Editors' Choice for April 2013

Their fifth album shows the band to be looser and more interested in fun than ever, with production by Jim Eno.

— Tim Sendra

This exceptionally inspired date uses familiar elements to examine sonic landscapes past, present, and future.

— Thom Jurek

Alice Coote's critically acclaimed performance of Schubert's Die Winterreise at Wigmore Hall is captured here with transparent sound.

— Blair Sanderson

Some of the best songs of the punk-pop outfit's career are buoyed by production from the Descendents' Bill Stevenson.

— Matt Collar

The contemporary R&B-inspired synth pop duo's first album for Ghostly is a subtle, richly detailed set of ballads.

— Andy Kellman

Bombino traveled to Nashville for this set with the Black Keys' Dan Auerbach, and the result mixes Tuareg rhythms with deep country trance blues.

— Steve Leggett

Organic meets electronic once again, but this excellent effort is the most melancholy and modest album in Bonobo's catalog.

— David Jeffries

Cayucas' debut is a soundtrack to shared memories of summer, first love, and the bittersweet things that happen when those two meet.

— Heather Phares

The sophomore album by the Broolkyn soul singer is a progression rather than a departure and every bit as gritty and true.

— Thom Jurek

By turns brooding and sparkly, True Romance is an addictive full-length introduction to Charli XCX's "neon goth."

— Heather Phares

Despite having played together for more than eight years, this adventurous, thought-provoking date marks this trio's recording debut.

— Thom Jurek

The mad techno experimentalist's most daring and creative album yet features help from Matthew Dear, Ada, and Milosh (Rhye).

— Andy Kellman

Ekaterina Derzhavina performs the complete piano sonatas of Haydn with precision, delicacy, and the crispness associated with period practice.

— Blair Sanderson

The American Idol winner's fine fourth album features seven songs she co-wrote, and extensive input from songwriter and producer Harmony Samuels.

— Andy Kellman

This wild and wonderful album was inspired by the Italian murder mystery/slasher film genre known as giallo.

— David Jeffries

This darkly beautiful album by the married L.A. indie duo was built on found sound samples collected in abandoned roadside houses.

— Fred Thomas

Now signed to Goner, the Detroit art-punk band deliver their most muscular outing to date.

— Jason Lymangrover

The Stooges sound remarkably joyful on the surprisingly strong Ready to Die.

— Stephen Thomas Erlewine

Implodes' mix of shoegaze, post-rock, and drone is even more bleakly beautiful on their second album.

— Heather Phares

Following his breakthrough 2011 debut, the second album from this dubstep-via-fractured R&B producer cultivates a similarly haunting atmosphere.

— Fred Thomas

The disco pioneer lovingly extends two dozen soul and disco classics from the likes of the Dramatics, Marvin Gaye, and Johnny Hammond.

— Andy Kellman

Kenny Chesney takes things light and easy on the sunny, breezy Life on a Rock.

— Stephen Thomas Erlewine

The Choir of King's College, Cambridge, presents Mozart's Requiem in Süssmayr's version and offers alternate movements realized by scholars.

— Blair Sanderson

With longer songs and more articulate production, the fifth album from this drifty Philly songwriter is his brightest and most complex work to date.

— Fred Thomas

The Oakland band sounds like a member of Flying Nun's roster from 1985, full of great indie pop songs and wooly reverb.

— Tim Sendra

The production duo expands on the promise of its EPs, delivering a stylish sound that will please fans of Dilla and Daft Punk alike.

— Heather Phares

Los Amigos mix '70s funk, Latin soul, and early disco in their wildly creative new gozadera sound, making this a pure listening pleasure.

— Thom Jurek

With a guest list to die by Lazer for, this is the second great modern reggae meltdown from Diplo's electro-meets-dancehall project.

— David Jeffries

Two discs of A-sides and B-sides, plus a fascinating third disc of previously unreleased material, are packaged to delight hardcore fans.

— Andy Kellman

The Super Furry Animals/Boom Bip collaboration returns with another engaging concept album about maverick publisher Giangiacomo Feltrinelli.

— Heather Phares

On their second album, these Montreal feedback experts take a new look at the classic shoegaze template with wildly successful results.

— Fred Thomas

Paramore's fourth album, produced by Justin Meldal-Johnson, is the band's transcendent, genre-breaking masterpiece.

— Matt Collar

Phoenix follow the success of Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix with a set of songs nearly as irresistible as their breakthrough album.

— Heather Phares

Purson embark on a mystical journey through rock's psychedelic past on their debut LP.

— Gregory Heaney

Michael Tilson Thomas and the San Francisco Symphony deliver a reading of Beethoven's Ninth Symphony that is cathartic and joyous.

— Blair Sanderson

The album deals wonderfully with a host of emotions, from the politically motivated to the personal.

— Daniel Clancy

Levine's setting of the Divine Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom was inspired by textures and rhythms of Russian church music.

— Blair Sanderson

Even more innovative than their acrobatic playing is the math rock group's ability to craft solid pop songs.

— Jason Lymangrover

The Besnard Lakes' fourth album of expansive, dream-filled psych rock is crafted with skill and affection in equal measure.

— James Wilkinson

The Flaming Lips' darkest album, The Terror is a powerful acknowledgment of just how isolating pain can be.

— Heather Phares

The Haxan Cloak's Tri Angle debut takes the act's dread-inducing music in subtler, more complex but just as terrifying directions.

— Heather Phares

In contrast to their grooved-out debut, this is a dark, mysterious, abstractly funky listening experience, led by a killer rhythm section.

— Thom Jurek

John Wilson and his eponymous orchestra present reconstructed selections from the movie musicals of Rodgers and Hammerstein.

— Blair Sanderson

After a seven-year break, the Knife return with a fascinating, confrontational album that proves they challenge themselves as much as their fans.

— Heather Phares

The heavy German quintet brilliantly pulls off their most ambitious project yet: charting the ocean's depths and the human spirit simultaneously.

— Thom Jurek

After five years off, the indie pop titans return with a fast, fun, and frolicsome, Phil Ek-produced album.

— Tim Sendra

The accompanimental work from the historical-instrument group Il Pomo d'Oro under Riccardo Minasi is both technically superb here and fully participatory in the dramatic characterization.

— James Manheim

The Canadian band's fourth studio album is an arch, hypnotic work of arty yet emotionally resonant synth pop.

— Matt Collar