If you know Talib Kweli—the socially minded Brooklyn emcee recognized more for his vocal abilities than his CD sales—then Prisoner of Conscious is a gimme. If you don’t know the enormously gifted Kweli, his first solo record in three years is a tougher sell. There’s a laundry list of cameos and prodigious lyricism, but the songs rarely move. Big tracks like single “Upper Echelon” are flat. Instead, the standout beats have some old-school crackle and POC is most interesting when Kweli can relax and just, you know, be brilliant.

Though not quite the 40-song suitcase hinted at after Rilo Kiley “broke up” a few years ago, RKives is a solid 16-track collection of unreleased and B-sides material. While the pop sound doesn’t feel as dated as the years since Rilo Kiley’s 2007 final album would indicate, it nestles comfortably within the band’s body of work. Perhaps of greatest interest to fans disappointed when the group fell apart, RKives manages to showcase the hooks and emphatic vocals that helped the band find a wider audience at one time; a somewhat random but enjoyable and welcome compilation.

The sophomore album from LA electronic musician Will Wiesenfeld, known to us as Baths, is decidedly glum. And it’s no wonder. Following the success of his acclaimed debut album, Cerulean, Baths spent the better part of a year touring and then in 2011 was stricken with a nasty bout of E. coli, which left him bedridden for months. His sickness, justifiably, comes through on Obsidian, like the downtempo opening track “Worsening” or the ultra dark and gritty electro dirge “Earth Death.” But with or without the ailment, Obsidian’s tone is intentional, according to Baths himself: “I hope people understand that I’m not the depressed, suicidal and death-obsessed person the record may paint me as...

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