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Kaytranada - Timeless
On Timeless, Kaytranada blends disco, electronic, R&B, hip-hop, house, and more for some sweet sounds. Appearing on the album are A-listers Childish Gambino, Anderson.Paak, Thundercat, Pink Pantheress, Don Toliver and Dawn Richard, all assisting in this album of romantic tension, instrumentals, and some dance floor BPMs. “Hot-handed to say the least, Kaytranada continues to refine his sample-laced mixture of house, hip-hop, and other cross-continental styles of dance music with Timeless” ~ Andy Kellman at
allmusic.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
Stereolab — Instant Holograms on Metal Film
On their first album in 15 years, Stereolab don't pretend that time stood still after 2010's Not Music. Instead, Instant Holograms on Metal Film presents a Stereolab fit for the era to which they returned. Yes, the album's quintessentially Stereolab title may come from a 1970 issue of Electronics Australia, and yes, some of its fondly familiar sounds echo the likes of Margerine Eclipse and Emperor Tomato Ketchup ("Immortal Hands"' pensive chamber pop could be a distant cousin of Ketchup's "Monstre Sacre"). More importantly, the band's energy is dynamic in a way that it hasn't been in some time -- a product of their steady touring that also recalls the charged atmosphere of their earliest singles. On each of Instant Holograms on Metal Film's billowing, exploratory songs, they rise to action, even if they don't do it in obvious ways. The morphing grooves and blasts of Ben LaMar Gay's cornet on the standout "Melodie Is a Wound," for example, come closer to the interplay between a jazz ensemble's members than a straightforward climax. Their pursuit of "higher frequencies" on "Transmuted Matter" is transportingly lovely, as is "Vermona F Transistor," a twinkling baroque-funk statement of empowerment where vocalist Laetitia Sadier declares, "I'm the creator of this reality." When she directs listeners to "explore without fear" on the finale, "If You Remember I Forgot How to Dream, Pt. 2," it sounds like a message of encouragement that an alien society sent from across the stars. Capturing the inspiring spark in bygone visions of what the future could be is one of Stereolab's greatest strengths, and the brilliant ways they do this on Instant Holograms on Metal Film don't just live up to their legacy -- they push it forward. ~Heather Phares, allmusic.com
The Last Dinner Party arrived at the soiree fully formed, having appeared seemingly out of nowhere with 2023's bawdy and assured festival fave "Nothing Matters." The group's theatrical, bold-faced indie rock -- evoking the spirit of Oscar Wilde, Florence + the Machine, Charlotte Brontë, and Hedwig and the Angry Inch -- struck a chord with audiences and sent their debut album, Prelude to Ecstasy, to number one in the U.K. From the Pyre follows in its predecessor's bedazzled footsteps, delivering lusty thespian rock to the masses with wit, warmth, and remarkable pop craftsmanship. Lee Hazlewood is mentioned just a few bars into the opulent opener, "Agnus Dei" -- a dazzling showcase of the band's impeccable vocal arrangements -- and his "cowboy psychedelia" looms large on the brooding "This Is the Killer Speaking" and the spare barroom weeper "Sail Away." The group's greatest strength lies in their unified front, where each member's contribution not only supports the whole but fortifies its very foundation -- this aesthetic applies as much to arena-ready anthems like "Second Best" and "Inferno" as it does to an immersive art-rock gem like "Woman Is a Tree." TLDP puts all of these predilections into motion on the penultimate "Scythe," a powerful rumination on grief and mortality that manages to feel both superfluous ("Open me up, butcher my heart, please let me die on the street where you live") and life-affirming ("Don't cry, we're bound together, each life runs its course"). It's a neat trick, and one that the Last Dinner Party are more than capable of pulling off. These are all big-hearted songs dreamed up in small rooms, and painted in bold Broadway strokes. ~James Christopher Monger, allmusic.com
The Last Dinner Party - From The Pyre
Makaya McCraven — Off The Record
Off the Record is Makaya McCraven's first album since 2022's In These Times. This double-length album compiles four EPs, all with different lineups. The core recordings were cut between 2015 and 2025, then subjected to McCraven's trademark "beat science" mix treatment, combining jazz, hip-hop, electronics, funk, and psychedelia. The three Eps consist of The People’s Mixtape – original recordings from a 2025 Brooklyn concert; followed by Hidden Out – from his Chicago 2017 residency sessions at Hideout; and finally Pop Up Shop from a 2015 debut performance in LA. “While each of these EPs stand on their own in quality, they create a rhythm orgy that is wildly musical and presented as a near symbiotic whole when combined.” Thom Jurek, allmusic.com
