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      A Record Store Obsession That's Adventurous and Soothing

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      ‘The trick to crate digging is to simply go at it: Dive into the sections, flip through the jackets and trust your gut.’I was stuck trying to write in my Brooklyn apartment, overthinking a sentence as usual.In these moments I turn to my records.For inspiration, I tend to need music from some faraway place and time. Perhaps an underground spiritual jazz reissue from 1974 or an Afro-disco record from ’80. Something with noticeable ringwear and audible crackles. Maybe even a pop or two. I’ve learned that this is the music that people come back to decades later. These are the songs you hear in a bar or a film and try to Shazam before the final note fades.On this day I also needed some air, so that meant walking 15 minutes to Head Sounds Records in Fort Greene to plow through the stacks. I went right for the jazz section, and that’s when I saw it: Pharoah Sanders, “Live at the East,” released on Impulse! Records in 1972 — nine years before I was born. I had to snatch it before some other crate digger scooped it up.Pharoah did the trick. The hypnotic swing of the opening track, “Healing Song,” was the meditative balm I needed to quell my writer’s block.But it’s not just the music that heals; the practice of discovering it to begin with, especially when it’s on vinyl, works wonders, too. Whenever life gets heavy, I go to the record store.The fact that shops like Head Sounds and Academy Records Annex in Greenpoint have survived the pandemic and, in some cases, are even thriving, speaks to the heart of New York City, a place that accepted me with no strings attached.“A turntable is there for you to sample the work,” Mr. Moore writes. “But the trick to crate digging is to simply go at it.”Laila Stevens for The New York TimesI’m from Landover, Md., a small town outside Washington, which also counts the comedian Martin Lawrence, the boxing legend “Sugar” Ray Leonard and the basketball great Len Bias as natives. I grew up in a musical family with a mother who played all kinds of pop, funk and soul around the house; a grandmother who loved traditional gospel; and aunts, siblings and cousins who embraced everything: a homegrown strain of funk called go-go, rap groups that were new at the time like De La Soul and N.W.A., R&B luminaries like Al Green and Marvin Gaye, and pop superstars like Madonna and David Bowie.My cousin Eric, a D.J., had an ear for buzzing underground musicians. In the late 1980s, fresh off a trip to California, he told us about a guy named MC Hammer who was making noise in the Bay Area. Around 1994, he popped in a cassette of this rapper from Chicago named Common Sense. By the time he had shortened his name to Common, his star was rising in underground hip-hop.Indirectly, Eric and the rest of my family were teaching me the concept of crate digging. While it was fine to like what I heard on the radio, there was less-heralded talent that deserved the same attention. I walked that perspective through high school and into my career as a music journalist, author, editor and curator.Long before I moved here in 2016, I’d hop buses to New York City to dig for records. It seemed there weren’t that many shops to choose from. It was the mid-2000s, music streaming was starting its domination of the industry, and many mom-and-pops were being forced to close.“Record stores as we know them are dying,” Josh Madell, co-owner of Other Music in Downtown Manhattan, told The New York Times in 2008. “On the other hand, there is still a space in the culture for what a record store does, being a hub of the music community and a place to find out about new music.”Mr. Madell, whose store eventually closed in 2016, was onto something. Just as record stores were failing, vinyl also started to make a curious comeback. The Recording Industry Association of America found that the shipment of LPs jumped more than 36 percent between 2006 and 2007. There was no clear-cut answer for the resurgence. Fellow heads will tell you there’s nothing like analog sound. While digital music sounds cleaner, vinyl sounds warmer and fills the room. There’s also nothing like poring over the album jacket and diving into the liner notes. It’s a time capsule.When New York City became the epicenter of the coronavirus outbreak in 2020, local record store owners found themselves in familiar territory: Even though vinyl sales had surpassed CD sales last year for the first time since the ’80s, would the record shops, along with many of the city’s other indie storefronts, survive? Turntable Lab, a niche record shop in Manhattan’s East Village, closed its doors that year to focus on online sales. Other stores like Academy and Limited to One, also in the East Village, managed to keep their leases, but pivoted to online sales to make ends meet.Nowadays, crate digging is done as much online as it is off. A stroll through the virtual music emporium Bandcamp can unearth everything from South African boogie to forgotten ambient. But clicking around doesn’t replace the act of visiting your favorite record store and discovering a rare find that either you’d been looking for, or didn’t know you needed until you saw the cover. Every place is different: Where Head Sounds is in the back of a barber shop, Academy is a vast spot with a bit more dust on the album jackets.A new shop, Legacy Records, just opened on Water Street in Dumbo. I visited a few weeks back and landed an original copy of the Fugees’ 1996 album “The Score.”Store employees tend to let you do your thing. A turntable is there for you to sample the work, and of course they’re around to answer whatever questions arise. But the trick to crate digging is to simply go at it: Dive into the sections, flip through the jackets and trust your gut. More often than not, you can judge the music by its cover (if a band from the ’70s had the word “Ensemble” in its name, the album is probably great).In a time where we’re all trying to navigate space and distance (or just being in public again), the idea is to foster community around music, even if the spirit of competition is still there. I wanted to get the Pharoah album before anyone else got it. That I could be the one talking about it was an incentive.For me, crate digging is preservation. It takes me back to my childhood in Landover, to playing my cousin’s EPMD albums when he wasn’t looking, and dropping the needle on De La’s “3 Feet High and Rising” at my aunt’s house when heads were still trying to fathom the group’s psychedelic blend of hip-hop (they’re also the subject of my next book). Buying records to share with the world is what I’m supposed to do. I’m just paying it forward like my family taught me.Marcus J. Moore is the author of “The Butterfly Effect: How Kendrick Lamar Ignited the Soul of Black America.” More

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      Drake’s ‘Certified Lover Boy’ Holds at No. 1 for a Second Week

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      The rapper’s latest album repeats at the top of the Billboard 200, and Kacey Musgraves’s “Star-Crossed” opens at No. 3.In its second week out, Drake’s hit new album, “Certified Lover Boy,” lost 61 percent of its sales, but it still holds at No. 1 on Billboard’s chart, while the latest LP from the Grammy-winning country star Kacey Musgraves opens at No. 3.“Certified Lover Boy” had the equivalent of 236,000 sales in the United States, down from 613,000 in its debut week, according to MRC Data, Billboard’s tracking arm. Almost all of its total was attributed to streaming activity, with songs from the album garnering 305 million clicks — still a huge weekly number, beaten this year only by the opening weeks of J. Cole’s “The Off-Season” (325 million), Kanye West’s “Donda” (357 million) and, of course, “Certified Lover Boy” (744 million).Musgraves’s fifth studio album, “Star-Crossed,” starts at No. 3 with 77,000 sales, including 38 million streams and 47,000 copies sold as a complete package. Musgraves’s last LP, “Golden Hour,” won album of the year and best country album at the 2019 Grammys.West’s “Donda” holds at No. 2 in its third week out, with the equivalent of 79,000 sales. Olivia Rodrigo’s “Sour” is No. 4, and “The Melodic Blue” by the rapper Baby Keem, a protégé of Kendrick Lamar, opens at No. 5.Also this week, Metallica’s self-titled album from 1991 — known to fans as the “Black Album,” and featuring breakthrough hits like “Enter Sandman” and “The Unforgiven” — jumped 149 spots to No. 9 thanks to a 30th-anniversary reissue. More

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      66 Pop and Jazz Albums, Shows and Festivals Coming This Fall

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      Anticipated returns (Abba, Diana Ross), intergenerational collaborations (Lady Gaga and Tony Bennett) and hotly tipped follow-ups (Brandi Carlile, Makaya McCraven) are coming in the new season.When pandemic lockdowns shut down the concert industry last year, some artists forged ahead with planned album releases and answered a question loaded with risk: What would a rollout look like without the regular promotional cycle of in-person interviews, late-night performances and live shows? Many musicians pivoted to streaming; others buckled down on their songwriting and hit the studio. The results of these experiments are largely emerging now.While some of pop’s biggest names are still being coy about whether they’ll make their big returns this season (Adele, Beyoncé and yes, we’re still waiting, Rihanna), this fall’s music calendar is already stuffed with a reunion of disco legends, an all-star Afrobeats festival and the arrival of a slate of buzzy newcomers.Dates are subject to change; check vaccine and mask requirements for individual performers and venues.SeptemberJUSTIN VIVIAN BOND AND ANTHONY ROTH COSTANZO It’s hard to think of an artistic pursuit that Justin Vivian Bond and Anthony Roth Costanzo haven’t tackled between them. Now the longtime friends and iconoclasts are joining forces for a theatrical concert, “Only an Octave Apart,” inspired by their mutual admiration for Carol Burnett’s collaborations with Julie Andrews and Beverly Sills, and for each other. Thomas Bartlett and Nico Muhly, also contributors to Bond and Costanzo’s upcoming album of the same name, will handle musical direction and arrangements. (Sept. 21-Oct. 3; St. Ann’s Warehouse) — Elysa GardnerCORY HENRY His soulful output as a keyboardist, singer and composer has landed Cory Henry attention from the jazz and gospel worlds, and made admirers of pop and R&B fans who pay little attention to either of those genres. He’ll perform Sept. 22-26 at the Blue Note Jazz Club, where other scheduled acts include the adventurous hip-hop and jazz fusionist Georgia Anne Muldrow (Sept. 29-30) and the sentimental favorites the Manhattan Transfer (Nov. 23-28). — GardnerAlessia Cara brings her introspective songwriting to a fresh era of her life on “In the Meantime.”Matt Winkelmeyer/Getty ImagesALESSIA CARA Since landing her first hit with “Here” — a tart, ambling song about being a wallflower — at 18, the Canadian singer Alessia Cara has documented the friction of adolescence and young adulthood with clear eyes and a sharp pen. On “In the Meantime,” her third album, Cara’s youthful unease gives way to mid-20s ennui; she sings about the passage of time (“What if my best days are the days I’ve left behind?” she wonders on one misty piano ballad), romantic disappointment and feelings of inadequacy. Incisive and introspective as ever, Cara continues to position herself as both pop star and self-therapist. ( Sept. 24; Def Jam) — Olivia HornTHE COOKERS There’s something dangerous about putting together an all-star crew of jazz musicians whose careers took off (mostly) in the 1970s. It was a complicated, ungoverned time in jazz, when fusion was upending the genre’s creative economy and even traditionalists were pushing their own boundaries. In the years since, our memory of the era has become a bit simplified, and some of its more rugged straight-ahead jazz — made for labels like Strata-East and Black Lion — hasn’t fully made it into the canon. But the Cookers, a group of luminaries mostly now in their 70s and 80s, have managed to retain the rough-and-tumble spirit of their old work, while accepting the laurels that have rightfully come to them. On their new album, “Look Out,” a bristling collection of originals, the old feeling is newly alive. (Sept. 24; Gearbox Records) — Giovanni RussonelloTHEO CROKER Born into a family of civil rights activists and jazz musicians, Theo Croker was well positioned to carry the mantle of the music and its message. Now in his mid-30s, he has amassed an impressive résumé as a side musician for a diverse array of musical innovators, including the jazz vocalist Dee Dee Bridgewater and the rappers J. Cole and Common. For his new album, the smoldering neo-jazz collection “Blk2Life || A Future Past,” the tables are turned and he’s calling in favors: Guests include Wyclef Jean, Ari Lennox and Kassa Overall, a longtime Croker pal and collaborator. (Sept. 24; Sony Masterworks) — RussonelloThe big-band composer Miho Hazama, whose arrangements thrive on big gestures, exuberance and bravado technique.Nicolas Koch FuttrupMIHO HAZAMA AND THE DANISH RADIO BIG BAND Top northern European big bands have long invited great composers and arrangers from abroad to collaborate on albums. These well-tooled orchestras can offer expert and faithful readings, though it’s often all too apparent that the bands don’t have a particularly lengthy or intimate relationship to the guest’s music. For the upstart Japanese big-band composer Miho Hazama, whose arrangements thrive on big gestures, exuberance and bravado technique, that’s not a huge problem. If “Imaginary Visions,” her new album with the Danish Radio Big Band, feels like a master class in crisply executed contemporary big band jazz, it’s a class worth attending. (Sept. 24; Edition Records) — RussonelloKONDI BAND This intercontinental, intergenerational group’s story began when a YouTube video of the street musician Sorie Kondi made its way to Chief Boima, an American D.J. and producer with roots in Kondi’s native Sierra Leone. Boima’s subsequent remix of Sorie’s song “Without Money, No Family” paved the way for the pair’s ongoing collaboration as Kondi Band, named for Sorie’s 15-pin thumb piano, which lends an undulating backbone to glittering, electronic compositions that draw on West African traditions and contemporary dance music. “We Famous,” Kondi Band’s second album, expands its global footprint with contributions from a third member, the London-based producer Will Horrocks. (Sept. 24, Strut) — HornNAO With her gravity-defying soprano and lithe, darting melodies, the English songwriter Nao glides through songs about falling in and out of love, sounding buoyant even when she’s downhearted or uncertain. She’s joined by kindred jazzy-R&B songwriters on “And Then Life Was Beautiful,” including Lianne La Havas, serpentwithfeet and Lucky Daye. (Sept. 24; Sony Music UK/RCA Records) — Jon ParelesTHE OPHELIAS On their third album, “Crocus,” this Ohio four-piece delivers tender and sometimes unnerving songs of the heart, wrapped in thickets of expressive violin and delicate harmony. But the beauty of the arrangements doesn’t blunt the spikiness of lyrics penned by the group’s frontwoman, Spencer Peppet, as she surveys the emotional wreckage of relationships in the rearview mirror (“Holding you feels like a bomb went off in my chest” she sings, memorably, on “The Twilight Zone.”) Julien Baker, an artist with whom Peppet shares a knack for lyrical vulnerability, lends guest vocals to one track. (Sept. 24; Joyful Noise) — HornPoppy’s “Flux” captures an artist who works in between genres and moods.Burak Cingi/Redferns, via Getty ImagesPOPPY Since her ascent on YouTube several years ago, Poppy has ping-ponged from one identity to another: She’s styled herself as an internet satirist, a cyborgian pop star and, most recently, a nu-metal frontwoman. In every role, her signature move is to unnerve, whether she’s demonstrating a makeup look for a funeral, singing about body culture or screaming atop thrashing guitars and hurtling hard-core drums. Poppy’s upcoming fourth album follows last year’s “I Disagree,” which earned her a Grammy nomination for best metal performance. Titled “Flux,” it lands somewhere between the sonic extremes of her previous work, marrying heavy distortion with sticky pop hooks. (Sept. 24; Sumerian) — HornDAVID SANFORD BIG BAND The composer and academic David Sanford has spent his career exploring the ways big-band jazz and Western classical can feed off each other, with dashes of punk, ambient and experimental music thrown in too. His new album, “A Prayer for Lester Bowie,” pays tribute to the influential trumpeter and composer, a key member of the Art Ensemble of Chicago, who shared Sanford’s proclivity for scrambling prefabricated formulas. The album is a glorious hodgepodge of large-ensemble synchronicity and wah-wah-drenched blazes, with plenty of time devoted to featuring Hugh Ragin, a Chicago trumpeter like Bowie, whose rough and gleaming sound bespeaks a mix of pride and lament. (Sept. 24; Greenleaf Music) — RussonelloSUFJAN STEVENS AND ANGELO DE AUGUSTINE After some synthesizer-powered albums, Sufjan Stevens returns to his pristinely folky side on “A Beginner’s Mind,” a collaboration with the songwriter Angelo De Augustine, full of fingerpicking and delicate vocal harmonies. It’s high-concept in an unobtrusive way; the songs are inspired by movies, but it’s just as easy to take them as first-person ruminations on character and fate. (Sept. 24; Asthmatic Kitty) — ParelesBilly Strings. His name says it all.Amy Harris/Invision, via Associated PressBILLY STRINGS The path from bluegrass to the jam-band circuit was opened by none other than Jerry Garcia of the Grateful Dead. Lately it has been traversed by Billy Strings, who writes pensive, philosophical songs and breezes through them with his virtuosic guitar picking. On “Renewal,” his fourth album, the core of the music is an acoustic string band — with fiddle and banjo, no drums — that happily takes an occasional psychedelic detour. (Sept. 24; Rounder) — ParelesENDEA OWENS & THE COOKOUT Let’s be honest: A lot of us started the pandemic with a pledge to fill the lonely stretches of lockdown with new and meaningful projects. For Endea Owens, a young bassist on the rise, that vow panned out. A member of the “Late Show” band led by Jon Batiste, she began organizing free “cookout” concerts in her Harlem neighborhood, providing live music and free meals to a broad swath of the often-underserved community, while playing a mix of jazz standards and backyard R&B jams. This fall, not long after Jazz at Lincoln Center reopens its doors for live concerts, Owens will bring her band, now called the Cookout, to Dizzy’s Club for a two-night run. (Sept. 25-26; Dizzy’s Club) — RussonelloTHE DIAMOND SERIES AT FEINSTEIN’S/54 BELOW Soprano Heaven arrives this fall, as the venue welcomes sparkling leading ladies for concert-length performances. Kelli O’Hara (Sept. 28-Oct. 3) and then Laura Benanti (Oct. 5-10) will kick off the series and Megan Hilty follows, Nov. 2-7. Also on tap at the Midtown club: the song and dance marvel Tony Yazbeck (Sept. 21-22); the silver-voiced Broadway veteran Christine Andreas (Sept. 24-25); the flame-haired dynamo Marilu Henner (Oct. 17); the grande dame Marilyn Maye (Oct. 25-30, Nov. 1) the show biz-diva Ruby Manger, alter ego of comedian and actor Julia Mattison (Oct. 13); and “Seussical Reunion Concert,” featuring members of the 2000 Broadway musical’s original cast (Nov. 22). — GardnerDUCHESS The women in this vocal trio — Amy Cervini, Hilary Gardner and Melissa Stylianou — are not siblings by blood, but their sisterly, airtight harmonies have won them a following in jazz circles. The group will appear Sept. 30 at the newly reopened Birdland Theater, where the fall lineup includes beloved regular Natalie Douglas (Oct. 1-2, Nov. 15), Klea Blackhurst in a tribute to Jerry Herman (Oct. 20-22); Marissa Mulder, saluting John Prine (Oct. 3); and the singer-songwriter Christine Lavin (Nov. 22); in addition to weekly installments of “The Lineup With Susie Mosher” on Tuesdays and, upstairs at Birdland Jazz Club, “Jim Caruso’s Cast Party” on Mondays. The jazz club will also host a Sept. 20 concert featuring cast members from the returning Broadway production of “Company,” benefiting the mental health nonprofit Darkness Rising. — GardnerMICHAEL GARIN AND MARDIE MILLIT AT THE WEST BANK CAFE The husband-and-wife duo, who also perform together in the Habibi Kings, continue to hold forth at the West Bank Cafe (and on Facebook), where on the first two Sunday nights of every month you can catch Michael Garin — pianist, singer, raconteur, mash-up maestro — leap between genres with Mardie Millit serving as his comedy partner and lending a lustrous soprano. The Jazz Bandits appear every Friday, while Saturdays bring the piano and vocal stylings of Eric Yves Garcia, followed by the Gabrielle Stravelli Trio, led by the jazz singer and songwriter. — GardnerOctoberKELLY CLARKSON The original “American Idol” diva released her last album, the soulful, stomper-filled “Meaning of Life,” in 2017, and has since turned back to TV, where she dishes out advice to contestants on “The Voice” and hosts a daytime talk show. But Clarkson got back in the studio to capture a bit of holiday magic, and will release a Christmas album — her second — in October. The first single, “Christmas Isn’t Canceled (Just You),” is due Sept. 23. (Atlantic) — HornJOEY PURP Like his fellow Chicagoan and occasional collaborator Chance the Rapper, Joey Purp wears his independent artist credentials with pride. He continues his string of self-releases with his third mixtape, “UpLate,” leaning into his more hedonistic instincts while rapping about conquests, cars and cash with cool detachment. With no features, it’s a relatively insular effort from an artist who tends to work collaboratively. He also contributed production, favoring bouncy, unfussy beats over the flashier aesthetic of earlier projects. (Self-released) — HornLady Gaga and Tony Bennett team up again, for what are to be Bennett’s final studio recordings.Marco Piraccini/Getty ImagesTONY BENNETT AND LADY GAGA The two singers first connected on “Cheek to Cheek,” a 2014 album of jazz standards. “Love for Sale,” their newest, dives into the Cole Porter catalog, and will be Tony Bennett’s last studio recording following the recent announcement that he has Alzheimer’s disease. Lady Gaga is just a year removed from releasing the kaleidoscopic dance pop album “Chromatica,” but once again her chameleonic musical instincts make her flexible voice a natural fit alongside Bennett’s timeless tenor. (Oct. 1; Columbia/Interscope) — Jeremy GordonBRANDI CARLILE Since she released her sixth album “By the Way, I Forgive You” in 2018, the roots rock star Brandi Carlile’s profile has risen considerably. First there was that unforgettable performance of her anthemic song “The Joke” at the 2019 Grammys; then, earlier this year, her resilient and acclaimed memoir “Broken Horses” debuted atop the New York Times best-seller list. Expectations are high for her next album, but the searing “In These Silent Days” rises to the occasion. It’s a confidently composed testament to Carlile’s eclecticism, featuring fiery rockers (“Broken Horses”), politically engaged narratives (“Sinners Saints and Fools”) and a few shimmying folk numbers (“You and Me on the Rock”) that prove her recent live performance covering Joni Mitchell’s album “Blue” in its entirety may have unlocked a whole new phase of her own songwriting. (Oct. 1; Low Country Sound/Elektra) — Lindsay ZoladzTHE DAPTONE SOUL REVUE The 20-year-old Daptone label has been devoted to funk, soul and gospel that harks back to the 1960s and 1970s. In 2014, it gathered its roster on an appropriate stage to record “The Daptone Super Soul Revue Live at the Apollo,” with a parade of singers fronting an impeccable backup band, working up to one bluesy peak after another. Topping the extensive bill were Charles Bradley and Sharon Jones, two gutsy, grown-up shouters who didn’t survive the 2010s. (Oct. 1, Daptone) — ParelesTIRZAH The avant-garde English electro-pop musician Tirzah’s sensuous second album “Colourgrade” is the result of extended jam sessions with her fellow producers and longtime collaborators Coby Sey (whose vocals are featured on the standout duet “Hive Mind”) and the experimental pop artist/Oscar-nominated musician Mica Levi (close friends with Tirzah since their school days). Tirzah’s songs are atmospheric, hypnotic and rarely straightforward, but her low croon has a beckoning allure — like Sade vocals refracted through a gleaming prism. (Oct. 1; Domino) — ZoladzLOST IN RIDDIM Afrobeats, the Nigerian pop that elegantly and ingeniously meshes African rhythms and savvy programming behind unflappable voices, was on its way to conquering the United States when the pandemic struck and destroyed tour plans. But Afrobeats tracks have still been racking up tens of millions of streams. A festival at the Railyards District in Sacramento, Lost in Riddim, presents 20 hitmakers — including Wizkid, Burna Boy, Tiwa Savage and Mr Eazi — offering a two-day immersion in Afrobeats for a U.S. audience. (Oct. 2-3; Railyards District, Sacramento, Calif.) — ParelesMISS RICHFIELD 1981 The toast of Provincetown and “ambassadoress” of her native Minnesota suburb celebrates four decades of drag glory with “40 Years on the Throne,” a multimedia shindig mixing songs, videos and games with audience interplay at the Triad Theater,(Oct. 7-9). The club favorites the Dozen Divas, starring Dorothy Bishop, return (Sept. 24); later, acclaimed jazz singer Sharón Clark will appear with the Chris Grasso Trio (Oct. 16); “Extra! Extra!” will showcase the MAC Award winner Scott Raneri (Sept. 25, Nov. 7); Naima Mora will spin “The Amazing Adventures of a Woman in Need,” a tale of inner life and solidarity in New York that the model and actress co-wrote with Marishka S. Phillips (Oct. 16); and the sessions singer and recording artist Clayton Thomas will deliver “A Christmas Love Song” a couple of weeks early (Dec. 11). — GardnerTammy Faye Starlite will embody the Israeli chanteuse Tamar at Pangea.Al Pereira/Getty ImagesTAMMY FAYE STARLITE Alt-cabaret’s most enchanting chameleon returns, this time in the guise of the Israeli chanteuse Tamar, who sings in English and Hebrew. Developed with the director Rachel Lichtman, Tammy Faye Starlite’s latest creation draws inspiration from her former muse Marianne Faithfull, as well as Françoise Hardy, Juliette Gréco and Leonard Cohen. (Tamar’s version of “Suzanne” includes lyrics from “Ba’Shana Haba’ah.”) She’ll hold court each Thursday in October at Pangea. On Nov. 8 and 15, the old-school champion Sidney Myer — held dear among cabaret fans as both an entertainer and a booker — starts his own new chapter, premiering “Sidney’s Back at Pangea.” And Tweed TheaterWorks returns with its “Sundays @ 7” series, with participants set to include the octave-jumping vocalist and mystic Carol Lipnik (Oct. 17) and the celebrated writer-performer David Cale with his musical collaborator Matthew Dean Marsh (Nov. 21). — GardnerJOHN COLTRANE No jazz recording is more sacrosanct than the John Coltrane Quartet’s 1964 capture of “A Love Supreme.” But perhaps no recording can live up to the fierce combustion of a live jazz show. So there’s reason to celebrate the recent discovery of a 1965 recording on which Coltrane gives a rare club performance of his masterpiece. “A Love Supreme: Live in Seattle” marks the first time that a live version of the suite is being officially released as an album of its own. At this show, verging into the avant-garde, Coltrane augments his quartet with two saxophonists, Pharoah Sanders and Carlos Ward, plus a second bassist, Donald Garrett, and lets the expanded group spontaneously remold his compositions into something new and cathartic. (Oct. 8; Impulse) — RussonelloNATALIE HEMBY Natalie Hemby has thrived in Nashville as a collaborator, sharing songwriting credits on dozens of songs (including the Grammy-winning “I’ll Never Love Again” from “A Star Is Born”) and lately joining the Highwomen with Brandi Carlile, Maren Morris and Amanda Shires. But her voice can stand on its own. On her second solo album, “Pins and Needles,” she sings about love’s enticements and complications, avoiding current arena-country gimmickry for a sinewy, naturalistic 1990s sound that harks back to another of her collaborators, Sheryl Crow. (Oct. 8; Fantasy) — ParelesOLD DOMINION For the better part of a decade, members of this five-piece have been shaping the sound of country radio, both with hits of their own and those they pen for stars like Luke Bryan, Sam Hunt and Kelsea Ballerini. “Time, Tequila & Therapy,” Old Dominion’s fourth full-length, is packed with chipper, harmony-rich country-pop that teeters pleasantly between earnestness and goofiness. “There’s no hard feelings, and no bad vibes,” the frontman Matthew Ramsey sings on one contented tune; the album’s title is his recommended recipe for post-breakup enlightenment. (Oct. 8; Sony Nashville) — HornWORLD CAFE 30 OVER 30 WXPN is a Philadelphia radio station with rock foundations but an eclectic bent, known to public radio listeners across the country for its NPR-distributed flagship program, “World Cafe.” That show — which features live performances and interviews with artists including industry fixtures (recently the Wallflowers and David Crosby) and up-and-comers (Jensen McRae, Shungudzo) — turns 30 this fall. To celebrate, XPN will roll out 30 weeks of special programming on air and online beginning Oct. 11; offerings will include resurfaced archival footage and a collection of new covers by program alumni. — HornZAC BROWN BAND Longtime listeners who may have felt alienated by the country juggernaut Zac Brown’s pair of pop-oriented 2019 releases — his band’s eclectic album “The Owl,” and Brown’s even glossier solo album “The Controversy” — are likely to find “The Comeback” a fitting title for the Zac Brown Band’s seventh studio album. Returning to the raucous, full-bodied sound of the Georgia-based group’s 2008 breakthrough “The Foundation,” “The Comeback” leans hard into many of its proven strengths, from the playful, “Margaritaville”-esque dispatches “Paradise Lost on Me” and “Same Boat” to the lush group harmonies and intricate guitar work showcased on “Out in the Middle.” Don’t be afraid to call it by its name. (Oct. 15; Warner Music Nashville/Home Grown Music) — ZoladzCOLDPLAY After briefly linking up with the Swedish pop impresario Max Martin a few years ago, Britain’s most tender big-tent export has handed him the reins for its new album. “Music of the Spheres” refashions the band’s emotionally generous stadium rock into nimble and soaring pop, and further commits to its eternally optimistic worldview on bouncy songs like “Higher Power,” where a spiritual take on life also extends toward a belief in the extraterrestrial. It also features a formal collaboration with the Korean megastars BTS, following a few years of mutual public appreciation. (Oct. 15; Atlantic) — GordonFINNEAS The artist born Finneas Baird O’Connell is more commonly known as the primary collaborator of his sister, Billie Eilish, with whom he’s won eight Grammys. “Optimist” is his debut solo record, following a 2019 EP. Contrary to his sister’s moody, minor-key pop, Finneas is more of a classic crooner in the model of Rufus Wainwright or Elton John, which you can hear in the exposed “What They’ll Say About Us.” (Oct. 15; Interscope) — GordonXENIA RUBINOS The Brooklyn musician Xenia Rubinos continues to build on the creative ambition of her last album, “Black Terry Cat” from 2016, on which notes of hip-hop, R&B and rock mingled, bolstered by Rubinos’s considerable jazz chops and incisive, often barbed, lyricism. Early singles from her vivid upcoming album, “Una Rosa,” suggest the ways in which her project has expanded: Rubinos layers electronics into her already-eclectic sound, and mutates her vocals to signal alienation and grief. Named for a danza by the Puerto Rican composer José Enrique Pedreira, “Una Rosa” also digs deeper into Rubinos’s Afro-Latino musical heritage, and features more singing in Spanish than her prior releases. (Oct. 15; Anti-) — HornYoung Thug’s forthcoming album, “Punk,” is an intriguing new chapter for a shape-shifting artist.Jessie Lirola for The New York TimesYOUNG THUG The ’20s pop-punk renaissance is in full effect, and its latest devotee is the prolific rap chameleon Young Thug. After releasing the second installment of his “Slime Language” compilation earlier this year, Young Thug debuted a new sound during an NPR Tiny Desk concert this summer: chunky rock guitars, rapid-fire live drumming, and over the top of it all, the rapper pivoting between sharply confessional bars and catchy hooks. A little bit SoundCloud-era emo-rap, a little bit “Rebirth”-era Lil Wayne, the declaratively titled “Punk” is an intriguing new chapter for a shape-shifting artist who’s never content to repeat himself. (Oct. 15; 300 Entertainment/Atlantic) — ZoladzSAMARA JOY The daughter and granddaughter of accomplished gospel artists, this aptly named 21-year-old found her own calling in jazz. Floating from precociously warm, sexy low notes to a silky top, Samara Joy’s voice evokes classic influences and has earned her collaborations with leading contemporary musicians such as the guitarist Pasquale Grasso, whose trio will accompany her at Jazz at Lincoln Center’s Dizzy’s Club on Oct. 17. On Oct. 24, Dizzy’s will host the scat master Ashley Pezzotti and Her Trio; Pezzotti will also join the JALC Orchestra With Wynton Marsalis for “Big Band Holidays” at JALC’s Rose Theater, Dec. 15-19. — GardnerTaylor Mac’s new show at Joe’s Pub is “Sugar in the Tank: New Songs About Queer People.”Willa FolmarTAYLOR MAC The boundary-shattering theater artist returns with “Sugar in the Tank: New Songs About Queer People,” crafted with the music director and arranger Matt Ray, and showcasing the talents of other old friends (along with new ones), including band members who performed in Taylor Mac’s acclaimed “A 24-Decade History of Popular Music” and the costume designer Machine Dazzle. The show runs Oct. 19-23 at Joe’s Pub, where offerings include another reliable source of inspirational irreverence (and Ray collaborator), Justin Vivian Bond (Oct. 5-9); “Kludge,” a collection of music and poetry curated by Laurie Anderson (Oct. 12-16); the neuro-inclusive Epic Players (Oct. 24-25); the enduringly pure and fierce voice of Toshi Reagon, with Big Lovely (Nov. 9-11) and Lizz Wright (Nov. 12-13); Jazzmeia Horn and Her Noble Force, the innovative young vocalist and dynamic big band (Nov. 16-20); and the drag diva Peppermint, in “A Girl Like Me …” (Dec. 5-6). — GardnerBRIC JAZZFEST Picking back up where it left off before the pandemic, this annual jazz festival will bring a mix of rising Brooklyn-based talent and established stars to the arts organization’s sprawling home base in Downtown Brooklyn. Headliners at the three-night festival will include the vocalists Cecile McLorin Salvant and Kurt Elling, both performing on opening night; the Sun Ra Arkestra, an avant-garde standard-bearer, slated for Friday; and Madison McFerrin, the upstart jazz-and-beyond singer and composer, who served as a co-curator of the 2021 festival. (Oct. 21-23; BRIC House) — RussonelloCIRCUIT DES YEUX Harnessing the bewitching power of Haley Fohr’s four-octave voice, the sixth album from her project Circuit Des Yeux, “-io,” has an operatic grandeur and a rumbling, Scott Walker-like intensity. Fohr composed these haunting and elemental songs for a 24-piece orchestra, and their bombastic percussion and screaming string sections make “-io” her most ambitious achievement to date. A stirring reflection on grief, oblivion and acceptance, the album sounds like a fearless free fall into the void. (Oct. 22; Matador) — ZoladzGROUPER Liz Harris’s work as Grouper is for listeners who crave mystery, and don’t mind if a song never resolves into legibility. “Shade,” her 12th full-length record as Grouper, compiles songs written over the last 15 years across the country. On tracks like “Followed the Ocean” and “Basement Mix,” her voice, submerged under tape hiss and aqueous piano chords, sounds like a dispatch from a lost civilization. (Oct. 22; Kranky) — GordonELTON JOHN The isolation of Covid-19 led Elton John to try collaborations galore. On “The Lockdown Sessions,” he takes his place (sometimes virtual, sometimes in person) alongside Dua Lipa, Lil Nas X, Miley Cyrus, Stevie Wonder, Brandi Carlile, Eddie Vedder, Rina Sawayama, Stevie Nicks, Charlie Puth, Nicki Minaj and many more. By turns he’s a colleague, a venerated elder, a cover act and a hook singer; all sorts of musicians wanted to latch on to his dramatic melodies and benevolent aura. (Oct. 22; Interscope) — ParelesMy Morning Jacket’s first album since 2015 harks back to even earlier eras of rock ’n’ roll.Amy Harris/Invision, via Associated PressMY MORNING JACKET With a self-titled album, its first since 2015, My Morning Jacket ponders the nature of reality in a digitally mediated, late-capitalist era. The music, harking back to the late 1960s and early 1970s of Pink Floyd and the Allman Brothers, makes even clearer how much the band longs for a vanished analog past. (Oct. 22; ATO) — ParelesARTIFACTS TRIO The self-titled debut album from this iconoclastic group of all-star Chicagoan improvisers, released in 2015, was a direct homage to the legacy of the Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians, featuring covers of compositions by figures from throughout the history of that avant-garde collective. This time, the trio — Tomeka Reid on cello, Nicole Mitchell on flute and Mike Reed on drums, all association members themselves — is carrying the spirit of homage into the present, with a disc of their own original compositions called “… and Then There’s This.” As on the last album, the intrigue is in the empty spaces, the territory left open by the lack of a piano or a bass or, often, any clear rhythmic pulse at all. (Oct. 29; Astral Spirits) — RussonelloGEESE Last spring, while many of their fellow high school seniors were solidifying their college plans, members of the buzzy Brooklyn rock band Geese were taking meetings with record labels. After announcing themselves with the misleadingly named single “Disco,” this teenage five-piece is set to release its expansive, guitar-forward debut record on the same label that houses post-punk groups like Idles and Fontaines D.C. Titled “Projector,” it’s packed with spiny guitar riffs, angsty, psychedelic musings and plenty of indulgent instrumental breaks. (Oct. 29; Partisan/Play It Again Sam) — HornED SHEERAN Ed Sheeran’s guileless style of pop music made him an unlikely global superstar, largely owing to his intuition for navigating universal emotions through undeniable melodies. “=” (pronounced “equals”), his latest LP, draws from the same genre-agnostic well: The lead single, “Bad Habits,” splits the difference between folk and pop like a polite club banger, while “Visiting Hours,” a tribute to his late mentor, Michael Gudinski, is pure choral pathos. A variety of musicians such as Kylie Minogue, Natalie Hemby and Ben Kweller also contribute. (Oct. 29; Atlantic) — GordonTHE WAR ON DRUGS Over the last decade, Adam Granduciel’s band has developed a conduit between blurry art rock and blue-skied Springsteenian ambition, slowly refining its ethos with the patience of a painter stippling a canvas point by point. On “I Don’t Live Here Anymore,” the band’s first studio record since winning the Grammy for best rock album, still waters mask anxieties about change, love and finding one’s place in the world. Ideal for those who want the experience of standing in a cool breeze while sitting at home. (Oct. 29; Atlantic) — GordonPOSTY FEST If you’re trying to figure out “the kids” — or, if by the miracle of chronology, you’re one of them — you could do worse than attending Posty Fest, a two-day festival curated by the pop-rap trickster Post Malone. This year’s lineup features Megan Thee Stallion, Roddy Ricch, Flo Milli, Jack Harlow and more. The festival will take place outdoors in order to help prevent the spread of Covid-19. (Oct. 30-31; AT&T Stadium, Arlington, Tx.) — GordonNovemberIdles escalates from electronic Minimalism to flat-out stomp and roar.Sebastien Bozon/Agence France-Presse — Getty ImagesIDLES The British band Idles wrings new variations from the post-punk vocabulary of obstinacy, impact, dissonance, talk-singing and ratcheting-up tension on its fourth studio album. The band escalates from electronic Minimalism to flat-out stomp and roar; the vocalist, Joe Talbot, veers from bitter cynicism to dance-floor instructions to howls of “Damage! Damage! Damage!” (Partisan) — ParelesABBA After nearly 40 years, the Abba fan’s plea of “Gimme! Gimme! Gimme! … some more Abba songs, please” has finally been answered. “Voyage” is the Swedish mega-group’s first LP since “The Visitors,” but the lush grooves of songs like “Don’t Shut Me Down” sound like they’ve been retrieved from a time capsule. The new record will be followed by a reunion concert starting in 2022, where the group will perform as holograms. No, seriously. (Nov. 5; Capitol) — GordonART BLAKEY & THE JAZZ MESSENGERS The quintessential band of the hard-bop era was near the height of its powers in 1961, when it traveled for the first time to Japan for a series of performances. With Wayne Shorter on saxophone, Lee Morgan on trumpet, Bobby Timmons on piano and Jymie Merritt on bass, this configuration (the group’s membership rotated constantly) had already recorded a pair of instant-classic albums, “The Big Beat” and “A Night in Tunisia,” but there’s nothing quite like the casual synergy and playful sparring that they put on display live. On “First Flight to Tokyo: The Lost 1961 Recordings,” a previously unheard collection that was recently dug up, no performance is under 10 minutes long. Extended takes on Benny Golson’s “Blues March” and Charlie Parker’s “Now’s the Time” are among the standouts. (Nov. 5; Blue Note) — RussonelloAIMEE MANN The singer-songwriter Aimee Mann’s 2017 album, a glum but elegant collection straightforwardly titled “Mental Illness,” is a good primer for her new project: a song cycle based on “Girl, Interrupted,” Susanna Kaysen’s celebrated memoir about her stint in psychiatric care at McLean Hospital in Massachusetts. Mann’s new songs were commissioned for an upcoming stage adaptation of the book — the details of which remain unknown — and will soon be released on the album “Queens of the Summer Hotel” (a reference to a line from a poem by Anne Sexton, another notable McLean patient). The theatrical prompt puts good use to Mann’s more maudlin songwriting instincts, and gives her occasion to indulge in lush orchestrations. (Nov. 5; SuperEgo) — HornRADIOHEAD Radiohead decisively jettisoned rock’s structural and sonic conventions with its 2000 and 2001 albums “Kid A” and “Amnesiac,” challenging itself to upend expectations with every new track. It’s reissuing the two albums along with a third disc of material from the same sessions as “Kid A Mnesia,” including a few rare songs and radically different takes of familiar ones. (Nov. 5; XL) — ParelesDiana Ross’s first album in 15 years features production from Jack Antonoff, known for his collaborations with Taylor Swift and Lana Del Rey.Rick Kern/Getty ImagesDIANA ROSS You can’t hurry a Diana Ross record. The Motown icon’s first album in 15 years is the beatific “Thank You,” which features some fresh talent: Jack Antonoff, pop producer du jour, contributed to “I Still Believe,” a boisterous disco track that also features St. Vincent on guitar, and Tayla Parx, a frequent Ariana Grande collaborator, helped write the schmaltzy ballad “Just in Case.” (Nov. 5; Decca) — HornSNAIL MAIL On “Lush,” her debut LP as Snail Mail, Lindsey Jordan pushed herself to the forefront of modern guitar pop. “Valentine,” which she co-produced with Brad Cook, expands her tightly manicured sound by incorporating R&B and hip-hop, but still centers her emotive songwriting about the fussy and devastating thoughts that keep us up at night. “You’ll always know where to find me when you change your mind,” she sings on the title track, like someone who intimately knows how feelings can’t be ignored. (Nov. 5; Matador) — GordonDONNA McKECHNIE One of musical theater’s true triple threats, Donna McKechnie was already a Broadway veteran when she scored a Tony Award singing, dancing and acting in the original company of “A Chorus Line.” In “My Musical Comedy Life,” at the Green Room 42 from Nov. 11-13, she’ll share songs and stories tracing her career, including numbers from “Company,” “Sweet Charity” and “Promises, Promises.” The venue’s fall lineup also features the two-time Broadway World Award winner Mark William (Sept. 25); the “Dear Evan Hansen” alumnus Michael Lee Brown (Oct. 2 and 9); the multi-artist showcases “Broadway Belters Sing!” (Sept. 29, Oct. 6) and “Whitney Houston: A Celebration in Song” (Nov. 6); the musical actress Bianca Marroquin (Nov. 10); and, on Tonys night, Sept. 26, “Hold Me Closer Tony Extravaganza: Tony Award Viewing Party,” hosted by the Skivvies. — GardnerDamon Albarn wrote lyrics for “The Nearer the Fountain, More Pure the Stream Flows” during pandemic lockdown.Torben Christensen/EPA, via ShutterstockDAMON ALBARN Remarkably, the prolific musician from Blur, Gorillaz and many more projects is releasing what’s formally just his second solo album. “The Nearer the Fountain, More Pure the Stream Flows” originated as an orchestral piece, but was lyrically fleshed out during lockdown. Here, the acid wit of Damon Albarn’s earlier work further peels away to reveal contemplative lyrics about the passage of time, among other openhearted ideas, set against a shimmering musical backdrop of strings and synth textures. (Nov. 12; Transgressive) — GordonCOURTNEY BARNETT Witty, dense lyricism and uneasy ruminations on modern life are this Australian musician’s bread and butter; since her breakout EP arrived in 2013, they’ve earned her scores of fans. On Courtney Barnett’s third album, “Things Take Time, Take Time,” she seems unburdened: her tone is lighter, her guitar tamer. “Don’t worry so much about it,” goes the amiable thesis of “Rae Street,” “I’m just waiting for the day to become night.” The record was produced with Stella Mozgawa, of the indie-rock band Warpaint, and features contributions from Vagabon and Cate Le Bon. (Nov. 12; Mom & Pop) — HornJONI MITCHELL Following last year’s revelatory “The Early Years,” the second volume of Joni Mitchell’s ongoing collection of archival releases charts one of the most astonishingly productive periods of her career, from 1968 to 1971 — or, in terms of Mitchell’s discography, from her promising debut “Song to a Seagull” to her enduring masterwork “Blue.” (“Clouds” and “Ladies of the Canyon” came in the years between, if you can believe it.) Across five discs and 119 tracks, “Joni Mitchell Archives Vol. 2: The Reprise Years (1968-1971)” provides an intimate glimpse into the process of a peerless songwriter’s rapid evolution, including some previously unheard early versions of Mitchell classics like “All I Want,” “A Case of You” and “California.” But just as compellingly, the many live recordings in this collection also chronicle Mitchell’s increasingly confident command of larger and larger audiences, including an unreleased 1968 set in an Ottawa coffee house (taped by the devoted Mitchell fan Jimi Hendrix), her famed 1969 Carnegie Hall debut and a breathtaking 1970 London show that features backing vocals from her partner at the time and one of her “Blue” muses, James Taylor. (Nov. 13; Rhino) — ZoladzBen LaMar Gay’s “Open Arms to Open Us” bubbles with the sounds of mixed percussion, stringed instruments from across the globe and digital overlays.Sebastien Salom Gomis/Agence France-Presse — Getty ImagesBEN LAMAR GAY For Ben LaMar Gay, a love song can also be a kind of self-affirmation, and a low-key theory of everything. Likewise, as his career wears on, the walls between the various corridors of his artistry — as an electronic musician, a jazz-trained improviser, a postmodern folklorist — continue to disintegrate. The 17 tracks on “Open Arms to Open Us” bubble with the sounds of mixed percussion, stringed instruments from across the globe and digital overlays. One thing that stays relatively clear is Gay’s voice, a wise and confiding baritone, which he barely alters with any reverb or effects. (Nov. 19; International Anthem/Nonesuch) — RussonelloROBERT PLANT AND ALISON KRAUSS Much has changed since “Raising Sand,” the 2007 Grammy-winning and chart-beating collaborative album between Robert Plant and Alison Krauss, but on “Raise the Roof,” their voices still fit together like a pair of dusty boots nestled atop a welcome mat. Fans of Led Zeppelin’s folksier side will appreciate Plant’s return to Appalachian bluegrass, and the covers of artists from Merle Haggard to Bert Jansch to Geeshie Wiley. T Bone Burnett returns as producer. (Nov. 19; Rounder) — GordonMAKAYA McCRAVEN The drummer, composer and producer Makaya McCraven has become one of the most talked-about improvising musicians in the game largely thanks to his method: He tinkers with his band’s live recordings until they’ve become something murkier, groovier and more kaleidoscopic. He typically doesn’t pull from old recordings or archival aesthetics, but instead remixes his own group’s music. With the release of last year’s “We’re New Here,” an affectionate reworking of Gil Scott-Heron’s final album, that changed: McCraven strapped on his headlamp and wandered deep into the archive. On “Deciphering the Message,” McCraven’s newest album and his first for Blue Note, he delves into the label’s own back catalog, using samples and clips from classic recordings as a centerpiece around which his band improvises and embellishes. (Nov. 19; Blue Note) — RussonelloThe newest entry in Taylor Swift’s series of rerecorded albums will be “Red (Taylor’s Version).”Angela Weiss/Agence France-Presse — Getty ImagesTAYLOR SWIFT In the most prolific chapter of her career so far, Taylor Swift is both exploring new sounds — the moody cabin-pop of last year’s twin releases, “Folkore” and “Evermore” — and revisiting her early work. Swift’s ongoing project of recreating her first six albums in an effort to reclaim control of her master recordings continues with “Red (Taylor’s Version).” This new edition of her 2012 album comes with nine previously unreleased tracks; among them are “Nothing New,” featuring Phoebe Bridgers; Swift’s own version of “Better Man,” which she wrote for the country group Little Big Town; and an extended cut of the fan-favorite song “All Too Well.” (Nov. 19; Republic) — HornSUZANNE VEGA In 2019, the folk-influenced singer-songwriter, author and occasional theater artist Suzanne Vega embraced another outlet for storytelling, performing a two-week residency at Café Carlyle. Her New York-themed set was released last year as “An Evening of New York Songs and Stories” — now the basis for “Two Evenings of New York Songs and Stories.” The show arrives Nov. 26-27 at City Winery, where the fall roster veers from other troubadours — including John Hiatt and the Jerry Douglas Band (Sept. 26-27), Rodney Crowell (Oct. 14), Graham Parker (Nov. 1 and 8), Marc Broussard (Nov. 2-3), Joe Henry (Nov. 14) and Vanessa Carlton (Nov. 22) — to the actress and comedian Janeane Garofalo (Oct. 11) and “A John Waters Christmas” (Dec. 12), with the Pope of Trash ringing in the holy season. — GardnerDecemberANA MOURA Ana Moura is firmly rooted in the smoky, fatalistic traditions of fado from her birthplace, Portugal. But album by album she has been connecting ever more widely to the former Portuguese empire and to 21st-century technology. On “Mázia,” the melancholy richness of her voice is backed not only by the Portuguese guitarra but also by beats from Portugal, Brazil, Angola and Cape Verde, and she’s perfectly at home with blues-rock guitar, electronics and flecks of Auto-Tune, even as the melancholy richness of her voice comes through. (Dec. 3; Universal) — ParelesALSO THIS FALL100 GECS The 2019 debut album of Dylan Brady and Laura Les’s internet-inspired future pop launched 1,000 think pieces about the duo’s chaotic approach to musical collage. That LP was conceived over email, but “10000 gecs,” the follow-up, was recorded in person in Los Angeles. Their way-way-way-left-of-center approach to the pop mainstream is grounded by the studio drummer Josh Freese (Guns N’ Roses, Katy Perry), but there’s still enough manic genre collision to launch 10,000 more think pieces. (Dog Show) — GordonKEVIN ABSTRACT The impending breakup of the all-American boy band Brockhampton hasn’t slowed the creative momentum of Kevin Abstract, its most visible member. Befitting his ongoing work to collapse artistic distinctions — famously, Brockhampton includes a handful of nonmusical members — his third solo album flits between genres and moods. The hard-hitting rap of “Slugger” bleeds into a softhearted track like “Sierra Nights,” which sounds like a coming-of-age movie. (Question Everything/RCA) — Gordon More

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      A Rare Look at Bob Dylan in the Studio, and 13 More New Songs

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      Hear tracks by Tems, Adia Victoria, Cuco and others.Every Friday, pop critics for The New York Times weigh in on the week’s most notable new songs and videos. Just want the music? Listen to the Playlist on Spotify here (or find our profile: nytimes). Like what you hear? Let us know at theplaylist@nytimes.com and sign up for our Louder newsletter, a once-a-week blast of our pop music coverage.Bob Dylan, ‘Don’t Fall Apart on Me Tonight (Version 2)’“Don’t Fall Apart on Me Tonight (Version 2)” is from the latest deep dive into the Bob Dylan archives, the five-CD “Springtime in New York: The Bootleg Series Vol. 16 1980-1985.” The track is similar in feel — though full of Dylan’s improvisatory variations — to the take that appeared on “Infidels” in 1983, with a new mix that dials back the unfortunate 1980s drum sound. Dylan had a superb studio band, with the Jamaican team of Sly (Dunbar) and Robbie (Skakespeare) on drums and bass, and a conversational interplay between Mick Taylor (formerly of the Rolling Stones) on slide guitar and Mark Knopfler (of Dire Straits) on electric guitar. It’s not the most radical discovery in the set — which also includes rarities like “Enough Is Enough” and “Yes Sir, No Sir” — but it arrives with live footage of the sessions, a rare glimpse of Dylan in motion in the studio. JON PARELESThe War on Drugs featuring Lucius, ‘I Don’t Live Here Anymore’The War on Drugs trades psychedelic haze for 1980s heft in “I Don’t Live Here Anymore.” Adam Granduciel sings about coming to terms with the past, breaking up, letting go and moving on, deciding — with the voices of Lucius as a choir — “We’re all just walking through this darkness on our own.” Deploying neat, reverberating guitar and synthesizer hooks like Don Henley’s “Boys of Summer,” the song is a booming march toward a willed recovery. PARELESTems featuring Brent Faiyaz, ‘Found’This stellar duet between the young Nigerian singer Tems and the R&B crooner Brent Faiyaz is saturated with an easy melancholy. On the song from Tems’s new EP, “If Orange Was a Place,” she sounds anxious and unraveled: “I feel I might just be coming undone/Tell me why you can’t be found.” When Faiyaz arrives, he’s alternately soothing and cloying. “Found” has echoes of SZA’s insular angst, and also the robust, earthen texture of mid-1990s R&B. It’s utterly swell. JON CARAMANICACarly Pearce and Ashley McBryde, ‘Never Wanted to Be That Girl’A stoic and affecting back and forth between Carly Pearce and Ashley McBryde, both coming to the realization that they have a man in common. It’s a timeless trope, and an effective one — neither one attempts to out-sing the other, a gesture of their shared frustration (unlike in, say, Reba McEntire’s blistering 1990s duets with Linda Davis, which delved into throat warfare). CARAMANICAAdia Victoria, ‘Mean-Hearted Woman’After dabbling in electronic textures with her 2019 album, “Silences,” Adia Victoria circles back, at least partway, toward bluesy roots-rock on her new album, “A Southern Gothic.” Its songs deal with power, mortality and, in “Mean-Hearted Woman,” heartbreak and revenge. Lingering on one chord, with a plucked guitar and a persistent tambourine, she sings about being dumped and replaced, and while her voice stays quiet and breathy, she moves bewilderment and heartache to fury, with a death threat that’s no less menacing for staying quiet. PARELESCuco, ‘Under the Sun’“Under the Sun” is a shape-shifting statement about the journey to self. Cuco immerses us in interdimensional psych rock, only to quickly shift to a cumbia interlude, and then to a wave of lightning guitar licks. In the video, he leaves a lit candle at an altar featuring the artwork for his 2019 album “Para Mi.” Consider this a new era, one where all bets are off. ISABELIA HERRERASnail Mail, ‘Valentine’“Why’d you want to erase me?” Lindsey Jordan — the songwriter behind Snail Mail — yowls in “Valentine.” It’s a song about affection, obsession, estrangement, jealousy and bewilderment, with tempestuous quiet-LOUD-quiet indie-rock dynamics that mirror a passionate, messy, still unresolved relationship. PARELESMoor Mother, ‘Rogue Waves’For years, it has felt painfully imprecise to slap the “hip-hop” label onto the music of Camae Ayewa, a poet, electronic musician and Afrofuturist who performs as Moor Mother. (Not that that’s stopped streaming services and other grid jockeys from trying.) But two confluent things have been happening recently: Ayewa is embracing lower-slung, more head-nodding beats, and hip-hop itself is becoming a spacier, gooier, more abstract zone. The new Moor Mother album, “Black Encyclopedia of the Air,” features guest spots from rising rappers and vocalists, like Pink Siifu and Orion Sun, on most tracks. But on “Rogue Waves,” over a hydraulic swinging beat, Ayewa goes it alone — confronting subject matter that’s sometimes abstract and evocative, elsewhere tender and intimate. GIOVANNI RUSSONELLOCraig Taborn, ’60xsixty’In the same week that he announced his first solo album in 10 years (coming Oct. 8), the pianist Craig Taborn released another collection of music that’s similar in nature, but not quite the same. “60xsixty” contains 60 restive and fleeting pieces, all about a minute each, that play back-to-back at 60xsixty.com in a randomized order that’s different each time you visit the site. You’re unable to pause or skip: The listener’s usual sense of control is stripped away, as is the very notion of a finished product — Taborn has said he may swap out some tracks for new ones in the future, keeping the total number at 60. The current range of tracks varies from 12-tone-scale improvisations on acoustic piano to the kind of squelchy, three-dimensional electronic music that Taborn makes with his project Junk Magic. On other tracks, he’s most concerned with stirring up ambient sound. RUSSONELLOOneohtrix Point Never and Elizabeth Fraser, ‘Tales From the Trash Stratum’Leave it to Oneohtrix Point Never and the Cocteau Twins vocalist Elizabeth Fraser to craft the ultimate experiment in glossolalia. “Tales From the Trash Stratum” runs like a New Age seminar on mushrooms: OPN collages glitchy arpeggios, synth crashes and delicate piano keys; Fraser’s echoed sighs and angel-dust melodies flicker in and out of the production. It’s a blast of neurological delirium and decay, rendered as soothingly as possible. HERRERAAmaarae featuring Kali Uchis, ‘Sad Girlz Luv Money (Official Remix)’Last year, the Ghanaian American artist Amaarae quietly released “The Angel You Don’t Know,” an imaginative, buoyant album that masterfully harnessed all kinds of Afro-diasporic sounds, including R&B, Southern rap and Nigerian highlife. “Sad Girlz Luv Money” was an immediate standout: a breezy Afropop anthem for midnight trysts. On the official remix, the Colombian American singer Kali Uchis whispers hushed, silky come-ons in Spanish, and Amaarae’s sky-high melodies and smoky raps curl over the beat. HERRERALindsey Buckingham, ‘Swan Song’A frenetic drum loop, like a pummeled punching bag, drives “Swan Song” from Lindsey Buckingham’s new, self-titled album, recorded solo in the studio and released after his severance from Fleetwood Mac and emergency triple-bypass surgery. The mix feels inside-out, with his voice enclosed by percussion while his flamenco-tinged acoustic guitar and wailing electric guitar both poke outward. He taunts mortality — “She says it’s late, but the future’s looking bright”— with fast fingers. PARELESIann Dior featuring Lil Uzi Vert, ‘V12’What a dreamily beautiful song from Iann Dior, a sweet-sounding sing-rapper with just the faintest of barbed edges, and Lil Uzi Vert. Together, they’re boastful and playful, and yet the production has an elegiac edge, as if sadness were an inevitable byproduct of success. CARAMANICAOuri, ‘Chains’Ouri — the Montreal composer and electronic producer Ourielle Auvé — sketches a track being assembled and tweaked on the spot with “Chains,” from her album “Frame of a Fauna,” due Oct. 22. She dials in swooping sounds, echoey vocal syllables, a glitchy beat, tentative chords; the dance beat solidifies, falls away and reappears, briefly locking into syncopation with wordless vocal syncopations before evaporating. The video shows Ouri concocting a CGI dancer who leaps out as flesh and blood: virtual efforts turning physical. PARELES More

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      T.I. and Tiny Will Not Be Charged in Los Angeles Sexual Assault Investigation

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      The district attorney’s office in Los Angeles cited the statute of limitations, which expires after 10 years, in declining to pursue criminal charges regarding an alleged 2005 incident.Prosecutors in Los Angeles have declined to pursue criminal charges against the rapper T.I. and his wife, Tameka Cottle Harris, following an investigation into whether the couple drugged and sexually assaulted a woman in 2005, citing the statute of limitations, according to a document from the district attorney’s office.“The statute of limitations is 10 years and has expired,” the Los Angeles County authorities wrote in a charge evaluation filing made public this week. “Without the strengths and weaknesses of the evidence being evaluated, the case is declined due to the expiration.”In May, the Los Angeles Police Department said it had opened a criminal investigation into the incident, in which a military veteran said she met the famous couple in the V.I.P. section of a Los Angeles club and became incapacitated after drinking with them. She said the couple then raped her in a hotel room.A lawyer representing the woman, who requested anonymity to protect her family, said at the time that she was among nearly a dozen people who said they had been victimized by the Atlanta-based couple or members of their entourage. In February, the lawyer, Tyrone A. Blackburn, sent letters to the law enforcement authorities in Georgia and California, calling for criminal inquiries on behalf of 11 people, including four women who accused the pair of having drugged and sexually assaulted them.The letters described “eerily similar” experiences of “sexual abuse, forced ingestion of illegal narcotics, kidnapping, terroristic threats and false imprisonment” at the hands of T.I. (born Clifford Harris), Ms. Harris (a member of the R&B group Xscape who is known as Tiny) and their associates.The couple denied any instances of nonconsensual sex and their representatives called the claims “a sordid shakedown campaign.”On Thursday, Shawn Holley, a lawyer for the Harrises, said in a statement that the couple was “pleased, but not surprised, by the District Attorney’s decision to dismiss these meritless allegations. We appreciate the DA’s careful review of the case and are grateful to be able to put the matter behind us and move on.”Mr. Blackburn said that the prosecutors’ decision “does not vindicate Clifford Harris and Tiny Harris from the act of raping and drugging Jane Doe. It only amplifies the need to do away with the statute of limitations for sex crimes.”The statute of limitations for most rape cases in Los Angeles before 2017 is typically 10 years. But Mr. Blackburn had initially cited exceptions that allowed the authorities to pursue older cases, as they did when they brought charges against Harvey Weinstein related to an incident that took place more than a decade earlier. He said that exception ultimately did not apply in this case because there was only one alleged victim in Los Angeles. More

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      Is Drake Tired of Drake?

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      Drake’s “Certified Lover Boy” just had this year’s biggest debut week, a testament to his immense staying power more than a decade into his career. But this album also reflects a slowdown in the Drake Industrial Complex: He’s pulled back on sonic innovation, and his story tropes are becoming familiar.Is the age of Drake nearing its conclusion? He has been the most influential pop star — in any genre — of the past decade, but his ideas have been widely disseminated and copied.On this week’s Popcast, a conversation about Drake’s habits and tics, his relationship to social media, and the long arc of the era he shaped — and whether it will ever truly come to an end.Guests:Charles Holmes, a writer and podcaster at The RingerJeff Ihaza, a senior editor at Rolling Stone More

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      Drake’s ‘Certified Lover Boy’ Opens With the Year’s Biggest Week

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      The rapper’s latest album debuted with the equivalent of 613,000 sales in the United States, easily beating Kanye West’s total of 309,000 just one week ago.All year long, Drake has teased his fans with a new album, which he said early on would be called “Certified Lover Boy.” It was sure to be a hit, but how big? For Drake, a titan of the streaming era — who over the last week has been facing off against Kanye West — the stakes were high.Now the answer is clear: “Certified Lover Boy” is a blockbuster, eclipsing everything else released this year, although as a streaming phenomenon it fell slightly short of Drake’s own record.In its first week out, Drake’s album opened at No. 1 on Billboard’s chart with the equivalent of 613,000 sales in the United States, according to MRC Data. That is more than any title since Taylor Swift’s “Folklore” had 846,000 in July 2020, before a change in Billboard’s chart rules disqualified most retail bundles, like giving fans a download with the sale of a T-shirt — a highly effective but contested sales strategy.Drake’s great strength is streaming, and “Certified Lover Boy” did not disappoint. In its first week out, the album’s 21 songs racked up 744 million streams in the United States — about 74,000 per minute — far more than any other title. It broke Spotify’s record for the most streams in a single day. (West’s “Donda” opened with the equivalent of 309,000 sales, including 357 million streams.)Drake also dominates Billboard’s Hot 100 singles chart, which incorporates streams, radio play and song downloads. Nine of the chart’s Top 10 songs are by Drake, with “Way 2 Sexy,” featuring Future and Young Thug, at No. 1. (The only non-Drake song is “Stay,” by the Kid Laroi and Justin Bieber, which fell four spots to No. 6.)But “Certified Lover Boy” did not quite match the streaming performance of Drake’s last proper studio album, “Scorpion,” in 2018. In its first week out, “Scorpion” had 746 million clicks. The minutiae of chart composition shows that “Certified Lover Boy” is not as close to that record as it might seem. When “Scorpion” came out, Billboard counted only audio streams; in 2020, it began incorporating both audio and video clicks. According to Billboard, the 744 million total streams for “Certified Lover Boy” include nearly 29 million for videos.West’s “Donda,” last week’s chart-topper, fell to second place with the equivalent of 141,000 sales, a drop of 54 percent.Also this week, the veteran British heavy metal band Iron Maiden scored its highest chart position ever with “Senjutsu,” which opens at No. 3 — with just 3.6 million streams, but 61,000 copies sold as a full package. The band’s last two studio albums, “The Book of Souls” (2015) and “The Final Frontier” (2010), each went to No. 4. (And 1980s classics like “Powerslave” and “Somewhere in Time”? They never cracked the Top 10.)Olivia Rodrigo’s “Sour” is No. 4 and Doja Cat’s “Planet Her” is No. 5. More

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      Radiohead’s ‘Kid A’ Era Outtake, and 13 More New Songs

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      Hear tracks by Ed Sheeran, Jazzmeia Horn and Her Noble Force, Ìfé and others.Every Friday, pop critics for The New York Times weigh in on the week’s most notable new songs and videos. Just want the music? Listen to the Playlist on Spotify here (or find our profile: nytimes). Like what you hear? Let us know at theplaylist@nytimes.com and sign up for our Louder newsletter, a once-a-week blast of our pop music coverage.Radiohead, ‘If You Say the Word’In 2000, Radiohead ripped apart old, pompous Britpop assumptions. With the sessions that yielded the albums “Kid A” and “Amnesiac,” the band followed its most arty, experimental inclinations and looked inward at the same time. “If You Say the Word” is a song that the group completed but shelved, which will appear on its expanded reissue “Kid A Mnesia.” Its sound is still relatively live — a band with a steady drummer going minimalist — with lyrics that contemplate entombment and liberation. JON PARELESEd Sheeran, ‘Shivers’The producer Max Martin may have coined the phrase “melodic math,” but Ed Sheeran absolutely embodies it in his lyrics, music and production. “Shivers” is just packed with pop trigger words — love, heart, fire, kissed, party, car, dance, sunlight, soul, “tear me apart,” “lipstick on my guitar,” “all day and all night,” “do it like that” — backed by a track that pulls in pizzicato strings and flamenco handclaps over a solid four-chord structure. If computers will dance or fall in love, this is their song. PARELESSam Hunt, ‘23’A balmy track about the one who got away, “23” is about how the power of memory is sometimes more than enough. Sung with wistfulness but no malice, Sam Hunt recalls a love who moved on in a different direction, and he sounds almost as soothing remembering their good times together as imagining how her future might have turned out: “I really hope you’re happy now/I’m really glad I knew you when.” JON CARAMANICALisa, ‘Lalisa’The solo debut single from Lisa of Blackpink is politely exuberant and tautly bubbly. Perhaps her group’s most nimble rapper, she sashays her way through this thumping, popping song. It’s an extension of a familiar brand, with a sprinkle of innovation when the track and video nod to Lisa’s Thai heritage. CARAMANICAYebba, ‘Boomerang’​​Yebba (the singer and songwriter Abigail Elizabeth Smith) harks back to vintage-sounding 1960s pop and soul on her debut album, “Dawn.” In “Boomerang,” she sings about an inevitable payback for the man who, she realized too late, would “drag me through hell.” She gathers her rage in a spaghetti-Western track, with distant drums, castanets and orchestral accents; her “whoo-oo-oo-oo” hook whirls like a boomerang. PARELESJazzmeia Horn and Her Noble Force, ‘Where Is Freedom!?’The vocalist and composer Jazzmeia Horn closes her new album, the rousing big-band effort “Dear Love,” with “Where Is Freedom!?,” carrying a message of self-liberation over a groove that could have come off a 1970s soul record. “What does it mean to ascend after your journey begins?/You just might lose all your friends to be free,” she sings defiantly, as the track nears its summit and the horns’ harmonies pool together behind her. GIOVANNI RUSSONELLOSleigh Bells, ‘True Seekers’How does a band built for brash, high-gloss, defiant pop address pandemic times? Brashly and knowingly, summoning its usual muscle and melody — Derek Miller’s walloping drum-machine beats and loud guitars behind Alexis Krauss’s chipper voice — but now, on its new album “Texis,” with lyrics that stare down dread and mortality: “Strip away armor, strip away fear/I think I lost it but here it comes again,” Krauss sings. “I’ll find my way out of the grave.” PARELESÌfé, ‘Fake Blood’The genre-crushing group Ìfé is a revelation. Its new song, “Fake Blood,” is a reminder of the boundless promise of music, collaging Auto-Tuned Yoruba prayer, the steady shakes of a maraca and thumping bass into a meditation on colonialism, police violence and mass shootings. Over clattering hand percussion, deep bass and razor-sharp synth stabs, the group asks, “¿Qué es lo que pasa aquí?” (“What’s going on here?”) Drawing on sounds and styles from across the African diaspora, it is an exercise in divination — a demand to imagine a better future, right here, right now. ISABELIA HERRERAFivio Foreign, ‘Story Time’The early waves of Brooklyn drill were light on storytelling, so Fivio Foreign’s breakout performance on Kanye West’s “Donda” album came as a shock. “Story Time” underscores that his narrative gifts are here to stay. It’s a vivid tale about a young man in jail facing unthinkable choices: “He was a little fish when he jumped into the water/and then he grew into a shark.” CARAMANICATirzah featuring Coby Sey, ‘Hive Mind’Like the neon glow of a below-ground cocktail lounge, Tirzah’s “Hive Mind” flickers into cool tranquillity. A kick drum thumps under oblique, dog-bark synths. Tirzah and the vocalist Coby Sey offer a serene, call-and-response conversation: “But who we were/Do we see things through?” By the song’s end, the question is seemingly left unanswered. The effect is a bit haunting and a bit loose, and all the more hypnotic. HERRERASt. Etienne, ‘Pond House’Saint Etienne, which arrived in the 1990s as a suave, optimistic, crate-digging corollary of trip-hop, is downright somber on its album “I’ve Been Trying to Tell You,” billed as music for the film of the same name. “Pond House” meditates in a wide-open soundscape, with a vocal sample from Natalie Imbruglia’s “Beauty on the Fire” — “Here it comes again/Cannot outrun my desire” — hovering above a thudding reggae beat and bass line, as percussion and sea gull sounds open out the horizon. PARELESAakash Mittal, ‘Nocturne III’Visiting Kolkata, India, years ago, the saxophonist Aakash Mittal became inspired by the throbbing energy and lively soundscape of night in that crowded city, and endeavored to write music that captured the feeling. He ended up living there for the better part of two years, and came away with a book of compositions that he referred to as his “nocturnes.” On “Nocturne III,” he was specifically thinking of the way drivers use their car horns — freely, as a form of chattery communication — while drawing from the Carnatic raga of Bageshri. Mittal and his trio (the guitarist Miles Okazaki and the mrudangam drummer Rajna Swaminathan) play in unison, repeating an increasingly urgent rhythm at one pitch before jumping to another, like different cars stuck in a jam. RUSSONELLOCircuit des Yeux, ‘Sculpting the Exodus’Haley Fohr, the composer and singer who records as Circuit des Yeux, brings operatic drama to a sense of loss in “Sculpting the Exodus” from her album due Oct. 22, “-io.” It’s an elegy that begins with a modest, tolling harpsichord motif and swells to an overwhelming orchestral peak in a swirl of ghostly voices, as Fohr clings to a kind of memorial, singing, “The signal goes on repeating.” PARELESSarah Davachi, ‘Abeyant’“Abeyant,” a new work from the experimental luminary Sarah Davachi, is deeply reverent of time. The song is simple but potent: For seven minutes, the fuzz of tape hovers under subdued piano keys and synths, repeating, suspending and lulling melody into a kind of extended, decomposed aria. This is the kind of music that demands repeat listens, urging us to listen closely, deeply and intimately to what might appear to be just texture, but contains the promise of deep contemplation under the surface. HERRERA More