Ryan Lewis / Macklemore / Macklemore & Ryan Lewis

This Unruly Mess I've Made

Macklemore

Rap

Bookended by big, bold, and perhaps cumbersome tracks, the rest of Unruly equals, and often betters, this duo's Grammy-winning debut.

— David Jeffries

The 1975

I Like It When You Sleep, For You Are So Beautiful Yet So Unaware of It

Interscope

Pop/Rock

The British band's sophomore album finds them moving in a sophisticated, '80s adult contempo and R&B-influenced direction.

— Matt Collar

Santigold

99 Cents

Atlantic

Pop/Rock

Santi White's third album offers some of her catchiest and most subversive music yet.

— Heather Phares

School of Seven Bells

SVIIB

Vagrant

Pop/Rock

The electronic dream pop duo's fourth and final album is a wrenching conclusion and vital tribute at once.

— Andy Kellman

Willie Nelson

Summertime: Willie Nelson Sings Gershwin

Legacy

Country

This collection of Gershwin tunes finds Willie Nelson singing standards in a relatively standard fashion.

— Stephen Thomas Erlewine

Emma Pollock

In Search of Harperfield

Chemikal Underground Records

Pop/Rock

A lustrous and heartbreaking home movie of a record that makes aging, death, and melancholy feel positively vital.

— James Christopher Monger

Bonnie Raitt

Dig in Deep

Redwing Records

Pop/Rock, Blues

On the blues-rock icon's self-produced 20th album, virtually everything she's learned about making a great record is on display.

— Thom Jurek

Michael Daves

Orchids and Violence

Nonesuch

Country

The renegade traditionalist offers a mirror-image double album of the same bluegrass and traditional standards -- half acoustic, half electric.

— Thom Jurek

Anthrax

For All Kings

Megaforce

Pop/Rock

The thrash legends' 11th studio album is tight and punishing, with just the right amount of melodic might.

— James Christopher Monger

Steve Mason

Meet the Humans

Domino / Double Six

Pop/Rock

The veteran U.K. popsmith delivers his most cohesive and satisfying solo effort to date.

— Timothy Monger

Bullion

Loop the Loop

Deek

Electronic

Delightfully unorthodox pop from Nathan Jenkins and a cast of associates including Sampha, Laura Groves, and Shabaka Hutchings.

— Andy Kellman

La Santa Cecilia

Buenaventura

Universal

Latin, Pop/Rock

Los Angelino quartet evolve their quirky musical blend into a pop genre of their own on this transcendent release.

— Thom Jurek

Quilt

Plaza

Mexican Summer

Pop/Rock

Equally sharp-edged and wistful, the group's psych-pop sounds more confident than ever.

— Heather Phares

Tweet

Charlene

eOne

R&B

A decade after her second album, the soft-voiced yet 100-percent soul singer makes a pleasingly relaxed and intimate return.

— Andy Kellman

Giorgio Tuma

This Life Denied Me Your Love

Elefant

Pop/Rock

The Italian chamber pop craftsman's third album is a lazy, hazy, and epic-sounding batch of easy listening pop.

— Tim Sendra

Lizzy Mercier Descloux

Mambo Nassau

Light in the Attic Records

Pop/Rock

Whimsical jolts of wriggling rhythms and delighted exclamations, cut at Nassau's Compass Point with synthesizer wiz Wally Badarou.

— Andy Kellman

Lizzy Mercier Descloux

One for the Soul

Light in the Attic Records

Pop/Rock

Reissue of the free-spirited French vocalist's fourth album, where she heads to Brazil and runs into Chet Baker.

— Mark Deming

Lizzy Mercier Descloux

Zulu Rock

Light in the Attic Records

Pop/Rock

Recorded in South Africa years before Paul Simon's Graceland, an exuberant album that rejects exoticism in favor of kinship and play.

— Andy Kellman

Pinkshinyultrablast

Grandfeathered

Club AC30

Pop/Rock

On their second album, the Russian shoegazers further expand the sound established on their impressive 2015 debut.

— Paul Simpson

Tord Gustavsen / Simin Tander / Jarle Vespestad

What Was Said

ECM / GmbH

Jazz

The pianist's new trio with German-Afghan vocalist Simin Tander explores traditional songs and poetry as panlinguistic improvisational devices.

— Thom Jurek

Emitt Rhodes

Rainbow Ends

Omnivore

Pop/Rock

After more than 40 years, the smart pop wunderkind returns, older, wiser, and not always lucky in love.

— Mark Deming

Mount Moriah

How to Dance

Merge

Pop/Rock

Third album from this rootsy North Carolina trio spotlights articulate, passionate songwriting and Heather McEntire's superb voice.

— Mark Deming

Odd Nosdam

Sisters

Leaving Records

Electronic, Rap, Pop/Rock

The Anticon-affiliated beatsmith produces some of his best and most reflective material on his second release for Leaving Records.

— Paul Simpson

DMX Krew

You Exist

Hypercolour

Electronic

DMX Krew's first album for Hypercolour is far more reserved and streamlined than his early, pastiche-like material on Rephlex.

— Paul Simpson

Witching Waves

Crystal Cafe

HHBTM / Soft Power

Pop/Rock

The London trio's second album is a snarling blast of noisy indie rock with a soft(ish) pop underbelly.

— Tim Sendra

Yuck

Stranger Things

MAMA Records

Pop/Rock

The noise pop band's third album has all of the energy and solid songwriting that their previous album lacked.

— Tim Sendra

Hands Like Houses

Dissonants

Rise Records

Pop/Rock

An infectious mix of propulsive, visceral hard rock and melodic choruses, marking the Australian band's bid for the mainstream.

— Neil Z. Yeung

Purple Pilgrims

Eternal Delight

Not Not Fun

Pop/Rock

The duo's debut trades foggy distortion for a cleaner approach that makes their dream pop more alluring and haunting than ever.

— Heather Phares

Various Artists

George Fest: A Night to Celebrate the Music of George Harrison [CD/DVD]

BMG / Hot Records / Universal / Vagrant

Pop/Rock

Enjoyable star-studded live tribute to George Harrison as directed by his son Dhani.

— Stephen Thomas Erlewine

Waco Brothers

Going Down in History

Bloodshot

Pop/Rock, Country

Tenth studio set from the venerable Chicago alt-country band is tougher and louder, delivering harder music for harder times.

— Mark Deming

Brian McKnight

Better

Brian McKnight Music

R&B

Throughout the first release for his own label, the veteran R&B artist seems to enjoy making music more than ever.

— Andy Kellman

Coastgaard

Devil on the Balcony

eOne

Pop/Rock

The Brooklyn band's sophomore album offers more of their beach-destined indie rock flush with delay, surf guitar tones, and timeless melodies.

— Marcy Donelson

Crater

Talk to Me So I Can Fall Asleep [LP]

Help Yourself

Pop/Rock, Electronic

Debut album from a Seattle indie electronic duo who examine relationships and communication in the post-internet era.

— Paul Simpson

Death Index

Death Index

Deathwish

Pop/Rock

Industrial-tinged punk collaboration between Merchandise frontman Carson Cox and Italian hardcore veteran Marco Rapisarda.

— Paul Simpson

Eerie Wanda

Hum

Beyond Beyond Is Beyond

Pop/Rock

Debut album from Dutch singer Marina Tadic and members of Jacco Gardner's band is a perfect blend of sweet songs and lightly psychedelic production.

— Tim Sendra

Farm

The Innermost Limits of Pure Fun

Sundazed

Pop/Rock, Stage & Screen

Soundtrack to an obscure cult-classic surf film originally released during the early '70s.

— Paul Simpson

Feels

Feels

Castle Face

Pop/Rock

Noisy but engaging debut album from California garage/punk/psych act, led by Laena Geronimo, formerly of the Like.

— Mark Deming

Supersonic Blues Machine

West of Flushing South of Frisco

Provogue Music Productions

Blues, Pop/Rock

The trio anchored by Kenny Aronoff makes oversized, guitar-heavy blues-rock.

— Stephen Thomas Erlewine

The Renderers

In the Sodium Light

Ba Da Bing Records

Pop/Rock

Following a relocation to California, the New Zealand indie veterans are as brooding as ever on their eighth full-length album.

— Paul Simpson

Wakey Wakey

Overreactivist

The End / Warner Bros.

Pop/Rock

On this passionate and uplifting journey, frontman Michael Grubbs urges for hope and love in times of uncertainty.

— Neil Z. Yeung

Vadym Kholodenko / Miguel Harth-Bedoya

Prokofiev: Piano Concertos 2 & 5

Harmonia Mundi

Classical

Vadym Kholodenko launches his Prokofiev cycle on Harmonia Mundi with the Piano Concerto No. 2 and the Piano Concerto No. 5.

— Blair Sanderson

Jennifer Pike / Edward Gardner / City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra

Mendelssohn in Birmingham, Vol. 4: Violin Concerto in E minor; A Midsummer Night's Dream

Chandos

Classical

An excellent album that fully realizes the series' aims of evoking early performances of Mendelssohn.

— James Manheim

Steve Reich

Reich: Four Organs; Phase Patterns

Superior Viaduct

Avant-Garde, Classical

These are landmarks of the early minimalist movement, absorbing and compelling.

— James Manheim

Akademie für Alte Musik, Berlin

George Frideric Handel: Water Music

Harmonia Mundi

Classical

This is water music for a rather choppy, windy day, perhaps; an unusual and distinctive reading.

— James Manheim

Jonathan Plowright / Łukasz Borowicz / BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra

The Romantic Piano Concerto, Vol. 67: Rózycki

Hyperion

Classical

An entirely satisfying album of music that ought to inspire further performances of these pieces in concert.

— James Manheim

Andrés Orozco-Estrada / Frankfurt Symphony Orchestra / hr-Sinfonieorchester Frankfurt (Frankfurt Radio Symphony Orchestra)

Igor Stravinsky: The Rite of Spring; The Firebird (Suite 1919)

Pentatone / PentaTone Classics

Classical

Andrés Orozco-Estrada and the Frankfurt Radio Symphony present the Rite of Spring and the Firebird Suite in focused multichannel sound.

— Blair Sanderson

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