Featured New Album Releases

Justin Bieber

Believe Acoustic

Island

Pop/Rock

The singer's second acoustic-oriented release features new versions of eight songs from Believe, as well as three new songs.

— Andy Kellman

Local Natives

Hummingbird

Frenchkiss Records

Pop/Rock

Local Natives' more introspective and lyrical follow-up to their 2009 debut, Gorilla Manor.

— Matt Collar

Mice Parade

Candela

BWSCD / FatCat Records

Pop/Rock

One of the most accessible chapters in Mice Parade's travelogue of electronic, indie, and global influences.

— Heather Phares

Matthew Shipp

Greatest Hits

Thirsty Ear

Jazz

While not a "greatest-hits" set in the conventional sense, this is a fine retrospective of Matthew Shipp's work on Thirsty Ear.

— Thom Jurek

Fleetwood Mac

Rumours [35th Anniversary Deluxe Edition]

Warner Bros.

Pop/Rock

Timeless soft rock soap opera and one of the highest selling--and most satisfying--pop albums ever.

— Patrick Sullivan

Tegan and Sara

Heartthrob

Vapor / Warner Bros.

Pop/Rock

The duo turn toward the pop mainstream without sacrificing their unique style or any emotional depth in the process.

— Tim Sendra

Miles Davis / Miles Davis Quintet

The Bootleg Series, Vol. 2 [Live in Europe, 1969]

Masterworks / Sony Music

Jazz

The second volume in the Miles Davis Bootleg series documents his great "lost quintet" reinventing jazz at fever pitch.

— Thom Jurek

Eric Burdon

'Til Your River Runs Dry

ABKCO Records / Universal

Pop/Rock

Animal Eric Burdon makes a tough, flinty comeback with 'Til Your River Runs Dry.

— Stephen Thomas Erlewine

Emmy Rossum

Sentimental Journey

Warner Bros.

Vocal

The actress/singer's sophomore album features a selection of standards from the '20s to the '60s.

— Matt Collar

Ben Harper / Charlie Musselwhite

Get Up! [Deluxe Edition]

Concord

Blues

The pairing of these two talents under the ragged blues flag yields rough, rowdy, good-time tunes played with fire and verve.

— Thom Jurek

Tomahawk

Oddfellows

Ipecac

Pop/Rock

The metal supergroup returns to the hard-edged, riff-heavy sound of its 2001 breakout with new bassist Trevor Dunn.

— Jason Lymangrover

Ducktails

The Flower Lane

Domino

Pop/Rock

Moving away completely from muddy instrumental sounds to high-gloss pop, every element of the project is stepped up on this third full-length.

— Fred Thomas

Dead Prez

Information Age [Deluxe Edition]

Krian Music Group

Rap

Brooklyn's militantly minded hip-hop duo returns with an album that's as political, but much more pop, than previous efforts.

— David Jeffries

Boduf Songs

Burnt Up on Re-Entry

Southern

Pop/Rock

Mat Sweet incorporates interstellar guitars and robotic electronics into some of Boduf Songs' most elaborate, hypnotic music.

— Heather Phares

Amor de Días

The House at Sea

Merge

Pop/Rock

The duo's sophomore album is a more subdued, yet just as beautiful and affecting, slice of indie pop melancholia.

— Tim Sendra

Indians

Somewhere Else

4AD

Pop/Rock

Danish one-man band specializes in quirky and morose indie pop that's been filtered through the wide angle lens of new wave.

— James Christopher Monger

Andrea Bocelli

Passione

Verve

Vocal, Classical

The Italian tenor's 14th studio album features romantic Mediterranean love songs and guest spots from Jennifer Lopez and Chris Botti.

— Matt Collar

Hatebreed

The Divinity of Purpose

Razor & Tie

Pop/Rock

The sixth outing from hardcore heroes Hatebreed is as reliable as black electrical tape and as punishing as the juice it shields.

— James Christopher Monger

Bleeding Rainbow

Yeah Right

Kanine Records

Pop/Rock

A new band name, expanded lineup, and move toward a guitar-mangling sound mark serious changes for this noise pop act.

— Fred Thomas

The Ruby Suns

Christopher

Sub Pop

Pop/Rock

A collection of brilliantly produced electro-pop, this fourth album moves even further from the Ruby Suns' woolly beginnings.

— Fred Thomas

The Saturdays

Chasing the Saturdays

Island / Mercury

Pop/Rock

The all-girl Brit group's first EP released in the United States features their dance-oriented R&B.

— Matt Collar

The Red Rippers

Over There... And Over Here

Light in the Attic Records / Paradise of Bachelors

Country, Pop/Rock

A collector's grail for 30 years, the lone document by the Red Rippers is an authentic dose of American combat rock.

— Thom Jurek

Adam Green / Binki Shapiro

Adam Green & Binki Shapiro

Rounder

Pop/Rock

Heartbroken modern-day take on the duets of Nancy & Lee, with some sunshine pop and folk-rock added to the mix.

— Tim Sendra

Basshunter

The Early Bedroom Sessions

Ultra

Electronic

Two of the EDM superstar celebrity DJ's early efforts are collected on this archival set.

— David Jeffries

Kris Kristofferson

Feeling Mortal

KK Records

Country, Pop/Rock

At age 76, Kris Kristofferson offers a collection of excellent songs that reflect on a life fully lived and face down eternity.

— Thom Jurek

Buke and Gase

General Dome

Brassland

Pop/Rock

Buke and Gase find a nice balance between abrasiveness and approachability on their sophomore effort, General Dome.

— Gregory Heaney

Chris Potter

The Sirens

ECM

Jazz

Chris Potter's auspicious debut for ECM is based on the eternal human themes in Homer's poetic myth, The Odyssey.

— Thom Jurek

Freddie McGregor

Di Captain

VP Records

Reggae

This has the warmth and wisdom McGregor fans adore with plenty of highlights to place on the legend's top shelf.

— David Jeffries

Charlie Wilson

Love, Charlie

RCA

R&B

The funk heavyweight's most subdued release yet, this nonetheless offers a dozen lively love songs, all of which were written with his wife Mahin.

— Andy Kellman

Billy Joe Shaver

The Complete Columbia Recordings

Columbia / Razor & Tie / Real Gone Music

Country, Pop/Rock

Billy Joe Shaver's complete '80s recordings for Columbia are rounded up on this terrific two-disc set from Real Gone.

— Stephen Thomas Erlewine

Brett Dennen

The Definitive Collection

Dualtone Music

Pop/Rock

This set collects key tracks from all four of Brett Dennen's albums, making it the perfect introduction to this odd and definitely singular talent.

— Steve Leggett

Ole Kiilerich

Frederic Rzewski: The People United Will Never Be Defeated!

Bridge

Classical

Frederic Rzewski's The People United Will Never Be Defeated! is a set of 36 variations for piano on a Chilean mass song and Kiilerich has an attractive obsessive quality that does the work good.

— James Manheim

Dale Watson / Dale Watson & His Lonestars

El Rancho Azul

Red House Records

Country

In a fine new collection of hardcore honky tonk, rockabilly, and Western swing, Dale Watson sticks to his guns.

— Thom Jurek

Frontier Ruckus

Eternity of Dimming

Quite Scientific

Pop/Rock

Eternity of Dimming is a beautiful, nostalgic hymn to time and place, a long suite of songs that falls together like a quilt of memories.

— Steve Leggett

Jeffrey Osborne

A Time for Love

Saguaro Road / Time Life / Time/Life Music

R&B

Backed by George Duke, Christian McBride, John Roberts, and others, the soul great delivers a loose and entertaining set of reinterpretations.

— Andy Kellman

Jeremy Pelt

Water and Earth

HighNote Records

Jazz

On his fourth HighNote date, trumpeter/composer Jeremy Pelt employs a new band playing a very different brand of jazz.

— Thom Jurek

Sonny Smith

100 Records, Vol. 3

Polyvinyl

Pop/Rock

The third collection of tracks from Smith's 100 Records project, where he invented 100 bands in various styles and 7" singles for each.

— Tim Sendra

The The

Cinéola, Vol. 2: Moonbug [Original Soundtrack]

Cineola / Lazarus Records

Stage & Screen, Pop/Rock

John Zorn

FilmWorks XXV: City of Slaughter/Schmatta/Beyond the Infinite

Tzadik Records

Classical, Jazz, Stage & Screen

The 25th -- and possibly final -- volume in the FilmWorks series consists of striking solo piano pieces for three projects.

— Thom Jurek

Kyle Kinane

Whiskey Icarus

Comedy Central Records

Comedy/Spoken

Stealing the track list from Kiss' album Destroyer, Whiskey Icarus is the hilarious combination of dude and discernment its title implies.

— David Jeffries

Diego Fasolis / Max Emanuel Cencic / Concerto Köln / Franco Fagioli / Philippe Jaroussky

It's easy to see even at this late date why Metastasio's libretto appealed to opera composers and operagoers so much. It's a big work, with sober processionals and spectacular arias for almost all the characters and French countertenor Philippe Jaroussky has never been in better voice.

— James Manheim

Maxim Vengerov / Itamar Golan

Bach & Beethoven

Wigmore Hall Live

Classical

The bottom line is that, although this is a violin recital on a par with many others, Vengerov fans will want to have it, for it is a fascinating document in the creative life of a major virtuoso.

— James Manheim

Sam Dees

The Show Must Go On

Real Gone Music

R&B

This is the first appearance of Sam Dees' 1975 LP The Show Must Go On in digital form, and it's an absolute gem.

— Steve Leggett

Domingo "Sam" Samudio

Hard and Heavy

Real Gone Music

Pop/Rock

The Tom Dowd-produced, Duane Allman-supported album by Sam the Sham.

— Stephen Thomas Erlewine

Westminster Cathedral Choir / Martin Baker

Miserere

Hyperion

Classical

This collection offers a good example of the choir's style. It branches out from the traditional Renaissance motet repertory in two directions, back to plainchant and forward to a group of 20th century pieces written in emulation, but not in imitation, of strict Renaissance style.

— James Manheim

Thomas Fey / Heidelberger Sinfoniker

Haydn: Complete Symphonies, Vol. 18

Haenssler / Haenssler Classics

Classical

German historical-performance specialist Thomas Fey has issued a complete Haydn symphony cycle at a leisurely pace, taking time to craft detailed readings of each piece and finding much that is new in many of them.

— James Manheim

Christian Gerhaher / Daniel Harding

Romantische Arien

Sony Classical

Classical

Gerhaher's voice has many surface pleasures, but his accomplishment here is to make the listener want to undertake a fresh hearing of the operas involved. A fine outing from the on-a-roll Sony Classical label, nicely recorded.

— James Manheim