Editors' Choice for July 2023

Album cover for The Ballad of Darren

The Ballad of Darren

Parlophone / Warner Music / WEA

An unexpected, understated Blur reunion album colored by hints of loungey melancholy and middle-aged regret.

— Stephen Thomas Erlewine

Album cover for Consciousology

Consciousology

Sonic Cathedral

Adding string sections and spacey synths, this is a more lushly arranged, similarly beautiful take on the haunted folk of the singer's previous album.

— Tim Sendra

Album cover for Love Hallucination

Love Hallucination

Hyperdub

One of Hyperdub's key artists returns with her ebullient if emotionally broad fourth album, joined by the likes of Paul White and Pearson Sound.

— Andy Kellman

Album cover for The Greater Wings

The Greater Wings

Ghostly International

The Vashti Bunyan and Joni Mitchell disciple's follow-up to 2017's Not Even Happiness manages to raise the stakes in artistry.

— Marcy Donelson

Album cover for Eye on the Bat

Eye on the Bat

Polyvinyl

Leader El Kempner went for something closer to a live sound on a complicated breakup album that raises the bar on the project's strengths.

— Marcy Donelson

Album cover for I Inside the Old Year Dying

I Inside the Old Year Dying

Partisan

Based on Harvey's epic poem Orlam, her spellbinding tenth album contemplates the transition from childhood to adulthood with hallucinatory folk, rock, and electronics.

— Heather Phares

Album cover for Evergreen

Evergreen

Hopeless Records

Vibrant, focused fourth set from the alt-rock hybrid project helmed by Lyndsey Gunnulfsen.

— Neil Z. Yeung

Album cover for Baudelaire & Orchestra

Baudelaire & Orchestra

Susannasonata

The experimental singer/songwriter completes her Baudelaire trilogy by expanding the music's scope in thoughtful, inspiring ways.

— Heather Phares

Album cover for I Am Not There Anymore

I Am Not There Anymore

Merge

Typical autumnal heartbreak, this time folding in elements of jazz, psychedelia, and electronic music while still sounding perfectly like themselves alone.

— Tim Sendra

Album cover for 1980s Bubblegum

1980s Bubblegum

Chapter Music

Essential collection of tracks by an unjustly obscure Australian band who helped invent indie pop in the early '80s.

— Tim Sendra

Album cover for Don't Die in the Bundu

Don't Die in the Bundu

Bella Union

The South African singer/songwriter's fourth album and Bella Union debut (not counting reissues) is a subtly stunning work of spacy folk.

— Marcy Donelson