Pitchfork

Malawian-born, London-based singer Esau Mwamwaya teams with the European production team Radioclit for a hugely eclectic mixtape that veers from South Africa's marabi and kwaito music to Hans Zimmer scores to French and American hip-hop to Michael Jackson. While strong collaborations with M.I.A., Santogold, and Vampire Weekend include some surprising left-turns, tracks that lean away from the familiar work even better.

Microcastle and its bonus disc, Weird Era Cont., sidestep much of the art-damaged squall of previous Deerhunter records, but they don't embrace 1950s and 60s pop as dramatically as lead singer Bradford Cox had intimated in early interviews. Instead, this 2xCD set captures urgent and imaginative songs that reorganize 4AD haze, off-kilter indie pop, crashing garage-punk, forward-leaning krautrock, and hypnotic Kranky ambience into a singular-sounding call-to-arms, or at least call-to-guitars. Black Lips' Cole Alexander guests.

Through her solo work and as a member of Charalambides, Christina Carter has long been an expert avant-folk minimalist, mining depth from small, repetitive songs.

Collecting recordings of small ensembles found in and around Baghdad in the late 1920s, this compilation sheds light on a misunderstood region whose recent history obscures its cultural legacy.

Dependable Scandinavian singer-songwriter Ane Brun returns with another record of spare instrumentation, slightly broken sentiment, and an unwavering devotion to prettiness.