Red Hot Chili Peppers

The Getaway

Atlantic / Elektra / Warner Bros. / Warner Music / WEA

Pop/Rock

A dusky, sophisticatedly funky album that still sweats and bleeds like the band's best work.

— Matt Collar

Mumford & Sons

Johannesburg

Glassnote Entertainment Group

Pop/Rock

Mumford & Sons collaborate with Baaba Maal, Beatenberg, and the Very Best for this South African-influenced EP.

— Stephen Thomas Erlewine

Jake Bugg

On My One

Island / Virgin EMI

Pop/Rock

On his third album, Jake Bugg threads in electronic rhythms, pop textures, and even rap.

— Stephen Thomas Erlewine

Mitski

Puberty 2

Dead Oceans

Pop/Rock

On her gutsy and affecting fourth LP and Dead Oceans debut, the indie rocker addresses a crisis of belonging.

— Marcy Donelson

case/lang/veirs / Neko Case / k.d. lang / Laura Veirs

case/lang/veirs

Anti-

Pop/Rock

Collaboration between three world-class talents finds them trying to strike a stylistic balance, with often rewarding results.

— Mark Deming

Bruce Hornsby / Bruce Hornsby & the Noisemakers / The Noisemakers

Rehab Reunion

429 Records / Savoy

Pop/Rock

A spirited, slightly more rustic outing from the Noisemakers whose leader sets aside his piano in favor of the Appalachian dulcimer.

— Timothy Monger

YG

Still Brazy

Def Jam

Rap

Classic West Coast sounds and some caustic, compelling lyrics keep the rapper on G-Funk's top shelf.

— David Jeffries

Elizabeth Cook

Exodus of Venus

Agent Love Records

Country, Pop/Rock

On her first full-length in six years, the songwriter aggressively alters her sound in cathartic, unapologetic new songs.

— Thom Jurek

FAWNN

Ultimate Oceans

Quite Scientific

Pop/Rock

The veteran Great Lakes indie rock quartet's sophomore outing delivers an exemplary blast of melodious, garage-tooled dream pop that's as muscular as it is graceful.

— James Christopher Monger

Jambinai

A Hermitage

Bella Union

Pop/Rock, International

Second full-length from a strikingly original South Korean group combining traditional instruments with intense, crushing guitars.

— Paul Simpson

Ron Carter / Houston Person

Chemistry

HighNote Records

Jazz

A conversational album of warm, romantic standards from these two legendary jazz comrades.

— Matt Collar

Linda Guilala

Psiconáutica

Elefant

Pop/Rock

The Spanish indie pop group's dense, sprawling second full-length is far more experimental and moody than the band's previous recordings.

— Paul Simpson

M. Craft

Blood Moon

Heavenly

Pop/Rock

Calling it a "cosmic piano odyssey," the singer/songwriter's atmospheric third LP was formulated during a cabin retreat in Joshua Tree.

— Marcy Donelson

Flowering Inferno / Quantic

1000 Watts

Tru Thoughts

Reggae

After a six-year break, this side project returns with a joyous, sensual set of rootsy reggae, dub, and cumbia.

— Thom Jurek

Will Butler

Friday Night

Merge

Pop/Rock

Live album from Arcade Fire member's solo tour is stronger and more assured than his debut effort.

— Mark Deming

Swans

The Glowing Man

Young God

Pop/Rock

Michael Gira ends one more chapter of Swans with yet another sprawling, intense two-hour masterwork.

— Paul Simpson

Sonic Youth

Spinhead Sessions

Goofin'

Pop/Rock

These rehearsals for the band's Made in USA soundtrack capture the mysterious beauty of their mid-'80s music.

— Heather Phares

The Low Anthem

Eyeland

Washington Square

Pop/Rock

Lofty and eclectic, the trippy Eyeland effectively puts to bed the bucolic Americana of 2009's Oh My God, Charlie Darwin and the minimalist, Dylanesque troubadour-ism of 2011's Smart Flesh.

— James Christopher Monger

Margaret Glaspy

Emotions and Math

ATO

Pop/Rock

The New York-based singer/songwriter defies easy categorization on this introspective but appealingly nervy debut.

— Timothy Monger

PAWS

No Grace

Fat Cat / FatCat Records

Pop/Rock

The Scottish indie trio go for broke, enlisting blink-182's Mark Hoppus to produce their muscular third LP.

— Timothy Monger

Odonis Odonis

Post Plague

Felte

Pop/Rock

Industrial elements come to the fore on some of the band's most urgent and satisfying songs yet.

— Heather Phares

The Game

Streets of Compton

eOne

Stage & Screen, Rap

A sideline release from the veteran MC that doubles as the soundtrack to his three-part television documentary series.

— David Jeffries

ALTO!

LP3

Trouble in Mind

Pop/Rock

Third album of hypnotic, polyrhythmic, percussive compositions from the Portland-based trio.

— Paul Simpson

Anthony D'Amato

Cold Snap

New West

Pop/Rock

Singer/songwriter mixes his folk influences with some rock & roll swagger, which does wonders for his tunes.

— Mark Deming

Caveman

Otero War

Cinematic Music Group

Pop/Rock

LP three reveals a bolder, crisper-sounding Caveman, who debut as the first rock outfit on hip-hop label Cinematic Music Group.

— Marcy Donelson

Gojira

Magma

Gojira Music / Roadrunner / Roadrunner Records

Pop/Rock

The French extreme metallers take a bold step forward into new territory, experimenting with melody, groove, shorter songs, more straightforward structures, and actual singing.

— John D. Buchanan

Jay Arner

Jay II

Mint Records

Pop/Rock

Second solo album from Vancouver pop mastermind fuses splendid pop music with a witty, cynical lyrical perspective.

— Mark Deming

Jon Pardi

California Sunrise

Capitol Nashville / Universal

Country

Two years after his debut, Jon Pardi returns with the sturdy, frills-free California Sunrise.

— Stephen Thomas Erlewine

Let's Eat Grandma

I, Gemini

Transgressive

Pop/Rock

The duo's freewheeling debut recalls CocoRosie and Kate Bush while offering moments of surprising beauty and humor.

— Heather Phares

Red Sleeping Beauty

Kristina

Shelflife

Pop/Rock

The band's first album in almost two decades trades out guitar jangle for synths while retaining all their melancholy sweetness.

— Tim Sendra

T.O.L.D.

It's Not About the Witches

Iamsound

Pop/Rock

Incorporating steel drums, a gospel choir, and new wave gloom, this impressive debut succeeds in merging yearning indie rock with ethereal dance.

— Neil Z. Yeung

Male Gaze

King Leer

Castle Face

Pop/Rock

The band's second album still has murky post-punk-style power, but now with added layers of guitars and more sonic variety.

— Tim Sendra

Night School

Blush

Graveface Records

Pop/Rock

The amiable Californian indie trio's debut merges '60s girl group innocence with lush '90s fuzz pop.

— Timothy Monger

Parlour

Parlour

Temporary Residence

Pop/Rock

The Louisville post-rock group's fourth album is less jazzy and more tense and cinematic than their previous releases.

— Paul Simpson

Popincourt

A New Dimension to Modern Love

Jigsaw Records

Pop/Rock

Full-length debut of a project by Olivier Popincourt, a Frenchman with an English musical persona partial to '80s sophisti-pop.

— Marcy Donelson

Sleeping Beauties

Sleeping Beauties

In the Red Records

Pop/Rock

Unhinged odes to rock & roll excess from a quintet consisting of former members of the Hunches, Eat Skull, and the Hospitals.

— Paul Simpson

Søren Juul

This Moment

4AD

Pop/Rock

The impossibly lush sophomore outing from the Danish singer/songwriter and Islands mastermind.

— James Christopher Monger

Starflyer 59

Slow

Tooth & Nail

Pop/Rock

The group's 14th album is an introspective look at Jason Martin's life and place in the music industry.

— Tim Sendra

The Kingbees

The Big Rock

Omnivore

Pop/Rock

Reissue of the overlooked second album from this proto-rockabilly trio; as tuneful and lively as their debut.

— Mark Deming

Andrés Orozco-Estrada / Houston Symphony Orchestra

Dvořák: Symphony No. 6; 2 Slavonic Dances

Pentatone / PentaTone Classics

Classical

Andrés Orozco-Estrada and the Houston Symphony present Dvorák's Symphony No. 6 with two of his Slavonic Dances on this Pentatone release.

— Blair Sanderson

Kaitlin Foley / James Kallembach / Matthew Dean / Clara Osowski / Andrew Schultze / Andrew Walker Schultze

Kallembach: Passion

Roven Records

Classical

Kallembach makes diverse materials cohere in a convincing way in a serious and nuanced setting of the Passion story.

— James Manheim

Sarah Beth Briggs

Gál: Concerto for Piano & Orchestra; Mozart: Piano Concerto No. 22 K.482

Avie

Classical

Marvelous music by a composer who is benefiting from a well-deserved revival.

— James Manheim

Valery Gergiev / London Symphony Orchestra

Scriabin: Symphonies Nos. 1 & 2

LSO / LSO Live

Classical

Scriabin's first two symphonies are presented live on this double SACD package by Valery Gergiev and the London Symphony Orchestra.

— Blair Sanderson

Frank Almond / William Wolfram

A Violin's Life, Vol. 2: Music for the 'Lipinski' Stradivari - Beethoven, Maier-Röntgen, Tubin

Avie

Classical

Almond's second A Violin's Life album will appeal to those interested in music by women and to violin enthusiasts.

— James Manheim

Christian Thielemann / Staatskapelle Dresden

Anton Bruckner: Symphonie Nr. 7; Richard Wagner: Das Liebesmahl der Apostel

Profil - Edition Günter Hänssler

Classical

Christian Thielemann leads the Dresden Staatskapelle in Bruckner's Seventh Symphony and Wagner's choral work, Das Liebesmahl der Apostel.

— Blair Sanderson

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