Featured New Album Releases

Kendrick Lamar

DAMN.

Aftermath

Rap

Pared as it might seem, the rapper's fourth proper album is just as rich as the platinum releases that preceded it.

— Andy Kellman

Sheryl Crow

Be Myself

Warner Bros.

Pop/Rock

Sheryl Crow reunites with producers Jeff Trott and Tchad Blake and returns to her '90s sound.

— Stephen Thomas Erlewine

Ray Davies

Americana

Legacy / Sony Music

Pop/Rock

Ray Davies adapts his autobiography Americana into a rich, rewarding song cycle recorded with the Jayhawks.

— Stephen Thomas Erlewine

Brad Paisley

Love and War

Arista

Country

Brad Paisley offers a hypercharged, star-studded re-do of his 2014 album Moonshine in the Trunk.

— Stephen Thomas Erlewine

Imelda May

Life. Love. Flesh. Blood

Decca / Verve

Pop/Rock

A dusky, bittersweet break-up album featuring rootsy production from T-Bone Burnett.

— Matt Collar

The Chainsmokers

Memories...Do Not Open

Sony Music

Pop/Rock, Electronic

Debut full-length from the EDM-lite duo that pulls Emily Warren, Jhené Aiko, Coldplay, Florida Georgia Line, and Louane into their orbit of millennial escapism.

— Neil Z. Yeung

Incubus

8

Island / Virgin EMI

Pop/Rock

The band's Skrillex co-produced eighth studio outing favors a more streamlined, guitar-driven approach that should please fans of their earlier work.

— James Christopher Monger

Robyn Hitchcock

Robyn Hitchcock / Yep Roc

Pop/Rock

Recorded in Nashville with pop sorcerer Brendan Benson, Robyn Hitchcock's 22nd studio outing is his most vibrant collection of new music since the early 1990s.

— James Christopher Monger

Barry Manilow

This Is My Town: Songs of New York

Decca / Verve

Pop/Rock, Vocal, Jazz

A glitzy and heartfelt tribute to Barry Manilow's hometown.

— Stephen Thomas Erlewine

Bee Gees

Timeless: The All-Time Greatest Hits

Capitol

R&B

From 1966 to 1979, the brothers Gibb ruled the charts and created a legacy of brilliant pop music; the best of it is collected here.

— Tim Sendra

The Raveonettes

2016 Atomized

Beat Dies Records

Pop/Rock

Recorded over a year's time, releasing a song a month, the long-running duo experiment successfully with their trademark noise pop sound.

— Tim Sendra

Gas

Narkopop

Kompakt

Electronic

Seventeen years after Pop, Wolfgang Voigt's revered ambient techno project Gas makes its triumphant return with the lush, hypnotic Narkopop.

— Paul Simpson

Warm Soda

I Don't Wanna Grow Up

Castle Face

Pop/Rock

The band's fourth album of snappy lo-fi power pop is their best yet, and also their last ever.

— Tim Sendra

The Relationship

Clara Obscura

Lolipop Records

Pop/Rock

The second outing from this power pop combo fronted by Weezer's Brian Bell is a melodic gem in the vein of Redd Kross and the Grays.

— Timothy Monger

Cotillon

The Afternoons

Pop/Rock

The band's second album strips down the sound and ups the slacker quotient, while Jordan Corso's songs remain very sweet and quirky.

— Tim Sendra

Justin Walter

Unseen Forces

Kranky

Electronic, Avant-Garde, Jazz

Michigan-based artist Justin Walter returns to Kranky for a second album of dreamlike improvisations utilizing the rare Electronic Valve Instrument.

— Paul Simpson

Charlie Worsham

Beginning of Things

Warner Bros.

Country

A cool, soulful, and funny breakthrough from the country singer/songwriter.

— Stephen Thomas Erlewine

Ron Sexsmith

The Last Rider

Compass

Pop/Rock

Co-producing with drummer Don Kerr, Sexsmith employs his touring band for a warm and inspired outing.

— Timothy Monger

Regina Carter

Ella: Accentuate the Positive

OKeh Records / Sony Masterworks

Jazz

The violinist pays homage to the legendary vocalist with a set of well-curated, surprisingly reworked standards.

— Matt Collar

Preservation Hall Jazz Band

So It Is

Legacy / Sony Music

Jazz

The PHJB's second album of all-original material is an ebullient, Afro-Latin-influenced party album produced with TV on the Radio's Dave Sitek.

— Matt Collar

Big Star's Third

Thank You, Friends: Big Star's Third Live... And More [Super Deluxe]

Concord

Pop/Rock

Big Star fans pay loving homage to the group's third album, while also proving how hard it is to improve on the original.

— Mark Deming

Tara Jane O'Neil

Gnomonsong

Pop/Rock

The singer/songwriter's self-titled 2017 effort is languid, luminous, and casually beautiful.

— Mark Deming

The Black Angels

Death Song [With Stickers] [Download Card]

Partisan

Pop/Rock

More dark spookiness and malevolent psychedelia from the Lone Star State's kings of 21st century trippiness.

— Mark Deming

The Legends

Nightshift [Gatefold Cover] [2 LP]

Labrador

Pop/Rock

Another left turn for the Swedish band, this time into robotic electro and chilly synths-at-night territory.

— Tim Sendra

Joe Goddard

Electric Lines

Domino

Pop/Rock, Electronic

The producer's second solo album celebrates electronic music and the way it brings people together.

— Heather Phares

Maxïmo Park

Risk to Exist

Daylighting / Cooking Vinyl

Pop/Rock

The band returns to its political roots on its sixth album, delivering songs full of sincerity and strong melodies.

— Heather Phares

Mike Dillon

Life Is Not a Football

Royal Potato Family

Pop/Rock, Jazz

New Orleans-based vibraphonist and percussionist leads an ensemble that finds the bleeding zone between street beats, ska, punk, funk, and jazz.

— Thom Jurek

Mr. Mitch

Devout

Planet Mu

Electronic, R&B

London-based grime producer returns to Planet Mu with a spacious, reflective album about his recent fatherhood.

— Paul Simpson

Overcoats

Young

Arts & Crafts

Pop/Rock

The singing duo's vibrant debut offers rich vocal harmonies over elegant, offbeat production by the band, Nicolas Vernhes, and Autre Ne Veut.

— Marcy Donelson

Matthew Logan Vasquez

Does What He Wants

Dine Alone

Pop/Rock

A punchy, emotionally charged blast of headstrong indie rock and soulful Americana that flirts with despondency, but ultimately succumbs to beatitude.

— James Christopher Monger