In collaborations with Kanye West and The Weeknd, Daft Punk becomes a shorthand for a certain kind of credibility. But two decades ago, they were still dance music wunderkinds.

20. Julianna Barwick Nepenthe [Dead Oceans] Julianna Barwick’s Nepenthe leaves me feeling like I’ve opened a secret door, the light behind it thick and golden and twining around me. With ethereal loops and choir-strong harmonies and swells and flows that float you through her honeyed haze, Barwick does more than conjure an ambient space from oceans of sound. Her songs …

25. Janelle Monáe – “Dance Apocalyptic” [Bad Boy/Wondaland] On her stellar sophomore album, The Electric Lady, Janelle Monáe calls in the musical royalty. The likes of Prince, Miguel, Solange, Esperanza Spalding and Erykah Badu lend their talents to an album that’s a start to finish listen and a triumphant breakthrough for Monáe—nowadays it’s difficult to buy a cup of coffee …

As we ease into the halfway point of 2013, it’s time to pause, light up the grill and enjoy the summer, bathing ourselves in the glorious new music that this year has yielded. We are pleased to present a list of albums that we feel have bubbled to the top of the heap. And while there are some significant absences …

[xrr rating=4.25/5]If you thought the unabashed reverence for disco died along with LCD Soundsystem, think again. By now, you all know the story: not just the hubbub surrounding Daft Punk’s Random Access Memories, but everything in the French duo’s career leading up to it. They revolutionized dance music twice, with 1997’s Homework and 2001’s Discovery, only to land with a …