Featured New Album Releases

Promise of the Real / Neil Young

The Monsanto Years [CD/DVD]

Reprise / Warner Bros.

Pop/Rock

Backed by a younger, wilier band, Young rages against all the destructive forces in modern life.

— Stephen Thomas Erlewine

Miguel

Wildheart

RCA

R&B

Less pop-oriented than his hit second album, a Los Angeles-fueled set that revels in grinding guitars, erotic wordplay, and sludgy tempos.

— Andy Kellman

The Françafrique Children's Choir / Refused

Freedom

Epitaph

Pop/Rock

On their first album in 18 years, the Swedish punks hit hard but sound as smart and imaginative as ever.

— Mark Deming

Bilal

In Another Life

eOne

R&B

The soul dynamo's most stimulating work yet, produced entirely by psychedelic soul specialist Adrian Younge.

— Andy Kellman

Joy Williams

Venus

Columbia / Sensibility / Sony Music Entertainment

Pop/Rock

The former Civil Wars singer returns to the solo stage with an emotionally poignant pop album.

— Timothy Monger

LA Priest

Inji

Domino

Pop/Rock

Former Late of the Pier frontman returns with musically hazy but emotionally direct experimental pop.

— Heather Phares

Vince Staples

Summertime '06

Def Jam

Rap

With Clams Casino and NoID, the West Coast rapper makes his official debut with this excellent double LP.

— David Jeffries

The Internet

Ego Death

Columbia

R&B

The singular R&B band's third and best album exhibits Sydney Bennett's refined, still-candid songwriting.

— Andy Kellman

The Legends

It's Love

Cascine

Pop/Rock

After a long break, Johan Angergård's solo project returns with a synth-heavy, thoughtfully melancholic look at breakups and getting older.

— Tim Sendra

Lloyd Cole / Lloyd Cole and the Commotions

Collected Recordings: 1983-1989

Polydor

Pop/Rock

Five discs of brilliant-to-great sophisticated guitar pop, some of the best of the '80s, with 18 previously unreleased songs.

— Tim Sendra

Easton Corbin

About to Get Real

Mercury / Mercury Nashville

Country

The low-key, amiable country singer gets a little bit softer and slicker on his third album.

— Stephen Thomas Erlewine

Self Defense Family

Heaven Is Earth

Deathwish

Pop/Rock

Strong, minimal guitar-based backing meets smart, fractured rants about the state of the world.

— Mark Deming

Matt Pond PA

The State of Gold

Doghouse

Pop/Rock

Matt Pond and his crew crackle with a new energy on their pleasingly slick tenth album.

— Timothy Monger

Moby

Hotel Ambient

Little Idiot

Electronic

The substantive all-ambient bonus disc from a limited edition of 2005's Hotel, re-released on various formats with bonus tracks.

— Andy Kellman

Matchess

Somnaphoria

Trouble in Mind

Pop/Rock

Chicago-based experimental musician Whitney Johnson expands her otherworldly, hypnotic sound on her second LP as Matchess.

— Paul Simpson

Good Old War

Broken Into Better Shape

Nettwerk

Pop/Rock

The Philly-based indie pop duo makes a bid for commercial glory on its fourth studio long-player.

— James Christopher Monger

Stevie Stone

Malta Bend

Strange Music

Rap

Kevin Gates, Tech N9ne, and Ces Cru help the St. Louis rapper deliver this excellent biographical effort.

— David Jeffries

Mutoid Man

Bleeder

Sargent House

Pop/Rock

On their debut full-length, this outsider power trio blur the genres between extreme music and deliver a stone killer of an album.

— Thom Jurek

Jaill

Brain Cream

Burger Records

Pop/Rock

The jangle pop outfit's fourth LP offers plenty of garage hooks, but its more introspective side is the real attraction.

— Timothy Monger

The Velvet Teen

All Is Illusory

Top Shelf Records

Pop/Rock

First album in nine years from this indie pop trio is vast, smart, carefully constructed, and too much for its own good.

— Mark Deming

Twin Danger

Universal

Jazz, Pop/Rock

Sultry, noirish, jazz-influenced debut featuring vocalist Vanessa Bley and longtime Sade saxophonist/guitarist Stuart Matthewman.

— Matt Collar

311

Found in Far Away Places

Fearless Records

Pop/Rock

A flurry of elliptical, palm-muted riffing as steeped in power metal as it is post-hardcore.

— James Christopher Monger

Cut Up

Forensic Nightmares

Metal Blade

Pop/Rock

The rhythm section of Sweden's veteran death metal outfit Vomitory debut their punishing new project with this album.

— Thom Jurek

Ken Andrews / Greg Edwards / Failure / Kellii Scott

The Heart Is a Monster

Failure

Pop/Rock

The band's first studio album in nearly 20 years feels most alive when it's pushing against the traditional alt-rock framework.

— James Christopher Monger

Goblin Rebirth

Relapse Records

Pop/Rock

New group featuring two longtime members of the legendary Italian prog rock band, playing themes to an imaginary horror flick.

— Mark Deming

Radioactivity

Silent Kill

Dirtnap Records

Pop/Rock

Smart, hooky, and decisively rocking, this second album from the former Marked Men is an impressive step forward.

— Mark Deming

Senses Fail

Pull the Thorns from Your Heart

Pure Noise

Pop/Rock

The veteran post-hardcore act offers up one of its most diverse and emotionally resonant efforts yet.

— Timothy Monger

Win Win

Primaries

Arts & Crafts

Pop/Rock

The trio of Chris Devlin, XXXChange, and Ghostdad dives unpredictably into psych-rock for a mix of past, present, man, machine, experimental, and pop.

— Marcy Donelson

Alan Gilbert / New York Philharmonic

Carl Nielsen: The Symphonies & Concertos

Dacapo

Classical

Nielsen's six symphonies and three concertos receive the audiophile treatment in this box set from Alan Gilbert and the New York Philharmonic.

— Blair Sanderson

Jeannette Sorrell / Apollo's Fire

Sugarloaf Mountain: An Appalachian Gathering

Avie

Classical

This should match the classical top-ten chart performance of its predecessor and continue to gain international attention for this forward-thinking group.

— James Manheim

Håkon Samuelsen / Mari Samuelsen

James Horner: Pas de Deux

Mercury Classics

Classical

Horner can hold his own, and listeners who imagine sun-drenched meadows while listening to Pas de Deux will have a very good time with it.

— James Manheim

Gidon Kremer / Kremerata Baltica

New Seasons - Glass, Pärt, Kancheli, Umebayashi

Deutsche Grammophon

Classical

This may not be to the taste of all Glass lovers, but it's an unusual minimalist selection, performed to the Kremerata Baltica's usual sterling standards.

— James Manheim

Phantasm

William Lawes: The Royal Consort

Linn Records

Classical

Dreyfus catches the music's experimental, almost revolutionary quality. Highly recommended; listen to it in a dark room with all the shades pulled down.

— James Manheim

Zefiro / Alfredo Bernardini

Handel: The Musick for the Royal Fireworks

Arcana

Classical

Bernardini brings out subtle balances involving the strings and the quieter oboes and bassoons. Another attraction is the sound, recorded in an Italian Jesuit college cloister.

— James Manheim