Grim and exultant at once, this is low-profile hustling on wax at its finest.

Pitbull's Global Warming is the spicy pop-rap place to forget the world's problems, so forgive the fat, forgive the mess, and enjoy the heat.

Wreck & Ruin sounds fresh as the dew and old as the hills all at once, and anyone who doubts that Kasey Chambers and Shane Nicholson are two of the finest natural talents in country and folk music today need only listen to this to be convinced.

Their approach is basic and there are moments of yesteryear reflection, but (with the exception of a few too many crunchy guitars) almost everything on this EP fits perfectly in place with a band that nailed the vibe of a simple good time decades prior.

The Odds shows The Evens as more refined and understated than ever. Instead of softening, their jagged angles and obtuse political commentary have just become more involved, and in some ways, more intense.

This is so good that this is how you want to remember them: older, perhaps wiser, and still majestic.

On these songs, Lopatin and Hecker take the sounds in their intentionally limited palette to places they may never have been expected to go, and the journey is intriguing and frequently lovely.

Rebel Soul is appropriately rebellious and conservative, a dose of old-time rock & roll at a time when the style is starting to fade.

While this is a fine, if uneven album, the only way to enjoy a significant portion of it is by taking it as pure entertainment.

Oui, Oui isn't living in the past, it's using the past to address the present, which gives some soul to these nifty little songs, and turns this album into another mini latter-day gem from the Nutty Boys.

Overall, Medicine is an enjoyable diversion.

Certainly The Mystery of Heaven is a standalone recording and is to be enjoyed on its own.

18 Months shows Harris to be a solid producer with an easily identifiable sound.

Given the discipline and experimentation in the short pieces, and in the creative imagination displayed in rearranging the longer ones to accommodate a larger band, 'Allelujah! Don't Bend Ascend proves, that GY!BE still has plenty of captivating things to say.

One of the most impressive albums of the home-recording era while still feeling superbly refined.

While Breaking Dawn isn't one of the more dynamic Twilight Saga soundtracks, it is one of the more emotive ones, and just may help fans get some closure as one of the biggest film franchises of the 2000s and 2010s comes to a close.

Again, it's easy to name great songs that are missing, but what's here is sublime, some of the best rock & roll ever made, and the best overall Stones comp to date.

For all the progress and growth Del Rey shows in the vocal realm, her songwriting appears to be in stasis and the productions behind her have actually regressed from Born to Die.

Another fine example of how versatile this band actually is.

Though front-loaded with its most energetic and moving songs, Our House on the Hill is an intriguing statement from a band shedding their better-known affiliations for a whole new ideal.

It's hard to blame her for playing it safe, particularly because she wound up with such a strong pop album, one that reconfirms her gifts as a singer and savviness as a pop star.

Clearly, all the partying caught up to [Billie Joe Armstrong], but while he was racing recklessly, he cut this terrific little party record.

One Direction deliver another immediately catchy mix of dancey pop that maximizes the group's shared lead-vocal approach and peppy, upbeat image.

This is a surprisingly strong reunion, one that puts the band back on the track they abandoned long ago.

Artistic progress is as much about subtraction as it is about addition, and on III, Crystal Castles have made room to be sad, angry, pretty, and danceable at the same time.

There are points throughout these works where Tesfaye is distinctively gripping, supplying deadly hooks and somehow singing for his life despite the cold blood flowing through his veins.

While a lot of bands out there have been tinkering with the loud/quiet dynamic for decades now, what makes Deftones so special is their ability to do both at the same time, effectively blending the calm and the storm into a single sound.

There is great reward in actually focusing on what "happens" in this quiet landscape, because Lux betrays the implication of vastness and musical adventure just underneath its dulcet tones and restrained palettes.