Life for Rent doesn't offer anything that drastically different from Dido's debut album, No Angel -- the dance beats are marginally fresher, the production is clean and new -- but this predictibility is actually rather refreshing because the album delivers on its promise, unlike many sophomore affairs in 2003. That its promise is rather modest doesn't really matter, since Dido is successful at modest songs. She has a sweet, warm voice and a knack for tuneful modern folk-pop that sounds intimate while being confidently catchy and nicely atmospheric. In other words, it retains the feel of No Angel and its two big hits, "Here With Me" and "Thank You," without ever rewriting either song, but contributing songs like "White Flag," "Stoned," "Life for Rent," and "Do You Have a Little Time," which are nearly as memorable. The appeal of Life for Rent is what makes Dido appealing -- she's unassuming and gentle, but her songs are so melodic and atmospheric they easily work their way into the subconscious, and the records are well-crafted enough to be engaging on repeated plays. So, Life for Rent isn't much different than its predecessor, but that's a very good thing in this case.© Stephen Thomas Erlewine /TiVo

With Walking Shadows in 2013, Joshua Redman submerged his saxophone in a beautiful orchestral arrangement by the composer Patrick Zimmerli. Six years later, we find the two men together again on Sun on Sand, a dense suite in which each movement is, according to their author Zimmerli, an “expression of light”. Redman is accompanied by the Brooklyn Rider Ensemble, bassist Scott Colley and percussionist Satoshi Takeishi. Together, they blur the boundaries between jazz and contemporary music thanks to an unusual combination of pieces by George Russell, Milton Babbitt, Michael Nyman and even Frank Zappa. The light found here comes in all kinds of tones. Going from chiaroscuro to bright sunlight, Joshua Redman and Patrick Zimmerli’s record is like a colour chart made up of very original shades. In 2019, orchestral jazz is far from being an over-crowded genre, so this excellent project deserves some attention. © Max Dembo/Qobuz

Life for Rent doesn't offer anything that drastically different from Dido's debut album, No Angel -- the dance beats are marginally fresher, the production is clean and new -- but this predictibility is actually rather refreshing because the album delivers on its promise, unlike many sophomore affairs in 2003. That its promise is rather modest doesn't really matter, since Dido is successful at modest songs. She has a sweet, warm voice and a knack for tuneful modern folk-pop that sounds intimate while being confidently catchy and nicely atmospheric. In other words, it retains the feel of No Angel and its two big hits, "Here With Me" and "Thank You," without ever rewriting either song, but contributing songs like "White Flag," "Stoned," "Life for Rent," and "Do You Have a Little Time," which are nearly as memorable. The appeal of Life for Rent is what makes Dido appealing -- she's unassuming and gentle, but her songs are so melodic and atmospheric they easily work their way into the subconscious, and the records are well-crafted enough to be engaging on repeated plays. So, Life for Rent isn't much different than its predecessor, but that's a very good thing in this case.© Stephen Thomas Erlewine /TiVo

Smooth jazz producer, arranger, and songwriter Paul Brown made the transition to recording artist with 2004's Up Front, which, like its successor, 2005's The City, was a Top Ten hit on the Contemporary Jazz chart. With a switch from GRP to Peak Records, Brown should continue his popular ways with his third solo album White Sand. He has enlisted more guests than usual this time, to the point that the disc is practically one of those "and friends" duets collections. Al Jarreau sings on "Make Me Feel So Good," Bobby Caldwell on a cover of "Mercy Mercy Mercy," and Lina on a cover of "I Say a Little Prayer." Among the star instrumentalists, Boney James is heard on "Ol' Skoolin'," David Benoit on "R 'n' B Bump," Euge Groove on "More or Less Paul," Rick Braun on "Mr. Cool," and saxophone newcomer Jessy J on the title track. The guests simply augment the contributions of the leader, however; Brown's guitar is a dominant instrument, and he has a vocal on a cover of "For What It's Worth." As the familiar titles indicate, he has taken inspiration from the '60s, but his rhythm tracks often have a current hip-hop sound, and the well-known lyrics and melodies will only serve to make the album more palatable for radio. Brown isn't interested in making any changes to smooth jazz except the occasional tweak to keep it sounding current, and this is another album that will please his own fans, and fans of the guest artists (whose discs were sometimes produced by him).© William Ruhlmann /TiVo

In 1995, Emmylou Harris made a decisive break with her creative past, recording the album Wrecking Ball with producer Daniel Lanois and abandoning the traditional country purity of her best-known work for lovely but spectral musical landscapes and exploring her muse as a songwriter in a way she had never attempted before. After Wrecking Ball, Harris recorded three albums in which she made the most of her new creative freedom and honed her impressive gifts as a songwriter, but All I Intended to Be, her first new release in five years, finds her reaching back toward a sound and style that recall the country and folk influences of her earlier work. But All I Intended to Be is clearly the work of an artist who is looking to the past entirely on her own terms, and with the lessons learned since 1995 clearly audible at all times. All I Intended to Be was produced by Brian Ahern, who was behind the controls for most of her albums of the '70s and '80s, and it features a handful of session players who worked with Harris and Ahern in the past, while Harris' occasional partner in harmony Dolly Parton contributes backing vocals to "Gold" (as does Vince Gill). The album's largely acoustic textures manage to sound both homey and fresh; if the melodies and the arrangements nod politely to traditional country sounds (and hold hands on "Gold"), the space in the production and the unpretentious artfulness of the songs reflect an intelligence and restraint largely absent from country music in the new millennium. Harris wrote or co-wrote six of these 13 songs, leaving more room for covers than on Red Dirt Girl or Stumble into Grace, but the tone of the album is consistent throughout, and she brings a streamlined passion to material by Patty Griffin, Billy Joe Shaver, and Merle Haggard that makes them her own. (Harris also writes and sings several tunes with Kate and Anna McGarrigle in what continues to be a truly inspired collaboration.) And as always, the most memorable thing about All I Intended to Be is Emmylou Harris' voice; there are few singers in any genre with a greater natural skill and better instincts, and as wonderful as these songs are and as fine a band as she and Ahern have on hand, it's her glorious voice that turns these simple materials into gold, and she only improves with the passage of the years. The surfaces of this album may seem less bold than the albums that immediately preceded it, but All I Intended to Be is the work of a consummate artist who is still reaching out to new places even when she points to her creative history.© Mark Deming /TiVo

The sequel to Migos' 2017 breakthrough CULTURE is a great album buried beneath expendable extras. Culture II finds Quavo, Offset, and Takeoff embracing their superstardom -- charting the meteoric rise from trap hustling to a lavish lifestyle of glamorous parties and international runways -- with a whopping 24 tracks of mostly serviceable triplet-trap and some undeniable pop hits. Whether this feels overly bloated or supreme value-for-money, however, is up to listeners. Sifting through the merely passable to find those true nuggets is not difficult, as the big moments make themselves immediately known. At the top of the pack is "BBO (Bad Bitches Only)," a horn-drenched throwback produced by Kanye West and featuring an irresistible chorus by 21 Savage. The Pharrell Williams-assisted "Stir Fry" hypnotizes with unmistakable production that echoes Pharrell's work on Snoop Dogg's "Drop It Like It's Hot." The propulsive "Auto Pilot (Huncho on the Beat)" is another highlight on the first half, one of a handful of tracks produced exclusively by executive producers Quavo and Migos' unofficial fourth member, DJ Durel. The pair's strength as producers is apparent throughout Culture II -- sometimes creating more memorable moments than their guests -- especially on "CC" with Gucci Mane, "Crown the Kings," and the slapping "Too Playa" with 2 Chainz. In similar fashion, the trio also prove that they can hold their own without the help of a high-profile guest verse. "Gang Gang" and "Made Men" stand out, eclipsing mostly forgettable turns by Drake ("Walk It Talk It"); Travis Scott, Ty Dolla $ign, and Big Sean ("White Sand"), and Post Malone ("Notice Me"). Most disappointing is the boring "MotorSport," notable for being the first track uniting Nicki Minaj and her spiritual successor Cardi B. While the women remain the stars of the show, it's a moment that should have been greater. These relative disappointments -- a dozen in all, give or take -- would have been fine as a bonus disc or quick mixtape, but, presented alongside much stronger tracks, only accentuate their dullness. Taking a page from the Drake playbook, Culture II runs long and tests the limits of a standard attention span at nearly two hours. With enough highlights to form a single digestible effort, Migos could have delivered another culture-defining classic with just a little trimming. Instead, they've taken what should have been a potent, big league statement and diluted it.© Neil Z. Yeung /TiVo

Titling an album after John Coltrane's masterpiece may well seem the height of pretension, but heck, it never stopped the Replacements from a similar move vis-a-vis the Beatles. As it is, the title is perfectly justified -- guitarist/songwriter Martin Carr, a Coltrane aficionado among many other things, here finally leads his band from the promising to the truly inspired. With the inventive, groundbreaking Lazarus EP as a touchstone (the title track is included here in an unfortunately abbreviated form), the Boos self-produce themselves to new heights. The genius of the Boos definitely lies in their ability to adapt many a different touch and make it their own, taking what are often straightforward, hooky pop songs and turning them into something more, an ability Giant Steps shows in spades. The old fuzz blast is here, but less beholden to the likes of My Bloody Valentine, instead drawing on Carr's wide-ranging tastes (Beach Boys, psych-pop, Human League/New Order-inspired arrangements) to reach different, individual conclusions. From the near free-noise wash of "Run My Way Runway" to the soaring pop blast of "Barney (...and Me)," a poignant, nostalgiac lyric backed by a thrilling overall performance, the band does little wrong. Brown and Cjeka effectively incorporate dub/reggae rhythms, as "Lazarus" itself showed they could do, blending in loping, funky skank to "Upon 7th and Fairchild" and the fantastic "Butterfly McQueen." Carr's guitar work is much more distinctly his own throughout the album, with often volcanic, inspired soloing adding a huge, echoed sound to many of the songs. A number of guest performers help, notably Steve Kitchen on brass; his trumpet and flugelhorn parts and flourishes add jazzy touches throughout, at times reminiscent of Miles Davis' work on Sketches of Spain.© Ned Raggett /TiVo

German producer and DJ Roger Shah is the man behind Sunlounger, a project that moves past many of the clichés of electronic music to create music that is organic, pleasurable, and designed for listening as much as dancing. On Another Day on the Terrace, the debut Sunlounger album, Shah divides the album into two discs, one devoted to soothing midtempo melodic tunes and another that presents the same songs but with the tempos turned up for your dancing pleasure.© Mark Deming /TiVo

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The sequel to Migos' 2017 breakthrough CULTURE is a great album buried beneath expendable extras. Culture II finds Quavo, Offset, and Takeoff embracing their superstardom -- charting the meteoric rise from trap hustling to a lavish lifestyle of glamorous parties and international runways -- with a whopping 24 tracks of mostly serviceable triplet-trap and some undeniable pop hits. Whether this feels overly bloated or supreme value-for-money, however, is up to listeners. Sifting through the merely passable to find those true nuggets is not difficult, as the big moments make themselves immediately known. At the top of the pack is "BBO (Bad Bitches Only)," a horn-drenched throwback produced by Kanye West and featuring an irresistible chorus by 21 Savage. The Pharrell Williams-assisted "Stir Fry" hypnotizes with unmistakable production that echoes Pharrell's work on Snoop Dogg's "Drop It Like It's Hot." The propulsive "Auto Pilot (Huncho on the Beat)" is another highlight on the first half, one of a handful of tracks produced exclusively by executive producers Quavo and Migos' unofficial fourth member, DJ Durel. The pair's strength as producers is apparent throughout Culture II -- sometimes creating more memorable moments than their guests -- especially on "CC" with Gucci Mane, "Crown the Kings," and the slapping "Too Playa" with 2 Chainz. In similar fashion, the trio also prove that they can hold their own without the help of a high-profile guest verse. "Gang Gang" and "Made Men" stand out, eclipsing mostly forgettable turns by Drake ("Walk It Talk It"); Travis Scott, Ty Dolla $ign, and Big Sean ("White Sand"), and Post Malone ("Notice Me"). Most disappointing is the boring "MotorSport," notable for being the first track uniting Nicki Minaj and her spiritual successor Cardi B. While the women remain the stars of the show, it's a moment that should have been greater. These relative disappointments -- a dozen in all, give or take -- would have been fine as a bonus disc or quick mixtape, but, presented alongside much stronger tracks, only accentuate their dullness. Taking a page from the Drake playbook, Culture II runs long and tests the limits of a standard attention span at nearly two hours. With enough highlights to form a single digestible effort, Migos could have delivered another culture-defining classic with just a little trimming. Instead, they've taken what should have been a potent, big league statement and diluted it. © Neil Z. Yeung /TiVo