A fantastic summer comes with a plethora of fantastic music releases alongside it. Ranging from country to alternative to rock to hip hop, summer ‘16 definitely did not disappoint. Here are four of the most groundbreaking album releases occurring over the past summer, so sit back and get ready for a multitude of musical epicness.

1.Red Hot Chili Peppers The Getaway

Released on June 17, The Getaway proves that the Red Hot Chili Peppers are nowhere near losing their creative stamina; this album being their eleventh as a band. With songs heartily fueled by personal heartbreak, this record is a poignant one when juxtaposed against earlier releases such as ‘Californiacation,’ ‘Greatest Hits,’ and ‘Stadium Arcadium,’ albums premised primarily on topics like sex, drugs, and partying.  The Getaway undoubtedly feels like an attempt to bury the older, wilder version of The Red Hot Chili Peppers, presenting listeners with hard-hitting, somber ballads such as “Dark Necessities” and “Goodbye Angels,” sure to pull at one’s heartstrings. Alongside these emotional ballads come funkier tracks like “We Turn Red,” “Feasting on the Flowers,” and “This Ticonderoga,” boasting heavy drums, jazzy guitar riffs, and angsty yet impressive vocals – a signature style of lead singer Anthony Kiedis and his band. The uniqueness of this album along with its impactful lyrics and unbeatable ingenuity is what keeps the spotlight on the Red Hot Chili Peppers 25 years after their breakthrough record ‘Blood Sugar Sex Magik.’

2.Frank Ocean Blonde

After a four year hiatus following his debut album ‘Channel ORANGE,’ Frank Ocean released his newest masterpiece titled Blonde on August 20, shocking and delighting the general population. Listeners all over would agree that Blonde was well worth the wait, showcasing Ocean’s impeccable vocal and production talents along with the strange uniqueness of his work. Despite being a record centralized around the ideas of heartbreak and lost love, Blonde finds ways to cover these topics while avoiding coming off as overly melancholy or vengeful. The production of this album is very minimal, using little percussion and focusing heavily on Ocean’s matured lyric style and commonplace use of synthesizers and electronic beats. Kicking off with the track “Nikes,” Ocean addresses his own romances, how materialism so often plagues humanity, and how injustices like the murder of Trayvon Martin must not go unnoticed. Blonde’s incredible success can be attributed to Frank Ocean’s inability to be held down by any force, launching him into the radical world of musical freedom and enabling him to produce a prodigious record.

3.Bastille – Wild World

Bastille, the UK band who boasted the international smash-hit ‘Pompeii’ in 2013, released their second ever EP titled Wild World on September 9. There was quite a bit of hype surrounding this new album, due to the unlikely success of Bastille’s debut EP titled ‘Red Blood.’ Wild World, a record chock-full of lyrically rich and musically boisterous songs, has proven to live up to the elevated standards created by the popularity of “Pompeii.” The introductory track titled “Good Grief” contains the charming, catchy, slightly British-accented vocals of Dan Smith with backing from his band mates, emphasizing on electronic xylophone notes and rhythmic drumming in the background. The band also crafted a track called “Four Walls (The Ballad of Perry Smith),” referencing the infamous murderer of the Clutter family in Holcomb, Kansas, saying, “These four walls contain you, supposed to save you from yourself, and these four walls in Holcomb, to keep you from the sun.” Dan Smith has been reading In Cold Blood, evidently. What makes this record interesting is that Bastille was able to build on its success with style. They did not deem it necessary to create nineteen carbon copies of “Pompeii,” but instead used it as a template to create successively evolved and matured music.

4.MIA A.I.M.

Politically charged and powerfully carried out, MIA’s newest record titled A.I.M. was also released September 9, after three long years of silence. A.I.M., featuring artists like Zayn and Diplo, is a conglomeration of songs covering popular global issues and emphasizing on MIA’s own personal views of them. She kicks the album off with “Borders,” a chill introductory track bringing up current political and social issues and simply asking, “What’s up with that?”

Electronically fun and intriguing songs like “Go Off” and “Jump In” follow, lightening the mood and showcasing MIA’s signature rap talent. “Freedun” featuring Zayn was one of the most heavily awaited tracks, written entirely through the texting platform ‘WhatsApp’ and vocally rich due to Zayn’s soulful pipes. What makes A.I.M. unique is its refusal to conform to any expectations, giving MIA the freedom to float from topic to topic, infusing the album with an all-encompassing curiosity backed by her signature catchy tunes and rhythmic beats.

Lucky for us, summer 2016 failed to encounter any sort of shortage of exceptional music releases. While these four records are some of the best, there still remains a plethora of phenomenal releases that deserve recognition. Make sure to go check out Blink-182’s California, Glass Animals’ How to be a Human Being, and Bon Iver’s 22, A Million, just some of my personal favorites that I’m positive will become yours as well.