Featured New Album Releases

Screaming Females

All at Once

Don Giovanni

Pop/Rock

Polished, ambitious effort from this New Jersey trio; more refined than their early efforts, but just as smart and individual.

— Mark Deming

CHAPPO

Do It

Votiv

Pop/Rock

On the heels of personal loss, the band's John Vanderslice-produced third LP is more contemplative but still refreshingly outside the lines.

— Marcy Donelson

Frigs

Basic Behaviour

Arts & Crafts

Pop/Rock

The Toronto post-punks deliver a commanding debut album that focuses on formidable vocalist Bria Salmena.

— Heather Phares

The Low Anthem

The Salt Doll Went to Measure the Depth of the Sea

Joyful Noise

Pop/Rock

Almost completely stripped of virtuosity, this poignant fifth LP was inspired by a tour-van accident and a fable about a doll made of salt.

— Marcy Donelson

Matthew Shipp

Sonic Fiction

ESP-Disk

Jazz

This date wonderfully evidences intuitive, strategic, and seductive sonic exploration by the pianist's most democratically run collective.

— Thom Jurek

Go-Kart Mozart

Mozart's Mini-Mart

West Midlands

Pop/Rock

Gloriously odd, and oddly emotional, record from Lawrence, one of the all-time great English eccentrics, and his crack band.

— Tim Sendra

Altered Images

The Epic Years

Cherry Red

Pop/Rock

All three albums (plus bonus tracks) and a collection of extended mixes from the brightest and chirpiest pop band of the '80s, and possibly ever.

— Tim Sendra

Bert Jansch

A Man I'd Rather Be, Pt. 2

Earth / Earth Recordings

Folk, Pop/Rock

A handsomely packaged box of four of the guitarist's solo albums recorded during his tenure with Pentangle.

— Thom Jurek

The Skull Defekts

Thrill Jockey

Pop/Rock

The final chapter in a long and noisy run from this Swedish collective is also their most explosive and elaborately composed album.

— Fred Thomas

Totally Mild

Her

Chapter Music

Pop/Rock

The Australian dream pop combo hit their stride on their sublime sophomore effort.

— Timothy Monger

Femi Kuti

One People One World

Knitting Factory Records

International

The favorite son of Afrobeat and his longstanding band deliver a tour de force of Afrobeat quilted with highlife, Latin, Caribbean, and R&B.

— Thom Jurek

Felt

The Splendour of Fear [Remastered CD & 7'' Vinyl Boxset]

Cherry Red

Pop/Rock

The group's second album adds some expansive space to the arrangements, while bringing Lawrence's more confident vocals to the front of the mix.

— Tim Sendra

Felt

The Seventeenth Century

Cherry Red

Pop/Rock

The band's first record for Creation is an all-instrumental affair that features new keyboardist Martin Duffy.

— Tim Sendra

Felt

The Strange Idols Pattern and Other Short Stories [Remastered CD & 7'' Vinyl Boxset]

Cherry Red

Pop/Rock

The band's third album is where their ambition, craft and emotions all come together in stunning, frequently breathtaking fashion.

— Tim Sendra

Felt

Ignite the Seven Cannons [Remastered CD & 7'' Vinyl Boxset]

Cherry Red

Pop/Rock

The Robin Guthrie-produced album contains the band's biggest hit, "Primitive Painters."

— Tim Sendra

Felt

Crumbling the Antiseptic Beauty [Remastered CD & 7'' Vinyl Boxset]

Cherry Red

Pop/Rock

The band's first album is moody and muffled, woven from thick strands of mystery and melancholy.

— Tim Sendra

S. Carey

Hundred Acres

Jagjaguwar

Pop/Rock

The Wisconsin native's third LP is a hushed work of chamber folk understatement.

— Timothy Monger

Starchild & the New Romantic

Language

Ghostly International

R&B

Dev Hynes and Solange associate Bryndon Cook makes his Princely full-length debut on Ghostly International.

— Andy Kellman

Grant-Lee Phillips

Widdershins

Yep Roc

Pop/Rock

Smoky-voiced songwriter casts his eye on a chaotic nation, and emerges with an album of passion and purpose.

— Mark Deming

Mint Field

Pasar de las Luces

Innovative Leisure

Pop/Rock

Remarkable debut full-length from Mint Field, a Mexican duo who play an abstract yet accessible form of dream pop.

— Paul Simpson

The Rezillos

Flying Saucer Attack: The Complete Recordings 1977-1979

Cherry Red

Pop/Rock

An update to the great 1993 collection that gathered up nearly all the Scottish punk-pop whiz's output -- this one does!

— Tim Sendra

Holly Miranda

Mutual Horse

Dangerbird Records

Pop/Rock

The third solo album from the singer/songwriter is bigger and more ambitious while still sounding warm and intimate.

— Mark Deming

Insecure Men

Fat Possum Records

Pop/Rock

The British pop eccentrics turn in a pleasing melting pot of a debut produced by Sean Lennon.

— Timothy Monger

Caroline Rose

Loner

New West

Pop/Rock

Former folkie and roots rocker embraces dance-friendly pop and comes up with a smart and witty triumph.

— Mark Deming

Olden Yolk

Trouble in Mind

Pop/Rock

The debut of a project led by Quilt's Shane Butler and co-lead singer/songwriter Caity Shaffer offers soft-focus psychedelic folk-rock.

— Marcy Donelson

Remo Drive

Greatest Hits

Epitaph

Pop/Rock

Major-label debut from the Minnesota indie band that merges emo yearning with garage rock rawness.

— Neil Z. Yeung

Dedekind Cut

Tahoe

Kranky

Electronic

Dedekind Cut's Kranky debut is an emotionally complex set of ambient pieces ranging from meditative drones to dark, unsettling dreams.

— Paul Simpson

Elephant9

Greatest Show on Earth

Rune Grammofon

Jazz

Returning to the trio format after working with guitarists, the Norwegian organ trio deliver jazz-rock with deft imagination and an often dazzling intensity.

— Thom Jurek

El Perro del Mar

We Are History

The Control Group

Pop/Rock

A darkly introspective, harrowing, and politically charged companion to the excellent KoKoro album released in 2016.

— Tim Sendra

Essaie Pas

New Path

DFA

Electronic, Pop/Rock

A challenging excursion into deep space techno, inspired by Philip K. Dick's dystopian science fiction classic A Scanner Darkly.

— Paul Simpson

Keiji Haino / Sumac

American Dollar Bill - Keep Facing Sideways, You're Too Hideous To Look at Face On

Thrill Jockey

Pop/Rock

Astonishing collection of lengthy improvisations by legendary noise guitarist/vocalist Keiji Haino and post-metal trio Sumac.

— Paul Simpson

Lionlimb

Tape Recorder

Bayonet Records

Pop/Rock

The Nashville duo expand their '60s-style psychedelic sound with warm, classically influenced arrangements.

— Matt Collar

Nina Simone

The Colpix Singles

Rhino

Vocal, Jazz

A collection of singles the legendary jazz/blues artist recorded between 1959 and 1963, as she explored new facets of her music.

— Mark Deming

Our Lady Peace

Somethingness

Coalition Records / Warner Music

Pop/Rock

Somethingness is both rote and rousing, like a sweaty, after-a-couple-of-beers, deep high-five.

— James Christopher Monger

Reggie and the Full Effect

41

Pure Noise

Pop/Rock

Get Up Kids keyboardist James Dewees' seventh go-round as RATFE delivers another sugary blast of hooky, power pop-infused emo-punk that puts the fun in angst.

— James Christopher Monger