For all of the sonic pleasures, much of At.Long.Last.ASAP’s narrative is hard to swallow with a thinking mind--which makes it hip-hop at its finest, and its worst.

Even as his piecework band stretches the sound in unexpected directions, Lidell--like a peculiar cross of Prince and Otis Redding--remains confidently true to his soul vision, creating a tense musical discourse that wrings raw emotion from each eclectic track.

A hazy, seductive blend of trap and techno, it feels like the soundtrack to a strip club in Paris' grittiest arrondissement.

With 1989, she expertly sets up the next chapter of what is now even more likely to be a very long career.

What Sound & Color does best is hard to describe any other way: The music chugs, boogies, churns and rolls. Among rock music of its kind, it's one of the most ­muscular collections in some time, yet it accomplishes this by hardly even flexing.

Flamingo finds Brandon Flowers exploring big topics (love, religion, the complicated charm of his Las Vegas hometown) over even bigger arrangements.

Full of contradictions, the album is primitive and ultra-modern, dark and enchanting, tranquil and energetic.

"The Courage of Others" doesn't offer anything as immediately captivating as "Van Occupanther" gems like "Roscoe" and "Young Bride," but the new songs slowly take shape and are unafraid to choose interesting detours.

On Lazaretto, White rummages through his cart and emerges with fiddles, organs, slide guitars, and fuzz boxes powered by hand-cranked generators. And is that a leftover plate of Ennio Morricone's Western spaghetti? Indeed, it is, and if it all adds up to a better album than his debut, "Blunderbuss."

Although the set's complex instumentation finds BLK JKS occasionally losing their footing, their confidence in their craft largely covers up any glaring errors.

This Is... Icona Pop, like Carly Rae Jepsen's "Kiss," may someday be viewed as a full-length that included one pop masterpiece, but that underscores the delectability of the treats Icona Pop has sprinkled around that triumph.

With Supermodel, his goal is not to make you like him, but rather to give you a sense of what it's like to be him. He pulls it off, and he throws in plenty of hooks along the way.

After 15 years of recording together, the members of Guster deliver their poppiest, most cohesive effort with Easy Wonderful.

London rock act Bombay Bicycle Club hasn't been playing together long, but the foursome boasts an impressive sound on debut album I Had the Blues But I Shook Them Loose (released last July in the United Kingdom).

While the album's softer instrumentation and thematic preoccupation with romance may initially frustrate some diehard rap fans, its silky hooks begin to sink in with repeated listens.

["Entertainment,"] like almost all of the LP, there's heavy pop appeal for those with an ear for glistening production.

What follows is Doris, a slow (rarely rising above 70 bpm), introspective album where Earl Sweatshirt combats pressures when returning to a life of stardom after time spent at a Samoa-based boarding school for troubled youths. 


With production by Joe Barresi (Coheed and Cambria, Queens of the Stone Age) and Howard Benson (Three Days Grace, My Chemical Romance), Apocalyptica continues to impress with its unique ability to meld classical with metal.

Benson spent the early part of the decade building a repertoire of scruffy but sophisticated pop songs, but he fulfills his potential on this sparkling new set.

While the artist has raised some eyebrows by asking, "Who says I can't get stoned?" (on the album's first single, 'Who Says'), the rest of the collection certainly has the goods to eclipse that overblown controversy.

The Black Dirt Sessions delivers even more grit and lyrical heaviness than its predecessors, revealing a desperate, wayworn side to McCauley's songwriting.

The lack of woe-is-me melancholy on Mindy Smith's fourth release, Stupid Love, is what makes the heartrending album so intriguing.

Based on David Lynch's reputation, one can expect his first album to be either weird or cinematic. He delivers on both counts on Crazy Clown Time.

While not every track is a slam-dunk, Gray definitely recaptures her earlier promise.

Leave it to Em to continue confounding expectations this late in the game.

In New Orleans vernacular, Ya-Ka-May is a stew comprising various meats, green onions, noodles and a hard-boiled egg. This album may well be the musical counterpart of the dish for which it's named.

If fans felt like they got to know the real Blake on the hit NBC show, they'll get another close look with this batch of songs.

The New Jersey group gets back to the business of rocking on its 11th studio album, The Circle.