Deftones

Private Music

Reprise / WEA

Pop/Rock

With returning producer Nick Raskulinecz, the alt-metal vets craft a flawless stunner of a tenth album.

— Neil Z. Yeung

Wolf Alice

The Clearing

Columbia / RCA

Pop/Rock

A heartfelt tour de force, the band's fourth album taps into rock & roll's undying power to reflect inner truths and bring fantasies to life.

— Heather Phares

Superchunk

Songs in the Key of Yikes

Merge

Pop/Rock

After 35-plus years, the band have lost none of the fire that powers their hooky, punk-in-the-truest-sense brand of indie rock.

— Tim Sendra

Mac DeMarco

Guitar

Mac's Record Label

Pop/Rock

After several years of miscellaneous output, the indie artist returns to traditional songwriting with an album of slow-moving tunes intoned with wintery reflections.

— Fred Thomas

John Fogerty

Legacy: The Creedence Clearwater Revival Years

Concord

Pop/Rock

The CCR leader records new versions of his old classics, which are great, but not as great as the originals.

— Mark Deming

Teyana Taylor

Escape Room

Def Jam

R&B

Narrated by an all-star cast, the singer's first album in five years is a powerful statement of emotional and sexual liberation.

— Andy Kellman

Winter

Adult Romantix

Winspear

Pop/Rock

Top-notch shoegaze spiked with dream pop as expected, but this time amped up, dialed down, and better all-around.

— Tim Sendra

Water from Your Eyes

It's a Beautiful Place

Matador

Pop/Rock

The volatile art-punks follow their breakthrough album with dense experiments full of haunting melancholy, sci-fi optimism, and potent wit.

— Heather Phares

Sofi Tukker

butter

Sofi Tukker

Pop/Rock

A reimagined companion to 2024's Bread that transforms those original tracks with bossa nova, samba, and other Brazilian genres.

— Neil Z. Yeung

Hand Habits

Blue Reminder

Fat Possum Records

Pop/Rock

Stark honesty, wide-ranging timbres and textures, and artfulness define Meg Duffy's fourth LP, recorded largely in live sessions.

— Marcy Donelson

Ava Max

Don't Click Play

Atlantic

Pop/Rock

The third studio full-length from the American pop singer plays like a B-side collection afterthought.

— Neil Z. Yeung

James Yorkston

Songs for Nina and Johanna

Domino

Pop/Rock, Folk

Yorkston's third Swedish collaboration showcases the vocals of the Cardigan's Nina Persson and First Aid Kit's Johanna Söderberg.

— Timothy Monger

TOPS

Bury the Key

Ghostly International

Pop/Rock

The Montreal project's discomfited fifth album expands on their already oddball sophisti-pop with flashes of disco, quasi-metal, and more.

— Marcy Donelson

Adrian Sherwood

The Collapse of Everything

On-U Sound

Reggae, Electronic

The dub master's first solo album in 13 years mourns departed colleagues while reflecting on the state of society.

— Paul Simpson

Tsar

The Drugboy Tapes

Omnivore

Pop/Rock

A look back at the formation of one of the great unloved and underrated neo-glam-meets-power-pop bands of the alternative era.

— Tim Sendra

Blake Mills / Pino Palladino

That Wasn't a Dream

Impulse! / New Deal

Jazz, Pop/Rock

Four years after their debut, the duo and guests engage in a wildly ambitious exercise in electronic contemporary jazz, improvisation, and ambient dissonance.

— Thom Jurek

Kathleen Edwards

Billionaire

Dualtone Music

Pop/Rock, Country

With a little help from Jason Isbell, the Canadian tunesmith hones her observations into one of her very best albums.

— Mark Deming

Ambrose Akinmusire / Linda May Han Oh / Tyshawn Sorey

Strange Heavens

Biophilia

Jazz

With collaborators who have worked with and in her orbit for more than a decade, the bassist delivers her most compelling date yet.

— Thom Jurek

Nourished by Time

The Passionate Ones

XL Recordings

Pop/Rock

A singular second album from self-produced genre-agnostic singer/songwriter Marcus Brown, his first for XL Recordings.

— Andy Kellman

Lahav Shani / Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra

Mendelssohn: Symphony No. 3 "Scottish"

Warner Classics

Classical

An edgy, almost sinewy "Scottish" symphony is paired with lesser-known Mendelssohn works.

— James Manheim

Choir of Merton College, Oxford / Benjamin Nicholas / Britten Sinfonia

Orchestral Anthems Vol. 2: Bairstow; Elgar; Ireland; Stanford; Walton; Wesley

Delphian

Classical

The second volume of English anthems from this newer choir even outdoes its already fine predecessor.

— James Manheim

Kitty Whately / Edwige Herchenroder

Horizons: French Mélodies

Chandos

Classical

A valuable collection of French songs from early in the 20th century, mostly by women, showing their responses to common themes.

— James Manheim

Chiaroscuro Quartet

Joseph Haydn: String Quartets Op. 33/4-6

BIS

Classical

Strong, humorous Haydn performances from a leading quartet playing historical instruments.

— James Manheim

Marie-Elisabeth Hecker / Martin Helmchen

From Eastern Europe

Alpha

Classical

A fine collection of Russian cello sonatas, played with ideal chamber music collaboration.

— James Manheim

Pablo Heras-Casado / Max Urlacher / Berlin RIAS Chamber Choir / Freiburger Barockorchester

Mendelssohn: Ein Sommernachtstraum

Harmonia Mundi

Classical

A rare and delightfully light historical performance of Mendelssohn's incidental music to A Midsummer Night's Dream, with full melodrama sections.

— James Manheim

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