British guitarist Rob Marshall invited "a long list of extraordinary vocalists [Dave Gahan, Mark Lanegan, Carl Hancock Rux] to bring grace, philosophical wisdom, and their unique artistic perspective to the songs" on his debut album as Humanist. PopMatters says the album's "high-minded ideals of birth, death, morality, and one's place in an unrelenting world are articulated by a perfectly curated list of singers who have all flown as close to the sun as anyone. Musically it's rich in scope with Marshall pulling in all of his influences from post-punk to breakbeat to indie and krautrock and fitting them together like parts of a puzzle".

Canadian cellist and eco-activist Rebecca Foon released her first solo album 'Waxing Moon', with a little help from members of Arcade Fire and Godspeed You Black Emperor. The album is about "our beautiful world... facing mass extinction", but "full of hope, beauty, and perseverance", PopMatters writes in a review. All royalties from 'Waxing Moon' will go to Pathway to Paris, the non-profit climate action organization Foon co-founded.

"The uncomplicated nature of the music gives his voice the space it needs to shine. His emotive, glowing vocals are the heart of every song, and the production stays true to that ideal" - PopMatters says in a review of 'No Future', new album by Irish singer EDEN. Pop really does matter, in this case: "The album is full of subtle adornments and alterations. Similarly, how he builds rich textures from multiple vocal tracks is often jaw-droppingly effective - at one point slowly shifting until it resembles a full gospel choir... 'No Future' is an understated, soulful pop gem that seems to exist in its own time and place".

"Something is happening to boys in bands up and down the country and across the Irish Sea. They are singing about things that matter, such as mental health and gentrification. They are disillusioned, but dressed smartly, in faded shirts and starched slacks. They are white, usually, and serious, very serious... They’re also cutting across the generations, resonating with people who want heavy music that means something" - Guardian writes presenting The Murder Capital, a new band that shares the same energy as Fontaines D.C. or Idles.

"A hypnotic songwriter, guitarist, and producer with a glassy falsetto and an immense vocal range, he exposes unlikely connections between pop and experimental, with songs that are rooted in knotty emotions" - Pitchfork writes in a long read about Moses Sumney, who is releasing his double album 'græ' May 15. The title "acts as a one-word summary. His interpretation of greyness is not just the kind of cloudiness that sometimes marks his temperament, but the kind that rejects binaries, that asserts that life is not lived in blacks or whites but in the gloriously complex in-betweens"

Gdinya quartet Lonker See play jazzy/spacey post-rock on their new album 'Hamza', a one "that leaps straight into the action... The band gets to the heart of the matter in much shorter time" than on their previous album, the Quietus says in a review. 'Massive Oscillations' is the second album by the Forest Swords and James Holden collaborator Waclaw Zimpel - "an undisputed career highlight that finds Zimpel scaling new heights. While his debut picked up the baton from minimalist influences... here he goes for full maximalism and the results are staggering... A beautifully bold and powerful album" - the Q.

"'Storm Damage' is an album by a man in his late 50s, musing on his life, lost love, changing surroundings, and mortality. By some incredible sleight of hand, he's managed to make that unpalatable dish, delicious"- PopMatters says in a review of Ben Watt's new album. Here, "he's backed by a cohort of musicians who embellish his music beautifully", but "the star of the show is his lyrics".

'Miss_Anthrop0cene' is Grimes' darkest and most ambitious work, with each of its "10 tracks an embodiment of mortality and how humankind is inching ever closer to extinction", Consequence of Sound says in a review (grade B+). Speaking of the concept of the album, its title is a play on words - a combination of “misanthrope” and “Anthropocene” - with songs speaking of mortality and how humankind is inching ever closer to extinction. Sonically, there's a lot there - Bollywood-inspired melodies, drum and bass, folk, Britpop, dance, nu-metal, indie rock...

Australian psychedelic-pop wonder-man Kevin Parker has his fourth Tame Impala album 'The Slow Rush' out, and critics really like it. PopMatters goes philosophical in its review - "the record is the mark of a rare talent, and yet also someone who lives in both doubt and curiosity amidst his talent and success"; the Clash calls the album a "testament to the patient productivity and unrelenting creativity", similar to MusicOMH who praise Kevin Parker as "a true auteur, an artist who has moulded pop music to match his incredible vision", and the Skinny said Parker has "his own unique sense of time"; NME hears the album as a step into mega-pop with "exhilarating" results; Pitchfork says it's "an extraordinarily detailed opus" with an "internal tug of war within the Australian musician’s lyrics—between trying to better yourself and stay present, or succumbing to your own worst thoughts".

London producer "has developed a singular sensibility: inquisitive, inventive, attuned to textural nuance and the power of a well-timed surprise" with her debut, which earned her Pitchfork's "Best new music" banner (grade 8.3). The P especially likes "that uncommon tempo, pitched somewhere between techno and drum’n’bass... an inspired choice" and "the album’s unsentimental polish", making for "that rarest of creatures in electronic music: something we haven’t actually heard before".

"Heavens almighty, what beautiful music Lotus Thief have created" - Invisible Oranges starts it's text about 'Oresteia', new album by the post-black metal/doom/psychedelic New York band. "Lotus Thief have completely revamped their sound, adding significant dynamics, amplified emotions, and the absolute best singing from frontwoman Bezaelith yet... I bow my head to this level of mastery; I give my everything for this quality of music".

"This is straight-up fight music. '2017 - 2019' isn't quite this lairy elsewhere, but most of it is jagged, hard-hitting and seriously over-driven" - Resident Advisor says in a review of Nicolas Jaar's somewhat left-of-center electro project Against All Logic. "Jaar has frequently asked that we move our bodies to his music, but never in this way... The change has Jaar sounding artistically replenished", RA adds - "'2017 - 2019' is an album of stylistic leaps, radiant melodies, difficult-to-place sounds and red herrings".

"An album that doesn’t grab your attention with pyrotechnic displays, opting instead for a slow-burning, unassuming kind of power: a low-key delight, but a delight all the same" - Alexis Petridis says in a review of the new, southern soul album by the Canadian songstress. American Songwriter likes the way she sings - "Frazey Ford sings with such reserved and sultry passion, somewhat like Laura Nyro, you can practically feel her swimming in the groove... hypnotic and often mesmerizing", and Exclaim appreciates what she sings about - "Ford's fiercely encouraging words remain, but on 'U kin B the Sun', they feel more powerful than ever".

"Denzel Curry is one of the rawest, hardest-hitting rappers around at the moment and Kenny Beats is one of the rawest, hardest-hitting producers" - Brooklyn Vegan writes about their collaborative album. "Denzel’s bars on 'Unlocked' actually go harder than the ones on the two great albums he released in the past two years, and Kenny’s production is the perfect backdrop for Denzel’s rage" BV adds, underlining the general atmosphere on this album - "both also sound like they had a lot of fun with this project".

"The Chicago drummer and producer transforms Gil-Scott Heron's final album into a masterpiece of dirty blues, spiritual jazz, and deep yearning" - Pitchfork says in a review (8.6) of the last album by Gil-Scott Herron (2010), thoroughly reimagined by Makaya McCraven. Lyrically - "the ability to live with contradictions and give them life with his words is part of what made Scott-Heron’s work special, and McCraven’s music inhabits that complicated space and keeps its sharp edges intact".

“I consider this to be one of the most personal records we’ve ever made, even if the songs deal with ‘political’ subject matters. As I keep saying, political is personal” - Drive-by Truckers co-frontman Patterson Hood says about their new album 'The Unraveling'. The Ringer wrote a great review saying -"'The Unraveling' is riddled with real-life victims of our current moment. There is no clear path forward, but there is this left to fight for: Without resistance, whatever comes next may well be even worse", although - "It’s hard to know which side you’re on when you can’t even see the playing field".

"He’s taking everything he’s learned over his twenty-four-year career and putting it to use with his original gear... and delivers something that sounds familiar, and classic, whilst being a totally audacious experience" - the Quietus says in a review of new album 'Be Up a Hello' by the English electronic musician. All Music hears it as "refreshingly direct", and Exclaim thinks it is a "brain-melting album from an artist who refuses to stand still"

"‘Silver Tongue’ is a candid, real-time account of Scott’s relationship in the here-and-now as she documents its survival via a near-miss break-up and painful affair. It’s her most personal memoir yet" - NME writes in a review of the new album by Torres. MTV says the singer-songwriter has "never sounded more at ease — really, she's never sounded more like herself". Consequence of Sound wrote the album "feels hard and driving, like electric rain or the tension between two thunderclouds", and Exclaim appreciates how "at just nine tracks and 36 minutes, 'Silver Tongue' runs the gamut on aural and ethereal moods".

"The artist on stage has never sounded more at home" - Pitchfork says about the newest Destroyer album, giving it it's Best new music banner (grade 8.5). The P gives instructions on how to listen to 'Have We Met' - "you don’t relate to a Destroyer song so much as you find yourself mysteriously pulled inside of it, drawing connections and finding meaning on your own". The Quietus loves the album also - "in these murky and menacing melodies, creating the aural equivalent of a murder-mystery TV mini-series, Bejar's transition from songwriter to musical dramatist is complete".

"More clearly sketches out his development from displaced African boy to imprisoned British man, and it is by far the best J Hus has been on record as a performer and storyteller" - Pitchfork says about the new album by the London rapper. Alexis Petridis heard it sooner and chose it as his Album of the week, describing it as "an expression of growing up in London surrounded by an array of different cultural influences". The NME appreciates how J Hus artfully melded together various genres – Afrobeat, grime, dancehall, hip-hop, R&B, bashment – into a whole new genre "afroswing", adding the album is a "rounded project with polished edges that sparkle in parts".

The new album by the American indie synth-pop band Poliça’s "is the sound of an individual and a band finding a new purpose, a new way to live and create", as The Life of Best Fit says in a review. Clash Music says the album fuses "indietronica with downtempo and bass-heavy techno". For NME, it's simply "a stunning tale of redemption and rehabilitation" (the singer Channy Leaneagh badly hurt her back before they started making this record, "using music as a crutch")

On her first solo album 'Likewise', singer-songwriter Frances Quinlan "has taken everything she learned from leading a rock band and applied it to creating more dynamic compositions, songs that burble and bounce", Stereogum says about their newest Album of the week choice. The S-Gum appreciates the theme of the album - "what it means to forge a connection with someone while maintaining your own interiority", and lyrics in general, like “I know there is love that doesn’t have to do with taking something from somebody".

'Please Daddy' is a "straightforward, guitar and piano-oriented indie rock album, but even straightforward Sarah Mary Chadwick is breathtaking", Brooklyn Vegan says about the new album by the Melbourne singer-songwriter. Pitchfork says in a review "she doesn’t necessarily want these songs to feel like downers, even though they are", with NME adding that Chadwick "channels grief with lacerating vulnerability, feeling her way to a sense of peace".

The critics really like the new album by the veteran post-punk band. Alexis Petridis says 'Mind Hive' - feels "sinewy and stripped back, precise and pop-facing even on its roomiest tracks" with "strange, appealing sound of a band doggedly following their own path, eyes fixed forward". All Music says Wire's new "unflinching, poetic songs prove maturity is a weapon they wield just as deftly as outrage". The Quietus emphasizes something else - "Wire are now entering their sixth decade – their sixth decade – as a functioning, useful and great band".

Higher Power are one of the band that are "really starting to push the envelope, taking hardcore to places it hasn’t been before on both a creative and a conceptual level, and aren’t afraid to make things a little more accessible for people", Brooklyn Vegan says about the British punk-rockers. Their second album '27 Miles Underwater', BV says, "could be a new favorite for anyone who listens to loud rock music, hardcore or punk or metal or alternative rock or otherwise".

"Parker builds out a fast-slashing range of ideas using dozens of other sounds and instruments, most of which he plays himself. They’re disparate in color and texture, pronounced and often short, each one elbowing or sliding its way in front of the one before it, impatient to steal the show. As a player and composer, Parker shines throughout. As an arranger, he catches fire" - Pitchfork wrote in review of former Tortoise guitarist's new album, a new jazz album "full of tradition and experimentation" (grade 8.4). The album is named after his mother.

Pop soul singer A Girl Called Eddy released her first new solo album in 16 years, and "that soulful, chocolatey voice is still tinged with sadness, and those perfectly crafted choruses and clever middle eights still beguile", PopMatters argues. Her lyrics match her singing - "Moran's gift for storytelling is on full parade here, with devastatingly honest lyrics that paint scenes so vivid you can feel the heartache rise from the page".

'Dark Waters' by the Hungarian band vvilderness is "sublime 'soft' black metal", that "thrives on atmosphere" and "also does well slowed down, ambient and obtuse during its moments of retreat. 'Dark Waters' turns out to be fairly dense despite the ease of digestion that the production, arrangement, and style provide; in short, a lovely balance indeed".

"Keith Jarrett approaches the piano the way a star athlete courts the ball—it’s a full-body experience, marked by sweat, facial spasms, and an inability to remain still" - Pitchfork wrote in a very affirmative review (grade 7.9) of piano legend's new album, taped at the end of his European tour. Jarrett is "energetic, spontaneous, and inventive as ever... so exhilarated by the music that he cannot stop himself from stomping, shouting, and humming off-key throughout the 12-part improvisational suite". Three primary styles shape the album - lyricism, the blues, and dizzying avant-garde jazz, with three covers - songs by Nat King Cole, Frank Sinatra, and Judy Garland - wrapping it up.

Madlib produced all the beats on the album by The Professionals, and his younger brother Oh No rapped on all the songs. It turned out "really good", Brooklyn Vegan reviews - "Madlib’s production is as warped and psychedelic as ever, and Oh No keeps everything grounded with cold, forceful rhymes that act as a well-matched foil to Madlib’s trippier production".