T.I.
Paper Trail(GRAND HUSTLE/ATLANTIC)
Just like Mom's cookies, homemade is always better - whether by choice or through court-ordered house arrest. Guns, porn stars, Patron on ice: Paper Trail charts T.I.'s journey back to his roots.
-Colleen Beagan
These United States
Crimes (UNITED INTERESTS)
D.C.-based These United States fuse a hybrid of folk and pop with poetic lyrics effortlessly. Insert inevitable Bob Dylan parallel here.
-Emily Katz
Mogwai
The Hawk is Howling (MATADOR)
Chock full of long, epic instrumentals that range from comforting to terrifying to ... happy? OK, so it's not like these crazy Scots went and changed into the most upbeat band on the planet, but this latest record seems like a solid and optimistic step forward for them.
-Alex Abnos
Esquire
75th anniversary flashing cover (E-INK)
This is the future! Or the future as presented by Ridley Scott in "Blade Runner." In 1982.
-Alex Carusillo
