Savages - Adore Life: Feels oddly contrived.

Ra Ra Riot - Need Your Light: Undeniably dance-pop, but really good at being that.

Pears - Green Star: Something for everyone into punk/hardcore.

Parquet Courts - Human Performance: They are a modern day Talking Heads.

Nothing - Tired of Tomorrow: Good for what it is, just not for me right now.

Madder Rose - Hello June Fool: A best-of will suffice.

Madder Rose - Tragic Magic: Diminished returns.

Madder Rose - Panic On: No need to panic as it is more of the same.

Madder Rose - Bring It Down: Beautiful John is an unbelievably great song the rest of the album cannot match.

Korn - Korn: Thirty minutes too long, but not as bad as anticipated.

Killswitch Engage - Incarnate: Best album in nearly a decade.

Elton John - Wonderful Crazy Nights: Over-produced songs detract from its potential.

Into It. Over It. - Standards: Culmination of everything he has been working towards.

Hotel Year - It Never Goes Out: Glimpses of what they would become.

Explosions in the Sky - The Wilderness: I just cannot get into it.

Face to Face - Face to Face: Really great street punk with pop sensibilities.

Deftones - Around the Fur: I should have listened to this long ago.

John Congleton and Nighty Nite - Until the Horror: I missing the pAper chAse.

David Bowie - Blackstar: When the dust settles, really curious to see its place in history.

Andrew Bird - Are You Serious: Really solid as always, but no Armchair.

Kanye West - The Life of Pablo: Between it and the demos, there is a good-possibly-great album here.

Weerd Science - Red Juliet Broadcast 3: Nothing to change anyone's mind.

Kendrick Lamar - untitled unmastered: At the top of his game.

Bl'ast - For Those Who've Graced The Fire: I really need to get into the older stuff.

Animal Collective - Painting With: It feels over-constructed.