Mitski

Laurel Hell

Dead Oceans

Pop/Rock

A less volatile, resigned state of mind inhabits an album whose brooding, alienated lyrics are often at odds with its shiny, '80s pop veneer.

— Marcy Donelson

Animal Collective

Time Skiffs

Domino

Pop/Rock

On their 11th studio album, this experimental institution embrace their pop side while still pushing their sound to new, strange places.

— Fred Thomas

Cate Le Bon

Pompeii

Mexican Summer

Pop/Rock

The sixth album from this abstract pop auteur replaces detail-oriented songcraft with smears of dense synth pop and plastic funk.

— Fred Thomas

Korn

Requiem

Loma Vista

Pop/Rock

A focused metallic assault that adds something unexpected to the Korn story: a yearning for hope and healing.

— Neil Z. Yeung

Bastille

Give Me the Future

EMI / Republic

Pop/Rock

The band's fourth album connects 1980s pop culture and 2020s virtual reality in hyperarticulate, engaging pop songs.

— Heather Phares

The Reds, Pinks & Purples

Summer at Land's End

Slumberland

Pop/Rock

The fourth album of beautifully pristine bummer pop that trades murky melancholy for shimmering sadness and loses nothing in the process.

— Tim Sendra

The Jazz Butcher

The Highest in the Land

Tapete Records

Pop/Rock

Recorded just before Pat Fish's death, the album is a fitting testament to the band's ability to deliver laughs and tears in equal amounts.

— Tim Sendra

A Place to Bury Strangers

See Through You

Ded Strange

Pop/Rock

Twenty years after forming, the band deliver a career peak with their sixth album's twisted sonics and fun, wide-ranging songwriting.

— Heather Phares

Hippo Campus

LP3

Grand Jury Music

Pop/Rock

A transcendent vulnerability marks the St. Paul group's artful third album.

— Matt Collar

Black Country, New Road

Ants From Up There

Ninja Tune

Pop/Rock

A significant leap forward for the group with a more nuanced feel, better songwriting, and interesting creative choices.

— Timothy Monger

The Rave-Ups

Tomorrow

Omnivore

Pop/Rock

The guys who brought you "Positively Lose Me" reunite after 30 years and improbably deliver their finest album to date.

— Mark Deming

EXEK

Advertise Here

Castle Face

Pop/Rock

The band's first album for Castle Face brings their fascinating concoction of post-punk, dub, kosmische, and psych into clearer view.

— Heather Phares

Partner Look

By the Book

Trouble in Mind

Pop/Rock

A warm and tuneful if stylistically mercurial debut of a quartet formed by two sisters and their partners, all active in indie pop circles.

— Marcy Donelson

bvdub

Violet Opposition

n5MD

Electronic

Brock van Wey adds some blown-out, shoegazey distortion to his dramatic, emotionally turbulent soundscapes.

— Paul Simpson

Love, Burns

It Should Have Been Tomorrow

Jigsaw Records

Pop/Rock

Sophisticated indie pop with a sneaky dose of political bite and plenty of jangle.

— Tim Sendra

Great Lakes

Contenders

HHBTM

Pop/Rock

Ben Crum and his latest set of collaborators turn up their guitars and make a truly spirited and engaging album.

— Mark Deming

yeule

Glitch Princess

Bayonet Records

Electronic, Pop/Rock

Jagged, dystopian cyber-pop that examines mental health issues and expresses the desire to leave one's body.

— Paul Simpson

Los Bitchos

Let the Festivities Begin!

City Slang

Pop/Rock

The instrumental-rock group debuts their party-hearty mix of surf, cumbia, Anatolian rock, and more with guidance from Franz Ferdinand's Alex Kapranos.

— Marcy Donelson

Kenn Cox / Kenny Cox

Clap Clap! The Joyful Noise

BBE / Strata

Jazz

One of 30 unreleased Strata masters, this is a revelatory Detroit hybrid of silky jazz-funk, Afro-Latin, and Brazilian grooves.

— Thom Jurek

Maïa Brami / Igor Karsko / Camerata Zürich

Leos Janácek: On an Overgrown Path

ECM New Series

Classical

Beautifully recorded, atmospheric orchestral realization of Janáček's keyboard masterpiece, with accompanying poetry.

— James Manheim

Alexandre Kantorow

Brahms: Piano Sonata No. 3; Chaconne (Bach); Four Ballades

BIS

Classical

Deliberate, dramatic recital of works (mostly) by the young Brahms stands out from the crowd.

— James Manheim

Escualo5

Astor Piazzolla

BIS

Classical

Extraordinary Piazzolla renditions, many using his original quintet of instruments, but hardly traditional.

— James Manheim

Christoph Prégardien / Ulrich Eisenlohr

Brahms: Complete Songs, Vol. 1 - Opp. 32, 43, 86 and 105

Naxos

Classical

Deliberate, mysteriously compelling Brahms songs begin a cycle from Prégardien and Eisenlohr.

— James Manheim

Chelys Consort of Viols

Purcell: Fantazias

BIS

Classical

Clean, appropriately inward recordings of the young Purcell's contrapuntally intricate Fantasias.

— James Manheim

Thomas Dausgaard / Swedish Chamber Orchestra

Mendelssohn: Symphonies Nos. 1 & 3 'Scottish'

BIS

Classical

Crisp, restrained "Scottish" Symphony is consistently absorbing, paired with the less common Symphony No. 1 in C minor, Op. 11.

— James Manheim

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