LAURA STEVENSON & THE CANS Sit Resist [Don Giovanni] Laura Stevenson covers a lot of ground on the second album with her band the Cans. She does sunny pop, rootsy angst and rock ’n’ roll bite, bringing an infectious charm to each of them with her sweet, slightly rumpled voice. Sometimes she murmurs as if singing to herself, and sometimes she lets fly with full-throated bursts. She does both on lead single “Master of Art,” a standout track... 

IGGY POP Roadkill Rising … The Bootleg Collection 1977-2009 [Shout! Factory] Fans of Iggy Pop know the deal by now: There is a seemingly endless number of live recordings out there (mostly of illegitimate origin) that document the singer’s manic energy and raw onstage aggression, but most are tinny audience recordings. The four-disc box set Roadkill Rising finds Pop himself culling performances from some of the best—and best-sounding—bootlegs... 

SONS AND DAUGHTERS Mirror Mirror [Domino] Sons and Daughters’ 2008 album, The Gift, saw the Glasgow-based band toughen up the folk-goth sound first unfurled on their 2005 debut. Mirror Mirror finds the group ratcheting up the aural dynamics—and the gloom factor—even further. Adding dance rhythms and electronica to the mix (as well as more vocals from guitarist Scott Paterson, flanking frontwoman Adele Bethel), the album comes off as an unlikely... 

THE ELECTED Bury Me in My Rings [Vagrant] Five years after its sophomore album, Rilo Kiley co-founder Blake Sennett and his band the Elected are back with more simple, summery sounds. Sweet, tender songs and breezy slices of romanticism are perfectly suited for summer fare, requiring virtually no brainpower to absorb. Easily digestible melodies laced with Ric Ocasek-esque economy are Sennett’s stock-in-trade, and whether you’re lying in your hammock... 

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.... 

ROY ORBISON The Monument Singles Collection [Monument/Orbison/Legacy] BOX SET Now that vinyl has made its comeback, why not mono? Stereo sound vanquished its single-channel predecessor decades ago, but some stubborn souls never stopped touting the merits of mono—its punch, its clarity and the fact that for music made through the mid-’60s it was the dominant format and therefore the truest reflection of the artists’ intent. The Beatles, for... 

THE GRASCALS & FRIENDS Country Classics With a Bluegrass Spin [Cracker Barrel] The Grascals share a wealth of individual and collective experience in the bluegrass world, and it shows on this masterfully rendered set of covers populated by marquee guests. Opening with a faithful take on Buck Owens’ signature “Tiger by the Tail,” with Brad Paisley contributing the lead vocal and Kent Wells wailing on electric guitar, the Grascals prove once... 

TEDDY THOMPSON Bella [Verve Forecast] Teddy Thompson thanks someone named “Bella” in the liner notes for his new release—but if she is indeed the record’s inspiration, whoever she may be, it sounds like she’s been causing him endless grief. Bella is fixed on the down side of love: the difficulty of finding it, the ease of losing it and the heartbreak it leaves in its wake, accompanied by regret and unblinking self-recrimination. Thompson... 

NORTH MISSISSIPPI ALLSTARS Keys to the Kingdom [Sounds of the South] Swampy, soulful and drenched with bottleneck blues, North Mississippi Allstars take their cue from a distinctly Southern musical tradition. It’s hardly surprising, considering that two of the band’s members, Luther and Cody Dickinson, were sired by legendary Memphis producer Jim Dickinson, a man who helped shape an archetypical regional style. So when the band convened with guests... 

BRUCE COCKBURN Small Source of Comfort [True North] One might think that by album No. 24, even a singer-songwriter with Bruce Cockburn’s undeniable gifts might have nothing new to say. And there have been times in recent years when it would have been fair to wonder just that: 2005’s all-instrumental Speechless was hardly what Cockburn does best, and 2009’s live solo Slice O Life was, well, just another live album. Small Source of Comfort, though,... 

BUDDY MILLER The Majestic Silver Strings [New West] Despite a long run of stellar albums as a solo artist and with his wife, Julie, Buddy Miller’s reputation as super sideman to artists like Robert Plant, Emmylou Harris, Shawn Colvin, Patty Griffin and others tends to overshadow his own work. He has it both ways on his star-studded latest, enlisting top-shelf guitarists Bill Frisell, Marc Ribot and Greg Leisz for some adventurous reworking of classic... 

BRAD MEHLDAU Live in Marciac [Nonesuch] Brad Mehldau’s restlessness is as much a force of nature as his musicianship, so it comes as no great shock that the master jazz pianist follows last year’s double-disc quintet recording Highway Rider with another double album (plus DVD), this time solo. Mehldau is an explorer, in his compositions, his playing and—to the delight of his loyal flock—his eclectic choice of cover material. The music he interpreted... 

COWBOY JUNKIES Demons: The Nomad Series, Volume 2 [Latent/Razor & Tie] Beloved Athens, Ga., songwriter Vic Chesnutt took his own life last year, leaving behind a quirky, richly poetic body of work that dazzled fans and made his songwriter peers shake their heads in awe. On this striking covers disc, Cowboy Junkies achieve the near-impossible feat of framing Chesnutt’s songs in more palatable settings while preserving the off-kilter beauty and... 

ANNA WARONKER California Fade [Five Foot Two] Anna Waronker fronted alt-rock darlings That Dog during the ’90s, which scored hits like “Never Say Never” before breaking up in 1997. Her long-awaited second solo album shimmers like the sun setting on the Pacific, as she crafts a lush, introspective indie pop sound that often brings to mind Aimee Mann (as on the fragile, soul-searching “How Am I Doing?”). Waronker’s outlook, however, offers... 

THE DRIVE-BY TRUCKERS Go-Go Boots [ATO] Like Colonel Sanders’ chicken, Patterson Hood’s songwriting is a testament to the power of a good formula. The lead Trucker tends to write about doomed Southern schemers—victims of fate, folly or some combination of the two—and he introduces yet another cast of Dixie miscreants on the band’s ninth album. Most are dark, desperate characters; Hood devotes two whole songs—the title track and “The... 

CONCERT FOR GEORGE [Rhino] BLU-RAY The home video presentation of 2002’s all-star salute to the late George Harrison offers a case study in the difference between a great concert and a great concert movie. Both the original DVD release and this lovingly rendered new Blu-ray rendition include two discs: the first featuring the complete show presented in chronological order, and the second offering the film as it was seen in theaters. The concert... 

MIDDLE BROTHER Middle Brother [Partisan] Middle Brother’s eponymous debut affirms the fact that three voices, three acoustic guitars and a wealth of solid songwriting can prove just as mesmerizing as a high-gloss production, lavish pyrotechnics and all the stunts and special effects Lady Gaga has in her arsenal. Moonlighting from their day jobs, Middle Brother’s three prime movers—John McCauley of Deer Tick, Matt Vasquez of the Delta Spirit,... 

JOHNNY CASH Bootleg Vol. II: From Memphis to Hollywood [Columbia/Legacy] The deluge of Johnny Cash vault material (and endless repackagings) released since he ceased to walk the line on this earthly plane shows no sign of abating. The first set in this “bootleg” series, Personal File, only scratched the surface of the hundreds of demos, outtakes and home recordings accumulated by the man over his lifetime. From Memphis to Hollywood dips into... 

GERRY BECKLEY Unfortunate Casino [Human Nature Music] Since he burst on the scene in the early ’70s as one-third of the folk-rock hit machine America, Gerry Beckley has evolved into an accomplished pop tunesmith who plays to his strengths: catchy melodicism and an easy lyrical intimacy. His latest effort is a low-key collection highlighted by the bouncy title tune, with rueful observations like “I’m walking by a pool in Vegas, I see them on... 

PEARL JAM 1993-1995 [Epic/Legacy] REISSUE The period following the mammoth success of their 1991 debut album, Ten, was a turbulent period for Pearl Jam. The adjustment to stardom was a difficult one, and the strain only grew with the suicide of Seattle contemporary Kurt Cobain, its doomed antitrust lawsuit against promoter Ticketmaster, guitarist Mike McCready’s growing alcohol abuse and the bubbling internal personality conflict between Vedder... 

SOLOMON BURKE & DE DIJK Hold on Tight [Verve] It’s an odd pairing on the surface: Solomon Burke, the great soul colossus, fronting a Dutch band hardly known outside their native country. But the members of Amsterdam-based De Dijk (translation: “the dike”) sound as if they were born to back Burke. Recorded in Brussels in just six days in late 2009, Hold on Tight features the soul legend covering (in English translations) a splendid R&B-drenched... 

NEW YORK DOLLS Dancing Backward in High Heels [429] Dancing Backward in High Heels continues the New York Dolls’ remarkably unexpected, and just plain remarkable, reunion. On their third 21st-century release—more than they managed during their original ’70s run—surviving original members David Johansen and Syl Sylvain are joined by returning reunion-era drummer Brian Delaney, onetime Blondie guitarist Frank Infante and bass player Jason Hill.... 

RAY DAVIES See My Friends [Decca] Former Kinks leader Ray Davies’ all-star duets project seems at first like a gimmicky tease. As Springsteen and Bon Jovi growl and wail through some of Davies’ more delicate gems, one can’t help but wonder what the point of all this might be. But eventually the bigger names stop chewing up the scenery, and the pairings become more like true collaborations than curiosities. Lucinda Williams’ weary take on “Long... 

SARA EVANS Stronger [Sony Nashville] On her first album in five years, Sara Evans courts country radio with a firm determination. A slick package of twang pop, Stronger begins with more Hallmark schmaltz than Tennessee waltz: her remake of Rod Stewart’s late ’80s hit “My Heart Can’t Tell You No” marks the nadir of a middling first half. The second half is where you’ll find the winners: Songs like “Alone” and “Ticket to Ride”... 

MASTODON Live at the Aragon [Reprise] Prog-metal juggernaut Mastodon’s first-ever live album, a CD/DVD set recorded in 2009 at the Aragon Ballroom in Chicago, offers an agreeably straightforward (if abbreviated) account of the band’s bruising stage show. The quartet plows through its most recent concept album, Crack the Skye, in its entirety and throws in a few oldies and a cover of the Melvins’ “The Bit.” The members’ performances are... 

THE MOUNTAIN GOATS All Eternals Deck [Merge] The title of All Eternals Deck ostensibly refers to a fictional set of Tarot cards, but the Mountain Goats’ latest draws less of its lyrical juice from fortune-telling than from scientific inquiry and the lives of faded Hollywood stars—as befits idiosyncratic singer and songwriter John Darnielle. It’s the latest in a continued evolution away from Darnielle’s one-man, lo-fi roots: The Mountain Goats... 

THE STROKES Angles [RCA] Angles marks the first time in the Strokes’ decade-long history that writing chores have been shared by all the members rather than dominated by lead singer Julian Casablancas. Perhaps the shift toward democracy explains why the scruffiness and arrogance that held the group’s previous records together share the stage here with new elements—sometimes the album is an invitation to an island-themed dance party, and sometimes... 

PAUL SIMON So Beautiful or So What [Hear Music/Concord] Elvis Costello, himself no stranger to conveying hard-won wisdom in song, pretty much nails it in his liner notes for Paul Simon’s first new album in five years: “This is a man in full possession of all his gifts, looking at the comedy and beauty of life with clarity and the tenderness bought by time.” Simon’s solo output has always been erratic, a zigzag of indisputable landmarks, most... 

SOUNDGARDEN Live on I-5 [A&M] ARCHIVAL Whether you’re in a marriage or a band, breaking up is hard to do—and lots of business gets left unfinished. Grunge powerhouse Soundgarden recorded several shows on the West Coast leg of its 1996 tour with an eye toward compiling its first-ever live album, but when the group announced its breakup the following April those plans were abandoned. With Soundgarden’s recent reunion, this lost fragment... 

VARIOUS ARTISTS The Music Inside: A Collaboration Dedicated to Waylon Jennings, Volume I [Scatter/Big Machine] TRIBUTE There’s a very good reason most tribute albums are lousy: The majority of them are collections of disparate tracks, each recorded by a completely different team of artists, musicians and producers. That almost always results in a lack of cohesion, even given the unifying factor provided by the songs. The Music Inside is a convincing... 

GRATEFUL DEAD Road Trips, Vol. 4 No. 2: April Fools’ ’88 [Rhino] BOX SET After years of struggles with drug abuse and poor health, Grateful Dead guitarist and singer Jerry Garcia slipped into a diabetic coma for five days in July 1986. When he awoke, he found that he had to re-learn how to play guitar, a process that took months. In 1989, during the making of the Dead’s final studio album, Built to Last, he relapsed into drug abuse and continued... 

THE WHITE BUFFALO Prepare for Black & Blue [Rough Shod] Take this EP’s title at face value: These are rough-and-tumble tales of damaged relationships, drinking and blood spilled. While “Love Song #2” is indeed a love song, it’s one that’s twisted up with drunken fights, an absent lover and the loneliness of the road. “Black & Blue” contrasts its gentle acoustic setting with a vivid portrait of a volatile relationship, while “In... 

CAGE THE ELEPHANT Thank You, Happy Birthday [Jive] With just two albums under its belt, Kentucky’s Cage the Elephant has transformed itself from a Lou Reed-meets-Red Hot Chili Peppers funk-punk outfit into something a bit darker. Trading away vocalist Matt Shultz’s previous raps for jarring screams will probably result in the band being less of a frat-house favorite, but it should also make it clear that this is a lead singer to keep an eye on.... 

BRITISH SEA POWER Valhalla Dancehall [Rough Trade] British Sea Power is known for big ideas and an even bigger sound. On their first three albums, these wily Brits transformed themselves from artsy thrashers into U2-grade stadium-rock flag wavers. That the group was nowhere near popular or accessible enough to play stadiums made the whole thing all the more confusing—and intriguing. Then came its fourth album, Man of Aran, a largely instrumental... 

MARCUS MILLER A Night in Monte-Carlo [Concord Jazz] With a playing style that glides effortlessly among jazz, R&B and funk, bassist Marcus Miller has long been in demand as a sideman. But he shines brightest when he’s the man up front, as on this live collaboration with the Monte- Carlo Philharmonic Orchestra. Joined by an inspired cast of musicians including trumpeter Roy Hargrove, singer and guitarist Raul Midón and turntablist DJ Logic,... 

HAYES CARLL KMAG YOYO (& Other American Stories) [Lost Highway] Alt-country rising star Hayes Carll crackles with road warrior enlightenment and follows his heart with damn-the-torpedoes political impropriety. KMAG YOYO (a military acronym for “Kiss My Ass Guys, You’re On Your Own”) finds the Texas native wearing many of his influences on his sleeve. “Stomp and Holler” could easily be this century’s “Highway 61 Revisited” for its... 

TODD SNIDER Live: The Storyteller [Aimless] “If everything goes particularly well this evening, we can all expect a 90-minute distraction from our impending doom,” proclaims Todd Snider, near the start of this rollicking, talk-heavy two-CD live set. The sentiment captures perfectly Snider’s offhand way of couching life’s hard truths in snappy, sharp-witted lines and images. The Nashville veteran’s studio albums have earned a first-rate reputation—comparisons... 

TENNIS Cape Dory [Fat Possum] The debut album by husband-and-wife duo Alaina Moore and Patrick Riley is a surf-pop treasure spawned by an eight-month sailing journey up the East Coast. Everything goes swimmingly on the surface of Cape Dory (named after the boat’s manufacturer), but a stream of melancholy lurks beneath the waves. The best songs are like wistful glances back towards the shore: “Marathon” rides along on a terrific bass line and... 

JOHN VANDERSLICE White Wilderness [Dead Oceans] There’s always been an orchestral sensibility to John Vanderslice’s music. This time he makes it official by teaming with San Francisco’s Magik*Magik Orchestra on nine new tunes featuring Minna Choi’s subtle, skillful arrangements of strings, horns, woodwinds and more traditional rock toys like piano and pedal steel guitar. Sleek strings race crosswise across the contrapuntal groaning of wind... 

WIRE Red Barked Tree [Pink Flag] Wire’s angular omnipresence has long lurked in the deep corners of the English rock psyche. Morphing from the most art-damaged of the early punks to the most punk-damaged of the post-punk art-rockers, the band has spent 30 years off and on watching half-shed shards of its DNA pop up at intervals, and now even their descendants in the Feelies or the Pixies are old enough to go on reunion tours. While crashers like... 

DAVID LOWERY The Palace Guards [429 Records/Savoy] It’s taken San Antonio’s David Lowery nearly three decades to succumb to the urge of recording a solo album, although he was always the dominant creative force in his bands Camper Van Beethoven and Cracker. As it stands, close your eyes and The Palace Guards morphs into a very good Cracker album. The nine songs here veer between country cornpone and blazing rock, with Lowery’s signature wit...