Willie Nelson

First Rose of Spring

Sony Music

Country

An elegant, elegiac, and decidedly mellow latter-day album from Willie Nelson.

— Stephen Thomas Erlewine

Paul Weller

On Sunset

Polydor / Verve / Verve Forecast

Pop/Rock

A fresh, distinctive blend of soul, rock, electronica, and avant-garde from the Modfather.

— Stephen Thomas Erlewine

Dream Wife

So When You Gonna...

Lucky Number

Pop/Rock

The band's second album leans into their softer side with gently empowering and, above all, catchy songs.

— Heather Phares

Holy Wave

Interloper

Reverberation Appreciation Society

Pop/Rock

The reliably psychedelic Texas combo add more synths to the mix on their nuanced and atmospheric fifth album.

— Tim Sendra

Keleketla!

Keleketla!

Ahead of Our Time

International, Jazz

International, pan-generational project uniting musicians from South Africa, England, and beyond, expressing messages of hope for the future.

— Paul Simpson

A.A. Williams

Forever Blue

Bella Union

Pop/Rock

The first album from this vocalist, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist is a beautifully dark exercise in post-rock dynamics.

— Mark Deming

Pure X

Pure X

Fire Talk

Pop/Rock

Austin dream pop band retain their drifty, humid sound on their most stripped-down material yet.

— Fred Thomas

Bury Tomorrow

Cannibal

Music for Nations / Sony Music

Pop/Rock

The British metalcore group's sixth effort delivers a weighty set that tosses melody and might into a blender and spams the pulse button.

— James Christopher Monger

Hedvig Mollestad Thomassen

Ekhidna

Rune Grammofon

Jazz, Pop/Rock

Commissioned by the Vossajazz Festival and re-created in the studio, this sextet outing is the fiery guitarist's first outside her longstanding trio.

— Thom Jurek

Eugene McDaniels / Gene McDaniels

Outlaw [50th Anniversary Edition]

Real Gone Music

R&B

The '60s pop/R&B star reinvents himself as a genre-spanning politically conscious singer/songwriter on this cult favorite.

— Mark Deming

Little Kid

Transfiguration Highway

Solitaire Records

Pop/Rock

A gently sprawling and imaginative journey with heavy spiritual undertones and plenty of folk-rock craft.

— Timothy Monger

Benjamin Biolay

Grand Prix

Wrasse

Pop/Rock, Vocal

France's pre-eminent pop songwriter looks back at a life of joys, failures, relationships, musical obsessions, and Formula 1 Racing.

— Thom Jurek

Joe Ely

Love in the Midst of Mayhem

Rack 'Em

Country, Pop/Rock

The Texas songwriting legend offers fans ten previously unheard songs that speak of love and compassion in difficult times.

— Mark Deming

Trapt

Shadow Work

Crash Collide / The Label Group

Pop/Rock

Eighth set from the nu-metal- and grunge-influenced band that features an inspired cover of a Jewel hit.

— Neil Z. Yeung

Wetware

Flail

Dais

Electronic

The confrontational Brooklyn duo produce a challenging, unstable mixture of broken industrial and power electronics on their bracing second LP.

— Paul Simpson

Bad Moves

Untenable

Don Giovanni

Pop/Rock

The second LP from these Washington, D.C. pop punks combines super-catchy melodies with smart, politically charged lyrics.

— Mark Deming

bdrmm

Bedroom

Sonic Cathedral

Pop/Rock

The English quintet pull from several schools of dreamy, driving, hypnotic rock on their full-length debut.

— Paul Simpson

Pulsallama

Pulsallama

Modern Harmonic

Pop/Rock

This unreleased recording from New York's all-female percussion ensemble of the early '80s is witty, playful, and engagingly funky.

— Mark Deming

Choir of Merton College, Oxford / Benjamin Nicholas

Sleeper's Prayer: Choral Music from North America

Delphian

Classical

A strong collection of American works in which the British choral style produces novel effects.

— James Manheim

Manfred Honeck / Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra

Tchaikovsky: Symphony No. 4; Leshnoff: Double Concerto for Clarinet & Bassoon

Reference Recordings

Classical

Urgent, exciting Tchaikovsky with some aspects of the score goosed by the conductor.

— James Manheim

Alina Ibragimova / Vladimir Jurowski

Shostakovich: Violin Concertos

Hyperion

Classical

Brilliant rather than inward, these performances emphasize Ibragimova's technical chops and Shostakovich's classical orientation.

— James Manheim

Choir of Westminster Abbey / James O'Donnell

Parry: Songs of Farewell

Hyperion

Classical

An attractive release that captures how these works must have sounded when first performed.

— James Manheim

Nicola Benedetti / Vladimir Jurowski / London Philharmonic Orchestra

Elgar: Violin Concerto

Decca

Classical

A taut, muscular Elgar concerto that seeks a middle ground between muscular and lyrical approaches.

— James Manheim

La Maitrise de Notre Dame

Notre-Dame: Cathédrale d'Émotions

Warner Classics

Classical

Singers from Notre-Dame Cathedral's choir school keep the flame alive during the building's reconstruction.

— James Manheim

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