365 Beats

As with his 2012 debut full-length Mala in Cuba, Mirrors finds the dubstep originator taking up residence in a different land (namely Peru) and integrating its musical traditions with his own style. As ever, his productions are vast and spacious, letting the bass flow out over the carefully paced beats. These tracks incorporate native instruments created from animal bones and dried pumpkins. They also incorporate pan flutes and acoustic guitars, and they manage to completely sidestep any resemblance to the unforgivably corny fad known as "tropical house." His excursions seem like the product of a genuine quest to return to his roots, not an attempt to be trendy. Therefore, his old-and-new blends seem natural and fluid, and the songs are spirited and graceful…

The Doors returned to crunching, straightforward hard rock on Morrison Hotel, an album that, despite yielding no major hit singles, returned them to critical favor with hip listeners. An increasingly bluesy flavor began to color the songwriting and arrangements, especially on the party'n'booze anthem "Roadhouse Blues." Airy mysticism was still present on "Waiting for the Sun," "Queen of the Highway," and "Indian Summer"; "Ship of Fools" and "Land Ho!" struck effective balances between the hard rock arrangements and the narrative reach of the lyrics. "Peace Frog" was the most political and controversial track, documenting the domestic unrest of late-'60s America before unexpectedly segueing into the restful ballad "Blue Sunday." "The Spy," by contrast, was a slow blues that pointed to the direction that would fully blossom on L.A. Woman.

Just as autumn must follow summer, Senior must follow Junior. Röyksopp's poppy, peppy record from 2009, Junior included guest-star vocalists, bright effects, and catchy melodies; Röyksopp's dreamy, downtempo record from 2010, Senior includes neither vocals nor much in the way of four-four beats. For those who jumped on the Junior bandwagon - and there were a lot of jumpers, since it surpassed all of their earlier records on the charts - the music here will be seen as formless mood music, for better or worse. For those who enjoyed Röyksopp's earlier downbeat material, this might seem more like home, although it has less character and warmth than Melody A.M. or even The Understanding. Much of it is simply a sedate version of Junior; for instance, "The Alcoholic" could have easily been slotted on Junior if vocals were added and its tempo was increased slightly…

Just as autumn must follow summer, Senior must follow Junior. Röyksopp's poppy, peppy record from 2009, Junior included guest-star vocalists, bright effects, and catchy melodies; Röyksopp's dreamy, downtempo record from 2010, Senior includes neither vocals nor much in the way of four-four beats. For those who jumped on the Junior bandwagon - and there were a lot of jumpers, since it surpassed all of their earlier records on the charts - the music here will be seen as formless mood music, for better or worse. For those who enjoyed Röyksopp's earlier downbeat material, this might seem more like home, although it has less character and warmth than Melody A.M. or even The Understanding. Much of it is simply a sedate version of Junior; for instance, "The Alcoholic" could have easily been slotted on Junior if vocals were added and its tempo was increased slightly…