Weezer

Weezer [White Album]

Atlantic / Crush Music

Pop/Rock

A good-time record that finds the perfect middle ground between the sensibility of the Blue Album and the sound of Pinkerton.

— Stephen Thomas Erlewine

Miles Davis

Miles Ahead [Original Motion Picture Soundtrack]

Columbia Records / Legacy

Stage & Screen, Jazz

The soundtrack to Don Cheadle's Miles Davis biopic contains classics and new music from Robert Glasper.

— Thom Jurek

Cheap Trick

Bang, Zoom, Crazy... Hello

Big Machine Records

Pop/Rock

Almost 40 years after their debut, Rockford, Illinois' finest sons are still making solid and entertaining rock & roll records.

— Mark Deming

The Last Shadow Puppets

Everything You've Come to Expect [LP]

Domino

Pop/Rock

Arctic Monkeys' Alex Turner and Miles Kane's second Baroque pop collaboration is literate and rife with orchestral, noir-ish menace.

— Matt Collar

Yeasayer

Amen & Goodbye

Mute

Pop/Rock

Still offering their trademark musical stew of sounds and styles, the band's fourth studio LP leans into group harmonies, psych-pop, and new wave.

— Marcy Donelson

Andrew Bird

Are You Serious

Loma Vista / Universal

Pop/Rock

The enigmatic pop auteur delivers his most personal and inspired record in nearly a decade.

— Timothy Monger

Babymetal

Metal Resistance

Ear Music

Pop/Rock

The Japanese metal idol band's second album tones down the fun in favor of a darker, more serious approach.

— Tim Sendra

Bibio

A Mineral Love

Warp

Electronic

A love letter to '70s soul, '90s synth pop, and '90s dance, the producer's seventh album transcends ultra-stylish nostalgia.

— Heather Phares

Black Stone Cherry

Kentucky

Mascot

Pop/Rock

The band return to the tiny studio where they began in order to recapture their muse and succeed in spades.

— Thom Jurek

Hiromi

Spark

Telarc

Jazz

The fourth album by the pianist's Trio Project is its most creative, musically diverse, accessible, and sophisticated.

— Thom Jurek

Bombino

Azel

Partisan

International

The fifth album by the Tuareg guitarist places all of his gifts -- as player, composer, and singer -- up front.

— Thom Jurek

Nisennenmondai

#N/A

On U Sounds

Pop/Rock

The trio collaborates with dub master Adrian Sherwood on some of its most radically stark music yet.

— Heather Phares

Starwalker

Starwalker

Bang / Prototyp / Starwalker Music

Pop/Rock

The duo's first full-length delivers charming galactic pop that borrows from, and lives up to, its members' work in Air and Bang Gang.

— Heather Phares

Tacocat

Lost Time

Hardly Art

Pop/Rock

Fun and tough pop-punk record (heavy on the punk) from the Seattle quartet.

— Tim Sendra

Black Mountain

IV

Jagjaguwar

Pop/Rock

Fourth album from these trippy and ambitious Canadian rockers, produced by Randall Dunn [Sunn O))), Marissa Nadler].

— Mark Deming

Aries

Adieu or Die

La Castanya Records / K Records

Pop/Rock

Third album of warm and bubbly indie electronic pop from Spanish musician Isabel Fernández Reviriego.

— Tim Sendra

Audacity

Hyper Vessels

Suicide Squeeze

Pop/Rock

The band's fourth album is rough, fun, and loud power poppy punk co-produced by Ty Segall.

— Tim Sendra

Ash Koosha

I AKA I

Ninja Tune

Electronic, Pop/Rock

The Iranian experimental producer's stunning second album is inspired by synaesthesia and virtual reality.

— Paul Simpson

Jan St. Werner

Felder

Thrill Jockey

Electronic

A fluid, amorphous album of open-ended audio experiments from the Mouse on Mars co-founder.

— Paul Simpson

Bleached

Welcome the Worms

Dead Oceans

Pop/Rock

Boasting a cleaner sound and songs about life's messier situations, the band's second album offers grown-up punk pop.

— Heather Phares

Boulevards

Groove!

Captured Tracks

R&B

A fun, sexy, '70s and '80s throwback funk and R&B debut from the Raleigh, North Carolina singer.

— Matt Collar

Charles Bradley

Changes

Daptone

R&B

Retro-soul vocalist is in great, powerful form on this third album, which finds him covering Black Sabbath on the title track.

— Mark Deming

Coves

Peel

1965 Records

Pop/Rock

The duo follows Soft Friday's misty pop with a hard-edged set of songs inspired by moving to London.

— Heather Phares

Dinner

Psychic Lovers

Captured Tracks

Pop/Rock

Anders Rhedin's breezy, bittersweet debut album showcases his alchemical gift for transforming '80s cheese into something genuine.

— Heather Phares

Explosions in the Sky

The Wilderness

Temporary Residence

Pop/Rock

Following several years' worth of film scores, the Texan instrumental quartet's sixth proper album is both experimental and immediate.

— Paul Simpson

Frankie Cosmos

Next Thing

Bayonet Records

Pop/Rock

As enchanting and candid as her debut, the prolific lo-fi songwriter's second studio LP finds her transitioning into her twenties.

— Marcy Donelson

The Greyhounds

Change of Pace

Ardent Music

Pop/Rock

The Austin-based duo dials back the garage blues in favor of a deep soulful groove.

— Stephen Thomas Erlewine

Japanese Breakfast

Psychopomp

Dead Oceans / Yellow K

Pop/Rock

Lo-fi bedroom pop with hi-fi, expensive studio tastes.

— Tim Sendra

John Congleton / The Nighty Nite

Until the Horror Goes

Fat Possum Records

Pop/Rock

A nervy, sweat-inducing set of manic, hyper-literate electro-pop emissions that explore the darkest parts of the human condition.

— James Christopher Monger

Kaada / Kaada/Patton / Patton / Mike Patton

Bacteria Cult

Ipecac

Pop/Rock

The second collaboration from the Norwegian composer and the Faith No More frontman filters the cinematic vignettes of 2004's Romances through a widescreen lens.

— James Christopher Monger

Kaitlyn Aurelia Smith

Ears

Western Vinyl Records

Electronic, Pop/Rock

Playful, organic-sounding electronic music composed on Buchla synthesizers along with warped vocals and fluttering woodwinds.

— Paul Simpson

Leon Vynehall

Rojus (Designed to Dance)

Running Back

Electronic

The British deep house producer's second full-length is every bit as exquisitely crafted and joyous as his 2014 debut.

— Paul Simpson

Marco Benevento

The Story of Fred Short

Royal Potato Family

Pop/Rock

The upstate New York experimentalist delivers an album of synthy, psychedelic pop designed as a seven-part concept piece.

— Matt Collar

Mike & the Melvins

Three Men and a Baby

Sub Pop

Pop/Rock

Long-incubating collaboration between two devotees of low-end heaviness is swampy and deep, but surprisingly lively.

— Mark Deming

Moderat

III

Monkeytown

Electronic

Growing in strength and displaying tasteful restraint, the indie techno supergroup is as alluring as ever on its third LP.

— David Jeffries

Mogwai

Atomic

Rock Action

Pop/Rock

Based on their score for the BBC 4 documentary, the band's fearsomely majestic tenth album is another career peak.

— Heather Phares

Paul Bowles

Music of Morocco: Recorded by Paul Bowles, 1959

Dust-to-Digital

Folk

Dust-To-Digital greatly (and beautifully) expands Paul Bowles legendary LPs of 1959 field recordings from Morocco.

— Thom Jurek

Pet Shop Boys

Super

X2

Pop/Rock

PSB and producer Stuart Price means the same crew that created 2013's Electric, but this is a looser, freer LP with some welcome experiments.

— David Jeffries

Robbie Fulks

Upland Stories

Bloodshot

Pop/Rock, Country, Folk

This follow-up to the outstanding Gone Away Backward is another spare, subtly brilliant set of stories of life in the South.

— Mark Deming

Shonen Knife

Adventure

Damnably

Pop/Rock

The Japanese bubblegum-punk vets celebrate their 35th anniversary with an irresistibly fun and rollicking collection inspired by '70s rock.

— Neil Z. Yeung

Slobberbone

Bees and Seas: The Best of Slobberbone

New West

Pop/Rock, Country

Outstanding career summary of the Texas-based alt-country heroes led by guitarist and songwriter Brent Best.

— Mark Deming

Tancred

Out of the Garden

Polyvinyl

Pop/Rock

On her third solo LP, Now, Now's Jess Abbott places themes of girl power over efficient, '90s alt-rock-infused power pop.

— Marcy Donelson

Kelly Jones / Teddy Thompson

Little Windows

Cooking Vinyl

Folk, Pop/Rock, Country

Two gifted singer/songwriters pay cheeky but loving tribute to the countrypolitan sounds of the '50s.

— Mark Deming

Teen Suicide

It's the Big Joyous Celebration, Let's Stir the Honeypot

Run for Cover Records

Pop/Rock

The second and apparently final LP from the Maryland-based indie outfit is a sprawling and ramshackle assemblage of creative lo-fi pop.

— Timothy Monger

The Field

The Follower

Kompakt

Electronic

Another reliably durable, ambient-leaning techno set from Axel Willner that draws from dream pop, dub, and Krautrock.

— Andy Kellman

The Heavy

Hurt & the Merciless

Bad Son / Counter Records

Pop/Rock

The fourth album of gritty, wild-eyed garage rock-infused R&B from the Bath outfit featuring vocalist Kelvin Swaby.

— Matt Collar

The High Violets

Heroes & Halos

Saint Marie

Pop/Rock

The Portland, Oregon-based quartet's fifth album is full of light, catchy dream pop with direct lyrics and hazy guitars.

— Paul Simpson

The Monochrome Set

Volume, Contrast, Brilliance: Unreleased & Rare, Vol. 2

Tapete Records

Pop/Rock

Outtakes and demos from 1978-1991 fill this delightful, fan-aimed set.

— David Jeffries

The Summer Set

Stories for Monday

Fearless Records

Pop/Rock

The album that almost wasn't from the Scottsdale, Arizona quintet, combining nostalgia and celebration over 11 '80s-influenced anthems.

— Neil Z. Yeung

Autolux

Pussy's Dead

Columbia / Sony Music

Pop/Rock

The L.A. alt-rock trio's third LP melds frosty experimental pop and dark techno manipulation.

— Timothy Monger

Daniel Barenboim / Staatskapelle Berlin

Elgar: Symphony No. 1

Decca

Classical

Daniel Barenboim explores the music of Edward Elgar in this performance with the Staatskapelle Berlin of the Symphony No. 1.

— Blair Sanderson

Martha Argerich / Daniel Barenboim

Piano Duos II: Schumann, Debussy, Bartók

Deutsche Grammophon

Classical

Argerich and Barenboim have the kind of instinctive understanding, coming from shared experiences, that makes for successful duo piano work.

— James Manheim

Yevgeny Sudbin

Scarlatti: 18 Sonatas

BIS

Classical

Sudbin unpacks the remarkable dissonances and idiosyncratic structures of the slow sonatas especially well.

— James Manheim

Apollo's Fire / Jeannette Sorrell

Sephardic Journey: Wanderings of the Spanish Jews

Avie

Classical

Sorrell combines music of several centuries in a convincing thematic way that has rarely been matched.

— James Manheim

Berlin RIAS Chamber Choir / Hans-Christoph Rademann

Alfred Schnittke: Penitential Psalms

Harmonia Mundi

Classical

With high notes sustained at very low volumes, the RIAS Kammerchor is sublime in this demanding piece.

— James Manheim

Mack Wilberg / Mormon Tabernacle Choir / Orchestra at Temple Square

George Frideric Handel: Messiah - Highlights

Mormon Tabernacle

Classical

This highlights album of the Mormon Tabernacle Choir's 2016 release of Handel's Messiah shows subtle touches of Baroque practice.

— Blair Sanderson

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