“Get out your dictionaries,” Andrew Bird sings on the title song to his latest solo full-length, an apt line for someone whose lyrics often read like the New York Times crossword puzzle. Through his dozen-plus albums, Bird has used his verbosity as a shield, a way of keeping some distance from the listener.

Who exactly is Kanye West in 2016? Is he the envelope-pushing, genre-defining producer and artist who reshaped hip-hop (including 2010’s My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy, which I still believe to be the best album of the decade so far)? Alternatively, is he the haughty, rant-prone celebrity husband more widely known for his temper than his talent?

It has been five years since the release of Take Care, Take Care, Take Care, Explosions in the Sky’s last non-soundtrack album. (Working on the films Prince Avalanche, Lone Survivor, and Manglehorn kept the group plenty busy in the interim.) Now, a full 16 years since the Texas-bred quartet made its debut with How Strange, Innocence, The Wilderness marks a true-to-form refinement of the band’s signature sound.

The Invitation is a difficult film to review because the less you know going into it, the more likely you’ll be to enjoy it.

The release of a new Weezer record always seems to cause as much trepidation as it does excitement. Their fans are loyal and often near-exclusive; there’s even a blog dedicated to finding new music that sounds like “old Weezer.”

Axel Willner’s fifth full-length recording as The Field follows a similar blueprint to 2013’s excellent Cupid’s Head. The Swedish techno luminary’s trademarked looping rhythms and exquisite technical execution are a constant presence, yet The Follower feels more progressive and experimental than anything that’s gone before it.

If you’re just now sitting down for your first serving of Dinner, welcome—you’re in for a strange ride. The intrepid Dane’s off-kilter approach to music picks and pulls from across the pop music spectrum (but especially 1980s pop) to mold some of the most magical, sexed-up, and unabashedly weird music you’ll come across. Once you develop a taste, you’ll never give it up.

Matthew Ogens’ Meet the Hitlers chronicles the daily lives of people saddled with the most notorious last name of all time, and how (or if) the infamous connection impacts them and their everyday interactions.

With Noise In My Head, Jimi Kritzler chronicles a few dozen of Australia’s most forward-thinking bands.