COLIN HAY The former Men at Work frontman learns to enjoy life after platinum   In the early ’80s, Men at Work exploded on the scene with such smash hits as “Who Can It Be Now?” and “Down Under.” Quirky new-wave panache and goofy MTV videos propelled the group to global fame and millions in album sales. Yet just three years and as many albums later, the wild ride was over. And the man in the middle of it all, Colin Hay—whose spunky... 

RYAN SHAW Real Love thisisryanshaw.com Sharp suit, buttery voice, record label that abbreviates as D-Tone: These elements will ring familiar to fans of neo-soul music. For sure, Ryan Shaw shares much in common with the good folks at Daptone, the Brooklyn imprint renowned for reviving the look and sound of the ’60s and ’70s. Throughout his second album, Shaw digs deep into the Motown and Al Green grooves he heard growing up in Georgia, and while... 

GUANTANAMO BAYWATCH Chest Crawl guantanamobaywatch.com Surf rock didn’t need Quentin Tarantino to make it sound badass. Long before Pulp Fiction, the genre’s best instrumentals paddled into pretty dark water, suggesting after-hours intrigue down at the shrimp shack. On its second album, the Portland trio Guantanamo Baywatch offers a particularly trashy take on this venerable ’60s sound, ripping trebly Ventures guitar runs with violent garage... 

ALBERT CASTIGLIA Living the Dream albertcastiglia.com On “The Man,” the kind of smirking anti-Wall Street screed every good bluesman is required to record these days, Castiglia sings about how gin or reefer might dull his pain. Said substances have been known to work, but so has music. “Freddie’s Boogie,” his cooking cover of the Freddie King instrumental, reveals a guy too focused on his guitar—here an instrument of joyful showboating—to... 

GEORGE MARINELLI Believe georgemarinelli.com As a sideman for the likes of Bruce Hornsby and Bonnie Raitt, Marinelli has learned to fold folk, blues, jazz, rock and light reggae into instantly likeable pop songs. With this latest disc, he does all the playing and producing, writes or co-writes every track, and even handles the graphic design. It’s essentially all Marinelli, and yet Believe never screams egotist or control freak. The lyrics are as... 

THE ROCKETBOYS Build Anyway therocketboys.com For those familiar with this Austin band’s backstory, Build Anyway will play like a concept album about the sextet-turned-trio’s promising start, subsequent hiatus and triumphant—singer Brandon Kinder hopes—comeback. Then again, “Marching to the Palace” and “These Are Hard Times” could just be about girls. Either way, Kinder and his two remaining bandmates turn bad feelings into big music,... 

LYNN TAYLOR BarFly lynntaylor.com About a decade ago, Taylor quit the band Felix Wiley to focus on his family and landscaping business. By 2009, he’d started writing and performing again, and it’s fortunate he did. His solo debut is steeped in early rock ’n’ roll, R&B and mostly shuffling, summery country. Taylor is older and wiser, prone to singing sweet and insightful songs about his wife (“Stay With Me”) and kids (“Decatur Street”),... 

ROYAL SOUTHERN BROTHERHOOD Royal Southern Brotherhood royalsouthernbrotherhood.com No one is going to argue with the name. This super group features a Neville (percussionist Cyril) and an Allman (Devon, son of Gregg)—kingly names in Dixie circles—as well as celebrated blues guitarist Mike Zito and the ace rhythm section of bassist Charlie Wooton and drummer Yonrico Scott. What do they get for their shared pedigree and stockpile of talent? For... 

HAROULA ROSE So Easy haroularose.com Sometimes love is hard, like on “Only Friends,” the confused “Are we or aren’t we?” tune that leads off this excellent five-song EP. Other times it’s “So Easy,” as the Chicago-born, L.A.-based Rose sings on the title track, barely containing her joy amid an airy ’60s-pop backing. Either way, this singer and guitarist radiates hope and light, even on “Slow Dancing,” a moody (by this disc’s... 

A CITY ON A LAKE A City on a Lake acityonalake.com Written for a certain kind of 30-something—the type that spent the early ’00s in college listening to Coldplay, Death Cab for Cutie and maybe even John Mayer’s Room for Squares—this solo project from Brooklyn producer and multi-instrumentalist Alex Wong is an album about holding on. On “The Fighter” he likens himself to a bloodied boxer, and if that metaphor suggests a toughness and bravado... 

THE BLAKES Art of Losses theblakesband.com This Seattle trio cut its latest in the wilds of Maine, where the idea was to unplug from the modern world. Off went the internet, and on a handful of tracks, so did the guitar effects—more or less. “Black Carnation” and “Paralysis” are runaway rockers reminiscent of Dylan or the Kinks, and both give the impression of a band bashing away in a barn. Elsewhere, the Blakes try throbbing New Wave (“Narwhal”)... 

TORA FISHER Spilling Over officialtora.com It’s a familiar archetype, the angsty young female singer-songwriter, but more than most this native New Yorker has earned the right to write about pain, confusion, disappointment and the love that hopefully makes it all worthwhile. At 13, Fisher was the sole survivor of a plane crash that killed her father and stepmother, and if that’s not fodder enough for an album—or a lifetime—of soul-searching... 

EXRAY’S Trust a Robot exraysvision.com Do androids dream of electric pop? If they do, they might imagine a group like Exray’s, two San Francisco dudes who use drum machines, keyboards and guitars to create wonderfully low-key robo-funk tunes. Much of their third album moves at a plodding clip reminiscent of Trio’s “Da Da Da,” while the synths and muffled vocals place Beck at the helm of OMD’s Dazzle Ships. After instrumental opener “Something... 

CINEMA CINEMA Manic Children & the Slow Aggression cinemacinemaband.com These Brooklyn cousins hit the studio looking to rage, and famed hardcore producer Don Zientara wisely let them. Over 80 challenging minutes, the drum-and-guitar duo unspools 13 sharp, tangled barbwire tracks. Is it cerebral bar rock or Hüsker Dü-grade avant-punk? There’s ample time to ponder.  Read More →

STUART DAVIS Music for Mortals stuartdavis.com The “punk monk” tag is cute but limiting. Sometimes, Davis rocks like vintage Joe Jackson; other times, he’s more like Bob Dylan, Sting, Peter Gabriel or even ho-hum ’90s hitmakers Live. Regardless, this Buddhist singer-songwriter-comic thinks deep, plays hard and coats spiritual questioning with plenty of sugar.  Read More →

PRETEEN ZENITH Rubble Guts & BB Eye preteenzenith.com This side project of Polyphonic Spree main man Tim DeLaughter and buddy Philip E. Karnats is what you’d expect—whimsical, wide-eyed, way-out psychedelic rock—and yet somehow not. Erykah Badu guests on “Damage Control”—maybe the most uplifting indie song since the Flaming Lips battled pink robots.  Read More →

MARK BATES Night Songs markbatesmusic.com This West Virginia native sees ghosts wherever he looks. Rather than get freaked out, the country-leaning rocker sits with these phantoms—exes, relatives and notions of simple living no longer feasible in our world—and works through their unfinished business. His conversations yield some remarkable songs.  Read More →

TIDELANDS We’ve Got a Map tidelandsmusic.com “En garde, touché, let’s fight with our words and guitars, it makes no mind,” sings Gabriel Montana Leis. He forgot strings, Moog, flugelhorn and whatever else he and partner Mie Araki use on these sweeping indie-prog jams. Political but never pushy, the songs offer sweet reassurance and even a little sex.  Read More →

CHRIS SMITHER A veteran bluesman learns to make it happen all by himself    “People say to me, ‘What I really like is the fact that there’s a rueful cynicism in what you sing,’” says Chris Smither. “I can see that. But I have to say, in my own defense, that most of my stuff has an element of hopefulness. Usually I’m trying to point out there’s a way out of this stuff.” A veteran bluesman who looks on the bright side? Maybe—at... 

NENEH CHERRY & THE THING The Cherry Thing smalltownsupersound.com Most artists never quite reach the free-jazz-meets-pop stage of their careers—but then, most don’t have the pedigree of Neneh Cherry. Born in Sweden, this stepdaughter of jazz trumpeter Don Cherry came up in London’s post-punk scene doing stints with groups like the Slits before emerging as a singing, rapping pop star in the late ’80s. Since her 1988 smash “Buffalo Stance,”... 

CHARM CITY DEVILS Sins charmcitydevils.com These Baltimore hard rockers are protégés of Mötley Crüe’s Nikki Sixx, and their second album updates that band’s bruising glam-blues boogie for the nü-metal era. Nowadays it’s cool for dudes to sing about their feelings, and frontman John Allen opens up about everyman struggles, singing lines like, “You should have believed in me when I needed you” in the opening “Spite.” If it’s hard... 

WAYNE KRANTZ Howie 61 waynekrantz.com Among other things—lots of other things, actually—Howie 61 is a taking-stock record. On “I’d Like to Thank My Body,” this New York City jazz-fusion guitarist gives props to his brain and vascular system, rating his earthly frame a “more or less acceptable container for living” over an elastic funk beat. If that doesn’t prove there’s plenty of life left in this chameleonic player, Krantz takes... 

BRYAN DUNN Sweetheart of the Music Hall bryandunnmusic.net One perk of songwriting is imagining your way out of everyday life. This New York-based roots rocker hangs with Romeo, Juliet, Heathcliff and Superman on the opening “New Mercedes” alone. Elsewhere Dunn gets mixed up in murder plots (“Adeline”), prepares for the reaper (“6 Black Horses”), and romanticizes the Lower East Side scene that nurtured his talent (“Sweetheart of the... 

DANTE VS. ZOMBIES Buh myspace.com/wwwdantevszombies These L.A. garage-punk all-stars clearly had a blast writing their latest press release, which cheekily refers to their music as “spaghetti-western jungle” and “not-quite-gentrified-ghetto-pop”—although maybe not as much fun as they seem to have had actually recording this debut album. Featuring Starlite Desperation frontman Dante White-Aliano and a pack of his wacky buds, DVZ makes ’50s... 

JON CLEARY Occapella joncleary.com In the steamy, groove-drenched version of New Orleans presented on this album—a tribute to legendary Crescent City songwriter Allen Toussaint—Jon Cleary has but one rule: “Everything I Do Gohn Be Funky.” Well, not everything. The English-born session ace mellows out on Glen Campbell’s 1977 hit “Southern Nights,” but he gets toes tapping even as he gazes at the stars and plucks out a spare piano melody.... 

STONERIDER  Fountains Left to Wake  stoneriderband.com Don’t be misled by the extramusical trappings of this Atlanta trio’s latest—neither the Floyd-at-Pompeii visuals of the cover, seemingly designed for meditating upon while in an altered state, nor its double-album sprawl. StoneRider singer and guitarist Matt Tanner, bass player Neil Warren and drummer Jason Krutzky do seem to believe rock peaked in 1973 (and there’s a case to be made),... 

BOB CANNON Unbreakable Heart facebook.com/bobcannonmusic As a journalist whose byline has appeared in such publications as Entertainment Weekly and M Music & Musicians, Cannon has soaked up the finest in country, rockabilly and pop. As a musician he reveals his connoisseurship here, loading his debut with hooks, subtle humor and, above all, heart. Along the way he faces heartache, joblessness and treacherous women—check out “Weapons of Mass... 

THE CORNER LAUGHERS Poppy Seeds cornerlaughers.com Even when they’re not referencing landmarks in their hometown of San Francisco, the Corner Laughers make it known they’re a California band. Singer and ukulele player Karla Kane’s melodies hit like injections of vitamin D. If she’s slightly more pragmatic and sarcastic than the twirling flower children of the ’60s, she nonetheless nails the shiny-happy likes of “Twice the Luck” while... 

ANDY DAVISON Let Music Unfold andydavisonmusic.com The “you” Davison pleads to on “Back on You” and this EP’s title track could be a god, a lover or both. The ambiguity is down to this young Belfast singer-songwriter’s earnest lyricism and angelic old-soul vocals. On his promising debut, Davison enlists hip-hop producer Homecut to flesh out his acoustic tunes with snatches of electronic drums, upright bass and piano. The latter is particularly... 

COMPANY  Dear America exitstencil.org/company.php This Charleston quintet’s excellent sophomore album is all about emotional highs and lows. Opener “Moonlight” is the Young Rascals’ “Good Lovin’” done in the rousing arena-Americana style of My Morning Jacket, and the vibe stays as lively on “Show Me You Really Want Me,” a Weezer-grade ’90s-rock basher. By “Bound to Drop the Ball,” however, singer Brian Hannon has dug out his... 

ANT MCNAUGHT Apache Lane antmcnaught.com After a stint in the New York folk scene, this singer-songwriter moved to Santa Cruz in 1980 and started a family. He never stopped playing—it just took him a few decades to get his stuff on tape. Better late than never. This set reveals McNaught to be a deep-thinking, dusky-voiced strummer with some lingering questions to work out about love and mortality. The delicate country shuffle “Cottonwood Tree”... 

THE HOLLYHOCKS Understories thehollyhocks.com Guitarist Dan Jewett once played with a pre-fame Adam Duritz, and like Duritz’ Counting Crows these Oakland newcomers do moody jangle-rock with a dash of Americana. “I’m getting nothing done, having not much fun,” sings Kristin Sobditch, forever turning sadness into sweet, irresistible pop.  Read More →

CHELLE ROSE Ghost of Browder Holler chellerose.com Rose’s unadulterated Appalachian accent makes just as strong an impression here as her grimy, sexy mountain-folk songwriting. Her first record in 12 years deals with love, death, God, the devil, divorce and coal mining. One spin and you’ll know where she’s been.  Read More →

MICHAEL THE BLIND Are’s & Els michaeltheblind.com Michael Levasseur hails from Portland, so right away you’re thinking smarty-pants indie rock. The multi-instrumentalist and his band deliver just that—sometimes with strings (“Another Circle of Fifths”), sometimes with cow-punk gusto (“Depth Perception”), always with passionate Michael Stipe-tinged vocals and wordplay that demands to be heard.  Read More →

RYAN MONROE  A Painting of a Painting on Fire ryanmonroemusic.com A lot happened between “The White Album” and punk, and this Band of Horses multi-instrumentalist offers a 12-track summation of the process. There’s Paul McCartney piano balladry, proggy hard rock, even gleaming ELO pop. “If I keep moving, the darkness will be gone,” Monroe sings, already squinting.  Read More →

RANI ARBO & DAISY MAYHEM Some Bright Morning raniarbo.com Because these not-quite-old-timey New Englanders sing about constants—death and disasters—they need music built to last. Or maybe it’s the other way around. Either way, Arbo and company do bluegrass, gospel and even a Springsteen cover, offering moments of somber reflection and unfettered release.  Read More →

THE WACO BROTHERS AND PAUL BURCH Great Chicago Fire [Bloodshot] Great Chicago Fire comes to us, so the story goes, as the serendipitous result of Paul Burch and members of the Wacos knocking back margaritas together at an industry gathering. What they’ve whipped up brings together the characteristic Waco Brothers strum und twang with Burch’s melodic classicism. The jointness of this joint undertaking doesn’t extend to songwriting (with one... 

THE DB’S Falling Off the Sky thedbsonline.net In power-pop, there’s no success quite like failure. For whatever reason, the genre’s best and brightest tend to be cult heroes rather than the Top 40 superstars their tunefulness would seem to suggest—and this is certainly true of the dB’s. During their original 1978-1988 run, the North Carolina-born, New York-based foursome played earworm ’60s rock with an arty New Wave bent, influencing... 

JOEL HENDERSON Locked Doors & Pretty Fences joelhenderson.com The sound of a heartland rocker losing heart, Locked Doors finds Joel Henderson shuffling begrudgingly into middle age. On opener “Growing Up (Is Hard to Do),” he sets the tone, trying in vain to remember even the previous night’s dreams. On “Heartless Kisses” he stews in the ashes of a once-blazing romance, and on “This Time of Year” not even the onset of spring can brighten... 

J.D. BLAIR 2012? vixrecords.com Only one song on the latest from this groove master comes with the parenthetical “(Smooth Mix)” appended to the title, but the tag could apply throughout. An ace session and touring drummer, Blair has played with everyone from Bootsy Collins to Yo-Yo Ma, earning special recognition for his country work. It all comes together on 2012?—an album that, true to its title, transcends time and place. Blair’s Nashville... 

CHARLENE SORAIA Moonchild charlenesoraia.com The debut from this British songstress begins with high, wordless vocals, equal parts Karen Carpenter and John Carpenter. As “When We Were Five” progresses, the line between love song and horror flick only grows blurrier. “I’ll declare you’re mine,” sings Soraia (who attended the same performing-arts school as Adele), but then Moog synth creeps in and she’s making that pledge from The Twilight... 

LOGAN MIZE Nobody in Nashville loganmize.com Had Tom Petty anticipated Shania Twain’s savvy marketing strategy of releasing country and pop versions of her 2002 Up! for his 1989 classic Full Moon Fever, he’d have come up with something like Nobody in Nashville. Logan Mize doesn’t have Petty’s sarcastic seen-it-all wit, but he’s still young—and besides, his outlook is fundamentally sunnier. Mize bucks rock clichés and yearns for the simple... 

ARCHIE POWELL & THE EXPORTS Great Ideas in Action archiepowellandtheexports.com  The big idea on Great Ideasis pairing crisp power-pop hooks with complex lyrics about careening into adulthood. Powell puts this particular notion in motion by spewing nervous words nearly as quickly as he strums his palm-muted chords. Conjuring riffs that somehow recall both the Stray Cats’ “Stray Cat Strut” and Richard Hell’s “Blank Generation”—twins... 

PEELANDER-Z Space Vacation peelander-z.com No band relishes outsider status quite like Peelander-Z, sci-fi-loving Japanese musicians who came together in New York City but claim to hail from outer space. The group makes vibrant B-movie rock in the spirit of Devo and the Ramones—wearing costumes like the former, using pseudonyms like the latter and absorbing musical ideas from both. Here it adds up to a synth-punk concept record about surfing the... 

WHITEJACKET Hollows and Rounds whitejacketmusic.com “Let me take you down,” Whitejacket mastermind Chris McDuffie sings on “River’s Song.” His next words aren’t “… ’cause I’m going to Strawberry Fields,” but they might as well be. The former Apples in Stereo keyboardist paints with Beatlesque brushstrokes on much of his debut, recreating George Harrison’s guitar tones, Paul McCartney’s “Blackbird” picking (on “Single... 

WALTER TROUT Blues for the Modern Daze waltertrout.com What would Blind Willie Johnson have thought about Facebook and Occupy Wall Street? Guitar great Walter Trout ventures his best guesses on his 21st album, using Johnson’s country-blues style as a jumping-off point. The fun is hearing where he lands. On “Money Rules the World,” the former John Mayall sideman busts out his wailing wah-wah and rails against politicians and fat cats. With “Lonely,”... 

BALKAN BEAT BOX Give balkanbeatbox.com From Jamaican dancehall and American hip-hop to Arab Spring street chants, the music of the oppressed shares a certain rhythmic and lyrical toughness. As Israeli musicians based in New York City, the members of Balkan Beat Box are well positioned to take it all in. On its fifth album the trio aims for mass mobilization, lobbing hand-grenade slogans—“Money leads to more money!” “Fight the urge to be violent!”... 

PEASANT Bound for Glory iampeasant.bandcamp.com From the sound of things, Damien DeRose is having a few problems with the ladies. They leave him standing on street corners and “laying on the carpet” (as he notes in “The Flask”), and he’s not quite sure how to put things right. The young Doylestown, Penn., native spends his third album under the Peasant banner sorting out his girl troubles, setting heartbreak and confusion to hushed indie-folk.... 

WORLD BLANKET 2012 worldblanket.com When not fronting World Blanket, Mike Pomranz writes for Comedy Central and blogs about beer. It’s funny, then, just how sober (in both senses of the word) he sounds on 2012, his Brooklyn-based band’s first album since 2008. With more electric guitar and less violin, these songs would hit like bar-rock anthems. Instead they push ahead with pensive energy, their downcast strings contrasting nicely with Pomranz’s... 

THIRD WORLD LOVE Songs and Portraits thirdworldlove.com Make no mistake, this international foursome plays jazz—all cool-cat bass, dynamo drums, lyrical trumpet and color-splash piano—but rock fans will find plenty to dig. Amid sonic trips to Spain and the Middle East, the players stay melodic and direct. On “The Abutbuls,” they’re positively psychedelic.  Read More →