The latest in NPR's compendium of the year's best music, according to its shows' hosts, is a list of the Top Ten "New Music" albums, as chosen by WNYC's Nadia Sirota, and on it is Alarm Will Sound's Nonesuch debut, a/rhythmia. While Sirota admits up front that the concept of "new music" grows ever harder to define as the once contemporary classical genre absorbs new sounds and styles, the one criterion unifying the albums on her list is this: "Simply put, these are the records from the past year that I cannot stop playing."

Alarm Will Sound, with whom Sirota has performed in the past, certainly proves her point of new music's porous borders, not least on a/rhythmia. The album features works from across the centuries unified, in the ensemble's hands, by their play on conventional notions of rhythm and pulse. "Alarm Will Sound's latest album explores rhythmic complexity—particularly in the form of stratified pulses—from the 14th century up to now," says Sirota. "The idea sounds complex, but the group makes its crystal-clear point joyfully through engaging programming and performances."

Read the complete list of the year's best in new music and listen to tracks from each at npr.org.