The 1975

Notes on a Conditional Form

Dirty Hit / Polydor

Pop/Rock

Ambitious, stylistically eclectic, and sprawling fourth album from the Manchester pop outfit.

— Matt Collar

Carly Rae Jepsen

Dedicated Side B

Interscope / Schoolboy

Pop/Rock

The songs that didn't quite make it onto 2019's Dedicated make for a fun, catchy, and heartwarming album in their own right.

— Heather Phares

Indigo Girls

Look Long

Rounder

Pop/Rock

The folk duo take a long look outside of themselves on this empathetic, slyly adventurous album.

— Stephen Thomas Erlewine

Steve Earle / Steve Earle & the Dukes

Ghosts of West Virginia

New West

Pop/Rock, Country, Folk

The Texas singer/songwriter creates an eloquent song cycle about the lives and risks of West Virginia coal miners.

— Mark Deming

Woods

Strange to Explain

Woodsist

Pop/Rock

Fifteen years into a tirelessly curious evolution, this psychedelic indie folk band sounds more inspired and driven than ever.

— Fred Thomas

Tim Burgess

I Love the New Sky

Bella Union

Pop/Rock

The Charlatans singer bets on inclusiveness, positivity, and good vibes on this cheerfully trippy LP.

— Stephen Thomas Erlewine

Badly Drawn Boy

Banana Skin Shoes

One Last Fruit

Pop/Rock

The singer/songwriter's first album in a decade triumphantly leaves the pain of the past where it belongs.

— Heather Phares

Kidbug

Kidbug

Joyful Noise

Pop/Rock

Members of Eerie Wanda and Dumb Numbers team up on a love letter to the alt-rock sounds of the early '90s, especially grunge.

— Tim Sendra

Blake Mills

Mutable Set

Blake Mills

Pop/Rock

On his fourth long-player, the producer, songwriter, and guitarist looks simultaneously in the rearview and toward the uncertain horizon.

— Thom Jurek

Jon Balke

Discourses

ECM

Avant-Garde, Jazz

Four years after his groundbreaking Warp, the pianist follows with a no less ambitious approach to the fissures in societal communication.

— Thom Jurek

Reckless Kelly

American Jackpot/American Girls

No Big Deal Records

Pop/Rock, Country

The Red Dirt band delivers a double album containing a concept album about America and a lighter companion record.

— Stephen Thomas Erlewine

Damu the Fudgemunk / Raw Poetic / Archie Shepp

Ocean Bridges

Redefinition Records

Jazz, Rap

The saxophonist, his nephew Raw Poetic, Damu the Fudgemunk, and a band deliver a seamless, creative, and completely improvised jazz/hip-hop fusion.

— Thom Jurek

The Airborne Toxic Event

Hollywood Park

Rounder

Pop/Rock

The musical soundtrack to frontman Mikel Jollett's autobiography of the same name dials back the trashy glam rock of its predecessor in favor of big, earnest indie rock.

— James Christopher Monger

Populous

W

Wonderwheel Recordings

Pop/Rock, Electronic

The Italian producer celebrates feminine creativity with a bevy of collaborators and stylish, inclusive sounds.

— Heather Phares

Brigid Dawson and the Mothers Network / Brigid Dawson

Ballet of Apes

Castle Face

Pop/Rock

Debut solo album from Thee Oh Sees collaborator maintains a consistent balance between dark psychedelia and gentle beauty.

— Fred Thomas

Darren Hayman

Home Time

Fika Recordings

Pop/Rock

The prolific English indie pop songwriter turns his gaze inward on an intimate collection of breakup songs recorded acoustically at home.

— Timothy Monger

Eve Owen

Don't Let the Ink Dry

37d03d

Pop/Rock

Compellingly plaintive, textured indie folk marks the Aaron Dessner-produced solo debut of this National collaborator.

— Marcy Donelson

Jetstream Pony

Jetstream Pony

Kleine Untergrund Schallplatten / Shelflife

Pop/Rock

Indie pop vets Beth Arzy and Shaun Charman settle into a lush and hazy, dissatisfied noise pop for the quartet's full-length debut.

— Marcy Donelson

Katie von Schleicher

Consummation

Ba Da Bing Records

Pop/Rock

Less murky and more focused on the outside world, the follow-up to Shitty Hits is a confident and satisfying step forward.

— Mark Deming

Josef Salvat

modern anxiety.

Columbia

Pop/Rock

The Australian electro-pop crooner explores romance and societal anxiety on his slick sophomore set

— Timothy Monger

The Sonic Dawn

Enter the Mirage

Heavy Psych Sounds

Pop/Rock

Enter the Mirage delivers another tie-dyed blast from the past; a lo-fi, acid-socked transmission from a mirror dimension where the Summer of Love never ended

— James Christopher Monger

Tenebrae / Nigel Short

Couperin: Leçons de Ténèbres; Gesualdo: Tenebrae Responsories for Maundy Thursday

Signum Classics

Classical

A bold pairing of Couperin and Gesualdo succeeds in bringing out the Tenebrae theme in multiple eras.

— James Manheim

The Sixteen / Harry Christophers / Britten Sinfonia

James MacMillan: Symphony No. 5 'Le gran Inconnu'; The Sun Danced

Coro

Classical

A choral symphony of awe-inspiring scope by MacMillan, embodying incarnations of the Holy Spirit as breath, water, and fire.

— James Manheim

Anne Sofie von Otter / Nicholas McGegan / Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra

PBO & Caroline Shaw

Philharmonia Baroque Productions

Classical

Innovative works from Shaw take a new approach to writing contemporary music for a Baroque ensemble.

— James Manheim

Maxim Rysanov / Sinfonietta Riga

Peteris Vasks: Viola Concerto; String Symphony 'Voices'

BIS

Classical

An excellent performance of a compelling recent viola concerto by Vasks, paired with one of the works that made his reputation.

— James Manheim

Paul McCreesh / Anna Dennis / Gabrieli Consort / Gabrieli Consort & Players / Mhairi Lawson

Purcell: The Fairy Queen, 1692

Signum Classics

Classical

Groundbreaking new treatment of a troublesome Purcell score brings it alive.

— James Manheim

Anna Prohaska / Julius Drake

Paradise Lost

Alpha

Classical

An ambitious and impressively performed recital organized loosely or metaphorically around the story of the biblical Eve.

— James Manheim

Previous Week Next Week