This is not a bad record, just not what the game needed from De La at the moment.

This is a disc with massive high points and few low moments.

With entertaining lyrics and even better themes, yU draws the listeners to his adventure that is The Earn.

This is just one entertaining ride for hardcore hip-hop fans all the way down the corridor, one that economically rocks your knot at just under 42 minutes.

Nothing stays as it seems for long, but the dense ethereality they've created with Narrows definitely leaves a lasting presence on even passing listeners.

The whole album is deep and atmospheric, with the right amount of up-tempo treats.

An album that hardcore fans will appreciate but isn't likely to help garner any new followers.

Armed with the most awesomely peculiar voice in American music, Waits understands the necessity of reinvention to keep the wheels turning after decades and decades of recording. The approach pays dividends on Bad As Me.

There's always something a bit fresh to the way Cox decides to articulate his musical notions, and this album shows that regardless of the ways his influences and ideas phase around each other, the impressions he presents are among the most appealing to be found.

That's the magic of XXX: whether joy, sadness or disgust, Mr. Brown will make you feel something.

There's More To Life Than This contains no weak tracks, only a few slightly bland moments.

Nothing will blow you away here but a good listen taken in total.

Despite running a bit long, this is clearly one of the year's better releases.

Bleak and beautiful, Family & Friends is an absolute beast.

In an industry flooded with trumpeted artists not worth their weight in salt, Bon Iver's abstract ruminations more than warrant the hype.

Pressure and Time is revivalist rock inflected with just the right hue of the now.

Grieves still knows how to make catchy, emotive indie rap with the best of them.

The Golden Age of Apocalypse has an extremely rich and cosmic-like atmosphere, making you instantly reach for the repeat button. Stephen Brunner is no more a sideman; he's a solid jazz cat that doesn't need to jerk off with his bass wizardry.

Do not sleep. The lush soundscapes of the vivid and fascinating world of Paul White await.

Overall it's a great promissory note to the world, and a view of what's to come in the dance world. If anything, all I can hope for are more divas and fewer bros dominating the scene.

Why is it so easy to cling onto certain bodies of work and wish for each subsequent effort to bear resemblance? Well, the easy answer is because both of these men are very good at telling specific types of stories.

At the end of the day, I'm Gay (I'm Happy) proves that he is a much better artist (and role model) than anyone was led to believe.

Despite waiting four years since getting noticed, their throwback beats and rhymes still hit things right throughout their LP debut, When Fish Ride Bicycles.

10 tracks of pure seamless joy.

Black Milk, Guilty Simpson & Sean Price have that triple threat chemistry a la Jason Terry, Tyson Chandler & Dirk Nowitzki. Any album that makes you want to cop the instrumental version gives it legs and Milk has clearly emerged as one of the top producers in the game.

All the same basic elements--classic synth leads, intricately pulsing rhythms and pop vocal stylings--are back again for It's All True, but for this album the screen is completely gone, and Junior Boys are as front and center as they've ever been.

Rise Again is a highly listenable experience and except for a few bizarre lyrics (E.T. and Inakaya), it's 11 accessible tracks, soaked in sunny vibes.

It's all clean, instrumental, cold techno. A sparse start builds and warms up to colder, bigger tracks. Along with the Egyptixx record, Fever might be the electronic underdog of the year.