FLOOD

Seduced by the sound of sleek American R&B of the early ’80s, Green Gartside fashioned the tone of his band’s second album around irresistible melodies and crisp drum programming.

Reteaming with producer Stuart Price for a sequel to her 2005 nu-disco LP, the pop star capitalizes on the velvet cordiality of her vocals with a sparkling new brand of arrangements.

The alt-R&B vocalist, composer, and multi-instrumentalist talks continuing to grow up fast with her desire- (and guitar-) filled new album Yearnalism.

Its wily wordplay and metal-to-rubber production aided in making the Bay Area rapper’s third album something that was out-of-time back in 1997, and handsomely timeless now.

JID co-founder Andrew Lojero and reps from Los Angeles–based advertising agency TBWA discuss their new program aiming for a more transparent future when it comes to human-made sounds.

Brian D’Addario discusses opening a new chapter with the group’s unexpectedly of-this-world sixth album, as well as how the project has evolved over the past decade.

The country-R&B cult hero crafts an album about the afterlife that’s reflective of decades filled with hurt and hurting.

Kevin Barnes rallies something bracingly emotional on their 20th album in 30 years, sounding more crisply, contagiously, singularly psychedelic than they have in ages.

At once their most even-keeled and explosively hook-crowded album yet, the jam-grinding ensemble’s latest is a stretch toward something uniquely slick and end-timey.

On his first release away from Def Jam, the emcee spends more time looking outward than inward, peering into a communal politic with more rock to his roll than ever before.

The Scottish duo’s first album in 13 years is their most evocative yet, presenting a series of down-tuned tones and dark chordal scores rippling with cryptic samples and robo-voice blips.

The bigness that Jack Antonoff holds on his band’s latest album is dedicated to the human spirit and the hope of something better—and rockier—for our future.

The producer, songwriter, and former Vampire Weekend member discusses his humanist exploration of queer Iranian-American identity on American Stories.

The shred-bending guitarist is out for blood on her second LP as she channels femme-punk fury and four-on-the-floor disco beats into songs aiming to bust the heads of the pop patriarchy.

Recorded via two-track by WBCN-FM Boston in time for the band’s sophomore album, this live LP is a rare contact high connected to the sage rage of their earliest punk-rock days.

The actress and songwriter’s barely older, mostly wiser, and more wearily symbolic follow-up to 2024’s Chaos Angel sketches her commitments to love beyond the boundaries of her usual big ideas.

With bigger melodies and broader synth soundscapes, the rage-rave rap trio’s second LP takes an unexpected turn inward as they continue to take the politics of the world at large to task.

This tribute to the late songwriter and Magnetic Fields collaborator is something of a family affair, with close friends and clever familiars gathering to celebrate the artist’s dearly dour discography.

A sparer sound backing sociopolitical ruminations on their hometown post-9/11 defines the rap trio’s sixth LP then and now, in its extended, era-intensive three-LP version.

Working over Surf Gang’s emollient cloud-rap sound beds, both rappers’ blackly comic takes on the fall of mankind in the 21st century come together in a show of unity, utility, and futility.