BROCKHAMPTON

iridescence

Question Everything

Rap

Chart-topping fourth effort from the hip-hop crew blurs genres and sharpens their creative focus.

— Neil Z. Yeung

Prince

Piano & A Microphone 1983

Rhino / Warner Records

R&B, Pop/Rock

A mesmerizing session capturing Prince singing whatever comes to his mind.

— Stephen Thomas Erlewine

Christine and the Queens

Chris

Because Music

Pop/Rock

The singer/songwriter's triumphant second album borrows from '80s R&B and questions gender roles, engaging minds, hearts, and bodies along the way.

— Heather Phares

Metric

Art of Doubt

BMG

Pop/Rock

The group's seventh album pushes the guitar up in the mix and delivers another set of modern rock gems powered by Emily Haines' vocal prowess.

— Tim Sendra

Josh Groban

Bridges

Reprise / Warner Music / WB

Vocal

An expert soft rock album that hits every imaginable demographic.

— Stephen Thomas Erlewine

Billy Gibbons

The Big Bad Blues

Concord

Pop/Rock

A down and dirty blues album that's looser than the average ZZ Top platter.

— Stephen Thomas Erlewine

Denzel Curry

TA13OO

Loma Vista

Rap

Infusing his rhymes with deep introspection and substance, Curry dives into darkness while maturing on album three.

— Neil Z. Yeung

Liars

Titles With the Word Fountain

Mute

Pop/Rock

This companion piece to 2017's TFCF takes that album's drifting, abandoned feel in more experimental directions.

— Heather Phares

Mount Eerie

(After)

P.W. Elverum & Sun

Pop/Rock

This live album is another brave and beautiful document tracing how Phil Elverum's sorrow and love continue to change shape.

— Heather Phares

Bhad Bhabie

15

B.H.A.D. Music

Rap

Debut mixtape that attempts to push the teenaged rapper from viral meme into legitimate act.

— Neil Z. Yeung

Beak>

Beak 3

Temporary Residence

Pop/Rock

The band's third album trades motorik grooves for some of its catchiest and most experimental music.

— Heather Phares

Villagers

The Art of Pretending to Swim

Domino

Pop/Rock

Irish indie folk artist creates a lush, accessible, but deeply personal pop album centered on matters of faith.

— Mark Deming

Suede

The Blue Hour

Warner Music

Pop/Rock

Suede push at the edges of their tragic romantic sound on this darkly bewitching album.

— Stephen Thomas Erlewine

Slash

Living the Dream

Roadrunner Records

Pop/Rock

Slash featuring Myles Kennedy & the Conspirators get down to business on this tight record.

— Stephen Thomas Erlewine

Capital Cities

Solarize

Capitol

Pop/Rock

Sun-washed set of irresistibly catchy, futuristic synth-disco from the funky Los Angeles duo.

— Neil Z. Yeung

Joyce Manor

Million Dollars to Kill Me

Epitaph

Pop/Rock

The West Coast emo punks continue their maturation on their solid fifth album with forays into wistful power pop.

— Timothy Monger

Sumac

Love in Shadow

Thrill Jockey

Pop/Rock

Post-metal trio follow their Keiji Haino collaboration with their most focused yet spontaneous work to date.

— Paul Simpson

The Sha La Das

Love in the Wind

Daptone

Pop/Rock, R&B

Debut album from this father-and-sons vocal group is a cool but inviting blend of doo wop, R&B, and vintage rock & roll.

— Mark Deming

Thalia Zedek

Fighting Season

Thrill Jockey

Pop/Rock

Nine songs of resistance in a time of chaos and division; a literate and compelling album from the former leader of Come.

— Mark Deming

Ramones

Road to Ruin [40th Anniversary Deluxe Edition]

Rhino / Warner Bros.

Pop/Rock

NYC's all-time premiere punk band's best nexus of chaos and slickness - fourth record contains ample classics.

— Jason Thurston

The Field

Infinite Moment

Kompakt

Electronic

This collection of darkly majestic minimal electronic fare gets deeper into the twilight tones explored on the Field's last few albums.

— Fred Thomas

Léonie Pernet

Crave

InFiné

Pop/Rock

Anxious, cosmopolitan synth pop from the film scorer and onetime Yuksek touring bandmember's debut.

— Marcy Donelson

Lonnie Holley

MITH

Jagjaguwar

Avant-Garde, Pop/Rock

Powerful, emotionally turbulent third full-length from celebrated found-object artist Lonnie Holley.

— Paul Simpson

Mandy Barnett

Strange Conversation

Dame / Dame Records

Country

A rich, soulful move to Americana from the traditionalist country singer.

— Stephen Thomas Erlewine

Voivod

The Wake

Century Media

Pop/Rock

Five years after their last studio album, the Canadian progressive thrash metal outfit prove they still have plenty of creativity and power to offer.

— Thom Jurek

William Fitzsimmons

Mission Bell

Nettwerk

Pop/Rock

An elegant, sad trombone of a record that makes a meal out of the picked-over carcass of heartbreak.

— James Christopher Monger

The Shifters

Have a Cunning Plan

Trouble in Mind

Pop/Rock

Australian lo-fi group reveals plentiful wit, enthusiasm, and melodic smarts on its spare but engaging debut.

— Mark Deming

Mountain Man

Magic Ship

Bella Union

Pop/Rock

The understated trio continue to weave their unembellished voices around old Appalachian folk tunes, rustic originals, and the occasional cover.

— James Christopher Monger

Mull Historical Society

Wakelines

Kartel / Xtra Mile Recordings

Pop/Rock

The Hebridean chamber pop bard teams up with Bernard Butler on this moving and deeply reflective outing.

— Timothy Monger

Mutual Benefit

Thunder Follows the Light

Transgressive

Pop/Rock

Even with its lyrical unease, the project's third LP confirms Jordan Lee's status as a leading architect of bucolic escapism.

— Marcy Donelson

Advance Base

Animal Companionship

Run for Cover Records

Pop/Rock

Owen Ashworth's third album as Advance Base is inspired by how humans relate to their pets.

— Paul Simpson

Richard Reed Parry

Quiet River of Dust, Vol. 1

Anti-

Pop/Rock

The Arcade Fire multi-instrumentalist delivers an Eastern philosophy-tinged pagan space-folk gem on his sophomore effort.

— James Christopher Monger

Amy Helm

This Too Shall Light

Yep Roc

Pop/Rock

On her sophomore solo date, the singer traveled from Woodstock to Los Angeles to work with producer Joe Henry and she delivers a stunner.

— Thom Jurek

Arve Henriksen

The Height of Reeds

Rune Grammofon

Avant-Garde

A striking work in which the trumpeter and his collaborators -- including a chorus and orchestra -- interact with Hull's Humber Bridge and its surroundings.

— Thom Jurek

Constant Mongrel

Living in Excellence

La Vida Es un Mus

Pop/Rock

On its third album, the Australian quartet delivers a darkly angular rush of vigorous noise with lyrics that rise above mundane concerns.

— Tim Sendra

Drew McDowall

The Third Helix

Dais

Electronic

Third solo album of dark, unsettling electronics from former Coil member Drew McDowall.

— Paul Simpson

Jess Glynne

Always in Between

Atlantic

Pop/Rock

Soulful English singer's chart-topping sophomore set includes a handful of joyous pop highlights.

— Neil Z. Yeung

Samuel Blaser / Samuel Blaser Quartet

Early in the Mornin'

Out Note Records

Jazz

An earthy evocation of blues and folk traditions spun through with the trombonist's mystic free jazz energy.

— Matt Collar

Sobrenadar

Y

Sonic Cathedral

Pop/Rock, Electronic

Weightless ambient dream pop from Argentinian singer/songwriter Paula García.

— Paul Simpson

Wolfgang Rübsam

Bach: Goldberg Variations

Naxos

Classical

Playing a lute-harpsichord built by Keith Hill, Wolfgang Rübsam finds new ideas and expressions in Bach's famous Goldberg Variations.

— Blair Sanderson

Eugene Asti / Stéphane Degout / Sophie Karthäuser / Alain Planès

Claude Debussy: Harmonie du Soir - Mélodies

Harmonia Mundi

Classical

A generous range of Debussy songs, oriented toward his relationship with poetry, and beautifully performed.

— James Manheim

Anne-Sophie Mutter / Lambert Orkis / Roman Patkoló

Hommage à Penderecki

Deutsche Grammophon

Classical

A collection featuring Mutter performing the four works written for her by Polish composer Penderecki.

— James Manheim

Jean-Philippe Collard-Neven / Vincent Peirani / Quatuor Debussy / Franck Tortiller

Claude Debussy: ...et le jazz - Preludes for a Quartet

Harmonia Mundi

Classical

Not a survey of Debussy's rather slight relationship to jazz, but rather of how Debussy has affected and been interpreted by jazz musicians.

— James Manheim

Alisa Weilerstein

Transfigured Night: Haydn & Schoenberg

PentaTone Classics

Classical

An odd grouping of pieces, redeemed by a superb Verklärte Nacht.

— James Manheim

Christophe Rousset

Louis Couperin: Nouvelles Suites de Clavecin

Harmonia Mundi

Classical

Christophe Rousset plays the Nouvelles Suites de Clavecin of Louis Couperin on a Couchet harpsichord dating from 1652.

— Blair Sanderson

Previous Week Next Week