Usher

Coming Home

Mega / Gamma

R&B

Arriving between milestones -- a Vegas residency and Super Bowl halftime performance -- the singer's ninth album reaffirms that he's more than an entertainer.

— Andy Kellman

Sonic Youth

Walls Have Ears

Goofin'

Pop/Rock

The band reclaim a vital part of their history with the official release of these pivotal 1985 performances.

— Heather Phares

Brittany Howard

What Now

EMI / EMI Records / Island

R&B, Pop/Rock

The former Alabama Shakes lead singer finds liberation in Prince-inflected psychedelic soul.

— Stephen Thomas Erlewine

Helado Negro

PHASOR

4AD

Pop/Rock

Roberto Carlos Lange slows down and savors the moment with a sunny, seemingly effortless blend of psych rock, jazz, kosmische, and ambient pop.

— Heather Phares

Chelsea Wolfe

She Reaches Out to She Reaches Out to She

Loma Vista

Pop/Rock

Fusing elegantly fractured trip-hop with wicked riffs and aching vocals, the singer/songwriter heals from trauma and reinvents her music.

— Heather Phares

Madi Diaz

Weird Faith

Anti-

Pop/Rock

The midtempo, hook-strong follow-up to History of a Feeling shines a light on love's underbelly, where the flaws, compromises, and insecurities lie.

— Marcy Donelson

Loving

Any Light

Last Gang Records

Pop/Rock

The duo's second album ups the production values and expands the scope of the instrumentation without altering their hushed, melancholy core.

— Tim Sendra

The American Analog Set

New Drifters

Numero

Pop/Rock

Lovingly curated selection of full albums, singles, and rarities from the 1990s by the gently experimental space-age slowcore band.

— Tim Sendra

Joel Ross

nublues

Blue Note

Jazz

The vibraphonist's fourth Blue Note album is a harmonically textural distillation of blues and ballads.

— Matt Collar

Zara Larsson

VENUS

Black Butter / Epic / Sommer House

Pop/Rock

The third LP from the Swedish pop star shimmers with synth-based dance-pop and expands her scope with introspective ballads.

— Neil Z. Yeung

Dizzee Rascal

Don't Take It Personal

Big Dirte3 Records / Universal

Rap, Electronic

The grime pioneer largely returns to upbeat material, drawing from garage and funky house with a few dips into Afroswing and drill.

— Paul Simpson

Ducks Ltd.

Harm's Way

Carpark Records

Pop/Rock

The sophomore album from this Toronto duo steps out of the shadows of their jangle-pop influences with enhanced production, songwriting, and arrangement.

— Fred Thomas

glass beach

plastic death

Run for Cover Records

Pop/Rock

The L.A. group funnel emo, jazz, computer music, prog rock, metal, post-punk, and more into a poignant, remarkably digestible sophomore epic.

— Marcy Donelson

David Nance & Mowed Sound / David Nance

David Nance & Mowed Sound

Third Man Records

Pop/Rock

The garage punk guitar mauler discovers 1970s-style country-rock and finds it suits him and his band just fine.

— Mark Deming

DJ Harrison

Shades of Yesterday

Stones Throw

R&B

Vince Guaraldi, Stevie Wonder, and Donald Fagen, among other artists obscure and popular alike, are delightfully covered by the Butcher Brown multi-instrumentalist.

— Andy Kellman

Itasca

Imitation of War

Paradise of Bachelors

Pop/Rock

Guitarist Kayla Cohen goes electric on a fifth LP that takes her wispy, sepia-toned indie folk project into more mystical psychedelic territory.

— Marcy Donelson

Karl Bartos

The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari

Bureau B

Stage & Screen, Electronic

The former Kraftwerk member composes a score for Robert Wiene's 1920 horror touchstone, a key work of German Expressionist cinema.

— Paul Simpson

Tinsley Ellis

Naked Truth

Alligator Records

Blues

Five decades into a celebrated career, the Georgia bluesman issues his first solo acoustic album, playing a 1969 Martin and a 1937 National Steel.

— Thom Jurek

Notilus

II

Denovali

Jazz, Electronic

The French electro-jazz quintet's second album features complex arrangements that draw from dub, drum'n'bass, IDM, and more.

— Paul Simpson

The Telescopes

Growing Eyes Becoming String

Fuzz Club Records

Pop/Rock

Lost sessions from 2013 are brought to life for another chapter of this English band's noisy, spellbinding space rock.

— Fred Thomas

Austin Peralta

Endless Planets [Deluxe Edition]

Brainfeeder

Jazz

The reissue of the late young pianist/composer's iconic third album from 2011 sounds ahead of its time more than a decade later.

— Thom Jurek

Melody Moore / Ștefan Pop / Carlo Montanaro / Berlin Radio Symphony Orchestra

Puccini: Tosca

PentaTone Classics

Classical

Fine studio Tosca reveals singers reaching the height of their powers.

— James Manheim

Various Artists

Luke Bedford: In the Voices of the Living

NMC

Classical

Intriguing contemporary works find a middle path between minimalism and harder contemporary styles.

— James Manheim

Anna Mattix / Timothy McAllister / JoAnn Falletta / National Orchestral Institute Philharmonic

Copland: The Tender Land Suite; Creston: Saxophone Concerto; Kay: Pietà; Piston: The Incredible Flutist Suite

Naxos

Classical

Wonderfully colorful American works from an impressive training orchestra.

— James Manheim

Osmo Vänskä / Minnesota Orchestra

Mahler 8

BIS

Classical

This valedictory performance emerges as a highlight of a beautifully recorded Mahler symphony cycle.

— James Manheim

Steven Schick

Weather Systems II: Sound Lines - On Language and the Land

Islandia Music

Avant-Garde, Classical

A vast collection of percussion pieces linked to terrestrial phenomena and specifically to a walk from San Diego to San Francisco.

— James Manheim

Sinta Quartet

Sinta Quartet Plays Beethoven: Op. 95, Op. 131, Op. 132

Bright Shiny Things

Classical

A saxophone quartet sheds new light on Beethoven's chamber masterpieces.

— James Manheim

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