Easily the band’s most adventurous, experimental, and accomplished release to date, Paramore’s fourth album is a landmark, a genre-breaking masterwork that, like Madonna’s Like a Prayer or U2′s Achtung Baby, finds Paramore crystallized into the seminal, cogent rock band we always knew they’d grow up to be.
Something of a grower, Mosquito has perhaps the widest range of sounds and moods the Yeah Yeah Yeahs have ever presented on one set of songs. It might not be as cohesive as their best albums, but the standout songs rival their finest moments.
As far as debut albums go, this eponymous release is a surprisingly accomplished effort from the Nottingham-born teenager Jake Bugg.
Buckcherry’s lastest record merges punk grit, gutter attitude, honest storytelling, and razor sharp hooks. The lyrics are tied together by the underlying theme of the seven deadly sins.
Ryan Tedder has proven his talent for writing catchy songs that stick in people’s heads, as evidenced not only by his success producing songs for such artists as Adele, Leona Lewis, and Maroon 5, but also with his own band, OneRepublic.
Don’t call it a comeback, call it an explosion, as I Got a Boy is the first album in over a year from the K-pop crew Girls’ Generation, and their first since their Japanese-language splinter group, Girls’ Generation-TTS, returned to the fold.
Despite being significantly more ambient and less knotty than Andy Stott’s 2011 releases, Luxury Problems is nearly as spine-chilling. Its rhythms are fluid more often than coagulated, and there’s an additional human element granted by the voice of opera-trained singer Alison Skidmore.
Features Taylor Swift’s “We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together,” Rihanna’s “Diamonds,” Bruno Mars’ “Locked Out of Heaven,” and many more.
This set, the Lone Bellow’s debut album, is a gem. Full of haunting, passionate songs that breathe with country soul and a kind of autumnal grace, most of them written by lead singer and guitarist Zach Williams, the album has the feeling of a complete story, each track supporting the whole.
Ellison’s trademarks — skittering and rustling percussion atop slightly irregular drums that knock and thud, for instance — factor almost as much as ever, but his slight adjustments and increased restraint make this his most accessible and creative release yet.