Ken Tucker

The Atlanta-based musician blends contrasting pop genres on his second album. Rock critic Ken Tucker says Face Your Fear reveals Harding's deep knowledge of R&B.

No collection of songs this year cohered to form a better picture of our collective mood than Kendrick Lamar's album DAMN. The rapper talks about feeling put-upon and abandoned, besieged and misunderstood, loved and hated. He samples voices from the Fox News channel; on the cut called "LUST.," he has a line about waking up "hoping the election wasn't true." His distinctive delivery is characterized by a flurry of syllables enunciated with hammering force. No matter how many times I hear it, it's thrilling.

Swift brings together pulsing drumbeats, surging keyboards and multi-tracked vocals on her new album. The result is a record that mixes passion and emotion with careful control.

A new nine-disc set chronicles the music Dylan made between 1979 and 1981 during his so-called "born again" period, which saw him turn to evangelical Christianity as a theme.

The Nashville-based singer-songwriter has a new album that explores the joys of long-term commitment. Rock critic Ken Tucker says the collection is her most personal and accessible to date.

Aiko created some of the music on Trip as a response to losing her brother to cancer. Critic Ken Tucker says the album features sorrow and grief — as well as an attempt to escape from sadness.

The Rhode Island quartet is back with two new albums, titled Deer Tick Vol. 1 and Deer Tick Vol. 2. Critic Ken Tucker says first is largely acoustic, while the second features a louder electric sound.

Sweet recalls the time just before rock 'n' roll became self-consciously "rock" on his first album of new songs in six years. Critic Ken Tucker calls the music on Tomorrow Forever "wholly unironic."

The singer-songwriter mostly recorded this album in a cabin in Sweden. You can hear that intensity and obsessiveness in his attractive, eccentric pieces, which sometimes sound like works-in-progress.

Six albums the British songwriter recorded between 1982 and 1990 are being reissued in remastered versions. Critic Ken Tucker singles out Party of One as being among Lowe's finest works.