It may not be flashy but it's sturdy and expertly honed, reflecting Finn's craftsmanship on a song-by-song basis but holding together better as an album than any Finn project in recent memory.

There are moments during MAYA when it seems like M.I.A.'s next move might involve walking into a laundromat, filling the dryers with bricks and silverware, pulling the fire alarm, blaring a drop-forge beat from a tinny boombox, and recording the result.

It's lively and fun, and it's Sting's most satisfying record in a long time.

Masts of Manhatta walks this line [the pull of the two extremes] throughout, sometimes getting quite a bit livelier, sometimes indulging in decidedly moody textures, always twisting just slightly from the expected, making for a record that's quite intriguing upon the first listen and better on repeats, where the songs begin to dig in and all the textures gain resonance.

Serotonin may offer less immediate pleasures than Twenty One, but it promises to reward repeated listening.

For backpackers and underground fans, it's a must, but anyone who wants their hip-hop both a bit stranger and a lot deeper will fall hard for this one.

Not many bands bring together bluegrass' past and present the way Chatham County Line do, and fewer still can do it this well; Wildwood shows they keep getting better as they follow new stylistic detours in their music.

While Blue Giant has the freshness and enthusiasm of a debut album, it also boasts the artistry and intelligence of a band with years of experience, and this music brings forth the joy of the best of both worlds.

Custom Built is odds-and-ends masquerading as a new album, rounding up brand-new cuts and leftovers from Michaels' unheralded pre-Rock of Love 2000s.

HTDA's debut EP doesn't consist of dressed-up leftovers from The Slip: some of Reznor's obsessions remain recognizable, but having collaborators opens up the music and Maandig softens it, giving this EP a different feel despite some familiar sounds.

Whether or not Flesh Tone remains a stylistic outlier, the disc will always be a bright standout in Kelis' discography.

Aphrodite is the work of someone who knows exactly what her skills are and who to hire to help showcase them to perfection.

It's one of the loosest, most varied, and entertaining albums of its time.

No question about it, though, Delphic are at their best when they're in the studio with Pearson. His production wizardry is a joy to behold on Acolyte.

Scissor Sisters are record fans from way back, so they structure nearly every element of Night Work to relive the heady days of AOR (aka album-oriented rock).

Shame that one-joke ideas like "House Party" get blown out of proportion, and even worse, the healthy helping of filler is obstinate, refusing to fade into the background because of over-the-top performances. 3oh!3 are nothing if not loud and shameless, so if you expect end-to-end excellence from their albums, you've got a lot to learn about cheap thrills.

While this is definitely a darker album, the fuzzy synthesizers help to give the songs warmth, preventing the album from becoming suffocating.

Street Songs of Love is the most raucous, rawest, and finest album Escovedo's yet released.

Trendy South African rhythms and austere strings spin a web around Davidson's poetic lyrics, and in this intricate, introspective setting, their talent becomes very clear.

The blood doesn't really get pumping until the fifth track. Up to that point, however, the band creates some of its most downcast and alluring material, covering solitude, self-destruction, and just about every planetary ill.

Uffie’s long-delayed debut looks to be filled with excitement, but rarely has an album sounded so unconcerned.

The results of that effort are apparent, and they're not good. Gray wields one of the most naturally talented voices in R&B, but from the evidence here, she's not a songwriter.

Chemical Brothers have remained in the stadium house category for a decade-plus due to their immersive music and vivid light shows, but from the stale beats and lack of new ideas on display here, they'd do better going beatless or hiring a drummer.

At times Can't Be Tamed feels perfunctory, getting the job of showing Cyrus is growing up without making her too mature for her still-young fan base and little else.

While We Are Born occasionally lapses into the anodyne, overly tasteful pop-folk balladeering of Sia's past, overall it's a charmingly cheery, light-hearted romp looking nowhere but sweetly, sanguinely forward.

It may be flawed and the rapper's attitude is sometimes one step ahead of his output, but he hasn't sounded this unfiltered and proud since The Marshall Mathers LP.

While a few hooks stand out--particularly the "fisticuffs" chorus of "Fixed"--most of the songs are too watered down, lyrically and musically, to be truly enticing.

Mason's career has been one of constant starts and stops and side-project misdirections (for his fans, at least), so the straightforwardly eccentric Boys Outside is clearly a record to treasure.