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T-Pain presents himself as the ringmaster of the music-industry circus -- we're just here to be amazed by his lyrics, his production, his elemental force. Yet on his third album, he constantly relies on petty one-liners, banal choruses, and (surprise!) Auto-Tune overkill.

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Well respected for sparse, plaintive bummer folk since his 2004 debut, LaMontagne gets a bit more expansive here, gently juking his earthy rasp with Stax-y horns, guitar twang, and lilting lady backup vocals.

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This debut from electro rocker Simon Lord (Simian) and Big Beat vet Theo "DJ Touché" Keating (the Wiseguys) has a sinister allure when Keating's dark, steely disco productions are paired with Lord's whiny, desperate alto ("I Want Nothing," "I Don't Know").

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On this Aussie trio’s debut, the best bits, like the fuzzy, organ-driven “Ending of an Era,” with its deadpan vocals and feedback guitar, or “Into the Galaxy,” with its melodic bass line, falsetto, and baroque synths, smartly channel Jeff Lynne’s cosmopop confections, a good model for how to fold dance music back into rock.

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Techno's earthy cousin microhouse is generally as unassuming as its name, but Michigan-based producer Matthew Dear infuses the snapping, beeping compositions of his second album with a sincere yearn, broadening the genre in the process. Dear's breathy, throaty voice has a stirring tunefulness that recalls TV on the Radio's Tunde Adebimpe.