The album turns the rapper’s formal minimalism into a source of excitement.
While there’s something to be said for the risks that Scott Weiland takes here, too few of those risks actually work.
Country singer Trace Adkins continues to climb toward the genre’s A-list with X.
On The Renaissance, Q-Tip’s beats glimmer with a sort of Foreign Exchange by way of Large Professor brightness.
“Single Ladies” is all-hook, moving from one high-energy Beyoncé shout to another, never really letting up.
Fucked Up plays hardcore punk as if they have no clue what decade it is.
Christina Aguilera deserves credit for refusing to play it safe.
This spacey and beautiful album is disappointingly brief, leaving you wanting more but ending with the promise of things to come.
Isobel Campbell & Mark Lanegan’s Sunday at Devil Dirt fiddles predictably with influence and archetype.
However poor her singing voice may be, she does possess a clear, if still immature, voice as an artist.
Backpack rappers and political conservatives may have a lot more in common than you think.
Dido likes to take her sweet time, and her third LP, Safe Trip Home, arrives with about as much bravado as the music itself.
The band’s dual harmonies and inherently hypnotic cadences render music that’s largely exhilarating occasionally monotonous.
Trying Hartz presents a satisfying microcosm of one of the world’s most inventive and ridiculous bands.
For all its creativity, however, Saint Dymphna does little justice to Gang Gang Dance’s oft-raved-about live shows.
Like many bands that race out of the gate, the Bronx’s songs have decelerated with time.
The biggest problem with Beyoncé’s third solo effort is evident right in its title.
Tight but stormy, the album wastes little time getting started, but it ultimately doesn’t go much of anywhere.
Thr33 Ringz is drenched in what already sounded like last year’s sound a couple years ago.
At this point in the game, the group no longer needs to work to earn anyone’s respect.
On Our Bright Future, Tracy Chapman tempers the social conscience that’s been her trademark with guarded, cautious optimism.