1) Margo Price, “Hard Headed Woman” / Few people are making the sort of multi-faceted yet visceral country music Margo Price makes. Her latest is defiant and sensitive in all the right places.
2) Blood Orange, “Essex Honey” / Dev Hynes’ latest is fluid, cinematic and engaging from start to finish.
3) The Beths, “Straight Line Was a Lie” / The New Zealand band somehow tops itself on an album as immediate and more textured than its (stellar) previous collections.
4) Brad Mehldau, “Ride Into the Sun” / Forever innovative and tender in his approach, the pianist explores the beautiful songs of the late Elliott Smith, with help from the likes of Chris Thile, Daniel Rossen and more.
5) The Beaches, “No Hard Feelings” / The latest from this Toronto band explores sticky emotions through a serious sense of humor while riding the line between garage rock and pop-punk.