SIGUR RóS Kveikur [XL] What is it about Sigur Rós? By rights, this Icelandic band shouldn’t be anywhere near popular enough to headline Madison Square Garden or appear on The Simpsons, and yet in the first half of 2013, they’ve done both, building anticipation for this, their seventh album of elliptical, ethereal, strangely enchanting “dream rock,” as many describe their sound. This time out, “nightmare rock” sometimes seems the better... 

QUEENS OF THE STONE AGE …Like Clockwork  [Matador] It’s been six years since Queens of the Stone Age released Era Vulgaris, and in that time, frontman Josh Homme has worked with the supergroup Them Crooked Vultures, and drummer Joey Castillo has left the band. But in spite of—or maybe because of—the time away, the Queens’ sixth album reveals a renewed sense of self-assurance. It’s evident in the expansive sound, which allows the guitars... 

DEMI LOVATO Demi [Hollywood] The last time Demi Lovato released an album the onetime teen Disney princess was coming off a rough patch that included a break for rehab and newly discovered bipolar disorder. Not so surprisingly, the music on 2011’s Unbroken took a serious turn. On her fourth album, the 20-year-old pop singer and X Factor judge is still in a reflective mood, but with a brighter outlook this time. And as its title implies, Demi is supposed... 

THE NATIONAL Trouble Will Find Me [4AD] Though the National is often described as “world-weary,” “world-wary” may be more accurate. On five previous albums, the Brooklyn-based band crafted increasingly sophisticated songs populated by characters that live in their own heads, reluctant to engage as they parse the secret angst and uncertainty of evolving adulthood. The group’s latest is a stunning refinement of the form—a search for self... 

JOHN FOGERTY Wrote a Song for Everyone [Vanguard] John Fogerty’s first album in four years finds him collaborating with musical A-listers on songs he’s written throughout his career. Several tracks remain faithful to the original recordings, and while the new version of “Have You Ever Seen the Rain” doesn’t add much, it’s a pleasure to hear Alan Jackson’s rich baritone. The most notable departure may be the Foo Fighters’ hard-rock... 

THEY MIGHT BE GIANTS Nanobots [Idlewild] On Nanobots—their 12th studio album, not counting the four they’ve made for children—They Might Be Giants continue to be very serious about the business of being silly. This time out, the indie mainstays rhyme about combustible heads, the misguided commitments of karate, and occasionally even educational topics, as on their homage to Nikola Tesla and his works. With 25 tracks clocking in at just over... 

Steve Martin & Edie Brickell Love Has Come for You [Rounder] Twenty-five years ago, the idea of a Steve Martin recording with Edie Brickell might have seemed like a disaster of New Coke proportions, but Love Has Come for You proves them to be a delightful creative duo. The album combines Brickell’s lyrics and smoky soprano with Martin’s intricate and evocative banjo melodies. Though they co-wrote these songs from opposite coasts, they truly... 

LOW The Invisible Way [Sub Pop] Over the course of their dozen-plus previous offerings, Low has never shown themselves to be the most effusive combo, so to hear them opting for a more expressive delivery suggests a bid for accessibility. The tone is still austere, and the subject matter decidedly conflicted—themes veer from struggle to intimacy—but the sound is no longer blanketed by the veil of melancholia that’s enveloped it in the past. Those... 

JOE BONAMASSA An Acoustic Evening at the Vienna Opera House  [J&R Adventures] Anyone who reserves a page of his concert DVD’s booklet for a list of guitars he plays on the disc is obviously after the gearheads. (For the record, a 1974 Martin D-41, a 2012 Gibson SJ-200 and Guild F-512 12-string are among the dozens of acoustics listed.) And up until about a year or so ago, Joe Bonamassa mostly appealed to fellow instrumentalists, who could appreciate... 

Pistol Annies Annie Up [Sony Nashville] When it comes to Pistol Annies—Miranda Lambert, Angaleena Presley and Ashley Monroe—the whole is often greater than the sum of its parts. On its second album, the country trio pays tribute to lower-class women and speaks intelligently of their struggles. Whether singing alone or in harmony, each Annie adds new wrinkles to her phrasing: Lambert sounds feistier than ever, and Presley and Monroe meet that challenge... 

FITZ AND THE TANTRUMS More Than Just a Dream [Elektra] Like any music junkie, Fitz and the Tantrums frontman Michael Fitzpatrick is well aware of the second-album curse. He responds by filling the follow-up to his band’s 2010 debut, Pickin’ Up the Pieces, with a few new styles and sounds, attempting to outrun the backlash he fears is coming. And for the most part, Fitz and the Tantrums stay one step ahead. More Than Just a Dream is more dynamic... 

Willie Nelson Let’s Face the Music and Dance [Sony Legacy] For Willie Nelson, there’s no better (legal) way to celebrate a birthday than to release a record. The latest addition to the octogenarian’s 200-plus-album discography marks a return to the Great American Songbook, which served him so well on 1978’s Stardust. Nelson’s instantly recognizable, languorous vocals suit the material, giving a rough-hewn charm to standards like “Walking... 

The Three O’Clock The Hidden World Revealed [Omnivore] In the early ’80s, two separate yet parallel strains of Southern California rock offered different takes on ’60s revivalism. On one end, there was the hardcore punk of Black Flag and their ilk—bands that redefined “loud” and “fast” by pushing the antiestablishment rock of forefathers like Credence Clearwater Revival to hulking extremes. Punk was great for angry teenagers, but what... 

THE CHAPIN SISTERS A Date With the Everly Brothers thechapinsisters.com When ’50s rockers gain traction among young’uns, it’s usually because they represent the rebelliousness that historians often associate with the era, but that seldom translates in the malt-shop hits still heard on oldies radio. Recent examples include most-exalted badass Johnny Cash and feisty growler Wanda Jackson. The Everly Brothers are a harder sell, but the Chapin Sisters—two... 

MORTAR & PESTLE Mortar & Pestle mortarandpestlemusic.com One track into the debut from this Oakland trio, you might be surprised to see a drummer credited in the liners. On “U.V.”—as good a first impression as any new group might hope to make—singer Janaysa Lambert and keyboardist Paul Shinichi do soulful synth-pop somewhere between Depeche Mode and Des’ree, that ’90s one-hit wonder behind “You Gotta Be.” They could have gotten... 

DOUG MACLEOD There’s a Time doug-macleod.com A master of amused resignation, like all the best bluesmen, Doug MacLeod is as fine a phrase turner and joke maker as he is a string bender and drawling crooner—and that’s saying something. On his latest album—the umpteenth in a career rife with accolades and collaborations with genre greats—the 66-year-old hangs with good-time girls (“Rosa Lee”) and strolls on the dark side (“Run With the... 

MICHAEL GALLANT TRIO Completely gallantmusic.com Michael Gallant has never met a keyboard he doesn’t like. As a music journalist [and regular contributor to M], he’s profiled everyone from Dave Brubeck to Justin Timberlake—and as a pianist, he’s performed with Dixieland ensembles and composed scores for films, theater productions and even iPad graphic novels. Here, leading a jazz-rock trio, he deftly and tastefully swings between genres, playing... 

BORA YORK Dreaming Free borayork.com You can’t fake the warm feeling Chris Bartels gets on Dreaming Free, the full-band follow-up to an indie-folk solo effort he dropped in 2011. Collaborating with his wife and a group of good friends, the 25-year-old Minnesotan makes soft-focus synth-pop for young romantics and dreamers. Everything from the chiming guitars to the echoing vocals positively glows, and despite the bittersweet tinge of tunes like “Close... 

COLD SATELLITE Cavalcade coldsatellite.com What bar band sings lines like, “In the distance lies a city / a dappled ruby hub”? One smart enough to divvy up duties and let a poet write the lyrics and a burly-voiced guitar slinger deliver them. Cavalcade marks the second collaboration between celebrated wordsmith Lisa Olstein and acclaimed country rocker Jeffrey Foucault, and it’s plain to see what they get from each other. Songs this meaty and... 

HALLE & THE JILT Three Roads Home halleandthejilt.com Plenty of songwriters claim to take lyrics from diary entries, but in the case of Halle Petro, this seems especially true. Her songs are clear enough—most deal with relationships, and she pretty much lets on whether she’s hopeful or heartbroken—but there are gaps in the stories, just like there’s space in the arrangements of these 10 bluesy, rootsy jazz tunes. There’s little soul-diva... 

LINDA DRAPER Edgewise lindadraper.net On the latest from this New York singer-songwriter, the name of the game is motion. On “Glass Palace,” Draper contemplates leaving a lover and perhaps even passing into the great beyond, while “Right on Time” and “Hollow” find her “running down Bergen Avenue” and racing against the tide of tediousness threatening to overtake her life. With all of these songs—pop-rock sparklers informed by the... 

PARIS COMBO 5 pariscombo.com Few musical terms can be more terrifying than “jazz fusion.” When supremely talented players go all crazy chemist and start mixing genres, things can get ugly fast. But that’s not the case with Paris Combo. The French five-piece hit big during the ’90s swing revival, but then, as now, they refused to be fitted for standard-issue zoot suits. On 5, their first album since 2004, these wily Parisians throw a fantasy... 

THE BLACK LILLIES Runaway Freeway Blues theblacklillies.com Born of heartache—Cruz Contreras formed the group after the 2007 dissolution of his marriage, which also busted up his previous band—the Black Lillies are no longer strictly a vehicle for catharsis. On its third album, this seriously fierce trad-country outfit indulges in musical joyrides (see the sublime “Smokestack Lady”) and offers heartfelt character studies of Vietnam soldiers,... 

NAKIA Drown in the Crimson Tide nakia.net Singer, songwriter, actor and reality TV veteran Nakia Reynoso is a one-man variety show—a retro-sounding, thoroughly modern all-around entertainer for his time and place. In 2011, The Voice judge Cee Lo Green was sufficiently smitten to make him a quarterfinalist, and one spin through this six-song EP reveals why. Like Green, Nakia makes heavily varnished pop rooted in—but not slavishly indebted to—classic... 

CATHY Swimsuit Season cathymusic.com The latest in a long line of unassuming indie bands to have discovered the perfect ratio of wounded-dude sincerity to left-of-the-dial irreverence, Cathy makes record-geek rock everyone can get behind. Here, the Brooklyn foursome honors saints ranging from Alex Chilton to J Mascis, channeling their love and respect into punky power-pop jams and rousing alt-country sidesteps. There are even a few ballads, closer... 

GWEN SEBASTIAN Gwen Sebastian gwensebastian.com Thanks to The Voice—and judge Blake Shelton—this North Dakota singer-songwriter got her name out to the masses. Thanks to her voice—unusually tart and twangy—she skirts a pop-country pitfall or two, infusing this slick disc with a bit of old-school grit and genuine character.    Read More →

BAD PILGRIM Bad Pilgrim badpilgrim.com Good students of Operation Ivy, Less Than Jake and maybe even early Elvis Costello, Bad Pilgrim prove that poppy punk and breakneck ska can be sweet and juvenile without bouncing into goofball territory. Spin “Don’t Leave Me Alone” and spend a glorious 1:20 with your teenage self.    Read More →

JIMBEAU HINSON Strong Medicine jimbeauhinson.com Forgive Hinson if he’s feeling reflective. HIV-positive since the early ’80s, the hit-making country songwriter is glad to be alive, and on these earnest folk-rock tunes, he’s not shy about saying so. His calm, soulful delivery is as listenable as it is admirable.    Read More →

THE ORANGE PEELS Sun Moon theorangepeels.com On their fifth album, these Northern California tunesmiths rejigger the lineup and, by their estimation, get a bit experimental. Should they open for Muse, they’ll have a couple of grand arena-esque jams to pick from, but their focus remains sweet orchestral indie pop, complex yet light.    Read More →

STANDISH/CARLYON Deleted Scenes facebook.com/standishcarlyon Back in the day, this album might have facilitated romance between Bauhaus and Wham! fans. Today, its spacey, minimalist, gothed-out lover-man R&B feels universal, natural—even inevitable. It has something to do with the internet, as well as the sensual songcraft of this Aussie duo.    Read More →

ROD STEWART Time [Capitol] After a decade of lucrative, critically unloved covers records—five Great American Songbook sets, plus collections of rock and soul chestnuts—Rod Stewart has finally gone back to writing songs. The impetus, he’s said, was his 2012 autobiography, which got him thinking back, taking stock, and basically doing what rock stars do when they research a certain age. With Time, the 68-year-old superstar sings his life in 12... 

BRAD PAISLEY Wheelhouse  [Arista Nashville] Since upping the ante with the musically and lyrically progressive American Saturday Night in 2009, Brad Paisley has positioned himself as a guitar-slinging messiah sent here to abolish a rift between red and blue states. He directly addresses that divide multiple times on Wheelhouse, a hodgepodge of pop culture references and patriotic salutes. On the bluesy “Accidental Racist,” notable for a bizarre... 

TRICKY False Idols [False Idols] It’s been 18 years since Tricky released Maxinquaye, the trip-hop masterpiece that expanded that genre’s parameters. Nine albums later, he’s still trying to top it. The British producer, vocalist and multi-instrumentalist named his second album Pre-Millennium Tension, and he’s been working that theme, more or less, ever since. False Idols hits all the usual signposts: densely layered beats, gritty dance rhythms,... 

MUDHONEY Vanishing Point [Sub Pop] As a grunge revival quakes among younger bands, Mudhoney is still rumbling on with the abrasive sound that has served them since Seattle was the center of the alt-rock world. They’ve consistently turned out corrosive guitar records, and their ninth studio effort reflects a keenly focused ferocity. They’ve reined in their trademark overdriven guitars, and yet on these tight, targeted songs, singer Mark Arm’s... 

IGGY & THE STOOGES Ready to Die [Fat Possum] Forty years after James Williamson last contributed to a Stooges album, the guitarist makes his presence known right away on the band’s latest. Opener “Burn” uncorks with the crack of a drum and is immediately overrun with a tidal-wave riff that’s loud, dirty and dangerous—everything that’s always been great about the Stooges. There’s plenty of that on Ready to Die, an album whose best... 

VAMPIRE WEEKEND Modern Vampires of the City  [XL Recordings] Vampire Weekend’s third album expands its varied repertoire with a musical valentine to their hometown of New York City. Set to liquid chords and languid rhythms, the band’s serious-minded lyrics center on the trials of 20-something life. The band incorporates numerous sounds, from rubbery bass on the mod-rockabilly number “Diane Young” to Hammond organ on the Beach Boys-inspired... 

TODD RUNDGREN State [Esoteric Antenna/Cherry Red] Following a recent release that delved into hard rock, fearsome blues and radically redefined versions of seminal songs he produced for others, State finds Rundgren testing his parameters yet again. Chameleon-like by nature, Rundgren revisits the synthesized setups and exotic experimentation that once marked his work with Utopia and later colored solo albums like The Individualist and Nearly Human.... 

GOO GOO DOLLS Magnetic [Warner Bros.] Last time out, on 2010’s Something for the Rest of Us, the Goo Goo Dolls went deep, singing about paralyzed war veterans, the plight of the 99 percent and other bummer subjects far removed from the misunderstood soul who pined for true love in “Iris.” For their 10th album, Magnetic, frontman John Rzeznik returns to familiar territory, penning inspirational tunes with titles like “Bulletproof Angel.”... 

THE POSTAL SERVICE Give Up: Deluxe 10th Anniversary Edition  [Sub Pop] The two biggest sellers in Sub Pop’s history reveal some of the key differences between the generation that raged along with grunge in the early ’90s and the one that took solace in emo in the early ’00s. Whereas Nirvana’s Bleach, which dropped in 1989 but didn’t really hit until a few years later, is caustic and vague—notable less for what Kurt Cobain said than for... 

SHE & HIM Volume 3 [Merge] She & Him—vocalist Zooey Deschanel and producer/guitarist M. Ward—concoct a vibrant spirit on this charming, if kitschy, collection of lo-fi psychedelic pop. Deschanel wrote 11 of the 14 songs, most of which deal with the hardships of new love. Her roll-with-the-punches performance, full of innocent sighs and moody expressions, throbs with ache. On “London,” an abstract, hypnotic piano ballad, she adds shades... 

STEVE EARLE & THE DUKES (& DUCHESSES) The Low Highway [New West] Though not exactly a New Orleans record, Steve Earle’s latest has a distinct Big Easy flavor. In part, that’s because Earle wrote three of the songs for the HBO series Treme, on which he played a street musician. There’s zydeco-style accordion on “That All You Got?”, and jaunty bayou fiddle on “Love’s Gonna Blow My Way,” and the titular reference of “After Mardi... 

THE PASTELS Slow Summits [Domino] Though they haven’t released an official album in 16 years, the Pastels haven’t kept silent. A film soundtrack in 2003 and collaboration with the Japanese band Tenniscoats in 2009 helped the band to evolve its sound, as has a continuously revolving line-up. With Slow Summits, the Pastels’ move from shambolic rock to subdued, off-kilter pop seems complete. Their sound has changed shape, and the thinned-out guitars... 

SOUND CITY [RCA] Dave Grohl’s directorial debut centers on the titular studio—the defunct Southern California facility where Nirvana cut Nevermind and countless other artists did some of their finest work—but that’s not really what this film is about. On a micro level, it’s about “the Neve,” an analog recording console purchased by Sound City’s owners in 1973 for the then-princely sum of $75,000. If Grohl and his buddies—an impressive... 

ÓLÖF ARNALDS Sudden Elevation [One Little Indian] Ólöf Arnalds embraces subtlety in her mixes, even as she creates more complex works. On her third solo album and first entirely in English, the Icelandic singer-songwriter exercises tremendous restraint in her arrangements, and initial listens don’t reveal how much has been seamlessly integrated under the fingerpicked guitars. Arnalds’ classical training is apparent in the sparse string arrangements... 

THE BRYAN FERRY ORCHESTRA The Jazz Age [BMG] Bryan Ferry is no stranger to albums filled with cover songs. But The Jazz Age, credited to the Bryan Ferry Orchestra, is something different: 13 songs, spanning Roxy Music’s first single to Ferry’s most recent solo album, done in the style of 1920s jazz. It’s so lovingly and faithfully recreated that you’re half expecting the clicks and pops of vintage 78s on these lo-fi mono recordings. The Jazz... 

THE THERMALS Signed and Sealed in Blood [Domino] The sixth album from this Portland pop-punk trio sees a return to the kinds of scratchy vocals and trebly guitar strains heard in its earlier work. Freshly signed to Saddle Creek, the band wastes little time getting down to business. “Born to Kill” opens with Hutch Harris simultaneously striking his first guitar note and declaring, “I was born to kill / I was made to slay / unafraid to spill blood... 

AMY SPEACE How to Sleep in a Stormy Boat amyspeace.com In the lead-up to her latest, Amy Speace lost some things—love, judging from the lyrics, and also her voice, thanks to a bout with acute laryngitis. Still, by virtue of being alive and having the friends, family and emotional toughness to muddle on, for better or worse, this Nashville-based singer-songwriter considers herself among the “Fortunate Ones” she sings about on the leadoff track.... 

CERAMIC DOG Your Turn marcribot.com Best known for working with two of the greatest lyricists and most distinctive vocalists of our time—Tom Waits and Elvis Costello—guitarist Marc Ribot doesn’t need to say a word. He sings plenty on this, the second album by his trio Ceramic Dog, and railing against Mother Nature (“Lies My Body Told Me”) and freeloading MP3 downloaders (“Masters of the Internet”), he’s got some interesting things... 

JOHN MURRY The Graceless Age johnmurry.com On one level, there’s a shuffling, off-the-cuff feel to John Murry’s music. Singing songs about heartache and heroin addiction, he’s got the laid-back strum and rough, jaded delivery of a been-there, took-that, lived-to-tell troubadour. But there’s nothing casual about The Graceless Age, an album of dense, meticulous sonic collages masquerading as alt-country tunes. Murry’s backstory is as cluttered—or... 

THE SHARP THINGS Green Is Good thesharpthings.com After six years away, these Brooklyn pop experimentalists emerge from their laboratory flush with new music. This is the first installment of Dogs of Bushwick, a four-album set, and on the series’ title track, singer Perry Serpa describes his need to write songs. “There’s a radio station alive in my head,” he sings. “There’s a radio station that’s driving me mad.” At least the DJs have...