Beth strives for that human connection on this album.

Adore Life is a considerable improvement, an honest attempt by Savages to set themselves apart.

[xrr rating=4.25/5]Some musicians handle performance art better than others. But when U.K. post-punk revivalists Savages and Japanese experimental rock band Bo Ningen announced they would collaborate on Words to the Blind, few doubted it would turn out well. Artistic fearlessness seems built into the post-punk framework, and if conceptual art needs one thing it’s that boldness and tenacity. It was …

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 …

Five Savagely Awesome Things about Portland’s Savages Concert (Photos: Thomas Hawk) 1) People tend to live life through their phones. Just look around during your daily commute or at a party. That little piece of plastic and glass has become the lens, the prophylactic, the buffer separating us from the true experience of the world. Is it a safety net? …

[xrr rating=4.0/5]It starts with Ayşe Hassan’s relentless, percussive bass and Fay Milton’s ultra-crisp hi-hat banging out a manic rhythm that sounds like a drunken disco groove one overhears while riding an out-of-control Ferris wheel. Gemma Thompson plays something resembling a metal riff run through a distorted surf-guitar processor. Frontwoman Jehny Beth’s voice, drenched with a sea of creepy reverb, asserts, …