Etana, “Better Tomorrow” (VP Records)
Etana delivers a mature and confident sound with top-notch lyrical content and unique vocals on her third studio album, “Better Tomorrow.” The Jamaican singer’s soulful roots are strong as she pays homage to earlier eras of reggae on tracks such as the empowering “Queen” and the infectious “Reggae.” She finds a fresh perspective on the happy song “Beautiful Day,” and “All I Need” is full of emotion and desire. Her strong-minded nature sees the 29-year-old go to new levels on each of the album’s songs, making “Better Tomorrow” her best album to date. The album opener, “Spoken Soul,” is a verbal statement speaking of her “musical journey” and need for a “better tomorrow.” It’s an expressive message that is simple, yet strong.

Michael Bolton, “Ain’t No Mountain High Enough: A Tribute to Hitsville USA” (Montaigne Records)
In his nearly four decade career, Michael Bolton has released some two dozen albums and has tackled various musical genres, always keeping a soft spot for classics and Motown tunes. He’s covered everyone from Frank Sinatra to Glenn Miller to Etta James to Sting, but his strongest remakes have always been the unusual collaborations that put a different spin on a song, or added another dimension to an overly familiar hit. His new 10-track Motown tribute album, however, seems to copy and paste original orchestrations in a less than stellar manner. It includes Marvin Gaye’s done-to-death “Ain’t No Mountain High Enough,” which gets a boring and barely heard assist from Kelly Rowland, The Supremes’ “You Keep Me Hanging On” and Stevie Wonder’s “Signed, Sealed, Delivered (I’m Yours).” Fans of the easy listening genre will enjoy Bolton’s warm voice and correct versions, but it ultimately feels like an exercise in unoriginality that lacks the igniting sparks.

The Mavericks, “In Time” (Valory)
One of country music’s most enduring bands, the Mavericks return with “In Time,” their first new album in a decade. Their mix of Latin horns and rhythms, crisp telecaster leads and the Roy Orbison-like voice of Raul Malo remains as engaging as ever. In the 1990s, the Mavericks drew attention with an incendiary live show that had fans jumping like no other Nashville act. That uplifting live sound is the focus of “In Time,” which transcends genres by creating a timeless blend rooted in country music and early rock ‘n’ roll. Malo brings operatic drama to a voice that can soar with power or caress with romanticism. Original drummer Paul Deakin and bassist Robert Reynolds expertly handle grooves that perfectly set up guitarist Eddie Perez, keyboardist Jerry Dale McFadden and a smoking horn section. “In Time” is a welcome reminder of why the Mavericks have always been so special.
 

Emmylou Harris & Rodney Crowell, “Old Yellow Moon” (Nonesuch)
“Old Yellow Moon” is a reunion album of sorts that explores musical paths Emmylou Harris and Rodney Crowell first traveled on their initial recordings in the mid-1970s. Harris began recording Crowell compositions in 1975, the same year she hired him to join her band. They remain linked as leaders of a groundbreaking era in country music that resonates today in the work of Miranda Lambert, Buddy Miller and others. Then as now, Harris and Crowell excelled at bringing a fresh perspective to covers of classic country tunes, while pushing the genre toward a new sound built on driving rhythms, crisp musicianship and a wide range of well-chosen songs.
 

Jamie Lidell, “Jamie Lidell” (Warp Records)
British-born Jamie Lidell may have relocated to Nashville, Tenn, but his new album is anything but country.
His fifth full-length release  —  self-produced in his home studio  —  is an 11-track homage to the funkadelic days of 1970s and 1980s disco pop. Think Cameo and The Gap Band. “I’m Selfish” is bouncy with vocals resembling Prince and additional synth, while “What a Shame” enters dubstep territory with its booming beat and catchy chorus. The tune “why-ya-why,” with its happy trumpets and uneven beats, oddly turns into a Skream & Benga effort halfway through. It’s a heavily produced sonic assault  —  and that’s not necessarily a good thing.
 

Iceage, “You’re Nothing” (Matador Records)
The second album from the four Danish lads known as Iceage is an even more caustic slab of brooding punk than their blindsiding first record. “You’re Nothing” rails against excess, manufactured pressure and the general decimation of morality. Alternating between urgent calls to act (“Coalition”) and a bruised motivation (“Wounded Hearts”), these songs devolve and instruments claw for space, fueling the unbridled frenzy. On the raging “Burning Hand,” Elias Bender Ronnenfelt loses his throat asking pointed rhetorical questions with such aplomb. It’s like he’s in on a good joke. The chorus of “Rodfaestet”  —  sung in their native tongue  —  is as close as they get to sing-along territory. (AP) A few moments jump out: The immediate pummel of the percussion that opens “It Might Hit First,” the reflective intervals (“In Haze”) reminiscent of debut standout “Remember” and the unhinged repeating of the title that closes out the album.

Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds, “Push the Sky Away” (Bad Seed Ltd)
After the furious “Dig!!! Lazarus Dig!!!” and a pair of swaggering records from primal side project Grinderman, fans of Nick Cave may have expected another slab of guitar distortion and sex and death from the first Bad Seeds album in five years. Instead, “Push the Sky Away” delivers spare strings and electronic loops  —  and sex and death. The band’s 15th album in nearly three decades finds Cave introspective again, reminiscent of 1997’s brooding “The Boatman’s Call.” This cohesive collection is built around the six-plus minute “Jubilee Street,” a meditation on pain and obsession featuring a beauty with a little black book, “and my name was written on every page.” Hannah Montana gets a shout out, along with Robert Johnson and Lucifer himself, in the haunting god particle dirge “Higgs Boson Blues.” “Push the Sky Away” is yet another gem in a long string of fiercely literate offerings from the poet laureate of post-punk. (AP)