The Knife

Shaking the Habitual

Brille

Electronic

After a seven-year break, the Knife return with a fascinating, confrontational album that proves they challenge themselves as much as their fans.

— Heather Phares

Dawes

Stories Don't End

Hub Records / Relativity

Pop/Rock

Keeps the band's classic rock underpinnings intact, yielding a fresh catch of soulful midtempo offerings that focus on substance over style.

Paramore

Paramore

Atlantic / Fueled by Ramen Records

Pop/Rock

Paramore's fourth album, produced by Justin Meldal-Johnson, is the band's transcendent, genre-breaking masterpiece.

— Matt Collar

James Blake

Overgrown

Republic

Electronic

Following his breakthrough 2011 debut, the second album from this dubstep-via-fractured R&B producer cultivates a similarly haunting atmosphere.

— Fred Thomas

Tyga

Hotel California

Cash Money

Rap

Featuring the single "Dope," the former alt-rapper keeps it gangster on his third album.

— David Jeffries

Brad Paisley

Wheelhouse

Arista

Country

Brad Paisley steps far outside his Southern Comfort Zone on the ambitious, messy Wheelhouse.

— Stephen Thomas Erlewine

Anthony Gonzalez / M83 / Joseph Trapanese

Oblivion [Original Motion Picture Soundtrack]

Back Lot Music

Pop/Rock, Stage & Screen

M83's Anthony Gonzalez delivers music fit for a dystopian blockbuster with his first film score.

— Heather Phares

Kurt Vile / Kurt Vile & the Violators

Wakin on a Pretty Daze

Matador

Pop/Rock

With longer songs and more articulate production, the fifth album from this drifty Philly songwriter is his brightest and most complex work to date.

— Fred Thomas

Molly Ringwald

Except… Sometimes

Concord

Vocal

On her debut album, Molly Ringwald takes a stab at the Great American Songbook.

— Stephen Thomas Erlewine

Rokia Traoré

Beautiful Africa

Nonesuch / Warner Bros.

International

The Malian guitar-slinging diva adds rock to her Malian folk and blues on this John Parish-produced winner.

— Thom Jurek

Eric Church

Caught in the Act: Live

EMI / EMI Music Distribution / EMI Nashville

Country

Eric Church's Caught in the Act Live is as hard and heavy as country music gets.

— Stephen Thomas Erlewine

Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark

English Electric

100% Records

Pop/Rock

They're synth pop pioneers themselves, but retro goes retro as the reunited OMD recall Kraftwerk on this 2013 release.

— David Jeffries

Villagers

{Awayland}

Domino

Pop/Rock

A wonderful mixture of subtle electronic influences and warm, folk overtones display Villagers' progression from their Mercury-nominated debut.

— Scott Kerr

Steve Mason

Monkey Minds in the Devil's Time

Domino / Double Six

Pop/Rock

The album deals wonderfully with a host of emotions, from the politically motivated to the personal.

— Daniel Clancy

The Postal Service

Give Up [Deluxe]

Sub Pop

Pop/Rock

Ben Gibbard and Jimmy Tamborello's pretty synth pop side project ultimately became one of the 2000s' most definitive albums.

— Heather Phares

Breakbot

By Your Side

Because Music / Sire

Pop/Rock, Electronic

The Parisian producer's charming debut album is full of disco-pop that's equally glamorous and down to earth.

— Heather Phares

White Fence

Cyclops Reap

Castle Face

Pop/Rock

Another reliably trippy and hooky batch of lo-fi psychedelic rambles from the prolific Tim Presley.

— Tim Sendra

Young Man

Beyond Was All Around Me

Frenchkiss Records

Pop/Rock

On the third and final installment of a trilogy of albums, Young Man captures the tumultuous sound of youth fading into adulthood.

— Fred Thomas

Drowning Pool

Resilience

Eleven Seven

Pop/Rock

The band's first outing with new vocalist Jasen Moreno sounds tailor-made for a UFC takedown montage.

— James Christopher Monger

Face to Face

Three Chords and a Half Truth

Rise Records

Pop/Rock

Twenty-year veteran Trever Keith continues to go strong with his band's trademark So-Cal punk melodies.

— Jason Lymangrover

Device

Device

Warner Bros. / Warner Records

Pop/Rock

Members of Disturbed and Filter team up with a slew of guests for their debut as Device.

— Gregory Heaney

Paul Anka

Duets

Legacy / Sony Legacy

Pop/Rock, Vocal

Paul Anka moves into the modern world with the star-studded Duets.

— Stephen Thomas Erlewine

Tenebrae / Nigel Short

Gesualdo & Victoria

Archiv Produktion

Classical

This is an attractive recording of some music that isn't as well known as it ought it be.

— James Manheim

Todd Rundgren

State

Esoteric Antenna / MVD Audio

Pop/Rock

Todd Rundgren indulges himself on the appealing arty and melodic State

— Stephen Thomas Erlewine

Boney James

The Beat

Concord / Concord Records (Canada)

Jazz

On his return to Concord, the saxophonist melds his love of R&B and Latin music, creating the near perfect soundtrack for summer evenings.

— Thom Jurek

The House of Love

She Paints Words in Red

Cherry Red

Pop/Rock

House of Love make a satisfying return with the sturdy yet gently melodic She Paints Words in Red.

— Stephen Thomas Erlewine

Dave Douglas

Time Travel

Greenleaf Music

Jazz

Douglas leads the same quintet that recorded 2012's folk and hymn-oriented Be Still into more swinging, but not less adventurous, post-bop territory.

— Matt Collar

Deadstring Brothers

Cannery Row

Bloodshot

Country

Did a move from Detroit to Nashville change the sound of the Deadstring Brothers? Nope. They still sound a lot like "Wild Horses"-era Rolling Stones.

— Steve Leggett

Deap Vally

Get Deap!

Cherrytree Records / Interscope

Pop/Rock

Never mind that they met in a crochet class; these two self-professed Valley Girls can rock and make noise with the loudest and brashest out there.

— Steve Leggett

Attacca Quartet

Fellow Traveler: The Complete String Quartet Works of John Adams

Azica Records

Classical

The Attacca Quartet does well with both these contrasting emotional worlds and is undaunted by the considerable technical challenges in the music.

— James Manheim

John Medeski

A Different Time

Masterworks / OKeh Records

Avant-Garde, Jazz

Medeski, Martin & Wood's leader steps out and delivers confident, elegant solo piano debut, played on a vintage French instrument.

— Thom Jurek

Volbeat

Outlaw Gentlemen & Shady Ladies

Universal Republic

Pop/Rock

A new guitarist/producer, and a more integral approach to songwriting and arranging make this their most ambitious and accessible album yet.

— Thom Jurek

Rival Schools

Found

SRC Vinyl / United By Fate

Pop/Rock

The band's long-lost second LP, recorded for Island in the early 2000s, but never officially released until now.

— Tim Sendra

Sarah Vaughan

Divine: The Jazz Albums 1954-1958 [4 CD]

Verve

Jazz, Vocal

This lovingly conceived box set collects all of the jazz sessions Sarah Vaughan did under the Mercury Records umbrella between 1954 and 1958.

— Steve Leggett

Wiley

The Ascent

Warner Bros.

Electronic

Too many anthems and not enough grit makes this the Wiley album to part out rather than play through.

— David Jeffries

Giuliano Carmignola / Ottavio Dantone / Accademia Bizantina

Vivaldi Con Moto

Archiv Produktion / Deutsche Grammophon

Classical

This is, in short, state-of-the-art Vivaldi, and a great deal of fun for listeners of any kind. Extra points for the fun pun in the album title.

— James Manheim

Maria João Pires

Schubert

Deutsche Grammophon

Classical

Pires in a challenging yet sensuous performance of Schubert's two most ambitious sonatas with enough in it to reward many multiple hearings.

— James Manheim

Simón Bolívar String Quartet

SBSQ (Ginastera, Dvorák, Shostakovich)

Deutsche Grammophon

Classical

This performance is plenty exciting, with the young players bringing off the work's unusual sonorities effectively.

— James Manheim

Valentina Lisitsa / Michael Francis / London Symphony Orchestra

Rachmaninov: The Piano Concertos; Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini

Decca

Classical

The best here are the Piano Concerto No. 1 in F sharp minor, Op. 1, and the Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini, Op. 43, where Lisitsa has a rare quality of total domination.

— James Manheim

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