by Animal Collective

(Domino)

Vocally, these guys still sound to me like a Beach Boys consisting entirely of Mike Loves, so I figured swaddling their jumpy, adenoidal voices in layers of keyboards was the best thing the production of Merriweather Post Pavilion could do for them. But here they are right out front, recast over gliding, sunny electro, and what do you know—it makes them sound more playful than all the strained campfire sing-alongs in the world. The only Animal Collective–related item I've encountered that I wanted to play again immediately after it was finished.

by Finale

(Interdependent)

The J Dilla beat seems low-key at first, but after four minutes the muffled organ loop steeps into your eardrums, which makes it easier to hear this freshman Detroit MC's hoarse lyrical barrage. The chorus utilizes the word "heat" in such a clipped manner you might wonder at first whether this isn't just more parched keeping-it-real, but listen close and you'll hear a guy whose flair for language and just-left-field-enough boasts are worth believing in: "Before I was eating solid food I could talk"; "I stay cooler than Chris Walken" (spoken like a line cook); "Leave a mark/Like two preteens making hickeys in the dark."

by Jamie Vex'd

(Planet Mu)

This isn't just more an environment than a song—it's more an environment than a track, even, which is one hell of an accomplishment. It's also misleading: It's got an identifiable structure, obscure though it may seem the first couple times through; the beats and low end will bob your neck; and it has the grace to last no longer than 3:40. There's even a vocal, albeit sampled and as unassumingly, but thoroughly, smeared as the rest of the track. If you remember DJ Koze's what-the-fuck-a-thon 2008 track "Zou Zou"—and no one who's heard it can quite forget it—this is like its semiambient cousin.

by Naam

(Tee Pee)

Three lo-fi, slo-mo, sometimes-gorgeous stoner-metal/heavy-psych songs by three guys in Brooklyn who know how to groove. The near-12-minute title track comes to rest on a corkscrew riff that just keeps unwinding, while the opener, "Skyling Slip," sounds like the best single 1973 ever forgot to acknowledge.

by Alchemist feat. Three 6 Mafia and Juvenile

(E1)

Fast synths and slow beats: mmm. Fast rappers who know how to pause: mmm-mmm. "I party like it's Woodstock": dessert.