A winning collection of mead-drenched, mace-to-the-face Viking anthems that are as melodic as they are savage.
Andrew Parrott's recording of Monteverdi's L'Orfeo with the Taverner Consort & Players features excellent singing and sumptuous Baroque sonorities.
Twenty some years in the making, the Heaven 17 side project returns with Boy George, Kim Wilde, and other guest vocalists.
The London duo's second album captures moody '90s noise-pop and the kind of partly sunny heartbreak that can actually feel pretty good.
Commissioned by the Monterey Jazz Festival, the guitarist delivers a magnificently performed suite by combining two of his best working groups.
With three of their four original members, this album is a surprising continuation of the apocalyptic metal brilliance of their classic '70s material.
The influential duo's first album in eight years is some of their most consistent, and subtly chilling, music yet.
The two members of Mars Volta sound nothing like their old band, and instead write fantastic, '80s-sounding goth pop.
Fatherhood turns the comedian's head around, but there are still hilarious stories of farts, boobies, and Boba Fett.
On her first record in five years, the Spanish singer and songwriter delivers a stunner that weds flamenco jazz, Afro-Cuban, and R&B.
With a new producer and a renewed sense of confidence, this Glaswegian indie pop institution turns in one of its best albums.
The road warrior blues and R&B singer digs deep to deliver what may be her most ambitious and emotionally resonant offering to date.
The supremely skilled Grammy winner's fourth album -- her first for Motown -- is a positive and empowering set, her best work since her debut.
Colin Carr's performance of Bach's Cello Suites at Wigmore Hall displays intellectual concentration, expressive consistency, and physical control.
As one of just a few exploring the role of pianist/composer, early indications are good. Tao's own works, though brief, are quite engaging.
Bay area band temper black metal's icy catharsis with warmth and reflection on their excellent sophomore release.
The sibling dance synthesists follow three major U.K. pop hits with a debut album abundant in pleasures.
These concertos are from the prime of his career and this provides strong competition to the leading Shostakovich cello concerto versions.
Friedberger's second solo album blends classic rock warmth with even more finely honed songwriting and pop skills.
The duo's second album dials up the pop quotient, masterfully and with thrilling results.
Wit, a cool flow, and some infectious songs make the underground Houston rapper’s second album a winner.
The third outing from the Stephin Merritt-led trio pairs kitschy, Brill Building-inspired electro-pop with darkly comic tales of woe.
This gorgeous live recording by June Tabor, Iain Ballamy, and Huw Warren offers radically rearranged versions of folk songs and standards.
The Roc Nation rapper get ambitious on his sophomore release, taking on Jay-Z's big Black Album style and generating plenty of exciting hip-hop.
Jac van Steen and the Dortmund Philharmonic Orchestra perform Berg and Schoenberg with extraordinary details and vibrant tone colors.
A sophisticated, boldly confident album full of confessional yet wry piano-driven epics that showcase Johnson's resonant vocals.
The guitarist and composer's first foray into writing for jazz big band is wildly creative, disciplined, and thought-provoking.
The third outing from the Buffalo-based trio is a love letter to all things Pavement-era Matador Records.
Moving away from their earlier dreamy folk sound, the Vancouver indie duo's third album employs clumsy, minimal electronics to great effect.
The French actress and model's accomplished debut album has an earthy elegance that evokes Karen Dalton, Joni Mitchell, and Cat Power.
Mariss Jansons and the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra turn in a straightforward but compelling reading of Shostakovich's Tenth Symphony.
Recorded in five countries with nearly 20 vocalists and percussionists, the ex-Closer Musik member's third album is his loosest and looniest work.
This performance makes Brahms' music crystal clear, and the final variation set has a kind of transcendence.
Another fine gospel-soul collaboration with Jeff Tweedy, this features inspired Funkadelic and Low covers, along with a revived Staple Singers cut.
The self-titled debut from this freewheeling combo delivers irresistible Nubian party punk.
The results of Montag's 12-singles-in-a-year project offer some of his most creative and eclectic music yet.
The Atlanta quintet's full-length debut takes dream pop to stylized, euphoric, and eclectic heights.
Primal Scream pull together all their disparate influences on the bold, rather brilliant More Light.
The band reunite with Dave Grohl and Nick Oliveri but sound markedly different on this bold, complex album.
Eight years after his country music-flavored album, the comedic great returns with a joyful tribute to his Jewish American heritage.
The producer's second album offers a slightly more focused version of the freewheeling sound he's been purveying since the early 2000s.
This handsome slipcase box contains the songwriter's red-hot first three studio albums after jail and rehab, a concert recording, and a live DVD.
This guitarist's guitarist leads a warm, sophisticated, and creative trio date that focuses as much on his songwriting as his playing.
On her third ECM offering, the vocalist and composer illuminates the words of Emily Dickinson, Sara Teasdale, Emily Bronte, and Wallace Stevens.
The group's second album is mostly quiet and melancholic, but still full of energetic jangle and hummably psychedelic songs.
The group's second album burns with same desperate passion as their debut, and comes with added confidence and inspired songs.
Interesting and deep collection of album tracks, singles, alternate takes, and demos from the '80 foremost psych pop revivalists.
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Through unconventional songwriting, the former dance punks turn out a magnificent career highlight.
Valient Thorr deliver a sonic high five on their sweaty and super fun riff-fest of a sixth album.
Second volume of pleasantly similar Italo and electro-informed indie from the label that spawned the Chromatics and Glass Candy.
More mature but still macking, the rapper offers equal insight and irresponsibility on his third album.
Street and chic, enticing and elusive, the masked producer's second 4AD LP is another forward-glancing spin on past and present electronic sounds.