Kacey Musgraves

Star-Crossed

Interscope / Mercury Nashville

Country, Pop/Rock, Pop/Rock

A quintessential divorce record distinguished by its soft, glistening shimmer and Kacey Musgraves' placid delivery.

— Stephen Thomas Erlewine

Elvis Costello / Elvis Costello & the Attractions

Spanish Model

Universal

Pop/Rock, Latin

A surprisingly effective and entertaining reworking of This Year's Model containing new Spanish-language vocals from contemporary Latin artists.

— Stephen Thomas Erlewine

Saint Etienne

I've Been Trying to Tell You

Heavenly

Pop/Rock

The long-running group abandon song structures in favor of impressionistic, sample-based pieces that sound like dub versions of imagined late-'90s pop ballads.

— Tim Sendra

Low

HEY WHAT

Sub Pop

Pop/Rock

The long-running slowcore act continues their deep dive into electronic noise on these ten songs of chaos and fleeting beauty.

— Mark Deming

Pat Metheny

Side-Eye NYC (V1.IV)

Modern Recordings

Jazz

This live trio outing with Marcus Gilmore and James Francies offers older material and new work played with elasticity, adventure, and warmth.

— Thom Jurek

Béla Fleck

My Bluegrass Heart

BMG / BMG Rights Management

Folk, Country

A dazzling assault of capital-T talent marks the banjo hero's double-disc return to progressive bluegrass.

— Timothy Monger

Sleigh Bells

Texis

Mom + Pop Music

Pop/Rock

The duo's fifth album taps into the anything-goes spirit of their early days with songs that teeter between sweetness and annihilation.

— Heather Phares

Amyl and the Sniffers

Comfort to Me

ATO

Pop/Rock

The thrilling sophomore LP from the Aussie punks adds maturity and focus to the mix without sacrificing their rabid, defiant sound.

— Neil Z. Yeung

J Balvin

JOSE

Universal

Latin, Rap

In contrast to 2020's concise and isolated Colores, the Colombian superstar's sixth LP embraces a bright smattering of styles across a lengthy, collaborative track list.

— David Crone

Andrew W.K.

God Is Partying

Napalm Records

Pop/Rock

The party-positive optimist goes noir on his aggressive and cathartic sixth album.

— Timothy Monger

Rufus Wainwright

Unfollow the Rules: The Paramour Session

BMG

Pop/Rock

A superb if abbreviated live set culled from a June 2020 album-release stream featuring minimal accompaniment and two previously unreleased songs.

— Marcy Donelson

Eric Bibb

Dear America

Provogue

Blues

The artist offers a tender, poignant manifesto of love and empathy to a land, history, and people that haven't always loved him back.

— Thom Jurek

Park Hye Jin

Before I Die

Ninja Tune

Electronic

Elaborate yet impulsive debut full-length from the South Korean-born producer, vocalist, and DJ.

— Paul Simpson

Manic Street Preachers

The Ultra Vivid Lament

Columbia

Pop/Rock

A painterly, introspective album that conjures the ghost of This Is My Truth Tell Me Yours.

— Stephen Thomas Erlewine

The Vaccines

Back in Love City

Super Easy

Pop/Rock

The English indie rockers' fifth long-player sees the band looking for connections in an emotionally disconnected world.

— James Christopher Monger

Jazzmeia Horn

Dear Love

Empress Legacy Records

Jazz

A transcendent big band album from the Grammy-nominated jazz vocalist, songwriter, and arranger.

— Matt Collar

Colleen Green

Cool

Hardly Art

Pop/Rock

After stripping away layers of lo-fi punk-pop noise, Green's third album is a batch of unassuming songs that follow the '90s alt-rock playbook.

— Tim Sendra

Depeche Mode

Ultra: The 12" Singles

Mute / Reprise / Rhino

Pop/Rock

Deluxe vinyl box set collecting the singles -- and associated B-sides and remixes -- from 1997's Ultra era.

— Neil Z. Yeung

Heartless Bastards

A Beautiful Life

Sweet Unknown Records

Pop/Rock

Feeling more like an Erika Wennerstrom solo LP than a band effort, this finds her growing and reaching out as an artist.

— Mark Deming

Homeshake

Under the Weather

Sinderlyn

Pop/Rock

Peter Sagar keeps up his consistent track record of friendly yet bummed-out albums reflecting on isolation and loneliness.

— Paul Simpson

Pokey LaFarge

In the Blossom of Their Shade

New West

Pop/Rock

The time-traveling troubador crafts a breezy rock & roll album full of his easygoing charm.

— Matt Collar

Kero Kero Bonito

Civilisation

Polyvinyl

Pop/Rock

Uniting the two Civilisation EPs into a fascinating whole, this collection presents the trio at their inventive, heartfelt best.

— Heather Phares

Julia Bardo

Bauhaus, L'Appartamento

Wichita Recordings

Pop/Rock

A bittersweet solo debut by onetime Working Men's Club guitarist Giulia Bonometti, who fuses modern indie pop with vintage '60s sensibilities.

— Marcy Donelson

Slothrust

Parallel Timeline

Dangerbird Records

Pop/Rock

The visceral alt-rock project's fifth album curbs the mercurial defiance of previous LPs for something more self-examining and cohesive.

— Marcy Donelson

Maya Beiser

Maya Beiser x Philip Glass

Islandia Music

Avant-Garde, Classical

A recasting of Glass for a solo instrument puts the music in a new light.

— James Manheim

Yeol Eum Son

Kapustin

Onyx / Onyx Classics

Classical

A much-needed overview of music by this unique Russian composer who fused jazz and classical music.

— James Manheim

PaTRAM Institute Male Choir

More Honourable Than the Cherubim

Chandos

Classical

Pristine Russian sacred choral singing from the PaTRAM Institute Male Choir.

— James Manheim

Anja Harteros / Valery Gergiev / Münchner Philharmoniker

Wagner: Wesendonck-Lieder; Berg: Sieben frühe Lieder; Mahler: Rückert Lieder

Münchner Philharmoniker

Classical

Absorbing, essentially text-centered readings of post-Romantic orchestral songs from soprano Harteros.

— James Manheim

Théotime Langlois de Swarte / William Christie

Générations: Senaillé, LeClair - Sonates pour violon et clavecin

Harmonia Mundi

Classical

Marvelous "generations" of Baroque music performance, with fascinating sonatas of little-known composer Senaillé.

— James Manheim

Thomas Dausgaard / Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra

Bruckner: Symphony No. 3 - Original 1873 Version

BIS

Classical

A headlong reading of the rarely performed original version of Bruckner's Third.

— James Manheim

Previous Week Next Week