[ jazz ]

Iranian-American saxophonist Hafez Modirzadeh reaps the fruits of three decades of experimentation with alternative tunings and cultural fusions on Post-Chromodal Out! (Pi), blending Persian, Iraqi, Filipino and Western influences. The leader sits Vijay Iyer at a retuned piano and continues his two-man peace accord with Iraqi-American trumpeter Amir ElSaffar, both well known for concocting new pathways from jazz and their cultural heritages. The result is a heady, stridently dense set that is at times alluringly exotic, at others forbiddingly complex and discordant. —Shaun Brady     

[ bluegrass/blues/rock ]

Over the years, Jerry Douglas has created a resonator guitar style farbeyond his blazing bluegrass side-man days. On the new Traveler (eOne), Alison Krauss sings a beautiful slow number; so does Paul Simon, guesting on his own “The Boxer” along with Mumford & Sons. Wider appeal? Add leads from Keb’ Mo’ and Eric Clapton. Douglas kicks off the collection with Leadbelly and wraps it with a sizzling bluegrass instrumental. —Mary Armstrong   

[ rock/pop ]

Yoni Wolf has relegated some mighty fine work to WHY?’s EPs in the past, and the new six-track Sod in the Seed (Anticon/City Slang) — a rust-free, revved-into-gear re-entry after a three-year absence — fully follows suit. It’s rife with conflicted off-the-cuff mission statements, logorrheic confessionals and Wolf’s trademarked, serpentine nested rhymes (“rehearsing slow lewd winks nude at the men’s room sink”) set atop some of the band’s richest, most playful musical textures yet. Makes you wonder what wonders they’re saving up for the full-length due out in the fall. —K. Ross Hoffman              

[ electronic/acoustic ]

Every bit as fragrant as their rustic moniker suggests, Brighton duo Grasscut cultivate a characteristically British blend of wist and whimsy on their lush, poetic second outing, Unearth (Ninja Tune). Meandering through pastures left largely unplowed since the fertile days of early-aughts lap-pop, it evokes the genteel eccentricity of Robert Wyatt (who also makes a cameo), the lavender longueur of the Clientele and a smidge of the Chap’s cheekiness, all refracted through a gently cinematic glitch-pop pastoralism highly reminiscent of the underappreciated Tunng. —K. Ross Hoffman