Featured New Album Releases

Fantasia

The Definition Of...

RCA

R&B

Highlighted by a retro-styled R. Kelly collaboration, this also involves pop-oriented ballads and country and gospel numbers, among other approaches.

— Andy Kellman

Jake Owen

American Love

RCA

Country

Jake Owen delivers a bright, sunny record marked by slight, welcome, bittersweet undertones.

— Stephen Thomas Erlewine

DJ Khaled

Major Key

Epic

Rap

Album nine, laced with advice like "Don't ever play yourself," contains Top 40 pop hits featuring the likes of Drake and Future.

— Andy Kellman

Brian Wilson

Brian Wilson and Friends

BMG Rights Management / Sony BMG / Universal

Pop/Rock

A guest-heavy concert album drawing on material from 2015's No Pier Pressure and featuring a handful of returning Beach Boys.

— Timothy Monger

Pylon

Pylon Live

Chunklet

Pop/Rock

The pride of Athens, Georgia on-stage in 1983; despite flawed audio, a powerful and joyous performance.

— Mark Deming

The Chris Robinson Brotherhood / Chris Robinson

Anyway You Love, We Know How You Feel

Megaforce / Silver Arrow Records

Pop/Rock

The Chris Robinson Brotherhood expand their horizons by focusing on funk and maintaining a light, hazy touch.

— Stephen Thomas Erlewine

Descendents

Hypercaffium Spazzinate

Epitaph

Pop/Rock

The geekiest kids in California punk mature into middle-aged men without losing their focus or their individuality.

— Mark Deming

Ben Chatwin

Heat & Entropy

Ba Da Bing Records

Electronic, Pop/Rock

Suspenseful, soundtrack-like music that seamlessly integrates electronic with unconventional acoustic instruments.

— Paul Simpson

Hillary Scott / Hillary Scott & the Scott Family

Love Remains

EMI Nashville

Country, Religious

A quiet, intimate, and heartfelt excursion into country gospel by the Lady A singer.

— Stephen Thomas Erlewine

Mendrugo

More Amor

Fire Records

Folk, International

This Josephine Foster-led Spanish folk collaboration is a winsome and charming curiosity.

— Timothy Monger

Owen

The King of Whys

Polyvinyl

Pop/Rock

A reliably affecting ninth LP by Mike Kinsella's project, with a (relatively) more expansive sound produced by S. Carey.

— Marcy Donelson

Steve Adamyk / The Steve Adamyk Band

Graceland

Dirtnap Records

Pop/Rock

The Ottawa garage punks' fifth album is their first recorded in Montreal; it's also their most diverse and impressive to date.

— Tim Sendra

Phonte / Eric Roberson

Tigallerro

Foreign Exchange Music

R&B

Easygoing set of deep R&B from the occasional studio collaborators.

— Andy Kellman

Viola Beach

Fuller Beans Records

Pop/Rock

The posthumous debut LP from the British indie rock quartet is, despite the tragic events preceding its release, full of youthful hope and possibility.

— Neil Z. Yeung

Joe Lovano / Joe Lovano Quartet

Classic! Live at Newport

Blue Note

Jazz

A superb 2005 performance that marked the final collaboration between saxophonist Joe Lovano and legendary pianist Hank Jones, who died in 2010.

— Matt Collar

Jason Derulo

Platinum Hits

Warner Bros.

Pop/Rock

The manchild dance-pop specialist's biggest singles, 2009-2015, conveniently gathered.

— Andy Kellman

The Archies

Sugar, Sugar: The Complete Albums Collection

Cleopatra

Pop/Rock

All five Archies albums in one handy box should satisfy the needs of any dyed-in-the-wool bubblegum music fan.

— Tim Sendra

Various Artists

Quiero Creedence

Concord

Latin, Pop/Rock

This rocking, diverse tribute to Creedence Clearwater Revival offers several generations of Latin artists delivering innovative performances.

— Thom Jurek

The Bouncing Souls

Simplicity

Rise Records

Pop/Rock

A melodically rich set of populist punk-pop belly-warmers that should please both longtime fans and those just breaking in their first pair of Doc Martens.

— James Christopher Monger

Cotton Mather

Death of the Cool

Star Apple Kingdom

Pop/Rock

After a 15-year break, the power pop band comes back with an album as melody-rich and lovely as (almost) anything from its prime.

— Tim Sendra

D Generation

Nothing Is Anywhere

Megaforce / MRI

Pop/Rock

Reunion album from New York punk heroes sounds more like a Jesse Malin solo LP, albeit one that rocks with muscle and conviction.

— Mark Deming

Frankie Reyes

Boleros Valses y Más

Stones Throw

Latin, Electronic

Otherworldly album of traditional Latin melodies played on an Oberheim synthesizer by the musician better known as GB (Gifted & Blessed).

— Paul Simpson

Gary Hoey

Dust & Bones

Gary Hoey / Provogue

Pop/Rock

Blues-heavy -- and just plain heavy -- love letter to the golden age of guitar heroics.

— Stephen Thomas Erlewine

Gensu Dean / Denmark Vessey

Whole Food

Mello Music Group

Rap

Casual yet focused album of socially conscious hip-hop from a Midwestern MC and a Texas-based producer.

— Paul Simpson

Iji

Bubble

Team Love Records

Pop/Rock

Zach Burba's long-running indie project returns with its second studio LP, which was inspired by his band's dream journals from a tour.

— Marcy Donelson

Eerie

Tee Pee / Teepee Records

Pop/Rock

The debut album from the self-described "bi-coastal black metal/hard rockers" offers up a defcon 4 level blast of beefy, unabashedly Black Sabbath-adoring psych-doom rock.

— James Christopher Monger