As we move toward the end of the first quarter of 2016 – how time flies –it is clear some of the best records have been unexpected, for better or worse.Kendrick Lamar's new album came out of nowhere to be one of the better surprises. David Bowie's “Blackstar” was and is impressive and definitely the saddest, given that it is his swansong. After endless rumors, Kanye West and Rhianna both chose to release via Tidal. Among the other well-known names, we had seen returns by Iggy Pop, Elton John and Willie Nelson. Bonnie Raitt, Lucinda Williams and Loretta Lynn also are back with strong music, although as ever some of the most exciting comes from relatively new acts such as Norwegian singer Aurora and British bands the 1975 and Savages.The so-swift follow-up by Lamar is particularly welcome. The rapper’s previous release, “To Pimp a Butterfly” was one of the best of last year. That was a highly crafted collection with the single “Alright” one of its many highlights. This new one is simply known as “Untitled Unmastered,” and it lives up to its name, being in essence a collection of unreleased material that Lamar put together while constructing its predecessor. From a lesser act, such a collection would probably just sound like a 34-minute ragbag of ideas or offcuts that didn’t make the grade first time around. None of the eight tracks have proper titles, which makes it none too easy to cite them, but for all that, they burn with anger right from the start. There are dire warnings of “death faces screaming in agony," planes falling out of the sky and trains jumping off the track. Not to everyone’s taste admittedly. This is the sort of stark opening not heard since Public Enemy’s “Fear of a Black Planet.”Bowie's final studio release was given tragic impetus and irony with his death only two days later, while West’s “The Life of Pablo” lost some momentum because of its method of release and some of the comments of its creator which in their amusing egocentricity detracted from its genuine merits. Both are the subject of separate reviews. West’s release had been trailed by him for months in the same way that Rhianna had been talking up her own. Whatever West was trying to do, the Barbican singer wanted to move away from the totally commercial dance vibe of her earlier hits, towards something more subtle or just experimental. Her serious intent was obvious even before it came out with the track “Work” featuring rapper Drake.Elton John has been returning to his 1970s heyday frequently – in a Madison Square Garden concert in 2011 among many, the set list looked not so dissimilar to that he was espousing back in 1974. “Wonderful Crazy Night” shows his lighter side, working with his live band, flashing the trademark gap-toothed smile and firing up material that has echoes of everything from “Crocodile Rock” to much of “Madman Across the Water.” This is his 33rd studio album, give or take a few, and while it isn’t there with those 1970s peaks such as “Goodbye Yellow Brick Road,” “Caribou” or “Tumbleweed Connection,” it is better than “Victim of Love” or some of his least memorable works.Elton John is 68 and so in fact is Iggy Pop. The former Stooge leader is hinting that his latest, out this week, “Post-Pop Depression,” may be his last. The record features Josh Homme as well as the Arctic Monkeys drummer Matt Helders. Pop adopts his now common crooning vocal inflection fused with garage rock for numbers such as “Break Into Your Heart.”Willie Nelson is now 82, and has earned the right to do exactly what he once as he does with the latest, “Summertime: Willie Nelson Sings Gershwin.” One can spot echoes of “Brian Wilson Reimagines Gershwin” here. A curio, not an essential purchase.“All My Demons Greeting Me as a Friend” by Aurora is an art-rock record which has won breathless comparisons to Björk and Lorde. She isn’t there yet, but this 19-year-old has got some way to grow. Aurora had already attracted attention with a cover of Oasis’s “Half the World Away” used in a commercial and it is added here on the deluxe edition.Just a brief mention at the end to London band Savages, whose 2016 collection “Adore Life” owes a debt to punk 40 years ago, and the 1975, which revives some of the spirit of Glam Rock too. It deserves a mention if only for the album title: “I Like It When You Sleep, for You Are So Beautiful Yet So Unaware of It.” The record has been at number one on both sides of the Atlantic with the track “Love Me” as a funky standout.
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