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Nourished By Time - The Passionate Ones
Like Marcus Brown's previous output, The Passionate Ones is self-produced, and consists of artful outpourings that combine highly spirited post-disco R&B, surging new wave, and an assaultive type of dream pop. The R&B element emits strong echoes of the decade-plus period from the immediate aftermath of disco to the flame-out of new jack swing. From his stentorian voice, often stacked and frequently high in the mix, to synthesizers that glower and glisten, rhythm guitars that ring, deep and sparing basslines, and rudimentary machine rhythms, Brown sounds like no one else. The lyrics run the gamut -- love, addiction, mental health, capitalism, overstimulated 2020s living in general -- and rarely fail to leave a strong impression. He's unafraid of mixing high-alert reportage and tongue-in-cheek humor, as in the caroming "Baby Baby," where he cracks wise about quasi-fame ("The sex ain't even fun yet/Sick of the blood tests") and later observes "If you can bomb Palestine, you can bomb Mondawmin," referencing a shopping mall in his native Baltimore. Brown inserts himself into "Crazy People," one moment recalling a moment on school grounds with a police offer's gun at his head, then off-handedly dropping a concise summation of where he's at as an artist: "Wrote my story every night/Learned the power of the mind/There's beauty in the world/It made me tongue-tied/It took me ten years, but I'm on time." He has certainly harnessed the zeitgeist. ~Andy Kellman, all music.com
Sudan Archives - The BPM
On “The BPM” Brittney Parks as Sudan Archives brings “Everything from drum'n'bass and juke to trap and hyperpop in the mix, and Parks somehow remembered to bring her violin. She applies her main instrument primarily as a layer, most effectively in scratching/tickling fashion on "Come and Find You," a part-Afropop fusion of styles in which Parks playfully commands in her uppermost register. In "A Bug's Life," Dickey whips up an organic house groove with enough space for Parks to make like a member of the MFSB string section, deepening its disco foundation as she also breathily sing/raps about her infatuation. She experiments more with her voice, mostly through all manner of processing, though it's as significant that she nimbly raps throughout the verses of "My Type," a charging electro-house track that captures the rush of new love through another character sketch. Virtually every element, whether played or programmed, is in service to Parks' sybaritic visions, and they all stimulate movement free from restraint. ~Andy Kellman, allmusic.com
Turnstile - Never Enough
Turnstile's third album, Glow On, broke them out of the hardcore scene and into the mainstream, earning near-universal acclaim, a Grammy nomination, and prominent chart placements around the world. Arriving four years after Glow On and weighted with expectations is Never Enough, the group's fourth full-length. Produced by frontman Brendan Yates with assistance from hardcore specialist Will Yip, this is the sound of a band in their creative prime, undaunted -- and quite possibly ignited -- by the spotlight now trained on them. It's their first release without founding guitarist Brady Ebert, who is replaced by new member Meg Mills, and even if the change is subtle, Turnstile have turned a corner here. Without abandoning their hardcore roots, they embrace a definitively more melodic sound that visits all sorts of locales, from lush dream pop and electronica to pristine, funky alt-rock and thrashy nu metal, all of it played with confidence and finesse. satisfaction. ~Timothy Monger allmusic.com
Oneohtrix Point Never — Tranquilizer
Tranquilizer is something of a hard reset of Oneohtrix Point Never's music. Compared to his albums since Garden of Delete, it does feel back to basics. The link to Replica's reimaginings of forgotten commercials is obvious, but the lush-yet-fragmented sonics of pieces such as "For Residue" -- which finds beauty in the digital detritus of anodyne synth pads, chirping birds, and crying babies -- also hark back to R Plus Seven. And while Lopatin described Tranquilizer as more process-oriented than most of his work since the mid-2010s, it still touches on universal themes. Above all, nothing is perfect, and nothing is permanent. The breathing room Lopatin leaves on the album affords more space for his melodies, which are among his loveliest in some time. "Cherry Blue" is one such moment, a rhapsodic ambient/dream pop hybrid where the wavering guitar sounds like the product of digital decay rather than a whammy bar. There's also more room to reflect on Tranquilizer. The album's melancholy depths rival those of its soulmate Replica, particularly on the shadowy textures and sweeping contours of "Fear of Symmetry" and "Vestigel." But before moving from this territory to the brittle tones of late-'90s electronica on "Rodl Glide," Lopatin detours into what can only be called sexy Weather Channel music, reminding listeners once again that in Oneohtrix Point Never's world, there are no guilty pleasures. He sounds freer than he has in years on Tranquilizer, and within its infinity mirror of transience and permanence, he uncovers the lasting soul within the digital abyss. ~Heather Phares, allmusic.com
Don’t Be Dumb is the fourth studio album from New York rapper and creative visionary A$AP Rocky. His contributions to rap in the early 2010s helped shift the genre on the whole, bringing cloud rap production touches to club-ready anthems for sounds that were exciting and at times unprecedented. Rocky continues his tendency for searching throughout Don’t Be Dumb, bouncing quickly from heavy trap and rage rap tracks to styles that seem wildly unconventional on a rap record. His lyrical prowess is as strong as ever, with clever wordplay and ample charisma on the slow-moving, bass-heavy thickness of “Helicopter” and the distorted rage production of “Stole Ya Flow.” The album also includes cameos from Gorillaz, Brent Faiyaz, Jessica Pratt, and Tyler, The Creator, with tracks that value exploration and expression and deliver hooks that defy expectations. The weird detours and stylistic wanderlust result in an album that somehow makes a lot of sense as a larger statement, with all the dissimilar sounds contributing to a listening experience that demands attention and doesn’t let go once it takes hold. ~Fred Thomas, allmusic.com
A$AP Rocky - Don't Be Dumb
Lucinda Williams — World's Gone Wrong
At heart, Lucinda Williams is a blues singer. The blues isn't the sum total of her influences and passions, but it's the backbone of her music, and never far from what she has to say. The blues is a music that speaks to the lives of ordinary people, their desires and their struggles, and so it makes sense that she would find herself compelled to write about the realities of American life in 2025, with politics carving a deepening divide between the American people and economic inequality widening the gulf between the haves and have-nots. Williams was working on a new album a few months into 2025 when a batch of socially conscious songs began cohering in her imagination, and she decided to instead make World's Gone Wrong, an album that appeared in January 2026 and sounds as timely as the morning's news broadcast. There's a lot that Williams is upset about on World's Gone Wrong; more than anything, she sees a world where basic human dignity and fairness have been tossed aside, and those are the themes that dominate these songs. Williams co-wrote nine of the album's ten songs, the exception being a cover of Bob Marley's "So Much Trouble in the World" with guest vocals from Mavis Staples, who has been singing out against division and want for most of her 86 years. Williams' band play tough, lean, and passionate on these sessions, knowing just what kind of energy these songs demand, and producers Ray Kennedy and Tom Overby give the recordings a no-frills clarity that finds room for depth and just the right amount of atmosphere. If the songs occasionally betray their short gestation period, Williams sings them with all the conviction she can summon, and this presents some of her best vocal work in years. World's Gone Wrong is an album of its moment that addresses issues that have been with us for centuries, and like a good blues song, they never stop being timely -- and worth singing loud and clear, which is just what Williams does here. ~Mark Deming allmusic.com
