R. Kelly, responsible for 1/12 of the year's best songs so far.

This week in the Voice, out now: I offer up a dozen songs from this year that are worth your time; Puja Patel talks to the shape-shifting cutting-edge pop star Santigold; Vijith Assar previews the geek takeover at the Blip Festival; and Seth Colter Walls examines the strange disappearing act of Death Grips.

This week in the Voice, out now: I chat with Greg Dulli about the return of his powerhouse soul-punk outfit the Afghan Whigs; Jayson Greene talks to Killer Mike and El-P about their shared love of hip-hop and working together on R.A.P. Music; and Brad Cohan looks at the way Turing Machine completed its new album after the 2009 death of drummer Jerry Fuchs.

Robert Adam Mayer

This week in the Voice, out now: Jackson Connor talks to the sweet-voiced Fort Greene rapper Kilo Kish; Peter Gerstenzang chats with Rufus Wainwright about his new album, crafted with the help of Mark Ronson; and Aidan Levy hunts down the improvisational pianist Cecil Taylor, who's being honored with a festival this month.

In this week's Village Voice, out now: I dive into Jack White's relatively menalcholy new album Blunderbuss, and Andy Beta talks to the legendary house producers the Burrell Brothers about their days of crafting dance music in a New Jersey basement.

In this week's Village Voice, available near you at this very second: I look at the way Carly Rae Jepsen's "Call Me Maybe" has infatuated listeners one at a time; Grayson Currin talks to the revitalized New York grind-metal act Unsane; and Jeanne Fury looks back on 10 years of getting Wet with Andrew W.K. (Starting your day off with the above selection from W.K.'s monumental 2002 album is not a bad idea, all things considered.)

Tupac's "appearance" at Coachella this weekend.

In this week's Voice, out now: I look at the slow stranglehold of '90s retro and wonder about postmodern pop shows that don't require their stars to be present, a la Tupac's holographic appearance at Coachella over the weekend; and Brad Farberman talks to Questlove about Shuffle Culture, his musical installation taking place at BAM this weekend.

The Prism.

In this week's Voice, a mini-theme of how music gets to you emerges: I talk about how new distribution strategies employed by artists from Miguel to Lil B to that band that played along Kent Avenue the other night results in Spotify's cloud of even new music being less than complete; and Alex Macpherson talks to Nicolas Jaar and Gwilym Gold about the proprietary formats—a cube called the Prism and an algorithm-shuffling app called Bronze, respectively—they used to package their recent releases.

Black Dice.

In this week's Village Voice, out now: Andy Beta catches up with the Brooklyn noise masters Black Dice, and talks about how they went as pop as they can on their new album Mr. Impossible; and Michael Tedder catches up with the Magnetic Fields' Stephin Merritt and uncovers his gearhead side, about which more shortly. Also, Camille Dodero profiles Hunter Moore of Is Anyone Up?, a see-everyone-naked site that's exposed some of the stars of the Bamboozle circuit (and other ordinary citizens). And: Listings!

In this week's Voice: I am generally underwhelmed by MDNA, the new album by Madonna; Brad Cohan talks to the resurgent Aussie pub-rock act feedtime; and Seth Colter Walls previews this spring's best music offerings, including Vijay Iyer, Bruce Springsteen, the Ende Tymes Festival, and Mary Halvorson.

Neil Krug

First Aid Kit.

This week in the Voice Phillip Mlynar talks to Action Bronson and Party Supplies about their Blue Chips collab; Jessica Hopper finds out how the Swedish sisters in First Aid Kit came to love country; Steven Thrasher looks at "the nonprofit 1%" and talks to a music therapist who got lost in her former employer's shuffle; and I muse on music discovery in an age of marketing excess.