Featured New Album Releases

The Breeders

All Nerve

4AD

Pop/Rock

A decade after its last album -- and 25 years after Last Splash -- the band delivers one of its finest blends of sugar and swagger.

— Heather Phares

Moby

Everything Was Beautiful, and Nothing Hurt

Little Idiot

Electronic

After a pair of punk blasts with Void Pacific Choir, Moby dips back into soulful, melancholy electronic soundscapes.

— Neil Z. Yeung

Andrew W.K.

You're Not Alone

BEE & El / Sony CMG

Pop/Rock

The white knight of rock promotes self-actualization and the power of partying while revisiting his signature sound.

— Timothy Monger

Tracey Thorn

Record

Merge

Pop/Rock

With disco bangers, heartfelt ballads, and some new wave pop, this is one of Thorn's most varied and impressive albums to date.

— Tim Sendra

Jonathan Wilson

Rare Birds

Bella Union

Pop/Rock

On his most ambitious outing yet, the songwriter/producer and a star-studded cast dreamily use pop to obsess about the end of a relationship.

— Thom Jurek

Superorganism

Domino Recording Co. Ltd.

Pop/Rock

Fresh and fun sample-heavy pop jams from a London collective that sounds like the house band on a Pee-wee's Playhouse reboot.

— Tim Sendra

Gwenno

Le Kov

Heavenly

Pop/Rock

The Welsh artist's second album is sung in Cornish and is a lovely, warmly psychedelic tribute to Cornish history and culture.

— Tim Sendra

Moaning

Sub Pop

Pop/Rock

The debut full-length from Los Angeles trio Moaning is an alarmingly focused set of tense, bitter, post-punk tunes.

— Paul Simpson

Titus Andronicus

A Productive Cough

Merge

Pop/Rock

Group leader Patrick Stickles takes his music in a different direction, conjuring a rousing urban hootenanny.

— Mark Deming

Buffalo Tom

Quiet and Peace

Schoolkids

Pop/Rock

First album in seven years from the '90s alt-rock favorites finds them more contemplative, but just as passionate.

— Mark Deming

In Tall Buildings

Akinetic

Western Vinyl Records

Pop/Rock

Outsourcing production for the first time (Brian Deck), Erik Hall's gorgeous third album expands textures and musical contrasts.

— Marcy Donelson

Jackie DeShannon

Stone Cold Soul: The Complete Capitol Recordings

Real Gone Music

Pop/Rock

Everything DeShannon recorded for Capitol in the early '70s, including a scrapped album cut at Memphis' American Sound Studios with Chips Moman.

— Stephen Thomas Erlewine

Seun Kuti / Seun Kuti & Egypt 80

Black Times

Strut

International

Re-enlisting Robert Glasper as co-producer, the Afrobeat scion offers his own take on the music that incorporates modern jazz, dub, and rock.

— Thom Jurek

The Men

Drift

Sacred Bones

Pop/Rock

Returning to Sacred Bones after a self-released record, the Men deliver their most eclectic album to date.

— Paul Simpson

Joan Baez

Whistle Down the Wind

Razor & Tie

Folk

The folk icon records an autumnal album at the age of 77 that acknowledges time but confirms she's far from a spent force.

— Mark Deming

Lucy Dacus

Historian

Matador

Pop/Rock

The velvety-voiced singer/songwriter follows up her 2016 debut with fleshed-out arrangements that occasionally reach soaring heights.

— Marcy Donelson

The Fleshtones

Budget Buster

Yep Roc

Pop/Rock

A dozen rarities from the long-running garage rock masters show their B-sides are better than most bands' A-sides.

— Mark Deming

Jackson MacIntosh

My Dark Side

Sinderlyn

Pop/Rock

Solo debut from TOPS bassist and Sheer Agony leader digs into gloomy late-night singer/songwriter confessions that never forsake hooks for mood.

— Tim Sendra

Anna von Hausswolff

Dead Magic

City Slang

Pop/Rock

Produced by Randall Dunn, the Swedish organist and singer takes her haunted sound into a fully formed, irresistible, unspeakable darkness.

— Thom Jurek

Ed Schrader's Music Beat

Riddles

Carpark Records

Pop/Rock

Ed Schrader's Music Beat shed the "reductionist garage punk duo" tag on their ambitious, Dan Deacon-produced third album.

— Paul Simpson

Jack DeJohnette / Keith Jarrett / Gary Peacock

After the Fall

ECM

Jazz

The pianist's standards trio captured live in 1998; this double disc ranges from ballads to bop and beyond in an exhilarating performance.

— Thom Jurek

Dick Stusso

In Heaven

Hardly Art

Pop/Rock

A shambolic beach bum caught between the sock-hop stylings of JD McPherson, the good-natured hedonism of Harry Nilsson, and the moonstruck mania of Skip Spence.

— James Christopher Monger

Sonny Smith

Rod for Your Love

Easy Eye Sound / Nonesuch

Pop/Rock

Produced by Dan Auerbach, Smith's tenth release (counting Sonny & the Sunsets) returns to simpler guitar pop and rivals his catchiest work.

— Marcy Donelson

Soccer Mommy

Clean

Fat Possum Records

Pop/Rock

This Gabe Wax-produced official debut retains the former bedroom project's intimacy, vulnerability, and distinctively sinuous style.

— Marcy Donelson

Tory Lanez

MEMORIES DONT DIE

Interscope

R&B

Grammy-nominated rapper/singer follows his Top Five debut album with a set of defensive and occasionally deeply personal tracks.

— Andy Kellman

Pet Shop Boys

Actually: Further Listening: 1987-1988

Rhino

Pop/Rock

With their second album, the duo perfected their melodic, detached dance-pop.

— Tim Sendra

Pet Shop Boys

Please: Further Listening 1984-1986

Parlophone / Rhino

Pop/Rock

The duo's debut album is a collection of immaculately crafted and seamlessly produced synthesized dance-pop.

— Tim Sendra

Pet Shop Boys

Introspective: Further Listening 1988-1989

Parlophone / Rhino

Pop/Rock

With only six tracks, most of them over six minutes in length, the record was a move back to the clubs for the duo.

— Tim Sendra

Gatecreeper / Iron Reagan

Split

Relapse Records

Pop/Rock

The Split EP makes up for its diminutive running time (just under 18 minutes) via a lethal blast of unmitigated sonic brutality.

— James Christopher Monger

Camp Cope

How to Socialise & Make Friends

Run for Cover Records

Pop/Rock

The Melbourne indie rock trio's confessional sophomore outing explores challenging themes of sexism, inequality, and love.

— Timothy Monger

Suuns

Felt

Secretly Canadian

Pop/Rock

Felt is the sound of art rock on autopilot, and while this still results in a trippy experience, it feels very uninspired.

— Liam Martin

Tech N9ne

Planet

Strange Music

Rap

The rapper's 20th overall album finds Tech and friends on a new fictional world where Earth's hate has been left behind.

— Neil Z. Yeung

Mt. Joy

Dualtone Music

Pop/Rock

The Philadelphia natives turn in a debut of affable indie folk with a lightly scuffed retro tone.

— Timothy Monger

Matthew Bourne / Nightports

Nightports w/ Matthew Bourne

The Leaf Label

Avant-Garde, Electronic

Matthew Bourne and electro-acoustic duo Nightports present an extensive study of the possibilities of the piano.

— Paul Simpson

Gary V

Mamba

Anti-

Pop/Rock

The second effort from the L.A. post-punk artist expands his tonal palette while painting dark futures.

— Timothy Monger

UB40 Featuring Ali Campbell & Astro

A Real Labour of Love [Colored Vinyl]

Universal

Reggae

The UB40 fronted by Ali Campbell, Astro, and Mickey Virtue establish that they're a real reggae band with this collection of '80s reggae covers.

— Stephen Thomas Erlewine

Turbonegro

Rocknroll Machine

Burger Records

Pop/Rock

The notorious Norwegian hard rockers sound (by their standards) more accessible and less kinky on album number 11.

— Mark Deming

Cut Chemist

Die Cut

A Stable Sound

Rap

Highly eclectic studio album from the famed Los Angeles DJ, focusing more on production and songwriting than turntablism.

— Paul Simpson

Johnny Mathis

Sings the Music of Bacharach & Kaempfert

Real Gone Music

Vocal

A 1970 double LP that pairs a collection of new Kaempfert covers with a compilation of Bacharach interpretations.

— Stephen Thomas Erlewine

Johnny Mathis

Raindrops Keep Fallin' on My Head

Real Gone Music

Vocal, Easy Listening

Mathis dives into a bunch of contemporary standards, including "Something" and "Everybody's Talkin'," on this 1970 album.

— Stephen Thomas Erlewine

Mariss Jansons

Portrait

BR Klassik

Classical

BR Klassik celebrates Mariss Jansons' 75th birthday with this five-CD package of great live performances by the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra.

— Blair Sanderson

Lucy Crowe / Malcolm Martineau

Debussy: Songs, Vol. 4

Hyperion

Classical

British soprano Lucy Crowe presents the fourth and final installment in a complete edition of Claude Debussy's songs.

— James Manheim

Mark Applebaum

Mark Applebaum: Speed Dating

Innova

Avant-Garde, Classical

A 2018 Innova release containing five representative examples of Marc Applebaum's eclectic and imaginative music.

— Blair Sanderson

Isabelle Faust / Kristian Bezuidenhout

J.S. Bach: Sonatas for Violin & Harpsichord

Harmonia Mundi

Classical

German violinist Isabelle Faust and South African keyboardist Kristian Bezuidenhout present Bach's innovative sonatas for violin and obbligato harpsichord.

— James Manheim