This evangelical for old-timey music crafts a mixtape of global folk songs– Scotland to Nairobi; China to Appalachia– from his record collection. [Stephen M. Deusner]

R.E.M.’s overlooked and transitional third album from 1985, produced by UK legend Joe Boyd, receives the deluxe reissue treatment. [Matthew Perpetua]

This collaboration between Secret Machines and On! Air! Library! members returns, again with shoegaze motifs married to assertive pop melodies. [Amy Granzin]

Former beloved local Seattle band– a stepping stone for virtually every early Band of Horses member– has its best moments collected and released. [Rebecca Raber]

The overcast moods and broken tempos of this dance vet are informed by Villalobos and Pantha, but also come off like kin to the xx and witch house. [Philip Sherburne]

North Carolina Americana band continues to impress, colliding their bluegrass more than ever with other strains of country music. [Joe Tangari]

On his third album, the influential R&B singer/songwriter comes into his own as an album artist, getting over on his impeccable sense of craft. Here, it no longer feels as if The-Dream is splitting the difference between his pop star ambition and a large cult of admirers. With Love King, he’s broken down the detachment …

Working alone with just a nylon-string guitar, Mark Kozelek takes a new tack under his Sun Kil Moon alias. [Stephen Deusner]

Liars cohorts and tourmates locate that band’s sense of rhythmically obtuse and dense appeal yet often make almost whimsical pop out of it. [Zach Kelly]

In 1974, Bob Desper released his only album– limited to a 500-copy pressing on a local Christian imprint. Discourage reissues it now. [Joshua Klein]