New album reviews: Priests are fully formed rockers, Migos achieves hip-hop greatness

Priests, "Nothing Feels Natural" (Sister Polygon)

The Washington, D.C., coed quartet Priests built up anticipation for its debut album by compressing caustic post-punk into a handful of local releases since forming in 2012. But "Nothing Feels Natural" nearly didn't happen. Its difficult birth brought the band to the brink of a breakup.

All that infighting in the name of creating something that had weight and meaning paid off. "Nothing Feels Natural" doesn't come off like a new band's first statement. It sounds fully formed and wickedly confident, the work of four people who had to get a few things off their chest.

"A puppet show in which you're made to feel like you participate," singer Katie Alice Greer sneers on "Pink White House." And perhaps best of all there's this snarling put-down on "Puff": "My best friend says, 'I want to start a band called Burger King,' and I say, 'Do it, make your dreams a reality!' "

It all adds up to a withering critique of consumerism's dehumanizing rituals, but makes it sound darkly humorous.

The quartet flavors its noisy punk core with orchestrated textures, free jazz and barroom piano. Greer's range as a vocalist expands beyond a withering growl to encompass the dreaminess of "Nicki" and the new-wave pop of the title track. G.L. Jaguar veers from surf riffs on "JJ" to the spastic outbursts of "No Big Bang." And the rhythm section shares a bond with "Entertainment!"-era post-punks Gang of Four: the best personal-as-political albums are the ones you can dance to.

GREG KOT, Chicago Tribune

When Donald Glover, aka Childish Gambino, shouted out Migos — the Georgian experimental hip-hop trio — during his win at the Golden Globes in January, it was the first time many heard the name. Mainstream anonymity didn't last long, as Migos' spare "Bad and Boujee" hit Billboard's No. 1 spot before month's end. For rap aficionados, however, Migos has been generating clever, oddball tracks with a genuine knack for the contagious since 2013's "Versace."

For Migos' mostly somber, full-length sophomore effort, rappers Quavo (the quavering floaty MC), Offset (the edgy one), and Takeoff (the bass voice) have refined the jagged tips and jarring flips of 2015's "Yung Rich Nation" without losing its cranky, fringy funk. On the Auto-Tuned "Get Right Witcha" and "T-Shirt," the trio's texts flow through one another. Ruminative pianos stay still ("Brown Paper Bag") or grow grand on the theatrically orchestrated "Deadz" and "Big on Big." Yet Migos gets bigger still with what is 2017's first amazing album.

A.D. AmOROSI, Philadelphia Inquirer

• Son Volt, "Notes of Blue"

• Ryan Adams, "Prisoner"

• Future, "Future"

• Bebe Rexha, "All Your Fault, Pt. I"

• Alison Krauss, "Windy City"

• Strand of Oaks, "Hard Love"