King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard

K.G.

KGLW / Universal

Pop/Rock

The band revisit the non-Western tunings of Flying Microtonal Banana, adding some dance music and prog rock flourishes.

— Tim Sendra

Jimi Hendrix / The Jimi Hendrix Experience

Live in Maui

Legacy / Sony Music

Pop/Rock, R&B

The ultimate guitar hero and his band play two fiery sets in Hawaii where they shine despite unpredictable conditions.

— Mark Deming

Megan Thee Stallion

Good News

300 Entertainment

Rap

The debut studio album from this rap superpower finds her raw talent and effortless charisma reaching new levels.

— Fred Thomas

The War on Drugs

Live Drugs

Super High Quality Records

Pop/Rock

The classic rock-informed and guitar-centered indie band offer up live recordings curated from a months-long world tour.

— Fred Thomas

BTS

Be

Big Hit / BIGHIT MUSIC

Pop/Rock

An intimate soundtrack to a global pandemic that connects the K-pop septet to their loyal legion of fans.

— Neil Z. Yeung

Elvis Presley

From Elvis in Nashville

Legacy / RCA / Sony Music

Country, Pop/Rock

A deep dive into Elvis Presley's June 1970 sessions in Nashville, a period which constitutes his last great studio recordings.

— Stephen Thomas Erlewine

Dirty Projectors

5EPs

Domino

Pop/Rock

This collection brings together five EPs the band released in the last half of 2020, each satisfying separately or collectively.

— Mark Deming

Garth Brooks

Fun

Pearl

Country

A conscious bit of 1990s traditionalism that lives up to its title's pledge.

— Stephen Thomas Erlewine

Autechre

PLUS

Warp

Electronic

Autechre immediately followed their ambient-leaning full-length SIGN with a more beat-focused companion piece.

— Paul Simpson

The Cribs

Night Network

Sonic Blew

Pop/Rock

The trio's first album after an extended legal battle is a set of joyous, cathartic guitar pop that makes peace with the complexities of the past.

— Heather Phares

John Fogerty

Fogerty's Factory

BMG

Pop/Rock

John Fogerty rummages through his back pages with the help of his three youngest children.

— Stephen Thomas Erlewine

Neil Diamond / London Symphony Orchestra

Classic Diamonds [Deluxe Edition]

Capitol / EMI Records

Pop/Rock

The songwriting legend reimagines his hits backed by the London Symphony Orchestra.

— Timothy Monger

Tank and the Bangas

Friend Goals

Verve Forecast

R&B

Animated intermediary EP from the Grammy-nominated band, who are joined by the likes of Christian Scott and PJ Morton.

— Andy Kellman

Josh Groban

Harmony

Reprise / Warner Bros. / Warner Records

Vocal

Groban puts his warm, classically informed spin on a nicely curated set of cover songs.

— Matt Collar

Lindstrøm / Lindstrøm & Prins Thomas / Prins Thomas

III

Smalltown Supersound

Electronic, Pop/Rock

Concise yet still sprawling third album from the Norwegian nu-disco luminaries, arriving 11 years after their second.

— Paul Simpson

Jamie Cullum

The Pianoman at Christmas

Blue Note

Holiday, Jazz, Pop/Rock

The British singer/pianist's first holiday album balances swinging big-band jazz and Billy Joel-style pop balladry.

— Matt Collar

The Bug / Dis Fig

In Blue

Hyperdub

Electronic

Kevin Martin discharges some of his crispest dancehall and dub deconstructions with crucial lyrical and vocal assistance from Dis Fig.

— Andy Kellman

Sun Ra

Egypt 1971

Strut

Jazz, Avant-Garde

Archival documentation of Sun Ra's last-minute 1971 Egyptian concerts adds ample unreleased material to recordings previously issued as piecemeal albums.

— Fred Thomas

Tim McGraw

McGraw Machine Hits: 2013-2019

Big Machine Records / Universal

Country

A collection of Tim McGraw's smooth hits from the 2010s.

— Stephen Thomas Erlewine

Cabaret Voltaire

Shadow of Fear

Mute

Electronic, Pop/Rock

Richard H. Kirk revives Cabaret Voltaire as a solo act, using vintage equipment but otherwise exploring fresh ideas.

— Paul Simpson

Dave Alvin

From an Old Guitar: Rare and Unreleased Recordings

Yep Roc

Pop/Rock, Blues, Country

The roots rock hero delivers 16 covers and outtakes from his vaults and shows he's practically incapable of making a bad album.

— Mark Deming

Mike Campbell & the Dirty Knobs

Wreckless Abandon

BMG

Pop/Rock

Mike Campbell picks up where Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers left off.

— Stephen Thomas Erlewine

Josephine Foster

No Harm Done

Fire Records

Pop/Rock

A collection of pleasantly hazy and warmly atmospheric old-timey tunes from this master of outsider folk music.

— Fred Thomas

Mike Gordon / Leo Kottke

Noon

ATO

Folk, Pop/Rock

Fifteen years after their last outing, the eclectic and virtuosic duo make a welcome, slightly more reflective return.

— Timothy Monger

Lee Brice

Hey World

Curb

Country

The country crooner freshens his sound without losing his sentimental streak.

— Stephen Thomas Erlewine

Helen Love

Power On

Alcopop! / Jigsaw Records

Pop/Rock

The Welsh group ditch the cheesy synths and dance beats in favor of tough, punky bubblegum with a sweet, hooky center.

— Tim Sendra

Malcolm Catto / Little Barrie

Quatermass Seven

Madlib Invazion

Pop/Rock

After the tragic passing of their drummer, the band return with the help of the Heliocentrics' Catto to deliver their toughest, most expansive set yet.

— Tim Sendra

Public Memory

Ripped Apparition

Felte

Electronic, Pop/Rock

The producer's third album is a testament to his skill at soothing, seducing, and unsettling his listeners at the same time.

— Heather Phares

Mamalarky

Mamalarky

Fire Talk

Pop/Rock

A fun, adventurous full-length debut from a band that mixes instincts for hooky indie pop with shifting rhythms, distorted textures, and noise.

— Marcy Donelson

Kacey Johansing

No Better Time

Night Bloom Records

Pop/Rock

A poignant, '70s-inflected fourth album full of hopeful narratives that are haunted by experience and uplifted by expressive, memorable melodies.

— Marcy Donelson

Routine

And Other Things

Dead Oceans

Pop/Rock

Sauntering tempos and hazy rumination mark the enveloping debut EP from the duo of Annie Truscott (Chastity Belt) and Melina Duterte (Jay Som).

— Marcy Donelson

STRFKR

Ambient 1

Polyvinyl

Pop/Rock, Electronic

Bandleader Josh Hodges crafted this often-melodic instrumental set from experiments with a borrowed Prophet-5 synthesizer.

— Marcy Donelson

Exploding Star Orchestra / Rob Mazurek

Dimensional Stardust

International Anthem / Nonesuch

Avant-Garde, Jazz

The visionary composer and 11 musicians deliver a kaleidoscopic, genre-blurring journey through sound, vision, sense perception, and emotion.

— Thom Jurek

Skyway Man

The World Only Ends When You Die

Mama Bird Recording Co.

Pop/Rock

A cosmic country opera that evokes a Muscle Shoals-backed Grateful Dead piloting a boogie van into the Greek underworld.

— James Christopher Monger

Thaba

Eyes Rest Their Feet

Soundway

Electronic

Fluid transcontinental mix of South African bubblegum and kwaito, Jamaican reggae and dub, and soul and sophisti-pop, over a decade in the making.

— Andy Kellman

Joe Castro

Passion Flower: For Doris Duke

Sunnyside / Sunnyside Communications

Easy Listening, Jazz

A second archival box titles yields the pianists his two Atlantic albums, as well as unreleased Clover Records' sessions by Paul Bley and much more.

John Eliot Gardiner / English Baroque Soloists / Monteverdi Choir

Handel: Semele

SDG (Soli Deo Gloria)

Classical

An accessible, attractive Semele that deploys the work's mixture of genres to maximum advantage.

— James Manheim

John Wilson / BBC Philharmonic Orchestra

Eric Coates: Orchestral Works, Vol. 2

Chandos

Classical

The second Chandos volume of Coates focuses on larger works, slightly less distinctive than his small light music character pieces.

— James Manheim

Neal Davies / Mark Elder / Hallé Orchestra

Vaughan Williams: Job; Songs of Travel

Hallé

Classical

Low-key renditions of Vaughan Williams orchestral works have a hypnotic, almost chamber quality.

— James Manheim

Estonian Philharmonic Chamber Choir / Risto Joost / Tallinn Chamber Orchestra

Tonu Korvits: You Are Light and Morning

Ondine

Classical

Choral settings of texts in Italian and English offer a distinctively passionate tonal language.

— James Manheim

Franz Welser-Möst / Cleveland Orchestra

Schubert: Symphony No. 9 in C Major, "The Great"; Krenek: Static and Ecstatic

Cleveland Orchestra

Classical

A fine example of the restrained, delicate style conductor Welser-Möst has developed over his collaboration with the Cleveland Orchestra.

— James Manheim

PostClassical Ensemble / Angel Gil-Ordóñez

Bernard Herrmann: Whitman; Souvenirs de Voyage; Psycho, A Narrative for String Orchestra

Naxos

Classical

Obscure and fascinating Herrmann, with a radio drama score about Walt Whitman that receives its well-worthwhile world premiere.

— James Manheim

Previous Week Next Week