Beyoncé - 4

Along with Lady Gaga, Beyoncé is probably the biggest female pop star on earth, so it's natural that her new album arrives with a lot of expectation. Fortunately for the diva, 4 delivers on those expectations. The album covers all the bases to satisfy Beyoncé fans, with dancefloor-friendly club tunes, big ballads and even a couple of songs that sound like they came from a West End musical. The songs give Beyoncé's voice the opportunity to shine, and she doesn't disappoint on that count either. She has never sounded better and when she's on this type of form there is no-one else in pop who can match her. Beyoncé is a bona fide pop megastar and this is an album that will entrench her in that position for a while to come.

Rating: 8/10
Top Tracks: 1+1, Countdown, End of Time, Run the World (Girls)
Release Date: 28 June 2011

Bad Meets Evil - Hell: The Sequel EP

Eminem and Royce Da 5'9" are Bad Meets Evil, a hip hop collaboration first started in the late 90's but one that took a break in the noughties when Em and Royce fell out with each other. They are now friends again and back with Hell: The Sequel EP, which at 11 tracks is longer than a lot of full albums. From the outset we hear what we have been missing as the pair trade skillful, dextrous battle rhymes over excellent production. Royce matches Em rhyme for rhyme and shows that he is one of the most unfairly overlooked rappers on the scene today with wordplay that must be the envy of many more famous MC's than him. Eminem is, as usual, brilliant - funny, vitriolic and with just the right amount of crazy - and the chemistry the two have together is obvious from first track to last. Absolutely fantastic.

Rating: 9/10
Top Tracks: Fast Lane, Lighters, Loud Noises, Living Proof
Release Date: 14 June 2011

Snoop Dogg - Doggumentary

Snoop Dogg has been around for so long and appeared in so many reality shows that he's become a brand rather than a person. The rapper "Snoop Dogg" is a caricature of Calvin Broadus (his real name) the person and it's difficult to remember him as the genuinely menacing rapper that first appeared on Dr. Dre's The Chronic or his début album Doggystyle. His track record since those days has been patchy at best, and that continues on Doggumentary. There are good moments here and there, mostly when he goes back to the G-funk style that made him famous, but there is way too much filler. The 21 tracks that make up the album could easily have been cut to 13 and made an excellent album, but as it is there is too much rubbish to wade through to get to the good stuff.

Rating: 6/10
Top Tracks: We Rest n Cali, Sumthing Like This Night
Release Date: 29 March 2011

Tumi Lane - Joburg City

Following on from Tumi Lane's successful, SAMA-nominated 2009 debut album No Guarantee, Joburg City is a celebration of the singer's home town, and the diversity of the music reflects the melting pot of cultures that is Joburg. The album was produced by Jazzworx and includes guest spots from the likes of Maggz, Lotto, Zubz and Amara Brown. R&B singer and record producer RJ Benjamin was also involved in the production of the album and is credited as its engineer. The album itself explores many different genres of urban music, from hip hop to R&B to pop to house, and it does so very well. There is something on this album for all tastes, so whether you prefer listening to club bangers or tender ballads, you will find what you are looking for here.

Rating: 7/10
Top Tracks: Where We Going, No More, Lucky Guy
Release Date: 15 June 2011

Various - Muthaland Volume 1

South African urban label Ghetto Ruff has pooled it's top talents together on Muthaland Volume 1 and created an album that is diverse as well as being high quality. You'll find some great local artists on this disk, like Jozi, Jean Claude, Ruff X, FMB, Cook and Uzi, amongst others. The styles on show here range from electro to Afro pop to house and hip hop, and it all shows how far South African music has come and proves we can compete with the best in these genres. For a taste of what music is going down in the clubs of Jozi, you could do a lot worse than Muthaland Volume 1.

Rating: 7/10
Top Tracks: Jozi - Electric Avenue, Jozi - Everybody, Jean Claude - Number 1 Girl
Release Date: 10 March 2011

Chris Brown - F.A.M.E.

Chris Brown continues his comeback from the problems that have beset him over the last couple of years with F.A.M.E. That someone convicted of assaulting his then-girlfriend should feel it appropriate to deal with the "haters" resulting from this incident with an album whose title stands for "Forgiving All My Enemies" is surprising to say the least, but the album itself holds few surprises. The outstanding Look At Me Now apart, the album is a standard R&B album mix of club bangers, mid-tempo tracks and cheesy ballads. F.A.M.E. seems to have been created by focus groups rather than musicians, designed to appeal to the widest cross-section of the public rather than to reflect the feelings and inspiration of the singer. Disappointing.

Rating: 6/10
Top Tracks: Look At Me Now, Yeah 3x, Beautiful People
Release Date: 22 March 2011

Cults - Cults

Brooklyn boy-girl duo Cults are the latest buzz band to come out of New York, and expectations are high following the blogosphere success of their debut single Go Outside last year. Cults doesn't disappoint. The pair place singer Madeline Follin's sweet 60's girl group vocals over instrumentalist Brian Oblivion's backdrops of woozy, reverb drenched indie-pop and it works a treat. It creates a hazy, summery vibe with the vocals floating over the mix, and the juxtaposition of the sugary vocals with dark lyrics adds to the interest. There is room for improvement; at times the music can sound a bit samey, and some extra variety would have helped, but overall this is a fine album, and a great first platform for a band that on this evidence will be around for the long haul.

Rating: 8/10
Top Tracks: Abducted, Go Outside, Oh My God
Release Date: 7 June 2011 

The Vaccines - What Did You Expect From The Vaccines?

The Vaccines are the latest British band being heralded by the U.K. press; salivated over as the saviours of rock music, trumped as the new Strokes, the new Libertines or the new Arctic Monkeys depending on which rag you are reading. Whilst all the hype should rightly be taken with a large pinch of salt, what is obvious listening to this album is that The Vaccines are a brilliant guitar-pop band with tunes to burn. It kicks off with a bang with the 82 second stomp of Wrecking Bar (Ra Ra Ra) and doesn't let up until the end of the last track. The hooks come thick and fast, the choruses are huge singalongs, and the band are clever enough not to let the songs overstay their welcome (most are well under 3 minutes long). The Vaccines may not be the saviours of anything, but "What Did You Expect..." is a blast of an album.

Rating: 8/10
Top Tracks: Wrecking Bar (Ra Ra Ra), If You Wanna, Wetsuit, Family Friend
Release Date: 31 May 2011 

Taxi Violence - Long Way From Home

Taxi Violence are back with an unplugged set that includes versions of some of their previous hits plus three new numbers. Some of the tracks are barely recognisable from the original recordings, and guitar parts, melodies and even the keys the songs are in are often completely different from previous versions of the tracks. Perhaps surprisingly, it works, and it still sounds unmistakably like Taxi Violence. Old favourites like Untie Yourself and The Turn are completely revamped and given a new lease on life, and the new songs are great too. The band show with this album that there is more to them than just rocking out, whilst still retaining the essence of the distinctive Taxi Violence sound. This album is certainly more than a stopgap between releases and is definitely worth owning, even if you have their two previous albums.

Rating: 7/10
Top Tracks: Untie Yourself, The Turn, Long Way From Home
Release Date: 9 May 2011