Featured New Album Releases

Beyoncé

Cowboy Carter

Parkwood Entertainment / Columbia

R&B, Country

The country-influenced second act in the reclamation trilogy brings history, famous friends, and family legacy together for an impressive statement.

— Neil Z. Yeung

Sheryl Crow

Evolution

Valory

Pop/Rock

A bright, cheerful revival of the poppier aspects of the 2023 inductee to the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame.

— Stephen Thomas Erlewine

serpentwithfeet

Grip

Secretly Canadian

Pop/Rock, R&B

The singer/songwriter's breezy, tender third album explores the powerful physical and emotional hold of new love within the gay Black club scene.

— Heather Phares

Sum 41

Heaven :x: Hell

Rise Records

Pop/Rock

The eighth and final album from the Canadian crew merges their pop-punk and metal-leaning sides onto a sprawling double LP.

— Neil Z. Yeung

Ride

Interplay

Wichita / Wichita Recordings

Pop/Rock

The seventh album from these shoegaze giants (and third since reuniting) explores synth pop, spacy electronics, and other territory new to them.

— Fred Thomas

The High Llamas

Hey Panda

Drag City

Pop/Rock, R&B

Adding R&B and pop flourishes while stripping the long-established sound of the group down to the studs, the album is a low-key, late-career triumph.

— Tim Sendra

Stereolab

Switched On, Vols. 1-5

Duophonic / Warp

Pop/Rock

A comprehensive box set of the band's singles and rarities collections that completes their fascinating, innovative body of work.

— Heather Phares

Alejandro Escovedo

Echo Dancing

Yep Roc

Pop/Rock

One of America's great songwriters re-records 14 songs from his back catalog in radical, lo-fi electronic form.

— Mark Deming

Chastity Belt

Live Laugh Love

Suicide Squeeze

Pop/Rock

The fifth album from the Pacific Northwest foursome mixes cool guitars and warm emotions to fine effect.

— Mark Deming

Chicano Batman

Notebook Fantasy

ATO

Pop/Rock

Cleaner production and slicker arrangements don't dull the grooves or the joy from this L.A. band's fifth album.

— Mark Deming

The Church

Eros Zeta & the Perfumed Guitars

Easy Action Records

Pop/Rock

A dazzlingly spacy, gothy companion concept album to 2023's The Hypnogogue.

— Matt Collar

Dent May

What's for Breakfast?

Carpark Records

Pop/Rock

After perfecting a soft rock-AM Radio-disco hybrid over many years, the singer/songwriter adds gentle power pop guitars to the mix in typically pleasing fashion.

— Tim Sendra

The Secret Sisters

Mind, Man, Medicine

New West

Pop/Rock, Country, Folk

Brimming with warmth and composure hard-won through motherhood and the pandemic, the duo's fifth album is even more stylistically broad.

— Marcy Donelson

Ed Harcourt

El Magnifico

Deathless

Pop/Rock

The British singer/songwriter returns to his lyrical chamber pop following several instrumental albums.

— Matt Collar

Kelly Moran

Moves in the Field

Warp

Avant-Garde, Electronic, Pop/Rock

The experimental composer utilizes a programmable instrument to create an understated yet otherworldly sound environment made up primarily of acoustic piano sounds.

— Fred Thomas

Shabazz Palaces

Exotic Birds of Prey

Sub Pop

Rap

This seven-song offering from Ishmael Butler and friends speeds through moments of futuristic sci-fi rap, wobbly formlessness, and electro throwbacks.

— Fred Thomas