Ken Tucker

Dolorean is an Oregon-based band that started out playing country-rock but then slowly moved into pop-music territory. Rock critic Ken Tucker says the group's new album Unfazed is deliberate, but not maudlin.

British singer-songwriter Teddy Thompson worked with David Kahne, who's helped acts ranging from The Strokes to Tony Bennett, to write and record his fifth album, Bella. Rock critic Ken Tucker says the result is a romantic album that spans a wide range of styles and moods.

Tucker, a founding member of the band Sleater-Kinney, is back with a new group, The Corin Tucker Band, and an album called 1,000 Years. Rock critic Ken Tucker says the record has an "air of heavy but often beautiful melancholy."

The Decemberists' albums have been characterized by a wide variety of styles, from indie-rock minimalism to art-rock expansiveness. Rock critic Ken Tucker says the band's new album, The King Is Dead, is its best album so far.

Fresh Air's pop music critic, Ken Tucker, picks the best music of 2010, including albums by Tracey Thorn, Kanye West and Arcade Fire. He also pays tribute to Kate McGarrigle, the Canadian singer who died of cancer last January.

Every holiday season brings a new batch of seasonal pop music, some of it from unlikely or obscure sources. Rock critic Ken Tucker has listened to most of the new holiday collections released this year, and has chosen three albums that ought to make your season a bit more festive.

West's new album, My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy, both chastises and praises the hip-hop singer for being an arrogant perfectionist. Rock critic Ken Tucker says it may be an example of "egregious self-aggrandizement," but it's also "superb music-making."

Ferry's new album, Olympia, reunites him with some of the key players behind the band Roxy Music, including Brian Eno. But rock critic Ken Tucker says Olympia remains very much a Bryan Ferry creation: romantic and wry, yet vulnerable to the passage of time.

Taylor Swift turns 21 in December, and she'll still be one of the youngest country singer-songwriters to have achieved massive success. Her songs operate as both faux-confessionals and universal anthems. Her new album, Speak Now, is already a best-seller.

Bruno Mars is a 25-year-old singer, songwriter and producer who's worked on hit singles for numerous hip-hop and soul artists. Rock critic Ken Tucker says Mars' new album, Doo-Wops and Hooligans, is "an impressive, varied and intense experience."