With the hypnotic and bright Grammy-nominated track "Levels," Swedish EDM DJ/producer Tim Bergling aka Avicii unleashed a global dance hit the size of "Beachball," "Blue Monday," "Starships," and maybe even "The Hokey Pokey." If the masses leave the dancefloor, "Levels" brings them back with sunshine and light, but Avicii's debut album is a sharp left turn, kicking off with the acoustic guitar strum of "Wake Me Up," a pleasant, well-written heritage pop track where "I Need a Dollar" vocalist Aloe Blacc gets thrown in a synthetic Mumford & Sons surrounding for something very non-"Levels." It's a strange jumble that works, but even more surprising is the seductive "Addicted to You," where Oklahoma singer/songwriter Audra Mae gets sultry on a song co-written by country and pop legend Mac Davis, and don't wonder long about how the results ended up sounding so Nina Simone, because the curve balls keep coming. Adam Lambert reins in his glam tactics on the Nile Rodgers-assisted "Lay Me Down" for a disco and Daft Punk swerve, while the kinetic down-on-the-farm "Shame on Me" offers a knee-slapping, EDM-meets-country rave-up that threatens to go hambone with a solo on the spoons. Country music and bluegrass keep winding their way into the album, and while it rarely smacks of a gimmick, these rustic numbers often evolve into EDM around their drum machine-introducing choruses, as if True was a remix album commission Avicii picked up while vacationing in Appalachia. In the end, it's an admirable and interesting effort where the highs offset the lows, but those with molly in hand and dancing shoes on feet should just cool their jets and get ready to sit a spell.© David Jeffries /TiVo

With the hypnotic and bright Grammy-nominated track "Levels," Swedish EDM DJ/producer Tim Bergling aka Avicii unleashed a global dance hit the size of "Beachball," "Blue Monday," "Starships," and maybe even "The Hokey Pokey." If the masses leave the dancefloor, "Levels" brings them back with sunshine and light, but Avicii's debut album is a sharp left turn, kicking off with the acoustic guitar strum of "Wake Me Up," a pleasant, well-written heritage pop track where "I Need a Dollar" vocalist Aloe Blacc gets thrown in a synthetic Mumford & Sons surrounding for something very non-"Levels." It's a strange jumble that works, but even more surprising is the seductive "Addicted to You," where Oklahoma singer/songwriter Audra Mae gets sultry on a song co-written by country and pop legend Mac Davis, and don't wonder long about how the results ended up sounding so Nina Simone, because the curve balls keep coming. Adam Lambert reins in his glam tactics on the Nile Rodgers-assisted "Lay Me Down" for a disco and Daft Punk swerve, while the kinetic down-on-the-farm "Shame on Me" offers a knee-slapping, EDM-meets-country rave-up that threatens to go hambone with a solo on the spoons. Country music and bluegrass keep winding their way into the album, and while it rarely smacks of a gimmick, these rustic numbers often evolve into EDM around their drum machine-introducing choruses, as if True was a remix album commission Avicii picked up while vacationing in Appalachia. In the end, it's an admirable and interesting effort where the highs offset the lows, but those with molly in hand and dancing shoes on feet should just cool their jets and get ready to sit a spell.© David Jeffries /TiVo

New Orleans trumpeter Christian Scott has always examined various historic musical traditions for their wealth of knowledge and culture. He's also deeply well-read, putting forth an inquiry which addresses the future from global and socio-political codes of past and present -- without hectoring. 2010's Yesterday You Said Tomorrow was a successful integration of what Scott calls "stretch music," which thoroughly understands and respects what came before it in jazz and doesn't attempt to replace it, but instead tries to embrace within its rhythmic and harmonic architectures as many musical forms and cultural languages as possible. Christian aTunde ADJuah is a deliberate extension of that model; it's a sprawling, 23-track double album. Accompanied by his seasoned quintet -- Matthew Stevens, guitar; Lawrence Fields, piano, Rhodes, harpsichord; Kristopher Keith Funn, bass; Jamire Williams, drums, and select guests -- Scott takes his listeners on an exhaustive, ambitious journey through jazz, employing elements of rock, hip-hop, and even traces of Crescent City R&B. Christian aTunde ADJuah is long and diverse, but it's accessible in its ambitious creativity. On "New New Orleans (King Adjuah Stomp)," Stevens' dark repetitive vamp prompts the rhythm section inside it, just before Scott goes over the top to offer a gorgeous, Spanish-tinged melody. Utilizing a ute on "Who They Wish I Was," Scott directly embraces Miles Davis' melodic vulnerability while offering his own sense of phrase and space. Disc one closer "Danziger" (named for the infamous bridge where New Orleans policemen shot and killed two men and wounded five others -- all unarmed -- after Hurricane Katrina), is nearly a set stealer. Scott's mournful lyric, expressively annotated by Stevens' guitar and Fields' funereal chords, begins to articulate a drama that takes a number of turns over its ten minutes. The beautiful modalism in the brief "Spy Boy/Flag Boy," with Scott's soloing and Williams' breaks, is another high point. The rock dynamics of "Jihad Joe" create a multivalent textural palette for the mysterious interplay between Scott and Fields; Stevens' solo is full of imagination and fire. "Alkebu Lan" is a stunner, as knotty post-bop meets Afro-beat. "Trayvon," with its double-time, funky backbeat, is a new spin on modal blues. The shimmering post-bop on "Away (Anuradha & the Maiti Nepal)," with Stevens' elegant yet distorted solo, is a gorgeous precursor to the pastoral "The Red Rooster" and the whispering closing ballad that is "Cara." Scott's previous recordings portended the integration of sounds, textures, and music readily available here. On Christian aTunde ADJuah, Scott and company create a seamless, holistic 21st century jazz that confidently points toward new harmonic horizons.© Thom Jurek /TiVo

Haven is the second Kamelot album with vocalist Tommy Karevik, following 2012's Silverthorn by three years -- an extended absence from the studio that is atypical for this otherwise prolific outfit. Karevik was a great fit for founding frontman Roy Khan, due to a near identical physical resemblance in their voices. Also returning to reprise her role on Silverthorn is guest Alissa White-Gluz from Arch Enemy, who adds grit, fire, and grace to "Liar Liar (Wasteland Monarchy)" as a duet partner, and some stylistic extremes in her four-octave range on the chugging "Revolution." "Under Grey Skies" features the lithe singing of Delain's Charlotte Wessels and the Uilleann pipes of Nightwish's Troy Donockley. Musically, Kamelot stick closely to their established M.O.: lushly textured power metal with prog alliterations and polished production. Throughout, melodic guitars, detailed keyboard effects, enormous, clean drums and angular basslines provide a sophisticated -- and often syncopated -- foundation for Karevik to soar over. He is also backed by a near operatic female backing chorale on most tracks. In addition to the aforementioned tracks, standouts include "Veil of Elysium," "My Therapy," and "End of Innocence."© Thom Jurek /TiVo

With 2021's The Beautiful Liar, New York's X Ambassadors offer a wry concept album rife with emotive pop hooks that also makes room for thoughtful, often theatrical ruminations on war, and the troubling way political and economic power brokers command our daily lives with money, fearmongering, and untruths. It's a bold production, framed by an audio-book conceit where a narrator is reading you the -- completely made-up — novel "The Beautiful Liar" by author Irving P. Neville. There's even a mid-album sponsor break that reinforces many of the underlying themes of the album. While none of the songs tie directly into the audio-book, the thematic ideas all work in tandem, reinforcing the growing darkness and unease that permeates ever more as the album progresses. Also adding to the surreality of the production are a handful of giddy novelty cuts, including a 56-second "Conversations with my Friends" that sounds something like Hunter S. Thompson reading an anti-war poem with Bad Brains. There's also the bemusing protest song-meets-1930s Broadway number "Theater of War" in which singer Sam Harris does his best Jimmy Durante impression. Conceptual conceits aside, there are some great songs here, and tracks like "My Own Monster," "Love Is Death," and "Reincarnation" find X Ambassadors further expanding their infectious blend of gothy R&B, electronica, and hip-hop-influenced stadium rock. That many of these songs also find them exploring some of the bigger, more troubling issues in society, lends the album a weight that nicely counterbalances the Disney theme park insanity of the audio-book elements. The Beautiful Liar is a quirky, oddly intriguing experience, whose conceptual elements interrupt the corporate pop flow of the album, and one imagines X Ambassadors wouldn't have it any other way.© Matt Collar /TiVo

With the hypnotic and bright Grammy-nominated track "Levels," Swedish EDM DJ/producer Tim Bergling aka Avicii unleashed a global dance hit the size of "Beachball," "Blue Monday," "Starships," and maybe even "The Hokey Pokey." If the masses leave the dancefloor, "Levels" brings them back with sunshine and light, but Avicii's debut album True was a sharp left turn, kicking off with the acoustic guitar strum of "Wake Me Up," a pleasant, well-written heritage pop track where "I Need a Dollar" vocalist Aloe Blacc gets thrown in a synthetic Mumford & Sons surrounding for something that was very non-"Levels." The rest of the album was equally and shockingly rustic and organic, but here, on this full-album remix of True, "Wake Me Up" is given a "Levels"-styled, synthetic kick and returns to the category of prime-time dancefloor stuff, while "Hey Brother" with vocalist Dan Tyminski trades its bluegrass for dubstep and the bass drops ensue. The original album's "Heart Upon My Sleeve" isn't remixed, although everything else is here and pumped up splendidly, so consider this a worthy alternative to True made for dancing or, seeing as how many Avicii regulars were thrown by the original's acoustic atmosphere, consider this a fan-pleasing release that plays to the producer's strengths.© David Jeffries /TiVo

Haven is the second Kamelot album with vocalist Tommy Karevik, following 2012's Silverthorn by three years -- an extended absence from the studio that is atypical for this otherwise prolific outfit. Karevik was a great fit for founding frontman Roy Khan, due to a near identical physical resemblance in their voices. Also returning to reprise her role on Silverthorn is guest Alissa White-Gluz from Arch Enemy, who adds grit, fire, and grace to "Liar Liar (Wasteland Monarchy)" as a duet partner, and some stylistic extremes in her four-octave range on the chugging "Revolution." "Under Grey Skies" features the lithe singing of Delain's Charlotte Wessels and the Uilleann pipes of Nightwish's Troy Donockley. Musically, Kamelot stick closely to their established M.O.: lushly textured power metal with prog alliterations and polished production. Throughout, melodic guitars, detailed keyboard effects, enormous, clean drums and angular basslines provide a sophisticated -- and often syncopated -- foundation for Karevik to soar over. He is also backed by a near operatic female backing chorale on most tracks. In addition to the aforementioned tracks, standouts include "Veil of Elysium," "My Therapy," and "End of Innocence."© Thom Jurek /TiVo