Perfume Genius

Set My Heart on Fire Immediately

Matador

Pop/Rock

Mike Hadreas' fifth album explores the body's power and tenderness with songs that are equally rugged and delicate.

— Heather Phares

Charli xcx

How I'm Feeling Now

Atlantic

Pop/Rock

Created during the COVID-19 quarantine, the edgy electro-pop star's fourth album is raw, reflective, and relatable.

— Heather Phares

Moby

All Visible Objects

Mute

Electronic

On his 17th LP, Moby takes it back to the dancefloor with a rousing set of nostalgic, pulsing anthems.

— Neil Z. Yeung

Jason Isbell / Jason Isbell & the 400 Unit

Reunions

Southeastern Records

Pop/Rock

A brilliant album about the search for strength and direction that emerged in a most chaotic and uncertain time.

— Mark Deming

Sleaford Mods

All That Glue

Rough Trade

Pop/Rock

Spanning key album tracks, rarities, and B-sides, this collection gets listeners up to speed with the duo's prolific, cathartic outbursts.

— Heather Phares

Sparks

A Steady Drip, Drip, Drip

BMG

Pop/Rock

The Mael brothers riff on their history deftly on these timely and trenchant tales of misfits, outliers, and disasters.

— Heather Phares

The Dears

Lovers Rock

Dangerbird Records

Pop/Rock

Murray Lightburn and Natalia Yanchak are still making lovely indie pop about how ugly life and love can be.

— Mark Deming

Moses Sumney

græ

Jagjaguwar

Pop/Rock, Jazz

Building on the poignant vision of 2017's Aromanticism, Sumney's epic second set is a stunning address to the "græ" areas of identity.

— David Crone

Spirit Fest

Mirage Mirage

Morr Music

Pop/Rock

The group celebrates friends who are dear but not always near with cozy yet expansive experimental pop.

— Heather Phares

Asking Alexandria

Like a House on Fire

Sumerian Records

Pop/Rock

Like a House on Fire sees the stalwart Brits continuing to distance themselves from the screamo/metalcore scene in which they were forged.

— James Christopher Monger

Thao & the Get Down Stay Down

Temple

Domino / Ribbon Music

Pop/Rock

The project's still delightfully wonky but more personal and meditative sixth album is their first to be self-produced.

— Marcy Donelson

Kaitlyn Aurelia Smith

The Mosaic of Transformation

Ghostly International

Electronic, New Age

Smith explores electricity and its relationship to the energy of the human body on her first Ghostly International release.

— Paul Simpson

Various Artists

Pacific Breeze 2: Japanese City Pop, AOR & Boogie 1972-1986

Light in the Attic Records

Pop/Rock

Broader and finer than the first volume, this compilation spotlights another wide scope of artists with limited or nonexistent profiles in the West.

— Andy Kellman

Chatham County Line

Strange Fascination

Yep Roc

Country

The Carolinian bluegrass stalwarts shake things up by hiring a drummer for this ragged, adventurous album.

— Stephen Thomas Erlewine

Golden Retriever / Chuck Johnson

Rain Shadow

Thrill Jockey

Electronic, Avant-Garde

An inspired, rewarding collaboration developed remotely by three highly inventive musicians.

— Paul Simpson

Hanni el Khatib

Flight

Innovative Leisure

Pop/Rock

The L.A. artist's wild, sample-heavy fifth album feels like a bedroom pop update of the Dust Brothers' '90s classics.

— Timothy Monger

Einstürzende Neubauten

Alles in Allem

Potomak

Pop/Rock

The German avant-industrial visionaries continue to challenge conventions on this mature yet playful 40th anniversary set.

— Paul Simpson

Al Carlson / Dan Duszynski / Dan Iead / Joshua Jaeger / Shane Renfro / Jess Williamson

Sorceress

Mexican Summer

Pop/Rock

The fourth album from this Texas-born singer/songwriter is glossier and more pop oriented but no less passionately mysterious.

— Mark Deming

Nick Hakim

Will This Make Me Good

ATO

R&B

More turbulent and fraught than his debut, these reflections on grim reality are nonetheless flavorful and tripped-out.

— Andy Kellman

Chemtrails / Mia Lust / David Mayman / Laura Orlova / Dario Papavassiliou / Viki Steiri

The Peculiar Smell of the Inevitable

PNKSLM

Pop/Rock

The U.K. band's noisy mix of vintage surf, garage pop, and proto-punk is made irresistible by improved songwriting on their second album.

— Marcy Donelson

Porcelain Raft

Come Rain

Pop/Rock

From COVID lockdown in Italy, Mauro Remiddi's more intimate fourth album balances his dreamy indie pop atmospheres with sparer jangle.

— Marcy Donelson

Marisa Anderson / Jim White

The Quickening

Thrill Jockey

Avant-Garde, Folk

Anderson and White make for a complimentary pairing on their entirely improvised guitar and drums debut as a duo.

— Timothy Monger

Jerry Paper

Abracadabra

Stones Throw

Pop/Rock

Jerry Paper's second album for Stones Throw is another subversive set of tightly focused soft-funk arrangements and surreal wordplay.

— Paul Simpson

Josey Rebelle

Josey in Space

Beats in Space / RVNG

Electronic

Highly regarded London DJ Josey Rebelle displays her fearless, passionate mixing style on this intense, uplifting mix for New York's Beats in Space.

— Paul Simpson

Ruthie Foster

Live at the Paramount

Blue Corn Music

Blues

A joyful, soul-sustaining concert Foster gave at Austin's Paramount Theater in January 2019.

— Stephen Thomas Erlewine

ARTHUR

Hair of the Dog

Honeymoon

Pop/Rock

The second album from this Philly bedroom pop artist is demented, cartoonish, and garish but still can't hide its pop core.

— Fred Thomas

Willie Nile

New York At Night

River House Records

Pop/Rock

A tough, tender, and energetic love letter to New York City from the veteran rocker who has been there for close to 50 years.

— Mark Deming

Gretchen Peters

The Night You Wrote That Song: The Songs of Mickey Newbury

Proper / Proper Records / Scarlet Letter Records

Country

One of America's finest songwriters offers a deep, revelatory dive into the songs of the late, great Mickey Newbury.

— Thom Jurek

Jack Liebeck / Andrew Gourlay / BBC Symphony Orchestra

Schoenberg, Brahms: Violin Concertos

Orchid Classics

Classical

Deliberate performances of the Brahms and especially the Schoenberg concertos lend a stately air.

— James Manheim

Marie-Volcy Pelletier / Joel Pitchon / Yu-Mei Wei

New England Trios: Leonard Bernstein, Ronald Perera, Walter Piston

Bridge

Classical

An ingenious, flawlessly performed program shows the continuity of a New England chamber music style.

— James Manheim

Tomás Netopil / Essener Philharmoniker

Carl Maria von Weber: Der Freischütz

Oehms Classics

Classical

A clear, moderately sized version of Der Freischütz avoids heavy-handed Wagnerism.

— James Manheim

Bang on a Can All-Stars / Meredith Monk

Memory Game

Cantaloupe

Avant-Garde, Classical

A collection of intriguing Meredith Monk pieces arranged and performed by other musicians.

— James Manheim

Alisa Weilerstein

Bach

PentaTone Classics

Classical

A deliberate, awesomely detailed, utterly distinctive reading of the Bach's Cello Suites.

— James Manheim

Lara Downes

Some of These Days

Flipside Music

Classical

A remarkable release from Downes that explores not only spirituals and freedom songs but also something of her own history.

— James Manheim

Previous Week Next Week