"For the fourth year in a row, they’ve outdone themselves. The epic songs are more epic, the pop songs poppier, the country-fried desolation more potent and immersive" - Stereogum argues in favor of their latest Album of the week, 'Rat Saw God' by Wednesday. Rolling Stone writes lovingly that "the North Carolina band thrives on a huge guitar sound and the great songwriting of Karly Hartzman," whereas Consequence sees a beginning of something really big - "call it country-gaze, bubble-grunge, or skip the genre classifications altogether, the project is 10 tracks of immaculate songwriting, big ideas, and sheer character". Pitchfork tagged it Best New Music, because "their outstanding new album is why they’re one of the best indie rock bands around".

"There’s a real depth to Heartworms’ music that matches the image, and proves her to be a true and powerful outlier of her time" - NME is delighted with the debut EP by Heartworms, London goth/post-punk band. Fronted by musician and poet Jojo Orme, formed in 2020, their 4-song introductory release ‘A Comforting Notion’ feels "urgent and important, brimming with all the promise of the next great cult act." DIY Mag feels similar about her: "a Seriously Fucking Cool new artist with vision and formidable talent to her name."

"Every song on 'The Record' might not knock you on your ass, but the cumulative effect is really something" - Stereogum points out in their Premature Evaluation of Boygenius' debut album. They probably don't like being called a "supergroup", and certainly, Phoebe Bridgers, Julien Baker, and Lucy Dacus "sound less like three individual solo artists working together, more like one cohesive whole." Pitchfork gave it 8.2 grade, tagged it Best new music saying how each author "amplifies the other’s songwriting, enriches the detail, and heightens the emotion."

"Smart but chaotic, funny but disturbing – 'Scaring the Hoes' is a confounding victory" - Alexis Petridis points out about the collaborative album by New York’s Jpegmafia and Detroit’s Danny Brown. "The end result is the dictionary definition of not for everybody... It’s music that you don’t listen to so much as allow yourself to be overwhelmed by. Once you do, it becomes curiously addictive." Pitchfork says the album is "a vehicle for the duo’s irreverent humor and energy that captures a pair of spitballing pranksters who nevertheless maintain perfect GPAs."

Pakistani American singer Arooj Aftab is rejoined by her collaborators - jazz pianist Vijay Iyer and synth player Shahzad Ismaily - on her new album 'Love In Exile', a "sort of beautiful, strange sonic landscape made from strings, keys, and breath," as Rolling Stone puts it. Guardian hears tenderness, calling the album "the sound of a trio playing in gentle harmony... Aftab, Iyer and Ismaily reveal the beauty in quietude".

"The cybergrind renaissance is happening in a big way, and young duo Bejalvin have blown its doors off the fucking hinges. From dubstep to deathcore and every maximalist, heavy, catchy niche in between, 'Bejible' is the most fun I’ve had listening to music in years. This is truly next level shit" - Heavy Shit Is Heavy blog notes about the second album by the Minneapolis duo. It's essentially hyper-pop from a metal perspective. Interesting stuff.

"On 'Praise a Lord Who Chews But Which Does Not Consume (Or Simply, Hot Between Worlds)', they share some of their catchiest and most openly introspective songwriting yet" - Guardian reviews the new album by Yves Tumor. Pitchfork highly recommends the "ecstatic fusion of alt-rock and R&B, seeking the mysterious nexus where 'Loveless' meets 'Purple Rain'" (tagged it Best new music, rated 8.4). Consequence insists "they’ve turned themselves into a ravenous rock deity, a masterful songwriter", whereas NME hears as "evidence of how brilliant rock can be when ambition and talent are met with a creative who isn’t afraid to be strange".

"Uniquely memorable record, encapsulating its creator’s restless spirit" - Mojo reviews the new album 'Oh Me Oh My' by the avant-garde jazz/electro artist Lonnie Holley. Uncut points out it's "his most substantial and accessible album yet," as well as an "act of spontaneous divination, revisiting past traumas with pained understanding, yet also hopeful and celebrating the wonder of life." Pitchfork argues it's Holley's "most ambitious and approachable album: an extraordinary aural memoir that tells a cosmic story of survival" (rated 8.5, tagged Best new music), whereas Treblezine is confident that the album "will be deeply treasured". "This album is a report of loss, deep and personal and historic, yes, but most importantly, tangible and true" - Sputnik music writes enthused.

"'Radical Romantics' is essentially a collection of notes on love. Love—whether sexy, overwhelming, or vengeful—links together the recurring motivations of the Fever Ray catalog: curiosity and exploration, family born and chosen, sexual freedom and pleasure" - Pitchfork reviews the new album by Swedish artist (score 8.4, tagged Best new music). Guardian describes songs as "witty, inquisitive about physical and psychological relationships", whereas DIY Magazine points out that the album "posits the idea of love as an imperative condition for human function, and probes into both its darkest corners as well as the simple, mortal desire for affection, producing a fascinating study of electro-pop in the meantime. NME, similarly, hears "a collection of exhilarating pop vignettes examining love as a preoccupation, an unconstrained struggle and most importantly, a myth". "Even in the face of apprehension, Fever Ray has never surveyed their own future with this much conviction" - Paste Magazine insists.