Cardi B, Invasion of Privacy
The newly minted hip-hop superstar "puts on her bloody shoes and dances the blues" on her debut, writes Rob Sheffield. "Invasion of Privacy is lavishly emotional, intimately personal and wildly funny. ... [It] flaunts so many different aspects of Cardi's game, it comes on like a greatest-hits album, as undeniable as the excellent New Wave suit she rocks in the cover art."
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Various Artists, Restoration: The Songs of Elton John and Bernie Taupin
Two tributes to the venerable songwriting team of Elton John and Bernie Taupin come out today – Revamp, which features pop artists like Lady Gaga and the Killers taking on the duo's biggest hits, and this album, which gives their songs over to country artists like Miranda Lambert and Dierks Bentley. "It's a revelation," Jody Rosen writes of the latter. "Tyros (Maren Morris) and legends (Dolly Parton) mine deep cuts to reveal in John's songs a very country strain of stoic melancholy. ... The album concludes with Willie Nelson's quietly epic ramble through 'Border Song' – one 20th century legend welcoming another to music's Mt. Olympus."
Read Our Review: Megastars Turn Out For Splashy Elton John Tributes, Revamp and Restoration
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Various Artists, Johnny Cash: Forever Words
Kacey Musgraves, John Mellencamp, Chris Cornell and Brad Paisley are among the artists who set the Man in Black's poetry, prose and letters to music on this tribute album. "The most lasting tribute to Cash that Forever Words offers is just how easily his prose and poetry is effortlessly sculpted into an array of distinct personal styles," writes Jonathan Bernstein. "'The Captain's Daughter' sounds like a forgotten Alison Krauss and Union Station hit from the turn of the century, while 'The Walking Wounded,' delivered with gravitas by Cash's daughter Rosanne, would sound at home as a standout on any of her last several records."
Read Our Review: Johnny Cash: Forever Words Honors Country Hero's Unused Writing
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Kali Uchis, Isolation
The Colombian singer's first album shows off her singular musical vision, bringing the likes of Tyler, the Creator and Jorja Smith along for the ride. "Like Beck or Outkast, she's a pop weirdo who works grooves that seem vintage and futuristic at the same moment," writes Joe Levy. "She grabs splashes of funk, bossa, reggaeton and soul and blankets them with a sunbaked, psychedelic wooziness. Her specialty is flashbacks, not throwbacks."
Read Our Review: Kali Uchis' Isolation Proves She's an Exciting Young Talent
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Kylie Minogue, Golden
The Australian pop supernova hit Nashville to get inspired for her 14th album, and the result of that adventure is a twangy, idiosyncratic LP that splits the difference between boot-scooting and booty-shaking. Album opener "Dancing," where Minogue's sylphlike soprano sounds festooned with Dolly Parton brand rhinestones, turns on a darkly existential pun, with its chorus "When I go out, I wanna go out dancing" potentially referring to hitting the club or kicking the bucket. "Shelby '68," inspired by Minogue's father's car, gilds its insistent beat with fingerpicking and fever dreams of the open road. Minogue's urban-cowgirl vision works best when she digs into herself: "Raining Glitter" transports the giddy 2002 single "Love at First Sight" to line-dancing night; the lyrics of the giddy "A Lifetime to Repair" review her romantic woes with a compassionate wit; and the ode to FM-borne catharsis "Radio On" showcases one of Minogue's most vulnerable vocals. But even the odder tracks, like the innuendo-filled, deconstructed-Rednex album closer "Low Blow," have a lightness about them that makes Golden gleam. Maura Johnston
Read Our Feature: Kylie Minogue on Discovering Country, Taking on Kylie Jenner and Her Vulnerable New LP
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Hop Along, Bark Your Head Off, Dog
This Philly indie-rock band's third LP is packed with intimate, at times explosive, revelations, built on moments and memories that can be as distant as a brush with childhood terror or as raw as yesterday's bar argument. Singer-guitarist Frances Quinlan's voice strains from parched whisper to five-alarm shout as Hop Along push past the messily bracing guitar rock of their great 2015 album, Painted Shut, adding melodic details and orchestral touch-ups that can suggest a scrappier version of Elvis Costello's mid-Eighties literary-pop high points. It's an ambition they almost always nail. Jon Dolan
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Dr. Octagon, Moosebumps: An Exploration Into Modern Day Horripilation
Dr. Octagon – a fortuitous collaboration between San Francisco producer Dan "The Automator" Nakamura, turntablist icon Q-Bert and the crazily brilliant Bronx rapper Kool Keith – fell apart shortly after their 1996 album Octagonecologyst earned them a massive Dreamworks deal. There was subsequent acrimony between Nakamura and Keith, who eventually (and surprisingly) buried the hatchet for festival gigs and, as it turns out, a belated sequel to their psych-rap classic. Moosebumps doesn't have the minimalist raw power of the original: The production is fuzzier, with odd musical aberrations, whirring effects and P-funk inspired choruses like "Polka Dots." But much like the trio's best-known work, it's deeply strange. Keith talks about scrotums a lot. On "Power of the World," he raps "Watching insects have sex while vocals come from the larynx" before referencing Lady Gaga, Katy Perry and the Wolfman. Q-Bert's scratched interludes and "Bear Witness IV" showcase are, as usual, a marvel to behold. Mosi Reeves
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E-40 and B-Legit, Connected and Respected
E-40's first project with his cousin B-Legit since the glory years of their group the Click is a mobb music revival. The walloping bass is turned up to 11, and the two Vallejo-raised rappers sound like game spitters talking shop inside a trunk-rattling muscle car. Tracks like "Straight Like That" and "Carpal Tunnel" offer advice for aspiring street hustlers, with E-40 rapping "I know how the streets work/Residue on my T-shirt," on the latter. The Yay Area pioneer may have a reputation as a verbal wit, but as with his other work, Connected and Respected offers some socially conscious fare amidst the gangsta fun and games. On "Fosho," E-40 apologizes for his pre-rap career as a D-boy. Meanwhile, B-Legit, whose stentorian voice contrasts well with E-40's slangy tone, remembers, "I remember when people didn't see the mission/We was in the kitchen, we was on a mission." Mosi Reeves
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Hinds, I Don't Run
The second album from this Spanish quartet is "a gem of indie-rock-revivalism, making faux-naif surf licks and Mo Tucker drum beats seem new all over again," writes Will Hermes, who notes that their sound possesses "bouncy pluck, boozy melodicism and hard-sparkling guitars."
Read Our Review: Hinds, Spanish Indie-Rockers, Update Golden-Era Slacker-Rock on I Don't Run
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Tom Misch, Geography
A mix of post-J Dilla beat science and Seventies soul-jazz from a 23-year-old U.K. singer-songwriter-producer-DJ-instrumentalist. If he's modeled on anyone, it's James Blake. But Misch's vibe on his debut LP (after a notable Soundcloud run) is sunnier, less cratedigger and more muso. Bright passages of trumpet, violin and George Benson-ish guitar punctuate relaxed grooves, with an occasional outbreak of soulful house ("Tick Tock") and disco-funk ("Disco Yes"). Guest voices include like-minded Americans (GoldLink, De La Soul's Posdnuos) and other next-gen Brits (Loyle Carner, Poppy Ajudha), all given proper shine. Will Hermes
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