MIA – Matangi
On her fourth album, M.I.A.’s focus has shifted. As the cover art suggests, this LP is a tight close-up on her world: her artistic abilities and credibility, her sexual bravado and simply her skills on the mic. It’s a telling move too that she calls this Matangi, her birth name, and the name of Hindu goddess of music. And on this album, the line between those two definitions is completely blurred. Read the full review on Paste

Cut Copy Free Your Mind
Free Your Mind makes friends with the listener by using three straight bangers to kick off the album: The title track is backed up by “We Are Explorers” and “Let Me Show You Love”, coincidentally the same three singles that kicked off the album’s presentation to the world. And, as the album progresses, it doesn’t cease in providing potential singles, all with hooks that latch with ease, all with a similar aesthetic and production flair to the title track. “Footsteps” establishes backing vocals and percussion sounds as strings throughout the album, the melody recalling Pet Shop Boys strongly enough to make the listener check the liner notes to see if Tennant and Lowe weren’t in on the writing. Read the full review on Consequence of Sound

Midlake – Antiphon
While still noticeably Midlake, the album propels the group off in yet another direction, the more rustic elements supplanted by psychedelic, prog-rock tendencies in which the layered keyboard textures and jazzy drumming reflect the players’ background as music students. The lush harmonies and enigmatic melodies remain, but you get the sense that the band is stretching out a little more. The title-track – named after call- and-response choral singing – features harmonies that sharp and flat over smooth, exploratory bass and keyboards, while the tunes to “This Weight” and “Aurora Gone” evade the most obvious course, but lodge themselves more tenaciously as a result. Read the full review on The Independent