Featured New Album Releases

Illuminati Hotties

Power

Hopeless Records

Pop/Rock

Sarah Tudzin's smart songwriting and resonant, rocking indie pop is at its best on her project's fourth album.

— Mark Deming

Fontaines D.C.

Romance

XL / XL Recordings

Pop/Rock

An evolution in the band's sound that sands off some of the rough edges, revealing new and interesting textures underneath.

— Liam Martin

Kishi Bashi

Kantos

Joyful Noise

Pop/Rock

Although not without its romantic and melancholy moments, Kaoru Ishibashi and friends deliver a frolicsome dance release.

— Marcy Donelson

Lydia Loveless

Something Else

Bloodshot

Pop/Rock

The great singer and songwriter reimagines 2014's Somewhere Else with just her voice and her piano.

— Mark Deming

Magdalena Bay

Imaginal Disk

Mom + Pop Music

Electronic, Pop/Rock

Utilizing a blend of analog and electronic instruments, including cloudy strings and astral horns, the group craft a 3-D stereogram of psychedelic dance-pop.

— Matt Collar

Susanna

Meditations on Love

Susannasonata

Pop/Rock, Jazz

The singer/songwriter reinvents her music with shifting, sophisticated songs that bring the heart's shadowy realms into the light.

— Heather Phares

The Softies

The Bed I Made

Daughter / Father / Father/Daughter Records

Pop/Rock

Sounding exactly as warm, sweet, and moving as they did decades earlier, the duo add maturity and grace to their minimal indie pop sound.

— Tim Sendra

Chime School

The Boy Who Ran the Paisley Hotel

Slumberland

Pop/Rock

The sophomore album from this one-man jangle pop machine matches energetic melodic songwriting with more robust production.

— Fred Thomas

Emmet Cohen

Vibe Provider

Mack Avenue

Jazz

The pianist conjures a warm, sophisticated tribute to the late N.Y.C. jazz booster Michael Funmi Ononaiye.

— Matt Collar

Fake Fruit

Mucho Mistrust

Carpark Records

Pop/Rock

The Oakland post-punk trio comes into its own on these blunt, tender, and always witty songs.

— Heather Phares

First Choice

Love Having You Around: The Gold Mind Recordings 1977-1980

SoulMusic

R&B

Four-disc set of the Philly vocal group's later recordings, including disco classics such as "Let No Man Put Asunder," "Double Cross," and "Doctor Love."

— Andy Kellman

Malice K

AVANTI

Jagjaguwar

Pop/Rock

A striking debut from illustrator/musician Alex Konschuh, who draws on bluesy garage rock and the British Invasion for his raw, volatile songs.

— Marcy Donelson

Sabrina Carpenter

Short n' Sweet

Island

Pop/Rock

The singer reintroduces herself on this deliciously cheeky, instant-classic summer album.

— Matt Collar

Sofi Tukker

BREAD

Sofi Tukker / Virgin

Pop/Rock

Multilingual, all-inclusive party tunes that blend genre and style for a fun and raucous global bash.

— Neil Z. Yeung

Spirit of the Beehive

You'll Have to Lose Something

Saddle Creek Records

Pop/Rock

The willfully contradictory group make some of their lushest, most expressive music following the breakup of two bandmembers.

— Paul Simpson

Wayne Shorter

Celebration, Vol. 1

Blue Note

Jazz

Curated by the saxophonist on his deathbed, this is the first title in Blue Note's posthumous Shorter series.

— Thom Jurek

George Duke

From Me to You: The Definitive Collection 1977-2000

Robinsongs

Jazz, Pop/Rock, R&B

This five-disc package from the U.K.'s Robinsongs offers tracks from the pianist's Epic, Elektra, and Warner Bros. solo albums and in the Clarke/Duke Project.

— Thom Jurek