Best New Albums

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  Esperanza Spalding

  Esperanza Spalding

  Emily's D+Evolution

  By Marcus J. Moore; March 4, 2016

  8.6

  Emily’s D+Evolution marks a radical shift in the style of upright bassist and singer Esperanza Spalding. These are exuberant, confrontational songs, amplified in the same sort of rock/funk hybrid style hat brings Prince and Janelle Monae to mind.  The album has the feel of a nervy gauntlet throw, seething with the sort of ferocity that only comes from time spent alone, far away from the limelight. 

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  Moodymann

  Moodymann

  DJ-Kicks

  By Andy Beta; February 17, 2016

  8.4

  You might expect a set of dusty disco and deep house from the house legend Moodymann. But his first officially licensed mix CD, for the 51st entry in the DJ-Kicks series, confounds expectations throughout, detouring at peak moments, going left where he might build momentum, all of it leading to luminous results. Where other producers might lose or confuse a crowd with such temperamental switches, Moodymann holds us calmly in the palm of his hand. 

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  Kanye West

  Kanye West

  The Life of Pablo

  By Jayson Greene; February 15, 2016

  9.0

  Finally, after a protracted and often chaotic roll-out, the new Kanye West album is here. The Life of Pablo is the first Kanye West album that's just an album: No major statements, no reinventions, no zeitgeist wheelie-popping. It's probably his first full-length that won't activate a new sleeper cell of 17-year-old would-be rappers and artists. He's changed the genre's DNA with every album, to the point where each has inspired a generation of direct offspring, and now everywhere he looks, he sees mirrors. But a madcap sense of humor animates all his best work, an the new record has a freewheeling energy that is infectious and unique to his discography. 

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  Porches

  Porches

  Pool

  By Jeremy Gordon; February 8, 2016

  8.3

  On Pool, his newest record and first for Domino, Aaron Maine has shed the murky folk of previous recordings for a homespun electronic sound that consciously pulls away from the "rock" elements.  The singer Greta Kline, who fronts Frankie Cosmos and is also Maine’s girlfriend, loans backing vocals or bass lines to the half-dozen best songs. Her plucky strumming on "Mood" and "Glow" creates the record’s most genuinely funky moments, when you can imagine the shy kids thrusting hips in their living rooms. But Pool is also an introspective record, tailormade for lonesome nights.

  • Porches: "Car" (via SoundCloud)
  • Porches: "Be Apart" (via SoundCloud)
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  Kevin Gates

  Kevin Gates

  Islah

  By Jayson Greene; February 4, 2016

  8.5

  Gates' major-label debut Islah, released this week on Atlantic Records with few pushbacks and (even more astonishingly) almost no big-name guest spots or features, suggests that no-holds-barred candor is working for him. The album is a sustained and triumphant outpouring, and Gates gives every good, bad, and ugly thing he has.

  • Kevin Gates: "Jam" [ft. Trey Songz, Ty Dolla $ign, and Jamie Fox] (via SoundCloud)
  • Kevin Gates: "Really Really" (via SoundCloud)