Taylor Swift

The Tortured Poets Department

EMI Records / Republic / Taylor Swift

Pop/Rock

The pop star assembles a vision board's worth of ideas and heavy emotions.

— Fred Thomas

Pearl Jam

Dark Matter

EMI Records / Monkeywrench

Pop/Rock

An unexpectedly sleek and streamlined evocation of the alt-rock band's 1990s prime.

— Stephen Thomas Erlewine

T-Bone Burnett

The Other Side

Verve

Pop/Rock, Folk

The great songwriter and producer's first set of new songs in almost 20 years is simple, eloquent, and emotionally powerful.

— Mark Deming

Cloud Nothings

Final Summer

Pure Noise

Pop/Rock

The band's tenth album is packed with the surging emotions and melodies fans expect, as well as a surprising amount of wisdom and joy.

— Heather Phares

Glen Campbell

Duets: Ghost on the Canvas Sessions

Big Machine Records

Pop/Rock, Country

The late country-pop singer's 2011 record Ghost on the Canvas is revised as a duets album.

— Stephen Thomas Erlewine

Lucy Rose

This Ain't the Way You Go Out

Communion Records

Pop/Rock

A jazzier, more collaborative fifth album from the U.K. singer/songwriter, informed by working with Logic and Kwes., and inspired by major life events.

— Marcy Donelson

Bill Frisell

Orchestras

Blue Note

Jazz

The guitarist leads his trio on this lush orchestral collaboration with arranger Michael Gibbs.

— Matt Collar

Melvins

Tarantula Heart

Ipecac

Pop/Rock

Monolithic five-track full-length from these heroes of heaviness that was collaged together and expanded on from heavily edited source material.

— Fred Thomas

Luther

Luther

Legacy

R&B

The first of two albums from Luther Vandross' 1970s vocal group, reissued for the first time.

— Andy Kellman

A Certain Ratio

It All Comes Down to This

Mute

Pop/Rock

Primarily self-contained and full-sounding 13th album from the original Manchester post-punks, produced by Dan Carey.

— Andy Kellman

The Miracles / Smokey Robinson & the Miracles

What Love Has...Joined Together/Pocket Full of Miracles/One Dozen Roses/Flying High Together

Second Disc Records / SoulMusic

R&B

A two-disc set combining their last four proper studio albums (1970-1972), three of which had not previously been issued on CD.

— Andy Kellman

Fred Hersch

Silent, Listening

ECM

Jazz, Classical

A moon-dappled solo piano album showcasing the pianist's artful blend of jazz and classical.

— Matt Collar

Ian Hunter

Defiance, Pt. 2: Fiction

Sun Records

Pop/Rock

Supported by a galaxy of stars, the veteran rocker delivers a solid rock & roll album.

— Stephen Thomas Erlewine

Infinite River

Tabula Rasa

Birdman Records

Pop/Rock

The Detroit-area supergroup turn from free-flowing drones to riff-heavy prog and hard rock on their third album in two years.

— Paul Simpson

The Fall

The Real New Fall LP (Formerly Country on the Click) [Deluxe Edition]

Cherry Red

Pop/Rock

Cherry Red issues a deluxe version of the album that provides a full picture of the band firing on all cylinders.

Tina Charles

The CBS Years 1975-1980

Cherry Pop

R&B, Pop/Rock

Collection of the early disco diva's four albums on CBS, including her smash single "I Love to Love."

— Tim Sendra

Kid Congo & the Pink Monkey Birds

That Delicious Vice

In the Red Records

Pop/Rock

The post-punk slide guitar hero shows how to make darkness fun and exciting on his fifth LP with the Pink Monkey Birds.

— Mark Deming

Chet Baker / Jack Sheldon

In Perfect Harmony: The Lost Album

Elemental Music / Jazz Detective

Jazz

Warm and amiable 1972 team-up of the West Coat jazz trumpet legends that went unreleased for decades.

— Matt Collar

Hawkwind

Stories From Time and Space

Cherry Red

Pop/Rock

Love, survival, and alien soundscapes are at the forefront of the space rock heroes' 36th (at least) album.

— Mark Deming

Blue Lab Beats

Blue Eclipse

Decca

R&B, Electronic, Jazz, Rap

The second Blue Note long-player by the U.K. jazztronica duo is a top candidate for the soundtrack of summer in 2024.

— Thom Jurek

Sister Rosetta Tharpe

Live in France: The 1966 Concert in Limoges

Deep Digs / Elemental Music

Blues, Religious, R&B, Jazz

Triumphant concert by the great gospel guitarist and singer, wherein she wins over an audience unfamiliar with her or her music.

— Thom Jurek

Chanel Beads

Your Day Will Come

Jagjaguwar

Pop/Rock

A brief but intriguing full-length debut by Shane Lavers, whose influences span experimental music, sophisti-pop, Animal Collective, and Steve Reich.

— Marcy Donelson

English Teacher

This Could Be Texas

Island

Pop/Rock

Managing to be both personal and universal, pretentious and poignant, the Leeds quartet's debut impresses in scope and execution.

— Marcy Donelson

Vida Miknevičiūtė / Gidon Kremer / Kremerata Baltica

Songs of Fate

ECM New Series

Classical

A highly personal, often transcendent album features mostly works by Baltic composers.

— James Manheim

Trio con Brio Copenhagen

The Passenger: Weinberg, Schubert

Orchid Classics

Classical

Intense performances orient trios by Weinberg and Schubert strongly toward the experience of death.

— James Manheim

Sharon Carty / Benjamin Russell / Finghin Collins

Charles Villiers Stanford: Cushendall - Irish Song Cycles

Somm

Classical

Irish song cycles from an influential composer and educator offering several recorded premieres.

— Keith Finke

Michael Feinstein / Jean-Yves Thibaudet

Gershwin Rhapsody

Decca

Vocal, Classical, Easy Listening

Varied Gershwin works and arrangements, inventively refracted through multiple lenses.

— James Manheim

Pablo Heras-Casado / Airam Hernández / Benjamin Alard / Mahler Chamber Orchestra

Stravinsky: Pulcinella Suite; Falla: El retablo de maese Pedro; Harpsichord Concerto

Harmonia Mundi

Classical

A fine program of neoclassic works includes lesser-known items by Falla.

— James Manheim

Trinity College Choir, Cambridge / Stephen Layton

Duruflé: Requiem; Poulenc: Lenten Motets

Hyperion

Classical

A marvelous Duruflé Requiem in which young voices bring out the composer's swirling counterpoint.

— James Manheim

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