Kylie Minogue

DISCO

BMG

Pop/Rock

The Australian pop diva triumphantly returns to the dancefloor on this blissful, nostalgic 15th dose of joy.

— Neil Z. Yeung

David Bowie

The Metrobolist (aka The Man Who Sold the World)

Parlophone / Rhino

Pop/Rock

The 50th anniversary of The Man Who Sold the World is celebrated through a clean, clear new remix by its producer Tony Visconti.

— Stephen Thomas Erlewine

Crazy Horse / Neil Young / Neil Young & Crazy Horse

Return to Greendale

Reprise / Warner Records

Pop/Rock

A live version of the 2003 concept album Greendale that sounds ragged and spirited.

— Stephen Thomas Erlewine

Wilco

Summerteeth

Rhino / Warner Bros.

Pop/Rock

Expanded edition of this brilliant exercise in off-kilter pop and the point where Jeff Tweedy left alt-country behind.

— Mark Deming

Elvis Costello & the Attractions / Elvis Costello

Armed Forces [Super Deluxe Edition]

Pop/Rock

Elvis Costello's masterpiece gets a massive vinyl box set that tells the full story of the era, by way of live LPs, singles, B-sides, and outtakes.

Azymuth / Ali Shaheed Muhammad / Adrian Younge

Azymuth JID004

Jazz Is Dead

Jazz

A spirit-lifting album from the Brazilian jazz legends, supported with knowing finesse by the Jazz Is Dead instigators.

— Andy Kellman

Pylon

Pylon Box

New West

Pop/Rock

Outstanding anthology that documents the original run of one of the best and most influential bands on the Athens, Georgia scene.

— Mark Deming

Mort Garson

Music From Patch Cord Productions

Sacred Bones

Easy Listening, Avant-Garde, Stage & Screen

The first peek into the pioneering electronic artist's archive of rarities is a trove of delightful, spooky, quaint, and futuristic moments.

— Heather Phares

Orianthi

O

Frontiers Records

Pop/Rock

The virtuoso guitarist's first album for Italy's Frontiers Records showcases her hard-rock chops.

— Matt Collar

Adulkt Life

Book of Curses

What's Yr Rupture?

Pop/Rock

Ex-Huggy Bear and Male Bonding members make lots of noise on their intensely political avant-punk debut.

— Tim Sendra

The Silence

Electric Meditations

Drag City

Pop/Rock

Masaki Batoh and his restless, expansive quartet deliver a compelling and wide-ranging exercise in psychedelic space exploration.

— Thom Jurek

Pole

Fading

Mute

Electronic

Seventh album from this digital dub deconstructionist hides a non-stop stream of details deep within deceptively relaxed arrangements.

— Fred Thomas

El Shirota

Tiempos Raros

Devil in the Woods

Pop/Rock

Debut album from this Mexico City area quartet leans heavily on the influence of mid-'90s alternative guitar rock.

— Fred Thomas

Dino Saluzzi

Albores

ECM

Jazz

On his first solo recital since 1988's Andina, the bandoneon master offers spontaneous musical reflections from his experience of a life in sound.

— Thom Jurek

Ólafur Arnalds

Some Kind of Peace

Mercury KX

Pop/Rock, Classical

A more personal, meditative follow-up to the software-aided re:member featuring piano-based instrumentals plus songs with Bonobo, JFDR, and Josin.

— Marcy Donelson

Pylon

Chomp

New West

Pop/Rock

The second LP from the Athens, Georgia underground heroes is more ambitious and elaborate, but just as simple as it needs to be.

— Mark Deming

Pylon

Gyrate

New West

Pop/Rock

The debut album from the Athens, Georgia underground pioneers is a brilliant exercise in joyous dance music, made for and by smart people.

— Mark Deming

Love Tractor

Love Tractor

Happy Happy Birthday to Me Records / HHBTM

Pop/Rock

The group's debut is a buoyant collection of new wave-meets-surf instrumentals.

— Tim Sendra

Heather Trost

Petrichor

Third Man Records

Pop/Rock

A sonically adventurous LP of psychedelia and torchy experimental pop from the Hawk and a Hacksaw member.

— Timothy Monger

Ben Chatwin

The Hum

Village Green

Electronic

Fully analog-recorded work from electronic composer Ben Chatwin that aims to capture the energy of hidden frequencies.

— Paul Simpson

Mort Garson

Didn't You Hear?

Sacred Bones

Stage & Screen, Avant-Garde

On this score to a 1970 experimental film, the pioneering electronic artist takes his music to idyllic and nightmarish extremes.

— Heather Phares

Tunng

Tunng Presents... Dead Club

Full Time Hobby

Pop/Rock

This album of airy, futuristic folk-pop serves as a companion piece to the group's death-themed podcast series.

— Fred Thomas

Ataraxia / Mort Garson

The Unexplained [Orange Vinyl]

Sacred Bones

Easy Listening, Pop/Rock

Mort Garson's wild 1975 exploration of supernatural phenomena remains as spooky, mischievous, and transporting as ever.

— Heather Phares

Mort Garson / Lucifer

Black Mass

Geffen

Electronic

A haunting set of occult-themed Moog-based pieces produced by electronic music pioneer Mort Garson in 1971.

— Paul Simpson

WDR Big Band / WDR Big Band Köln / Yellowjackets

Jackets XL

Mack Avenue

Jazz

The beloved electro-acoustic jazz quartet teams with the WDR Big Band to imaginatively rework crowd favorites from their catalog.

— Thom Jurek

Seamus Fogarty

A Bag of Eyes

Domino

Pop/Rock

The indie folkster's self-produced third album shifts the balance toward more synths and electronics with often fascinating results.

— Marcy Donelson

Riccardo Chailly / La Scala Philharmonic Orchestra

Respighi

Decca

Classical

Clean, vivid performances of the Respighi standards are joined by rare early works.

— James Manheim

Ermonela Jaho

Anima Rara

Opera Rara

Classical

A splendid set of verismo selections, re-creating the repertory of a historical soprano, that prizes emotional intimacy over vocal power.

— James Manheim

Catherine Carby / Eleanor Dennis / John Andrews

Malcolm Arnold: The Dancing Master, Op. 34

Resonus / Resonus Classics

Classical

Incredibly, the world premiere of a 1952 comic opera by Arnold, given sparkling performances by a true ensemble of singers.

— James Manheim

Jörg Widmann / András Schiff

Johannes Brahms: Clarinet Sonatas

ECM New Series

Classical

Laid-back late Brahms that gets at the endless subtleties and profundities.

— James Manheim

Osmo Vänskä / Minnesota Orchestra

Sibelius: Kullervo

BIS

Classical

Single-disc reissue of Vänskä's 2016 Minnesota Orchestra Kullervo performance remains noteworthy for its deliberate, elemental power.

— James Manheim

Clare College Choir, Cambridge / Graham Ross

Britten: A Ceremony of Carols

Harmonia Mundi

Classical

A fresh, unusually vigorous reading of the Ceremony of Carols.

— James Manheim

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