Drake

Certified Lover Boy

OVO Sound / Republic

Rap

Star-studded, big-budget album that mostly sticks to a trap-influenced sound and covers familiar lyrical ground.

— Tim Sendra

Kanye West

Donda

Def Jam / Getting Out Our Dreams II

Rap

Exhaustively long and meandering, Kanye's tenth studio album still holds a creative spark that suggests there's a vision buried beneath the monolith.

— Fred Thomas

Imagine Dragons

Mercury: Act 1

Interscope

Pop/Rock

The Vegas quartet recruits Rick Rubin and digs deep on their mature and emotionally intense fifth album.

— Neil Z. Yeung

Lady Gaga

Dawn of Chromatica

Interscope

Pop/Rock

A fascinating reimagining of Gaga's 2020 dancefloor comeback that enlists a dream team of future-pop and electronic artists.

— Neil Z. Yeung

Bob Marley / Bob Marley & the Wailers

The Capitol Session '73

Mercury / Room 609 Records / Tuff Gong / Universal

Reggae

Previously unreleased live-in-the-studio set that documents the Wailers as a group and not just Bob Marley's backing band.

— Mark Deming

Iron Maiden

Senjutsu

BMG / Sanctuary

Pop/Rock

An epic late-career triumph, albeit one that requires multiple spins to set up camp in your Homeric metal-craving cranium.

— James Christopher Monger

Little Simz

Sometimes I Might Be Introvert

Age 101

Rap

A deeply ambitious, soulful master class in modern songwriting from the acclaimed British rapper.

— Timothy Monger

Suuns

The Witness

Joyful Noise

Pop/Rock

The fifth album from Montreal experimental rock trio is an immersive, metered listening experience made up of constant understated movement.

— Fred Thomas

Motorists

Surrounded

Bobo Integral

Pop/Rock

The debut full-length from this Canadian trio finds a sweet spot between jangly college rock and energetic post-punk.

— Fred Thomas

Booker T. & the MG's

The Complete Stax Singles, Vol. 2

Real Gone Music

R&B

The 20 tracks on this series' second volume completes the portrait of the band's Stax run, offering hits, misses, and surprises.

— Thom Jurek

DJ Seinfeld

Mirrors

Ninja Tune

Electronic

DJ Seinfeld demonstrates his growth as a producer on his second album and Ninja Tune debut.

— Paul Simpson

Pearl & the Oysters

Flowerland

Feeltrip / Tip Top

Pop/Rock

The duo's third album ups the production values a bit while still delivering the same pleasing amount of bubbly, kitschy, nostalgic pop.

— Tim Sendra

Dntel

Away

Morr Music

Pop/Rock, Electronic

Two decades after Dntel's breakthrough, Jimmy Tamborello proves he's still on the vanguard of combining uncannily pristine synth pop with real, imperfect emotions.

— Heather Phares

Meatbodies

333

In the Red Records

Pop/Rock

The group's third album is a reworked batch of demos that deliver first-rate garage psych, while also touching on shoegaze and indie rock.

— Tim Sendra

Lauren Alaina

Sitting Pretty on Top of the World

Mercury Nashville

Country

The former American Idol runner-up leans into the smooth, shiny pop side of her country-pop sound.

— Stephen Thomas Erlewine

Various Artists

Disco 75

Robinsongs

R&B

Three diverse discs of 1974 and 1975 body-movers sourced from contemporaneous disco charts published by Billboard, Record World, and Blues & Soul.

— Andy Kellman

Mirga Gražinytė-Tyla / City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra

The British Project: Elgar, Britten, Walton, Vaughan Williams

Deutsche Grammophon

Classical

Precise, quintessentially British performances from young Lithuanian conductor Mirga Gražinytė-Tyla.

— James Manheim

Valencia Baryton Project

Haydn: Baryton Trios - Treasures from the Esterháza Palace

Naxos

Classical

A superb recording by the Valencia Baryton Project of Haydn's rarely heard baryton trios.

— James Manheim

Emmanuelle Bertrand / Pascal Amoyel

Brahms: Sonatas & Liebeslieder for Cello and Piano

Harmonia Mundi

Classical

Absolutely lovely Brahms in a melody-oriented style celebrates the long artistic partnership of cellist Bertrand and pianist Amoyel.

— James Manheim

Escher String Quartet

Barber & Ives

BIS

Classical

Crisp performances of key American chamber works illuminate each composer's creative struggles.

— James Manheim

Peter Donohoe

Busoni: Elegien; Toccata; Sonatina super Carmen; Toccata, Adagio and Fugue

Chandos

Classical

Vigorous, lively Busoni with some unusual items from pianist Donohoe.

— James Manheim

Kit Armstrong

William Byrd, John Bull: The Visionaries of Piano Music

Deutsche Grammophon

Classical

Highly detailed and very exciting readings of Byrd and Bull keyboard works on piano.

— James Manheim

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