Van Morrison

What's It Gonna Take?

Virgin

Pop/Rock

Van Morrison marries his anger about the COVID-19 pandemic era to jaunty R&B rhythms or slow, soulful grooves.

— Stephen Thomas Erlewine

The Clash

Combat Rock [People's Hall Special Edition]

Legacy / Sony Music

Pop/Rock

This reissue resurrects precious few tracks from Mick Jones' personal mix of the legendary Clash album.

Levon Helm / Mavis Staples

Carry Me Home

Anti-

Pop/Rock, Religious

Two friends and mutual admirers lift one another in song in this glorious live recording from June 2011.

— Mark Deming

Porridge Radio

Waterslide, Diving Board, Ladder to the Sky

Secretly Canadian

Pop/Rock

With their raw, volatile indie rock in hand, the Brits delve deeper into existential dread on the follow-up to the Mercury Prize-nominated Every Bad.

— Marcy Donelson

Matmos

Regards/Uklony dla Boguslaw Schaeffer

Thrill Jockey

Electronic

Matmos' reimagining of the works of the Polish experimental composer also pays tribute to the duo's skill at invention and reinvention.

— Heather Phares

Grant-Lee Phillips

All That You Can Dream

Yep Roc

Pop/Rock, Folk

Stuck at home, the smokey-voiced indie folk troubadour ponders the uncertain state of the world in the early 2020s.

— Mark Deming

Moby

Reprise Remixes

Deutsche Grammophon

Electronic

Remixes of Moby's orchestral retrospective Reprise, which manage to approach familiar material from a variety of fresh perspectives.

— Paul Simpson

Train

AM Gold

Columbia

Pop/Rock

Train nods to the Super Hits of the 1970s on an album that feels like a throwback to the ebullient pop of the Y2K era.

— Stephen Thomas Erlewine

The Verlaines

Live at the Windsor Castle, Auckland, May 1986

Schoolkids

Pop/Rock

Scrappy audio of a small but spirited gig early on in the career of these New Zealand jangle pop giants.

— Fred Thomas

Cave In

Heavy Pendulum

Relapse Records

Pop/Rock

A dense and rewarding work that's both mindful of the past and focused on the horizon.

— James Christopher Monger

Craig Finn

A Legacy of Rentals

Positive Jams

Pop/Rock

The Hold Steady frontman offers ten more short stories posing as songs that are honest, evocative, and powerfully effective.

— Mark Deming

Gareth Jones / Quinquis / Emilie Tiersen

Seim

Mute

Pop/Rock

The hypnotic debut album from Émilie Tiersen's project combines forward-looking electronics with the myths and traditions of Breton.

— Heather Phares

Uffie

Sunshine Factory

Company Records

Pop/Rock

The bloghouse pioneer's first album in 12 years is lighthearted yet resilient, offering a more sustainable version of her party-starting pop.

— Heather Phares

Project Gemini

The Children of Scorpio

Mr. Bongo

Pop/Rock

Located dead center on the Venn diagram where nasty funk, atmospheric film scores, and spooky psychedelia meet, the band's debut album is a multi-layered delight.

— Tim Sendra

Brandon Coleman

Interstellar Black Space

Brainfeeder

Jazz

Vocoder-equipped keyboardist returns with his highly energetic, feel-good third LP as a leader, joined by a large cast including Kamasi Washington.

— Andy Kellman

James Byrne / Sophie Galpin / Michael Keeney / Tommy McLaughlin / Bridie Monds-Watson / SOAK

If I Never Know You Like This Again

Rough Trade

Pop/Rock

On their looser, identity-themed third album, Bridie Monds-Watson looks to '90s musical inspirations, employing a full band for the first time.

— Marcy Donelson

Alex Izenberg

I'm Not Here

Domino / Weird World

Pop/Rock

A third set of eccentric, '70s-evoking chamber pop from the L.A. songwriter, who enlisted Dave Longstreth for string and woodwind arrangements.

— Marcy Donelson

Thomas Dollbaum

Wellswood

Big Legal Mess Records

Pop/Rock

The debut album from this New Orleans singer/songwriter packages lyrics of hard luck and desperation in delicate, thoughtfully crafted Americana songs.

— Fred Thomas

Blut aus Nord

Disharmonium: Undreamable Abysses

Debemur Morti

Pop/Rock

Inspired by the fiction of H.P. Lovecraft, this set approaches the formless and forceful using rearward glances to frame its futurist impulses.

— Thom Jurek

Jimi Tenor

Multiversum

Bureau B

Electronic

A bouncy set recorded in the artist's Helsinki studio using only a tenor sax, flute, synth loops, and drum machines.

— Thom Jurek

Plankton Wat

Hidden Path

Thrill Jockey

Pop/Rock

Introspective, escapist meditations from Dewey Mahood, first issued as a limited cassette in late 2017.

— Paul Simpson

John Doe

Fables in a Foreign Land

Fat Possum Records

Pop/Rock

A superb acoustic album from the X frontman, full of the powerfully honest songs and evocative vocals that are his trademark.

— Mark Deming

Joey Alexander

Origin

Mack Avenue

Jazz

The pianist comes into his own on this soulful and enveloping album of all-original post-bop.

— Matt Collar

Jordana

Face the Wall

Grand Jury Music

Pop/Rock

The Wichita-based singer returns with her third album of hooky, '90s-influenced indie pop.

— Matt Collar

Jon Porras

Arroyo

Thrill Jockey

Electronic, Avant-Garde

A brief set of tranquil, minimalist ambient pieces from the former Barn Owl guitarist.

— Paul Simpson

Cool Maritime

Big Earth Energy

Western Vinyl Records

Electronic, New Age

Sean Hellfritsch evokes mid-'90s RPG soundtracks and nature program soundtracks on his most melodic, finely tuned release yet.

— Paul Simpson

Tess Parks

And Those Who Were Seen Dancing

Fuzz Club Records

Pop/Rock

The Canadian singer/songwriter's sophomore LP is a sprawling collection of midtempo grooves and dense space rock layers.

— Timothy Monger

Yelena Eckemoff

I Am a Stranger in This World

L & H

Jazz

The pianist/composer's second double-length set of musical settings is all instrumental and contains three holdovers from the first.

— Thom Jurek

Chen Reiss / Arabella Steinbacher / Daniel Grossmann / Jewish Chamber Orchestra Munich

Fanny Hensel & Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy: Arias, Lieder, Overtures

Onyx / Onyx Classics

Classical

Orchestral arrangements of Fanny Mendelssohn Hensel's songs show their inner ambitions in these fine performances by Reiss.

— James Manheim

Daniel Barenboim

Encores

Deutsche Grammophon

Classical

The apparently indestructible Barenboim does beautifully with a meaty group of Romantic encores.

— James Manheim

Briana Hunter / Kenneth Kellogg / Roderick Cox / Washington National Opera Orchestra

Jeanine Tesori, Tazewell Thompson: Blue

PentaTone Classics

Classical

A superb new opera about police violence and its effects finds a powerful musical language.

— James Manheim

Jean-Efflam Bavouzet / Gabor Takács-Nagy / Manchester Camerata

Mozart: Piano Concerto No. 22, KV 482; Piano Concerto No. 23, KV 488; Overture to 'Der Schauspieldirektor', KV 486

Chandos

Classical

Exceptionally fluent Mozart concertos, with superb sound capturing the orchestrational strides forward in this pair of works.

— James Manheim

Los Angeles Guitar Quartet

Opalescent

LAGQ Records

Classical

A flawlessly recorded collection of new works landing between classical music and jazz in various zones.

— James Manheim

Raffaele La Ragione

Mandolin on Stage: The Greatest Mandolin Concertos

Arcana

Classical

An effective realization of the sparse mandolin concerto repertory by lively performer La Ragione.

— James Manheim

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