It's often said that you can't teach an old dog new tricks, and that maxim certainly holds true for the self-professed Grand Champ of canines, DMX, on his album of the same name. For his fifth album in six years, the veteran rapper reprises many of the same themes and motifs that had made his previous efforts so popular among hardcore rap fans and influential among his East Coast peers. As usual, he barks at his unnamed adversaries over hard-hitting Ruff Ryder beats, flexes his rhetorical muscle with his ever-confrontational rhyme style, advocates valor and faith while disdaining materialism, and frames his world within a polarized context, drawing a bold line between "dogs" and "cats." By this point, the scenario should be familiar to those who've followed DMX this far into his career; in many ways, his albums are mirror images of each other, in terms of drama, production, ideology, sequencing, and thankfully, to an extent, quality. However, the initial impact that DMX made with his tremendous and industry-changing debut, It's Dark and Hell Is Hot (1998), lessened with each successive follow-up, and Grand Champ is no exception. It's a well-crafted and thought-out album but feels like a sequel, and as such, it serves its purpose: to satisfy fans and move units. The anthemic lead single, "Where the Hood At," is precisely modeled after previous DMX rallying calls like "Ruff Rider Anthem," "What's My Name?," and "Who We Be." Likewise, "Get It on the Floor" is a trademark Swizz Beatz club-banger -- and a remarkable one at that, perhaps one-upping even "Party Up (Up in Here)." Grand Champ closes sentimentally: "Don't Gotta Go Home" is a fractured-relationship duet with Monica that's prime urban crossover material; "A'Yo Kato" is a heartfelt ode to a lost dog with a shuffling, almost Latin beat by Swizz Beatz; and "Thank You" is a rousing gospel-rap tune featuring Patti LaBelle that's surprisingly effective and closes the album with magnificent flair (if not for the obligatory bonus track). Yet it's a long road to this sentimental closing run; for every one of the aforementioned highlights, there's at least one, if not two, run-of-the-mill tracks that warrant no more than a couple listens. Not quite the big comeback DMX needed at this point in his quietly sagging rap career, Grand Champ regardless has its share of highlights. Longtime fans may decide to drop off at about this point, if they hadn't already, while those content with the usual -- or new to DMX -- should find plenty to savor on Grand Champ.© Jason Birchmeier /TiVo

It's often said that you can't teach an old dog new tricks, and that maxim certainly holds true for the self-professed Grand Champ of canines, DMX, on his album of the same name. For his fifth album in six years, the veteran rapper reprises many of the same themes and motifs that had made his previous efforts so popular among hardcore rap fans and influential among his East Coast peers. As usual, he barks at his unnamed adversaries over hard-hitting Ruff Ryder beats, flexes his rhetorical muscle with his ever-confrontational rhyme style, advocates valor and faith while disdaining materialism, and frames his world within a polarized context, drawing a bold line between "dogs" and "cats." By this point, the scenario should be familiar to those who've followed DMX this far into his career; in many ways, his albums are mirror images of each other, in terms of drama, production, ideology, sequencing, and thankfully, to an extent, quality. However, the initial impact that DMX made with his tremendous and industry-changing debut, It's Dark and Hell Is Hot (1998), lessened with each successive follow-up, and Grand Champ is no exception. It's a well-crafted and thought-out album but feels like a sequel, and as such, it serves its purpose: to satisfy fans and move units. The anthemic lead single, "Where the Hood At," is precisely modeled after previous DMX rallying calls like "Ruff Rider Anthem," "What's My Name?," and "Who We Be." Likewise, "Get It on the Floor" is a trademark Swizz Beatz club-banger -- and a remarkable one at that, perhaps one-upping even "Party Up (Up in Here)." Grand Champ closes sentimentally: "Don't Gotta Go Home" is a fractured-relationship duet with Monica that's prime urban crossover material; "A'Yo Kato" is a heartfelt ode to a lost dog with a shuffling, almost Latin beat by Swizz Beatz; and "Thank You" is a rousing gospel-rap tune featuring Patti LaBelle that's surprisingly effective and closes the album with magnificent flair (if not for the obligatory bonus track). Yet it's a long road to this sentimental closing run; for every one of the aforementioned highlights, there's at least one, if not two, run-of-the-mill tracks that warrant no more than a couple listens. Not quite the big comeback DMX needed at this point in his quietly sagging rap career, Grand Champ regardless has its share of highlights. Longtime fans may decide to drop off at about this point, if they hadn't already, while those content with the usual -- or new to DMX -- should find plenty to savor on Grand Champ.© Jason Birchmeier /TiVo

Recorded in the South of France with producers Fred Jimenez and Stephane Reynaud, enigmatic French singer/songwriter Jean-Louis Murat's 21st studio album, Grand Lièvre, eschews the blues-rock of its 2009 predecessor, Le Cours Ordinaire des Choses, in favor of a more alternative direction inspired by American indie bands Swell and Silver Jews. A special edition featuring a bonus eight-track live album, entitled Live à la Coopé, was also later released. © Jon O'Brien /TiVo

Sonic Ranch is a studio out in El Paso, Texas, a place where Midland hunkered down for a spell in 2014 as they tried to find their voice as a band. Come 2021, the group decided to release documentation of these early sessions as The Sonic Ranch, a relatively brief film accompanied by an album of the same name. Midland's subsequent success creates some interest in The Sonic Ranch in perspective, as it's possible to hear hints of the neon-lit barroom country the trio essayed on 2017's On the Rocks and 2019's Let It Roll. As its own entity, though, it's a bit threadbare, the sound of a trio figuring out their strengths and weaknesses. The retro sheen of producers Shane McAnally, Josh Osborne, and Dann Huff is missed -- part of the charm of Midland is their vintage vibe -- as are the sharply articulated melodies. Without these elements of the equation, Midland sound pleasant enough as they amble through memories of Texas troubadours past, yet the lack of defined songs and persona means that The Sonic Ranch just kinds of drifts past like a tumbleweed on the breeze.© Stephen Thomas Erlewine /TiVo

As a prelude to the vast enterprise represented by the release of Marin Marais’ complete five Books of Pièces de Viole, François Joubert-Caillet proposes this anthology of some of the most famous pieces that the illustrious gambist of La Chambre du Roi wrote for the delight of the Sun King’s private concerts. François Joubert-Caillet studied the viola da gamba at the Schola Cantorum Basiliensis with Paolo Pandolfo, with whom he also studied early improvisation, and also with Rudolf Lutz. Winner of the First and Audience Prizes at the Bruges International Chamber Music Competition, he gives concerts, recitals and master classes in Europe, Asia and Latin America. François Joubert-Caillet also directs L’Achéron, an ensemble with which he appears in various formations, in particular the consort of viols. L’Achéron’s CDs, devoted to Anthony Holborne’s The Fruit of Love and Samuel Scheidt’s Ludi Musici, were released by Ricercar for which François Joubert-Caillet also recorded an album in duo with Wieland Kuijken: Johanes Schenck’s Le Nymphe di Rheno.

Recorded in the South of France with producers Fred Jimenez and Stephane Reynaud, enigmatic French singer/songwriter Jean-Louis Murat's 21st studio album, Grand Lièvre, eschews the blues-rock of its 2009 predecessor, Le Cours Ordinaire des Choses, in favor of a more alternative direction inspired by American indie bands Swell and Silver Jews. A special edition featuring a bonus eight-track live album, entitled Live à la Coopé, was also later released.© Jon O'Brien /TiVo