Haim: Something to Tell You
These songs remain as tightly constructed, propulsive, and personally relatable as ever, and it's hard to deny the talent Haim has for hooks and intricate songwriting.
Andrew Dorsett
Laurel Halo: Dust
Dust dissects the modes and techniques of commercial advertisement and displaces them in barely recognizable, decidedly non-commercial contexts.
Lorde: Melodrama
Lorde continues to mine the uncertainties of youth, the tribulations of romance, and an ambivalence toward partying on her revelatory sophomore album.
London Grammar: Truth Is a Beautiful Thing
While compelling, London Grammar did not exactly sound wildly original when they first emerged in 2013. In 2017, it is even harder to find a context for their work.
Ricardo Villalobos: Empirical House
Empirical House transfigures lounge and even elevator music through Villalobos's trademark lens of minimal techno, creating a study of interior space and social contexts.
Jlin: Black Origami
Black Origami is not an album you can sink into; attempting to do so is like trying to sleep on a bed of steel wires. Yet it is a challenging, demanding, and wholly edifying work of rhythmic art.
Leftfield: Leftism 22
Leftism 22 is a document in the history of progressive house, but also a loose, pleasurable excursion as comfortable with the dance floor as it is with sweeping, cinematic beauty.
Sóley: Endless Summer
Endless Summer has an emotional precision that elevates it beyond your typical ode to the warmer seasons.
Slowdive: Slowdive
Beneath all the stylish and escapist waves of sound and texture on Slowdive's return, there is a profoundly human core waiting to be sought out and unearthed.
Amanda Palmer and Edward Ka-Spel: I Can Spin a Rainbow
I Can Spin a Rainbow is a slow parade of gothic vaudeville, but what at first seems a tolerable novelty quickly becomes insufferable.
Lone: Ambivert Tools Volume One EP
If artists like Jon Hopkins or even Burial have crafted odes to the club scene that depict it as a meaningful and beautiful experience, Ambivert Tools too often sounds like a hollow caricature.
Perfume Genius: No Shape
As its title suggests, No Shape is playfully elusive, and the album is often content simply to create beauty while remaining agnostic about what lies beneath its surface.