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... 

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... 

BEACH HOUSE Bloom [Sub Pop] On their first three albums, Beach House architects Alex Scally and Victoria Legrand built one of the more recognizable sounds in modern indie rock. With the fourth, they don’t change things up so much as they focus and improve them. As always, the songs mix drum-machine beats with the dizzying slo-mo whoosh of keyboard, echo-rich guitar and Legrand’s stately, often unintelligible vocals. It’s a recipe for gloriously... 

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.... 

BLITZEN TRAPPER Destroyer of the Void [Sub Pop] Search YouTube and you’ll discover that the gods blessed us with a live cover version of the Band’s “I Shall Be Released” by Fleet Foxes and Jeff Tweedy. Blitzen Trapper’s Eric Earley lacks Tweedy’s brave introspection, but he sure sounds a hell of a lot like him, and his group’s fifth album extends the classic-rock spirit of that four-minute clip further than the Wilco frontman has on...