MUSIC

While underground rap has thrived recently with the rise of Griselda and Armand Hammer, the albums in the mainstream for this decade have reached outside of the tight-knit rap circles and affected many lives. Here are those meaningful, fun, exciting, and devastating albums that have shaped the 2020s so far.

An influx of collaborative tracks is flooding Spotify Release Radars as artists release new music in preparation for the rollout of their 2022 albums. Whether seeing some familiar names or discovering new ones, hip-hop listeners will find each artist below playing to each other's strengths in thrilling ways in their roles as close collaborators or guests.

Since joining J. Cole’s imprint Dreamville Records leading up to their major-label debut Mirrorland released in September 2019, the duo known as EarthGang have had a creatively fruitful time by themselves as well as collaborating with others. Since the signing, they have a trilogy of EPs released with J. Cole as executive producer, their 2019 full-length, a collaborative record with EarthGang affiliates Spillage Village and rapper JID, and inclusion on the Revenge of the Dreamers III compilation. On February 25, 2022, an older, wiser EarthGang released the album Ghetto Gods, fully establishing their sudden fame with contributions from J. Cole, JID, and Future.

Beginning in March 2021, the unstoppable rollout of Silk Sonic dominated the rest of the year, leading up to the release of the group’s debut full-length studio album, An Evening with Silk Sonic. The album received glowing praise from critics and audiences, and the lead single “Leave the Door Open” now has almost 750 million plays on Spotify alone. Even though the album came out in November 2021, the duo already has another single available: a cover of Con Funk Shun's 'Love's Train.' With this release, we can only hope that the promise of more music is soon to follow.

Remember 2018? Though it was still years before the global pandemic of the 2020s, the world was not exactly holding itself together in perfect harmony. In times of heightened emotions, artists from around the globe tend to produce a wealth of inspired, sharply-written music highlighting the fears and insecurities about ourselves and the world.

For any mainstream pop record in 2022, following The Weeknd’s conceptual masterwork Dawn FM will be a nearly impossible feat. Considering that context, the third album from British singer Olly Alexander, also known as Years & Years, falls immensely below the standards set for this year’s pop music. That doesn’t mean it is a failure as an album; Night Call charted as a UK #1 record and succeeded in its mission to be a good-time-celebrating collection of songs. But frankly, listeners looking for the exciting, reliable rewards of a great pop album will probably find only surface thrills on Night Call.

If you need any more convincing, Beach House's eighth album, Once Twice Melody, truly is as good as everyone says. In place of an actual review, here is a celebration of the new music of Beach House, complete with a gallery of stills from the animated artwork for each song!

Navigating the maligned genres labeled “hardcore” is an extensive amount of inspiring bands with intricate music and histories. Whether on the side of punk or metal, these bands revolutionized the meanings of their labels, most either reinventing their approach on every album or sadly breaking up to avoid creative stagnancy.

Laurel Hell, the new album from Japanese-American singer/songwriter Mitski, is the most discussed album this year in the music critic world. The high hopes for the new record follow stellar reviews from her critically-successful Dead Oceans debut Puberty 2 and its breakout follow-up Be the Cowboy. Does Mitski’s new record live up to the hype, or were the expectations simply too high?

The rollout for Kanye West’s new album, Donda 2, is yet another bout headline-grabbing excess that everyone has come to expect from the singer/rapper/producer. Ye’s record from last year, Donda, took up multiple weeks of news with online listening parties, release date drama, and controversy for its inclusion of DaBaby, Marilyn Manson, and Chris Brown (though he eventually removed the vocals from Brown). On February 22, 2022, fans can enjoy his new album’s release live in Miami or at theaters nationwide. Check below if your city is streaming the IMAX release!

The shoegaze/dream-pop masters are back at it again; a fifth Slowdive album is officially in the works. The follow-up to their self-titled fourth album does not have much in the way of a name, release date, or tracklist yet, but the record is on its way nonetheless. This release will be their second album since the 2014 reunion and the first album since 2017 when they released Slowdive.

It’s been ten years since the world heard a proper Tenacious D record. Their 2018 studio album, Post-Apocalypto, was hardly above soundtrack-level quality, so this comedy-rock band’s work of the last decade has pretty much just been a few massive tours. Here is all the information we have about a potential new Tenacious D follow-up, though don't get your hopes up: it doesn’t look like it’s happening anytime soon.

If you are a hip-hop mega-fan, you probably enjoyed the stacked list of performers at this year’s Superbowl Halftime show. Here are a few extra recent albums to listen to if you have already heard the classics and need more than Dre’s The Chronic and Dogg’s Doggystyle.

Ethereal psychedelic wizards Animal Collective returned as a full band in 2022, the first time in exactly ten years that the four members, Avey Tare, Deakin, Geologist, and Panda Bear, have collaborated in the studio together. As only their fifth record as a complete group, does Time Skiffs hold up with the strong legacy they established over a decade ago? Continue below to find out!

Josh Tillman, better known by his stage name Father John Misty, returns after four long years with his fifth album, Chloë and the Next 20th Century, on April 8th, 2022. Except for a 4-song covers EP released in 2020, Tillman has been relatively quiet on all fronts since his last full-length record, God’s Favorite Customer. Now, after recording in 2020 and spending the next year adding his signature expanded tweaks like string, brass, and woodwind accompaniment, Chloë and the Next 20th Century is only a few weeks away, following some typically unique marketing from this individual artist.