Elvis Costello / Elvis Costello & the Imposters

The Boy Named If

Capitol / EMI Records

Pop/Rock

Costello and his longtime band use familiar building blocks -- pumped-up riffs, fleet wordplay, an omnivorous musical appetite -- yet reassemble them in unexpected ways.

— Stephen Thomas Erlewine

Cat Power

Covers

Domino

Pop/Rock

Chan Marshall's third covers album muses on friends, lovers, and identities lost to time with songs originally by the Pogues, Lana Del Rey, and more.

— Heather Phares

The Lumineers

Brightside

Dualtone Music

Pop/Rock, Folk

The Denver duo pare down to their core elements for a refreshingly spontaneous fourth outing.

— Timothy Monger

Garcia Peoples

Dodging Dues

No Quarter

Pop/Rock

The indie jam band sextet discovers a more ambitious sound with production help from Matt Sweeney.

— Fred Thomas

The Weeknd

Dawn FM

Republic

R&B

Abel Tesfaye indulges his frantic romantic side with numerous synthesizer-powered '80s flavorings on his follow-up to After Hours.

— Andy Kellman

Mary Lattimore

Collected Pieces: 2015-2020

Ghostly International

Avant-Garde, Electronic

Hour-long collection of non-album works from master harpist Mary Lattimore, ranking among the best of her solo releases.

— Paul Simpson

David Bowie

Toy (Toy:Box)

Parlophone / Rhino

Pop/Rock

An unreleased studio album from 2000 capturing David Bowie revisiting pre-Ziggy Stardust songs with his Hours band.

— Stephen Thomas Erlewine

Molly Nilsson

Extreme

Night School

Pop/Rock

Sprinkling sunlight and variety (loud guitars, sparkling pop) into her melancholy musical mix proves to be a magical move that's a striking reboot for Nilsson.

— Tim Sendra

Earl Sweatshirt

Sick!

Warner Music

Rap

Sharper and more direct than earlier projects, the fourth album from this always-innovative rapper is a powerful reflection on surviving exceptionally heavy times.

— Fred Thomas

The Dream Syndicate

What Can I Say? No Regrets...: Out of the Grey + Live, Demos & Outtakes

Fire Records

Pop/Rock

The Wombats

Fix Yourself, Not the World

The Wombats

Pop/Rock

Singer Matthew Murphy's hedonism and self-loathing make for literate and engaging '90s-style Brit-pop on the U.K. band's fifth album.

— Matt Collar

Underoath

Voyeurist

Fearless Records

Pop/Rock

Balancing beauty and violence in a chaotic storm of screams, the Florida crew delivers one of their best albums yet.

— Neil Z. Yeung

Punch Brothers

Hell on Church Street

Nonesuch

Country, Folk

The progressive bluegrass band's sixth album is a song-for-song reimagining of Tony Rice's 1983 solo album.

— Timothy Monger

Ari Roar

Made to Never Use

Pop/Rock

Texas singer/songwriter Caleb Campbell reaffirms his status as a master of short, anxious indie pop bangers on his solo alias' third full-length.

— Marcy Donelson

Bonobo

Fragments

Ninja Tune

Electronic

Bonobo's seventh album focuses on lush club-driven tracks, in addition to downtempo highlights featuring Jamila Woods and Kadhja Bonet.

— Paul Simpson

Grace Cummings

Storm Queen

ATO / Fontana

Folk

The noir-ish Melbourne folksinger expands her tonal palette on this eclectic and cathartic follow-up.

— Timothy Monger

Nicfit

Fuse

Upset the Rhythm

Pop/Rock

The Nagoya, Japan-based punk outfit's first full-length is a whirlwind introduction to their crazed yet cohesive attack.

— Heather Phares

Fickle Friends

Are We Gonna Be Alright?

Cooking Vinyl

Pop/Rock

The English group's sophomore album finds them further perfecting their buoyantly hooky indie pop.

— Matt Collar

Oli Astral

From the Astral

Ableton Push

Jazz, Electronic

The debut offering from this Montreal-based jazz guitarist and his trio juxtaposes organic music-making with modern technology.

— Thom Jurek

Soleá Morente

Aurora y Enrique

Elefant

Pop/Rock, International

The mutable musician's fourth LP is an introspective one named for her parents, flamenco's Aurora Carbonell and Enrique Morente.

— Marcy Donelson

Various Artists

The D-Vine Spirituals Records Story, Vol. 1

Bible & Tire Recording Company

Religious

The first of two volumes of singles compiled from the independent Memphis gospel label in the 1970s.

— Thom Jurek

Various Artists

The D-Vine Spirituals Records Story, Vol. 2

Bible & Tire Recording Company

Religious

Bible & Tire Recording Company's second volume of singles compiled from the catalog of the influential Memphis gospel label D-Vine Spirituals.

— Thom Jurek

Daniel Blumberg

The World to Come [Original Motion Picture Soundtrack]

Mute

Stage & Screen, Classical

A strikingly unsettling, somber feature-length score debut whose small ensemble includes Peter Brötzmann (clarinet) and Steve Noble (percussion).

— Marcy Donelson

Dave Sewelson

Smooth Free Jazz

Mahakala Music

Jazz

The Downtown New York baritone saxophonist and his quartet balance out jazz with inside grooves.

— Thom Jurek

Pauline Kim Harris

Wild at Heart

Sono Luminus

Classical

Solo violin works with echoes, more or less distant, of Bach's towering Chaconne from the Partita, BWV 1004.

— James Manheim

Sabine Devieilhe / Elsa Dreisig / Julie Fuchs / Michael Spyres / Marc Minkowski

Mozart: Mitridate, re di Ponto

Erato

Classical

A high-powered reading of Mozart's first opera seria captures its raging ambition.

— James Manheim

Jeanine De Bique

Mirrors

Berlin Classics

Classical

A recital of arias by Handel and contemporaries reveals a major young talent.

— James Manheim

Rinaldo Alessandrini / Concerto Italiano

Monteverdi: Daylight. Stories of Songs, Dances and Loves

Naïve

Classical

A beautifully recorded and performed set of thematically unified Monteverdi selections would have seemed natural to the composer's audiences.

— James Manheim

Doric String Quartet

Mendelssohn: String Quartets, Vol. 2

Chandos

Classical

A deep dive into Mendelssohn quartets, as far as can be imagined from the usual delicate readings.

— James Manheim

Mari Eriksmoen / Edward Gardner / Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra

Britten: Les Illuminations; Quatre Chansons françaises; Canteloube: Chants d'Auvergne (Selections)

Chandos

Classical

An offbeat trio of orchestral song cycles contributes to the growing reputation of soprano Eriksmoen.

— James Manheim

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