THE DIRTBOMBS Party Store [In the Red] Garage rock and soul are both unavoidable influences for any Detroit band reared on the local drinking water. The Dirtbombs love their Motown and Stooges, but they also know the city didn’t stop producing good music in the ’70s. Here the band explores a more obscure era of hometown history, covering a series of innovative techno singles from the ’80s and ’90s. The originals were recorded with drum machines... 

DESTROYER Kaputt [Merge] Dan Bejar has done lo-fi, he’s tried symphonic and now he goes for a super-glossy hi-fi sound on the latest from his band Destroyer. Kaputt is like the soundtrack for a Bryan Ferry biopic from an alternate reality—full of atmospheric synthesizers, effects-treated guitars, crisp drums and sleek, airless bass. The alto saxophone meandering through some of the songs is also part of the wistful mood of the record—all late... 

THE GADDABOUTS The Gaddabouts [Racecarlotta] While it’s only natural to mistake the Gaddabouts’ self-titled debut for another Edie Brickell album—perhaps a companion piece to the eponymous effort she released in January—that assumption misses the mark. This is an all-star assemblage, with Brickell being but one of the headliners alongside veteran drummer Steve Gadd, Who bassist Pino Palladino and British guitarist Andy Fairweather-Low. Gadd,... 

GANG OF FOUR Content [Yep Roc] Gang of Four roared out of the chute more than three decades ago with Entertainment!, one of the post-punk era’s finest albums. A prime influence on the alternative-rock crowd, the British quartet framed punk’s subversive spirit in jagged rhythms and shards of staccato riffs. Remarkably, the group’s first album of new material since reuniting in 2004 picks up right where its early work left off. Armed with sturdy... 

CARRIE RODRIGUEZ AND BEN KYLE We Still Love Our Country [Ninth Street Opus] Carrie Rodriguez, who began her career as part of a duo with Chip Taylor, finds a new collaborator on this duets album with Ben Kyle from the Minneapolis band Romantica. On this eight-song set the two travel some familiar Americana territory, covering Townes Van Zandt (“If I Needed You”), John Prine (“Unwed Fathers”), George Jones (“You’re Still On My Mind”)... 

JOE LOVANO/US FIVE Bird Songs [Blue Note] When Joe Lovano decided to record an album interpreting the songs of Charlie Parker, he knew the best approach he could take was to not pretend to be Parker himself. And why should he? Lovano has been one of the most consistently inventive saxophonists in jazz for more than two decades. The melodies and chordal shifts may be as familiar as bebop itself, but Bird Songs sounds and feels like what it is: a Joe... 

NICOLE ATKINS Mondo Amore [Razor & Tie] Four years ago in “Brooklyn’s On Fire!” Nicole Atkins sang about a city in flames while sounding too wrapped up in a magical, boy-crazy dream to really care. Her second album fast-forwards to a point where love-induced blindness has lost some of its power and where a conflict has arisen between our need to move on and our desire to keep what’s in front of us. When Atkins isn’t sticking up for... 

TALIB KWELI Gutter Rainbows [Javotti Media/3D] The latest from Talib Kweli is largely a DIY affair: The rapper recorded and released it outside the major-label system, and no big-name producers or big-shot guests were involved. It’s just Kweli with a handful of collaborators, dropping rhymes that veer toward the socially conscious over neo-soul beats. In other words, it’s not all that different from what the New York MC has been doing all along.... 

PJ HARVEY Let England Shake [Vagrant] After years of making love songs sound like declarations of war, PJ Harvey is flipping the script. Let England Shake is a blunt indictment of her country’s past and present militarism, and while the lyrics range from mournful to venomous, the music is steady and restrained. Part of that is due to instrumentation: Harvey wrote these songs on autoharp, an instrument that doesn’t exactly lend itself to hardcore... 

RADIOHEAD The King of Limbs [TBD Records] There are two Radioheads, and there have been for some time now. One is a five-piece rock band from Oxfordshire, England, that is responsible for relatively straightforward modern classics like “Creep” and “Karma Police.” The other is a six-piece studio collective (including producer Nigel Godrich, an essential part of the team since 1997’s landmark OK Computer) that assembles complex, surreal sonic... 

Who Is Harry Nilsson (And Why Is Everybody Talkin’ About Him)? [Lorber Films] DVD Harry Nilsson was a one-of-a-kind character: an immensely talented songwriter whose biggest hits were covers; an ebullient soul fueled by a terror of abandonment; an ambitious striver who seemed determined to wreck his career; a man with the voice of an angel and a devilish sense of humor; a lover of life who often appeared to have a death wish; a onetime multimillionaire... 

ROCK BAND 3 [Harmonix] GUITAR HERO: WARRIORS OF ROCK [Activision] VIDEO GAMES The music game genre has grown crowded quickly over the last few years, but the essential battle at its core remains that between the Guitar Hero and Rock Band franchises. The latest iteration of each demonstrates the very different ways in which the games have evolved. The Guitar Hero series is on its sixth major incarnation, not counting seemingly endless variants like... 

GUITAR HERO: WARRIORS OF ROCK [Activision] ROCK BAND 3 [Harmonix] VIDEO GAMES The music game genre has grown crowded quickly over the last few years, but the essential battle at its core remains that between the Guitar Hero and Rock Band franchises. The latest iteration of each demonstrates the very different ways in which the games have evolved. The Guitar Hero series is on its sixth major incarnation, not counting seemingly endless variants like... 

JIMI HENDRIX West Coast Seattle Boy: The Jimi Hendrix Anthology [Experience Hendrix/Sony Legacy] BOX SET At some point the world resigned itself to the idea that every scrap of tape left behind by musical giants like Miles Davis and John Coltrane was worth hearing—that every alternate version was at least a little revealing, and even a seconds-long take that broke down before getting started offered a glimpse into the creative process. It’s... 

CAREY OTT Human Heart [DiscoverRock.com] On his second full-length solo album, Ott again displays the understated melodicism of his previous work as well as a winsome voice reminiscent of Freedy Johnston. On the punchy “Wish I Could,” Ott voices his eternal optimism with pithy lines like “I want to talk and communicate with everyone.” That theme continues on the oughta-be-a-hit “Be Honest,” where he croons, “A little more courtesy, empathy/All... 

KAT MASLICH-BODE The Road Of 6 [Mishara Music] A decade ago, Kat Maslich-Bode (then just Maslich) was half of the buzzed-about Los Angeles-based acoustic duo eastmountainsouth with Peter Bradley Adams. They released an album and toured with folks like Lucinda Williams and Nelly Furtado before breaking up in 2004. The alluring EP The Road of 6 is the at-long-last solo debut for the now Nashville-based singer-songwriter. The opening track, “March,”... 

VIOLENS Amoral [Friendly Fire/Static Recital] Producer and multi-instrumentalist Jorge Elbrecht digs everything from black metal and hardcore punk to ’90s dance music, but he has the ’80s on the brain with Amoral, the debut album from his Brooklyn trio Violens. Elbrecht’s is a different sort of nostalgia. Rather than referencing indie-rock faves like New Order or Gary Numan, he aims for the high-gloss Top 40 pop of the decade’s latter half;... 

THE STRING CHEESE INCIDENT Rhythm of the Road, Vol. One: Incident in Atlanta [SCI Fidelity] This 2000 show in Atlanta has achieved legendary status among String Cheese Incident fans, capturing a moment at which the veteran jam band reached a new plateau as a performing unit. And what a treat it is for Cheeseheads: over three hours of the group’s trademark stew of bluegrass, funk and jazz with oodles of interplay among the members. The group quickly... 

THE VOLEBEATS The Volebeats [Rainbow Quartz] The Volebeats have been putting records out sporadically and without much fanfare since 1989 without attracting a great deal of attention. The band has displayed an unwavering adherence to a ’60s British Invasion sound, particularly in its R&B permutations (the Stones’ Out of Our Heads would be an appropriate touchstone), strained through a country sensibility and throwing in various dollops of... 

SOUTHERN CULTURE ON THE SKIDS The Kudzu Ranch [Kudzu] Southern Culture on the Skids has been providing its own particular perspective on the lowbrow side of the South for more than two decades now, from dirt-track dates to banana pudding, all set to a raucous, party-ready amalgam of rockabilly, blues, surf music and whatever else crosses its members’ minds. The band’s 13th album is a brisk race through hick-rock character sketch (“My Neighbor... 

THE PIPETTES Earth vs. the Pipettes [Polka Dot Sounds/Fortuna Pop] After delving into the sound of classic early-’60s girls groups on 2006’s We Are the Pipettes, the Brit indie act’s follow-up takes the next logical step by diving into disco. Maybe they should have stuck with the girl-group thing. Now a duo after near-constant lineup changes over the past four years, the Pipettes approach disco head-on with glossy songs packed full of candy-colored... 

ERIC JOHNSON Up Close [Vortexan Music] While it’s been 20 years since Eric Johnson had his closest brush with fame with the landmark Ah Via Musicom, the joyful noise that is his signature remains completely intact. At times, his entire multi-decade discography feels like it could have been cut in one long session in any given year. For its part, Up Close lacks anything quite as breakneck as “Zap” or as hummable as “Cliffs of Dover,” but... 

EDIE BRICKELL Edie Brickell [Redeye] Before adult-contemporary audiences could get the wah-wah guitar of her debut hit “What I Am” out of their heads, media-shy Edie Brickell had already grown disaffected with show business. Because her career since the ’80s has been modest by choice, it’s a feel-good shock to hear her sounding so comfortable on just her sixth album in 23 years. “Give It Another Day” starts out sounding like Laura Nyro... 

STEREOLAB Not Music [Drag City] Sadly, this new release does not signal an end to Stereolab’s recently begun hiatus. The 13 songs on Not Music were recorded in 2007 alongside the 17 that made it onto the following year’s Chemical Chords. This new batch shares much in common with the first, while building on ideas the London collective has been cooking up since the early ’90s. As always, Stereolab makes music for situationist cocktail parties—soirees... 

DEADMAU5 4×4=12 [Ultra] Canadian electro producer Deadmau5 (pronounced “deadmouse”) has appeared at the 2010 Winter Olympics, won a slew of electronic music awards and spun on national TV during the MTV Video Music Awards, but he demonstrates on his new album that building laptop beats and wearing a surreal costume on stage does not make one Daft Punk. His third album is a wide-ranging collection of dance tracks, with pumping rhythm on “Some... 

CHARLIE WILSON Just Charlie [Jive] As long as there has been popular music, its focus has remained on love and all it entails—from yearning and desire to courtship, contentment and/or heartbreak. Former Gap Band singer Charlie Wilson doesn’t nudge those parameters on the aptly titled Just Charlie, but his smooth croon and penchant for bedroom ballads make them seem less constrictive. Capping a productive decade-long solo career, this offering... 

STEVE WYNN & THE MIRACLE 3 Northern Aggression [Yep Roc] Steve Wynn still is whipping up a sonic storm nearly three decades after he first piloted the Dream Syndicate on its critically acclaimed debut, The Days of Wine and Roses. With his current band, the muscular and visceral Miracle 3 (guitarist Jason Victor, drummer Linda Pitmon and bassist Dave DeCastro), he careens through a blistering set of psychedelic-dosed rock on Northern Aggression.... 

CRYSTAL BOWERSOX Farmer’s Daughter [19 Recordings/Jive] American Idol contestants are often accused of oversinging, pseudo-dramatics and the like—and on her high-spirited debut, former Idol runner-up Crystal Bowersox sometimes stands guilty of these musical crimes. Still, she explores her own path often enough on Farmer’s Daughter to stake a claim to a promising recording career. After a feisty opener, the top-down roadhouse rocker “Ridin’... 

YNGWIE MALMSTEEN Relentless [Rising Force] If guitarists were paid by the note, Yngwie Malmsteen would be a gazillionaire. For 30 years the Swedish six-stringer has shredded with a scorched-earth vengeance, delivering flying-fingered arpeggios and whammy bar acrobatics that at times defy credulity. By that measure, his latest album ranks among his best. Framed by pile-driving percussion, medieval choral flourishes and portentous lyrical themes, Malmsteen... 

BEYONCÉ I Am … World Tour [Columbia] I Am … World Tour gathers two dozen of Beyoncé’s best-loved songs from various stops on a 78-city world tour. All her biggest hits are here: “Crazy in Love,” “Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It)” and a sleek version of Destiny’s Child’s “Say My Name” just for starters. The live setting strips away some of the hyperactive sheen of the studio versions and lets you hear Beyoncé put her ringing... 

SOCIAL DISTORTION Hard Times and Nursery Rhymes [Epitaph] The nihilistic Mike Ness of Mommy’s Little Monster, Social Distortion’s 1983 debut, has long since disappeared. The singer and guitarist is still a tough guy, but ever since embracing country and rockabilly influences in the mid-1980s he’s played a more sympathetic sort of antihero: the ruffian with the heart of gold. On Social Distortion’s first album since 2004, Ness remains very... 

DUFFY Endlessly [Mercury] Twenty-six-year-old Welsh singer Duffy created a stir with her 2008 debut Rockferry, eliciting a wave of comparisons to Amy Winehouse. This fine follow-up won’t rid her of that tag entirely, but it does edge Duffy closer to a stylistic identity of her own. Half the disc embraces the retro R&B style that shaped Duffy’s debut, while the other boasts a Euro-chic pop sound more akin to Kylie Minogue. Standout moments... 

THE DECEMBERISTS The King Is Dead [Capitol] Decemberists leader Colin Meloy has a flair for fanciful storytelling—but because America is too young to have produced its own ancient folklore, he and his cohorts tend to look elsewhere for inspiration. On its last two albums the band drew on Japanese and European traditions, creating elaborate fairy-tale song cycles. On first listen, The King Is Dead seems the opposite: a collection of scaled-back Americana... 

DWIGHT TWILLEY Green Blimp dwighttwilley.com There’s no shortage of individuals who would take credit for jumpstarting the power-pop movement way back when, but none of them stake as convincing a claim as Dwight Twilley. His 1975 Top 20 hit “I’m on Fire” helped lay the groundwork for the entire retro rock regimen, and by the time he returned to the charts with 1984’s “Girls,” his argument had been made. Sadly, Twilley’s accomplishments... 

VARIOUS ARTISTS Crossroads Guitar Festival 2010 [Rhino] DVD REVIEW Rock ’n’ roll as a genre couldn’t exist without the electric guitar. That means Eric Clapton’s Crossroads Guitar Festival, put on by the guitar legend tri-annually since 2004, is in essence a celebration of rock ’n’ roll’s very raison d’être. For each event Clapton handpicks a lineup of axe slingers that embraces a broad range of styles and generations, from his... 

JOHN LENNON Gimme Some Truth [Capitol] BOX SET REVIEW “Look at me,” sang John Lennon in 1970, with the Beatles’ bitter breakup just behind him and an uncertain new decade ahead. “What am I supposed to be?” Every great songwriter asks that question in one way or another, but few do so with the ruthless honesty with which Lennon pursued it through a solo career rich with contradictory impulses, wild course corrections and—of course—an... 

HILARY WILLIAMS WITH M.B. ROBERTS Sign of Life: A Story of Family, Tragedy, Music and Healing [Da Capo Press] BOOK REVIEW “Pain is a sign of life.” Those words from her doctor, which first seemed cruel, came to be a mantra for singer-songwriter Hilary Williams after a March 2006 car accident nearly killed her and left her unable to walk for several years. Pain is a part of Williams’ family legacy, as Hilary notes in this evocative memoir. Her... 

TRACE ADKINS Cowboy’s Back in Town [Show Dog/Universal] Trace Adkins’ new album begins with a punchline about the wah-wah guitar lines that once dominated porn soundtracks (“Brown Chicken Brown Cow”) and ends with a hillbilly brawl (“Whoop a Man’s Ass”). In between, the rest of this underwhelming set might make you forget the fact that Adkins, with his profound baritone, is one of modern country music’s most powerful voices. When... 

KATIE MELUA The House [Dramatico] Katie Melua has become a U.K. sensation, but stateside success has escaped her grasp so far. Her latest disc might just gain her the foothold she’s been seeking. Produced by techno-pop wizard William Orbit, The House boasts a Dido-flavored feel perfectly suited to Melua’s chanteuse-y approach. “I’d Love to Kill You,” the opening track, sets the tone, as Melua’s old-school pop voice is framed in a lovely... 

DAVID GRAY Foundling [Downtown] Following the breakup of his longtime backing band, David Gray pursued a new direction on 2009’s Draw the Line. Foundling is a spinoff from those earlier sessions, which found him shuffling off with a small group of essential players and doing solitary takes on songs originally intended for a larger ensemble. Not that this material is stripped down entirely; while selections like “Forgetting,” “The Old Chair”... 

SUPERCHUNK Majesty Shredding [Merge Records] Superchunk doesn’t aspire to be Merge Records’ most innovative or best-selling act. Mac McCaughan and Laura Ballance—founders of both Superchunk and Merge—leave that to the Arcade Fire, whose Suburbs album recently became the venerable North Carolina indie imprint’s first-ever chart-topper. The decidedly less ambitious Majesty Shredding, Superchunk’s first full-length in nine years, is a gift... 

PETE YORN Pete Yorn [Vagrant] Pete Yorn’s latest proves that off-the-cuff projects can yield superb results. Recorded in just five days with former Pixies leader Frank Black producing, the disc strips Yorn’s songwriting, singing and guitar gifts to their essence. The opener, “Precious Stone,” sets the tone. Framed by fuzzed-up guitars and a molten bridge, Yorn sounds scruffy and vulnerable on this country-tinged pop rocker. “Velcro Shoes”... 

JUSTIN TOWNES EARLE Harlem River Blues [Bloodshot] As evidenced by what is certainly his best album to date, Justin Townes Earle has put the brakes on his attitude and opted for a more traditional stance. Unabashedly emotional, these retro-minded songs could sub for old-school standards, each drawing on archetypal Americana styles ranging from bluegrass and classic country to blues, folk and gospel. They’re etched with bold strokes, mining a sound... 

MATT AND KIM Sidewalks [Fader] There’s a “grab the world by the tail” message tucked into the third full-length effort from the Brooklyn duo Matt and Kim. Singer Matt Johnson is so busy painting the town that he claims not to have time to stop and photograph any of it. But that fearless adventurousness isn’t transferred to the sound of the new songs. Other than the startlingly bare “Northeast,” this is nearly the same keyboard-driven,... 

EVEREST On Approach [Vapor/WBR] From the opening snare drum slam of “Let Go,” this second album by L.A.’s Everest finds ensemble playing and melodic hooks taking precedence over flashy soloing. That’s not to say this is merely living-room rock—with its propulsive backbeat and cascading guitars, “Let Go” sounds like a stadium anthem in waiting. Ditto for the hard-rock gestures of “I’ve Had This Feeling Before” and the lush closer,... 

CHARLES LLOYD QUARTET Mirror [ECM] Rabo de Nube, Charles Lloyd’s previous release with pianist Jason Moran, double-bassist Reuben Rogers and drummer Eric Harland, was so well received—awards galore, rave reviews—that it’s not surprising to find the same lineup returning for an encore. Mirror is more subdued than its predecessor—nearly all of the tracks are ballads, and while the musicianship is of course exemplary, it’s a relatively tamer... 

DIPLOMATS OF SOLID SOUND What Goes Around Comes Around [Pravda] Iowa City’s Diplomats of Solid Sound have been plying their trade for more than a decade now, so they’ve been at it since the early days of the soul revival that currently is fully dialed up. The band’s first three records were purely instrumental; they expanded their membership and their scope in 2008 with the addition of a trio of vocalists dubbed “the Diplomettes.” Two of... 

OLD 97’S The Grand Theatre Volume One [New West] While earlier albums found them etching their own variation on the roots-rock template, The Grand Theatre Volume One suggests the Old 97’s have again chosen to pursue a more rambunctious direction. The three songs that open the album—“The Grand Theatre,” “Every Night Is Friday Night (Without You)” and “The Magician”—constitute a rowdy triple threat that soars on rapid-fire refrains... 

SYD BARRETT An Introduction to Syd Barrett [Capitol] The driving force behind just three full-length albums—Pink Floyd’s 1967 masterpiece The Piper at the Gates of Dawn, and the 1970 solo albums The Madcap Laughs and Barrett—the late Syd Barrett nonetheless had a profound impact on rock. This 18-song collection, culled from the above albums and fleshed out with three essential singles, shows why Barrett remains such a revered cult figure. “Arnold... 

CORIN TUCKER BAND 1000 Years [Kill Rock Stars] The solo debut from Sleater-Kinney founding member Corin Tucker may not be instantly comparable to the aggressive work of her famous riot-grrl band, but it doesn’t qualify as a startling departure either. Despite being short on screams and relatively eclectic in its choice of instruments, 1000 Years channels the do-it-yourself spirit of punk rock during every second of its running time. Alongside the...