There's a certain magic in each album from The New Pornographers. The Former Site Of delivers more exquisitely-constructed indie rock, with gorgeous harmonies, heady guitar riffs, and ear worm choruses. The band's storytelling has never been finer, with each track chronicling moments of personal and and global extremes in vignettes that feel pulled straight from literary fiction. Come for the infectious melodies, stay for the deeper dive into human behavior. This one is packed with hit after hit.
Loukeman's SD-3 is one of the liveliest, most joyous electronic releases of the year. It's a melange of styles – folktronica, ambient, electronic pop, hip-hop, synthpop, and R&B – all tossed in a shaker and poured out into an effervescent, potent cocktail. It's dreamy and lovely, danceable and unexpected. Imaginative and entrancing, this is an album that'll put a smile on your face and make you long for the dance floor.
Ostensibly a popstar, Spanish singer Rosalía is so much more. Her new album, Lux , is intellectual, experimental, and one-of-a-kind. Recorded with the London Symphony Orchestra, arranged by Pulitzer- and Grammy-winning contemporary classical artist and composer Caroline Shaw, and with a cast of collaborators including Bjork, Yves Tumor, fado singer Carminho, flamenco singer Estrella Morente, Spanish singer/composer Sílvia Pérez Cruz, and American regional Mexican music trio Yahritza y su Esencia, you know this album's going to be special. Rosalía sings of faith and heartbreak, with lyrics in her native Spanish and Catalan, plus Arabic, English, French, German, Hebrew, Italian, Japanese, Latin, Mandarin, Portuguese, Sicilian, and Ukrainian. Unexpected, soaring, and stirring, this is the cinematic modern-classical-meets-experimental-pop-with-religious-undertones album of your dreams.
LA quartet Rocket make quite the impression with their stunning debut album, R Is For Rocket . The band writes noisy, compelling, painfully beautiful songs that will have your heart in your throat. Think My Bloody Valentine if they decided to make a punk rock record. This fuzzed out, hypnotic album is one of the best things you'll hear this year.