Florida Georgia Line

Can't Say I Ain't Country

Big Machine Records

Country

The bro-country superstars score with a successful blend of urban pop and redneck country.

— Stephen Thomas Erlewine

Avril Lavigne

Head Above Water

BMG

Pop/Rock

Following a battle with Lyme disease, the singer/songwriter gets inspirational.

— Stephen Thomas Erlewine

Ladytron

Ladytron

Ladytron Recordings

Pop/Rock, Electronic

The band's first album in eight years proves that their skill at crafting glamorous, dystopian pop is as sharp as ever.

— Heather Phares

Chaka Khan

Hello Happiness

Island

R&B

Powerful and varied batch of retro-contemporary grooves recorded with Sarah Ruba (New Look) and Switch (M.I.A., Major Lazer).

— Andy Kellman

Homeshake

Helium

Sinderlyn

Pop/Rock

Peter Sagar's fourth album as Homeshake is the first to be recorded at home, resulting in his strangest, most dream-like work yet.

— Paul Simpson

Piroshka

Brickbat

Bella Union

Pop/Rock

Members of Lush, Elastica, Moose, and Modern English join forces on an invigorating, forward-thinking debut.

— Heather Phares

Czarface / Ghostface Killah

Czarface Meets Ghostface

Silver Age

Rap

Rock-solid, exciting collaboration between the comic-inspired hip-hop supergroup and Wu-Tang's Ghostface Killah.

— Paul Simpson

Betty Who

Betty

Betty Who

Pop/Rock

On her third album, the singer/songwriter returns to being an independent artist and delivers some of her catchiest, most confident songs.

— Heather Phares

Methyl Ethel

Triage

4AD

Pop/Rock

The lush, immersive final installment of a self-described trilogy was entirely self-recorded by project leader Jake Webb.

— Marcy Donelson

Various Artists

Kankyō Ongaku: Japanese Ambient, Environmental & New Age Music 1980-1990

Light in the Attic Records

New Age, Electronic, International, Avant-Garde

More than just pleasant background music, this wide-ranging collection of Japanese environmental music serves as a history lesson.

— Paul Simpson

Insane Clown Posse

Fearless Fred Fury

Psychopathic Records

Rap, Pop/Rock

The 15th studio album from Detroit's wicked clowns of rap doesn't vary much from the rest of their notoriously polarizing catalog.

— Fred Thomas

Tedeschi Trucks Band

Signs

Fantasy

Pop/Rock

After a couple of years of poignant losses, this 12-piece outfits returns bloodied but unbowed with soulful, spiky, and adventurous music.

— Thom Jurek

Yann Tiersen

ALL

Mute

Pop/Rock, Classical

The composer celebrates the beauty of the world around us with an album that feels like a planet-sized embrace.

— Heather Phares

The Long Ryders

Psychedelic Country Soul

Omnivore

Pop/Rock

The first studio album since 1987 from the Paisley Underground heroes is subtle, but as smart, passionate, and heartfelt as ever.

— Mark Deming

bis

Slight Disconnects

Last Night from Glasgow

Pop/Rock

The recently re-formed trio's fourth album comes two decades after their debut and finds them at their goofy, jumpy, genre-mashing best.

— Tim Sendra

Hayes Carll

What It Is

Dualtone Music / eOne

Folk, Pop/Rock, Country

The talented singer/songwriter brings us another helping of unpretentious barroom folk, easygoing but from the heart.

— Mark Deming

Jon Fratelli

Bright Night Flowers

Cooking Vinyl

Pop/Rock

The Fratellis' frontman turns in an elegant solo set of piano-led, country-tinged chamber pop with a timeless feel.

— Timothy Monger

Katarina Pejak

Roads That Cross

Ruf Records

Blues

On her Mike Zito-produced Ruf Records debut, the pianist, singer, and songwriter delivers a dazzling take on modern blues.

— Thom Jurek

Broken Social Scene

Let's Try the After, Vol. 1

Arts & Crafts / Arts & Crafts Productions

Pop/Rock

As a bite-sized sampler of where the band is headed, this engaging and innovative EP more than suffices.

— James Christopher Monger

India.Arie

Worthy

India.Arie, Inc.

R&B

The singer and songwriter follows her 2017 new age crossover with an occasionally slick mix of positive message music and love ballads.

— Andy Kellman

One OK Rock

Eye of the Storm

Atlantic / Fueled by Ramen Records

Pop/Rock

Their heroic ninth album finds the former Japanese pop-punks graduating to stadium-sized motivational anthems.

— Neil Z. Yeung

Perfect Son

Cast

Sub Pop

Electronic, Pop/Rock

The debut solo album from the Polish artist is a rising tide of dark, goth-tinged electronica and synth-based balladry.

— Matt Collar

The Sonic Dawn

Eclipse

Heavy Psych Sounds

Pop/Rock

Danish retro-rockers deliver a bluesy blend of grimy, neo-psychedelia and pastoral, Laurel Canyon-esque acid-folk.

— James Christopher Monger

Stats

Other People's Lives

Memphis Industries

Pop/Rock

A member of Dua Lipa's backing band takes the lead on a debut packed with vibrant, funky alternative dance tunes.

— Marcy Donelson

Gemma Ray

Psychogeology

Bronzerat Records

Pop/Rock

In addition to epic, landscape-inspired arrangements, the sequencing of Ray's eighth album seems to have a journey and a destination in mind.

— Marcy Donelson

Abjects

Never Give Up

Yippee Ke Yay Records / You've Changed Records

Pop/Rock

An impressively energetic and tuneful garage rock debut from the London-based trio.

— Tim Sendra

Jeff Whalen

10 More Rock Super Hits

Pop/Rock

Hooky, ridiculously fun power pop from the former leader of the under-appreciated 2000s band Tsar.

— Tim Sendra

Los Bonsáis

Hinoki

Elefant

Pop/Rock

Following multiple EPs, this proper debut full-length finds the Spanish indie pop band turning from shoegaze distortion to more subdued production.

— Fred Thomas

Millencolin

SOS

Epitaph

Pop/Rock

The stalwart Swedes continue to carry the '90s skatepunk torch on their fiery follow-up to 2015's True Brew.

— James Christopher Monger

Robert Ellis

Texas Piano Man

New West

Pop/Rock, Country

The singer/songwriter takes a welcome left turn that brings him toward eccentric Nilsson territory.

— Stephen Thomas Erlewine

Seth Walker

Are You Open?

Royal Potato Family

Blues, Jazz, Pop/Rock

A deft, elegant record that weaves together stories and Southern sounds.

— Stephen Thomas Erlewine

Golden Daze

Simpatico

Autumn Tone Records

Pop/Rock

The L.A. indie pop duo turn in a lush and sophisticated sophomore set full of misty melancholia.

— Timothy Monger

Good Shade

Way Out

Dirtnap Records / Gut Genug Recordings

Pop/Rock

Catchy punk-infused pop music meets an uncompromising view of a troubled soul in album four from Shane Natalie's one-man project.

— Mark Deming

Holiday Ghosts

West Bay Playroom

PNKSLM

Pop/Rock

The jangly indie pop of the U.K. band's second album takes influence from '50s, surf, and '60s garage rock(s).

— Marcy Donelson

SWMRS

Berkeley's on Fire

Atlantic / Fueled by Ramen Records / Uncool

Pop/Rock

A mature fourth set from the Bay Area punks that absorbs garage rock and post-punk influences.

— Neil Z. Yeung

The Exbats

E Is for Exbats

Burger Records

Pop/Rock

A collection of tunes from the first two cassette releases by this stripped-down but lovable father-daughter punk band.

— Mark Deming

Fidelio Trio

Fauré, Chausson, Satie: Piano Trios

Resonus

Classical

Offbeat French repertory from a young trio, cleanly played.

— James Manheim

Natasha Paremski

Mussorgsky: Pictures at an Exhibition; Hersch: Tchaikovsky Variations

Steinway & Sons

Classical

Driving, compelling interpretation of the Mussorgsky warhorse, innovatively paired with a contemporary work.

— James Manheim

Les Talens Lyriques / Christophe Rousset

François Couperin: Les Nations

Aparte

Classical

Superb, sensuous performances of Couperin's set that claimed to evoke national styles.

— James Manheim

Philippe Graffin / Claire Désert

Fiddler's Blues: Ysaÿe, Ravel, Debussy, Enescu

Avie

Classical

A miscellany of French solo violin and violin-and-piano works, headlined by a rediscovered solo sonata of Ysaÿe.

— James Manheim

Leonore Piano Trio

Parry: Piano Trios Nos 1 & 3; Partita for Violin and Piano

Hyperion

Classical

Strong performances of obscure works by Parry, including an intriguing proto-neoclassic Partita.

— James Manheim

Daniel Barenboim / Staatskapelle Berlin

Brahms: The Symphonies

Deutsche Grammophon

Classical

A major new reading of the Brahms symphonies in a live recording.

— James Manheim

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