Jill Scott

Woman

Atlantic / Warner Bros.

R&B

So varied that it resembles a compilation, the singer and songwriter's fifth album nonetheless contains several of the year's best R&B cuts.

— Andy Kellman

Kasey Chambers

Bittersweet

Sugar Hill / Essence

Country, Pop/Rock

Australian singer and songwriter goes it (relatively) alone, and delivers a dozen great songs and heartfelt performances.

— Mark Deming

Lamb of God

VII: Sturm und Drang

Epic

Pop/Rock

The band's seventh studio long-player, the cathartic Sturm und Drang arrives at the end of a tumultuous three-year period for the veteran metal outfit.

— James Christopher Monger

Public Enemy

Man Plans God Laughs

Enemy Records / Spit Digital Recordings

Rap

A hard, lean, fast and furious record from an older, wiser, but not more mellow PE.

— Stephen Thomas Erlewine

Ducktails

St. Catherine

Domino

Pop/Rock

Producer Rob Schnapf (Elliott Smith, Beck) brings a touch of warmth and clarity to Matt Mondanile's sophisti-psych tunes on Ducktails' fifth LP.

— Marcy Donelson

Sleaford Mods

Key Markets

Harbinger Sound

Pop/Rock

The duo follows Divide and Exit's success with grimy rants that might be even more outraged and contrarian.

— Heather Phares

Warren Haynes

Ashes & Dust

Concord

Pop/Rock

The Gov't Mule and former Allman Brothers Band guitarist indulges his singer/songwriter side in collaboration with Railroad Earth.

— Thom Jurek

Watkins Family Hour

Watkins Family Hour

Family Hour Records

Pop/Rock, Country, Folk

The album debut of Sean and Sara Watkins' longstanding L.A. variety show is filled with inspired performances and eclectic covers.

— Timothy Monger

Gwenno / Gwenno Saunders

Y Dydd Olaf

Heavenly

Pop/Rock

The ex-Pipette returns with a lovely solo album built on vintage synths and featuring dreamy songs inspired by sci-fi and sung in Welsh and Cornish.

— Tim Sendra

Locrian

Infinite Dissolution

Relapse Records

Pop/Rock

With an ever expanding sonic palette, this trio deliver a killer soundtrack for the end of humanity's existence.

— Thom Jurek

Omar Souleyman

Bahdeni Nami

Monkeytown

International

On his sophomore studio effort, the Syrian dabke master teams with a slew of Western producers with solid results.

— Thom Jurek

Jessie Jones

Jessie Jones

Burger Records

Pop/Rock

Solo debut from former Feeding People vocalist is a beautifully realized set of spaced-out but engaging pop and rock.

— Mark Deming

Strange Wilds

Subjective Concepts

Sub Pop

Pop/Rock

Fast, loud, and grimy debut album from these Olympia, Washington punks who threaten to bring back grunge and make you like it.

— Mark Deming

Vinyl Williams

Into

Company Records

Pop/Rock

Relaxed inner space jams and soft rock gems, this time much more focused and hooky than on Williams' debut.

— Tim Sendra

Eleni Mandell

Dark Lights Up

Yep Roc

Pop/Rock

The retro-styled songwriter and vocalist splits the difference between romance and realism and manages to make it fun.

— Mark Deming

Eleventh Dream Day

Works for Tomorrow

Thrill Jockey

Pop/Rock

An amazing feat: an album that rocks as hard as a band's 30-year-old debut.

— Sean Westergaard

Field Music

Music for Drifters [Silver Vinyl]

Memphis Industries

Pop/Rock, Stage & Screen

British pop outfit's kinetic instrumental score to the landmark 1929 North Sea fishing documentary.

— Matt Collar

Goldberg / Barry Thomas Goldberg

Misty Flats

Future Days

Pop/Rock

A lost loner-folk gem from a young singer/songwriter who perfectly captured the feeling of being young and adrift in 1974.

— Timothy Monger

Grave Babies

Holographic Violence

Hardly Art

Pop/Rock

Third album from the Seattle-based goth group is a huge leap forward in terms of fidelity and production values.

— Paul Simpson

Joe Satriani

Shockwave Supernova

Sony Music

Pop/Rock

Reinvigorated by the rhythm section of the Aristocrats, the veteran shredder turns in a lively, invigorating instrumental set.

— Stephen Thomas Erlewine

Loop

Array 1

ATP

Pop/Rock

An EP-length "bulletin" of searing space rock and ominous ambience from Robert Hampson and company, the band's first release since 1990.

— Andy Kellman

Kool Keith / L'Orange

Time? Astonishing!

Mello Music Group

Rap

Veteran outsider rapper meets underground Nashville producer, and this time the beats are weirder than the rhymes.

— David Jeffries

Mocky

Key Change

Heavy Sheet

Electronic

The Canadian producer and multi-instrumentalist turns in a lovingly arranged, jazz-inspired gem with his fifth LP.

— Timothy Monger

Prince Royce

Double Vision

RCA

Latin

With Pitbull, Jennifer Lopez, and Snoop Dogg as guests, the bachata superstar's first primarily English album is a sexy success.

— David Jeffries

Bill Wyman

Back to Basics

Proper

Blues

Returning from a long absence, the former Stones bassist settles in for a laid-back collection of gently rocking originals.

— Stephen Thomas Erlewine

Creeping Pink

Mirror Woods

Castle Face

Pop/Rock

Debut album by the tape-damaged psych-pop solo project of Burnt Ones' Landon Caldwell.

— Paul Simpson

Simone Young / Philharmoniker Hamburg

Bruckner: Sinfonie No. 9

Oehms Classics

Classical

With Bruckner's Ninth Symphony, Simone Young and the Hamburg Philharmonic present the penultimate volume in their complete cycle on Oehms.

— Blair Sanderson

Mark Elder / Hallé Orchestra

Vaughan Williams: Pastoral Symphony; Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas Tallis; Five Variants of "Dives and Lazarus"; Overture "The Wasps"

Hallé

Classical

The Hallé and Elder are ideal Vaughan Williams interpreters. These are superb performances in which the composer's intentions seem to live anew.

— James Manheim

Iveta Apkalna

Bach, Glass

Oehms Classics

Classical

Iveta Apkalna presents a program on two CDs of organ works by J.S. Bach and transcriptions of music by Philip Glass.

— Blair Sanderson

Tobias Berndt / Alexander Fleischer

Fanny Hensel: Goethe-Lieder

Querstand

Classical

This recording was something of a labor of love for Berndt and Fleischer, who take care with each individual song and give the music their best.

— James Manheim

Ulf Wallin / Roland Pöntinen

Liszt: Works for Violin and Piano

BIS

Classical

Franz Liszt wrote a handful of pieces for violin and piano, which Ulf Wallin and Roland Pöntinen present on this hybrid SACD from BIS.

— Blair Sanderson

Monica Huggett / Portland Baroque Orchestra

J.S. Bach: Concertos for One, Two and Three Violins

Portland Baroque Media

Classical

Anyone who has enjoyed Huggett's work in the past should get something out of this rather adventurous group of performances.

— James Manheim

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