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MJ Lenderman: boat songs
Best moment: When Lenderman expresses solidarity with a supposedly flu-ridden Michael Jordan in “Hangover Game”: “Yeah, I like to drink too.”
Best song: “You are every girl to me”
RILY: Sports, indie rock memes, ice cold beers, fuzzy guitars
–Quinn Moreland
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Nilüfer Yanya: Painless
Best moment: a storm over the guitar distortion that thickens around “Midnight Sun”, from which Yanya’s falsetto radiates: “always I did it for you!”
Best song: “Midnight Sun”
RILY: The xx, Radiohead curvatures, alternating waves of euphoria and dysphoria
–Jayson Greene
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Pusha T: It’s almost dry
Best moment: When Malice arrives to close the album with a brief but triumphant Clipse reunion, and opens her verse by asking “Tell me what I missed”
Best song: “Call My Bluff”
RILY: Icy luxury, playful threats, the old adage that the Inuit have 50 words for snow, except in this case by snow we mean cocaine
–Andy Cush
Listen/Buy: Amazon | Apple Music | band camp | Spotify | Tide
Ravyn Lenae: Hypno
Best moment: The bridge of “Light Me Up”, where Lenae’s falsetto reaches an exquisite, seemingly impossible upper register
Best song: “Enlighten me”
RILY: Steve Lacy’s distorted guitar melodies, flirting on the dance floor, 90s R&B
–Eric Torres
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Rosalia: MOTOMAMI
Best moment: The sonorous, semi-absurd raps of “Chicken Teriyaki” and “Saoko,” where she carves her voice like a shimmering blade and emerges as one of today’s stealthiest pop threats
Best song: “Saoko”
RILY: upside down reggaeton
–Philip Sherburne
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Jump: Air
Best moment: When the brass crashes for the first time in the choir on “Reality”
Best song: “June 55”
RILY: Dramatic choral music, epic film scores, Basil Poledouris
–Madison Bloom
Listen/Buy: Amazon | Apple Music | band camp | Spotify | Tide
Sharon Van Etten: We got it all wrong
Best moment: The buildup in “Darkness Fades” at around 1:24, when drums and keys kick in
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