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 →

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 →

ANDREA BALESTRA Fine Arts Avenue myspace.com/andreabalestra Talent and training will get you far, as this Berklee-educated guitarist can attest, but it takes taste and restraint to make an instrumental album as simultaneously eclectic and enjoyable as Fine Arts Avenue. From funky wah-wah workouts to simmering jazz explorations, Balestra demonstrates the upside of virtuosity.  Read More →

SLEEP OVER Forever sleepoverforever.com Existing in some nebulous nether region between New Wave and New Age, the music of Austin synth sorceress Stefanie Franciotti is at turns soothing and frightening. It’s as though Enya has gone Goth and recreated from memory the score from a horror flick she saw as a child.  Read More →

THOMAS DOLBY From ’80s hitmaker to modern-day tech innovator,  science has been good to him Contrary to the title of his biggest radio hit, London native Thomas Dolby has never been blinded by science. In fact, the preoccupation with technology hinted at in synthesizer-happy 1980s classics like “She Blinded Me With Science,” “Hyperactive!” and “One of Our Submarines” has allowed him to flourish well into the new millennium. After his... 

RIGHT ON DYNAMITE In Vino Veritas myspace.com/rightondynamite Three songs into their debut album, these New Yorkers ask, “What Would Ringo Do?” If the ex-Beatle were 22 today, he might join a band like Right on Dynamite. The trio makes classic power-pop with a mussed indie edge, building big hooks from Daniel Murphy’s chunky guitars and excited mumbling.  Read More →

JONNY CORNDAWG Down on the Bikini Line corndawg.com The artwork and song titles (“When a Ford Man Turns to Chevy,” etc.) scream comedy record, but Corndawg is no hipster Jeff Foxworthy. His playing is too good, and his love of classic country—in all its heartbreaking, plainspoken, at times ridiculous glory—burns hotter than a backyard tire fire.  Read More →

TIM EASTON Beat the Band timeaston.com In Easton’s America, we’d all resist apathy (“Open Letter”), dream non-mediocre dreams (“What Do You Live For?”), and seek redemption in pop music (“Daily Life”). Whether he’s a purist or a dreamer, he’s got the raspy voice and troubadour soul to make it all seem tenable.  Read More →

THE VEDA RAYS Gamma Rays Galaxy Rays Veda Rays thevedarays.com Brooding and bombastic, Veda Rays jams straddle Echo and the Bunnymen-style ’80s psychedelia and U2 stadium pop. There’s also some modern ennui: a post-Radiohead dread that creeps into both the guitars and Jim Stark’s Red Rocks-ready bellow, giving the disc a seductive, shadowy tinge.  Read More →

ANNIE DRESSNER Strangers Who Knew Each Other’s Names anniedressner.com Now here’s a gal we can root for. A singer of plucky can-do folk-pop tunes—some electric, others acoustic—Dressner loves, loses and wakes up in Brooklyn bars wearing painter’s caps. She takes it all in stride, staying silly and sweet in a sourpuss world.  Read More →

THE PACK A.D. Unpersons thepackafterdeath.com Listening to the fourth album from this Canadian garage-rock duo, an image emerges of singer Becky Black. She’s red-eyed and sneering, hurt and angry, seconds away from either breaking down and bawling or bashing someone in the teeth. Her gnashing guitar riffs suggest the latter, as does Maya Miller’s total-war drumming. Their sound is violent and cathartic, and on “Rid of Me”—a start-stop rager... 

ADAM LEVY The Heart Collector adamlevy.com In Adam Levy’s hands, even murder ballads make for warm, easy listening. On the title track, he describes in suspicious detail a serial killer’s exploits. Levy’s narrator might be the guilty party, or in a metaphorical sense, he might just sympathize with the “cardiophile” and his hunger for human hearts. Either way, it’s a rare moment of darkness from this former Norah Jones guitarist. Levy specializes... 

THE MEKONS Ancient & Modern myspace.com/mekons On their 26th studio album, British post-punk vets and alt-country innovators the Mekons aim to cover 100 years of history, from the eve of World War I to the present. Frontman Jon Langdon’s lyrics touch on war, death, religion, nostalgia and the battle between good and evil, and because these themes are applicable to any era, few songs stand out as fundamentally “ancient” or “modern.”... 

ICEBIRD The Abandoned Lullaby rjselectricalconnections.com Philly’s answer to Gnarls Barkley, Icebird pairs producer and multi-instrumentalist RJD2—known for both his Mad Men theme and string of solo albums—with soul man Aaron Livingston, who’s sung on albums by the Roots, among others. The sound is spaced-out, low-key hip-hop crossed with moody psychedelic soul—a confluence of bumping beats, doo-wop pianos and analog synths. Highlight “Just... 

MR. LEWIS AND THE FUNERAL 5 Delirium Tremendous myspace.com/mrlewisthefuneral5 A pulp novel set to music, the second album by this Austin sextet is overrun with losers, boozers and other lowlifes. They’re all given voice by Gregory Lewis, a scenery-eating thespian of a frontman with Tom Waits’ taste for gallows humor and gutter poetics. Lewis opens the disc by singing, “There’s murder and cheap canned beer all around the highway,” and just... 

JON REGEN Revolution jonregen.com Jon Regen is a man who knows his instrument. The piano isn’t great for rocking out unless you’re Jerry Lee Lewis or Little Richard, but it’s perfect for sophisticated, slightly retro pop songs. Regen writes his with the smart, jazzy feel of Ben Folds or Randy Newman, and on such tunes as “She’s Not You (But Tonight She’ll Have to Do)” and “One Part Broken, Two Parts Blue,” he gets to play his favorite... 

ARRICA ROSE & THE …’S Let Alone Sea arricarose.com In Southern California, Stevie Nicks is a goddess and Depeche Mode are conquering heroes. Arrica Rose isn’t yet on their level, but the San Fernando Valley native is very much of their kind—an enigmatic enchantress adept at blending classic folk-rock songwriting and dark, dreamy atmospherics. She’s got a song called “Summer’s Gonna Burn Me (So Are You),” and that title sums up... 

URSULA 1000 Mondo Beyondo ursula1000.com If Ursula 1000 multi-instrumentalist, DJ and mastermind Alex Gimeno hadn’t invited Fred Schneider to sing on his latest album, the B-52s frontman might have known instinctively to show up anyway. Music this fun demands the kind of kooky enthusiasm Schneider brings to “Hey You!” a Technicolor dance track stuffed full of fuzz guitars, handclaps, whistles and honking car horns. Elsewhere, the Brooklyn-based... 

STEVE BELLO BAND Go Berserk! myspace.com/stevebello It’s no wonder Ibanez tapped Steve Bello to endorse its seven-string guitars. The New Jersey metalhead shreds with rare speed and fluidity, whether soloing or weaving the intricate leads that substitute for lyrics in his instrumental jams. On his fifth album Bello expertly mixes metal subgenres, grounding himself in the classic ’80s sound heard on opener “Surfing to Venus.” The trio flavors... 

CENTRO-MATIC Candidate Waltz centro-matic.com Of the nine tunes on Centro-matic’s latest, only one, “All the Talkers,” really lets listeners in. It’s about an overhyped rock group winning over a roomful of seen-it-all hipsters. “But the band, they were not like the ones before,” sings Will Johnson, still a rock ’n’ roll true believer 15 years after founding Centro-matic in Denton, Texas. Johnson’s faith in guitar groups might stem... 

JOE ELY Satisfied at Last ely.com Satisfaction doesn’t necessarily equal complacency. On this disc’s title track, Joe Ely finds contentedness by pushing forward, living for the moment, feeling his “bandana waving free.” Having toured with everyone from Butch Hancock and Jimmie Dale Gilmore (his partners in supergroup the Flatlanders) to the Clash, the veteran Texas country rocker sings with well-earned wisdom and self-assurance. He knows all... 

TOMMY STINSON One Man Mutiny tommystinson.com Long before his current stint in Guns N’ Roses, bassist Tommy Stinson served his apprenticeship with the Replacements—simultaneously the Beatles and Rolling Stones of the ’80s alt-rock underground. The Minneapolis group could be sharp and melodic, like a punky Fab Four, but also shambolic and self-destructive—particularly onstage, after a few drinks. Fortunately, Stinson seems to have soaked up... 

BLUE OCTOBER Fueled by domestic despair, a platinum-selling band goes its own way Blue October leader Justin Furstenfeld doesn’t just wear his heart on his sleeve—on his band’s latest album, Any Man in America, it’s visible on practically every thread of his wardrobe. The anthemic melodies and stream-of-consciousness lyrics document in unflinching detail the unraveling of Furstenfeld’s marriage and his struggle to keep his relationship with... 

LETTING UP DESPITE GREAT FAULTS Paper Crush myspace.com/lettingup Mike Lee crammed five words into his band’s name, but on this latest collection of swooning dream-pop language is a secondary consideration. What matters most are the synths: bathwater-warm washes of teen yearning. Sync this with The Breakfast Club on rainy summer days.  Read More →

CLAMS CASINO Rainforest facebook.com/clammyclams With its reverberating moans and narcotic keyboards, the debut EP from in-demand beatmaker Mike Volpe could almost pass for New Age. “Treetop” even features sampled bird and bug noises. But this drowsy, disorienting disc offers something different: banging hip-hop, shot full of tranquilizers.  Read More →

THE BELL Great Heat thebell.se Track two, “Holiday,” shares its title with a Madonna hit and synth riff with the Human League’s “Don’t You Want Me.” Elsewhere the Swedish trio varies its references—Pet Shop Boys, New Order, etc.—but the results are the same: note-perfect nostalgia. Eighties addicts, the Bell tolls for thee.  Read More →

BETTY BLACK Slow Dance EP bettyblack.bandcamp.com On the first of several planned EPs about growing up, Black plays Goth Ronnie Spector, doing ’60s pop with a dark ’80s edge. The theme is fleeting innocence, and while covering teen anthems by the Buzzcocks and Shirelles she builds anticipation for the sordid stuff to follow.  Read More →