Deerhunter

Fading Frontier

4AD

Pop/Rock

Recorded in the wake of an accident that hospitalized Bradford Cox, the band's meditations on seizing the moment are some of their finest music yet.

— Heather Phares

Coheed and Cambria

The Color Before the Sun

300 Entertainment / Atlantic / Elektra / Warner Bros. / Warner Music

Pop/Rock

The New York band's unusually accessible eighth album is their first outside of the epic Amory Wars saga.

— Thom Jurek

Demi Lovato

Confident

Hollywood / Hollywood Records (UK) / Island / Polydor

Pop/Rock

A messy, colorful magpie pop album that touches upon every modern trend while seeming like the work of nobody outside Demi Lovato.

— Stephen Thomas Erlewine

Neon Indian

Vega Intl. Night School

Mom + Pop Music

Pop/Rock, Jazz

A captivating fever dream of disco, electro, and synth-pop that captures the fleeting dazzle of nightlife.

— Heather Phares

Majical Cloudz

Are You Alone?

Matador

Pop/Rock

A second album of unfailingly beautiful, relentlessly longing, sparse electronic song from the Montreal duo.

— Marcy Donelson

BØRNS

Dopamine

Interscope / Polydor / Rezidual Records

Pop/Rock

Dreamy debut full-length from young Michigan native with a love for glimmering disco, funk, and glam rock.

— Neil Z. Yeung

Son Little

Son Little

Anti-

Pop/Rock, R&B, Blues

Rich and eclectic fusion of blues, soul, R&B, and hip-hop from writer, producer, and multi-instrumentalist Aaron Livingston.

— Mark Deming

Dan Friel

Life

Thrill Jockey

Electronic, Pop/Rock

Third solo album of ecstatic electro-noise-pop from the former Parts & Labor frontman, celebrating life and all of its complexities.

— Paul Simpson

!!!

As If

Warp

Pop/Rock

The band's sixth album was recorded with a wide range of producers and mixers, but feels like a cohesive, intense, highly danceable whole.

— Tim Sendra

Here We Go Magic

Be Small [LP]

Secretly Canadian

Pop/Rock

The swirling follow-up to the Nigel Godrich-produced A Different Ship is self-produced, home-recorded, and loaded with compelling songs and textures.

— Marcy Donelson

John Newman

Revolve

Island

R&B

The soul shouter's follow-up to a platinum-selling debut features collaborations with Greg Kurstin, Jack Splash, and Charlie Wilson.

— Andy Kellman

Lin-Manuel Miranda

Hamilton: An American Musical [Original Broadway Cast Recording]

Atlantic

Stage & Screen

Hip-hop and diverse casting meet Revolutionary America in innovative -- and delightful -- musical theater.

— Marcy Donelson

Josh Ritter

Sermon on the Rocks

Pytheas Recordings

Pop/Rock, Folk

After cutting a somber breakup album, the songwriter gets back in the swing of things on this lively and literate set of tunes.

— Mark Deming

Wax Idols

American Tragic

Collect Records

Pop/Rock

The band's second album channels their passion into subversively poppy songs.

— Heather Phares

Holly Golightly / Holly Golightly & the Brokeoffs

Coulda Shoulda Woulda

Transdreamer Records

Pop/Rock

The garage chanteuse returns to rootsy material with a new vigor and enthusiasm, not to mention stronger accompaniment.

— Mark Deming

Alex Bleeker / Alex Bleeker & the Freaks

Country Agenda

Sinderlyn

Pop/Rock

The Real Estate bassist finds his stride on the Freaks' pastoral and easy-mannered third outing.

— Timothy Monger

The Mantles

All Odds End

Slumberland

Pop/Rock

The band's third album is another hooky, warmly felt batch of tunes influenced by Flying Nun and the paisley underground.

— Tim Sendra

Rats on Rafts

Tape Hiss

Fire Records

Pop/Rock

The Dutch post-punk quartet deliver a sophomore LP of jagged, exploratory noise-pop.

— Timothy Monger

Chris Forsyth / Koen Holtkamp

The Island

Trouble in Mind

Pop/Rock

The Solar Motel guitarist and Mountains keyboardist re-team for an exercise in free flowing, experimental grooves.

— Thom Jurek

mgk

General Admission

Interscope

Rap

A druggy downer with a Kid Rock-fueled anthem in the middle, the rapper's 2015 LP is both corrosive and alluring.

— David Jeffries

The Brian Setzer Orchestra / Brian Setzer

Rockin' Rudolph

Surfdog Records

Holiday, Pop/Rock

Another big, brassy collection of Yuletide swingers from Setzer's rockabilly orchestra.

— Stephen Thomas Erlewine

Rival Consoles

Howl

Erased Tapes Records

Electronic

On his third album, British IDM producer Ryan Lee West restricts his palette and creates his most expressive work to date.

— Paul Simpson

Small Black

Best Blues

Jagjaguwar

Pop/Rock

The band's third album is warmly murky, pleasantly melancholy, and enveloped in a gloomy wash of synths and quietly yelped vocals.

— Tim Sendra

Naytronix

Mister Divine

City Slang

Pop/Rock

tUnE-yArDs bassist Nate Brenner returns with a focused, loungy synth pop sound on his second, more wistful Naytronix LP.

— Marcy Donelson

Maroon 5

Singles

Polydor

Pop/Rock

Straight-ahead collection of Maroon V's biggest hits that nevertheless tips the balance slightly toward the 2010s.

— Stephen Thomas Erlewine

Chris Walla

Tape Loops

Transrecords

Electronic

A collection of calm, sparse ambient compositions from the former Death Cab for Cutie guitarist/songwriter.

— Paul Simpson

Christina Vantzou

No. 3

Kranky

Electronic

Brussels-based multimedia artist's mystifying third album is her most ambitious and successful work to date.

— Paul Simpson

David Benoit / David Benoit Trio / Jane Monheit

Believe

Concord

Jazz, Holiday

The pianist and his trio, along with vocalist Jane Monheit and a boys choir, deliver a fine modern jazz take on Christmas.

— Thom Jurek

Dead Ghosts

Love and Death and All the Rest

Burger Records

Pop/Rock

Third album from this Vancouver garage punk combo is a reverb-dripping triumph of downtown psychedelic atmospherics.

— Mark Deming

Inventions

Blanket Waves

Temporary Residence

Pop/Rock, Electronic

An EP of dream-like collage pieces from Eluvium's Matthew Cooper and Explosions in the Sky's Mark T. Smith.

— Paul Simpson

Keep Shelly in Athens

Now I'm Ready

Friends of Friends

Pop/Rock, Electronic

Greek chillwave act's first album with their new singer is far shorter and more focused than their 2013 full-length debut.

— Paul Simpson

Lushes

Service Industry

Felte

Pop/Rock

The duo's second album adds more emotional heft to its experiments, juxtaposing violence and hollowed-out aftermaths.

— Heather Phares

Maritime

Magnetic Bodies/Maps of Bones

Dangerbird Records

Pop/Rock

Driving, romantic anthems, sparkling guitar work, and a punk urgency mark the emotive fifth album from the Milwaukee outfit.

— Matt Collar

OMI

Me 4 U

Sony BMG / Sony Music / Ultra Records

Reggae, Pop/Rock

The Jamaican singer surrounds his "Cheerleader" hit with pleasing smooth reggae and light soca songs.

— David Jeffries

Stryper

Fallen

Frontiers Records

Religious, Pop/Rock

The eighth studio long player from the stalwart Christian hard rockers goes the power metal route.

— James Christopher Monger

Half Japanese

Boo!

Fire Records

Pop/Rock

Jad Fair presents his ragged but passionate vision of rock & roll on this live set recorded in Europe in 1992.

— Mark Deming

Supersuckers

Holdin' the Bag

Acetate Records

Pop/Rock, Country

Country-influenced rock & roll with lots of snark and swagger, recorded as frontman Eddie Spaghetti was battling cancer.

— Mark Deming

The Oh Hellos

Dear Wormwood

Elektra

Pop/Rock

Rousing second album from the Heath siblings and their band, inspired by C.S. Lewis' The Screwtape Letters and its themes of refusing temptation and the devil inside.

— Neil Z. Yeung

Wildhoney

Your Face Sideways

Top Shelf Records

Pop/Rock

The band's second release of 2015 features five shoegaze/dream pop gems on the A-side and a 12-minute hypnotic drone pop song on the flip.

— Tim Sendra

Wolfgang Flür

Eloquence: Complete Works

Cherry Red / SFE

Electronic, Pop/Rock

The former Kraftwerk member rounds up his post-2002 work on this quirky and cute set.

— David Jeffries

YACHT

I Thought the Future Would Be Cooler

Downtown / Downtown Records

Pop/Rock

The duo takes a giant step closer toward the heart of pop, with a lot of electro-disco to boot.

— Tim Sendra

Zombi

Shape Shift

Relapse Records

Pop/Rock

After touring with Italian legends Goblin, neo-prog duo Zombi return to the stripped-down, live-sounding setup of their early albums.

— Paul Simpson

Gun Outfit

Dream All Over

Paradise of Bachelors

Pop/Rock

Trading the Northwest for L.A., the band finds their sun-bleached groove on this inspired fourth effort.

— Timothy Monger

Jamie Lawson

Jamie Lawson

Gingerbread

Pop/Rock

Debut album full of warm, comforting guitar pop from the first artist to sign with Ed Sheeran's new label.

— Neil Z. Yeung

Luke Haines

British Nuclear Bunkers

Cherry Red

Pop/Rock

A retro, analog synth-driven, largely instrumental concept album from the ex-Auteurs and Black Box Recorder mastermind.

— James Christopher Monger

Scouting for Girls

Still Thinking About You

EastWest

Pop/Rock

The British group's forth album of warmly produced, hooky, mainstream, folk-infused pop.

— Matt Collar

Pentatonix

Pentatonix

RCA

Vocal

The acclaimed a cappella group's first album of exuberant, genre-bending, all-original pop.

— Matt Collar

Peter Buck

Warzone Earth

Mississippi Records

Pop/Rock

A third collection of garage gunk, weirdo folk-psychedelia, and revived college rock from the R.E.M. guitarist.

— Stephen Thomas Erlewine

Myung-Whun Chung / Seoul Philharmonic Orchestra

Mahler: Symphony No. 5

Deutsche Grammophon

Classical

Myung-Whun Chung and the Seoul Philharmonic Orchestra give a flexible and nuanced reading of Mahler's Symphony No. 5 in C sharp minor.

— Blair Sanderson

Yundi Li

Chopin: Preludes

Deutsche Grammophon / Mercury Classics

Classical

Launching his Chopin Project with the Préludes, Yundi offers introspective and controlled performances that the composer likely would have approved.

— Blair Sanderson

Vincent Dumestre / Le Poème Harmonique

Pergolesi: Stabat Mater; Marian Music from Naples

Alpha

Classical

This is a unique perspective on one of the most famous Baroque works.

— James Manheim

The Brodsky Quartet

Benjamin Britten: The Complete String Quartets

Challenge Classics

Classical

A sympathetic and steely-accurate reading of Britten's major works in the string quartet medium.

— James Manheim

Janis Kelly / Jayce Ogren / BBC Symphony Orchestra

Rufus Wainwright: Prima Donna

Deutsche Grammophon

Classical

Prima Donna, Rufus Wainwright's first opera, was recorded by Jayce Ogren and the BBC Symphony Orchestra in London in 2015.

— Blair Sanderson

London Philharmonic Orchestra / Klaus Tennstedt

Beethoven: Coriolan Overture; Symphony No. 5

LPO

Classical

This CD on the London Philharmonic's own label presents Klaus Tennstedt's live recordings of Beethoven's Fifth Symphony and the Coriolan Overture.

— Blair Sanderson

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