April March
In Cinerama
Adding in new sonic elements like Afro-pop grooves, West Coast sunshine pop harmonies, and introspective singer/songwriter feels, this is March's masterpiece.
Art d'Ecco
In Standard Definition
The performer's love letter to long-gone formats and feelings gives his vivid mix of glam rock, synth pop, and post-punk a widescreen upgrade.
Buffalo Daughter
We Are the Times
The trio's first album in seven years is a funky, colorful reminder of just how innovative their genre-mashing style has always been.
Cloud Nothings
The Shadow I Remember
The band revisits the pithy, poignant pop of their early days with triumphant results.
Cola Boyy
Prosthetic Boombox
Shimmering neo-disco jams and laid-back soft rock ballads coalesce into something meaningful and magical in Matthew Urango's hands.
Cold Beat
War Garden
Hannah Lew and company muse on humankind's ability to both grieve and thrive during difficult times with vaporous yet resilient synth pop.
Colleen
The Tunnel and the Clearing
Dramatic life changes shaped the journey of growth and acceptance on the producer/multi-instrumentalist's starlit, quietly stunning seventh album.
Deerhoof
Actually, You Can
The band's 18th album challenges conformity and the issues of the 2020s with brashly hopeful, genre-mashing experimental pop.
Dry Cleaning
New Long Leg
The band's surreally witty, poignant debut album brings fresh energy to post-punk with its combination of deadpan vocals and fired-up playing.
Edward Dowie
The Obvious I
A radiant album of exultant synth pop, frosty post-punk, and choral-driven classical minimalism.
Field Music
Flat White Moon
The British sibling duo's ninth album is a poetic production full of warm prog rock and AOR influences.
Flock of Dimes
Head of Roses
Jenn Wasner's second solo outing as Flock of Dimes is a poignant and luminous examination of heartbreak.
Fucked Up
Year of the Horse
A dazzlingly complex exercise in punk/metal/prog opera that's an awe-inspiring experience for those who can keep up with it.
Goat Girl
On All Fours
The band's nervy yet confident second album updates post-punk for the uncertainty of the 2020s.
Godspeed You! Black Emperor
G_d's Pee AT STATE'S END!
The Canadian post-rock ensemble's seventh full-length is as bleak and funereal yet staunchly hopeful as the rest of their catalog.
Grouper
Shade
Gathering 15 years' worth of unreleased songs, Shade reflects all the different nuances of Grouper's beauty.
Guided by Voices
It's Not Them. It Couldn't Be Them. It Is Them!
Dayton, Ohio's indie rock stalwarts continue their hot streak with an album mixing fancier arrangements with muscular rock.
Helado Negro
Far In
Roberto Carlos Lange follows the critically acclaimed This Is How You Smile with a gently ambitious album that puts joy first.
Japanese Breakfast
Jubilee
Michelle Zauner follows the success of her memoir, Crying in H Mart, with her thoughtfully sophisticated third album.
Jorge Elbrecht
Presentable Corpse 002
Wonderfully lush and jangly retro-psych-pop that juxtaposes lush melodies with lyrics that revolve around the horrors of the Vietnam War.
Julia Shapiro
Zorked
The second solo album from this Chastity Belt member uses doomy distortion and tense arrangements to articulate feelings of pervasive dread.
Kiwi Jr.
Cooler Returns
The second album from this jangly yet surreal Canadian indie rock quartet matures ever so slightly with more intentional pacing and understated arrangements.
La Femme
Paradigmes
The French collective takes listeners on a wild style-hopping journey with stops at eerie exotica, groovy psych-rock, and sexy electro-pop.
La Luz
La Luz
The band's fourth album is a psychedelic departure from their surf rock sound that relies on vocal harmonies, arrangements, and a strong batch of songs.
Liars
The Apple Drop
The project's audacious, ambitious tenth album balances hefty rock with artfully mangled electronic and orchestral sounds.
LoneLady
Former Things
The producer and singer/songwriter's riveting third album adds bustling textures and plenty of hooks to her taut blend of post-punk and dance.
Lost Girls
Menneskekollektivet
The duo's expansive debut album reflects on the communal nature of existence with organic, often thrilling improvisations.
Makthaverskan
For Allting
The band's fourth album buries their dark indie pop angst under buckets of reverb and arrives at a more tuneful, more emotionally powerful sound.
Marissa Nadler
The Path of the Clouds
Inspired by binging Unsolved Mysteries during lockdown, the Gothic folk artist's wired ninth LP features members of Cocteau Twins, Midlake, and more.
Media Jeweler
The Sublime Sculpture of Being Alive
With their first vocal-driven album, the noise-rock combo deliver a chaotic treatise on culture's influence on the self.
Mess Esque
Mess Esque
The inspired pairing of multi-instrumentalist Mick Turner (Dirty Three) and Helen Franzmann (McKisko) delivers a set of emotionally powerful, musically inspired mini-epics.
Mogwai
As the Love Continues
The venerable Scottish post-rockers celebrate their 25th anniversary with some of their most fun and immediate music.
Nite Jewel
No Sun
This dark, challenging, and often fearless album pushes past the hazy R&B tendencies of previous work into more daring and emotionally raw avant-pop territory.
Ovlov
Buds
A poppier, more nuanced take on the guitar-heavy, deeply satisfying indie rock of the combo's 2017 album TRU.
Painted Shrines
Heaven and Holy
Jangly, psychedelic, and wistfully tuneful, the debut from this Woods/Skygreen Leopards collaborative project finds both players bringing out the best in each other.
Rat Columns
Pacific Kiss
The David West-led band display mastery over the intertwined forms of dynamic indie rock and jangling indie pop on their fourth album.
Saint Etienne
I've Been Trying to Tell You
The long-running group abandon song structures in favor of impressionistic, sample-based pieces that sound like dub versions of imagined late-'90s pop ballads.
Sleaford Mods
Spare Ribs
Jason Williamson and Andrew Fearn confront life in the time of COVID-19 with darkly witty songs that add more melody to their signature style.
Smile Machine
Bye for Now
Debut effort from drummer/vocalist Jordyn Blakely's solo project updates the over-utilized shoegaze template with distant lo-fi production choices.
Squid
Bright Green Field
The U.K. band's invigorating debut is an energetic shouting match of new wave, Krautrock, and post-punk.
St. Lenox
Ten Songs of Worship & Praise for Our Tumultuous Times
Profound and casually approachable, Andrew Choi's fourth album is a joyous explosion of spiritually questioning indie pop.
Suuns
The Witness
The fifth album from Montreal experimental rock trio is an immersive, metered listening experience made up of constant understated movement.
Tamar Aphek
All Bets Are Off
The Israeli indie scene veteran's fascinating solo debut combines psychedelic, punk, and jazz in ways poised between elegance and ferocity.
Tele Novella
Merlynn Belle
The Austin psych-pop group recast themselves as a "medieval outsider country" duo on their alluring second album.
The Mountain Goats
Dark in Here
The third album in 14 months from John Darnielle and friends is a smart, masterful study in constructive paranoia.
The Reds, Pinks & Purples
Uncommon Weather
Beautifully melancholy, world-weary, and hook-filled Sarah Records-inspired indie pop that displays a total mastery of the form.
Tonstartssbandht
Petunia
The sumptuous follow-up to 2017's sprawling, lo-fi Sorcerer hews dangerously close to pop.
Torres
Thirstier
Singer/songwriter Mackenzie Scott turns up the volume -- and the happiness -- on some of her catchiest and most confident songs.
Vanishing Twin
Ookii Gekkou
Written and recorded during COVID-19 lockdowns, the band's third album captures the weirdness of lockdown life with boundless imagination.
William Doyle
Great Spans of Muddy Time
An impressive, mostly home-recorded meld of art rock, synth pop, textured instrumentals, and sound experiments from the artist fka East India Youth.
