Featured New Album Releases

A$AP Rocky

Long.Live.A$AP

RCA

Rap

It's druggy, dark, and dangerous, but this official debut is still stunning and attractive as A$AP comes off as rap's Jim Morrison.

— David Jeffries

Yo La Tengo

Fade

Matador

Pop/Rock

With album number 13, this indie rock institution straddles the line between new, subdued sounds and recalling some of its finest previous hours.

— Fred Thomas

Christopher Owens

Lysandre

Fat Possum Records / Turnstile

Pop/Rock

After splitting Girls, Owens' debut album retreats from that band's over-blown indie rock sound in favor of something more intimate and folk-inspired.

— Tim Sendra

Pete Escovedo

Live from Stern Grove Festival

Concord / Stiletto Flats

Jazz, Latin

The mambo king returns to the Bay Area for a burning, joyful performance with his Latin jazz big band.

— Thom Jurek

Jason Castro

Only a Mountain

Word

Pop/Rock, Religious

The former AmIdol contestant showcases his more mature vocals and songwriting on his second contemporary Christian-themed album.

— Matt Collar

Original TV Soundtrack

Californication, Season 6: Music from the Showtime Series

Entertainment One / eOne / Membran

Pop/Rock, Stage & Screen

Season 6 continues Californication's penchant for pairing its wry, hedonistic story lines with appropriately offbeat musical offerings.

— James Christopher Monger

Holopaw

Academy Songs, Vol. 1

Misra

Pop/Rock

On its fourth album, this Florida-based indie band offers up a set of haunted and highly ornamented conceptual songs set in an all-boys school.

— Fred Thomas

Ziggy Marley

In Concert

Tuff Gong / Tuff Gong Worldwide / V2

Reggae

The reggae artist marks his more organic, more roots-based tour of 2012 with this satisfying live effort.

— David Jeffries

Free Energy

Love Sign

Free Energy

Pop/Rock

The band's second album is much slicker and more corporate rock-influenced (think the Outfield), but is still full of good-time AOR nostalgia.

— Tim Sendra

Teena Marie

Beautiful

Universal

R&B

Only mixed and mastered posthumously, Lady T's 14th and final studio album is another generous addition to a deep discography.

— Andy Kellman

The Bell Laboratory / Pantha du Prince

Elements of Light

Rough Trade

Electronic

Hendrik Weber's collaboration with a Norwegian percussion ensemble is occasionally dazzling, alternately a logical progression and a dead end.

— Andy Kellman

Parquet Courts

Light Up Gold

Mom + Pop Music / What's Yr Rupture?

Pop/Rock

Everyday banality, big-city excitement, intriguing melodies, and the ghosts of '90s slackers result in a modern classic from these punk transplants.

— Fred Thomas

Original Motion Picture Soundtrack

West of Memphis: Voices for Justice [Original Motion Picture Soundtrack]

Legacy / Sony Music

Pop/Rock, Stage & Screen

The soundtrack album for the documentary film West of Memphis, this set is all about resilience and redemption.

— Steve Leggett

Various Artists

12/12/12: The Concert for Sandy Relief

Columbia

Pop/Rock

The charity album 12/12/12: The Concert for Sandy Relief showcases British rock royalty along with Bruce Springsteen and Billy Joel.

— Stephen Thomas Erlewine

Anthony Jeselnik

Caligula

Comedy Central Records

Comedy/Spoken

On his debut, the comedian comes off as a wicked mix of Steven Wright, Christopher Walken, Daniel Tosh, and The Munsters' butler Lurch.

— David Jeffries

Kammerchor Stuttgart / Frieder Bernius

The chief appeal here is that Bernius modulates the choir's sound in response to the range of textures in these works. This is a fine old-school reading of these much-recorded works, with excellent sound from the Church of Sts. Peter and Paul in Gönningen, Germany.

— James Manheim

Capriccio Stravagante / Skip Sempé

Terpsichore: Muse of the Dance

Paradizo

Classical

This collection of Renaissance dances by Praetorius and Brade is an example of historical period practice at its finest.

— Blair Sanderson

Low Culture

Screens

Dirtnap Records

Pop/Rock

This spirited garage punk outing packs all the fun and grit that we've come to expect from the Dirtnap Records roster.

— Jason Lymangrover

Mari Kodama

Beethoven: Piano Sonatas, Opp. 22, 26, 27/1 "Pastorale", 54 & 90

PentaTone Classics

Classical

Kodama is very precise, quite graceful, minimal in the spread of her dynamic range, but making up for that in her ability to pick out very fine shades of articulation.

— James Manheim

Marie-Nicole Lemieux / Alan Curtis

Handel: Giulio Cesare

Naïve

Classical

This merits strong consideration, especially for those looking for a period-instrument performance to go with the classic Beverly Sills reading.

— James Manheim

Ivor Bolton / Salzburg Mozarteum Orchestra

Haydn: "London" Symphonies Nos. 102 & 103

Oehms Classics

Classical

A new recording of Haydn's Symphony No. 102 in B flat major and Symphony No. 103 in E flat major ("Paukenwirbel") might not stir up much interest if encountered on screen or shelf, but this one merits consideration.

— James Manheim