Hayley Williams

Petals for Armor

Atlantic

Pop/Rock

An intensely personal, artful, and exploratory debut from the Paramore singer.

— Matt Collar

Mark Lanegan

Straight Songs of Sorrow

Heavenly

Pop/Rock

A set of autobiographical songs inspired by the singer/songwriter's memoirs that offer a harrowing, engrossing look into his life.

— Mark Deming

Modern Studies

The Weight of the Sun

Fire Records

Pop/Rock

Moving away from the ambitious chamber folk of earlier releases, the Scottish band heads into more ambient and psych-influenced territory.

— Timothy Monger

I Break Horses

Warnings

Bella Union

Pop/Rock

A shimmeringly bleak, heartbreakingly sad, and musically thrilling album made of sweeping synths, aching vocals, and slow, dreamlike arrangements.

— Tim Sendra

Aaron Parks

Little Big II: Dreams of a Mechanical Man

Ropeadope

Jazz

For its sophomore outing, this quartet spends its time playing together as a single, breathing, multivalent organism.

— Thom Jurek

Beauty Pill

Please Advise

Northern Spy

Pop/Rock

Four-song EP from this DC band continues the development of their maxed-out electronics and splintered art-pop.

— Fred Thomas

Natalia Lafourcade

Un Canto por México, Vol. 1

Sony Music

Latin

The first volume of a studio outing that re-creates the musical magic from a benefit concert held in November 2019.

— Thom Jurek

Butch Walker

American Love Story

Ruby Red Records

Pop/Rock

A concept album about contemporary divisions in American society that sounds like a blast from the classic rock past.

— Stephen Thomas Erlewine

John Stewart

Old Forgotten Altars: The 1960s Demos

Omnivore

Folk, Pop/Rock

A collection of unheard demos covers the singer/songwriter's journey through his membership in the Kingston Trio to his early solo albums.

— Thom Jurek

Choir Boy

Gathering Swans

Dais

Pop/Rock

The group's forlorn synth pop doubles down on shimmery, '80s-inspired textures for an even more highly stylized second album.

— Marcy Donelson

El Michels Affair

Adult Themes

Big Crown

R&B

Following their Wu-Tang tributes, this is a sharp if smoothly navigated turn from soul and funk into film and library music of the same era.

— Andy Kellman

Chip Wickham

Blue to Red

Lovemonk

Jazz

On his third offering, the British jazzman pursues the spiritual through the influences of Alice Coltrane, Yusef Lateef, and '70s soundtracks.

— Thom Jurek

Diane Schuur

Running on Faith

Jazzheads

Vocal, Jazz

An earthy, joyful covers album from the singer/pianist that runs the gamut of jazz, blues, rock, and R&B.

— Matt Collar

Nikolai Lugansky

César Franck: Preludes, Fugues & Chorals

Harmonia Mundi

Classical

Beautifully controlled performances of these Bachian but not neoclassic Franck keyboard works.

— James Manheim

Norwegian Soloists' Choir / Grete Pedersen / Norwegian Radio Orchestra

Luciano Berio: Coro; Cries of London

BIS

Classical

A precise, beautifully recorded performance of Luciano Berio's thorny Coro.

— James Manheim

Sitkovetsky Trio

Beethoven: Piano Trios, Vol. 1 - Op. 1/3 & Op. 70/2

BIS

Classical

Strong Beethoven piano trio performances with a major attraction, the rarely performed Allegretto, WoO 39.

— James Manheim

Compagnia di Punto

Beethoven: Symphonies Nos. 1-3 (Arrangements by Ries & Ebers)

DHM Deutsche Harmonia Mundi

Classical

Small-orchestra arrangements of Beethoven's symphonies, from the composer's time, illustrate how many would have heard his music.

— James Manheim

Sarah Fox / Kathryn Rudge / William Vann

Parry: Judith

Chandos

Classical

A very Mendelssohnian and Victorian treatment of the tale of Judith and the decapitated Holofernes is wonderfully performed.

— James Manheim

Ensemble Orchestral Contemporain / Daniel Kawka

Pierre Boulez: Le Marteau sans Maître; Philippe Manoury: B-Partita

Col Legno

Classical

Beautifully recorded performances that capture the colors of Boulez's early masterpiece, plus an elegant tribute.

— James Manheim

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