u00edguez and folk revival queen Soledad to rapper Trueno and a sample of the late Mercedes Sosa \u2014 add layers of sophistication, but the luminous poetic vision is all Milo\u2019s.\u00a0\u2014Ernesto Lechner<\/p>\n<\/li>\n \tThe Beaches, \u2018No Hard Feelings\u2019<\/p>\n \t\t\t \n\tNo Hard Feelings? There seem to be plenty: The lyric sheet of the Beaches\u2019 third LP is peppered with acidic one-liners, like the \u201clost boys in J. Crew shirts\u201d lamented on \u201cTakes One to Know One\u201d or the inimitable kiss-off \u201cFine, Ryan, I\u2019ll fuck you forever\u201d (from the aptly named \u201cFine, Let\u2019s Get Married\u201d). The Toronto four-piece issues all these flirty, high-flying fuck-yous with the flanging guitars and mechanical drums of early Cure records, a combination that gooses the tension steadily until another scream-along chorus erupts. It\u2019s throwback pop-punk for the TikTok era, as immediate as a sucker punch. \u2014C.P.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n \tKelsey Waldon, \u2018Every Ghost\u2019<\/p>\n \t\t\t \n\tGrowth and movement are all over Kelsey Waldon\u2019s 10th album, Every Ghost. The Kentucky singer-songwriter employs unfussy arrangements that lean toward 1970s country as she examines personal evolution (\u201cGhost of Myself\u201d) and sobriety (\u201cLost in My Idlin\u2019\u201d), offering herself grace for missteps. Family roots show up in \u201cMy Kin,\u201d while the low-end thump of \u201cTiger Lilies\u201d anchors a story about replanting a departed relative\u2019s flowers. \u201cNursery Rhyme\u201d laments a country in disarray, but with the rousing \u201cLet It Lie,\u201d she steels herself to persevere through any struggles. \u2014Jon Freeman<\/p>\n<\/li>\n \tMonaleo, \u2018Who Did the Body\u2019<\/p>\n \t\t\t \n\tHouston rapper Monaleo\u2019s Who Did the Body\u00a0<\/a>feels like a meetup with cousins to celebrate life.\u00a0\u201cOpen the Gates\u201d is pure ancestral veneration in verse, calling out the names of her deceased friends, and the theme of transformation and death is paired with vivid storytelling on \u201cDignified.\u201d Monaleo embodies an ethic rooted in her community and commitment to Blackness as a way of life and art, a testament to the idea that the right way may be fulfilled when we learn to blend our Black livelihoods, combining the unorthodox and traditional. \u2014Meagan Jordan <\/p>\n<\/li>\n \tGirlpuppy, \u2018Sweetness\u2019<\/p>\n \t\t\t \n\tAtlanta singer-songwriter Becca Harvey\u2019s\u00a0Sweetness<\/a>\u00a0is a deeply observed relationship autopsy set to blue, buzzy guitars. On \u201cI Just Do!\u201d she gives us a crushed-out, grunge-pop masterpiece, while pretty subdued songs like \u201cIn My Eyes\u201d and \u201cWindows\u201d see her work through love\u2019s murky middle stages, and she closes it out strumming farewell on \u201cI Think I Did.\u201d Working in the tradition of classics like Marvin Gaye\u2019s\u00a0Here, My Dear\u00a0and Richard and Linda Thompson\u2019s\u00a0Shoot Out the Lights, she delivers a post-breakup banger. \u2014J.D.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n \tMavis Staples, \u2018Sad and Beautiful World\u2019<\/p>\n \t\t\t \n\tMavis Staples\u2019 stunning Sad and Beautiful World <\/a>sees the 86-year-old Chicago soul legend transform disparate material \u2014 by Frank Ocean, Leonard Cohen, Gillian Welch, Tom Waits, and others \u2014 into her most powerful statement as a solo artist in more than a decade.\u00a0At times, Staples\u2019 zen reflectiveness feels like a photo negative of Cohen\u2019s grimly dark late records. Like those collections, it documents a legend brimming with life even as they confront mortality. But Staples comes to the opposite conclusions, drawing even more depth and power in her faith, even, or especially, as she finds it fractured. \u2014J. Bernstein\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/li>\n \tOsamason, \u2018Jump Out\u2019<\/p>\n \t\t\t \n\tOsamason\u2019s\u00a0Jump Out\u00a0makes a sonic case for chaos as the language of the coming generation, and why wouldn\u2019t it? The 22-year-old rapper at the forefront of the current vanguard of rage-rap luminaries balances a melodic sensibility with a maximalist approach to rap. Razor-sharp synths set ablaze in digital audio workstations, drums modulated to frequencies at the edge of the ear\u2019s functional limit, and lyrics like mantras punching straight through to one\u2019s lizard brain. A product of rending emotional precision from the endless feed of information available everywhere all of the time. \u2014J.I.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n \tWolf Alice, \u2018The Clearing\u2019<\/p>\n \t\t\t \n\tThe U.K. band\u00a0Wolf Alice<\/a>\u00a0have been making eclectic pop-rock for a decade, specializing in textural music that swings big emotionally while moving within different sonic settings. They\u2019ve never put it together with the sweep and depth of their fourth album,<\/a> steeped in classic Seventies and Eighties influences. At the heart is Ellie Rowsell\u2019s self-defining search for direction and meaning as she moves into the real part of adulthood. \u201cI want to age with excitement, feel my world expand,\u201d she sings on \u201cPlay It Out,\u201d sounding bravely and refreshingly unsure as to what that means. \u2014J.D.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n \tCraig Finn, \u2018Always Been\u2019<\/p>\n \t\t\t \n\tThe Hold Steady frontman has an impressive solo catalog, but\u00a0Always Been\u00a0<\/a>is its pinnacle. Over 11 songs, Craig Finn delivers tales of faithless preachers (\u201cBethany\u201d), broken homes (\u201cCrumbs\u201d), and relationships that should have ended long ago (\u201cLuke & Leanna\u201d) in his infamously idiosyncratic talk-sing style. But what distinguishes\u00a0Always Been\u00a0from Finn\u2019s other solo projects is its clear California piano-rock roots. Even the album cover drives it home, with Finn re-creating the photo from Randy Newman\u2019s 1977 LP,\u00a0Little Criminals. \u2014J.H.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n \tWet Leg, \u2018Moisturizer\u2019<\/p>\n \t\t\t \n\tU.K. indie rockers Wet Leg came out of nowhere in 2021 to become bona fide international superstars. On\u00a0their second album<\/a>, they prove they\u2019ve been partying harder, traveling faster, caring less, and meeting sexier idiots. If you thought they might catch a case of sophomore-slump neurosis after their self-titled debut, you guessed wrong. Moisturizer\u00a0keeps everything fast and frisky, ranging from crushed-out bliss (\u201cI\u2019ll be your Shakira, whenever, wherever\u201d) to breakup rage (\u201cYou are washed-up, irrelevant, and standing in my light\u201d). But wherever Wet Leg go, they make you want to tag along. \u2014R.S.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n \tJensen McRae, \u2018Don\u2019t Know How But They Found Me\u2019<\/p>\n \t\t\t \n\tOn\u00a0her\u00a0second album, Jensen McRae rides love till the wheels fall off, sending it plummeting off the road, down the side of a cliff, and exploding in a fiery blaze. \u201cNovelty\u201d is a puncture wound sustained in the moment she realizes she\u2019s become less valuable to someone, while \u201cTuesday\u201d offers a shattering, lovelorn performance. McRae\u2019s lyrics cut vividly against her thrumming melodies. The narrative progression from \u201cI Can Change Him\u201d to \u201cPraying for Your Downfall\u201d makes the battle she fights on \u201cDaffodil\u201d all the more searing. It all affirms her position as one of pop\u2019s sharpest newcomers. \u2014L.P<\/p>\n<\/li>\n \tKwn, \u2018With All Due Respect\u2019<\/p>\n \t\t\t \n\tKwn masters the art of seduction on her breakthrough nine-song EP. After she turned heads with the edgy \u201cWorst Behaviour\u201d and its even bolder remix with Kehlani on Valentine\u2019s Day,\u00a0With All Due Respect\u00a0proved that Kwn\u2019s alchemy of hip-hop soul, cinematic lesbianism, and textured vocal stacks was no fluke. She\u2019s the project\u2019s lead producer, writer, and of course, heartthrob-y vocalist, singing plainly \u2014 even blush-inducingly \u2014 about love and lust with a dominant streak. Take it from the fans at her packed shows, singing every scandalous word back to her: She\u2019s one of the most exciting new faces of R&B. \u2014M.C.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n \tCardi B, \u2018Am I the Drama?\u2019<\/p>\n \t\t\t \n\tOn\u00a0Am I the Drama?,\u00a0<\/a>Cardi B makes up for lost time with a massive comeback triumph. She\u2019s got a long list of scores to settle, enemies to crush, crowns to claim.\u00a0As always, she brings so much larger-than-life personality to the party that she could coast on charisma if she wanted. But Cardi\u2019s been in the news lately for everything\u00a0except\u00a0her music, so it\u2019s a trip to hear her finally get to cut loose and have fun. She\u2019s out to remind everyone she\u2019s looser, wilder, less predictable, just plain funnier than anyone else in the game. As she declares, \u201cAll of my cars is chauffeured\/I ain\u2019t touched door handles in years!\u201d \u2014R.S.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n \tBon Iver, \u2018Sable, Fable\u2019<\/p>\n \t\t\t \n\tJustin Vernon\u2019s lyrics have often led to him being considered a melancholy, lovesick songwriter.\u00a0The nine tracks on his\u00a0first album in five<\/a>\u00a0years see him finally relenting to lightness. \u201cTime heals and then it repeats,\u201d he sings, acknowledging the regenerative nature of all things. There\u2019s a sense of transcendence running through the LP, with most songs resolving in a major key, carried by propulsive percussion and a whole lot of pedal steel and leaning into triumphant anthemic pop melodies. It\u2019s the work of a man at his most hopeful and open, palms upturned, ready and willing to come up for air. \u2014Leah Lu<\/p>\n<\/li>\n \tTate McRae, \u2018So Close to What\u2019<\/p>\n \t\t\t \n\tTate McRae\u2019s perpetual-motion mind has made her one of pop\u2019s most exciting young stars, and it fuels\u00a0So Close to What<\/a>, a sleek, fast-moving collection of darkly hued pop confections. \u201cSports Car\u201d sculpts synth squelches and grinding-gears rhythms into hooks, McRae\u2019s whispered come-ons acting as the connective tissue. Her vision of love is, perhaps unsurprisingly, riddled with introspection and angst. But her ability to dig into those intricacies and turn them into arena-worthy singalongs makes\u00a0So Close to What\u00a0a pop album worth digging into.\u00a0\u2014M.Johnston<\/p>\n<\/li>\n \tGiv\u0113on, \u2018Beloved\u2019<\/p>\n \t\t\t \n\tWith his oaky baritone, Giv\u0113on often sounds like he teleported to us from the 1970s. In the rapid-fire internet age, his love songs \u2014 frequently lost-love songs \u2014 are unhurried. At his best, he\u2019s like a barrel-aged cognac \u2014 warm, earthy, and mature. Now, on his sophomore LP, he\u2019s well established as a singular voice. Beloved\u00a0<\/a>is almost barren of the hip-hop flourishes that peppered his earlier work, and instead leans all the way into the orchestral R&B of another time. Rich and authentic,\u00a0Beloved\u00a0feels indebted to Al Green, Philly soul, the Jackson 5, and blaxploitation soundtracks. \u2014M.C.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n \tThom Yorke and Mark Pritchard, \u2018Tall Tales\u2019<\/p>\n \t\t\t \n\tRadiohead frontman Thom Yorke and producer Mark Pritchard have been working on\u00a0this minimalist electronic project<\/a>\u00a0since the dark days of 2020, passing tracks back and forth, with Yorke adding vocals that are hauntingly opaque and ensnaringly eerie even by his high standards. On \u201cIce Shelf,\u201d his voice is mutated into a robotic wallow over gray-noise ambience and subterranean drum boom, while \u201cThe Conversation Is Missing Your Voice\u201d is like a photo negative of an R&B banger. Pritchard wisely keeps his tracks uncluttered and varied, offering Yorke endless room to stretch out. \u2014J.D.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n \tWater From Your Eyes, \u2018It\u2019s a Beautiful Place\u2019<\/p>\n \t\t\t \n\tThe New York experimental duo\u2019s second album since signing with Matador Records is a brilliantly disorienting trip. Is it an ambient daydream, a nu metal shredfest, a dance party at the end of the world? Hell yeah, baby, to all of the above and much more. Producer and multi-instrumentalist Nate Amos, coming off a major 2024 breakthrough with his singer-songwriter project This Is Lorelei<\/a>, brings some of that magic back to the mothership for an album full of tasty licks, juicy riffs, and honest-to-god guitar solos; vocalist Rachel Brown brings the surrealist patter to match. \u2014Simon Vozick-Levinson<\/p>\n<\/li>\n \tMike, \u2018Showbiz!\u2019<\/p>\n \t\t\t \n\tMike\u2019s\u00a0Showbiz!<\/a>\u00a0is a stellar glimpse into the human experience \u2014 24 songs that offer a wide-ranging glimpse of the Brooklyn-based rhymer\u2019s personal excavation over a variety of beats. On \u201cWatered down,\u201d he admits, \u201cI get hotheaded and mean sometimes, my fault, forgive me\u201d over a chipper, high-pitches sample. \u201cMan in the mirror\u201d shows him rhyming over an upbeat dance track, while \u201cWhen it Rains\u201d has a groove that harkens to his excellent\u00a0Pinball\u00a0series with producer Tony Seltzer. There aren\u2019t many artists as vulnerable as Mike, and even fewer craft their reflections with his technical precision. \u2014A.G.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n \tRene\u00e9 Rapp, \u2018Bite Me\u2019<\/p>\n \t\t\t \n\tRene\u00e9 Rapp has drastically switched up her game since her excellent 2023 debut,\u00a0Snow Angel\u00a0\u2014 and it\u2019s a glorious noise to hear. She spends Bite Me<\/a> enjoying what a rowdy-and-proud mess she is, for one of the year\u2019s most delightful pop blowouts, an uproarious 33-minute celebration of sex, drugs, and rock & roll. It\u2019s her first album since coming out, and damn, she\u2019s making up for lost time, with bangers full of Hollywood parties and thirsty groupies and hangovers and the mad dash to the next club. It\u2019s a concept album where the concept is \u201cIf I can\u2019t be happy, then at least I\u2019m hot.\u201d \u2014R.S.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n \tAlex G, \u2018Headlights\u2019<\/p>\n \t\t\t \n\tAlex Giannascoli was one of the first and finest acts to break through in the 2010s by posting his home-recorded music straight to Bandcamp, and his tried-and-true methods haven\u2019t stopped yielding uncannily compelling results. On his first album <\/a>for a major label, his ability to create a sound that feels at once magical and lived-in remains remarkable, like whole histories of folk and rock music are expressing themselves through this one chill guy. Whether you\u2019ve been riding with him for years or you\u2019re thinking of joining up today,\u00a0Headlights\u00a0is an album that won\u2019t make you regret that choice. \u2014S.V.L.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n \tCentral Cee, \u2018Can\u2019t Rush Greatness\u2019<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n