Metric

Formentera

Metric

Pop/Rock

A reaction to the COVID-19 pandemic that's tragic, uncertain, and true; their best album yet and a stadium indie triumph.

— Tim Sendra

Neil Young / Neil Young & Crazy Horse

Toast

Reprise

Pop/Rock

Long-shelved 2001 recordings find Young running through songs that ultimately surfaced in different forms on Are You Passionate? with his long-standing backing band.

— Fred Thomas

Laura Veirs

Found Light

Bella Union

Pop/Rock

With a new co-producer and greater sense of creative freedom, the indie folk heroine sounds delighted to explore fresh territory.

— Mark Deming

BANKS

Serpentina

AWAL / Her Name Is Banks

Pop/Rock

The alt-R&B singer's fourth set processes years of changes without veering too far from her usual sound.

— Neil Z. Yeung

Katy J Pearson

Sound of the Morning

Heavenly

Pop/Rock

A surprising but accomplished second album that finds the Parton-esque folk-rocker collaborating with members of the Speedy Wunderground family.

— Marcy Donelson

Delicate Steve

After Hours

Anti-

Pop/Rock

Guitarist Steve Marion sets aside invention and whimsy on a breezy, laid-back sixth album written and recorded on a 1966 Fender Stratocaster.

— Marcy Donelson

Wu-Lu

Loggerhead

Warp

Pop/Rock

Gradually rising South Londoner with his zeitgeist-seizing first album for Warp Records.

— Andy Kellman

Ian Daniel Kehoe

Yes Very So

Tin Angel

Pop/Rock

The mercurial indie artist revives the Canadian tradition of wearing sunglasses at night.

— Timothy Monger

Journey

Freedom

BMG

Pop/Rock

The Rock and Roll Hall of Famers' 15th studio effort and their third outing with vocalist Arnel Pineda.

— James Christopher Monger

Mush

Down Tools

Memphis Industries

Pop/Rock

The U.K. indie rockers clean up their act, but by only so much, on their third album (and first without late guitarist Steve Tyson).

— Mark Deming

Stimulator Jones

Round Spiritual Ring

Stones Throw

R&B

Sam Lunsford puts a more personalized spin on Video Soul-era R&B (with some pleasing diversions) on his uplifting third Stones Throw LP.

— Andy Kellman

Attia Taylor

Space Ghost

Lame-O Records / Run for Cover Records

Pop/Rock

After well over a decade on the D.I.Y. scene (and founding Womanly Magazine), a solo full-length debut that juxtaposes the playful and painful.

— Marcy Donelson

The Deslondes

Ways & Means

New West

Country, Pop/Rock

The New Orleans roots rockers return after a five-year hiatus with a loosely tight celebration of laid-back satisfaction.

— Mark Deming

Tyshawn Sorey / Tyshawn Sorey Trio

Mesmerism

Yeros7

Jazz

The award-winning drummer/composer switches it up with a piano trio playing impeccably chosen covers and standards.

— Thom Jurek

Jakub Józef Orliński / Michał Biel

Farewells

Erato

Classical

Gorgeous art song repertory from Poland, largely unknown outside that country, receives a fresh look from countertenor Orliński.

— James Manheim

Anne-Sophie Mutter / John Williams / Boston Symphony Orchestra

Williams: Violin Concerto No. 2; Selected Film Themes

Deutsche Grammophon

Classical

A remarkable new concerto from the now-nonagenarian Williams is played to the hilt by Mutter and conducted by the composer.

— James Manheim

Alisa Weilerstein / Inon Barnatan

Beethoven: Cello Sonatas

PentaTone Classics

Classical

An intense and beautiful set of Beethoven's cello sonatas seems almost to enter the composer's thought processes.

— James Manheim

Kaleidoscope Chamber Collective

Coleridge-Taylor: Nonet; Piano Trio; Piano Quintet

Chandos

Classical

Youthful works by Coleridge-Taylor receive suitably heated performances from the Kaleidoscope Chamber Collective.

— James Manheim

Ariane Matiakh / Sinfonieorchester Basel

Charles Koechlin: The Seven Stars' Symphony; Vers la voûte étoilées

Capriccio Records

Classical

A marvelous movie star symphony from severely neglected French post-Impressionist Koechlin.

— James Manheim

Lorelei Ensemble / Beth Willer

James Kallembach: Antigone

New Focus Recordings

Classical

A gripping cantata retelling and juxtaposing the stories of Sophocles' Antigone and anti-Nazi martyr Sophie Scholl.

— James Manheim

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