Editors' Choice for February 2022

Album cover for The Dream

The Dream

Atlantic

The focused fourth set from the English alt-rock trio takes a typical kitchen-sink approach to sonics with evocative results.

— Neil Z. Yeung

Album cover for Flicker

Flicker

Sonic Cathedral

The second solo album from the Ride guitarist/songwriter traverses a wide range of styles while meditating on self-acceptance and the passing of time.

— Fred Thomas

Album cover for Love Sux

Love Sux

Atlantic / DTA Records / Elektra / Parlophone / Warner Music

Armed with a dozen pissed-off breakup anthems, the Canadian singer/songwriter reclaims her pop-punk crown.

— Neil Z. Yeung

Album cover for Once Twice Melody

Once Twice Melody

Sub Pop

The group's self-produced double album is a striking mix of ambition and heart that plays to their enduring strengths and reveals new ones.

— Heather Phares

Album cover for Feeding the Machine

Feeding the Machine

Gearbox

The English duo expands to a trio with electronicist Max Luthert, weaving an intoxicating, fully improvised meld of sounds, textures, and grooves.

— Thom Jurek

Album cover for Only Love From Now On

Only Love From Now On

Smalltown Supersound

The composer/producer's fourth album delivers a heady blend of dub, kosmische, and fourth world ambient steeped in gorgeous atmospheres and details.

— Heather Phares

Album cover for Pompeii

Pompeii

Mexican Summer

The sixth album from this abstract pop auteur replaces detail-oriented songcraft with smears of dense synth pop and plastic funk.

— Fred Thomas

Album cover for Earthling

Earthling

Republic / Seattle Surf Co. / Virgin

A surprisingly joyful and vibrant solo album from Eddie Vedder, filled with superstar cameos.

— Stephen Thomas Erlewine

Album cover for Say Laura

Say Laura

Constellation

The minimal and experimental composer finds gentle beauty in the unlikely combination of wandering, abstract guitar and softly crooned vocals.

— Fred Thomas

Album cover for Astor Piazzolla

Astor Piazzolla

BIS

Extraordinary Piazzolla renditions, many using his original quintet of instruments, but hardly traditional.

— James Manheim

Album cover for LP3

LP3

Grand Jury Music

A transcendent vulnerability marks the St. Paul group's artful third album.

— Matt Collar

Album cover for Requiem

Requiem

Loma Vista

A focused metallic assault that adds something unexpected to the Korn story: a yearning for hope and healing.

— Neil Z. Yeung

Album cover for Laurel Hell

Laurel Hell

Dead Oceans

A less volatile, resigned state of mind inhabits an album whose brooding, alienated lyrics are often at odds with its shiny, '80s pop veneer.

— Marcy Donelson

Album cover for Black Radio III

Black Radio III

Loma Vista
R&B

Another natural and inviting genre synthesis from the keyboardist and friends, highlighted by a Grammy-winning preview single with H.E.R. and Meshell Ndegeocello.

— Andy Kellman

Album cover for Lucifer on the Sofa

Lucifer on the Sofa

Matador

Steeped in the gritty ambience of Austin, the band's tenth album finds new possibilities in rock's traditions.

— Heather Phares

Album cover for Wild Loneliness

Wild Loneliness

Merge

Nuanced and restrained 12th album from this indie punk institution trades in distortion for strings, horn sections, and understated textural songwriting.

— Fred Thomas