Lorde

Solar Power

Crush Music / EMI Records / Republic / Universal

Pop/Rock

Lorde indulges in good vibes on this hazy, sunny album.

— Stephen Thomas Erlewine

Sturgill Simpson

The Ballad of Dood & Juanita

High Top Mountain

Country

A concept album set in the Civil War that finds Sturgill Simpson continuing his journey back to bluegrass.

— Stephen Thomas Erlewine

Deafheaven

Infinite Granite

Sargent House

Pop/Rock

Deafheaven's fifth album is a major departure, exploring airy, melodic dream pop with just traces of black metal influences.

— Paul Simpson

Jake Bugg

Saturday Night, Sunday Morning

Arista / RCA

Pop/Rock

The British singer's fifth album finds him embracing a robust pop/rock vibe that still retains some of his vintage influences.

— Matt Collar

Lee Morgan

The Complete Live at the Lighthouse

Blue Note

Jazz

The legendary hard bop trumpeter's final dynamic live 1970 concert album is presented in full.

— Matt Collar

Wanda Jackson

Encore

Big Machine Records

Pop/Rock, Country

The first great female rocker goes into the studio with Joan Jett to cut a short but potent session of lively rock and country.

— Mark Deming

Shannon & the Clams

Year of the Spider

Easy Eye Sound

Pop/Rock

Still mixing garage punk and 1960s pop, Shannon Shaw and her bandmates sound deeper and more mature on their sixth album.

— Mark Deming

Bob's Burgers

The Bob's Burgers Music Album, Vol. 2

Sub Pop

Stage & Screen, Comedy/Spoken

The music from the beloved animated show's seventh, eighth, and ninth seasons showcases its inspired silliness and endearing vocal performances.

— Heather Phares

Connie Smith

The Cry of the Heart

Fat Possum Records

Country

A terrific old-fashioned country album anchored by a new song by Dallas Frazier.

— Stephen Thomas Erlewine

Emma-Jean Thackray

Yellow

Movementt

Jazz, Electronic, R&B

On her debut album, the London-based composer and multi-instrumentalist creates a holistic meld of spiritual jazz, funk, soul, and electronica.

— Thom Jurek

The Joy Formidable

Into the Blue

Hassle

Pop/Rock

The Welsh indie rock trio's fifth album and second since relocating to Utah is a work of muscular, transcendent beauty.

— Matt Collar

Quickly, Quickly

The Long and Short of It

Ghostly International

Electronic, Rap

Lo-fi beatmaker transitions into vibrant singer/songwriter with electronic production tendencies on this collection of vibrant, warm, and rapidly changing sounds.

— Fred Thomas

Tropical Fuck Storm

Deep States

Joyful Noise

Pop/Rock

The band's third record is willing to descend even further down the rabbit hole, offering a good time despite all the twists and turns.

— Liam Martin

Martha Wainwright

Love Will Be Reborn

Cooking Vinyl

Pop/Rock, Folk

The Canadian singer/songwriter shares with her audience the agony and hope that comes with divorce.

— Mark Deming

GA-20

Try It…You Might Like It! GA-20 Does Hound Dog Taylor

Karma Chief

Blues

The Massachusetts trio deliver a riotously raw tribute to the great Chicago bluesman.

— Thom Jurek

James McMurtry

The Horses and the Hounds

New West

Pop/Rock, Folk

The great Texas singer/songwriter makes an album where the music is as powerful and exciting as his outstanding songs.

— Mark Deming

Kool & the Gang

Perfect Union

Ru-Jac Records

R&B

The funk legends' last album with Ronald Bell and Dennis "D.T." Thomas is a lively affair featuring the charting single "Sexy."

— Andy Kellman

Kunzite

Visuals

Lowly / Wilder

Pop/Rock

Duo made up of Ratatat and White Flight members team up again to make trippy electro-rock with soaring vocals and hip-hop beats.

— Tim Sendra

Bnny

Everything

Fire Talk

Pop/Rock

The whispery debut of Jess Viscius and band works through grief with a shadowy, minimalist retro-rock partly inspired by the Velvet Underground.

— Marcy Donelson

Wolves in the Throne Room

Primordial Arcana

Century Media

Pop/Rock

The seventh album from these Cascadian black metallers is an entirely self-created work of sinister, epic, pagan majesty.

— Thom Jurek

Badge Epoch / Slim Twig / Andrew Zukerman

Scroll

Telephone Explosion

Pop/Rock

The musician otherwise known as Slim Twig crafts a sprawling double LP from nearly a decade's worth of cosmic experiments.

— Paul Simpson

Justus Proffit

Speedstar

Bar/None Records

Pop/Rock

A more elemental second album of engaging, shambolic pop from the Elliott Smith and L.A. punk disciple.

— Marcy Donelson

Joe Hisaishi

Songs of Hope: The Essential Joe Hisaishi, Vol. 2

Decca Gold

Classical, Stage & Screen

The sequel to the Japanese master's 2020 compilation veers away from Studio Ghibli fare into the deeper corners of his film/solo catalog.

— Neil Z. Yeung

Mae Powell

Both Ways Brighter

Park the Van

Pop/Rock

An optimistic indie pop debut from a songwriter who puts a soft-focus filter and jazzy vocal spin on Frankie Cosmos inspirations.

— Marcy Donelson

Garrick Ohlsson

Brahms: Piano Sonatas Nos. 1 & 2; Rhapsodies Op. 79

Hyperion

Classical

Pianist Ohlsson brings ringing power to Brahms' quintessentially early first and second sonatas.

— James Manheim

Joonas Ahonen

Charles Ives: Piano Sonata No. 1; Bernhard Gander: Peter Parker

BIS

Classical

Pianist Ahonen follows up his acclaimed "Concord" Sonata with an equally virtuosic and detailed Ives Piano Sonata No. 1.

— James Manheim

Pierre-Laurent Aimard

Beethoven: Hammerklavier

PentaTone Classics

Classical

Pianist Aimard tames the fearsome "Hammerklavier" with a precise approach.

— James Manheim

Angela Hewitt

Love Songs

Hyperion

Classical

Not a crossover release but an examination of the once-common genre of the song transcription for piano.

— James Manheim

Isata Kanneh-Mason

Summertime

Decca

Classical

An entrancing recital by sensation Isata Kanneh-Mason proceeds from virtuosity to roots.

— James Manheim

Emmanuel Despax / Andrew Litton / BBC Symphony Orchestra / Miho Kawashima

Brahms: Piano Concerto No. 1; 16 Waltzes

Signum Classics

Classical

Dreams come to fruition in this emotional reading of Brahms' First Piano Concerto.

— Keith Finke

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