The Carters

Everything Is Love

Sony Music

R&B, Rap

Hand in hand, hip-hop's reigning couple triumph over marital strife with confidence and style.

— Neil Z. Yeung

Christina Aguilera

Liberation

RCA

Pop/Rock

Christina Aguilera accentuates hip-hop and R&B in her bid for mature pop.

— Stephen Thomas Erlewine

Nas

Nasir

Mass Appeal

Rap

The Queensbridge legend's first album in six years feels more like another short-form Kanye West project than a full return.

— Andy Kellman

Gene Clark

Gene Clark Sings for You

Omnivore

Pop/Rock

Collection of two rare demo acetates the former Byrds singer cut in 1966 and 1967, cleaned up and showing him in fine form.

— Tim Sendra

5 Seconds of Summer

Youngblood

Capitol

Pop/Rock

The heretofore pop-punky Australian boy band shifts toward a slick dance-pop sound on its third album.

— Matt Collar

Mike Shinoda

Post Traumatic

Warner Bros. / WB

Pop/Rock, Rap

Cathartic song arc that chronicles Shinoda's grief in the wake of Linkin Park co-vocalist Chester Bennington's 2017 death.

— Neil Z. Yeung

Arthur Buck

Arthur Buck

New West

Pop/Rock

Collaboration between songwriter Joseph Arthur and guitarist Peter Buck is strong, but musically favors the former.

— Mark Deming

Buddy Guy

The Blues Is Alive and Well

RCA / Silvertone Records

Blues

Buddy Guy stares mortality straight in the eye on this vigorous album.

— Stephen Thomas Erlewine

Rolling Blackouts Coastal Fever

Hope Downs

Sub Pop

Pop/Rock

The band's debut album surpasses the jangle pop potential of their previous EPs to become an instant, hit-packed classic of the genre.

— Tim Sendra

Melody's Echo Chamber

Bon Voyage

Fat Possum Records

Pop/Rock

Free-flowing prog-psych made under the imaginative direction of Melody Prochet with help from members of Dungen and the Amazing.

— Tim Sendra

Protomartyr

Consolation

Domino

Pop/Rock

Darkly compelling four-song EP from the powerful Detroit band includes guest vocals from Kelley Deal.

Mourn

Sorpresa Familia

Captured Tracks

Pop/Rock

The band's cathartic third album turns hardship into ferocious inspiration.

— Heather Phares

Olivia Chaney

Shelter

Nonesuch

Pop/Rock

The sophomore studio effort from the English folk singer is as compelling and powerful as it unwaveringly intimate.

— James Christopher Monger

Yuno

Moodie

Sub Pop

Pop/Rock, R&B

The Jacksonville, Florida artist's debut EP delivers summery pastiches that are as appealing as they are surprising.

— Heather Phares

Culture Abuse

Bay Dream

Epitaph

Pop/Rock

The hooky West Coast quintet cloak some keen songwriting under a facade of big dumb fun on their debut for Epitaph.

— Timothy Monger

Johnny Marr

Call the Comet

New Voodoo / Sire

Pop/Rock

Empathy is the engine on the slick, accomplished Call the Comet.

— Stephen Thomas Erlewine

John Parish

Bird Dog Dante

Thrill Jockey

Pop/Rock

After nearly a decade releasing soundtracks and serial film music, the producer and songwriter delivers a low-key, lo-fi idiosyncratic gem.

— Thom Jurek

Petal

Magic Gone

Run for Cover Records

Pop/Rock

The Philly-based indie rocker's relatability and knack for crafting delicious earworms render even her most painful admission or rumination a small joy to ingest.

— James Christopher Monger

The Posies

Dear 23

Omnivore

Pop/Rock

A tuneful, polished blend of Big Star, latter-day Beatles, and the Hollies.

— Stephen Thomas Erlewine

The English Beat

Here We Go Love

Here We Go Records

Pop/Rock

Dave Wakeling revives the name if not the sound of the English Beat, but this is a fine exercise in R&B-infused pop and ska.

— Mark Deming

Kevin Krauter

Toss Up

Bayonet Records

Pop/Rock

Dreamy indie pop partly influenced by '70s soft rock defines the first solo album by the bassist for Bloomington, Indiana's Hoops.

— Marcy Donelson

Leon Vynehall

Nothing Is Still

Ninja Tune

Electronic

House producer Leon Vynehall composes a deeply nostalgic, orchestral ode to his family on his debut release for Ninja Tune.

— Paul Simpson

Marisa Anderson

Cloud Corner

Thrill Jockey

Folk, Avant-Garde

A dusty and deeply satisfying union of American folk, blues, and West African influences from the acclaimed Portland guitarist and composer.

— Timothy Monger

X-Altera

X-Altera

Ghostly International

Electronic

Debut release from an alias of Tadd Mullinix that takes influence from mid-'90s jungle and Detroit techno while sounding fresh and unique.

— Paul Simpson

Chromeo

Head Over Heels

Big Beat Records / WEA

Pop/Rock

Fifth album from this retro-funk duo lacks the hooks and inspiration that made their '80s-modeled formula work in the past.

— Fred Thomas

Eric Clapton

Eric Clapton: Life in 12 Bars [Original Motion Picture Soundtrack]

Universal

Blues, Pop/Rock, Stage & Screen

The soundtrack to the Eric Clapton documentary focuses on his '60s and '70s recordings.

— Stephen Thomas Erlewine

Fantastic Negrito

Please Don't Be Dead

Cooking Vinyl

Blues

Fantastic Negrito ramps up his ambition on the sequel to his Grammy Award-winning debut.

— Stephen Thomas Erlewine

Girls Names

Stains on Silence

Tough Love

Pop/Rock

The moody post-punk band's fourth album is a fractured, emotionally jarring reinvention of their sound that bears a debt to Nick Cave and Rowland S. Howard.

— Tim Sendra

Gui Boratto

Pentagram

Kompakt

Electronic

The Brazilian producer's fifth album is a slightly dark, sometimes cinematic set of melodic tech-house influenced by new wave and progressive house.

— Paul Simpson

Rose Garden

A Trip Through the Garden: The Rose Garden Collection

Omnivore

Pop/Rock

Everything the folk-rock group ever recorded, including alternate mixes and live tracks.

— Stephen Thomas Erlewine

Tom Waits

Bastards

Anti-

Pop/Rock

The third thematic individual volume in the artist's reissued Orphans series is the wildest and most unruly of all.

— Thom Jurek

Tom Waits

Bawlers

Anti-

Pop/Rock

As the three volumes in 2006's Orphans each get its own reissue, this lovely second entry is the bridge between poles of extremity.

— Thom Jurek

Tom Waits

Brawlers

Anti-

Pop/Rock, Blues

The first volume in the singer/songwriter's Orphans series is filled with the swagger and stomp of vintage blues, rockabilly, and other roots sounds.

— Thom Jurek

Hieroglyphic Being

The Replicant Dream Sequence

Moog Recordings Library

Electronic

Short, spontaneous album recorded by Jamal Moss during a visit to the Moog Sound Lab in London.

— Paul Simpson

Palberta

Roach Goin' Down

Wharf Cat Records

Pop/Rock

No wave-influenced trio Palberta continue to refine their singular sound, producing some of their hookiest songs yet.

— Paul Simpson

Tangents

New Bodies

Temporary Residence

Pop/Rock, Jazz

Australian quintet Tangents continue to display their "post-everything" approach to improvisation on their third full-length.

— Paul Simpson

Francesca Aspromonte

Prologue

PentaTone Classics

Classical

On Prologue, soprano Francesca Aspromonte presents opening scenes from early Baroque operas that provide an emotional connection to the drama.

— Blair Sanderson

Gottlieb Wallisch / Martin Haselböck / Orchester Wiener Akademie

Resound Beethoven, Vol. 6: Symphony 8 & Concerto for Piano after the Violin Concerto

Alpha

Classical

Beethoven's Eighth and the Piano Concerto in D major receive period-style performances from Martin Haselböck and the Wiener Akademie Orchester.

— Blair Sanderson

Etienne Meyer / Les Traversées Baroques

San Marco di Venezia: The Golden Age

Accent

Classical

The glorious music composed for the Basilica of San Marco is presented in this Accent release by Étienne Meer and Les Traversées Baroques.

— Blair Sanderson

St. John's College Choir, Cambridge / Andrew Nethsingha

Vaughan Williams: Mass in G minor

Signum Classics

Classical

Public and reflective sides of Vaughan Williams' sacred music, neatly summarized.

— James Manheim

Lucile Richardot / Sébastien Daucé / Ensemble Correspondances

Perpetual Night

Harmonia Mundi

Classical

French musicians bring the 17th-century English song to life.

— James Manheim

Valery Gergiev / Münchner Philharmoniker

Bruckner: Symphony No. 3

Münchner Philharmoniker

Classical

Valery Gergiev leads the Munich Philharmonic in the second installment of their Bruckner cycle, the 1888/89 version of the Symphony No. 3.

— Blair Sanderson

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