James Otto - Sunset Man

“James Otto’s second album (his first was released four years ago on Mercury Nashville) proves that some things are indeed worth the wait. His brand of “country soul,” as he calls it, comes across strong and confident on this new set. “Just Got Started Loving You” is a sultry promise of passion in the tradition of Conway Twitty’s “I’d Love to Lay You Down.” “For You” is a soaring ballad that Otto squeezes every bit of emotion from, and “Where Angels Hang Around” is a moving tribute to St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital. Otto moans his way through the blue-eyed, soul-filled “The Man That I Am,” which he accurately describes as “sex on tape.” It’s not all love and tenderness love songs; the hilarious “Drink & Dial” warns against mixing alcohol and late-night phone calls. —Ken Tucker”

Yung Berg - Do That There

There are too many other good hip-hop songs coming out right now, i can’t see this doing much.  5/10

Mariah Carey - E=MC^2

“She’s proclaimed emancipation before, but Mariah Carey’s never sounded as free as she does on her 10th album. The usual hummable radio hip-hop and bold ballads are here, in pristine form. (”Bye Bye,” a memorial for a lost loved one, is particularly effective.) But so are some coy surprises, like the irresistible “I’m That Chick” (which covertly samples “Off the Wall” for an early Michael Jackson disco bounce) and the Swizz Beatz-produced “O.O.C.,” which is catchy enough to make that the vernacular’s standard abbreviation for “out of control.” Carey even digs deep and pulls up “Side Effects,” a Scott Storch-produced, dark hip-hop track that follows a passive woman’s descent into domestic abuse (”Sleeping with the enemy/ Aware that he was smothering every last part of me”). Capping it off with Bible-quoting, upright-piano gospel (”I Wish You Well”), Carey’s made a pop album with equal parts levity and gravity. —Kerri Mason”

Wiz Khalifa - Say Yeah

Tight rhymes, a proven house beat, grab this track!  9/10