Noel Gallagher / Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds

Chasing Yesterday

Sour Mash

Pop/Rock

Second time around, the Oasis leader sharpens his focus and expands his palette, winding up with a better version of the High Flying Birds' debut.

— Stephen Thomas Erlewine

Of Montreal

Aureate Gloom

Polyvinyl

Pop/Rock

Kevin Barnes sets voluble, confessional lyrics to an edgy soundtrack drawn from New York punk and glam rock for a strutting and volatile song set.

— Marcy Donelson

Purity Ring

Another Eternity

4AD

Pop/Rock

The duo refines its ethereal electropop with songs that are equally challenging and accessible.

— Heather Phares

Kelly Clarkson

Piece by Piece

RCA

Pop/Rock

The original American Idol refreshes her career by heavily indulging in EDM affections while still retaining elements of her spunky persona.

— Stephen Thomas Erlewine

Swervedriver

I Wasn't Born to Lose You

Cobraside

Pop/Rock

On its first album since 1998, this cult shoegaze band sounds as exciting and as dreamy as decades prior.

— Fred Thomas

Steven Wilson

Hand. Cannot. Erase.

Kscope

Pop/Rock

The enigmatic songwriter expertly delivers a moving, eerie concept album that melds classic rock, prog, sophisticated pop, and electronica.

— Thom Jurek

Rixton

Let the Road

Interscope / Polydor

Pop/Rock

The British outfit's debut album of anthemic pop and dance-oriented R&B.

— Matt Collar

Brandi Carlile

The Firewatcher's Daughter

ATO

Pop/Rock

The singer/songwriter gets appealingly messy with this vibrant, beautiful collection.

— Stephen Thomas Erlewine

Moon Duo

Shadow of the Sun

Sacred Bones

Pop/Rock

Now a Moon Trio thanks to the addition of a drummer, the group's fourth studio album is a rejuvenated blast of Suicidal psych pop noise.

— Tim Sendra

Lady Lamb / Lady Lamb the Beekeeper

After

Mom + Pop Music

Pop/Rock

Second proper album from this singer and songwriter mixes up folk, pop, and indie rock with real smarts and palpable joy.

— Mark Deming

Lilly Hiatt

Royal Blue

Normaltown Records

Pop/Rock

Second album from this born songwriter is looser, rocks harder, and better suits her free-spirited personality.

— Mark Deming

Tom Brosseau

Perfect Abandon

Tin Angel

Pop/Rock

The singer/songwriter, his band, and producer John Parish record in an old theater in Bristol, England, around a single microphone.

— Thom Jurek

Ghostpoet / Clare Uchima

Shedding Skin

Play It Again Sam

Rap

More guitars and a live band back the gifted MC, but the lyrics and music are as daring as ever on this third album.

— David Jeffries

Au.Ra

Jane's Lament

Felte

Pop/Rock

Filled with impressionistic dream pop, the duo's debut continues the 2010s trend of great atmospheric bands with Australian roots.

— Heather Phares

Echo Lake

Era

No Pain in Pop

Pop/Rock

The band's second album took two years to record and expands and builds their murky shoegaze dreams into something epic and sweeping.

— Tim Sendra

Yonatan Gat

Director

Joyful Noise

Pop/Rock

Ecstatic and joyfully wandering improvisations on this solo debut from the former Monotonix guitarist.

— Fred Thomas

Gateway Drugs

Magick Spells

Cobraside / Cobraside Distribution, Inc.

Pop/Rock

Debut full-length of dark and explosive garage pop from L.A. psych-rock quartet.

— Fred Thomas

Gill Landry

Gill Landry

ATO

Country, Pop/Rock

The Old Crow Medicine Show guitarist's beautifully understated third solo outing is his best work yet.

— Timothy Monger

Gemma Hayes

Bones + Longing [LP]

Chasing Dragons

Pop/Rock

Another absorbing selection of gentle, melancholic indie rock from the Irish crooner.

— Marcy Donelson

Brodinski

Brava

Parlophone

Electronic, Rap

The French electro producer with two beats on Yeezus makes his debut on this excellent and odd LP.

— David Jeffries

Buxton

Half a Native

New West

Country

The Houston group delivers its most fully realized record yet with a set of lonesome, sun-warmed, experimental roots pop tunes.

— Timothy Monger

Destruction Unit

Live in San Francisco

Castle Face

Pop/Rock

Brutally (and suitably) loud document of this band's psychedelic assault of prescription-strength noise.

— Mark Deming

Jeff Rosenstock

We Cool?

SideOneDummy

Pop/Rock

The exuberant former Bomb the Music Industry! guru delivers another eccentric, lo-fi punk-pop effort.

— Timothy Monger

Jerry Williams

Gone

Real Gone Music

Pop/Rock

One of a kind mixture of rock, soul, and funk from this celebrated blue-eyed soul songwriter.

— Mark Deming

Jon Hopkins

LateNightTales

LateNightTales

Electronic

Continuous dreamlike mix from the Brian Eno and King Creosote collaborator, enhanced with his instrumental piano cover of Yeasayer's "I Remember."

— Andy Kellman

Andrew Combs

All These Dreams

Coin

Pop/Rock

The Nashville-based singer/songwriter's sophomore studio long-player is a winning pastiche of '70s soft rock and modern Americana.

— James Christopher Monger

Stones

Three Blind Mice

Captured Tracks / Flying Nun

Pop/Rock

Compilation of early Flying Nun band's full discography, including a batch of well-preserved live recordings.

— Tim Sendra

The Staple Singers

Freedom Highway Complete: Recorded Live at Chicago's New Nazareth Church

Epic

Religious

Expanded edition of the classic 1965 album that documented the gospel stars during a Chicago church service.

— Mark Deming

George Benson

The Ultimate Collection [Deluxe Edition]

Rhino / WEA

Jazz

Thoughtful 36-track overview that ranges from 1971 through 2013 but is heavy on 1976-1983 hits like "This Masquerade" and "Give Me the Night."

— Andy Kellman

Various Artists

Ultra-High Frequencies: The Chicago Party

Numero

R&B

The Numero label documents an uninhibited, community-driven variety program and the early-'80s recordings of R&B acts who appeared on it.

— Andy Kellman

White Plains

The Deram Records Singles Collection

7T's

Pop/Rock

First-ever release of all the A- and B-sides from the studio-created AM pop sensation White Plains.

— Stephen Thomas Erlewine

The Truth

Who's Wrong? Mod Bedlam 1965-1969

RPM / RPM Records

Pop/Rock

The full recorded legacy of this British vocal duo caught between mod stylings and slick pop productions.

— Mark Deming

Vanity Fare

I Live for the Sun: Complete Recordings 1966-76

RPM / RPM Records

Pop/Rock

Collects 47 songs that tell the tale of a gifted British pop group flexible enough to move with the times over the course of ten years.

— Mark Deming

Lotic

Heterocetera [EP]

Tri Angle

Rap, Electronic

The producer follows her much-loved Damsel in Distress mixtape with some of her hardest-hitting and most sophisticated music yet.

— Heather Phares

Paul Lewis

Mussorgsky: Pictures at an Exhibition; Schumann: Fantasie Op. 17

Harmonia Mundi

Classical

In Lewis' hands, the Pictures feel more modern than Romantic, contributing something that even casual classical music listeners know.

— James Manheim

Alexander Melnikov

Hindemith: Sonatas for...

Harmonia Mundi

Classical

Paul Hindemith's sonatas for alto horn, violoncello, trombone, violin, and trumpet make a balanced if somewhat dry and cerebral program.

— Blair Sanderson

Gloria Cheng

Montage: Great Film Composers and the Piano

Harmonia Mundi

Classical

The difficult modern scores are smoothly rendered by Cheng, who clearly had fun with the project. It's a find for film music fans.

— James Manheim

Alban Gerhardt / Josep Caballé Domenech / Royal Flemish Philharmonic

The Romantic Cello Concerto, Vol. 6: Vieuxtemps, Ysaÿe

Hyperion

Classical

The two Ysäye pieces are exercises in gorgeous melody and easy on the ears in this performance by Gerhardt and the Royal Flemish under Caballé-Domenech.

— James Manheim

Garrick Ohlsson

Scriabin: Complete Poèmes

Hyperion

Classical

Garrick Ohlsson brings the same passion and vision to Scriabin's poèmes that he demonstrated in the piano works of Chopin.

— Blair Sanderson

Vasily Petrenko / Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra

Elgar: Symphony No. 1; Cockaigne Overture

Onyx

Classical

The first in a series of Elgar's orchestral works, performed by Vasily Petrenko and the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra.

— Blair Sanderson

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