THE BIG PINK Future This [4AD] Hyping this follow-up to their stunner of a debut, A Brief History of Love, U.K. duo Robbie Furze and Milo Cordell have talked a lot about the influence of pop and hip-hop. Indeed, synths and samples here fill space once reserved for fuzz guitar and live drums, but the Big Pink was never a traditional rock band. Like its predecessor, Future This points back to 1991, when groups like EMF, Jesus Jones and most notably... 

MESHELL NDEGEOCELLO Weather [Naïve] Meshell Ndegeocello has been pushing the limits of her genre-bending ambition for 20 years, and in the process the agile bassist has gained a reputation as a must-have session player and a solo artist whose skills are matched only by her daring. Produced by the ever-eclectic Joe Henry, Ndegeocello’s ninth album (and first since 2009’s Devil’s Halo) blends pulsating rhythms, atmospheric arrangements and... 

VARIOUS ARTISTS Chimes of Freedom: The Songs of Bob Dylan Honoring 50 Years of Amnesty International [Shangri-La] Featuring 76 Bob Dylan covers from more than 80 artists to celebrate Amnesty International’s 50th anniversary, the four-disc Chimes of Freedom is a compilation whose intimidating breadth manages to bring unexpected acts like Ke$ha (“Don’t Think Twice, It’s All Right”) and Miley Cyrus (“You’re Gonna Make Me Lonesome When... 

LADYSMITH BLACK MAMBAZO Ladysmith Black Mambazo & Friends [Razor & Tie] Following quickly on the heels of their last studio album, Songs from a Zulu Farm, this exceptional two-disc anthology finds South African vocal group Ladysmith Black Mambazo rounding up many of its stellar collaborations with other artists. After reaping international acclaim for its performances on Paul Simon’s 1986 landmark Graceland, the group continued to stretch... 

THE WHITE BUFFALO Once Upon a Time in the West [Unison Music Group] Given his ramshackle narratives and sober sentiments, Jake Smith (a.k.a. the White Buffalo) seems to fit comfortably into the alt-country lineage of Uncle Tupelo and its offspring, Wilco and Son Volt. But if the album title suggests an Ennio Morricone film score, it’s also true that the dark characters Smith imagines are not unlike Clint Eastwood’s Man With No Name—fueled... 

JUSTIN ROBINSON & THE MARY ANNETTES Bones for Tinder justinrobinsonandthemaryannettes.com   From the Carter Family to Outkast, Robert Johnson to R.E.M., there’s a long, proud tradition of weirdness in Southern music. A key feature has always been contradiction—joy and pain, humor and dread, God and Satan—and there’s plenty to be found on Justin Robinson’s debut album with backing band the Mary Annettes. Previously known for his... 

BR’ER City of Ice fullgrownman.com By the fourth track of this harrowing collection, it’s high time for some sunlight—the tune in question is called “Hope,” but even that title turns out to be misleading. “Now there’s no hope for one,” sings Benjamin Schurr, the Philly auteur behind Br’er. “He lives in songs that are sung of pity and empathy and all in between.” That’s putting it lightly. Schurr funnels heartbreak, resentment,... 

DARRELL SCOTT Long Ride Home darrellscott.com For decades Darrell Scott’s father, recently deceased, played roadhouse bars, singing country hits while squirreling away his own material. That explains Darrell’s fondness for classic country and fascination with the musician’s lifestyle, both of which are celebrated on this disc—a literally down-home collection he cut in his house with a team of Nashville aces. Scott is a respected Music City... 

THE MARSHMALLOW GHOSTS The Marshmallow Ghosts myspace.com/themarshmallowghosts On their third straight Halloween-inspired release, the Marshmallow Ghosts move beyond singles and stretch their spookadelic aesthetic across an entire album. The band includes members of Dreamend, Hospital Ships and Black Moth Super Rainbow—bizarro pop acts from the aptly named Graveface label—but the men and women behind the instruments might as well be swirly-eyed... 

GLOSSARY Long Live All of Us glossary.us After a month holed up in a rural Tennessee house, this veteran quintet emerged with an album’s worth of revelatory self-help rock ’n’ roll. Singer Joey Kneiser comes on like a Springsteenian Southern preacher man, piling positive exhortations and affirmations (”Crawl with me out of the dark,” “You don’t have to know what got you here to be happy you’re alive”) atop Stones-via-Skynyrd guitar... 

ALERT NEW LONDON Youth facebook.com/alertnewlondon Alert old London—as in the British capital—and tell the city’s nostalgic 25-year-olds that there’s an American band reviving the sound of their teen years. On their debut, Alert New London harks back to the chiming, heroic turn-of-the-millennium U.K. rock of Travis, Doves and early Coldplay. Another reason 20-something Brits (and Americans) might dig this? The Ohio quintet packs Youth with... 

KID SAVANT Drop It on the Stereo kidsavant.net Four years after forming in Indianapolis, this electro-rock quartet has finally released its debut EP. The long delay might explain “4 Years,” in which frontman Ryan Weisberger seems intent on putting the past behind him. “Let’s let loose and forget,” he sings, but the band—now based in Brooklyn—sounds neither loose nor forgetful. All pointy guitars and walls of synth, “4 Years” recalls... 

BRETT NETSON Simple Work for the Dead thisisthenewblack.com Acoustic guitars anchor Brett Netson’s solo debut, but it’s his electric tones—coarse, buzzing and intended to agitate—that give this album its post-apocalyptic feel. The Built to Spill guitarist and longtime Caustic Resin leader plays through amps that sound as if they’re powered by iffy generators, and indeed given this disc’s major themes—greed, war, environmental and economic... 

SORRY EVER AFTER Meet Us When the Lights Go Low sorryeverafter.com Nostalgia for the ’90s was all the rage this year, and while much of it centered on Pearl Jam and Nirvana, there was more to the alt-rock era than oversensitive dudes in flannel. The Clinton years also gave us Magnapop, Letters to Cleo and the Muffs—female-fronted pop-punk bands whose spirits live on in the music of SorryEverAfter. Formed in August 2011 in San Francisco, this... 

TALE WAGON Tale Wagon kanedaily.20fr.com Don’t be fooled by the word “Wagon”—this New York trio is no outlet for bearded alt-folk softies singing sad songs and pretending to live in prairie days. Bandleader Kane Daily grew up on ’70s glam and bluesy rock, and the Big Apple nightclub lifer makes with plenty of Keith Richards riffs and red-hot slide playing. His chops are impressive, but he plays with welcome economy on the strutting standouts... 

ADRIAN YOUNGE PRESENTS VENICE DAWN Something About April waxpoetics.com/tag/adrian-younge Before he earned plaudits for scoring the 2008 neo-blaxploitation flick Black Dynamite, Adrian Younge released Venice Dawn, conceptualized as a soundtrack for a film that didn’t exist. Something About April is the sequel—and again the producer and multi-instrumentalist reveals a crate-digger sensibility, using electric pianos, organs, fuzz-tone guitars,... 

WUSSY Strawberry wussy.org The way it’s described throughout Strawberry, if love were a piece of produce you’d give it a squeeze, frown and think better of the purchase. That’s the metaphor suggested by the title, but on the rest of their fourth full-length these Cincinnati alt-rock stalwarts come up with cleverer ways of expressing romantic disappointment. Singer and guitarist Chuck Cleaver (formerly of Ass Ponys) digs space metaphors, and... 

DAN BLAKE The Aquarian Suite danielblake.net Dan Blake doesn’t need chords to hold his music together. Working with trumpet, bass and drums, the Brooklyn saxophonist and composer dabbles in formalism—you can whistle “The Whistler”—and digs deep into formlessness. Marvel as he and trumpeter Jason Palmer take turns racing into the rhythmic churn.  Read More →

JASON REEVES The Lovesick myspace.com/jasonreeves Having crunched the numbers, Jason Reeves knows the odds of finding true love and happiness are pretty slim—roughly “Infinity to One.” But that doesn’t stop him from singing the sunniest pop songs this side of Gavin DeGraw. Leave math to the mathematicians, and love to the lovers.  Read More →

DREW WILLIAMS Engineerium listn.to/drewwilliams Like a toned-down Tom Waits or T Bone Burnett, this wily Georgian does Americana with murky textures and a willingness to get weird. There are songs about hobos and migrants, and on the feral blues sketch “Wigwam” he pitches his tent as far from the suburbs as possible.  Read More →

BURAKA SOM SISTEMA Komba buraka.tv A byproduct of our shrinking world, this Portuguese dance collective comes with fierce Angolan beats and synths that blare like sirens and blip like cheap digital watches. The disc’s anthem, “(We Stay) Up All Night,” is thrilling, if redundant—with this stuff blasting, who could sleep?  Read More →

THE ICARUS LINE Wildlife theicarusline.org Born and brined in L.A. sleaze, these garage-punk miscreants draw strength from defeat and depravity. (Sample titles: “We Sick,” “Sin Man Sick Blues,” “Like a Scab.”) Catch them at their thorniest, though, and they’re all shriek, fuzz and thrust: Iggy and the Stooges for the Sunset Strip.  Read More →

JAMES McCARTNEY The Complete EP Collection [Engine Company] There’s something funny about packaging two EPs and calling it the “complete” collection, though it’s accurate in James McCartney’s case. The English singer and songwriter has released two digital EPs, and this compilation is the first time they’re available in physical form. McCartney plays with a jittery seat-of-his-pants sensibility that sets him apart from his famous father,... 

MIKE VIOLA Electro de Perfecto [RED] Fifteen years have passed since Mike Viola lent his voice to the That Thing You Do! soundtrack, and he still sounds like the boy next door who dreams of being best buds with Paul McCartney. His writing, though, has gotten dark enough to prevent him from busting the adorability scale. Using phrases like “midlife crisis” to describe Electro de Perfecto would be unfair, if only because some of the subject matter... 

PEGI YOUNG & THE SURVIVORS Bracing for Impact [Vapor Records] Pegi Young’s late-blooming musical career continues to evolve apace, as her third solo release features a rootsier, bluesier sound than earlier efforts. “Flatline Mama” is a lively tune done up in a ’50s rock ’n’ roll vein, while the gritty, bluesy edge on tunes like “Med Line” and “Gonna Walk Away” recalls Bonnie Raitt. Young convincingly serves up the soul on “Trouble... 

THE MONKEES  Instant Replay  [Rhino Handmade] In February 1986 MTV ran a marathon of episodes from the Monkees’ 1960s television show, instantly igniting a wave of new interest in an act known during its heyday as a fabricated cash-in on the appeal of the Beatles. But if MTV started the second wave of Monkeemania, the folks at reissue label Rhino made sure it stuck. The next several years saw a series of loving re-releases of the Monkees’ original... 

ADELE Live at the Royal Albert Hall [Columbia] After issuing two mega-selling albums before the tender age of 21, Adele Adkins has had fans raving about her as the second coming of Dusty Springfield. And she makes a pretty good case for that opinion on this full-length concert DVD recorded at London’s most venerable venue. Adele displays expert pitch and control, and a rare ability to wring visceral emotion out of a simple lyric like “I won’t... 

MARK YARM  Everybody Loves Our Town: An Oral History of Grunge [Crown Archetype] Never have the people responsible for starting a musical movement been so quick to tear down their own myth. From the moment the sound known as “grunge” emerged from the Pacific Northwest, the sobriquet was universally rejected by the artists to whom it was applied. From well before the moment major record labels began making their way up to Seattle, smelling money... 

WILLIE NILE The Innocent Ones willienile.com If there were a version of the Traveling Wilburys for unfairly overlooked singer-songwriters, Willie Nile could be its very own Tom Petty. A rock ’n’ roll lifer who’s earned endorsements from Bruce Springsteen, Elvis Costello, Lucinda Williams and just about every other guitar slinger with an opinion worth trusting, Nile has managed a mere seven studio albums since debuting in 1980. Luckily three... 

HIMALAYAN BEAR Hard Times myspace.com/himalayanbear The first riff Ryan Beattie rustles up on this seven-song collection—his third album under the name Himalayan Bear—recalls nothing so much as “Floating,” a Julee Cruise tune featured on the classic David Lynch television series Twin Peaks. It’s an apt reference, as Beattie blends his bleak alt-country with the shimmering dread of Lynch’s film soundtracks, dredging up the icky underside... 

CAMILLE BLOOM AND THE RECOVERY Never Out of Time camillebloom.com When she’s in somber acoustic mode, singing and strumming over cellist Jessika Kitzman’s slow-bowed moans, Camille Bloom earns a place among such quirk-folk queens as Suzanne Vega, Ani DiFranco and the Indigo Girls. But there’s more to this Seattle-area songwriter than unplugged self-reflection. On “Running Out of Time” and “Tonight,” guitarist Danny Godinez cuts in with... 

SUGAR RAY AND THE BLUETONES Evening sugarrayandthebluetones.com Blues enthusiast John Mayer sometimes pokes fun at himself for being from Connecticut, a place few associate with the genre. Despite its lack of hardscrabble romance, the Constitution State has produced some fine bluesmen. Case in point: Sugar Ray Norcia, a soulful vocalist and powerhouse harmonica blower who years ago “came down with the blues,” as he sings here. Norcia likes his... 

SUMMER CAMP Welcome to Condale myspace.com/summercampmusic British newcomers Elizabeth Sankey and Jeremy Warmsley have a thing for American coming-of-age movies. The duo’s debut is a concept record set in fictional Condale, Calif.—the type of sunny L.A. suburb featured in countless beach flicks and teen romps—and as explained in the handmade scrapbook-style magazine that accompanies the album, the songs center on two sets of characters, one... 

DJ CAM  Seven inflamable.com DJ Cam revisits the icy, jazzy, sexy cool of ’90s trip-hop, one of the sounds that have defined his long career, on his seventh album. The Frenchman teams with Massive Attack collaborator Nicolette Suwoton on “Love”—an electro-lounge tune complete with vintage organ tones and a martini-shaker rhythm—and newcomer Inlove on “1988,” further showcasing his music’s sensual side. He gets less from his collaboration... 

PAUL BURCH Words of Love: Songs of Buddy Holly paulburch.com Buddy Holly would have turned 75 in September. While a pair of star-studded tribute albums (Rave On and Listen to Me) got most of the press, Nashville singer-songwriter Paul Burch has released a fine disc of his own saluting the late icon. Burch reaffirms the timelessness of Holly’s songs without radically altering the source material, adding and subtracting just enough to make these ’50s... 

ROB GARCIA 4 The Drop and the Ocean robgarcia.com This disc’s title refers to the Sufi belief that man should submit to things larger than himself. It’s a concept that has always been applicable to jazz, and it hasn’t been lost on drummer Rob Garcia, leader of this Brooklyn foursome. Although Garcia sometimes cannonballs in, asserting his virtuosity with splashes of intense, restless playing, he’s plenty good at going with the flow. On the... 

ALYSSA CARLSON  This Side of Innocence  myspace.com/alyssacarlsonmusic Nashville-based singer and songwriter Alyssa Carlson takes her cues from heroes like John Mellencamp, Mary Chapin Carpenter and fellow native Minnesotan Bob Dylan—her acoustic-dominated settings gently frame poetic and carefully observed lyrics about far-off dreams and close-up heartaches. Producer Neilson Hubbard (known for his work with tunesmiths like Glen Phillips and Kim... 

KORALLREVEN An Album by Korallreven korallreven.se The sound of two Swedes on holiday, if only in their minds, Korallreven has its beginnings in a trip that founder Marcus Joons took to Samoa several years ago. Inspired by the weather, scenery and local Catholic choirs, he partnered with Daniel Tjader—keyboardist for the stellar dream-pop outfit the Radio Dept.—to recreate the tropical vibes. The duo retains the melodic aspects of Tjader’s main... 

JUNIUS Reports From the Threshold of Death juniusmusic.com   Proving that metal dudes have feelings—and maybe even listen to Joy Division and the Smiths—Junius offsets violent guitars with epic synths and the sepulchral croon of frontman Joseph Martinez. While “Betray the Grave,” “Dance on Blood,” and “A Reflection on Fire” may read like Slayer song titles, they’re anything but typical metal tunes. This Boston group pouts as... 

HINDI ZAHRA Handmade hindi-zahra.com Barely in her 30s, Hindi Zahra writes with worldliness beyond her years but indicative of her background. Her life story is all there in her music: a sophisticated jazz-folk hybrid that marries the exoticism of her native Morocco and the metropolitan cool of Paris, where she moved as a teenager to live with her father. Purring like a Middle Eastern Billie Holiday, Zahra dresses down suitors less schooled in the... 

SAVOY BROWN Voodoo Moon savoybrown.com How long can one man live with the blues? It’s been 45 years for Kim Simmonds, leader of this British institution, and on these nine new originals, the guitarist and sometime singer brings the requisite hot licks and bad-mojo lyrics. Something about this stuff must do the body good.  Read More →

CORREATOWN Pleiades okcorreatown.com Correatown mastermind Angela Correa was made for Los Angeles. She’s shown showbiz savvy, having landed songs in films and on television. More importantly, the Yuba City, Calif., native has mastered the hazy ’60s pop, Laurel Canyon folk and cool-kid indie that have long been the soundtrack of her adopted hometown.  Read More →

EMILY O’HALLORAN Morphine and Cupcakes emilyohalloran.com A pretty young blonde with the voice of a wizened roadhouse belter, O’Halloran figures “Nashville is where it’s at,” as she sings two songs in. The Aussie newcomer promptly lands in a Hollywood noir version of the Music City, where she savors the feeling of being done wrong.  Read More →

AMY WINEHOUSE  Lioness: Hidden Treasures  [Island] We know the drill here, right? After endless posthumous releases from Jimi Hendrix, Jim Morrison, Kurt Cobain, 2Pac and countless others, the pattern is set: A singer-songwriter in his or her 20s dies, and somehow a few spare tracks can always be found in the vaults to justify one more new piece of product. Lioness is with us less than six months after British songbird Amy Winehouse’s premature... 

VocalizeU Release Party Hosted by: Natasha Bedingfield Presented by Dave Stroud & Michele Rundgren Photography by Jeff Fasano Natasha Bedingfield and Jessie Collins Ben Folds Bren and Rebop Rundgren Bren Chloe Leighton and guests Crystal Knighton and Aisha Francis Daniel Bedingfield and Natasha Bedingfield Daniel Bedingfield, Natasha Bedingfield and Jessie Collins Daniel Bedingfield Dave Stroud and Ben Folds David Matalon, Sonnet Simmons, Dani... 

THE ROOTS Undun [Def Jam] The latest from hip-hop’s hippest band is a concept album that tells the fictional—although all too believable—story of Redford Stephens, a low-level street hustler who makes all the wrong choices on his way to an early end. That’s not giving anything away: The Roots tell this story in reverse, rewinding Stephens’ life through songs carefully constructed to avoid glorifying his brief and unfortunate time in the... 

KATE BUSH 50 Words for Snow [Fish People/Anti] This is Bush’s first recording of all new music since the double-disc Aerial in 2005, although earlier in 2011 she released Director’s Cut, which included slightly reworked versions of some previously released songs. Not so much a holiday album as a soft, meditative and lush rumination on winter, 50 Words for Snow will remind listeners of a time when musical artists were more intent on creating unified... 

THE BLACK KEYS El Camino [Nonesuch Records] Prior to its release, Black Keys drummer Patrick Carney proclaimed El Camino the first “all rock ’n’ roll album” of the duo’s decade-long career. Point taken, but the Keys have hardly forsaken the retro-soul vibe that’s underpinned previous discs. Kicking off with the raging, surf-guitar-driven “Lonely Boy” (think the Cramps with a touch of Memphis R&B), Carney and guitarist Dan Auerbach... 

DRAKE Take Care [Young Money] Every movie about fame has a scene in which the rising star ducks out of the party and stares through the penthouse window, weighing what they’ve gained against what they’ve given up. Stretch that moment into an entire album and you get Take Care, the sophomore effort from Canadian hip-hop phenom Drake. With his confessional lyrics and sing-rap-chat vocal style, Drake follows in the footsteps of Kanye West. While... 

DAVID NAIL The Sound of a Million Dreams [Universal Nashville] With his third album, 32-year-old David Nail proves that he is a cut above contemporaries whose songs often rely on a slapdash collection of tired, countrier-than-thou stereotypes. Nail shows a knack for songcraft, most notably on “Catherine,” a tune written for his wife. But his supple, soulful tenor elevates the album’s outside material, too, as he tackles everything from frenetic...