Alison Goldfrapp

The Love Invention

Skint Records

Pop/Rock, Electronic

The dance and pop music innovator strikes out on her own with some of the most direct and euphoric music of her career.

— Heather Phares

Avey Tare / Panda Bear / Animal Collective

Spirit They're Gone, Spirit They've Vanished

Domino

Pop/Rock

The band's experimental and chaotic 2000 debut represents the messy beginnings of the adventurous pop greatness that they would eventually grow into.

— Fred Thomas

Béla Fleck

As We Speak

Béla Fleck Productions

Jazz, Folk

The banjoist, Edgar Meyer, Zakir Hussain, and bansuri flute master Raskesh Chaurasia unite in a ranging musical conversation.

— Thom Jurek

Jonas Brothers

The Album

Republic

Pop/Rock

The former teen idols keep their 2020s comeback rolling with a sunny, soulful, and stylish affair.

— Stephen Thomas Erlewine

Moby

Resound NYC [Resound NYC Version]

Deutsche Grammophon

Electronic

The electronic dance veteran's second set of catalog reimaginings for Deutsche Grammophon.

— Neil Z. Yeung

Madison McFerrin

I Hope You Can Forgive Me

MadMcFerrin Music

R&B

A remarkably varied and cohesive first album, this also displays the vocal dynamo's budding talent as a producer.

— Andy Kellman

James Ellis Ford

The Hum

Warp

Electronic, Pop/Rock

The debut solo album from the celebrated producer and Simian Mobile Disco co-founder is unexpectedly insular and personally drawn.

— Fred Thomas

Mthunzi Mvubu

The 1st Gospel

Ropeadope

Jazz

An auspicious debut by a seasoned veteran of South Africa's jazz scene and a killer quintet.

— Thom Jurek

Overmono

Good Lies

XL

Electronic

The debut album from the celebrated U.K. dance duo mixes moody, after-hours melancholia with hook-driven club rhythms.

— Paul Simpson

Parker McCollum

Never Enough

MCA / MCA Nashville

Pop/Rock

The Texas country singer heads straight to the heartland, sometimes sounding like a dead ringer for the Wallflowers.

— Stephen Thomas Erlewine

Oval

Romantiq

Thrill Jockey

Electronic

Electro-acoustic pieces stemming from an audio-visual collaboration for the opening of Frankfurt's German Romantic Museum.

— Paul Simpson

Parker Millsap

Wilderness Within You

Okrahoma / Thirty Tigers

Country, Pop/Rock

The singer/songwriter takes a left turn into territory that blends Americana with homespun early McCartney.

— Stephen Thomas Erlewine

The Three O'Clock

Baroque Hoedown [Expanded Edition]

Yep Roc

Pop/Rock

A stunning update on psychedelia, the band's first EP (expanded here with extra tracks) rocketed them to minor stardom as part of the paisley underground.

— Tim Sendra

Eluvium

(Whirring Marvels In) Consensus Reality

Temporary Residence

Electronic

The ambient composer reflects on humankind's troubling relationship with technology on an album rich with strings and sophisticated electro-acoustic arrangements.

— Fred Thomas

Fire! Orchestra

Echoes

Rune Grammaphon

Jazz

On its seventh album, the occasional adventurous big band delivers a single, multivalently fascinating work using its largest lineup to date.

— Thom Jurek

Helen Money / Will Thomas

Trace

Thrill Jockey

Pop/Rock, Electronic

A full-scale collaboration between the cellist and producer, approaching more dark ambient and post-industrial textures than Money's other releases.

— Paul Simpson

Brown Spirits

Solitary Transmissions

Soul Jazz

Pop/Rock

Freewheeling, home-recorded instrumental psychedelia channeling space rock and deep funk influences.

— Paul Simpson

John Southworth

When You're This, This in Love

Tin Angel

Pop/Rock, Folk

An understated, gorgeously written set that plays almost like an anthology of the singer's various modes.

— Timothy Monger

Benny Green

Solo

Sunnyside Communications

Jazz

The pianist pays homage to many of his own jazz keyboard heroes on his second solo piano album.

— Matt Collar

Bokani Dyer

Radio Sechaba

Brownswood

Jazz

The South African musician's Brownswood debut album weds township traditions to jazz, soul, funk, Latin, and slinky Afrobeat.

— Thom Jurek

Bailey Zimmerman

Religiously the Album

Warner Nashville / Warner Records

Country

The gravelly voiced country singer wisely decides to emphasize his softer side on his full-length debut.

— Stephen Thomas Erlewine

BC Camplight

The Last Rotation of Earth

Bella Union

Pop/Rock

The U.K.-based American expat continues to make theatrical pop out of his own turmoil.

— Timothy Monger

The Courettes

Boom! Dynamite

Damaged Goods

Pop/Rock

A 14-song sampler from the internationalist garage rock duo that can turn casual listeners into fans with a single spin.

— Mark Deming

Graham Day / Graham Day & the Gaolers

Reflections in the Glass

Damaged Goods

Pop/Rock

The Medway Garage Rock King who isn't Billy Childish sounds strong, confident, and cool on his third LP with the Gaolers.

— Mark Deming

Chœur de Chambre de Namur / Julien Chauvin / Le Concert de la Loge

Mozart: Requiem; Paisiello: Messe pour le sacre de Napoléon

Alpha

Classical

The premiere of an 1804 Paris version of Mozart's Requiem is faithful to the dimensions of the work.

— James Manheim

John Storgårds / BBC Philharmonic Orchestra

Shostakovich: Symphony No. 12 'The Year 1917'; Symphony No. 15

Chandos

Classical

An extraordinary, memory-fantasy version of the Symphony No. 15 is the highlight of this Shostakovich release.

— James Manheim

Benjamin Grosvenor

Schumann & Brahms

Decca

Classical

A beautifully executed slice of the mainstream 19th century features an unusually intelligent program.

— James Manheim

Cédric Tiberghien

Variation[s], Vol. 1: Beethoven, Mozart, Schumann, Webern

Harmonia Mundi

Classical

A complex program that places emphasis on Beethoven's variation sets as underrated, ambitious works.

— James Manheim

Martha Argerich / Lahav Shani

Ravel, Beethoven

Avanticlassic

Classical

Extremely lively Beethoven and Ravel from a sensational young conductor and a veteran pianist.

— James Manheim

Joshua Blue / Steven Blier / New York Festival of Song

Black & Blue

NYFOS Records

Jazz, Classical

A superbly calibrated adaptation of African American popular song materials to a classical setting.

— James Manheim

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