Melvins
Tarantula Heart
What Tarantula Heart represents for Melvins, at the end of everything, is a fresh start, a new look
Sputnik Music (staff)
Pearl Jam
Dark Matter
Dark Matter ended up as the most interesting and energized record since Backspacer
Sputnik Music (staff)
Girl In Red
I'M Doing It Again Baby!
Marie Ulven Ringheim explores different feelings and moments as if they're still happening, but it doesn't feel like she's ready to spread her wings, sonically speaking
Spectrum Culture
Claire Rousay
Sentiment
On sentiment, ambient composer Claire Rousay reveals herself to be a writer of affecting confessional songs, but it’s her skill as a sound artist that makes it a rewarding album rather than a painfully raw listening experience
Spectrum Culture
English Teacher
This Could Be Texas
The latest British post-punk phenoms turn in a staggeringly accomplished and ambitious debut
Spectrum Culture
Maggie Rogers
Don't Forget Me
With her third studio album, Rogers has fully broken free from a synth-heavy, production-reliant sound
Spectrum Culture
Taylor Swift
The Tortured Poets Department
Taylor Swift has once again alchemised pain and criticism into art
The Arts Desk
Claire Rousay
Sentiment
Sentiment is a place to jump right into her sonic world, with a proper pop pace: 10 songs in 37 minutes. The indie-rock tunes mix with orchestral interludes, synth drones, field recordings, found sounds from nature or the city streets, all full of raw emotion.
Rolling Stone
Taylor Swift
The Tortured Poets Department
The album sustains a vibe that’s melancholic without sacrificing hooks, but its minimalism undercuts the singer’s strengths
Slant Magazine
Taylor Swift
The Tortured Poets Department
Taylor Swift advances the Midnights synth-based and diaristic formula, embracing increasingly sophisticated and minimalistic sonics on The Tortured Poets Department
PopMatters
Still House Plants
If I don't make it, I love u
Here, the trio integrate skeletal post-rock with soul and jazz, deconstructed by a presiding impulse to blur lines between terms or genres, allowing it all to collapse and collide. It’s harmony clashing with disharmony, the musicality of concrete sound
The Quietus
Still House Plants
If I don't make it, I love u
The glowering strength of If I don't make it, I love u is in its commitment to both sides of the coin, an album both experimental and laid fully bare — The result is one of the best rock records of the year
Exclaim