Genghis Khan

Lately I've picked up a bunch of new albums from artists I like, and it's been pretty nice.

Basement Jaxx—Junto: 6/10
Highs: Never Say Never, Galactical
Some delightfully wacky house music, but spread a little too thin.  Don't bother springing for the deluxe edition.

Florence and the Machine—How Big, How Blue, How Beautiful: 8/10
Highs: Delilah, Queen of Peace, Third Eye
Beautiful, powerful, energetic, and interesting.  Delilah is pretty much what I want from rock-and-roll.

Foxy Shazam—The Church of Rock and Roll: 6/10
Highs: I Like It, The Streets, (It's) Too Late Baby
Modern-classic rock from Hipster Freddie Mercury.  I don't really want to listen to a whole album of it at once, but a few tracks now and then can be just right.

Sia—This Is Acting: 8/10
Highs: Bird Set Free, Alive, Cheap Thrills
It's like Sia covers the top pop hits of the past five years, except they're not covers at all.

Rihanna—ANTI: 6/10
Highs: Desperado, Same Ol' Mistakes, Love on the Brain
Some good tracks, and a few that just don't work work work work work work.  Mostly forgettable.

Miike Snow—iii: 7/10
Highs: Genghis Khan, The Heart of Me, My Trigger
A delightfully wacky foreign pop adventure starring Genghis Khan, easily the best song I've heard in months, with a fun video to go along.

Macklemore and Ryan Lewis—This Unruly Mess I've Made: 7/10
Highs: Downtown, Light Tunnels, Brad Pitt's Cousin
Ventures a bit too far into pretentiousness from time to time, but still far more varied and interesting in subject matter and sound than the majority of rap music being cranked out.  Downtown is what you get when you mix nostalgia and showtunes and rap in a blender, and both the song and video are completely insane but work so very perfectly.

Random singles I recommend:
Dolly Parton—Jolene: Yes it's from 1974 and yes it's country, but it's still fantastic.
Kimbra—Goldmine: Rest of her second album is meh, but this one's solid.

Pass:
Trent Reznor—Gone Girl: Good soundtrack for the movie, but uninteresting on its own.
Britney Spears—Femme Fatale: Actually liked it, but I couldn't see myself wanting to hear these songs very often... maybe if it's cheap
Rae Sremmurd—SremmLife: Awful pop-rap performed by children! Joy!