With Last of the Great Pretenders, Nathanson captures the organic energy of a city full of exuberant personalities, legendary landmarks, and gorgeous vistas, and the result is one of the most bulletproof summer discs to come along this year.

Overall, Rudimental have shown themselves to be a talented band of men.

Skyer is one piece of art, obviously. But it’s not going to do the same thing to you as it has done to me. And that’s a special thing.

[The songs] are nothing short of radiant, from the perfect vocals to the organic, full-bodied arrangements, from the heart-rending lyrics to the way that producer Charlie Peacock surrounds everything in a smoky ambiance.

Hawthorne Heights gets better with every release, and Zero is their best effort yet. The band has honed their talents and refined their music nearly enough to be a different band, and one that sounds better than ever before.

Long Way Down has just enough flaws to show that Odell has room to grow and progress. If you listen to one pop album this year, this is a pretty good bet.

It is a wonderful debut effort, and all of the buzz and the attention they have garnered up to this point is likely only the beginning for AlunaGeorge.

Kinsella has, yet again, created music as an art form and has provided us with a soundtrack to all of those moments between the events.

What Saaab Stories lacks in quantity is easily made up for in quality.

Ultimately, Mayer Hawthorne has created his most complete and compelling piece of art yet, taking risks, experimenting, and looking to expand his already defined palate.

Jinx leaves the band with more paths to explore going forward; they may either continue to refine the warmly gothic sounds found here or may embrace a different facet of Sports. It seems apparent after Jinx that they will deftly execute whichever option they choose.

The songwriter gets primary production credit on nine of the 12 tracks from The Blessed Unrest, and on many of them, she uses that position to build the sort of stunning and nuanced arrangements that elevate her songs beyond traditional singer/songwriter fare.

His flows are lazy, uninspired, and flat out boring.

The songs themselves are a disaster. Everything is trashy and over the top, but generally rubbish too.... Basically, this is probably the worst album ever created by a serious group of musicians.

Run The Jewels is its own beast, and the combination of Killer Mike and El-P creating rap music together is one of, if not the most exciting thing happening in hip-hop right now.

With Love is the most focused and refined release from Zomby yet, which is quite the feat considering it's a double album.

Given the proper attention and respect, Letlive's The Blackest Beautiful will reveal itself as a masterpiece--a record that will redefine your musical preconceptions and tastes for the better,

Three years after his album should have put the "sideline" comments to rest, Cole’s still studying the traditional playbook from the bench, preferring to follow Nas’ bible than strike out on his own.

Inheritance is as strong an opening statement as any released this year and with it The Last Bison firmly cement themselves as a band to watch in 2013 and beyond.

Whereas 2011's Want More felt uneven, Howl is dynamic, controlled and with few, if any holes.

The anxiety-ridden sound of Kveikur is the best the band has produced since their breakthrough album, and seems promising to yield only more rewarding results in the future.

The Gifted is a horribly disjointed album. If Wale would have gone one way or the other (soulful nostalgic beats or straight up pop-rap), the album would probably be at least a little bit better.

From a technical standpoint, the album does little to challenge, provoke or push the envelope. From a thematic standpoint, there's no cerebral or overarching theme, there's no incendiary political or social statements. At its core, it is a safe, sun-kissed collection of 11 utterly harmless light rock songs about the delights of newfound love.

By teaming up with some of the best producers in the r&b/hip-hop genre right now, including frequent Drake collaborators T-Minus and Boi-1da, Kelly Rowland has managed to make one of the best sounding r&b albums of the year.

This album is going to be important for a number of reasons, but above all, it's going to be important because it is a great album. Very few people in the realm of pop music, if anyone, take risks like this.

As has always been the case with City and Colour, this record is at its best when it forgoes sonic evolution for the bare bones simplicity of human emotion and the warm, gentle wash of pleasant nostalgia.

There’s still a great album somewhere in this Philly quintet and we hear flashes of it throughout.

Watching Movies With The Sound Off is a necessary step that is going to get him there [to be a truly good artist], but it isn't a strong enough statement to make that case for him.