The day job as house band on Jimmy Fallon's TV show has freed The Roots to take the creative chances they've always talked about. Their new album, like the previous one (Undun), depicts the ups and downs of characters trying to scratch a living in an urban pressure cooker of hard knocks and hopelessness. Such types are the norm in hip-hop lore, but as The Roots move away from the traditional rap landscape, it's interesting to see how they use these tropes to address a bigger picture. Musically it's also at odds with its surroundings, full of arty instrumentals, far-out squiggles, broody soundscapes, electro-acoustic noise, gothy pianos and a borrowing from Nina Simone's 1959 Middle of the Night. The Roots as we once knew them have left the building, leaving behind a band well prepared to think and talk along complex lines. theroots.com

Download: The Unraveling, When the People Cheer