For most of G I R L, the singer reins in his freakier side for something more accessible, a logical, frothy if somewhat risk-averse follow-up to last summer's chart-topping singles.

Somewhere Else [is] her third and best album.

Beck’s blend of acoustic instruments, twinkling percussion and wordless vocal harmonies feels weightless, evanescent, sometimes lovely. But when David Campbell’s strings make themselves heard, Morning Phase becomes something more than just a sequel to Beck’s best album.

Burn Your Fire for No Witness boasts an even more robust presence [as her 2012 debut, "Half Way Home"], thanks to production by John Congleton.

The music--a volatile mix of crashing guitars, drums and pile-driving bass funneled into shout-from-the-balcony choruses--destroys any hint of self-pity. But as Grace searches for a world that would allow her the freedom to be herself, she finds solace in the album's most subdued moment, and it's beautiful and moving.

Had Broken Bells combined the best songs from their two albums, they would have made a heck of a statement. As it is, they offer promising glimpses of what might have been.

Grass Punks, from Los Angeles-via-North Dakota singer-songwriter Tom Brosseau, sounds at first like the perfect album for winter shut-ins: a quietly seductive combination of acoustic stringed instruments, serene melodies and pristine vocals. But the songs are too prickly to be reduced to background music for a gray, melancholy afternoon.

Even though Warpaint's songs take their time, once they sink in, they stick around.

The merger of trap beats, punk defiance and feminist theory may not be destined for the top 10, but boldness like this can’t be measured by chart positions.

It’s the sound of the Warlocks finally burning out on the most inward-looking album of the band’s career.

It’s an atmosphere soaked in deceptively mellow and melancholy neo-soul, another take on the worlds created by Sade’s whispered regrets and the Weeknd’s decadent obsessions.

The finish provides a slow comedown from the buzz of the album’s first half--which by itself ranks with Arcade Fire’s best, most challenging work. The textural experiments of Part 2 can’t keep pace.

For the most part it works, though McCartney never quite digs as deep as he did on the sturdy "Memory Almost Full" (2007), his last studio album of completely original material (or his adventurous 2008 side project as the Fireman, "Electric Arguments").

Three brisk, blood-pumping rockers pick up where the band's previous album, "Backspacer," left off.... Things falter when the band's love of '70s classic rock turns musty.... Inspiration returns on the title track, which rides Matt Cameron's roller-coaster drumming and richly layered guitars and keyboards.

Artistic ambition is a wonderful attribute, but so is the ability to self-edit, and it’s in short supply. There’s a snappy single album of sharp pop music tucked inside the two 20/20 Experience bookends, but it’ll take listeners some work to find it.

Drake’s increasing mastery of not just rhyme, but tone and inflection is readily apparent.

Tempos drag in the Latin-flavored "Cinco Minutos Con Vos" and the static "Viceroy's Row," and the title track is a mood piece that never climbs out of neutral. But even these misfires feel like experiments that fell short, while the rest of "Wise Up Ghost" revels in its uneasiness.

The plot, such as it is, gets a bit murky, but it’s not a requirement for enjoying the audacious music.

It’s music, fighting to be wild.

Its fourth studio album keeps the glitter ball spinning.

The album’s more reflective tone cuts deepest in “Low F” and “What Can We Do,” and they’re both among the most intensely personal songs in the band’s long, distinguished history.

The 10 tracks breeze past in 29 minutes, and the singer-songwriter doesn’t waste any of them.

His first album in four years and one of the best of his storied career.

There’s nothing musty about his arrangements, a sharp melding of pop melody and new-classical harmonics. Parks also brings a wry and pointed flair for political and social commentary.

El-P has never sounded more scathingly unhinged as an MC. Killer Mike, who brought an urban philosopher’s mind set to “R.A.P. Music,” conjures that same level of intensity when he rains down insults alongside his new sidekick.

Staples is reaffirming her place as one of the great voices of the last half-century.

On the surface, he’s created a polarizing album that practically demands to be loved or hated. But with West, it’s never quite that easy.

Wilk does an adequate job on these extended tracks, but it’s the vitality of Iommi on guitar and Butler on bass that impresses.... Butler’s lyrics find their perfect match in Osbourne. In these songs, the singer wrestles with demons--psychosis, self-abuse, existential dread--with which he’s had considerable personal experience. It makes 13 something a bit more credible than just a souvenir for a reunion tour.