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Skrillex, Eminem, Justin Bieber, YEBBA … Those are only a few of the names on the star-studded guest-list for No.6 Collaborations Project, the continuation to No.5, Sheeran’s grime collaboration album from 2011. Meanwhile, the redhead hurtled up to the front of the charts across the world. It was clearly time for him to try the exercise again. On the menu, a wide variety of sounds, from rap (with 50 cent & Eminem) on Remember the Name, a romantic ballad with Cardi B and Camila Cabello, called South of the Border, and a hard rock duo with Bruno Mars, BLOW, that soundsl like Lenny Kravitz at a glance. Groovy and catchy! The collaborative mindset on display lets Sheeran’s talent as a songwriter shine through – how can he write so many hits, so easily, without ever losing his humility and candor? The recipe to his music – rap, hip-hop rhythms and acoustic guitars, is still as effective. ©Alexis Renaudat/Qobuz

The proper follow-up to Among the Living was somewhat disappointing in its inconsistency. While there are some good moments -- "Be All, End All" is one of the band's most melodic moments, and several other tracks catch fire -- the best thing here is a cover of Trust's "Antisocial," and it doesn't bode well when covers outshine original material. The lyrics continue the self-consciously intellectual, PC approach begun on Among the Living, but about half of the album is surprisingly dull.© Steve Huey /TiVo

Few artists have left as big a mark on the world of trap as Migos. After perfecting their style over ten years and coming to dominate their genre, the three Atlanta natives decided to take a break in order to focus on their respective solo projects. And so, three years later, here is Culture III: a dive into a trap frenzy with tracks like Modern Day or Handle My Business with its rough modern sound. We’re treated to some drill on Light Up, featuring the late Pop Smoke, and trap-soul with Avalanche, which samples Daddy Was A Rollin ' Stone by the Temptations. For their big comeback, Migos have brought in the producers who helped them build their initial success: Murda Beatz, DJ Durel and, most notably, Zaytoven, who we find on the track Roadrunner sticking to his bass gongs and synthesiser sounds. Culture III shines with a multitude of influences drawn from each group-member's solo wanderings, as if they had needed to separate for a while to come back stronger than ever with something fresh and new. © Brice Miclet/Qobuz

Before releasing his studio debut Please Excuse Me for Being AntiSocial, Compton-raised/Atlanta-adjacent rapper Roddy Ricch had already firmly established his hybrid style. On tracks like his breakout single "Die Young" and his featured appearance on the anthemic Mustard song "Ballin'," Ricch served up bars about struggling through hardships to achieve wealth and greatness, all delivered in a fluid, partially sung style that melded trap toughness with smooth melodies. This approach shows up sometimes on AntiSocial, but during the course of 16 tracks, Ricch displays a versatile range. Over a looped acoustic guitar sample and hyperactive trap hi-hats on "Big Stepper," Ricch again recounts his rise from dealing drugs to living the good life making millions off his music. The hardened veneer of the song makes it almost unrecognizable from the smooth sung hooks and laid-back flows of the spacy Lil Durk-assisted track "Moonwalkin'" and the spare, piano-driven, Mustard-produced beat of "High Fashion." Ricch switches between romantic moments like this and booming brag-fests like "Start wit Me," focusing on either smart, reflective lyricism or melodic presence. By the album's last quarter, AntiSocial almost takes on the feel of a mixtape, with production and style shifting dramatically song to song. The sultry, distant R&B vibes of "Bacc Seat" blur into sentimental Auto-Tuned singing on "Prayers to the Trap God," and backing from a full gospel choir on finale "War Baby." Each track boasts tight production and passionate performances by Ricch, enough to keep his quickly changing styles from feeling too jarring. At times, Please Excuse Me for Being AntiSocial feels like it's trying to offer something for everyone, and it becomes difficult to locate Ricch's personality among the different window dressings. Regardless, it's a strong collection and highlights how Ricch can mold himself into different styles and keep things exciting in almost any stylistic configuration.© Fred Thomas /TiVo

Few artists have left as big a mark on the world of trap as Migos. After perfecting their style over ten years and coming to dominate their genre, the three Atlanta natives decided to take a break in order to focus on their respective solo projects. And so, three years later, here is Culture III: a dive into a trap frenzy with tracks like Modern Day or Handle My Business with its rough modern sound. We’re treated to some drill on Light Up, featuring the late Pop Smoke, and trap-soul with Avalanche, which samples Daddy Was A Rollin ' Stone by the Temptations. For their big comeback, Migos have brought in the producers who helped them build their initial success: Murda Beatz, DJ Durel and, most notably, Zaytoven, who we find on the track Roadrunner sticking to his bass gongs and synthesiser sounds. Culture III shines with a multitude of influences drawn from each group-member's solo wanderings, as if they had needed to separate for a while to come back stronger than ever with something fresh and new. © Brice Miclet/Qobuz

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No.6 Collaborations Project is a strangely utilitarian title, describing the contents lying within the confines of Ed Sheeran's fourth studio album. That's right -- fourth album. The "No.6" in No.6 Collaborations Project refers to what was originally intended to be his sixth EP, following a 2011 set that was also dedicated to collaborations. The line separating this full-length LP from the previous EPs is blurry: No.6 weighs in at 50 minutes, which is just 15 minutes longer than No.5. To complicate things further, Sheeran designates No.6 Collaborations Project as a compilation, which could be a roundabout way of lowering expectations after three blockbuster solo albums in a row. It also could be an admission that No.6 Collaborations Project plays not like an album but rather a digital play list, purportedly hopping from genre to genre but maintaining a low-key, amiable groove that can pass as pop, hip-hop, R&B, adult pop, mall music, a retro throwback -- whatever genre you'd like, really. It's a feature endemic to streaming services, where seemingly disparate artists are united by tempo and chill, but it's something of an innovation to replicate this aesthetic in album form. Not only could No.6 Collaborations Project substitute for a cannily constructed cross-genre play list, each of its tracks could be swapped into any mood-based play list -- something that's true not only of the chill hip-hop/folk hybrids but the blaring closer, "Blow," a churning rocker featuring both Chris Stapleton and Bruno Mars. This pairing shows how savvy Sheeran is in his choice of collaborators: Stapleton brings him a country audience he heretofore ignored, while Bruno is one of the few pop stars as big as the ginger man himself. Throughout No.6 Collaborations Project, he slyly targets different demographics in this fashion: Camila Cabello and Cardi B show up on "South of the Border," "Cross Me" has Chance the Rapper and PnB Rock, Justin Bieber is on "I Don't Care," while the presence of Eminem and 50 Cent on "Remember the Name" makes it feel like a conscious throwback. The cast of characters suggests a wilder album than No.6 Collaborations Project is, but that's a deliberate choice on Sheeran's part. Its glassy, placid groove isn't a reflection of his blandness, but how Sheeran knows that this is the sound that defines global pop in 2019.© Stephen Thomas Erlewine /TiVo

When the band from Queens, NY, started work on State Of Euphoria, they were still part of the holy trinity of thrash, more or less level-pegging with Metallica and Slayer. But at some point after its release in September 1988, and the tour that followed, Anthrax fell back behind the pack. But listening to this remastered album 30 years on, it's hard to understand how this ambitious record didn't enjoy a happier fate. The five-piece remained popular, especially in France, but they certainly suffered from the inevitable comparison with…And Justice For All by Metallica and Slayer's South Of Heaven. And then there was that utterly hideous album cover, which was ugly even for a genre that revels in bad taste. Like Metallica, and unlike Slayer, Anthrax were plainly moving away from the thrash genre, first of all with the more sophisticated writing on Be All, End All and the two previous albums, Spreading The Disease and Among The Living. Whereas the furious Out Of Sight Out Of Mind, Schism and  Finale respected the laws of the genre that Anthrax had helped found.Anthrax even had had the brilliant idea of covering the English version of Trust's iconic hit, Antisocial, which would prove to be the high point of this fourth studio album, and even saw Bernie and Vivi invited on board for a French "adaptation" (featured in this re-release) and a performance at London's Hammersmith Odeon. No-one but them was laughing at 13 while Make Me Laugh and Who Cares Wins, as remarkable as they were, suffered from a too-close resemblance to their competitors, who had the advantage of friends in the Bay Area. Singer Joey Belladonna has been held responsible as the main culprit in the decline; this re-release will likely serve to rehabilitate him as well as this album. © Jean-Pierre Sabouret/Qobuz

The proper follow-up to Among the Living was somewhat disappointing in its inconsistency. While there are some good moments -- "Be All, End All" is one of the band's most melodic moments, and several other tracks catch fire -- the best thing here is a cover of Trust's "Antisocial," and it doesn't bode well when covers outshine original material. The lyrics continue the self-consciously intellectual, PC approach begun on Among the Living, but about half of the album is surprisingly dull.© Steve Huey /TiVo