He's a modernist at ease with mixing, matching and sometimes trampling as his heart dictates.

Rogers is listed as coproducer throughout, but her distinctiveness only comes through when Kurstin and some of his other high-profile production accomplices (Kid Harpoon, Ricky Reed) take the day off. ... In contrast, Kurstin--with Rogers listed as a co-conspirator--swamps many of the remaining tracks in virtual choirs of wordless backing vocals and squiggling, squirming keyboard and synthesizer textures.

Nothing is Quick in the Desert--its 14th studio recording--flexes the group's stadium-rap muscle. This was an album specifically designed to be played live, and some of the subtlety and nuance that informs Chuck D's most incisive raps is missing.

If nothing else, Angles makes it impossible to predict where the Strokes will go next.

It is the sound of a major artist sprinting to please everyone all the time – and even a pop star as inclusive as Gaga can't pull that off.

It glides rather than gallops--especially when Yang sings in a voice as light as a breeze rippling through lace curtains--which makes it perfect background for all sorts of civilized activities.

Its fourth studio album keeps the glitter ball spinning.

It's almost impossible to screw up Fogerty's sturdiest numbers, but some of his collaborators sound like they're trying too hard to put their thumbprints all over them.

Sons and Daughters add to their canon of murder ballads, then finish the album with the sound of a rain storm on a beach enveloping Bethel's ghostly vocal, a sound that seems to linger long after it fades from earshot.

On Together, the band's fifth album, Newman again pumps out exuberant melodies brimming with offbeat twists.

But the Swift who used to treat her fans like confidantes instead of a marketing demographic resurfaces only as the album winds down.

It’s a series of hedged bets. It stuffs Lambert into a box of formulas that keep his musical flamboyance in check.

These songs conflate his newfound responsibilities as a husband and father with memories of childhood innocence, a mix that humanizes the rapper even as his career transcends music.

Waterhouse's pleasingly wrecked guitar playing is matched by singing that teeters out of control every so often, like he's trying to tamp down a wild animal in his throat.

Fragrant World may initially come off as messy, even chaotic. But the trio of Anand Wilder, Chris Keating and Ira Wolf Tuten are on to something worth absorbing all the same.

In an era when innovative artists such as Frank Ocean and The Weeknd are redefining the form and feel of R&B seduction ballads, Prince sounds not just relevant, but renewed.

A breezy immediacy wafts through “Dance Through It,” in which a woman steps through a minefield of turmoil, care-free as long as the music’s on. But the album’s vibe is best captured by “Under a Smile,” a slow-burn beauty in which a drifter finds solace in a world that seems to be unraveling. The gentle refrain builds, and one voice melts into a choir.

This is not Morrissey's finest solo work by a long shot, but as the singer enters his 55th year, its moments of vulnerability feel earned.

The potential sparks that one expects from such a pairing take a while to ignite.

But as with “Horehound,” “Sea of Cowards” is all about the volatile vibe rather than songs. When the vibe works, it’s a decent approximation of the band’s top-shelf live show. But beneath all the “Hustle and Cuss,” the tunes just aren’t there.

Much of this will sound familiar to Motorhead fans, but there are enough sly lyrical twists to keep things fresh, and when all else fails, Motorhead's rhythm section is still beastly.

They sound more like singer-songwriter leftovers from his solo albums than the stuff of which big rock-band comebacks are made.

Much of the rest is mid-level and middle-brow, from respected artists who have done better work elsewhere.

On Revelations, he serves notice that his sound and vision have returned intact.

A more concise Pumpkins isn't what anyone was expecting at this point in the band's career, but on its own limited terms, Monuments to an Elegy affirms that Corgan remains defiantly in his own lane.

The Hold Steady is all about bombast and getting bombed. Clear Heart Full Eyes is about the morning after, and everything's a blur.

Despite being hyped as her most "personal" album, Girl on Fire is really just more of the same.

“Our Pathetic Age” addresses big topics — social media alienation, nefarious government oppression, the suppression of individuality — but refuses to knuckle under. By breaking sounds loose from the strictures of time and genre, DJ Shadow implies that the music still runs free.