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The Irish art-pop queen gets extra freaky on her latest, produced by DJ Koze. Hit Parade is fearless, willing to go places most minds would never imagine. "The Universe" is a gorgeously absurd yacht rock breeze that finds Róisín Murphy trying on a sunny accent and goofing on "Row Row Row Your Boat," of all things. "The House"—a party fueled by a funky guitar riff—was reportedly inspired by a dystopian J.G. Ballard story, and it shimmers and shines with a sinister brightness. "'Cause this house is holding it/ All that loneliness/ This place is going insane," Murphy sings, before revealing in a voice that's more disbelieving than panicked: "It's locked me in … I can't get out of the house." Her powerhouse voice—a descendent of Dusty Springfield, Alison Moyet, Annie Lennox—is a marvel here, especially on tracks like the liquid R&B "What Not to Do." Sensual like Christine and the Queens (aka Redcar), it's a sexy meditation on control with Murphy playing both sides: "Tell me what not to do/ You better stay, never leave, you better listen to me." She and Koze effortlessly play with genres and show excellent taste in who they borrow from. Love song "CooCool" samples R&B legend Mike James Kirkland's "Together" and layers on eccentric funk, jazz trills and chilly-crisp drum breaks. "Fader" is weird and wonderful, solid-gold '70s soul that just feels good and samples Sharon Jones and the Dap-Kings. "Hurtz So Bad" is positively lush and echoes Murphy's trip-hop days in the duo Moloko, "Two Ways" delves into trap beats, "Free Will" drips with disco-diva glitter, and "Can't Replicate" is seven-and-a-half minutes of hypnotic deep house. Even the goofy interlude "Spacetime," with Murphy's young son chanting "time and space" in a child's pretend ogre growl, somehow fits right in. And closer "Eureka" is absolutely unnerving, like some soundtrack to the dystopian movie Brazil, only you don't know what is metaphorical fantasy and what is mortally real. "What the doctor said/ He took one look at me/ Told me he could see/ There was something there," Murphy sings. "And I can't even say/ What the surgeon/ Gonna take away/ And I don't really care anyway … Just cut away/ Like I'm made of clay." © Shelly Ridenour/Qobuz

On a brisk set with some familiar callbacks to their big beat heyday, the Chemical Brothers offer a decent late-era installment with their ninth album, No Geography. Not as exploratory or insular as their other 2010s output, No Geography is a steady, no-frills mix that focuses more on clever samples than guest vocals and festival-sized body-rocking. Standing out atop the pack, the singles are the best moments on the album. Persistent throbber "Got to Keep On" rides a glittery disco-funk sample (Peter Brown's 1977 gem "Dance With Me") while "We've Got to Try" goes the soul route by swiping the uplifting vocals from the Hallelujah Chorus' "I've Got to Find a Way" and grinding them into a buzzy, robust anthem that recalls the duo's late-'90s best. In a similar vein, "Free Yourself" is all digital dread, taking snippets of Diane di Prima's utopian poetry and twisting them into a robotic instruction manual for liberation through the dancefloor. However, "MAH" ends up being the riotous highlight of No Geography (utilizing a hilariously crotchety El Coco sample from 1977), the closest the Chems come to that "classic" old-school sound. In addition to the singles, Norwegian singer Aurora plays an important role in the album's sound, bringing much-needed emotion to a trio of songs with her ethereal vocals and songwriting. Japanese rapper Nene also guests, dropping a scene-stealing and all-too-brief verse on "Eve of Destruction." While not a low in the Chemical Brothers' catalog by any means, No Geography is also not their strongest or most memorable work to date. It's best not to call it a comeback, just another ample addition to their decades-long discography.© Neil Z. Yeung /TiVo

The Soup Dragons' Lovegod is packed with contradictions; the synthesizers and breakbeats don't match the psychedelic cover art, and the guitars seem out of place within the slick production. If Lovegod is where the Soup Dragons supposedly found their sound -- and it is -- they still hadn't fine-tuned it to the level it would reach in a few short years. This isn't to say that Lovegod isn't an enjoyable album, though; in fact, it's quite the opposite: of the late-'80s/early-'90s explosion of British rock bands who made danceable rock music, the Soup Dragons were one of the most interesting and most fun. Lovegod is far from an exception to this rule, and several of the band's best songs are included here: the hit "I'm Free," "Mother Universe," and the title track. What makes Lovegod frustrating, however, is that it feels as though the band is being held back. Given the way they let loose later -- on Hotwired and Hydrophonic -- on this album they sound too mannered, too rigidly following the rules implied by the overly stiff beats. It's not a disappointment, it just means that in retrospect, Lovegod was more of a transition album, more of a blueprint to come, than the statement that would define this band's unfortunately short career.© Jason Damas /TiVo

His co-conspirator Switch may have moved on, but with producer Diplo's bag of tricks and his hipper-than-hip selection of guests (including major help from producers Jillionaire and Walshy Fire), the Major Lazer mythos -- he's a DJ by night and a Jamaican zombie killer by other nights -- is alive and twitching on this sophomore release. This welcome return begins deceptively with the slow-burning kiss-off "You're No Good" starting the show, but the combination of marquee vocalists Santigold and Vybz Kartel couldn't illustrate the left-field-dance-meets-Jamaican-dancehall style of the project any better. Once the credits roll on the cinematic track, it's straight-up bonkers time with "Jet Blue Jet," a bleeping, furious, trap music cut where dancehall don Leftside leads the pack and offers a Baauer-challenging version of the "Kingston Shake." Since naughty ragga lady Lady Saw didn't show up, Peaches and Timberlee face off on "Scare Me," a punany power meets synth pop cut with some amazing video game chase scene music providing the bridge. Power puncher "Wind Up" is raw enough to be a hit back home for Elephant Man, the great "Watch Out for This (Bumaye)" finds Busy Signal macking over moombahton beats with a fantastic air horn and disco break in the middle, and fat track "Bubble Butt" is like Bruno Mars, Tyga, and Mystic formed the Ying Yang Triplets just to prove that crunk ain't dead. Those who blew their minds and/or speakers pumping the project's 2009 debut will find it familiar ground, but how Free the Universe arguably tops Guns Don't Kill People... Lazers Do is with the meatier, more subdued cuts, as Dirty Projectors vocalist Amber Coffman explores the connections between King Tubby and Alicia Keys with the elegant R&B dub of "Get Free." Later it's the imagining of Vampire Weekend holding a session at Kingston's classic Studio One as VW's Ezra Koenig's croons over the scratchy reggae groove of "Jessica," and while the Flux Pavilion feature "Jah No Partial" has the bass drops to get the mall kids rolling, it's still a weighty, soul-filling number that could have easily fallen off a Damian Marley album. All that, and there are still great performances from Wyclef, Shaggy, and Laidback Luke to go, so think of Free the Universe as Major Lazer's second great modern ragga meltdown.© David Jeffries /TiVo

The Irish art-pop queen gets extra freaky on her latest, produced by DJ Koze. Hit Parade is fearless, willing to go places most minds would never imagine. "The Universe" is a gorgeously absurd yacht rock breeze that finds Róisín Murphy trying on a sunny accent and goofing on "Row Row Row Your Boat," of all things. "The House"—a party fueled by a funky guitar riff—was reportedly inspired by a dystopian J.G. Ballard story, and it shimmers and shines with a sinister brightness. "'Cause this house is holding it/ All that loneliness/ This place is going insane," Murphy sings, before revealing in a voice that's more disbelieving than panicked: "It's locked me in … I can't get out of the house." Her powerhouse voice—a descendent of Dusty Springfield, Alison Moyet, Annie Lennox—is a marvel here, especially on tracks like the liquid R&B "What Not to Do." Sensual like Christine and the Queens (aka Redcar), it's a sexy meditation on control with Murphy playing both sides: "Tell me what not to do/ You better stay, never leave, you better listen to me." She and Koze effortlessly play with genres and show excellent taste in who they borrow from. Love song "CooCool" samples R&B legend Mike James Kirkland's "Together" and layers on eccentric funk, jazz trills and chilly-crisp drum breaks. "Fader" is weird and wonderful, solid-gold '70s soul that just feels good and samples Sharon Jones and the Dap-Kings. "Hurtz So Bad" is positively lush and echoes Murphy's trip-hop days in the duo Moloko, "Two Ways" delves into trap beats, "Free Will" drips with disco-diva glitter, and "Can't Replicate" is seven-and-a-half minutes of hypnotic deep house. Even the goofy interlude "Spacetime," with Murphy's young son chanting "time and space" in a child's pretend ogre growl, somehow fits right in. And closer "Eureka" is absolutely unnerving, like some soundtrack to the dystopian movie Brazil, only you don't know what is metaphorical fantasy and what is mortally real. "What the doctor said/ He took one look at me/ Told me he could see/ There was something there," Murphy sings. "And I can't even say/ What the surgeon/ Gonna take away/ And I don't really care anyway … Just cut away/ Like I'm made of clay." © Shelly Ridenour/Qobuz

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