Ross raps unhurriedly, encouraging listeners to mull over his every word. Teflon Don is one of this summer's blockbusters.

Recorded with polish and pluck at Nashville's Blackbird Studio, the 11 tracks on their self-titled debut set sound like they could've been captured at any of the family picnics or church services where the Secret Sisters honed their harmonies singing Doc Watson, Everly Brothers and spirituals.

The release is Sade's first new material in 10 years, but the act hasn't lost a beat.

"Crows" opts for a mostly stripped-down acoustic sound that provides the perfect setting for Moorer's marvelous, R&B-inflected voice.

Richly uplifting arrangements, dynamic percussion and an attention to vocals (some shared) that's intimately communal mostly make up for some excessive sentimentality and steel drums. But what's missing on the album is an obvious classic.

Cash not only infuses love into her delivery on the collection but also proves herself a supreme song stylist.

Battles still sound determined here to inject their precision-geared prog-pop with the kind of humor and adventure one rarely encounters among bands that possess chops like these.

Yo La Tengo has little to prove at this point in its 20-year career, but its dedication to expanding its sound without obscuring its songwriting formula remains impressive.

Underneath the Pine is at its best on songs like Got Blinded, Still Sound and Divina, with solid grooves and discernable melodies that leap out from the kaleidoscopic bramble.

A minor release for Curren$y still bests most major hip-hop releases, and this Pilot Talk sequel relishes in the rapper's expanding set of skills.

September has been a profoundly great month for new female vocalists in popular music, but Lorde is easily the most vocally striking and lyrically thought-provoking. Pure Heroine is honest and addictive.

A collection of unconnected-though certainly related-songs that traverse all sorts of Southern terrain and situations. The group's songwriting trio (mainly Patterson Hood) offers the usual array of potent guitar riffs, stomping hard rock and vivid lyricism.

Recorded in the garage of frontman Dave Grohl's home in Encino, Calif., the 11-song set is an explosive, high-octane burst of rock energy from a 16-year-old band that is tightly honed and righteously raw.

Helmed by producer T Bone Burnett, this is front-porch, rural and rustic country music. Nelson is perfect in this setting, however, as he brings his weathered but expressive pipes to percussion-less arrangements of such gems as Ernest Tubb's "Seaman's Blues," Merle Travis' miner's lament "Dark As a Dungeon" and the smooth stride of Bob Wills' "Gotta Walk Alone."

While Lamar dazzles with precise storytelling, Q conjures attention with brusque physicality. Both MCs are aiming for different marks, and although Q's style is too unkempt to produce an album full of clean shots, his misses on Oxymoron are often just as compelling.

With a career clearly on the ascent, Neon lights the way for Young's next move up.

The set is full of the Deftones' usual energy and showcases singer Chino Moreno's knack for alternating between screams and sweet vocal delivery over heavy, complex guitar work.

Though not as sprawlingly ambitious or experimental as the 2007 "The World Has Made Me the Man of My Dreams," Meshell Ndegeocello's eighth release, "Devil's Halo," neatly straddles a line between challenging and accessible, with some of the tightest and catchiest compositions she's yet brought forth.

More than anything, Wrecking Ball is a record with heart.

The 82-year-old singer/pianist's mordant wit retains its vintage charm. In fact, Allison probably could have sung any of these new tunes about aging just as credibly 50 years ago.

"Sun" isn't as cuddly as "The Greatest," but it finds Marshall continuing to evolve as an artist in intriguing and unexpected ways.

The oddball trio's new set is edgy and experimental, containing lurid imagery and bold use of dissonance.

The 14-track set's distinguishing characteristic is a soul flavor of the Muscle Shoals variety, a smooth fit given the role of frontman Patterson Hood's father, David Hood, in that community as well as DBT's own work with Bettye LaVette and Booker T. Jones.

The shimmery guitars and thundering rhythms of album closer "What Remains" show that the group does best when sticking to its own math rock genre

Reference points include Liars and The Fall, but Girl Band is very much its own beast.

The extent of K.R.I.T.'s achievement on his proper debut can be lost in the consistency of his output, but it is a stirring triumph nonetheless.

Reflection represents a promising first step for a girl group that has long been awaiting stardom and has quickly established itself as a wrecking crew of positive role models.

Reflective but never bitter, I'm New Here contains the musings of a poet wizened by hard luck.