Goldfrapp, Head First (Mute) Whereas Goldfrapp’s early material was introspective and cool, the band’s fifth album just might melt the dancefloor and everyone trampling it. Head First is a giddy, 80s-inspired dance offering that, if not exactly reinventing the disco ball, is a blissful shout-out to ABBA’s heavily stylized, grandiose glam. Lead singer Alison Goldfrapp exercises her Olympian voice with throaty gymnastics, only occasionally overshadowed by partner Will Gregory’s pounding bass line. Songs such as “Believer” and “Alive” provide Saturday Night Fever-worthy moments, but the jubilant and kitschy “Rocket” is the album’s gold standard.—Ashley Simpson

Previously: Le Tigre! Sia! Goldfrapp! Ladytron! And now Christina Aguilera, like a ventriloquist, has managed to stay tight-lipped while intimating how she's also collaborated with Santigold and M.I.A.. But specific details about the Best Album Ever otherwise remain cloudy. We don't even have a release date, although a viral should be forthcoming -- it usually is.

The U.K. chanteuse takes off her disco vixen guise and slips into something decidedly more intimate.