On Black Radio, pianist Robert Glasper heads down the fraught path of hip-hop jazz and gets it right. The "experiment" spirit pervades the entire album, informing everything from song structures to production. Essential, too, are Chris Dave's crackling drum grooves, and the depth of  tradition: Erykah Badu wriggling into the soul-jazz standard "Afro Blue," Lupe Fiasco shouting out Gil Scott-Heron and James Baldwin on "Always Shine." With music this smart and inviting, the implied diss of mainstream mediocrity doesn't feel like sour grapes; it feels like a blueprint forward.

Listen to "Afro Blue":

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• Photos: Random Notes

“Time to Pretend”

Listening to MGMT’s breakthrough song, one might interpret it as being about the excesses of rock stardom, but it’s actually about the duo’s pet praying mantis. Ben Goldwasser and Andrew VanWyngarden told Rolling Stone they got the idea from the insect's jerky movements. The mantis died, but the two bandmates kept the egg sack and allowed the hundreds of eggs to hatch. “We tried to name them all, but they died after a day,” said Goldwasser, with VanWyngarden chiming in, “But the praying mantis dance inspired us.”