The album doesn’t see the rapper experimenting with his skull-rattling sound very much.
Bish Bosch is the work of a committed artist delving further into a land of vaguely sketched nightmares.
The star-studded Warrior proves Ke$ha is ultimately just the equivalent of a groupie with a record deal.
Grace/Confusion, Hawk’s third album in four years, is a benign collection of typically hazy dream pop.
Wu-Block is a low-impact collaboration between two like-minded jesters.
Dead in the Boot possesses a surprising continuity for an album covering more than a decade’s worth of recordings.
Mellon Collie remains the Pumpkins’s greatest album, the soaring vision of a band clearly in its prime.
The World from the Side of the Moon often plays like Mumford & Sons’ Babel with training wheels.
Girl on Fire is less a portrait of womanhood at a crossroads as it is an extension of a career spent navigating straight down the middle of the road.
The Re-Up is an indication that Minaj is learning from some of her past mistakes.
Koi No Yokan further solidifies Deftones’ status as far and away the most long-lasting and consistent act of the maligned sub-genre from which they came.
Unapologetic represents one of the most grotesque distortions of “blame the victim” syndrome in pop-music history.
The Flip Is Another Honey possesses a warmth and affection that makes it easy to forgive its duller moments.
There are a few transitions between older and more recent material that draw attention to how her vocals have developed over her career.
Synaesthesiac exudes an accomplished grasp of modern electronic pop signatures.
Rebel Soul is a very safe affair, full of platitudes and conspicuous all-American gestures.
Danny! has woven all the truisms of DIY hip-hop into a concept album that highlights his virtuosic ventriloquism.
Lux functions as a welcome excuse for half-occupied reflection.
With its psychedelic textures and evocations of space travel and eternal love, Free Reign could be considered Clinic’s hippie album.
Paradise is more a summary of Del Rey’s persona than an attempt at developing it.
The best tracks on ¡Dos! embrace a hedonistic spirit.