Stephen Thompson

The Canadian rapper proves equally adept at breezy confidence, rapid-fire spitting, sneering menace and laconic cool.

GIRL SKIN's gentle folk songs benefit enormously from their soft chamber-pop bent, which helps an ambitious, sweeping quality to Sid Simons' softly contemplative lyrics.

Throughout 2018's On Hold, Fenne Lily's quaveringly intimate voice recalls the early works of Sharon Van Etten, particularly in the way she layers her own voice during choruses that ache and swoon.

Fraeya's "Housewarming" starts with melancholy whispers, but ultimately winds up someplace grand and magnificent, as Fraeya (the band) envelops Fraeya (the singer) in majestic waves of distortion.

Singer-songwriter Nicole Rodriguez, who records under the name Pearla, finds subtle ways to put a twist on gently drifting, introverted, low-key folk-pop ballads.

Madame Gandhi's frenetic odes to feminism, fluidity and freedom mash together fragments of electro-pop, trap, Afrobeat and R&B, carried off with endless swagger.

Nina Ljeti's voice sits right at the center of Kills Birds' taut, blustery sound: Raspy and direct, it blurts, chatters and shouts with commanding intensity.

The London jazz band wanders and glides with hypnotic thoughtfulness, fueled by Oscar Jerome's conversational guitar solos and soft sweeps of brass.

The dream of the '90s is alive in PONY, whose sweetly charismatic power-pop/grunge hybrids roll along on the darkly cheerful continuum connecting Veruca Salt and Charly Bliss.

Devon Gilfillian's glittering, soulful sound intersects with everything from vintage R&B to ragged folk-rock, but there's one constant: a rangy, wonderfully expressive, sandy-smooth voice.

If you like your rock and roll centered on exuberant maximalism, you won't regret your decision to read about Dogleg.

Austrian guitarist and composer Christian Fennesz has spent his career toiling in the margins of ambient and experimental sound.

As leader of Hop Along, Frances Quinlan exudes wiry energy. As a solo artist, she softens her arrangements into something spanglier and more synth-driven.

At times anthemic, at times lightly countrified and at times both, Great Grandpa's sound feels wired for the present day.

The Colombian-born artist writes splashy, spangly songs about tangled identity, queer love and the complicated relationship she's maintained with the country of her birth.

Bisa Kdei's spirited and playful highlife music has made him a star in his native Ghana — and marked him for crossover success as West African music gets its hooks into worldwide audiences.

Cloud Rat condenses its speedball grindcore into two-minute bursts of wild, unhinged aggression — the stuff of absolute sonic overload.

Alexandra Levy makes music for maximum intimacy: Augmented by acoustic guitars, she frequently sings in a weary, tortured whisper.

Baby Rose's voice is a remarkable instrument: It dispenses weary, heartsick ache with the deep blues of a woman trice her age.

Begonia is enormously distinct in her crystalline delivery, which pairs perfectly with songs about staring down doubt and anxiety.