Jazz
Trumpeter/composer Ambrose Akinmusire continues to experiment with styles while releasing his best works. His latest, honey from a winter stone, features string ensemble Mivos Quartet and rapper Kokayi. The improvisational and microtonal techniques of Mary Halvorson and John Zorn come together for The Bagatelles Vol. 1, a wild, initial foray into Zorn’s 300-song Bagatelles collection. Led by Benjamin Lackner, idiosyncratic interplay reigns supreme on Spindrift. The German pianist is joined by Linda May Han Oh (double bass), Matthieu Chazarenc (drums), Mark Turner (tenor sax) and Mathias Eick (trumpet). Ebo Taylor JID022, the latest volume in Adrian Younge and Ali Shaheed Muhammad’s incredible Jazz is Dead series, spotlights 89-year-old Ebo Taylor, the pioneering Ghanian highlife bandleader, on the eve of his final American tour.
Electronic
FKA twigs builds a dance floor in a new dimension with Eusexua, full of tracks that transport and cocoon. Named after a term the U.K. artist coined to describe a feeling of extreme euphoria that can transcend human form, Eusexua oozes with sensuality. Ambient composer Chihei Hatakeyama returns with Lucid Dreams, a record resembling its title with songs that tumble between neoclassical and ambient atmospherics. Combining the minds of Scotch Rolex, Shackleton and Omutaba, Three Hands of Doom is an invitation to rhythmic, psychedelic madness. And two new releases enter the Qobuzissime canon: marta’s room utilizes drums and violin as the foundation to the Parisian duo’s inventive, instrumental techno; Ela Minus (née Gabriela Jimeno Caldas) flexes her synth wizardry on DÍA. The Colombian-born artist and producer creates textures that seem almost sentient.
Soul/Funk/R&B
Parchman Prison Prayer’s Another Mississippi Sunday Morning, the second volume of gospel recordings from the Mississippi State Penitentiary, collects gospel songs and haunting narratives that stir the soul and the mind. Soul, funk and jazz collide to start some fires on the rhythmic re-release of Dedication, a 1977 forgotten classic from Tribe. Nashville soul singer Charles Wigg Walker returns with This Love Is Gonna Last, the first album in over a decade for the 84-year-old. In essence a love letter to his wife who died in 2024, Walker moves through a full gamut of emotions and doesn’t let heartache keep him down. Though their identities aren’t necessarily top secret anymore, British collective SAULT still moves in mysterious ways, like dropping their 11th album (in just five years!) on Christmas day. Acts of Faith presents the band’s singular blend of R&B, soul-jazz, funk and gospel that simultaneously sounds throwback and futuristic.
Rock/Pop/Indie
Do not stand in the way of Brighton’s Lambrini Girls, who clearly aren’t taking it anymore. They rip through 11 diatribes in under half an hour on their seething debut album, Who Let the Dogs Out. When Delivery actually take it easy on you on Force Majeure—and it’s not often—its probably because pummeling you with fast, loud, impeccably-written punk jams has grown a little stale. Ethel Cain expands and fully employs her experimental side while still crafting folky rock songs that pack lyrical and emotional wallops on Perverts. The Bad Fire, Mogwai’s newest post-rock record, earmarks tough personal journeys for the band members with their most memorable tunes in awhile. The brief career of 1960s San Francisco psych-rocker Jeannie Piersol, a contemporary of Grace Slick, is anthologized on The Nest. Included are the few singles she recorded for Chess Records, most notably the alluring title track.
Classical
The Vienna Philharmonic’s annual New Year’s Concert celebrates the 200th birthday of Johann Strauss with waltzes, polkas, marches, and more under the baton of Riccardo Muti. South Korean pianist Seong-Jin Cho marks Ravel’s 150th birthday with an album featuring his complete solo piano works and both piano concertos. Soprano Sonya Yoncheva’s first recital album explores works inspired by George Sand in collaboration with Olga Zado and Marina Viotti. Violinist Patricia Kopatchinskaja, alongside Camerata Bern and Thomas Kaufmann, shares Exile, a moving collection featuring works by composers who were forced to flee their homelands.
Hip-Hop/Rap
MIKE takes a more soulful route on Showbiz!, a record meant to calibrate the pressure of constant performance by thanking his family and friends. Texan rapper BigXthaPlug finds peace on Take Care after writing rhymes in a prison solitary confinement cell. Understanding miles cooke’s latest opus, ceci n’est pas un portrait, means understanding a world meant to confuse you—which he makes easy if you listen intently. Ghais Guevara tells a tale in two parts on Goyard Ibn Said: as an ascending rap superstar, and as a human facing problems that come with or without that ascendancy. Tumpit, from U.K. rapper Tony Bontana, is an uneven but dreamy record that should expose him to a much larger audience.
Country/Folk/Blues
Mali’s Songhoy Blues return with their first album in five years, Héritage. In tribute to their ancestors, they shift towards acoustic versions of their desert rock using traditional instrumentals like the soku (one-string fiddle) and kamalengoni (8 string youth harp). Bonnie “Prince” Billy deploys his off-kilter delivery on a classically country record, The Purple Bird. The sometimes jaunty, sometimes contemplative fiddle and mandolin help set the tableau, as do the weathered vocals of guest John Anderson. lots of hands, the self-proclaimed best band in the world from Newcastle upon Tyne, are experts at sad, poppy songwriting and successfully experiment with noisier songs as well on into a pretty room. Heather Maloney constructs long, winding paths—with wonderful vocal melodies intertwined—on Exploding Star, but never makes it difficult to enjoy your journey through them. Donning his finest Stetson, Ringo Starr enlists an All-Star group of guests stars (Molly Tuttle, Alison Krauss, Billy Strings) and his producer pal T Bone Burnett for the convivial, country-leaning Look Up.
