Three staffers, three unabashed recommendations.

Although 2017 is already wrapping up with best-of lists and the like, December still promises a handful of new records from Miguel, Belle & Sebastian, Brian Eno, and N.E.R.D., to name a few. Here are the ones we’re looking forward to the most from the last remaining releases of the year.

Chris Stapleton extends a superlative run on From A Room: Volume 2, while War & Leisure finds Miguel in more radio-friendly territory. These, plus Neil Young & Promise Of The Real in this week’s notable releases.

A couple weeks ago, the prolific psych-rock weirdoes King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard released Polygondwanaland, the fourth of five LPs they planned for 2017. The music itself has been a bit overshadowed by the odd way the album is being distributed—MP3 and WAV versions are free to download, but people are also being…

Welcome back to AVC Sessions, our series where we bring in an artist, band, musician, singer, rapper, etc. to perform three of their tracks. This round, New Jersey duo The Front Bottoms join us in the studio to play a few songs from their well-received sixth studio album, Going Grey. In this video, the band ends its…

The 1990s was the decade U2 gave no fucks. Its output from that era, beginning with the unsurpassed, career-resetting Achtung Baby in 1991, saw the band indulge in its Bowie-like impulses to exhilarating effect. In ’93, Zooropa sounded like it was recorded in outer space; 1997’s Pop saw the group crashing back down…

Welcome back to AVC Sessions, our series where we bring in an artist, band, musician, singer, rapper, etc. to perform three of their own tracks. This round, New Jersey duo The Front Bottoms join us in the studio to play a few tracks from their well-received sixth studio album, Going Grey. In the first video from their…

Björk finds her way back to love on Utopia, while Sufjan Stevens serves up lovely Carrie & Lowell outtakes on his Greatest Gift mixtape. These, plus Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds in this week’s notable releases.

After decades of producing some of pop music’s most challenging works, Björk gave us perhaps her most difficult record in 2015 with Vulnicura. It traced in painful detail the dissolution of her 13-year relationship with artist Matthew Barney, with leaden string arrangements and Björk’s spirit as black as the lake at…

Welcome back to AVC Sessions, our series where we bring in an artist, band, musician, singer, rapper, etc. to perform three of their own tracks. This round, we’re joined by Jon Langford’s newest collaboration, Jon Langford’s Four Lost Souls. The four-piece band, which released its first record, Four Lost Souls, in…

Welcome back to AVC Sessions, our series where we bring in an artist, band, musician, singer, rapper, etc. to perform three of their own tracks. This round, we’re joined by Jon Langford’s newest collaboration, Jon Langford’s Four Lost Souls. The four-piece band, which released its first record, Four Lost Souls, in…