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