PETER BJORN & JOHN Gimme Some [Startime] Writer’s Block wasn’t Peter Bjorn & John’s first record—in fact, the group’s 2006 U.S. breakthrough was the Swedish trio’s third release. Even so, 2009’s unfocused Living Thing, felt like a victim of the sophomore slump. They’ve shrugged it off on their latest with 11 catchy pop tunes that are punchier than a boxing gym on fight night. Guitars bob and weave on “Dig a Little Deeper,”... 

NEIL YOUNG A Treasure [Reprise] By the mid-1980s, Neil Young had effectively gone rogue. The upstart Geffen label may have thought it signed a reliable rock legend, but Young handed the company in short order an electronic-music experiment (Trans), a rockabilly album (Everybody’s Rockin’) and a straightforward country effort (Old Ways). Geffen responded by suing Young for not sounding sufficiently like himself, and the artist took his case directly... 

SARAH JAROSZ Follow Me Down [Sugar Hill] If repeating yourself is a sure way to invite the sophomore jinx, then 19-year-old wunderkind Sarah Jarosz has blown that sucker to smithereens on her second album. Follow Me Down finds the Texas native branching out into adventurous newgrass styles with the help of Dobro king Jerry Douglas, banjo pioneer Béla Fleck, violin ace Stuart Duncan and other instrumental luminaries. Jarosz establishes a spooky ambiance... 

MATRACA BERG The Dreaming Fields [Dualtone] In a perfect universe, Matraca Berg would be the Queen of Country Music. Blessed with a sparkling vocal instrument and an unerring knack for penning songs that pack a visceral wallop, the Nashville native nonetheless saw mainstream solo success elude her. The Dreaming Fields, her first album in 14 years, proves that her gifts have only sharpened to a stiletto point over time. Berg tells of a girl who longs... 

DANGER MOUSE AND DANIELE LUPPI Rome [Capitol] Five years in the making, this collaboration between producer Danger Mouse (Brian Burton) and composer Daniele Luppi is an homage to the stylish sound of ’60s Italian film music, especially the so-called “Spaghetti Western” genre. As directors like Sergio Leone were trying to replicate American westerns a half-century ago, so Burton and Luppi journeyed to Rome to summon the spirit of a musical subgenre... 

THE CARS Move Like This [Concord] From Weezer in the ’90s to the Strokes and OK Go today, countless bands have realized what classic-rock radio never forgets: The Cars were pretty great. The Boston quintet built one of the era’s finest discographies during the ’70s and ’80s, making New Wave palatable for people without spiky hair. A quarter-century after stalling out, the Cars return with Move Like This—more a restoration project than the... 

FLEET FOXES Helplessness Blues [Sub Pop] With due respect to the band’s parents, it was nearly impossible to listen to Fleet Foxes’ 2008 self-titled debut album and not wonder if these harmonizers were raised in seclusion with a stack of sentient Crosby, Stills and Nash records. The voices were startling in their nakedness and purity, as if some irresponsible mentor had forgotten to tell the band that modern music isn’t supposed to be so gentle.... 

BRAD PAISLEY This Is Country Music [Arista Nashville] With its playful humor, above-average songwriting and stellar musicianship, Brad Paisley’s eighth studio album includes some of his strongest work in recent years—and some of his most uneven. If his trademark boy-next-door charm fades a bit on tepid tunes like “Working on a Tan” and “Camouflage,” he makes up for it on the ballad “A Man Don’t Have to Die” and the rip-roaring Western... 

LADY GAGA Born This Way [Interscope] Maybe she should have saved “Just Dance” for this one: Lady Gaga’s new album is a high-energy collection of booming club beats and crazed synthesizers on 14 new songs stuffed full of pop hooks. Gaga (Stefani Germanotta to her mom) has a message this time, too: Be yourself. She hits the theme on the Madonna-esque title track, asserts herself with her ’do on “Hair” (featuring Clarence Clemons on saxophone)... 

BEASTIE BOYS Hot Sauce Committee Part Two [Capitol] The long-awaited eighth Beastie Boys album begins on a familiar note. Over a funky, distorted organ riff and clanging, old-school beat, rappers Michael “Mike D” Diamond, Adam “Ad-Rock” Horovitz and Adam “MCA” Yauch respectively bark, shriek and croak their lines, complementing one another as they have since the early ’80s when the trio busted out of New York City nearly fully formed.... 

UNIVERSAL AUDIO UAD-2 SATELLITE Out-of-this-world plug-ins FOR: Getting UA’s vaunted self-powered plug-ins via a sleek FireWire-driven box. Previous incarnations of the UAD required a PCI or PCIe slot, locking iMac, MacBook Pro and Mac Mini users out of the plug-in party. The FireWire-driven UAD-2 Satellite is available in two footprints—the QUAD, which features four SHARC DSP chips, and the DUO, which features two. By offloading plug-in processing,... 

SONOMA WIRE WORKS DRUMCORE v.3.0 Serious beat downs FOR: A great collection of audio loops, sampled kits and MIDI loops played by a host of killer drummers. In a word, DrumCore v.3.0 is flexible. You have your choice of dragging audio loops or MIDI files onto the timeline in your favorite recording application. The latter affords you some incredible options, like hearing Terry Bozzio laying down a fat 5/4 groove played back through Matt Sorum’s... 

PLANET WAVES MODULAR SNAKE Get wired without getting bitten FOR: Modular solutions to age-old studio cabling issues. From the quality of the build to the number of challenges it solves, we were thoroughly impressed with the Planet Waves Modular Snake. The eight-channel Core cable is available in multiple lengths, with each end terminating in a male DB25 connector. Attach the female DB25 connector of the desired “Breakout” to the Core and you... 

SKB R106 RACK CONSOLE & AV–8 19″ AV RETRACTABLE AV SHELF Your screen saver FOR: Saving space and keeping your laptop safe. The R106’s 10U slanted top rails are perfect for a rack-mounted mixer, while the 6U front facing rails are ideal for your power conditioner, signal processors and rack-mounted wireless units. Dual side-access cable ports make for speedy set-ups and the TSA-approved locks keep your gear safe under lock and key.... 

AVID ELEVEN RACK EXPANSION PACK Déjà vu all over again FOR: Fans craving new additions to this wildly successful guitar-centric Pro Tools interface. Whether you’re already using Eleven or are considering taking the plunge into the “11R” universe, there’s plenty to love about this update. Perfectly complementing the 13 amp, eight cabinet and six effects model additions, the speaker breakup emulation also takes the original models to a whole... 

RADIAL PROD2 STEREO DIRECT BOX Dual injection FOR: Studio rats and sound hogs. The Radial ProD2 is a passive stereo DI box that can be used for a number of key functions. In most cases DI (direct injection) boxes are used to convert a hi-Z unbalanced signal from a guitar, bass or keyboard to a low-Z balanced signal for a PA or DAW for long cable runs that won’t kill your tone along the way. Conveniently, you can also use the ProD2 in the opposite... 

PEAVEY REVALVER MK III.V Big tones in a small package FOR: Component-based modeling software. We’d heard about Peavey’s component-driven approach to modeling, but closer inspection leaves no doubt the company has done an excellent job of recreating amplifier dynamics in a way that modeling software has often failed to deliver. The ability to mix and match pre-amps, power amps, tubes and more provides a wide range of tone-shaping options. The... 

FOCUSRITE OCTOPRE MKII DYNAMIC Eight the easy way FOR: Anyone in need of an eight-channel mic pre with a great feature set. One of the common challenges recording enthusiasts face today is how to get enough mic inputs to track a live band or full drum kit. The Focusrite OctoPre MkII Dynamic leverages the ADAT light pipe protocol to deliver eight simultaneous tracks of lush audio. Each channel features independent level and compression controls as... 

Everything you need to know about selecting the right pickup for your guitar When you’re headbanging to a blistering riff by Slayer’s Kerry King or holding your breath as you listen to B.B. King’s soaring lead, you’re hearing more than just great musicians, guitars and amps. Key to any six-stringer’s unique tone is the pickup—the unassuming metal device that sits underneath guitar strings and translates their vibrations into sweet melodies... 

MAY 2011 COVER STORY: STEVIE NICKS FEATURE: SUMMER FESTIVAL MUSICIAN: BRUCE HORNSBY, HERB ALPERT ENGINEER: MARCELLA ARAICA Q&A’s: KIMBERLY CALDWELL, DEATH CAB FOR CUTIE, ARCTIC MONKEYS, RAY DAVIES, SUSAN TEDESCHI AND, DEREK TRUCKS, ROBBIE ROBERTSON SPOTLIGHT: QUEENSRŸCHE, JESSIE J, BOOKER T. JONES, FLOGGING MOLLY, MOBY, AUGUSTANA, HIROMI WHO’S NEXT: LAURA JANSEN, CARTER’S CHORD, GRAHAM STOOKEY INDIE SCENE: JONATHAN EDWARDS BEHIND...