Everyone shines — although James, whose lead vocals open and close the set, beams brightest, the eclecticism of My Morning Jacket's 2008 opus, Evil Urges, brought into sharper focus by the company. Sometimes too many cooks are precisely enough.
The third disc from this Brooklyn quartet has a sound that is completely its own: an opulent, intimate rumble built on churning acoustic riffs, haunted croons and precise string parts.
The big news ... isn’t YYY’s groovier sound — it’s the heat they radiate.
There is a grim magnetism coursing through these 10 new songs — and most of it is in Dylan’s vividly battered singing.
With shadowy beats from Madlib and the late J Dilla, plus dense rhymes about Darwin and a rough Brooklyn upbringing, Mos Def's fourth solo album is both mildly strange and a clear step up from his dismally undercooked 2007 record, True Magic.
On Girls' debut, he's made peace with his past and crafted ace tunes to go with his tales of redemption.
The ninth disc from this Brooklyn/Baltimore crew tries balancing shameless beauty with ecstatic weirdness, and when they nail it, it's breathtaking.
There will be naysayers among the band's extreme, tatted legions. But Crack the Skye is an awesome display.
The irony is that The Eternal might be their most concise record ever. It's also a rock & roll ass-kicker.
Four pouty kids from South London, barely out of their teens, the xx see nothing wrong with playing Timbaland or Jam and Lewis-style R&B with an indie band's chops.
21st Century Breakdown is even better, so masterful and confident it makes Idiot seem like a warm-up.
Working on a Dream is the richest of the three great rock albums Springsteen has made this decade with the E Street Band — and moment for moment, song for song, there are more musical surprises than on any Bruce album you could name.
He is still singing about singing, all over No Line on the Horizon, U2's first album in nearly five years and their best, in its textural exploration and tenacious melodic grip, since 1991's Achtung Baby.