A notion that acts as the foundation for the eight cuts on the hypnotic but illuminating Humor Risk.

Noel's High Flying Birds is tasteful, mannered craftsmanship.

While it required only slight modifications to his approach--brighter tones and simpler arrangements, allowing room for singers and MCs--it's still surprising that much of The Vision sounds like an effort to assimilate into commercial airwaves.

Viers' simple, honest delivery helps to keep the mood fun, yet stable and sweet, without the inevitable sugar rush.

It's a quietly satisfying album with a determined fragility that makes it all the more moving.

From its unconventional treatment of electronic music to its emotionally raw songwriting, visiting The Sea of Memories is well worth the journey.

XXX is a bloated album; 19-track albums are a thing of the early millennium past. But this bloat is a gluttonous glory.

It's one of the most consistently satisfying albums of his career, and sounds more like the proper follow-up to the excellent Here Comes the Groom than anything he's made since.

Despite these interesting diversions, Exits & All the Rest is just a bit too straightforward to gain the plaudits of the more experimental Warpaint, but it's still a vibrant record that cleverly recaptures the spirit of their influences while remaining quintessentially Girl in a Coma.

In Animal Tongue is not an easy listen, but it wasn't meant to be. Rather it investigates, explores, and experiments to open-ended conclusions, and to that end, it succeeds magnificently.

While Lost in the Glare is, without question, an instantly recognizable Barn Owl offering and employs their now signature elements, it moves into a welcomed, previously uncharted sonic and psychic terrain.

As a hair metal album, Balls Out is finely crafted and well produced, evoking the glossy sound of the era, but as a joke, it's pretty one-note, so either you're going to get it or it's going to grate on you.

Bieber definitely sounds more enthused by the original songs--some of which resemble everyday numbers with patched-on seasonal references--and a cover of Mariah Carey's "All I Want for Christmas Is You" (featuring Carey herself). The versions of holiday staples are pulled off with varying results.

As far as why it all hangs together so well, credit goes to Wale's talent and his strong personality, which here has grown into an interesting combination of Lil Wayne and Plies, with a little 50 Cent smirk and bit of Drake's phrasing thrown in for good measure.

With Four the Record, she's digging deeper than ever before and finding considerable riches.

Quibbles aside, everything about this package is richly detailed, immensely pleasing, and overall a wonderful experience.

Much of the aptly named Th1rt3en feels vintage, from the familiar political themes on "We the People" and the tightly wound, Dio-esque riffing on "Public Enemy No. 1" to the soft, melodramatic military snare intro of "Never Dead," which eventually explodes into a wicked blast of retro-thrash that feels positively invigorating, not redundant.

[A] rare sophomore outing that not only manages to avoid the slump, but bests its predecessor in the process.

Boyle isn't an interpreter, necessarily, finding new meanings of songs; instead, the songs are pitched toward her specific skills, so there's an inevitable sameness to her albums, as they all consist of slow, pretty versions of songs you know by heart.

Some of the remixes sound like little more than historical curios, but a surprising amount are either vigorous or imaginative and they all underscore how Achtung Baby truly was the first U2 album that could lend itself to these kind of mixes.

Ultimately, Lulu is a brave experiment for both Reed and Metallica, but it's one that falters as often as it succeeds.

The rest of the EP, outside of the brooding "Burying Davy," leans closer to that countrified feel, and while it may come off a little contrived at times, these outtakes will no doubt help to satiate fans until the group reconvenes for album number seven.

While Live Music sometimes feels a little too rambling for its own good, the growth the band shows is even more impressive because it seems so effortless.

After such a lengthy time away, it's admirable that Dolby has returned with such a bold and difficult-to-pigeonhole record, but with its disappointingly flat production, A Map of the Floating City fails to make the most of its abundance of ideas.

A firm step forward on all fronts, Bright and Vivid is a thoroughly engaging listen and establishes Calder as a creative force and pop craftsperson every bit as worthy as her big-deal bandmates.

As an album, Empros shows Russian Circles bringing together everything they've done before into one complete package, compiling the lessons of albums past into one singular vision, and bringing it all together for a new vision of their future.

Is the World Strange or Am I? is indeed a little too strange to achieve the commercial success Jarvis has admitted he craves, but it's an admirably bold statement of intent which is perhaps unlike anything else you'll hear all year.

While Best Intentions doesn't reinvent the wheel, listeners will enjoy spending some more time with We Are the In Crowd.