Miles Raymer, Reader staff writer

Friendzone, DX James Laurence and Dylan Reznick, aka Friendzone, aren’t the first guys to make a lateral jump from the noise-punk scene to making rap beats, but they’re way more successful at it than most. The chill-as-fuck “Fashion Killa” from A$AP Rocky’s Long.Live.A$AP is their doing, and they produced the entirety of 808s & Dark Grapes III, the latest from Oakland duo Main Attrakionz. They like airy synth pads, lots of reverb, and post-trap beats, which makes their instrumental stuff sound kind of like the rap equivalent of new age music.

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The Outsidaz demo This rap crew from Newark, New Jersey, overlapped with the orbits of a lot of major 90s rappers—the Fugees, Redman, Eminem before he got big—but they never caught their own break. Recently rap blogger par excellence Andrew “Noz” Nosnitsky reposted the group’s revelatory, beyond-grimy demo tape on his Tumblr; it’s got a murky, lo-fi energy, like if Wu-Tang never left the basement, but it’s also surprisingly, addictively listenable. You could easily convince an unsuspecting listener that this is the hottest new rap group coming out of Bushwick.

Jeanine O’Toole, Bare Mutants singer and percussionist

Jean Ritchie She is the Mother of Folk! Jean occasionally plays lap dulcimer (she made and sold them in the 50s), but most of her recordings are Jean’s lone voice, cheeping through songs about death, flowers, and sobbing. The starkness is overwhelming, because you’ve got nowhere to hide from Jean’s feelings—and that is exactly what I’m so taken with.

Shirley Bassey, Bassey: The EMI/UA Years, 1959-1979 Even as a kid, I was intrigued by the powerhouse diva and woman of color who sang the James Bond theme “Goldfinger.” Her artistic gestures shine though even when the material gets corny. This five-CD set includes “I (Who Have Nothing),” “To Give,” “Without a Word,” “The Liquidator” and “This Is My Life (La Vita),” delivered with wailing propulsion—without fail, Bassey brings the drama perfectly. Heartbreak a strong suit . . . the thematic mother of Mary J. Blige never half-steps.