Featured New Album Releases

The Flaming Lips

American Head

Warner Bros. / Warner Records

Pop/Rock

Gorgeous melodies and songs drawn from childhood memories make this album equally magical and down to earth.

— Heather Phares

Marilyn Manson

WE ARE CHAOS

Loma Vista

Pop/Rock

The one-time shock master ages gracefully with the help of Shooter Jennings on another set of catchy earworms.

— Neil Z. Yeung

Delta Spirit

What Is There

New West

Pop/Rock

Returning after a six-year hiatus, What Is There sees the west coast-bred indie rockers deliver a spirited and anthemic set.

— James Christopher Monger

Everything Everything

RE-ANIMATOR

Everything Everything

Pop/Rock

A sleek, poignant fifth album from the Manchester art rockers, who prioritized songwriting and vocals with help from producer John Congleton.

— Marcy Donelson

Suzanne Vega

An Evening of New York Songs and Stories

Cooking Vinyl

Pop/Rock, Folk

The New York singer/songwriter leaves the West Village behind to sing of her hometown in the city's classiest supper club.

— Mark Deming

Mastodon

Medium Rarities

Warner Records

Pop/Rock

This compilation of soundtrack tunes, instrumentals, live versions, and covers, sums up 20 years of extra-curricular activities from Atlanta's metal mainstays.

— Thom Jurek

PJ Harvey

To Bring You My Love: The Demos

Island / Universal

Pop/Rock

The raw early versions of Harvey's lavishly produced 1995 classic make for fascinating listening.

— Heather Phares

The Heliocentrics

Telemetric Sounds

Madlib Invazion

Jazz, Electronic

Arriving just months after their last full-length, new album from London's long-running cosmic jazz collective is a meditation on uneasy feelings.

— Fred Thomas

Joe Pernice

Richard

Ashmont Records

Pop/Rock

The Pernice Brothers' frontman cuts an acoustic album alone in his basement, presenting his songs in a stark new context.

— Mark Deming

Artemis

Blue Note

Jazz

The all women jazz collective's debut showcases their improvisational virtuosity and deeply textured sound.

— Matt Collar

Stray Cats

Rocked This Town: From L.A. to London

BMG / Surfdog Records

Pop/Rock

A spry and engaging live album recorded on the rockabilly trio's 40th anniversary tour.

— Stephen Thomas Erlewine

Susanna

Baudelaire & Piano

Susannasonata

Pop/Rock

The singer/songwriter pays tribute to one of her biggest influences with artfully restrained interpretations of his poems.

— Heather Phares

B.o.B

Somnia

Bobby Ray Music

Rap

Bobby Ray Simmons follows the throwback-filled Southmatic with numbed, escapist fantasies completed early into the COVID-19 pandemic.

— Andy Kellman

Uniform

Shame

Sacred Bones

Pop/Rock

Bleak and cathartic industrial noise-rock from the New York-based trio, now including drummer Mike Sharp.

— Paul Simpson

The Wailing Souls

Back a Yard

VP Records

Reggae

Over 50 years and dozens of albums in, these roots reggae veterans sound as fresh and inspired as they did on their earliest songs.

— Fred Thomas

The Chain Gang of 1974

Honey Moon Drips

Fever Ltd

Electronic, Pop/Rock

The Los Angeles act's fourth album of dreamily cinematic, '80s-inspired synth pop.

— Matt Collar

Matt Costa

Yellow Coat

Dangerbird Records

Pop/Rock

Tuneful and bittersweet, the West Coast musician's sixth album is equally well-suited for summer drives or broken hearts on the mend.

— Marcy Donelson

Ronnie Earl / Ronnie Earl & the Broadcasters

Rise Up

Stony Plain

Blues

The East Coast bluesman and band address the pain and suffering of the 2020s with empathy and the desire for justice and healing.

— Thom Jurek

Sally Anne Morgan

Thread

Thrill Jockey

Folk, Pop/Rock

The Black Twig Pickers and House and Land member makes her solo debut on this winsome and gently experimental folk set.

— Timothy Monger

Terje Rypdal

Conspiracy

ECM

Jazz

On his first ECM studio outing in two decades the Norwegian guitarist delivers luxuriant melodies and textures in new compositions and improvisations.