Featured New Album Releases

Jonas Brothers

Happiness Begins

Polydor / Republic

Pop/Rock

The Jonas Brothers return to action with a sleek, savvy modern pop album.

— Stephen Thomas Erlewine

Bob Dylan

The Rolling Thunder Revue: The 1975 Live Recordings

Columbia / Sony Music

Pop/Rock

This sprawling box captures the mystery and magic of the songwriter's star-studded carnivalesque 1975 tour in rehearsal, over five shows, and in rarities.

— Thom Jurek

Yeasayer

Erotic Reruns

Yeasayer Records

Pop/Rock

The band's fifth album offers a more streamlined, feel-good dance-rock but doesn't shy away from politics.

— Marcy Donelson

Santana / Carlos Santana

Africa Speaks

Concord / Decca

Pop/Rock

The Santana band teams with Spanish vocal superstar Concha Buika on their most satisfying group album since the 1970s.

— Thom Jurek

Neil Young / Neil Young & the Stray Gators

Tuscaloosa

Reprise / Warner Bros.

Pop/Rock

A sometimes moody but engaging 1973 concert from the same tour that produced the album Time Fades Away.

— Mark Deming

Grateful Dead

Aoxomoxoa [Expanded]

Grateful Dead / Rhino

Pop/Rock

The 50th anniversary of the band's third studio album is celebrated with multiple mixes and a live set from 1969.

The Rolling Stones

The Rolling Stones Rock and Roll Circus [2CD/Blu-Ray/DVD]

ABKCO Records

Pop/Rock, Blues

A new expanded edition features a host of unreleased material, primarily from the other artists on the bill.

Avicii

Tim

Geffen / Virgin EMI

Electronic

The final recordings from the EDM star, posthumously completed with the help of some famous friends.

— Neil Z. Yeung

Lust for Youth

Sacred Bones

Pop/Rock

The duo takes its heartbroken-yet-sardonic synth pop in a brighter, smoother direction.

— Heather Phares

Silversun Pickups

Widow's Weeds

New Machine Recordings

Pop/Rock

The quartet's tense fifth album finds them joined by Butch Vig on an urgent set of dramatic alternative rock.

— Neil Z. Yeung

Pixx

Small Mercies

4AD

Pop/Rock

On her fascinating, dystopian second album, the English singer/songwriter takes aim at oppressive institutions and traditions.

— Heather Phares

Vanishing Twin

The Age of Immunology

Fire Records

Pop/Rock

The group responds to late-2010s xenophobia with beguiling psychedelic pop that's equally welcoming and unusual.

— Heather Phares

Rickie Lee Jones

Kicks

Other Side of Desire Music

Pop/Rock

The great singer/songwriter offers her interpretations of other people's songs, from Kurt Weill to Bad Company.

— Mark Deming

Sonic Youth

Battery Park, NYC: July 4th 2008

Matador

Pop/Rock

Thanks to its rock-solid performances and unusual set list, this 2008 live album is a testament to the band's enduring power.

Plaid

Polymer

Warp

Electronic

The tenth studio album from the British IDM duo is inspired by humanity's relationship with synthetic objects.

— Paul Simpson

Richard Hawley

Further

BMG

Pop/Rock

On his eighth album, the Sheffield singer/songwriter gathers all his previous stylistic pursuits into a lovely, intimate, vulnerable whole.

— Thom Jurek

Peter Perrett

Humanworld

Domino

Pop/Rock

The second album of the former Only One's comeback is tougher, tighter, and just as welcome as the first.

— Tim Sendra

Perry Farrell

Kind Heaven

BMG

Pop/Rock

The third solo album from the godfather of alternative rock is more evidence of his one-of-a-kind perspective.

— Fred Thomas

The Divine Comedy

Office Politics

Divine Comedy Records

Pop/Rock

Twelve albums in, Neil Hannon remains a compelling raconteur, spinning yarns both lurid and lovely.

— James Christopher Monger

Peter Frampton / Peter Frampton Band

All Blues

Universal

Blues, Pop/Rock

Frampton returns to his heavy blues roots on this straightforward British blues project.

— Stephen Thomas Erlewine

Froth

Duress

Wichita

Pop/Rock

The L.A. trio's fourth album finds them scaling back their shoegaze approach to something home-cooked and proudly lo-fi.

— Tim Sendra

Nicole Yun

Paper Suit

Kanine Records

Pop/Rock

A sweetly melodic and heartfelt trip though '90s alternative rock from the Eternal Summers member.

— Tim Sendra

Palehound

Black Friday

Polyvinyl

Pop/Rock

On the Boston band's third LP, singer/songwriter El Kempner turns their sensitive gaze toward themes of love and compassion.

— Timothy Monger

Paul Bley / Paul Motian / Gary Peacock

When Will the Blues Leave

ECM

Jazz

An archival live document from the 1999 tour that showcased the gifts and potential of this all-too-infrequent virtuoso trio.

— Thom Jurek

Eagles of Death Metal

EODM Present Boots Electric Performing the Best Songs We Never Wrote

UMe / Universal

Pop/Rock

The band's frontman taps into the healing power of well-loved songs by covering artists ranging from Mary J. Blige to the Ramones.

— Heather Phares

Stef Chura

Midnight

Saddle Creek Records

Pop/Rock

The Michigander with the distinctive punk twang offers up another doozy, this time with an assist from Car Seat Headrest's Will Toledo.

— Marcy Donelson

The Mattson 2

Paradise

Company Records

Pop/Rock

The sibling duo conjure an intoxicating dream of late-'60s California romance and trippy AM pop vibes on their follow-up to A Love Supreme.

— Matt Collar

Tim Heidecker

What the Brokenhearted Do

Jagjaguwar

Pop/Rock

Online trolling indirectly inspires a superb homage to '70s soft rock breakup music that could pass for the real thing.

— Mark Deming

Ron Carter / Danny Simmons

The Brown Beatnik Tomes: Live at BRIC House

Blue Note

Jazz

A thought-provoking spoken word and jazz collaboration between writer/painter Danny Simmons and bassist Ron Carter.

— Matt Collar

Younghusband

Swimmers

Opposite Number Records

Pop/Rock

The group's third album trades in their dreamy psychedelic approach for a straightforward and breezy style of indie pop.

— Tim Sendra

French Vanilla

How Am I Not Myself?

Danger Collective

Pop/Rock

The second album from the funky L.A. art punk band sounds like a party even in its most serious moments.

— Fred Thomas

AURORA

A Different Kind of Human (Step 2)

Glassnote Entertainment Group

Pop/Rock

The Norwegian songwriter's empathic dance-pop examines big-picture societal woes on this second installment of the Different Kind series.

— Marcy Donelson

Brandt Brauer Frick

Echo

Because Music

Electronic

Album five from Berlin's "techno without the technology" trio, again with strings and brass, plays out like a sequel to 2013's Miami.

— Andy Kellman

Dylan LeBlanc

Renegade

ATO

Pop/Rock

The Louisiana native takes his Springsteen-esque narratives out of the woodshed and onto the open road, delivering his best effort to date.

— James Christopher Monger

Pelican

Nighttime Stories

Southern Lord Records

Pop/Rock

The post-metal instrumentalists' sixth full-length effort showcases the band at their funereal best.

— James Christopher Monger

Tengger

Spiritual 2

Beyond Beyond Is Beyond

Pop/Rock, Avant-Garde, International, New Age, Electronic

On their best work to date, the experimental electronic duo offer patiently unfolding ambient sprawl and lively, Krautrock-inspired synth meditations.

— Fred Thomas