Oliver Wang

Maya is the third full-length album by M.I.A., and it rattles with hard-edged and well-produced beats and electronica. Reviewer Oliver Wang says that even if it's not her best work, the record still offers reminders of why M.I.A. is one of the most compelling and unusual artists in pop today.

Throughout his career, Guru was a unique figure: a veteran who thrived when others faltered and an innovator who never followed a style he didn't help invent. His group, Gang Starr, led a vanguard of other artists who bridged jazz and hip-hop. The rapper died Monday at 47.

Gang Starr was the platonic ideal of underground hip-hop for a generation of rap fans. Group founder, Guru died on Monday morning. Hear his most notable work with Gang Starr and as a solo artist.

Times have not been kind to the hip-hop industry. Philadelphia rapper Freeway and Seattle producer Jake One have come up with a novel response, especially in the era of digital music. Their new collaboration, The Stimulus Package, comes with some of the most elaborate packaging ever designed for a hip-hop album.

Two new collections, ranging from scratchy field recordings to intricate vocal harmonies to snappy adaptations of rock 'n' roll rhythms, prove divine inspiration takes on many forms.

The compilation provides an impressive and compelling introduction to Africa's embrace of Latin music. Its songs are simultaneously global and local, offering up a twist on "world fusion" without the associations with toothless tropical music.

Aside from a handful of jarring, military marching beats, Sade's new album is sonically spartan. She's always tended to do more with less, but Soldier of Love — her first album in 10 years — feels like less, period.

Part of what makes the producer and DJ's obsessive effort so remarkable is that, if you try to reverse-engineer what he's doing at any given moment, this is the cut-and-paste equivalent of a great violin solo. But he executes so seamlessly and effortlessly that he never calls attention to the parts, only the sum.

In a vintage photo, a solitary man with a Cab Calloway mustache grabs his hat with two hands and lets out a yell. Off the page and across 30 years, you can still hear the holler. Oliver Wang reviews a collection of music and photos from Chicago's 1970s soul scene.

This multi-talented vibraphonist, bandleader, producer and label owner was a prominent figure in New York's Latin music scene. But when he retired from active recording in the mid-'70s, his legacy was largely forgotten. Now, he's re-entering the spotlight, thanks to a new anthology which samples some of his strongest works in Latin soul, rock and salsa.