T. Nava (keyboards, vocoder vocals), Callum Connor (drums), Kelsey Gonzalez (bass), and José Rios (guitar) took the name Free Nationals after they formed a tight bond with Anderson .Paak. A couple of the players were working with Paak as early as the late 2000s, and the quartet as a unit became integral to Paak's progression on the Grammy-nominated 2017 album Malibu. The L.A. band's distinct identity came into focus with extensive touring in support of their chief collaborator. They take the opportunity here to branch out with a regatta's worth of singers and rappers -- T.I., Conway and Westside Gunn, Kali Uchis, and the late Mac Miller, to name a handful -- none of whom would be out of place on a Paak album. For the most part, the band zeroes in on their hip-hop-minded approach to reconfiguring polished late-'70s/early-'80s fusions of jazz, soul, and funk. Hints of synchronous Herbie Hancock and Stevie Wonder, the Blackbyrds and the Brothers Johnson, and even a little Steely Dan/Donald Fagen, are in the mix. The evocation of the era is strongest when Benny Sings, Nava, and Connor are on the mike, fronting the kind of smooth, feel-good grooves that can make one move involuntarily without breaking a sweat. Elsewhere, FN play vaguely psychedelic pop like a funky Tame Impala, epitomized by first-half highlights like "Beauty & Essex," featuring Daniel Caesar and apparent FN inspiration Unknown Mortal Orchestra, and "On Sight," the vocals of which could have been handled strictly by Kadhja Bonet. There are so many streams-maximizing voices here that they crowd the room and sometimes obscure tracks that would be fine as instrumentals. Unsurprisingly, Free Nationals sound most comfortable when they're either on their own or behind Paak on "Gidget," a sailing (not surfing) jam that drops anchor between Hiroshi Sato's "Say Goodbye" and Stevie Wonder's "Love Light in Flight." © Andy Kellman /TiVo

When My Everything arrived as the summer of 2014 drew to a close, it was clear that Ariana Grande was poised to be the reigning pop diva of the mid-decade. Possessed with greater vocal chops than any of her peers -- her effortless runs revealed the limitations of Katy Perry and Rihanna -- she luxuriated in her debt to Mariah Carey on her 2013 debut Yours Truly, working mainly with Babyface to re-create the vibe and feel of the '90s. On My Everything, Grande takes a decisive step into the future, breaking away from Babyface so she can bring in a host of modern producers -- Max Martin, Shellback, David Guetta, Benny Blanco, Ryan Tedder, Darkchild, and Pop & Oak among them -- not to mention a parade of guest stars highlighted by Iggy Azalea, A$AP Ferg, the Weeknd, Childish Gambino, Zedd, and Big Sean. All this suggests Grande is resolved to inhabit her time, which is true. She remains anchored in '90s soul on My Everything -- and it's hard to deny her love of Mariah, although Ariana rarely indulges in the high-flying melisma that's her idol's specialty -- but there are serious EDM flourishes and a facility with hip-hop, something that's showcased via the countless cameos that eat up the midsection of the album. With the exception of Iggy swooping in on "Problem" or the Weeknd on "Love Me Harder," these cameos are often used as flair -- not dissimilar to the washes of analog synths, the "I'm Coming Out" sample on "Break Your Heart Right Back," or stuttering EDM beats -- on songs that keep the focus on the melodies Grande delivers with exacting grace. Ultimately, this emphasis on song is to the benefit of My Everything. Perhaps Grande doesn't overwhelm the songs the way an old-fashioned diva would, but she functions as a likeable pop ringleader, stepping aside when the track calls for it and then unleashing a full-throated wail when it's her time to shine.© Stephen Thomas Erlewine /TiVo

It's a pretty common practice for bands to mature over time. As they get older and the rigors of touring set in, bandmembers eventually tire of writing about girls and drugs and move on to more personal songwriting. It's an inevitable part of life, and though modern metalcore has been immune for some time, it would seem time is finally starting to catch up with Asking Alexandria, who, in a move away from the electronic outbursts of their earlier work, push their sound toward hard rock with their third album, From Death to Destiny. Though the album still features plenty of the production flourishes and synth work that fans have grown used to, their uses here feel more a part of the music than some dance beats someone shoehorned in while the band chased down an unfortunate metalcore trend. And really, the metalcore parts of their sound have also been smoothed down considerably, resulting in a sound that feels more like actual songs than an excuse to string breakdowns together. These changes help to make From Death to Destiny easily the band's most focused and mature album to date, though they'll definitely be a shock to the senses for die-hard Asking Alexandria fans who weren't expecting them to put out a post-grunge-influenced hard rock album. Although From Death to Destiny might alienate some fans, the album's more grown-up sound gives them a newfound accessibility that is sure to open them up to a whole new audience hungry for some new heavy jams.© Gregory Heaney /TiVo

Angus and Julia Stone's career together has been studded with many triumphs; but until now their solo ventures have not enjoyed the same level of success. Brother Angus, for example, has tried out various different paths under different identities: as Angus Stone, but also as Lady of the Sunshine or Dope Lemon. As for Julia, she started out her solo career by recording two albums: 2010's The Memory Machine and then By the Horns in 2012, before radio silence descended. Sixty Summers marks a return to the front lines after almost a decade spent away from the studio and from audiences. It was in February 2020 that she was heard from again with Beds Are Burning, a cover of the famous 1987 global hit by Australian band Midnight Oil which featured on the album Songs for Australia, a 2020 charity project related to the gigantic fires ravaging Australia. Since that remarkable contribution, Julia set about refining this comeback album, entitled Sixty Summers. From the introduction, Break, we can feel the artist's excitement. The chorus takes us somewhere far away, echoing the work that Annie Clark alias St. Vincent, who produced this album, recorded for TV On The Radio (e.g. Golden Age), or equally her work in collaboration with David Byrne (the irresistible Love This Giant). Listening to Sixty Summers makes it clear that the years spent reflecting and imagining new music were not wasted. Julia Stone has greatly expanded her musical palette. Unreal and Easy, for example, include vocoder; diffused rhythms borrowed from rap; subtle, unexpected arrangements; Stone's spoken voice and a surprising bass line. Julia Stone is continuing her journey and reinventing herself. This is without a doubt her most interesting album yet. © Yan Céh/Qobuz

When singer and songwriter Michaela Anne released the album Desert Dove in 2019, it was the work of a woman trying to reinvent herself as an artist. Three years later, she brought us Oh to Be That Free, in which she tries to reinvent herself as a person. The years that followed the release of Desert Dove were not easy for Michaela; she came to terms with a self-destructive drinking habit and worked hard to get sober, she and her husband discovered they were going to have a baby, and midway through her pregnancy, she became her mother's caretaker in the wake of a severe stroke. Between it all, she did a lot of soul searching, and that introspection shapes the songs on Oh to Be That Free. The opening track, "I'm Only Human," is an unsparing summary of her virtues and weaknesses, with the title phrase feeling as if it could be a celebration or an excuse depending on your perceptions. In these 11 songs, Michaela takes a long, hard look at the sort of wrong turns ordinary people can take, and as is often the case, she's tougher on herself in tunes like "Chasing Days" and "I'm Only Human" than when she weighs her options about a new love in "Who You Are," though whoever inspired the scathing "Dirty Secrets" would probably not want to admit it in public. The most common themes on Oh to Be That Free are healing and trying to reclaim the serenity they once knew, even as she acknowledges how hard that can be. (One of the album's most powerful songs, "Good People," tries to unpack many levels of poor judgment in the unexpectedly complicated line "I want to think good people hurt good people too.") Baring her soul pays off for Michaela on Oh to Be That Free -- her vocals reveal a depth and emotional daring that stands head and shoulders above the fine work on her previous LPs, and producer Aaron Shafer-Haiss blends the powerfully atmospheric textures of Desert Dove with a more straightforward instrumental approach that serves the truth-telling of the songs beautifully. Oh to Be That Free may have begun as an effort for Michaela Anne to come to terms with some serious emotional baggage, but the finished product is a beautiful and powerful set of music that will speak to anyone who has been forced to take a challenging uphill climb in their life.© Mark Deming /TiVo

It isn't hard to make the case for Patti Smith as a punk rock progenitor based on her debut album, which anticipated the new wave by a year or so: the simple, crudely played rock & roll, featuring Lenny Kaye's rudimentary guitar work, the anarchic spirit of Smith's vocals, and the emotional and imaginative nature of her lyrics -- all prefigure the coming movement as it evolved on both sides of the Atlantic. Smith is a rock critic's dream, a poet as steeped in '60s garage rock as she is in French Symbolism; "Land" carries on from the Doors' "The End," marking her as a successor to Jim Morrison, while the borrowed choruses of "Gloria" and "Land of a Thousand Dances" are more in tune with the era of sampling than they were in the '70s. Producer John Cale respected Smith's primitivism in a way that later producers did not, and the loose, improvisatory song structures worked with her free verse to create something like a new spoken word/musical art form: Horses was a hybrid, the sound of a post-Beat poet, as she put it, "dancing around to the simple rock & roll song."© William Ruhlmann /TiVo

The sibling-led, New Zealand-based hard rockers' third studio album (technically) and first outing for Century Media, Awaken the Fire arrives three years after the Auckland band's breakout sophomore release, Chaos Theory: Part 1, which saw the hard-hitting Kiwis break into the American market in 2014 with the Billboard hit "Love the Way You Hate Me." Comprising updated versions of songs from Chaos Theory, as well as four brand new tracks, Awaken the Fire aims to bring the band's savvy blend of post-grunge and didgeridoo-blasted classic hard rock to the international stage.© James Christopher Monger /TiVo

The third long-player from the propulsive Costa Mesa, California-based metalcore outfit fronted by Attack Attack! vocalist Austin Carlile, the 11-track Restoring Force finds the hard-hitting/Steinbeck-inspired quintet expanding their sonic assault by adding elements of classic rock and nu-metal into the already lethal mix. Produced by David Bendeth (Paramore, Papa Roach), the Rise Records-issued Restoring Force was preceded by the singles "You're Not Alone" and "Bones Exposed," and was the band's highest-charting album to date, peaking at the number one spot on the indie and hard rock album charts.© James Christopher Monger /TiVo