Taylor Swift

Midnights [Moonstone Blue Edition] [Edited]

Republic

Pop/Rock

A moody, dreamy album designed to be played in the wee small hours of the morning.

— Stephen Thomas Erlewine

Dry Cleaning

Stumpwork

4AD

Pop/Rock

The band's confident second album takes a quieter, slower approach that highlights their warmth, sensuality, and humor.

— Heather Phares

Arctic Monkeys

The Car

Domino

Pop/Rock

Arctic Monkeys continue to create stylish, seedy soundtracks for second-rate hotels.

— Stephen Thomas Erlewine

Tegan and Sara

Crybaby

Mom + Pop Music

Pop/Rock

Dialing back the pop gloss and adding some quirky production and an incredibly strong batch of songs, the duo remain as compelling as ever.

— Tim Sendra

Carly Rae Jepsen

The Loneliest Time

Interscope / School Boy / Schoolboy

Pop/Rock

The singer/songwriter's unmistakable charm holds together her sixth album's bubbly disco reveries and folky introspection.

— Heather Phares

Frankie Cosmos

Inner World Peace

Sub Pop

Pop/Rock

The project's apprehensive, pandemic-penned third Sub Pop outing is marked by notable psychedelic and '70s pop/rock influences.

— Marcy Donelson

Sloan

Steady

Yep Roc

Pop/Rock

The great 13th album from these Canadian power pop heroes shows that sometimes 13 can be a very lucky number.

— Mark Deming

Archers of Loaf

Reason in Decline

Merge

Pop/Rock

Twenty-four years after White Trash Heroes, the Chapel Hill noise merchants are more interested in collaboration than nostalgia.

— Mark Deming

Robert De Leo

Lessons Learned

Pop/Rock

The Stone Temple Pilots bassist offers a rich, reflective record for his solo debut.

— Stephen Thomas Erlewine

Simple Minds

Direction of the Heart

BMG / BMG Rights Management

Pop/Rock, Electronic

With conviction and confidence, these veterans wield pulsing synths, massive rock drums, overdriven guitars, and more in a set of fine new songs.

— Thom Jurek

iLe

Nacarile

Sony Music

Latin

An album made up mainly of quiet, reflective songs that deal largely with love, longing, and self-doubt.

— Mariano Prunes

Dawn Richard / Spencer Zahn

Pigments

Merge

Avant-Garde

The art-pop whiz and the boundary-blurring musician/composer team up with fascinating, ultimately moving results.

— Andy Kellman

The Soft Pink Truth

Is It Going to Get Any Deeper Than This?

Thrill Jockey

Electronic

Drew Daniel's creative winning streak continues with elegant experiments that touch on minimalism and jazz as well as house and disco.

— Heather Phares

Bibio

Bib10

Warp

Electronic

The producer/multi-instrumentalist's tenth album celebrates his music's beauty and possibilities with guitar-based tracks ranging from disco to folk.

— Heather Phares

Goat

Oh Death

Rocket Recordings

Pop/Rock

After a detour into acoustic sounds, the band return with a dark, dangerous, and thrilling album that adds dance grooves and death to the mix.

— Tim Sendra

Nick Hakim

Cometa

ATO

R&B

Romantic, dizzied third LP from the singer/songwriter, whose modern psychedelia is enhanced by appearances from Arto Lindsay and Helado Negro.

— Andy Kellman

a-ha

True North

Music for Nations / Sony Music

Pop/Rock

After 40 tumultuous years, the Norwegian trio return to record and film in a studio 55 miles above the Arctic Circle with a symphony orchestra.

— Thom Jurek

Rival Consoles

Now Is

Erased Tapes Records

Electronic

Rival Consoles' eighth album is lighter and more ambient-influenced than his previous, more conceptual releases.

— Paul Simpson

Senseless Things

The First of Too Many

Cherry Red

Pop/Rock

Fun and frolicsome pop-punk with a nice mix of jangle and crunch and a playfully tender lyrical outlook, presented here with a fresh remix.

— Tim Sendra

Medicine Singers

Medicine Singers

Jenre Neconds / Joyful Noise

Avant-Garde, International, Jazz

The debut album from this collaborative project fuses powwow singing and drums with avant-garde jazz and other forms of experimentalism.

— Fred Thomas

Meghan Trainor

Takin' It Back

Epic

Pop/Rock

Meghan Trainor returns to the stylish swagger of her debut.

— Stephen Thomas Erlewine

The Manhattan Transfer / WDR Funkhausorchester

Fifty

Craft Recordings

Jazz, Pop/Rock, Vocal

The Grammy-winning vocal quartet celebrates their 50th birthday with Germany's WDR Funkhausorchester.

— Matt Collar

Way Dynamic

So Familiar

Bobo Integral

Pop/Rock

Dylan Young (Snowy Band, Cool Sounds) leans into mellow '60s and '70s influences on the project's nonetheless whimsical full-length debut.

— Marcy Donelson

Mansur

Oscuras Flores

Denovali

International, Electronic

The otherworldly trio blend hypnotic oud playing, enchanting vocals, post-industrial electronics, and flamenco elements on their third album.

— Paul Simpson

Loyle Carner

Hugo

EMI

Rap

The introspective British rapper reflects on his upbringing and his struggles with identity on his masterful third album.

— Paul Simpson

Rich Aucoin

Synthetic - A Synth Odyssey: Season One

We Are Busy Bodies

Electronic, Pop/Rock

The Canadian avant-pop artist kicks off an ambitious quadruple album devoted to historic and rare synthesizers.

— Timothy Monger

Avantasia

A Paranormal Evening with the Moonflower Society

Nuclear Blast

Pop/Rock

The ninth star-studded studio album from Tobias Sammet and crew offers gloriously bombastic production and signature performances.

— Thom Jurek

Whit Dickey / Whit Dickey Quartet

Root Perspectives

Tao Forms

Jazz

An incendiary, musically adventurous date from the drummer's quartet that, for the first time, includes saxophonist Tony Malaby.

— Thom Jurek

Augustin Hadelich

Recuerdos

Warner Classics

Classical

Violinist Hadelich excels in works with various kinds of Spanish flavors.

— James Manheim

Evgeny Kissin

The Salzburg Recital

Deutsche Grammophon

Classical

Kissin recital from the 2021 Salzburg Festival has a special electricity.

— James Manheim

Paavo Järvi / Zurich Tonhalle Orchestra

John Adams

Alpha

Classical

An attractive collection of lesser-known Adams works from a European orchestra.

— James Manheim

Louis Lortie / Hélène Mercier

Debussy: Piano Duets

Chandos

Classical

Sensitively played Debussy two-piano works, missing the important En blanc et noir but offering rarely heard transcriptions as compensation.

— James Manheim

Simon Rattle / London Symphony Orchestra

Bruckner: Symphony No. 4

LSO / LSO Live

Classical

A unique performance of Bruckner's Symphony No. 4 ("Romantic"), with its many drafts.

— James Manheim

Lang Lang

The Disney Book [Standard CD]

Deutsche Grammophon

Stage & Screen, Classical

Big classical crossover treatment of Disney tunes succeeds in Lang Lang's adaptable hands.

— James Manheim

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