Babyface / Toni Braxton

Love, Marriage & Divorce

Def Jam

R&B

The longtime creative partners offer a solid if hard to follow album of duets that concerns a variety of scenes from a breakup.

— Andy Kellman

Broken Bells

After the Disco [Bonus Track]

Columbia

Pop/Rock

The duo's second album offers a more stylish and streamlined version of West Coast melancholy.

— Heather Phares

Nicole Atkins

Slow Phaser

Oh Mercy! / Relativity

Pop/Rock

On her third LP, the New Jersey native collaborates with Swedish producer Tore Johansson and delivers a darkly groovy gem.

— Timothy Monger

Various Artists

This Is the Town: A Tribute to Nilsson, Vol. 1

Royal Potato Family

Pop/Rock

Twenty new interpretations of the songs of Harry Nilsson, one of the best and most distinctive songwriters of his time.

— Mark Deming

Marissa Nadler

July

Sacred Bones

Pop/Rock

This song cycle about the aftermath of a romantic relationship is a near-perfect collaboration between songwriter, performers, and producer.

— Thom Jurek

The Haden Triplets

The Haden Triplets

Third Man Records

Pop/Rock

Harnessing influences such as folk, bluegrass, and jazz, sisters Tanya, Rachel, and Petra produce a wholesome and rich record.

— James Christopher Monger

Maxïmo Park

Too Much Information

Daylighting

Pop/Rock

Mixing cheery indie rock and unsettled electro-pop, the band's fifth album is one of their most experimental -- and promising -- yet.

Behemoth

The Satanist

Metal Blade

Pop/Rock

The relentless tenth album from the long-running Polish blackened death metal act delivers tremendous fury and blatant disregard for subtlety.

The Chain Gang of 1974 / Isom Innis / Kamtin Mohager

Daydream Forever

Warner Bros.

Pop/Rock

On the follow-up to a 2011 debut, this shiny electro-pop album channels the new romantics and '80s soundtrack heroes.

— Fred Thomas

Xiu Xiu

Angel Guts: Red Classroom

Bella Union / Polyvinyl

Pop/Rock

Xiu Xiu's ninth album delivers some of the band's most flamboyantly dark and confrontational music yet.

— Heather Phares

Mark McGuire

Along the Way

Dead Oceans

Pop/Rock, Electronic

Ex-Emeralds guitarist's most ambitious work to date, branching out from solo guitar to include expanded instrumentation.

— Fred Thomas

Wild Moccasins

88 92

New West

Pop/Rock

Houston band delivers a stellar second album with a dreamy, postmodern mix.

— Timothy Monger

Aztec Camera

High Land, Hard Rain [30th Anniversary Edition]

Domino

Pop/Rock

The band's classic 1984 sophisticated pop album gets the deluxe reissue treatment with a second disc of remixes, rarities, and radio sessions.

— Tim Sendra

Young Fathers

Dead

Anticon

Rap

Two tracks from the Scotland hip-hop group are featured on this EP along with remixes from Jayou, Lovers & Gamblers, Ginz, and Randomer.

ceo

Wonderland

Modular / Modular Recordings

Pop/Rock

Second album of wonderfully dreamy, and dreamlike, electronic pop from Swedish dreamer Daniel Berglund, formerly of Tough Alliance.

— Tim Sendra

Ruben Studdard

Unconditional Love

Verve

R&B

Released by Verve and guided by David Foster, the platinum-selling singer's sixth album is possibly his best work yet.

— Andy Kellman

John Butler / John Butler Trio

Flesh + Blood

Because Music

Pop/Rock

JBT's sixth long-player finds the Aussie roots rock/jam band trio looking inward.

— James Christopher Monger

jeremy messersmith

Heart Murmurs

Glassnote Entertainment Group

Pop/Rock

The Minneapolis songsmith's fifth album is full of subtle pop elegance and warmth.

— Timothy Monger

James Brandon Lewis

Divine Travels

Masterworks / OKeh Records

Jazz

The young saxophonist and a top-flight rhythm section deliver an excellent program of gospel-tinged, spiritual jazz and post-bop.

— Thom Jurek

Gardens & Villa

Dunes

Secretly Canadian

Pop/Rock

With producer Tim Goldsworthy (of DFA fame) buffing up the sound, the synthy poppers' second album is a dancey, dreamy delight.

— Tim Sendra

Sunn O))) / Ulver

Terrestrials

Southern Lord Records

Pop/Rock, Avant-Garde

Recorded in a single night and worked on over the span of four years, these pieces perfectly reflect the personae of the collaborators.

— Thom Jurek

Les Claypool's Duo De Twang

Four Foot Shack

ATO

Pop/Rock, Country

Les Claypool and guitarist Bryan Kehoe join up to create a weirder, twangier world on Four Foot Shack.

— Gregory Heaney

Pat Metheny / Pat Metheny Unity Group

Kin <-->

Nonesuch

Jazz

The group's stellar sophomore effort showcases a quintet as informed by lyric feel, and emotional expression as sophistication.

— Thom Jurek

Big Head Todd & the Monsters

Black Beehive

Shout! Factory

Pop/Rock

BHTM have developed their own spin on the blues on this friendly, colorful roots-pop record.

— Stephen Thomas Erlewine

The Tower of Light

The Tower of Light

Felte

Pop/Rock

Focusing on shoegaze's eerie side rather than its prettiness, the Tower of Light delivers an equally unnerving and alluring debut.

— Heather Phares

Cymbals

The Age of Fracture

Tough Love

Pop/Rock

Inspired by Princeton academic Daniel T. Rodger's book, the London band's third album is full of synth-heavy '80s post-punk hooks.

— Matt Collar

Danilo Pérez

Panama 500

Mack Avenue

Jazz, Latin

Pérez explores the folkloric traditions of his homeland with a mix of jazz, classical, and Latin American sounds.

— Matt Collar

Juan Wauters

NAP: North American Poetry

Captured Tracks

Pop/Rock

On his first solo album, this Beets songwriter trades in sloppy punk for gentler, blissfully confused acoustic numbers.

— Fred Thomas

+/- {Plus/Minus}

Jumping the Tracks

Teenbeat

Pop/Rock

After a five-year absence, this New York indie act returns with its most sophisticated and well-crafted album.

— Fred Thomas

Lacrosse

Are You Thinking of Me Every Minute of Every Day?

Tapete Records

Pop/Rock

The formerly happy go lucky Swedish indie poppers' third album is a darker, more nuanced affair that still has plenty of bounce.

— Tim Sendra

Leyla McCalla

Vari-Colored Songs: A Tribute to Langston Hughes

Fat Possum Records / Music Maker

Folk

McCalla's warm, jazzy voice and haunting cello playing take these stark arrangements to deep emotional places.

— Steve Leggett

Tord Gustavsen / Tord Gustavsen Quartet

Extended Circle

ECM

Jazz

The pianist's quartet expands its physicality and harmonic palette on this compelling set without sacrificing its lyric core.

— Thom Jurek

Tony Trischka

Great Big World

Rounder

Country

After nearly six years, the innovative banjoist returns with a stellar cast and an ambitious collection of originals and covers.

— Thom Jurek

Scott H. Biram

Nothin' But Blood

Bloodshot

Pop/Rock

The world's loudest, toughest one-man band sings about sin and salvation with equal gravity on his eighth full-length album.

— Mark Deming

Eric Paslay

Eric Paslay

Capitol / EMI / Universal Music

Country

An eponymous debut album that doesn't try to do too much but deliver catchy songs.

— Steve Leggett

Camper Van Beethoven

Our Beloved Revolutionary Sweetheart [Bonus Tracks]

Omnivore

Pop/Rock

Folk-punk heroes clean up their act but not their attitude on their major-label debut.

— Mark Deming

Camper Van Beethoven

Key Lime Pie

Omnivore

Pop/Rock

Folk-punk heroes clean up their act but not their attitude on their major-label debut.

Otis Redding

The King of Soul

Atlantic

R&B

Covers the arc of Redding's career through 92 tracks arranged chronologically over four discs.

— Steve Leggett

Michael Bloomfield

From His Head to His Heart to His Hands

Columbia / Sony Legacy

Pop/Rock, Blues

Produced and curated by longtime collaborator Al Kooper, this set is the first overarching survey of Bloomfield's woefully short career.

— Steve Leggett

The Traps

Boom Pow Awesome Wow

Castle Face / Revolver USA

Pop/Rock

Barely known during their short lifespan, this album collects most known recordings of this furious early-2000s trash rock trio.

— Fred Thomas

Toby Keith

Double Shot

Show Dog Nashville / Show Dog Universal Music

Country

Double-shot of latter-day Keith records Bullets to the Gun and Clancy's Tavern.

— Stephen Thomas Erlewine

Toomorrow

Toomorrow [Original Soundtrack]

Real Gone Music

Pop/Rock

Rare soundtrack to bungled sci-fi musical, featuring a 22-year-old Olivia Newton-John running afoul of aliens.

— Mark Deming

Avi Avital

Between Worlds

Deutsche Grammophon

Classical

Avital's version of Piazzolla's Fuga y misterio provides fresh evidence of the adaptability of that composer's music to almost any medium.

— James Manheim

Philippe Quint / Lily Maisky

Opera Breve

Avanticlassic

Classical

Listeners get music that has fallen out of fashion: violin versions of opera arias, a Strauss song, and Raff's Cavatina, Op. 85/3.

— James Manheim

Michi Gaigg / L'Orfeo Baroque Orchestra

Mozart: Betulia Liberata

Challenge Classics

Classical

Recommended for deep Mozart collections and for the growing legion of devotees of the Judith story.

— James Manheim

Capella de la Torre / Katharina Bäuml

Luther's Wedding Day

Challenge Classics

Classical

This program is unique, probably covering a greater variety of Renaissance genres than have been heard on any other single recording.

— James Manheim

Rolando Villazón / Antonio Pappano / London Symphony Orchestra

Mozart: Concert Arias

Deutsche Grammophon

Classical

The is an album that should find a place in large Mozart collections and those of Villazón fans as well.

— James Manheim

Gautier Capuçon / Frank Braley

Schubert: Arpeggione

Erato

Classical

Gautier Capuçon demonstrates his great versatility in this program of cello works by Schubert, Schumann, Debussy, and Britten.

— Blair Sanderson

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