Hip-Hop has seen many pioneers over the years: wordsmiths like Tupac and Nas, innovators like Kany West, smooth operators like Snoop Dogg, behind-the-scenes wizards like Dre and Puff, rapid-fire maestros like Busta Rhymes, and game-changers like Eminem, Biggie Smalls or Kendrick Lamar. Nonetheless, there’s always space for exciting new talent, and as of right now, we’re placing a big bet on Denzel Curry. He is to-the-core impressive on TA13OO.

Overall, The Now Now is a gorgeously plain variant from the Gorillaz. The flashy friends are in short supply and the melodies showcase a mellow nature. Albarn’s deep lyricism and passionate croons over 2-D’s imaginary soul alleviate in a very real way.

Overall, Call the Comet is the work of a rock icon with a bottomless thirst for reinvention and innovation. It is 2018 and Mr. Marr has set a brand new fucking bar for himself. This son of England’s oasis-themed cosmic-drizzled offering is an exciting and uplifting record that’s on a collision course with those best-of-the-year lists come December.

Come Tomorrow arrives at a time of need for balance and soothing simplistic stories that drift us away from the feather ruffling of everyday Hollywood and politics. Not that there is anything simple about Dave Matthews and his mates, but their complex sound does calm and bring smiles to those willing to delve in.

Overall, Ye is another volatile chapter in the book of Yeezus. It’s candid, despicable, attractive, disgusting, hurtful, and, at times, hopeful. Ye is not West’s best album, but it just might be his most genuine.

To illustrate the message behind CHVRCHES’ Love Is Dead is akin to describing yin and yang as manifested components of the same force. No longer intertwined or complimentary, but broad strokes within a complex mind. Lauren Mayberry’s lyricism comes across as gloomy, aggressive, and, at times, resentful and resigned, yet she never loses that tonal tenderness or benevolent optimism by which her songwriting prowess has operated.

Bursting of adrenaline inducing thumpers, Wax Chattels’ debut record is anything but ordinary. This Auckland outfit’s sound is akin to a dark underground-like riot; way of auditory-wrecking drums, a musically empowering bass-line, zippy array of keys, and an enthralling fuck-off attitude of epic proportions.