SOPHIE - OIL OF EVERY PEARL'S UN-INSIDES

Score: 9.4 

The debut album from the Scottish DJ, producer and now singer-songwriter Sophie Xeon is monumental in all its transcendence. There's an immaculate precision in the songs' elaboration, transition and content, and there's a convulted tenderness behind the thousands of naughty layers of harsh electronica. Mozart's Sister, the owner of the uncredited vocals, does a fantastic job in bringing bittersweet humanity into the cathartic lyrics and musical constructions. And the self-developing, self-triumphant general process is not the less astonishing, standing (maybe even ironically) as a pure humane manifesto. The future is here, and it belongs to Sophie, an artist who's proved to be one of the most sensational and captivating minds in 21st-century music as protest and as art life-form.

Tracks I like the most: It's Okay To Cry, Ponyboy, Faceshopping, Is It Cold In The Water?, Immaterial, Whole New World/Pretend World

Tracks I like the least: Pretending

Artist: SOPHIE

Country: United Kingdom

Album: OIL OF EVERY PEARL'S UN-INSIDES

Released: 15/06/2018

Genres: Avant-Pop, Bubblegum Pop, Electronica, Experimental, Drone, Noise

Length: 39:55 

Ainda Dúo - Animal

Score: 8.0 

The Argentinian duo's third album lulls you to sleep with a collection of eight beautifully crafted songs, where there's a tinily precise attention to string arrangements and melting of voices as well as a symbiotic connection in both words, sounds and non-verbal communication between Yago and Esmeralda. Another great step into their right directions.

Tracks I like the most: Animal, Válsamo, Piedra Vegetal, Nunca Quise

Tracks I like the least: Lo Que No Quiero

Artist: Ainda Dúo

Country: Argentina

Album: Animal

Released: 06/04/2018

Genres: Folk, Singer-Songwriter, Pop, Rock, Vals

Length: 25:23

Chancha Via Circuito - Bienaventuranza

Score: 8.2 

Argentinian composer, DJ and producer Pedro Canale and his crew return with another musical statement that aims to combine traditional sounds from the South American Altiplano with the likes of reggae, dub, folclore, cumbia and electronica. Once again they seem to trust on their already known formulas, though there's a sense of utter nostalgia and cynicism behind the colourful instrumentation and optimistic lyrics. The claps that we hear on the track "Indios Tilcara" may also give as a clue to start thinking about the possibilites of autoctonous cultures' exploitation and appropiation through the uses of trend, marketing and showbusiness. Chancha has always had a peak at social commentary (on both lyrics and music), and this time around they sound louder than ever, all of them throughout the perch of dichotomies and tropical delirium.

Tracks I like the most: Ilaló, Nadie Lo Riega, La Victoria, Kawa Kawa, Indios Tilcara

Tracks I like the least: Barú

Artist: Chancha Via Circuito

Country: Argentina

Album: Bienaventuranza

Released: 08/06/2018

Genres: Electronica, Traditional, Andine Music, Cumbia, Dub, Reggae, Folclore, Pop

Length: 42:42

Ghost - Prequelle

Score: 8.4 

Swedish heavy-metal band Ghost returns with their fourth record, Prequelle, dwelling on a concept that centers on Medieval Europe, where the Black Death creeps around, flesh gets rotten and the Devil bounces back inside people's heads. The band manages to sound as welcoming as spooky to the ears; every single step seems to guide you both to the gates of musical heaven and to the inevitable dark confines of the abyss. Ghost sounds inspired and inspiring, playful, sassy and (why not?) romantic. Indeed, the eeriness the record oozes is directly proportional to the amount of epic excellence it sweats.

Tracks I like the most: Ashes, Rats, See The Light, Miasma, Dance Macabre, Life Eternal

Tracks I like the least: Faith

Artist: Ghost

Country: Sweden

Album: Prequelle

Released: 01/06/2018

Genres: Heavy Metal, Progressive Rock, Pop Rock, Opera Rock, Symphonic Metal, Hard Rock, Doom Metal

Length: 41:43 

J Balvin - Vibras

Score: 7.4 

The fifth album from the Colombian reggaeton singer-songwriter J Balvin aims for international recognition and success, mainly in the US. The reason why the album works is because of its own sense of flow, charisma and sensuality, since it's mainly packed with jams that'll please the genre's lovers and give a warm welcome to the ones who find reggaeton a new, unexplored, or so-far self-imposed rejected territory. Besides the artist's own versatility and imagination, kudos really go to the production team, who managed to endorse and hide some interesting, unorthodox and sensible ideas behind the tracks' obviously catchy rhythms.

Tracks I like the most: Vibras + Mi Gente, Ambiente, Brillo, Machika

Tracks I like the least: Ahora, Peligrosa

Artist: J Balvin

Country: Colombia

Album: Vibras

Released: 25/05/2018

Genres: Reggaeton, Pop

Length: 42:24

Pusha T - Daytona

Score: 8.5 

One wouldn't be innocent to think about and draw coincidences between Daytona and Kanye West's last album, Ye. They both have Kanye's production hands, they were both recorded in isolation, they both carry seven song in less than a quarter of an hour, and they both feel ostentatiously heavy in content and song production. But where Kanye draws parallel lines and alienates himself into his own personal demons and dark twisted fantasies, Pusha T expands and dwells in cacophonous universes that sound as otherworldly as captivating. The record turns out, to say the least, into a small portion of rap indulged in pure maximalism and grandeur. From the album cover to the quarrelsome lyrics, it's clear that the intention here is to shake listeners off of their politically correct comfort zones. Well, mission accomplished.

Tracks I like the most: If You Know You Know, The Games We Play, Come Back Baby, Santeria

Tracks I like the least: Hard Piano

Artist: Pusha T

Country: United States

Album: Daytona

Released: 25/05/2018

Genres: Experimental Hip Hop, Rap

Length: 21:08

Kanye West - Ye

Score: 7.7 

Self-produced and entirely recorded in an isolated place in Wyoming, Kanye West delivers his most abstract and surreal album to date, with collaborations that more-often-than-not help levitate the delirium, and with a songcraftmanship that makes you feel as afraid as empathic with the singer in question. In short twenty-three minutes, the emotional burden Ye carries along its shoulders is admirable, in its own esoteric way. Thus, the results may seem heavy, not without saying that they also are artistically savage and daring.

Tracks I like the most: I Thought About Killing You, All Mine, Wouldn't Leave, Violent Crimes

Tracks I like the least: No Mistakes

Artist: Kanye West

Country: United States

Album: Ye

Released: 01/06/2018

Genres: Experimental Hip Hop, Rap

Length: 23:41

Beach House - 7

Score: 8.4 

7, named simply because it's their seventh album, indulges in everything that made the French-American band Beach House appealing in the first place. There's a sense of rebirth and renaissance throughout the lyrics, and the motifs, effects and sound layers make for a blurry, noir-like atmosphere that carries as much darkness as hope. Troubled as it might get, the record results in their most immersive one to date, and a welcoming re-change of pace for the highest exponents of contemporary dream pop.

Tracks I like the most: Pay No Mind, Drunk In LA, Dive, Woo, Last Ride

Tracks I like the least: Lose Your Smile

Artist: Beach House

Country: United States

Album: 7

Released: 11/05/2018

Genres: Dream Pop, Indie Pop, Shoegaze, Psychedelic Pop

Length: 47:04

Courtney Barnett - Tell Me How You Really Feel

Score: 7.3 

After the excellent debut album from the Australian singer-songwriter Courtney Barnett (Sometimes I Sit And Think, And Sometimes I Just Sit), she returns with a shier, quieter and number record. The transition between her former chirpy and wacky storytelling to her present more introspective and self-centered approach might not be a complete let-down, but it's difficult to ignore the fact that, somehow, the authentic connection to and from the listener has been damaged in the process. Tell Me How You Really Feel may not be clear in all its answers and may not give the solutions we (or even the artist) need, though it arguably hits more times than it misses.

Tracks I like the most: Need A Little Time, Nameless Faceless, Help Your Self

Tracks I like the least: Sunday Roast

Artist: Courtney Barnett

Country: Australia

Album: Tell Me How You Really Feel

Released: 18/05/2018

Genres: Indie Rock, Punk Rock, Indie Pop

Length: 37:16

Arctic Monkeys - Tranquility Base Hotel & Casino

Score: 4.0 

The sixth album from the British already-iconic band (and their first in five years) aims at cosmic storytelling and dystopian odysseys about technology, love and the human mind. Though it's their most intriguing, low-key and mystical record to date, and the lyrics often show glimpses of brilliance, the irritating dullness on the songs' pace and the surprisingly lackluster instrumentation make for an experience that skims disaster too many times to be enjoyed. One sees that there's a lot of inspiration onTranquility..., but it's sad to say they crafted awful ways to let that feeling loose.

Tracks I like the most: One Point Perspective, Four Out Of Five, The Ultracheese

Tracks I like the least: Star Treatment, American Sports, Golden Trunks, She Looks Like Fun

Artist: Arctic Monkeys

Country: United Kingdom

Album: Tranquility Base Hotel & Casino

Released: 11/05/2018

Genres: Lounge Pop, Indie Pop, Indie Rock, Soft Rock

Length: 40:51