O’Connor’s impassioned delivery elevates the most middling melodies and predictable rhymes.

After a while, the microscopic detail underscoring each turn of phrase, delivered with such delicate poise and precise drama, is suffocating.

His latest--entirely produced by long-time collaborator No I.D.--reveals an enlivened emcee, the same forceful voice who gave us classic albums such as Be and Like Water For Chocolate.

None of them are as immediately catchy or memorable, and perhaps that’s to be expected. But Petty and Co. are at ease and doing what they please.

Ab-Soul is still the third man up in the stacked TDE crew (behind Kendrick Lamar and Schoolboy Q), but this album establishes him as the group’s most reliable Swiss Army knife: deft in a wide variety of sonic and thematic situations.

In parts, this is the most melodic--and pretty--Shabazz Palaces have ever been.

The biggest problem is Morrissey himself, who sounds like he’s trying to be clever rather than actually demonstrating that infamously razor-sharp wit.

Jungle’s core members, childhood best friends Josh and Tom, make well-balanced dance tunes--lush, but with plenty of breathing space between slow builds and feverish climaxes.

Depression and personal battles still make up the lyrical content. But there are also spacious, cosmic moments, swaths of texture (Tim Bruton adds keyboard lines and Matt Rogalsky synth bass) and gentler fingerpicked and/or softly sung moments.

The laid-back riffs and grooves are balanced by big hooks and melodies that make the most of Jackson’s airy (and refreshingly unprocessed-sounding) voice.

Wine Dark Sea is a brilliantly track-listed album, stronger as a whole than broken into parts.

It gets tiring trying to figure out what Lew is saying (mostly, her vocals are mixed a touch too low), but the themes are hinted at in her sober delivery.

Unfortunately, what starts out as emotionally drenched bop-along pop eventually gets tiresome.

Calvi’s obviously got great pipes, but the EP would’ve been better if she’d made every cover unrecognizable.

While her straightforward songwriting certainly comes across as honest, it can feel a little hokey.

The lo-fi/hi-fi production values keep slickness at bay, resulting in something as warm, intimate and super-casual as an East Coast kitchen party.

By dispensing with typical pop structure in favour of improvisation and repetition, the pair achieve and maintain an openness and momentum that Someday World lacked. It feels alive.

Lyrics are reflective and well written--Watt is also a published author--but a middle-age malaise runs through these 10 tracks.

This is a top 40 pop record after all, and thus errs toward deafeningly loud vocals that occasionally obliterate some of the year’s smartest pop songwriting.

The music still branches off into proggy places, especially in the latter half, but nothing hits hard or is remotely memorable.

The five tracks amble and pulsate and plod along in a way that feels consistent with the band and the genre.

As sex-filled as Trigga is, typical bedroom R&B is no longer such a turn-on.... Nevertheless, Trigga is smooth and singable, with its share of gems.

The album wobbles between Timberlake-style sexy-time R&B, Bublé-light standards and flat attempts at sincere John Legend-type balladry.

EX is a proper album of all-new material--composed specifically for that iconic space--and features some of the best work of his career.

The appeal is easy to hear, but ultimately X undermines emotional rawness with slick production and lyrical goop that feels calculated and bland.

Despite the mainstream references, the album is a much more emotionally wrenching experience than anything on the actual pop charts.

Searching for depth in an emcee so obviously beholden to gimmicks is a fool’s errand, and if you give that up, you’re rewarded with low-stakes perfectly inoffensive jams.

Singer/lyricist George Mitchell sings clean and fairly melodically, but with convincing disaffection.