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• Chris Brown: Fortune -

  D All that hate only makes him stronger.

• Dirty Projectors: Swing Lo Magellan -

  A- Indie experimentalists add focus—and feeling—to a quirky formula.

• Mission of Burma: Unsound -

  B- That triumphant comeback may be starting to overstay its welcome.

• Twin Shadow: Confess -

  A- This seasonal album will last long after the summer ends.

• Husky: Forever So -

  B- The Australian foursome releases a mildly pleasant debut.

• Aesop Rock: Skelethon -

  B+ After a five-year break, a rapper finds clarity.

• Woody Guthrie: Woody at 100 -

  B+ Decades after his death, a singer’s role is galvanized and certified.

• R. Kelly: Write Me Back  -

  B- The Pied Piper of R&B takes listeners back to the days of Teddy Pendergrass. 

• Glen Hansard: Rhythm & Repose  -

  B- The Oscar-winning singer of The Swell Season finds release on his first solo effort. 

• Mike Patton: Laborintus II  -

  B- The Faith No More frontman is back with another unconventional tribute to an obscure Italian. 

• The Henry Clay People: Twenty-Five For The Rest Of Our Lives  -

  B+ Maybe getting older isn’t all bad.

• Wymond Miles: Under The Pale Moon  -

  B+ Icy post-punk melts in the California sun. 

• Pop Etc: Pop Etc  -

  B+ The former guitar-strummers step convincingly onto the digital dance floor. 

• Ty Segall Band: Slaughterhouse  -

  B+ The garage-punk star gets back to his raw roots. 

• Beachwood Sparks: The Tarnished Gold  -

  B+ The cosmic country band finds its niche in time and space. 

• Sonny & The Sunsets: Longtime Companion  -

  B+ San Francisco bandleader shines up his psychedelia, straps on a Stetson. 

• Linkin Park: Living Things  -

  C The rap-rock band returns to rage.

• A Place To Bury Strangers: Worship  -

  B- A noise-pop champ doesn’t bring enough of either. 

• The Soundtrack Of Our Lives: Throw It To The Universe  -

  B+ Swedish indie rockers come to a commendable close.

• Gojira: L’Enfant Sauvage  -

  A- France’s foremost metallurgist forges a new alloy. 

• Justin Bieber: Believe -

  B- Now 18, Bieber still has one foot planted in kid's stuff on his new album.

• DIIV: Oshin  -

  B+ The Brooklyn band balances blurry modern textures with vintage craftsmanship. 

• Rush: Clockwork Angels  -

  A- Prog’s most enduring band inches closer to the heart.

• The Smashing Pumpkins: Oceania  -

  B After years of fighting it, Billy Corgan embraces his band’s past.  

• The Intelligence: Everybody’s Got It Easy But Me   -

  B- Thee Oh Sees’ Lars Finberg forces his mad-genius side project to evolve. 

• White Arrows : Dry Land Is Not A Myth  -

  A- Global inspiration doesn’t have to feel contrived. 

• Whitechapel: Whitechapel  -

  B- The Deathcore sextet makes strides toward consistency and maturity. 

• Fiona Apple: The Idler Wheel Is Wiser Than The Driver Of The Screw And Whipping Cords Will Serve You More Than Ropes Will Ever Do  -

  A An inimitable singer/songwriter returns from a long recording hiatus in fine form.

• Usher: Looking 4 Myself  -

  B- The R&B superstar branches out in some unexpected directions on an electronic-minded pop album. 

• Waka Flocka Flame: Triple F Life: Friends, Fans, And Family  -

  C+ The combustible rapper’s once-novel sound starts to sound stale.  

• Metric: Synthetica  -

  B The new wave mainstays dip their toes a little deeper into the mainstream. 

• Hot Chip: In Our Heads -

  B- The synth-pop group loses some of its personality for the sake of accessibility.  

• Future Of The Left: The Plot Against Common Sense  -

  A- The aggressively funny smartasses continue to stand tall in a small niche. 

• Bobby Womack: The Bravest Man In The Universe  -

  B+ An R&B legend gets experimental. 

• Guided By Voices: Class Clown Spots A UFO  -

  B+ The comeback continues.