He explores the mundanities of the real world in his angelic voice, giving them a startling beauty and pouring them out in little spiked Dixie cups.

It’s hard to imagine how someone whose last album was an opera could out-do themselves, but Rufus Wainwright has achieved just that with Take All My Loves: 9 Shakespeare Sonnets, to be released via Deutsche Gramophon on April 22, 400 years after William Shakespeare’s death.

It’s a slow and patient exploration of grief, layered with moments of surprising melodic beauty.

While there’s a lot to love on RKives, as with any postmortem compilation, it runs the risk of lacking cohesion and coming across as a jumble with no common threads.

There are enough flashes of brilliance on Tripper to make it a great album, but unfortunately enough little moments like that electronic groove on "Kid Life Crisis" to show that there's plenty more for them to reach for.

While it may not be her strongest album, it’s an interesting new direction.

On their new LP Program 91, Razika manages to find the best in the word "inoffensive," producing an album that is the definition of an easy listen, while also managing not to leave listeners feeling as if their time has been wasted in any way.

There are no filler colors like “macaroni and cheese”. The brushstrokes he paints as a purveyor of perreo pop might not be as broad, but they’re far-reaching in highlighting the evolution and future of reggaeton music. Balvin remains a power player in the globalization of the #LatinoGang, and Colores continues to showcase his colorful flow and spirit as a beacon in the movement.

There's a craft to their harmonies, their timbral choices, and even their restraint.

Each and every moment of Lousy With Sylvianbriar celebrates the breaking down of genre barriers that Dylan jumpstarted in 1965. It’s an album that looks to the past while illuminating perfectly the many talents of its contemporary creator.

RJD2′s creations are beautiful offshoots of their distorted components rather than monster mashes.

With much of the album sounding like the rest of their catalog, there isn't enough innovation within the entire affair.

Turn Blue, though, is the sound of Auerbach and Carney eagerly and grandiosely taking things into their own (and, if you want, Burton’s) hands.

While the album is undoubtedly fun and includes a few absolute gems, this mismatch [twisted samples meant to indulge the horror intentions, but rarely entirely integrated into the music] makes Slasher House a middling success.

Most of the songs on New Misery sound exactly like Smith Westerns without Kakacek. But here’s the rub: Omori’s voice is so airy that it works best when punctuated by meat-and-potatoes moments straight out of the classic rock cookbook.

At her best, she turns simple observations into complex emotions. The Pains of Growing has its flaws, but altogether it’s a cohesive statement and a marked improvement from her debut.

There are no concepts, no gimmicks, no frills: just straightforward metal, period.

It's a progression that largely works.

White Hot Moon may occasionally sound like a band still figuring themselves out, but at least they’re letting their contradictions shine instead of hiding them under the lampshade.

Blood Orange is a unique new identity for Hynes, but it doesn't feel finished. Coastal Grooves is a splash of ideas and potential that never really comes together.

Given enough time, these experienced musicians should be able to pare things down to these more focused moments, finding the right songs to drape with their ultra stylized vision.

Tamaryn stay in their comfort zone on Tender, while doing their best to make us leave ours.

The last few tracks are memorable because they’re so strange, but City of Quartz falls short by suffering an overarching identity crisis.

Grohl’s music has cried out for, well, coloring and shaping for so long that it matters more that he’s finally sculpted an objet d’art, rather than Another Foo Fighters album.

Like the eponymous candy, Leaving Eden will draw you back for more of that sweet warmth to melt on your tongue.

They may not have quite hit the mark of a perfect partnership yet, but sometimes progress comes at a price. Jessica Rabbit is at least a step in the right direction.

The reissue of BlackenedWhite comes as a missed opportunity. Odd Future followers will likely have grabbed the expanded (and notably better) version when it was available free online a few months back; newcomers to the collective's output have better entry points elsewhere in their continuously-growing catalog.

It might not rank alongside De La Soul's watershed moment 3 Feet High and Rising, but it's a welcome return to a time when rap music was fun and bursting at the seams with creative samples and hungry emcees.