ROCK
Against Me!
“Transgender Dysphoria Blues”
Producer: Laura Jane Grace
Label: Total Treble
Release Date: Jan. 21
Most of the talk about Against Me!’s sixth studio album has centered on Laura Jane Grace, the punk group’s frontwoman formerly known as Tom Gabel, who came out as transgender in 2012. Her experiences are an unflinching focus here, but this set is the band’s strongest regardless of back story. Produced by Grace, the album brims with blunt rock force, as songs like “True Trans Soul Rebel” distill the singer’s lonely world atop taut guitar riffs. -Jason Lipshutz
ALTERNATIVE
Broken Bells
“After the Disco”
PRODUCER: Brian “Danger Mouse” Burton
LABEL: Columbia
RELEASE DATE: Feb. 4
James Mercer follows his most shameless bid for indie-pop stardom, 2012’s Greg Kurstin-produced Shins album “Port of Morrow,” with a beat-driven reteam with Danger Mouse on side project Broken Bells’ sophomore LP. There’s some sci-fi spaghetti western spillover from the artists’ previous efforts in the production and lyrics. But the set is also stuffed with enough hooks and Studio 54-worthy basslines to make all those ideas a pleasant side dish. -Andrew Hampp
ROCK
Augustines
“Augustines”
Producers: Peter Katis, Augustines
Label: Votiv/Oxcart
Release Date: Feb. 4
After releasing its 2011 debut as We Are Augustines, the Seattle trio returns to its original one-word name, but that’s about all that’s minimal about the band’s second LP. Across 12 hi-fi panoramas, frontman Billy McCarthy pays respects to “Joshua Tree”-era U2 over cathartic swells of Mumford & Sons-like proportions, with no less bombast. Be it 1987 or 2014, the LP is a worthy entry into the arena-rock sweepstakes. -Chris Payne
WORLD
Angelique Kidjo
“Eve”
Producer: Patrick Dillett
Label: 429 Records
Release Date: Jan. 28
With a canyon-filling voice, Kidjo celebrates the power of African womanhood on her 13th album, blending choirs from Kenya and her native Benin and melodies from throughout Western Africa. Guests Dr. John, Rostam Batmanglij of Vampire Weekend and Christian McBride avoid Westernizing Kidjo’s art, while the Kronos Quartet adds a third stream to the entrancing “Edible,” a hybrid of Latin and African rhythms. -Phil Gallo
POP
Elizabeth & The Catapult
Like It Never Happened
Producers: Dan Molad, Pete Lalish
Label: Scratchback Records/Thirty Tigers
Release date: Jan. 21
Clever pop that fearlessly breaks rules fills Elizabeth Zinman’s first album since being dropped by Verve. Blessed with an aching breathlessness that falls between Carly Simon and Florence Walsh, Zinman charms with nonchalance. Leonard Cohen and Joni Mitchell are lyrical North Stars — she once covered their songs busking on New York subways — but Zinman fully embraces the conceit that a good lyric needs inventive melodies and smart arrangements. -Phil Gallo