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20111115-DRAKE-SG-ext-review-560x225.jpg On the cover of his second album, Take Care, Drake holds a chalice. He's dressed in a black shirt with the top buttons undone, revealing his chest, and he wears a few gold chains around his neck. ("Bracelets and rings/ All the little accents that make me a king," he says on "Lord Knows," before adding that his only role models are Hugh Hefner, Michael Jordan and his Young Money/Cash Money Billionaires bosses Lil Wayne and Baby the Birdman.) His eyes stare soulfully at the table in front of him, as if he were deep in thought. It's as if he wants to tell us that he, too, has dark moments of the soul.

Take Care is a thematic follow-up to 2010's Thank Me Later, but it's much closer to the pop zeitgeist. It caps a year when a host of artists echoed the ambient blend of R&B and hip-hop Drake introduced last year, including Frank Ocean and The Weeknd (who appear on several Take Care tracks). Big Sean and J Cole embraced the clean-cut, proudly middle-class, fame-for-fame's-sake ethos that Drake trumpeted. He didn't invent it (that honor goes to Kanye West), but his success has come to personify it. Much of the hardcore rap audience views these suburban braggarts suspiciously, taunting them as being too "soft," lobbing homophobic slurs and claiming that they're pop sellouts. Smartly, Drake doesn't bother answering these trolls. He's too focused on extending the cultural moment that began with Thank Me Later and exploring a vague melancholy that emerges in his relationships with women.

20110927-WILCO-SG-ext-review-560x225.jpg There's an interview floating around in which Nels Cline, the experimental guitarist and composer who has found refuge in Wilco's enduring current lineup, paints a picture of a band at the peak of its powers. "We can make a dozen different records if you stuck us in the studio tomorrow and gave us one week," he says. He lists them: a noise record or a pop record or a folk record. All in one week.

Given the fact that the band's current roster — Cline, singer Jeff Tweedy, drummer Glenn Kotche, bassist John Stirratt, multi-instrumentalist Pat Sansone and keyboardist Mikael Jorgensen — is probably the most progressive and multifaceted lineup in the band's history (if not the entirety of American rock), there's little doubt they could. But if The Whole Love, Wilco's eighth record, the record they did make, sounds like a band that could go in a dozen different directions on a whim, it's notable for moving so conscientiously and uniformly together, making it one of the most engaging Wilco records in the better part of a decade.

Case in point: "Art of Almost." The sprawling opener sounds more like Radiohead's Amnesiac than the no-brand Americana of Wilco's 1995 debut, A.M.. Just as the band is fading off into a pixilated oblivion of digital blips and square-wave guitar distortion that kind of resembles Summerteeth with smarter noise and more effusive hooks, Kotche suddenly seems to raise one hand up in the air and start twirling his drumstick, charging ahead into a dead-simple, double-time rock 'n' roll backbeat. What does Nels Cline do with this? He goes off, tearing around the edges in a fuzzy post-rock freakout. This is not a band making a noise record or a pop record or a folk record: in one song, they're making all of the above.

That song's experimental edge is a bit of an outlier on The Whole Love, most of which is less toothy and more straightforward. Much of the record recalls the essential best of the band: a weave of dollar-bin sounds (the cheapie organ riff recalling ? and the Mysterians on "I Might," the retooled vaudeville jive of "Capitol City," even a bit of E.L.O. on "Dawned on Me") and Tweedy's usual songbook of ambiguous confessions, suggestive images and self-aware rocker clichés. There's a wholeness that has only surfaced on a few of Wilco's most remarkable records, like Yankee Hotel Foxtrot and Summerteeth. But there's a clear-eyed elegance to the record that is new for the band, too. After drug records and post-drug records and breakthrough records and "return to their roots" records, The Whole Love is older and wiser, promising a late-career greatness. So if the The Whole Love isn't wholly folk, or pop, or noise, it sounds instead like something we haven't heard in a long time: a fully articulated Wilco record.

Green Day, Dookie

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Album of the Day Signing with a major label may have come as a let-down to Green Day's doting underground fanbase. But those screaming "Sellout!" were quickly drowned out by Dookie's unprecedented success, largely due to major exposure on MTV and radio. The recognition was every bit earned, though, and the album spawned such hits as "Longview," "Welcome to Paradise," "Basket Case" and "When I Come Around." At a time when grunge was ruling the roost, Green Day's playful pop-punk provided a hookier, droller outlet for any kid who's ever felt a tinge of boredom, disillusionment or lack of motivation. —Stephanie Benson

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20110830-LIL-WAYNE-SG-ext-review-560x225.jpg Lil Wayne could have made a much worse album than Tha Carter IV. Certainly, he seemed primed for a disaster. Released in 2010, the widely derided Rebirth was a sophomoric pop-punk experiment. Its follow-up, the I Am Not a Human Being EP, marked a retreat to his modus operandi as a Dirty South rhyme animal, but it sounded rote and joyless, and he seemed distracted by a pending prison stint for weapons possession (which he completed early this year). After those relative failures — though both went gold on Wayne's brand name and his unquenchable fan base — Tha Carter IV seems less likely to draw the same excitement and interest as 2008's Tha Carter III. And while teaser singles such as "John," "6 Foot 7 Foot," "How to Love" and "She Will" have been decent, none of them have equaled the classic minimalist attack of Vol. III's "A Milli" or the inexplicably popular pillow-hump ballad "Lollipop."

Conjunto Primavera, Algo de Mi

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Album of the Day No surprises here. Conjunto Primavera do what they do best, proving that they bring romance to pop-norteño better than just about any band out there. The hit "Algo De Mi" showcases singer Tony Melendez's clear vocal delivery, while "Te Necisito" runs a close second in the starry-eyed category -- and is perhaps even a bit catchier than "Algo." A solid album. —Sarah Bardeen

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John Martyn, Grace & Danger

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john_martyn_grace_and_danger.jpg Though John Martyn finished the recording of Grace and Danger in 1979, Island Records head Chris Blackwell delayed its release by a year. He believed the record -- a savage chronicling of the singer-songwriter's divorce from wife and former collaborator Beverly Martyn -- to be too depressing. Indeed, this is an intense and often harrowing listening experience, yet it's a beautiful one as well. Supported by a fabulous rhythm section -- bassist John Giblin and Phil Collins behind the kit -- Martyn wraps bare-knuckled confessionals in a shimmering veil of fusion, folk-rock and funk. —Justin Farrar

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Stone Temple Pilots, Purple

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Album of the Day There is no mention of its title anywhere on the album, but it was named for Scott Weiland's favorite color -- that of bruises. Pugnacious aggression is at the core of this album's success, infusing it with a sneering disregard for convention or history while borrowing from and perverting both. Purple melds brooding, ragged vocals with grinding guitar whine and off-kilter lyrics, and aphorisms that borrow more than a little from Guns n' Roses, such as on the prophetic "Unglued," which confesses "This confusion is my illusion." The album remained at the top of the charts for 15 weeks. —Jaan Uhelszki

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Sade, Diamond Life

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Album of the Day Sade's debut album introduced the world to this Nigerian model-turned-singer. Her detached vocal style and the deliberate, cool musical accompaniment struck a nerve. This is an album of great bedroom music -- supple, simple and buoyed primarily by her resonant voice. It was a highly successful debut that hardly sounds dated nearly two decades later. —Sarah Bardeen

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Chris Young, Neon

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Album of the Day He's a deep-voiced, big-hearted softie, this guy: Even his drinking songs stop to admire pretty sunsets or explain that "Save Water, Drink Beer" is really just a conservation thing. Chris Young's third record is anchored by the monster tainted-love smash "Tomorrow," and the rest of Neon sustains that spell of basso profundo sentimentality: Lovestruck belters like "You" and "When She's On" happily recall Darius Rucker. Best here though is "Flashlight," a legitimately affecting ode to all those formative years with Dad, fixing cars and talking girls. Young's still doing plenty of the latter. —Rob Harvilla

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Herbie Hancock, Headhunters

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Album of the Day This is the album that saw Hancock transform from a respected jazz genius into a funkified crossover superstar. While "Chameleon" and the plugged-in reading of "Watermelon Man" got plenty of airplay, Hancock never panders to his listeners. This is an extremely influential album and is now considered the Rosetta Stone for those who toil in hip-hop and electronica. —Nick Dedina

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Album of the Day Mike Skinner's The Streets liven up the Garage/2-step world, and dance music in general, with these London-based tales of cannabis-addled youth out to score food, girls and Playstation points. The club-kid commentary is a welcome relief from the genre's standard diva trills and MC braggadocio. —Jon Pruett

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Album of the Day Although not quite as incendiary as their debut, Rage Against the Machine's third effort, Battle of Los Angeles, has enough vitriol in its deep grooves to earn high marks. Songs such as "Testify" and "Guerilla Radio" are bracing, impassioned rallies delivered with an insatiable desire to affect change. Battle is certainly a highlight in the band's career. —Linda Ryan

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20110809-watch-the-throne-ext-review-560x225.jpg "Wasn't I a good king?" complains Jay-Z near the conclusion of Watch the Throne, his long-awaited full-length collaboration with Kanye West. Who can blame his haughtiness? The natives are restless. Last year was an embarrassment of riches, as Thank Me Later, Teflon Don and, yes, My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy redefined the contours of luxury rap. But 2011 is the comedown, ruined by pretenders like Wiz Khalifa's Rolling Papers and Big Sean's Finally Famous, which trumpet the virtues of overnight celebrity with none of the sweat, vigor or hard-won respect.

And so we sink our teeth into Watch the Throne, and find the taste rather funny. When two superstars get together, we expect frizzy blasts of energy that wow us on first listen and slowly dissipate in the morning, like a pleasant dream. We're looking for impact, not resonance, like B.B. King and Eric Clapton's Riding with the King. We expect incredible verses (or guitar solos) and catchy songs before we return to the drudgery of our pedestrian lives.

But instead, here we get the specter of 2010's cash crop, and the distant yet still visible peaks of Jay-Z and Kanye West's past glories. The critics, bloggers and rap fanatics are waiting, too, ready to write virtual term papers on this pay-per-listen event and turn W.T.T. into a metaphor for either the debt crisis or the yawning income gap between rich and poor, or whatever. If this bloated hour-plus enterprise fails, albeit admirably, it'll be despite our two heroes' attempts to fulfill our contradictory expectations for shameless pop carnality and weighty artistic sustenance.

Iceage, New Brigade

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Album of the Day From four Danish teens tripping over each other and speeding up when their trigger fingers get itchy, here are 12 songs totaling about 24 minutes. But this isn't hardcore. Concision or no, the closest "punk" precedent might be Killing Joke -- for the somber moods, staggering march-steps, repetitive structures, and metallic chord progressions. Exasperated Euro-accents are buried in barely produced blur, monotoned through congested adenoids, and indecipherable save for pessimistic titles ("Rotting Heights," "Total Drench," "Collapse") that serve as hooks of a sort -- as do occasional coughs. —Chuck Eddy

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Lykke Li, Wounded Rhymes

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Album of the Day Swedish pop often sounds like it comes from an alternate universe where the girl group (wall of) sound never died out, and, thus, Lykke Li sounds sort of like '60s pop refracted back across the space-time continuum. Wounded Rhymes is at once familiar and alienating, sweet and seedy, like the album version of creepy baby doll art or aural deja vu. The watery landscape and flat-voiced siren's call of "I Follow Rivers," crazy/cute/confessional lyrics like "Sadness is my boyfriend," the dark, dirty slink of "Get Some": It's all deliciously uncomfortable. You can't not listen. —Rachel Devitt

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Album of the Day Filmed on the fly and gorgeously shot, Sleepwalking the film captures an extraordinary moment, as Dengue Fever returns to Cambodia to pay homage to '60s music that had been cut off, mid-blossom, by the horrors of the Khmer Rouge. In the process they delve into the country's history, find themselves wowed by Cambodia's traditional musicians (a dying breed), and amuse -- and bemuse -- their hosts to no end. It's a moving film, and the soundtrack is no less moving, compiling live performances with some of the band's best songs and their vintage inspirations on one disc. Essential. —Sarah Bardeen

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Eminem, The Marshall Mathers LP

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Album of the Day Though the template of laying irreverent societal critique over bouncy Dr. Dre beats is left essentially intact, Marshall Mathers is darker and meaner. It mixes homophobia and misogyny with murder fantasies. The epic narrative "Stan" was Eminem's attempt to reconcile his responsibility as an influential public figure with his role as an entertainer and artist. But the distance between art and reality wasn't as clear as the song would lead us to believe, and the violent fantasy "Kim" reportedly led his wife, the song's subject, to attempt suicide. This is volatile, obscene and great art. —Sam Chennault

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Afghan Whigs, Congregation

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Album of the Day Cincinnati's Afghan Whigs are crucial to the birth of '90s alternative rock. The first band signed to Sub Pop Records without roots in the Pacific Northwest, they rocked blustery disenchantment as intensely as any of their Seattle brethren. There's an effortless precision in vocalist Greg Dulli's libidinous groans and howls of slacker frustration; his lyrics are full of stifling dissatisfaction and boozy philosophy ("drink it, smoke it, stick it in"). It's all held together by roughed-up rock heightened by lead guitarist Rick McCollum's slick and sleazy riffage. —Stephanie Benson

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Earth, Wind & Fire, Gratitude

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Album of the Day The three live sides reflect their genuine jazz orientation, flowing along enjoyably and unexcessively and offering more new material than is superstar practice. But orientation ain't chops, and despite my prejudices I'd rather hear Dvorak's New World Symphony than the Whites'. The four songs on the studio side are enjoyable, too -- took them a while to figure out their formula, but now they've really got it down. The news that "the good Lord gonna make a way," however, is gonna come as a surprise to Him, Her, or It. (Grade: B) —Robert Christgau

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20110802-kevin-fowler-560x225.jpg Texas native Kevin Fowler has been happily pitting his rock-infused honky-tonk against Nashville's pop hooks and spray-on tans for more than a decade. For a while, he was one of Texas' best-kept secrets -- and with two failed attempts at aligning himself with major-label muscle, it looked like it might stay that way. Bloodied but unbowed, Fowler is nonetheless back for another round - and Chippin' Away just might be the KO he's been waiting for.

Lyrically, Chippin' Away covers all the requisite bases. Songs about trucks? Check. Songs about pretty girls? You betcha. Songs about drinking? In abundance, my friend. And while the subject matter might not break any new ground, Fowler sings them all with the nervous excitement of a freshman at senior prom.

Fowler's current single, "Hell Yeah, I Like Beer," starts as a bar pick-up song, and quickly morphs into an anthemic affirmation of love for the crisp, golden amber. One listen to this fist-pumping ditty and beer lovers will surely start quoting such lines as "It's good for your heart, it's good for your mind/ It's good for getting through a lonely old night." Or perhaps, "Everybody knows you shouldn't drink too much/ So why's it always seem like there's never enough/ Hell yeah, I like beer." Whether this happens under the influence or not is entirely up to you.

There are plenty of first-rate songs on Chippin' Away, including the heartland rocker "That Girl," the good-time twangin' tune "Girl in a Truck," the heartfelt tearjerker "Daddies and Daughters," and the loud and rockin' "Beer Money." In a year already filled with a bounty of decent country releases, Chippin' Away, is one of the best to date. And it's available a full week early, only on Rhapsody.

Click here to listen to Kevin Fowler's Chippin' Away

Eric Church, Chief

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Album of the Day Track list of the year: Two "Jesus" callouts (including the amazing rapture fantasy "Country Music Jesus"), one tribute each for "Springsteen" and "Jack Daniels," and booze/hangover odes (plus "I'm Gettin' Stoned") filling out much of the rest. He's an I-fear-God-and-everyone-else-should-fear-me righteous hellraiser, this guy, louche and unapologetic and blessed with a third album that, as usual, sounds amazing: deft acoustic guitar wending throughout, rapturous power chords striking at odd angles, pulverizing drums ringing clear and pure as church bells. The piano on "Springsteen" kills. —Rob Harvilla

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Scritti Politti, Cupid & Psyche 85

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Album of the Day Green's Gallic allusion of choice -- the name of his pubbery, in fact -- is "jouissance," but although he's playful and verbal enough to make it his own, he falls short in the climax department. I'd suggest a less gushy conceit: esprit. The high-relief production and birdlike tunes and spry little keyb arrangements and hippety-hoppety beat and archly ethereal falsetto add up to a music of amazing lightness and wit that's saved from any hint of triviality by wordplay whose delight in its own turns is hard to resist. Usually I suspect lyricists who refuse to be clear of never having figured out what they mean, but here the puns are so clever and incessant that they become an end in themselves. I wouldn't be surprised to learn that Green knows what he wants to say. (Grade: A-) —Robert Christgau

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Argus, Boldly Stride the Doomed

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Album of the Day Five burly blue-collar Pennsylvanians recording for an Italian label, Argus split their time between Sabbath despair and Maiden conquest, and rule at both. They open serene, with a minute-long instrumental, but soon they're thundering across mountain ranges with swords drawn, the belting of aptly nicknamed Brian "Butch" Balich leading the charge. "Durendal" is gargantuan glory-metal with a whiff of Thin Lizzy, and 11-minute romantic downer "Pieces of Your Smile" sounds suicidal to a Joy Division degree. But they can speed-race, too; interstitial pianos, bells and horns add emotional weight. —Chuck Eddy

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During his nearly 25-year career, we've watched Steven Curtis Chapman grow from a baby-faced, be-mulleted Kentucky boy to the winner of more than 50 Gospel Music Association Dove Awards, including seven wins for Artist of the Year. Through it all, he's always been honest and open as he chronicled his own journey through song, resulting in music so universal it easily became the soundtrack for our lives, too. His new album, re:creation, finds Chapman revisiting some of his classic tunes, giving them a creative overhaul and a more organic, stripped-down sound. Time and experience have given these old lyrics new meaning, as well. In addition to nine revamped fan favorites, the record also delivers four brand-new tracks and a classic cover — and Rhapsody has it all for you to experience now, a week before the album is available anywhere else.

Hear our exclusive leak of Steven Curtis Chapman's re:creation.

Also, read more about it in our recent interview with Chapman.

Feist, The Reminder

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Album of the Day Sounding like a cross between Mazzy Star and Juliana Hatfield, the third gorgeous release from Canada's Leslie Feist is a must for lovers of perfectly balanced, gently poppy torch songs. Newcomers should start with "The Limit to Your Love," a beautifully performed tune showcasing her diaphanous vocals and deft songwriting. Savvy music supervisors will place this alongside scenes of yearning in romantic dramas for years to come. —Nate Baker

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Parliament, Chocolate City

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Album of the Day On Chocolate City, George Clinton's Parliament set the template for the forward-thinking, funky Afro-futurism that would become their trademark. The spoken-word casualness of the title track gives way to the bass-buoyed glory of "Ride On" and "Together." "Don't worry about being right," the singers implore. "Just worry about being real." —Sam Chennault

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Album of the Day As the cleanup hitter for Oakland's mighty Hieroglyphics collective, Del established himself as a rising star (with help from cousin Ice Cube) on 1991's P-funk sampling I Wish My Brother George Was Here. But with his 1993 follow-up, Del wanted to prove to rivals that he really knew how to spit. He took no prisoners on hard-hitting cuts like "Catch a Bad One" and "Boo Boo Heads," slanging verses and putdowns with a panache worthy of KRS-One. The punchy No Need for Alarm made Del a hero among underground hip-hop fans, but it curtailed his mainstream career. He didn't re-emerge on the pop radar until 2000, when Gorillaz recruited him for "Clint Eastwood." —Mosi Reeves

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Marc Anthony, Libre

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Album of the Day Having conquered both the Spanish and English-language markets, it's little wonder Anthony felt libre ("free") to create one of the best salsa albums of his career. "Viviendo" and "Celos" are wonderful, and the simple beginning of "Hasta Que Vuelvas Conmigo" evolves into a captivating, passionate crescendo that must be heard to be believed. Solid from start to finish. —Sarah Bardeen

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SWV, Platinum and Gold Collection

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Album of the Day Back in the early to mid-1990s, SWV (Sisters With Voices) were one of the most popular and successful groups in music, cranking out numerous chart-topping hits and influencing future superstars (Destiny's Child used to open for them). This compilation features all of their major singles, including "Right Here," "I'm So Into You" and "Anything." —Brolin Winning

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Baroness, Red Album

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Album of the Day This explosive first full-length from acclaimed heavy metal mountain men Baroness is close to perfect. A majestic collection of colossal, meandering riffs, Red Album takes you on a spiritual journey to middle earth with "Aleph" and "Wanderlust," while impending doom roars like thunder through tracks such as "Wailing Wintry Wind" and "Teeth of a Cogwheel." Drawing inspiration from all ends and eras of the rock/metal spectrum, Baroness deliver a moody, introspective debut that's both intelligent and refreshing. —Jen Guyre

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Soundgarden, Down on the Upside

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Album of the Day Soundgarden's 1996 swan song saw them taking production duties upon themselves, rubbing off some of the polish that had been noticeably accumulating on their previous material. Not ones to follow formula, the band integrate a variety of textures (from Moogs to mandolin), ending up with a record that balances heavy rock bombast with subtlety. —Rhapsody

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Nirvana, Unplugged in New York

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nirvana-unplugged.jpg Released a few months after Kurt Cobain's death in 1994, this record served as a sort of kick in the teeth to anyone who might have doubted Nirvana's strength as musicians. Stripped-down covers of well-chosen songs are aligned with desolate takes on their own material -- the result is stunning. —Jon Pruett

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Pink Floyd, Animals

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Album of the Day Possibly the coldest music ever committed to tape, Animals is a negative trip with unbelievably cool guitars (four minutes into "Dogs" and all of "Sheep"), brain-shattering synthesizers (animal sounds continually turn into coded messages from the Grim Reaper), and songs longer than should be legally allowed. Still, it's near perfect. —Mike McGuirk

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The Isley Brothers, 3 + 3

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Album of the Day By the release of 3+3 in 1973, the Isley Brothers had supplanted the gritty Motown approach of earlier albums with a harder funk template. With its shrill guitar solos juxtaposed against Ron's velvet voice and the group's soft harmonies, "That Lady" is an obvious standout. Covers of "Summer Breeze" and "Don't Let Me Be Lonely Tonight" are also satisfying. —Sam Chennault

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Outkast, Stankonia

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Album of the Day The fourth record from Atlanta's reigning duo of funkiness is Outkast's most commercially successful project to date. Produced mostly by themselves, they continue to get staggeringly better with each release. Experimenting with more bugged-out sonic combinations, the release features "B.O.B.," "So Fresh, So Clean," "Ms Jackson," and "Red Velvet." Amazing music.

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Napalm Death, Scum

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Album of the Day This revolutionary, face-melting 28-track statement defined a genre (grindcore) and spread the almighty blastbeat like wildfire across the globe. Scum was created for the tape-trading underground, and its rough, muddy production and raw, unbridled aggression features both viscerally structured tunes like "Instinct of Survival" and "Siege of Power," and insane less-than-40-second clips of uber-fast beats like "Point of No Return," "Negative Approach" and, of course, the two-second-long brilliance of "You Suffer." If you want to hear history in the making, turn this record up loud! —Jen Guyre

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Album of the Day When a creative drought followed 2003's brilliantly tossed off Soul Journey, Gillian Welch spent eight years returning to the fundamental strengths on which she built a career: imagistic, carefully detailed songwriting rooted in deceptively plain-spoken Americana. The result is loaded with heavy-hearted ballads that wrestle with self-doubt and fatalistic inclinations. (It's written all over the titles: "The Way It Will Be," "The Way It Goes," "The Way the Whole Thing Ends."). Every note and lyric seem placed with great intention; the resulting record is one of her best. —Nate Cavalieri

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Gnarls Barkley, St. Elsewhere

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Album of the Day As the feature presentation flickers to life, the auditorium lights dim and you're instantly submerged in Gnarls Barkley's world of insanity, shadowy genius, depression and hard-earned revelation. St. Elsewhere is the first collaboration between trailblazing singer CeeLo and experimental producer-to-the-stars Danger Mouse. Songs such as "Crazy" and "Boogie Monster" are steeped in hip-hop, soul and psychedelia, yet the album manages to maintain a distinctly pop flavor and is as addictive as it is inventive. CeeLo soars throughout, and Danger Mouse continues to produce idiosyncratic and cinematic hip-hop. Uncanny and unrelenting, St. Elsewhere is a must-see. —Jaime Dolling

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Album of the Day Highlighted by "Let's Spend the Night Together" and "Ruby Tuesday," Between the Buttons is an often undeservedly overlooked record in the Stones’ catalog. Coming less than a year after Aftermath, it shows the group continuing to evolve from a blues homage band into the machine that would eventually produce Exile on Main St. —Mike McGuirk

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Dilated Peoples, Expansion Team

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Album of the Day Dilated's second album on Capitol, Expansion Team finds the Los Angeles crew enlisting the help of various New York City all-stars. Juju, Premier, and the Beatminerz all contribute quality beats. Babu handles the decks and Rakka and Evidence continue to spew venom on the mic. Standouts include "Panic," "Pay Attention," and the lead single "Worst Comes To Worst." —Brolin Winning

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Funkadelic, Maggot Brain

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Album of the Day Children, this is a funkadelic. The title piece is ten minutes of classic Hendrix-gone-heavy guitar by one Eddie Hazel--time-warped, druggy superschlock that may falter momentarily but never lapses into meaningless showoff runs. After which comes 2:45 of post-classic soul-group harmonizing--two altos against a bass man, all three driven by the funk, a rhythm so pronounced and eccentric it could make Berry Gordy twitch to death. The funk pervades the rest of the album, but not to the detriment of other peculiarities. Additional highlight: "Super Stupid." (Grade: B+) —Robert Christgau

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The Smiths, The Queen is Dead

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Album of the Day This is widely viewed as The Smiths' greatest hour; while this claim may not hold up on a song-by-song basis, the whole album pulses with a special vitality. The Morrissey/Marr team is once again capable of anything but rock cliches -- "Bigmouth Strikes Again" starts like The Stones and ends like a West End comedy, while "I Know It's Over" plays out like the saddest Angry Young Man movie of the 1960s. "There Is a Light That Never Goes Out" is a ringing teen anthem that remains intimate, as past heartache is looked upon with wisdom and humor: It's one of the band's most covered songs. —Nick Dedina

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Scott Weiland, 12 Bar Blues

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Album of the Day Recorded in 1998, 12 Bar Blues continues to sound unlike anything else in Scott Weiland's tangled discography. This includes solo output, as well as his work with Stone Temple Pilots and Velvet Revolver. Most of the tracks are built from drum machines, layered vocals, abstruse wordplay and all manner of delicious studio chicanery. 12 Bar Blues, in other words, is a quirky and insular foray into avant-pop, one that gives off a pungent whiff of The Beatles, Bowie, T. Rex and other classic tunesmiths Weiland grew up worshipping. Definitely file next to your Beck and John Frusciante albums. —Justin Farrar

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Jaco Pastorious, Jaco Pastorius

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Album of the Day Jaco Pastorius tore across the fusion scene the way a tornado tears across a cornfield in Iowa. There existed electric bass in jazz long before the release of his debut album, but Pastorius utterly revolutionized the instrument's role. No matter what track you're listening to, be it the funkified "Come On, Come Over" or the sentimental "Forgotten Love," his fretless-based melodies and dizzying runs are front and center. In other words, Pastorius isn't standing towards the rear of the ensemble merely providing an anchor, rather he's directing traffic and making thing happens at all times. —Justin Farrar

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Tarrus Riley, Contagious

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Album of the Day With his third studio release, Tarrus Riley has escaped the shadow of his father, Jimmy, and established himself as one of roots reggae's most promising artists. With dynamic lyrics, refined vocals, and backing from Dean Frasier and some of reggae's best musicians, Riley demands attention and respect with talent and musicianship that are undeniable. He exhibits a versatility that's rare in reggae, from the lovers' rock track "Soul Mate" to the Black Uhuru-inspired "Stop Watch" to the dancehall anthem "Herbs Promotion" (featuring Demarco) to the remake of Michael Jackson's "Human Nature." —Marley Lovell

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Björk, Post

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Album of the Day Maybe it's just nostalgia for (or, um, flashbacks to) that intoxicating mid-'90s cocktail of electronic dance music and alt-pop, but something about "Hyperballad" brings on gooseflesh, a barely contained sob to the throat, and the desire to spin and spin and spin on a dance floor (or mountaintop). Actually, Björk's entire fourth(ish) album is an incredible combination of weird and poignant and rip-your-guts out gorgeous and... accessible (well, more or less)—the kind of collection she just doesn't put out anymore. And then there's "It's Oh So Quiet," quite possibly the weirdest Björk song ever. —Rachel Devitt

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Voivod, Warriors of Ice

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Album of the Day Recorded late 2009 in Montreal, with fellow Quebec tech-thrasher Dan "Chewy" Mongrain filling in for late guitar genius Piggy, this live set focuses on Voivod's first five albums; all but two songs date from 1991 or earlier. Voivod have as much fun bashing out old Neanderthal nuke 'n' roll as traversing space-metal wormholes. The robot drums beneath African-like chanting of "Tribal Convictions" and alternate-universe pop hooks of "Panorama" are side dishes, as are Snake's between-song French patter and the Pink Floyd sci-fi they encore with. —Chuck Eddy

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Neko Case, Middle Cyclone

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Album of the Day Her rich alto has always delivered a visceral gut shot, but with Middle Cyclone Neko Case continues to emerge as a songwriter who truly knows how to wield the commanding instrument. When she sings "My love has never lived indoors/ I had to drag it home by force," on "Vengeance Is Sleeping," it's a nod to this record's salty themes (Mother Nature, a killer whale, and prison girls cameo). As she stomps through the elaborately produced country-inflected rock, the smattering of threats ("I will punch you in your face") disenfranchised come-ons and desperate rage is intoxicating. —Nate Cavalieri

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Daft Punk, Discovery

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Album of the Day Paris' coolest pair of cybernetics perfects its robot rock on Discovery, morphing Homework's buzzy filter disco into an even suppler strain of electro-funk. Never shy of lite-FM cliches, they turn guilty pleasures into unabashed house anthems with "One More Time" and "Digital Love," and give the vocoder a passionate workout on the infectious "Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger." Throughout, the synths go to 11 and the vocals beam down from cloud nine. Establishing one of the decade's most durable sounds, Discovery paved the way for everyone from Justice to Kanye. —Philip Sherburne

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Album of the Day JT is no Al Green (or even D'Angelo), but his vocal performance on Futuresex is panting and seductive. But more than just the usual collection of hyper-sexualized pop songs, this is a gorgeous, unified album, and producer Timbaland deserves much of the credit. His rhythms-on-'roids backdrops are crunchy and addictive, but they're also nuanced enough so that each track has a hidden treasure—a rattling tabla here, a twisting violin quote there, and sudden outbursts of glitch synths throughout. If this indeed is the future of pop, then it's cause for celebration. —Sam Chennault

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Blackalicious, Blazing Arrow

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Album of the Day Sharp hooks and guest spots dominate Blackalicious' second album. Chief Xcel's production is a wonder as he creates a full-on Technicolor world of soulful rhythm; the Gift of Gab keeps the rhymes coming quick, twisting and bending words and phrases. Highlights include the Nilsson-sampling title track and "4000 Miles." —Jon Pruett

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Album of the Day John McLaughlin and co.'s volcanic effect on fusion (and rock) began with their first record, conceived and released right after they got out of the studio with Miles Davis recording Bitches Brew. There's nobody that plays guitar like McLaughlin, except for maybe Mike Tyson (if he ever tried). The rest of the band attempts to keep up. Try "Noonward Race." —Mike McGuirk

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Janet Jackson, Control

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Album of the Day I scoffed at Janet's claims of autonomy--figured Jam & Lewis wrote her in as collaborator for a price she could afford. But she must have had some input--otherwise what would be not to like? Great beats here, their deepest ever. If her voice ever changes, she may even live up to them--and convince the world she's her own woman. Till then she's just playing, which does have its entertainment value. (Grade: B) —Robert Christgau

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Album of the Day The landscape is littered with best-of collections from Brother Ray, but this is the first in ages to finally reinstate such essential classics as "Georgia on My Mind," "One Mint Julep" and "You Don't Know Me" into the mix. The early hits like "Hit the Road Jack" are here, but "What'd I Say" and "I Got a Woman" come in killer live versions. Other highlights include "Let's Go Get Stoned" and a searing version of "America the Beautiful," which should become our national anthem. Who are we kidding—every cut here is a highlight. —Nick Dedina

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Angelique Kidjo, Oremi

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Album of the Day Oremi is testament to Angelique Kidjo's wide-ranging musical tastes and her absolute fearlessness when it comes to sacred cows like Jimi Hendrix's "Voodoo Child." Benin is the home of voodoo, and Kidjo effortlessly makes the song her own. Her sunny pop sensibility is at its best in "Loloye" and "Yaki Yaki"—and of course in the title track. —Sarah Bardeen

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Album of the Day Berlin's Moritz von Oswald, a minimal techno pioneer best known for his projects Basic Channel and Chain Reaction, returns with a third album of avant-garde ambient improv. Again, he's abetted by Sun Electric's Max Loderbauer on modular synthesizer and Vladislav Delay on percussion, while Dominica's Paul St. Hilaire sits in on guitar. The results range from Fourth World excursions in the spirit of Jon Hassell to flickering experiments in dub at its most ephemeral. —Philip Sherburne

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Eddie Vedder, Ukulele Songs

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Album of the Day Though jokes about grass skirts and leis are a bit rich, one would think a ukulele album to be the perfect opportunity for Grunge Master General to mellow, maybe bust a little tropical chillwave. Not a chance. Ukulele Songs is passionate, moody and unflinchingly intimate. A full-blown rock band could tackle most of these songs with ease: one of the record's highlights is a rousing cover of the country standard "Sleepless Nights." The only track that feels a tad too precious is Vedder's rendition of "Dream a Little Dream"—he sounds like a washed-up show-tune singer too in love with rum. —Justin Farrar

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Missy Elliott, This Is Not a Test

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Album of the Day Arguably the most consistent and creative female artist in hip-hop, Elliott returns with album five, filled to the brim with futuristic production and old-school vibes. This Is Not A Test! keeps the party rocking from start to finish, with cameos from Jay-Z, Nelly, Mary J. Blige, Fabolous, Beenie Man and R. Kelly. —Brolin Winning

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De La Soul, Stakes Is High

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Album of the Day After almost four years, Posdnuos and company emerge from the ether like the long-lost friends they are. Their wordplay assured in its subtle smarts, their delivery unassuming in its quick, unmacho mumble, their cultural awareness never smug about its balance, they bind up an identifiable feeling in an identifiable sound, and just about every one of the 17 tracks comes equipped with a solid beat and a likable hook or chorus. It's a relief to have them back. But it's never a revelation. (Grade: B+) —Robert Christgau

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Extended Review: Beyonce, 4

20110628-beyonce-ext-review-560x225.jpg After three solo albums and a full tour of duty in Destiny's Child, Beyoncé Knowles has earned the right to experiment. And that's just what her new record, 4, is: a bold, risky test of the parameters of pop stardom in 2011. Eschewing current dance trends (and really, club-ready tracks in general), she spends most of the album growling through gut-punching slow and mid-tempo jams steeped in solid-gold '70s soul, '80s R&B and rock, and even some New Jack Swing. To put it another way, if everyone else has gone robo-disco retro, Beyoncé's excavating a different throwback reserve, albeit one from an overlapping period: synthy horns, chunky keys and a whole lot of Prince-ly high drama. And while not all of it is somber, rain-against-my-window waxing about heartbreak, most of the tracks here — and even several of the up-tempo cuts — are pretty introspective. Or at least, that's what they're supposed to be.

Danger Mouse, Rome

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Album of the Day The word "prolific" doesn't do Danger Mouse justice. For Rome, the Grammy-winning producer gathered a cast of superstars to capture the mystique of the spaghetti Western: It's a natural progression, as hints of the dusty and desolate sound have popped up in his previous work with Beck, Sparklehorse & David Lynch, and Broken Bells. With help from composer Daniele Luppi, Rome features musicians who played on the original Ennio Morricone scores (how's that for authenticity?), and grants blockbuster starring roles to Jack White (the suave rebel) and Norah Jones (the soulful seductress). —Stephanie Benson

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Album of the Day The Nashville neo-traditionalist with the soap opera name is back for another winning collection of classic country rave-ups and ballads. Rockers such as "Cotton Pickin' Time" and the Jimmy Buffett-style "Some Beach" offer up honest fun while the looser anthem "I Drink" shows Shelton's way with a narrative. —Nick Dedina

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Isaac Hayes, Black Moses

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Album of the Day Black Moses marked the end of Isaac Hayes' classic early '70s run. His fifth and final Top 10 album depicted the soul icon's arms outstretched, bringing luscious soul to the people. Though the music was appropriately epic, with swelling orchestral strings adorning all 14 songs, Hayes was in a contemplative mood, having reportedly made this while his marriage was dissolving. His introspection led to breathtaking sounds, from the swirling arrangements of "Going in Circles" to the cinematic guitar licks of "Part-Time Love." Black Moses is a masterwork. —Mosi Reeves

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Snoop Doggy Dogg, Doggystyle

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Album of the Day After stealing the show on The Chronic, Snoop Dogg became a major superstar on the strength of this classic 1993 debut. Produced entirely by Dr. Dre, Doggystyle is one of the dopest, most influential, and just plain funkiest hip-hop albums ever made. Packed with hits, it includes "Gin and Juice," "Who Am I" and "Ain't No Fun." —Brolin Winning

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Electric Wizard, Black Masses

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Album of the Day Droning distantly from the bottomless bowl of some moss-green substance, these veteran Brit stoners open thick, blurry, and muddy, then keep digging down into deeper concentric sub-basements of depressive molasses riff. By the second song, they're taking a title ("Venus in Furs") from the Velvet Underground and distorted vocals from the early Butthole Surfers as they honor dominatrix boots and the Zodiac. Countless bad-trip chants and occasional church bells later, "Crypt of Drugula" explodes space-metal into a black hole. Only one track is less than six minutes -- and that one only barely. —Chuck Eddy

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Tedeschi Trucks Band, Revelator

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Album of the Day Blues-rock lovebirds Derek Trucks and Susan Tedeschi have flirted with a large-ensemble sound in the past, but with Revelator, they attempt to make it a full-time occupation. This is one of them big, sprawling albums, one that incorporates numerous facets of deep Southern music. Though both principals know how to really cook, especially in the live setting, they keep the proceedings introspective and muted for the most part; keeping that in mind, Revelator feels like a first meeting, an opportunity for these musicians to establish a foundation upon which they'll build future temples. —Justin Farrar

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Queen, Sheer Heart Attack

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Album of the Day "Killer Queen" was the band's first U.S. hit and remains one of their biggest songs, well summing up the Queen credo: impossibly catchy songwriting and an impeccable recording, with Freddie Mercury's flawless vocals on top and Brian May's celestially harmonized guitars adding punctuation. Sheer Heart Attack marks the emergence of Mercury's thousand-angel-chorus (check "Stone Cold Crazy") and, with the jaw-dropping opener "Brighton Rock" and Roger Taylor's taut Bowie-metal contribution, "Tenement Funster," Queen's third album is required listening for any rock fan. —Mike McGuirk

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hedwig_and_the_angry_inch.jpg If you're already a fan, chances are the novelty of Hedwig -- a transsexual rock star from East Germany who ended up with an "angry inch" and a mean string of broken hearts after a botched sex-change operation -- has worn off. (If you've yet to see it, my God! Get thee to a Netflix queue, posthaste!) But even if, like us, you've seen the movie more times than you've seen your mother, the soundtrack still stands the test of time: rock-star cynicism meets high camp, glam metaphors and gut-twisting pathos to the tune of tremendous, blistering rock. A true classic. —Rachel Devitt

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Album of the Day Before Imperial Bedroom, Nick Lowe was Elvis Costello's producer of choice. For this 1982 masterwork, Costello turned to Beatles producer/engineer Geoff Emerick for an album that reaches for the grandeur of Lennon/McCArtney and to sophisticated songwriters such as Bacharach, Porter and Gershwyn. That's a tall artistic mountain to climb but Costello actually succeeds by always sounding like himself instead of just a pastiche of influences. Best song? Take your pick -- "Man Out of Time," "Kid About It," "Beyond Belief," "Town Cryer" or "Almost Blue" which has gone on to become a modern jazz standard. Costello would lose some of his intense focus after this, often releasing sets with many incredible songs on them instead of complete, knockout albums. — Nick Dedina

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Horace Silver, Song for My Father

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Album of the Day One of the greatest and most popular hard bop sets of the 1960s, this classic may just be Horace Silver's defining platter. The slinky title track deservedly became a jukebox hit (its piano line was later lifted for Steely Dan's "Rikki Don't Lose That Number"), while the aching "Lonely Woman" is one of Silver's best ballads. By the way, that's really Silver's pop on the album cover. — Nick Dedina

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Album of the Day Neil's music, going all the way back to the iconic Harvest, had always contained a pungent whiff of country music. But in the mid-1980s he made the conscious effort to morph into a Nashville crooner. In addition to dropping Old Ways, an album featuring both Waylon and Willie, he assembled the International Harvesters, a backing band of Southern session legends, including pianist Spooner Oldham, and toured the nation. A Treasure collects some of the best recordings from these jaunts, and it is a must-hear for any serious fan of Neil Young or the intersection of country and rock 'n' roll. — Justin Farrar

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Prince, Prince

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Album of the Day One look at the cover and you can see how cool Prince was in 1979. If the original version of his first masterpiece, "I Feel For You," doesn't make your special someone want to, uh, get a back rub, then the bizarre, perverted "When We're Dancing Close and Slow" will do the trick. The rest is nothing less than Grade-A funk, highlighted by "I Wanna Be Your Lover." — Mike McGuirk

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LL Cool J, Mama Said Knock You Out

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ll_cool_j_mama.jpg The fourth album from the Queens rap veteran, Mama became his best-selling record ever. Produced by beat maestro Marley Marl (Biz, Kool G Rap, Masta Ace, etc.), it reestablished LL to a skeptical audience that was beginning to doubt his longevity and relevance. Includes the blistering title track, as well as "Boomin' System" and "Around The Way Girl." — Brolin Winning

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Thao & Mirah, Thao & Mirah

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Album of the Day The power of one woman with a mic and a guitar is a force to be reckoned with. Now double that. Thao Nguyen (of The Get Down Stay Down) and singer-songwriter Mirah do just that on their debut, adding tUnE-yArDs' Merrill Garbus as producer for a trifecta of Bay Area female fierceness. The quirkier spots point to Garbus, like the clickety-clackety punch of opener "Eleven"; her eccentric touches balance beautifully with Thao's subtle grit and Mirah's softer inclinations. Whether they try on waltzing folk, sun-kissed acoustic, loopy pop or big-band jazz, it all fits like a glove. — Stephanie Benson

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Spoon, Transference

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Album of the Day Spoon had a pretty incredible '00s (seriously, four great albums). So for their first release in a new decade, and also their first self-produced effort, Transference is just what the title promises—a transferring of all that the band has learned and defined into a sound that is as familiar as it is fresh. Slight piano bumps, soft hi-hat hits, lo-fi guitar, the occasional echo, and the rare fuzz effect ebb and flow with the same patience and ease as Britt Daniel's coos. This is Spoon as you know and love them: minimalist, smart, catchy, always playing it cool. — Stephanie Benson

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Sly & the Family Stone, Fresh

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Album of the Day Coming two years after the uncompromising brilliance of There's a Riot Goin' On and during a time when Sly was blowing everybody off to do drugs, Fresh may seem a little light, since the messages of the coming American apocalypse are absent. A closer listen reveals a deeply personal statement about his somewhat doomed attempts to rise above inner strife. — Mike McGuirk

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Album of the Day The debut album from Harlem's illest emcee. Big L goes all out on every track, dazzling heads with high-flying lyricism that is simultaneously brutal, hilarious and just plain awesome. Banging beats from Lord Finesse and Diamond D seal the deal. A slept-on classic, this record is truly outstanding. — Brolin Winning

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Ozzy Osbourne, Diary of a Madman

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Album of the Day Ozzy's second solo album (and last to feature Randy Rhoades), Diary of a Madman further cemented the singer's metal-icon status. "Flying High Again," "You Can't Kill Rock and Roll," "Over the Mountain"—these are among Ozzy's best and most recognized post-Sabbath songs. Along with Blizzard of Ozz, he and his band were essentially pointing the way for metal in 1981. This "Legacy Edition" restores the original bass and drum tracks (they were re-recorded for a 2002 re-issue) and includes an entire disc of live material from the Blizzard of Ozz tour. — Mike McGuirk

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Austra, Feel It Break

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Album of the Day Katie Stelmanis' voice is both anchor and horizon of Austra, her trio with drummer Maya Postepski and bassist Dorian Wolf. Multi-tracked up and down the stave, it holds down the band's New Wave arrangements and arcs off into dreamy harmonic tangents. Like Fever Ray and The Knife, Austra tread a path between cyber-worlds and meatspace, pairing supersaturated, superhuman vocals with gleaming electronics; you can bet they're fans of Depeche Mode's Violator. Fortunately, they're more than mere stylists, giving songs like "Hate Crime" a magnetic quality that keeps pulling you back. — Philip Sherburne

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Album of the Day It's an unlikely pairing, this collaboration between Gil Scott-Heron (an icon of '70s black radicalism) and Jamie xx (a white, British, twentysomething dance-music producer). Reworking Scott-Heron's 2010 album I'm New Here, Jamie xx builds new tracks around texts and songs by the elder statesman of spoken word. Stylistically, it ranges from hip-hop to the low-end lurch of dubstep and U.K. bass music; Scott-Heron's gravelly voice proves the perfect foil for his remixer's broken beats and air of elegant decay. — Philip Sherburne

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Trace Adkins, Cowboy's Back in Town

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Album of the Day The big lug's been on a roll since 2008's X, his eighth and strongest album. And he keeps getting better at big-bam-boom butt-rock, with near-metal riffs to shake honky-tonking badonkadonks: barn-sex stomp "Brown Chicken Brown Cow," Crimson Tide shout-along "Ala-Freakin-Bama," mean fisticuff warning "Whoop a Man's Ass." He also shows perfect comic timing with "Hold My Beer" (about gettin' hitched) and "Hell, I Can Do That" (about bein' a couch potato). And if the album's middle gets a bit bogged down in lovey-dovey slow jams, Trace's soul-and-western baritone keeps things manly regardless. — Chuck Eddy

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Album of the Day Flexing stellar, jazz-laced production from beat maestro Pete Rock, Mecca is easily one of the most loved albums of the early 1990s. Addictively nice samples, dusty beats and signature horn flourishes back CL's mellow and positive rhymes. Features classics like "They Reminisce Over You" and "Straighten It Out." — Brolin Winning

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Amon Tobin, Out From Out Where

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Album of the Day Defying categorization, Tobin drags drum 'n' bass through a thick sludge of hip-hop, industrial and jazz, resulting in a heady brew of sinister undertones, clanging noise and cinematic tension. Threatening, ominous, thrilling—listen to this for the same reasons you watch a horror movie. Then prepare for nightmares. — Mia Quagliarello

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Boris, Heavy Rocks

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i_want_you.jpg Not to be confused with either Boris' 2002 album with the same title or their Attention Please album released on the same 2011 day, this slab o' sludge opens with a lowdown monster-riffed downer-pounder called "Riot Sugar," then oozes from there: Sabbath chords wed to hardcore hoots and hollers, mournful funeral croons exploding rocketship-like into the stratosphere, modernized drag-race rock slowing to a standstill under kitschy "doo doo doo"s, maddeningly sluggish plod-metal disintegrating into the Radiohead ozone. To close, "Czechoslovakia" accelerates from classic doom to murderous thrash. — Chuck Eddy

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Marvin Gaye, I Want You

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i_want_you.jpg A collaboration with songwriter/producer Leon Ware, this stands up as one of Marvin Gaye's finest LPs, with a love vibe that out-mellows Barry White's cinematic soul and turns the Philly disco sound into waterbed music. Sure, this smooth, intricately produced make-out platter is more style than substance, but every record collection needs a little music this stylish in it. — Nick Dedina

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Robyn, Body Talk

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Album of the Day If there's one thing we can learn from Robyn's impressive Body Talk series (and really, there are many things we can glean from it), it's that the sonic iciness of Scandinavian dance-pop is not antithetical to a warm heart. On the five new tracks that complete the Swedish pop darling's series, the beats could not be cooler and crisper, her vocals could not be more distant and affectless. And yet the lyrics are sensitive, emotional tales of love and pain ("Call Your Girlfriend" may just be the most empathetic "other woman" narrative ever). It is, indeed, a living, breathing body of work. — Rachel Devitt

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Alejandra Alberti, Alejandra Alberti

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Album of the Day You might as well just sit down now: Alejandra Alberti's pop-rock onslaught brooks no resistance. The riffs are big, the emotions billowing and the glissandos Christina Aguilera-esque. Alberti's motto most emphatically is not "Less is more." More like "When in doubt, overdo." But this kind of full-throated catharsis is what the pop charts demand, and it's so convincingly delivered that you'll have to forgive the fact that every song, no matter how different it starts off, seems to end up at the same uber-chorus. We like the risks she takes on "Dignidad De Mujer" and "Dentro De Ti," however. — Sarah Bardeen

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New Edition, New Edition

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Album of the Day Taking cues from the Jackson Five, Boston boy band New Edition took the charts by storm in the early 1980s, racking up several major crossover R&B hits. On this, their major label debut (and first platinum LP), they serve up a collection of perfectly crafted pop songs, among them "Cool It Now" and "Mr. Telephone Man." — Brolin Winning

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Cypress Hill, Cypress Hill

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Album of the Day Untouchable debut album from trail "blazing" L.A. trio. B-Real's high-pitched nasal flow is backed by Sen Dog's aggro outbursts and DJ Muggs' neck-breaking production. The result is an instant classic. Every song is outstanding; "How I Could Just Kill A Man," "Latin Lingo," and "Hand On The Pump" are straight-up legendary. A must-have. — Brolin Winning

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4Troops, 4Troops

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Album of the Day 4Troops, the 2010 self-titled debut from a quartet of sweetly crooning American military veterans, is Rhapsody's Album of the Day, for hopefully obvious reasons... happy Memorial Day, everyone, and eternal thanks to all those who've served our country. We're especially grateful for those serving right now—please come home soon.

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Album of the Day That's right -- 50 George Strait songs that went straight to the top of charts. The ultimate anthology for country music fans, this awesome collection celebrates his place in history as the artist who's had more No. 1 hits than anyone else. Garth Brooks may be more popular, but Strait invented the New Traditional sound. — Eric Shea

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Album of the Day For their second full-length, the ladies of Destiny's Child return triumphantly, delivering poignant vocals over sleek tracks produced by Missy Elliott, Dwayne Wiggins and Rodney Jerkins, among others. The Writing's on the Wall features some of the group's biggest hit singles, such as "Say My Name" and "Bills, Bills, Bills." — Brolin Winning

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Girl Talk, Night Ripper

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Album of the Day After two albums spent cutting up hits with glitch beats, Girl Talk struck gold with Night Ripper, finding a broad fan base for his po-mo pop and becoming a figurehead in the "copyleft" movement, which posits sampling as an art form in its own right. Inspired by acts like the Beastie Boys, Night Ripper combines beats and loops from hundreds of songs into a seamless flow. Leaning hard on hooks and choruses, and drawing from both chart pop and indie rock, it assumes a broad musical knowledge of the listener, but club-ready beats are there to fall back on. — Philip Sherburne

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Firewater, The Ponzi Scheme

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Album of the Day Think of Chicago's Firewater as Gogol Bordello's slightly older, slightly less punk brother — the one who spent a lot more time getting sneaked into strip clubs by cool Uncle Tom (Waits) and sulking to Nirvana when he got home. The Gypsy aspects of their sound are really just that: aspects, nuances, details that enhance the slinky cabaret-rock structure on which they've built their career. The Ponzi Scheme waits a good long time to go Romani 'n' roll, but they start hauling out the big guns (read: horns) 'round about "El Borracho," which retraces the polka dots between Eastern Europe and the Texas-Mexico border. — Rachel Devitt

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Fiona Apple, Tidal

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Album of the Day Apple's debut was a revelation upon release in 1996. Emerging as one of the most interesting songwriters in years, Apple blew minds with a teenaged talent that dropped big beats on top of haunting piano lines, an unforgettable voice and surprisingly dark lyrics. Tidal may have been a mega pop hit, and Apple an instant star, but the mania was deserved. — Mike McGuirk

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20110524-tyler-the-creator-560x225.jpg Perhaps the best thing about Tyler, the Creator's Goblin is that he has mastered the art of intimacy. Throughout this nearly hour-and-a-half-long therapy session, the leader of L.A. hip-hop collective Odd Future sounds as if he is speaking directly to you. However, therapy sessions usually only last an hour. By stretching the listener's patience to its breaking point and offering only modest emotional returns, he impresses with his self-absorption instead of his catharsis.

Tyler's breakthrough arrives in the final track, "Golden," when he announces, "I'm not crazy." As Goblin begins, he subtly broadcasts that he's capable of change in spite of the worrisome obscenities that will follow: "I'm not a f*cking rapist, or a serial killer/ I lied," he says to his "therapist," which is actually his own voice modulated to a low growl. But he doesn't spend much time bidding for the audience's sympathy, because no one wants a pity party. He knows that what we really want to hear are the vicarious thrills of someone calling someone "n*gga," "b*tch" and "f*ggot"; fantasizing about raping and cannibalizing women; and entertaining an interest in Nazism (though that last point is less pronounced here than on his debut solo album, 2010's "freelease" Bastard).

Nazareth, Big Dogz

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Album of the Day Dan McCafferty's screech flies higher after four decades than his disciple Axl Rose's did after four years. But with McCafferty and bassist Pete Agnew both turning 65 in 2011, aging's clearly on Nazareth's minds, and their more nostalgic cuts serve up a wistful autumnal swirl. The grizzled Scots get witty like a music hall ZZ Top, too, but they're still best when heavy: in an ominous dirge aimed at religious zealots, a cynical swipe at government in times of austerity, some epic metal about mental illness, and a mean-swinging, maybe rap-inspired bilingual boogie about gang war in the barrio. — Chuck Eddy

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lady gaga born this way extended look.jpgThe central question dogging Lady Gaga practically since she first took off her pants has been thus: riveting original or shameless hack? Are her meat dresses and dystopian dance beats and freaks-and-geeks advocacy unique, game-changing, iconoclastic moves, or simply updated versions of PR stunts already done (and done better) by earlier artists? Rather than defend herself, Gaga's strategy has always been to brazenly straddle the debate, planting a thigh-high stiletto firmly on either side and accentuating the apparent tension between the two arguments. She's a self-proclaimed one-of-a-kind "monster" hell-bent on shock and awe who's also never denied Madonna's influence on her work — and who named herself in homage to her glam godmother, Freddie Mercury.

Gang Gang Dance, Eye Contact

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Album of the Day It's not that Eye Contact can't be broken down into its constituent parts. It's just that descriptors like worldbeat, crunk, fusion and dream pop fail to express its collective sound. Gang Gang Dance produce a perceptually challenging racket that's all about sonic reflection, refraction, decay and shadow play. The constants are crystallized synths, chopped grooves and Liz Bougatsos' ethereal chirp, yet they're incessantly dissolving, reforming, then dissolving again. At the midway point, a track emerges from the GGD's private noosphere titled "Mindkilla." That's exactly what Eye Contact is. — Justin Farrar

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Album of the Day Does there really need to be another Rolling Stones tribute album? On the strength of Great Lake Swimmers' "Before They Make Me Run" and Everest's "Sweet Virginia," there obviously is still an untapped niche out there. This particular compilation is light on hits and heavy on album cuts, and, for the most part, succeeds in reinventing those steel wheels. The biggest pleasures come from the "neglected gems," which are scuffed up and fleshed out with twanging guitars and lamenting harmonicas. Other highlights include "Dear Doctor" (by Lee Harvey Osmond), a sublimely gritty version of "Wild Horses" (by Neal McCarthy) and "You Got the Silver" (by Barbara Kessler). — Linda Ryan

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