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Editors' Choice
Cherry Red
All three albums (plus bonus tracks) and a collection of extended mixes from the brightest and chirpiest pop band of the '80s, and possibly ever.
BEE & El / Sony CMG
The white knight of rock promotes self-actualization and the power of partying while revisiting his signature sound.
ECM
An essential addition to the saxophonist's catalog and a fine extension of 2015's Surrounded by the Sea.
Polyvinyl
Michigan-based singer/songwriter Anna Burch makes her solo debut with an excellent set of startlingly direct observations.
City Slang
Produced by Randall Dunn, the Swedish organist and singer takes her haunted sound into a fully formed, irresistible, unspeakable darkness.
Hyperion
This release presents Magnificats by Johann Sebastian Bach and two of his sons, Johann Christian Bach and Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach.
Earth Recordings
A handsomely packaged box of four of the guitarist's solo albums recorded during his tenure with Pentangle.
Naxos
There is not a dull moment anywhere on this disc of rare wind band pieces by Percy Grainger.
Atlantic / Elektra
Carlile expands upon the catharsis of The Story on this rich, empathetic album.
Run for Cover Records
The Melbourne indie rock trio's confessional sophomore outing explores challenging themes of sexism, inequality, and love.
Signum Classics
The novelty of this album of English anthems is due to the presence of the new Canterbury Cathedral Girls' Choir.
Steinway & Sons
Changyong Shin's album on Steinway & Sons is not just a promising debut but an unusually good recording of four repertory works.
Votiv
On the heels of personal loss, the band's John Vanderslice-produced third LP is more contemplative but still refreshingly outside the lines.
Aparte
Christophe Rousset's recordings of Books I and II of Bach's Well-Tempered Clavier feature a 1628 Ruckers harpsichord in the collection at Versailles.
Ghostly International
Almost 12 years after Two/Three, Tadd Mullinix completes his hip-hop trilogy with help from a cast including Doom, Ghostface, and Georgia Anne Muldrow.
Fire Records
In 2015, the Swedish band recorded a truly haunted original score for a live screening of the 1976 film The Tenant.
Kranky
Dedekind Cut's Kranky debut is an emotionally complex set of ambient pieces ranging from meditative drones to dark, unsettling dreams.
Rune Grammofon
Returning to the trio format after working with guitarists, the Norwegian organ trio deliver jazz-rock with deft imagination and an often dazzling intensity.
BIS
Kaspars Putnins and the Estonian Philharmonic Chamber Choir are intense and sensuous in works by Schnittke and Pärt.
Bella Union
As confrontational as it is confessional, combining experiences from his own past with a fictional dystopian narrative. Brilliant.
Cherry Red
The band's first album is moody and muffled, woven from thick strands of mystery and melancholy.
Cherry Red
The Robin Guthrie-produced album contains the band's biggest hit, "Primitive Painters."
Cherry Red
The group's second album adds some expansive space to the arrangements, while bringing Lawrence's more confident vocals to the front of the mix.
Cherry Red
The band's third album is where their ambition, craft and emotions all come together in stunning, frequently breathtaking fashion.
Cherry Red
The band's first record for Creation is an all-instrumental affair that features new keyboardist Martin Duffy.
Memphis Industries
The Brewis brothers show no signs of running out of ideas, crafting (yet) another brilliant album of smart and shiny pop.
Arts & Crafts
The Toronto post-punks deliver a commanding debut album that focuses on formidable vocalist Bria Salmena.
West Midlands
Gloriously odd, and oddly emotional, record from Lawrence, one of the all-time great English eccentrics, and his crack band.
Yep Roc
Smoky-voiced songwriter casts his eye on a chaotic nation, and emerges with an album of passion and purpose.
Heavenly
The Welsh artist's second album is sung in Cornish and is a lovely, warmly psychedelic tribute to Cornish history and culture.
Dangerbird Records
The third solo album from the singer/songwriter is bigger and more ambitious while still sounding warm and intimate.
Domino
The band trade in guitars and noise for synths and a beat, while staying as cathartic and powerful as before.
Urania Records
François Couperin's Les Concerts Royaux are presented by I Fiori Musicali with period instrumentation and intimate sound quality.
Rounder
The folk supergroup delivers an exquisitely shaded debut.
Elefant
A peculiar and utterly mesmerizing collection of whimsical, dreamlike compositions from the Spanish guitarist and composer.
Western Vinyl Records
Outsourcing production for the first time (Brian Deck), Erik Hall's gorgeous third album expands textures and musical contrasts.
Harmonia Mundi
German violinist Isabelle Faust and South African keyboardist Kristian Bezuidenhout present Bach's innovative sonatas for violin and obbligato harpsichord.
ECM
The pianist's standards trio captured live in 1998; this double disc ranges from ballads to bop and beyond in an exhilarating performance.
Real Gone Music
Everything DeShannon recorded for Capitol in the early '70s, including a scrapped album cut at Memphis' American Sound Studios with Chips Moman.
Daptone
On his second album for Daptone, England's finest soul singer and his band deliver a fingerpopping collection of upbeat love songs.
PS Records
John Oates returns to his folkie roots on this charming, relaxed album.
Kompakt
Prolific techno producer John Tejada shows no sign of exhausting his creativity on his fourth full-length for Kompakt.
Alia Vox
One of Jordi Savall's most ambitious concepts, this deluxe package covers the millennium of the history of the city of Venice.
Mack Avenue
The guitarist returns to his Telecaster and Arclight trio to explore the rootsy rhythms and textures of rock on this intimate, carefree outing.
Thrill Jockey
Astonishing collection of lengthy improvisations by legendary noise guitarist/vocalist Keiji Haino and post-metal trio Sumac.
Farao Classics
Kent Nagano and the Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra present two of Richard Strauss' great tone poems, Ein Heldenleben and Tod und Verklärung.
Onyx / Onyx Classics
Kirill Karabits leads the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra in committed performances of William Walton's two symphonies.
Nonesuch
The venerable avant-garde artist and contemporary chamber music quartet collaborate on a record with enormous reach.
Sub Pop
The debut long-player from the Texas trio featuring Shearwater's Jonathan Meiburg, Cross Record's Emily Cross, and Dan Duszynski, is both heady and heart-heavy.
Hyperion
British soprano Lucy Crowe presents the fourth and final installment in a complete edition of Claude Debussy's songs.
Innova
A 2018 Innova release containing five representative examples of Marc Applebaum's eclectic and imaginative music.
Dead Oceans Records
Written in the wake of a breakup with fellow Kiwi crooner Aldous Harding, Williams' sophomore effort is awash in post-midnight reverb and spilling over with the despondency of heartbreak.
ESP-Disk
This date wonderfully evidences intuitive, strategic, and seductive sonic exploration by the pianist's most democratically run collective.
Innovative Leisure
Remarkable debut full-length from Mint Field, a Mexican duo who play an abstract yet accessible form of dream pop.
Sub Pop
The debut full-length from Los Angeles trio Moaning is an alarmingly focused set of tense, bitter, post-punk tunes.
Little Idiot
After a pair of punk blasts with Void Pacific Choir, Moby dips back into soulful, melancholy electronic soundscapes.
7K!
German pianist and composer transposes the drama of the sea into deeply satisfying electro-acoustic meditations.
ECM
The iconic British jazz singer delivers a poignant and provocative collection of songs by film composers -- some with original lyrics.
Merge
The Montreal band return with their most graceful work yet.
Rhino
With their second album, the duo perfected their melodic, detached dance-pop.
Parlophone / Rhino
The duo's debut album is a collection of immaculately crafted and seamlessly produced synthesized dance-pop.
Parlophone / Rhino
With only six tracks, most of them over six minutes in length, the record was a move back to the clubs for the duo.
MDG
Peter Gülke and the Brandenburger Symphoniker present Schubert's "Great" Symphony in C major on the audiophile label MDG.
One Little Indian
The pianist and composer utilizes accompanists and a wonderfully canny set of digital editing skills to deliver her finest recording to date.
Atlantic / EastWest
A bright, reinvigorated return from a singer who twists the confines of pop to match her personality.
Naxos
Virtuoso pianist Ralph van Raat performs solo piano transcriptions of Stravinsky's Le Sacre du printemps and Debussy's La Mer.
Paradise of Bachelors / Secretly Canadian
The London-via-Cornwall folk outfit offers a warm and deeply reflective sequel to 2015's Tender Gold & Gentle Blue.
Virgin / Virgin EMI
Roxy Music's groundbreaking debut still sounds futuristic decades after its release.
Don Giovanni
Polished, ambitious effort from this New Jersey trio; more refined than their early efforts, but just as smart and individual.
Strut
Re-enlisting Robert Glasper as co-producer, the Afrobeat scion offers his own take on the music that incorporates modern jazz, dub, and rock.
BMG / UK
Picking up where 2014's Big Music left off, Glasgow's stadium pop legends successfully revisit their early iconic sound in brand new music.
Fat Possum
This Gabe Wax-produced official debut retains the former bedroom project's intimacy, vulnerability, and distinctively sinuous style.
City Slang
The idiosyncratic project's poignant fifth album and City Slang debut is informed by loss, fatherhood, and the 2016 election.
Easy Eye Sound / Nonesuch
Produced by Dan Auerbach, Smith's tenth release (counting Sonny & the Sunsets) returns to simpler guitar pop and rivals his catchiest work.
Trouble in Mind
Second album of celebratory, unity-promoting jams from instrumental free music ensemble Sunwatchers.
Merge
Written and recorded in a burst of passion after the 2016 elections, the album is full of fire and powerful, political punk-pop anthems.
Domino / Domino Recording
Fresh and fun sample-heavy pop jams from a London collective that sounds like the house band on a Pee-wee's Playhouse reboot.
Signum Classics
99 Words ably makes the case for Panufnik as a kind of successor to Tavener in a tradition that is developing.
Fat Cat / FatCat Records
The West African powerhouse continues to blaze their own path on their excellent third release for the FatCat label.
4AD
A decade after its last album -- and 25 years after Last Splash -- the band delivers one of its finest blends of sugar and swagger.
Omnivore
A lost psychedelic-meets-baroque pop classic recorded in 1969 by the Cleveland band who went on to form the Raspberries.
Tapete Records
The long-running band craft another witty and fun album that compares favorably with the classic records of their younger days.
Heavenly / PIAS
Stunning debut by a young U.K. trio that gives the baggy indie dance sound of the early '90s a serious upgrade.
Cherry Red
An update to the great 1993 collection that gathered up nearly all the Scottish punk-pop whiz's output -- this one does!
Thrill Jockey
The final chapter in a long and noisy run from this Swedish collective is also their most explosive and elaborately composed album.
Sacred Bones
A suffocatingly dense set of songs that connect the pain of the past to the present.
Nuclear Blast
Already known for theatrical and musical excess, this Swedish metal outfit revels in indulgence with a brilliant fully orchestrated three-hour rock opera.
Chapter Music
The Australian dream pop combo hit their stride on their sublime sophomore effort.
Merge
With disco bangers, heartfelt ballads, and some new wave pop, this is one of Thorn's most varied and impressive albums to date.
Shrimper
Members of Literature dial up the '80s new wave/sophisti-pop influence on a bouncy, inviting debut.
4AD
With social and political injustice on her mind, Meg Remy joins with improvisational collective the Cosmic Range for her most immediate LP to date.
Harmonia Mundi
The Jerusalem Quartet has recorded core repertory for Harmonia Mundi, but they seem to have a special rapport with Dvorak's chamber music.
