Duran Duran

Paper Gods

Warner Bros.

Pop/Rock

On their appealingly messy 14th album, Duran Duran flirt with their past while keeping an eye on the present.

— Stephen Thomas Erlewine

Gary Clark, Jr.

The Story of Sonny Boy Slim

Warner Bros.

Pop/Rock, Blues

Texas guitarist and songwriter crafts a musically and lyrically ambitious album that embraces blues, rock, R&B, and hip-hop.

— Mark Deming

Slayer

Repentless

Nuclear Blast

Pop/Rock

On their first effort since the death of founding guitarist Jeff Hanneman, Slayer look to their past for inspiration.

— Thom Jurek

Ben Folds

So There

New West

Pop/Rock, Classical

A remarkably Folds-branded set of his piano rock songs with experimental chamber ensemble yMusic and piano concerto with the Nashville Symphony.

— Marcy Donelson

Low

Ones and Sixes

Sub Pop

Pop/Rock

Slowcore innovators use noisy electronics to give their music a new texture, with middling results.

— Mark Deming

Richard Hawley

Hollow Meadows

Parlophone

Pop/Rock

The Sheffield songwriter and guitarist shines a light directly on his craft in an expert collection of intimate songs.

— Thom Jurek

Jewel

Picking Up the Pieces

Concord

Pop/Rock

Jewel returns to the folky sound of her debut, Pieces of You, 20 years after its release.

— Stephen Thomas Erlewine

Leona Lewis

I Am

Def Jam / Island

Pop/Rock

Working without Simon Cowell, the diva harnesses her powerful voice and broadens her sonic palette, resulting in her best album yet.

— Stephen Thomas Erlewine

The Libertines

Anthems for Doomed Youth

Virgin EMI

Pop/Rock

The band's first album in over a decade emphasizes craft and maturity instead of its volatile past.

— Heather Phares

Craig Finn

Faith in the Future

Partisan / PTKF

Pop/Rock

The Hold Steady leader presents his second solo album, where he comes off as an eccentric Springsteen of indie rock.

— Mark Deming

Beirut

No No No

4AD

Pop/Rock

An expectedly instrument-rich, international folk-suffused offering of reflective yet toe-tapping, feel-good tunes.

— Marcy Donelson

Chick Corea / Béla Fleck

Two

Concord / Concord Jazz

Jazz

Compiled from over seven years of concerts, this set offers inspired evidence of two brilliant musicians in intimate dialogue.

— Thom Jurek

The View

Ropewalk

Cooking Vinyl

Pop/Rock

The Scottish outfit's lyrically mature, if still youthfully exuberant fifth album featuring production from the Strokes' Albert Hammond, Jr.

— Matt Collar

Micachu & the Shapes

Good Sad Happy Bad

Rough Trade

Pop/Rock

Based on a secretly recorded jam session, the trio's raw, freewheeling third album includes moments of striking, unsentimental beauty.

— Heather Phares

Gary Burton / Jan Garbarek / Pat Metheny / The SWR Big Band

Hommage à Eberhard Weber

ECM

Jazz

This tribute to the great bassist includes soloists Pat Metheny and Gary Burton backed by the SWR Big Band.

Shemekia Copeland

Outskirts of Love

Alligator / Alligator Records

Blues

Blues belter delivers another set of vocal knockouts, with guest appearances from Billy Gibbons and Robert Randolph.

— Mark Deming

Nero

Between II Worlds

Cherrytree Records / Interscope / Virgin

Electronic

Sophomore effort from electronic duo and vocalist Alana Watson, featuring a mix of cinematic soundscapes and EDM bangers.

— Neil Z. Yeung

Superhumanoids

Do You Feel OK?

Innovative Leisure

Pop/Rock

Second sad-as-can-be album of slick electro-pop from an L.A. trio with a similar outlook and sound as Chvrches.

— Tim Sendra

Plainsong

Reinventing Richard: The Songs of Richard Fariña

Omnivore

Folk, Pop/Rock

U.K. folk group reunites to pay homage to the legacy of songwriter and cult hero Richard Fariña.

— Mark Deming

Marvin Gaye

Volume One: 1961-1965

Motown

R&B

The singer's varied first seven albums for Tamla and Motown, presented in a sharp box set.

— Andy Kellman

Shannon & the Clams

Gone by the Dawn

Hardly Art

Pop/Rock

Tough and tender rock & roll from the California trio, produced with reverby care and played with style and flair.

— Tim Sendra

Cody Simpson

Free

Bananabeat / RED Music Solutions

Pop/Rock

The laid-back Aussie singer/songwriter's most mature and rootsy album to date, featuring production from Cisco Adler.

— Matt Collar

Guilty Simpson

Detroit's Son

Stones Throw

Rap

The veteran underground MC teams with Australian producer Katalyst for his most varied effort to date.

— David Jeffries

Farao

Till It's All Forgotten

Full Time Hobby

Pop/Rock

Mixing experimental rock, folk, and electronics, soundscaper Kari Johnsen offers a refreshing if formidable debut LP as Farao.

— Marcy Donelson

Brett Eldredge

Illinois

EastWest

Country

Contemporary country singer reinforces his sturdy mainstream classicism with flairs of disco, rock, and R&B.

— Stephen Thomas Erlewine

Empress Of

Me

Terrible / XL

Pop/Rock, Electronic

Assertive, self-confident debut album from electro-pop singer/songwriter Lorely Rodriguez.

— Paul Simpson

The Fresh & Onlys

Early Years Anthology

Castle Face

Pop/Rock

Outtakes and stray tracks from the haunted garage rockers' early years, recorded at the same time as their 2008 debut album.

— Tim Sendra

Bring Me the Horizon

That's the Spirit

Columbia

Pop/Rock

The English alt-metal unit dives headfirst into the mainstream on its fifth studio album.

— James Christopher Monger

John Pizzarelli

Midnight McCartney

Concord

Vocal, Jazz

Sweet, mellow after-hours tribute to the solo catalog of McCartney is savvy and satisfying.

— Stephen Thomas Erlewine

The Legendary Shack Shakers

The Southern Surreal [Bonus Tracks]

Alternative Tentacles

Pop/Rock

Nashville-based country-punk band gets stranger and more satisfying on album number eight.

— Mark Deming

Flaco Jiménez

The Complete Arista Recordings

Real Gone Music

Latin

Two of the conjunto king's long out of print 1990s recordings -- one of them Grammy winner -- are compiled here.

— Thom Jurek

Austin Plaine

Austin Plaine

Razor & Tie / Washington Square

Pop/Rock

Earnest and heartfelt folk-pop tales of wanderlust from this Minneapolis native.

— Timothy Monger

Stereophonics

Keep the Village Alive [Deluxe Edition]

Stylus Records

Pop/Rock

Another sturdy set of atmospheric arena rockers from the Welsh band.

— Stephen Thomas Erlewine

Andrés Orozco-Estrada

Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy: Symphonies 4 & 5

Oehms Classics

Classical

Andrés Orozco-Estrada and the Tonkünstler-Orchester give energetic performances of Felix Mendelssohn's "Italian" and "Reformation" symphonies.

— Blair Sanderson

Eighth Blackbird

Filament

Cedille Records

Classical

Filament is eighth blackbird's 2015 release, featuring electrifying chamber works by Bryce Dessner, Nico Muhly, Son Lux, and Philip Glass.

— Blair Sanderson

Marc Soustrot / Malmö Symphony Orchestra

Saint-Saëns: Symphonies, Vol. 3

Naxos

Classical

Marc Soustrot and the Malmö Symphony Orchestra wrap up their series of the symphonies of Saint-Saëns with the Symphony in F major, "Urbs Roma."

— Blair Sanderson

Matt Haimovitz

Orbit: Music for Solo Cello (1945-2014)

PentaTone Classics

Classical

Matt Haimovitz's Orbit is a compilation of tracks from his albums Anthem, Goulash!, After Reading Shakespeare, Figment, and Matteo.

— Blair Sanderson

Leif Segerstam / Turku Philharmonic Orchestra

Sibelius: Pelléas et Mélisande

Naxos

Classical

There might be slightly cleaner versions of the Pélleas et Mélisande music out there, but probably not in a recording that gives the entire work.

— James Manheim

Orlando Consort

Loyset Compère [2014]

Hyperion

Classical

This release from the Orlando Consort should be in good collections of music of the High Renaissance.

— James Manheim

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