Featured New Album Releases

Coldplay

A Head Full of Dreams

Atlantic

Pop/Rock

Featuring cameos from Beyoncé and Noel Gallagher along with dalliances with disco, this is a bright, colorful rallying cry to seize the day.

— Stephen Thomas Erlewine

Rick Ross

Black Market

Def Jam

Rap

Bolder and in many ways bigger than his previous efforts, Black Market is a more introspective and ambitious album from Miami superstar Ross.

— David Jeffries

Bruce Springsteen

The Ties That Bind: The River Collection [CD/Blu-Ray]

Columbia / Sony Music

Pop/Rock

Audio/video box set offers an in-depth look at the making of one of the Boss' best and most important albums.

— Mark Deming

Fleetwood Mac

Tusk [Remastered & Expanded]

Rhino / Warner Bros.

Pop/Rock

Major expansion of the Mac's 1979 album contains two discs of live material, a disc of demos and variant mixes, and a full alternate version of Tusk.

— Stephen Thomas Erlewine

Babyface

Return of the Tender Lover

Def Jam

R&B

The Soul Train Legend Award honoree's satisfying first original-material solo album in ten years.

— Andy Kellman

Sunn O)))

Kannon

Southern Lord Records

Pop/Rock, Electronic

The duo (and assorted friends) deliver a compelling, conceptual, album-length work in three parts.

— Thom Jurek

Tom Jones

Long Lost Suitcase

BMG / S-Curve

Pop/Rock, Vocal

The singer's third project with producer Ethan Johns is another powerful set of stripped down, blues-based roots music.

— Mark Deming

Curren$y

Canal Street Confidential

Atlantic

Rap

A sharp and tight set of uplifting numbers from an MC who usually plays it cool.

— David Jeffries

Primal Scream

Screamadelica

Creation / Sony Music

Pop/Rock

Expanded reissue of the band's landmark album that blends heady electronics with trippy rock to create an inspirational, much-imitated hybrid sound.

— Tim Sendra

Them

The Complete Them: 1964-1967

Exile Records / Legacy

Pop/Rock, Blues

The Irish R&B act's legendary recordings with Van Morrison, collected in one package with plentiful outtakes and live cuts.

— Mark Deming

Troye Sivan

Blue Neighbourhood

Capitol / Virgin EMI

Pop/Rock

Debut album from the smooth young Australian singer with poignant confessionals of love, youth, and yearning.

— Neil Z. Yeung

Sheek Louch

Silverback Gorilla 2

Tommy Boy

Rap

The LOX member returns with his first solo album since 2010 and he's as raw and rough as ever.

— David Jeffries

Jeremih

Late Nights: The Album

Def Jam

R&B

After five years marked with intermittent singles and numerous delays, the low-key, highly carnal R&B vocalist delivers album three.

— Andy Kellman

The Allman Brothers Band

Idlewild South [Deluxe Edition]

Mercury

Pop/Rock

The two-disc Deluxe Edition contains remastered versions of the album, Live at Ludlow Garage 1970, and outtakes and alternates.

— Thom Jurek

The Dictators

Go Girl Crazy! [40th Anniversary Edition]

Epic / Real Gone Music / Sony Music

Pop/Rock

Remastered proto-punk masterpiece that defines the nexus between pro wrestling, cheap burgers, and dumb music for smart people.

— Mark Deming

Astropol

The Spin We're In

Ingrid

Pop/Rock

Precisely crafted, heartbreakingly sincere album of mostly pop ballads from members of Shout Out Louds and Peter Bjorn and John.

— Tim Sendra

Sam Amidon

But This Chicken Proved Falsehearted [Bonus Tracks]

Omnivore

Pop/Rock, Folk

Expanded edition of this spare and atmospheric fusion of folk and indie rock from moonlighting members of Doveman.

— Mark Deming

Brothertiger

Out of Touch

Satanic Panic Records

Pop/Rock

The Ohio native delivers a third LP of pleasantly lush, mild-mannered synth pop.

— Timothy Monger

G-Eazy

When It's Dark Out

RCA

Rap

Second album from the Bay Area's self-made rock star/rapper full of big-name guests (Big Sean, Chris Brown, Too $hort) and a lot of sex, drugs, and partying.

— Neil Z. Yeung

John Abercrombie / John Abercrombie Quartet

The First Quartet

ECM

Jazz

Two of the three albums in this excellent archival box have been out of print for decades.

— Thom Jurek

Kid606

Recollected Ambient Works, Vol. 2: Escape to Los Angeles

Tigerbeat6

Electronic, Pop/Rock

Inspired by a move to the California desert, Kid606's third ambient release of 2015 is one of his most consistently enjoyable.

— Paul Simpson

King Curtis

The Complete Atco Singles

Real Gone Music

R&B

Thorough set of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee's 45s for the Atlantic subsidiary, 1958-1971, plus both sides of a shelved one.

— Andy Kellman

Lil BUB

Science & Magic

Joyful Noise

Pop/Rock

Indiana's favorite otherworldly feline delivers a surprisingly fun space rock debut.

— Timothy Monger

Margot & the Nuclear So and So's

The Bride on the Boxcar: A Decade of Margot Rarities 2004-2014

Joyful Noise

Hefty but worthwhile five-LP collection of alternate versions and -- the majority -- previously unreleased songs by Margot songsmith Richard Edwards.

— Marcy Donelson

Milk Lines

Ceramic

In the Red Records

Pop/Rock

Debut full-length from a Montreal-based couple that combines psychedelic rock and country influences.

— Paul Simpson

Nat King Cole

Stardust: The Rare Television Performances

Real Gone Music

Jazz

Compilation bringing together some of the more obscure live recordings from Cole's short-lived '50s TV variety show.

— Matt Collar

Various Artists

School of Rock: The Musical [Original Broadway Cast]

Rhino / Warner Bros.

Pop/Rock, Stage & Screen

Richard Linklater's 2003 comedy gets the thespian treatment with mostly positive results.

— James Christopher Monger

Soulsavers

Kubrick

San Quentin

Classical, Stage & Screen

The second release by the U.K. duo in 2015, this collection of lush instrumentals was inspired by characters from the films of the late Stanley Kubrick.

— Neil Z. Yeung