GEORGE STRAIT Here for a Good Time [MCA Nashville] George Strait sings “I’m not here for a long time, I’m here for a good time” on the title cut of his 39th studio album, but the fact is that he has been here for a long time. That’s not a knock; Strait has made a towering virtue out of consistency. The big news here is Strait’s continuing late-career development as a songwriter after three decades barely ever picking up a pen: He co-wrote... 

THE RED JUMPSUIT APPARATUS Am I the Enemy [Collective Sounds] Florida’s Red Jumpsuit Apparatus has spent its career splitting the difference between the singsongy vocals of pop-punk and hoarse screaming and frenzied drum bursts of hardcore. The band’s latest further refines the formula on 11 songs that mix the personal and political. Opener “Salvation” tackles the former with an exhortation to persevere through teen angst, while the galloping... 

BUSH The Sea of Memories [Zuma Rock/eOne] By releasing the first album in 10 years under the Bush banner with a lineup that sports only one other returning member (drummer Robin Goodridge), frontman Gavin Rossdale runs the risk of alienating fans who treat ’90s triumphs like Sixteen Stone as gospel. But from the opening machine-gun snare of “The Mirror of the Signs” to the buzz-saw guitar counterpoint throughout, there’s no mistaking you’re... 

SUNNY SWEENEY Concrete [Big Machine] Smart storytelling songs with compelling melodies and rootsy but not anachronistic settings; dashes of wit amid adult settings involving cheaters and leavers and stayers. Singing that’s pitch-true without having been Auto-Tuned into submission. Ah, so it must be Americana, yes? No, Sunny Sweeney’s Concrete is a genuine contemporary country contender, released on a major label and already sporting a Top 10 country... 

THE RAPTURE In the Grace of Your Love [DFA] It’s been mere months since electronica standard-bearer LCD Soundsystem played its final show, but the void left by its absence is wide and deep. New York dance-punk band the Rapture steps boldly into that breach with its first album in five years—released, as it happens, on LCD leader James Murphy’s DFA label. Despite the 2009 departure of bassist Matt Safer, the band hasn’t changed much during... 

VARIOUS ARTISTS Motown Gold From the Ed Sullivan Show [UMe/Sofa] Consider this, if you will: Ed Sullivan belongs in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Although hunched, puffy and decidedly unhip, he did more than any other to bring a generation’s worth of pop, rock and soul into America’s living rooms through his weekly Sunday-night TV variety program—most obviously Elvis and the Beatles, of course, but also a wealth of African-American performers... 

LESLIE WEST Unusual Suspects [Provogue Records] Mountain frontman Leslie West will forever be known for “Mississippi Queen,” a classic-rock staple that continues to inspire countless guitar wannabes with its searing intro and crushing riffs. Nothing on West’s new solo disc rises quite to that level, but his grasp of hard-hitting blues-rock remains as formidable as ever. Accompanied by a who’s who of guitar heroes including Joe Bonamassa, Billy... 

INDIGO GIRLS Beauty Queen Sister [Vanguard] The Indigo Girls’ music has always been marked by two distinct songwriting sensibilities: Amy Ray’s post-punk brashness and Emily Saliers’ more folk-inspired, laid-back vibe. That split-brain approach remains intact on the duo’s 14th studio album, but the tug of Saliers’ quieter style dominates. Soft-lit ballads and outdoorsy acoustic pop abound, nestled in rootsy instrumentation and a production... 

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 →

FM BELFAST Don’t Want to Sleep myspace.com/fmbelfast Icelandic winters must be a drag, what with the 24-hour darkness, but local fave FM Belfast has the antidote. On its sophomore album the group fuses synth blips, Nintendo noises, piano plinks and brass toots, radiating pure audio sunshine.  Read More →

CRYSTAL ANTLERS Two-Way Mirror myspace.com/crystalantlers Given their punk roots, Crystal Antlers were surprised by the prog-rock comparisons that greeted their excellent 2009 debut, Tentacles. The follow-up is bound to draw more, as the California quintet expands on its Doors-do-hardcore psychedelic thrash, trying sun-bleached pop on “Way Out” and way-out rock on “Sun-Bleached.” On “Summer Solstice” the band manages mellow beach music... 

XAVIER & OPHELIA X&O xandomusic.com It was a lucky break when Dave Tough found DeAnna Moore on MySpace. Back in 2009 the songwriter and producer needed a singer for some demos, and in Moore he found a musical chameleon keen on jazz, New Wave and Kings of Leon. Alongside such straight-up pop songs as the Dido-esque “Milk & Honey,” the pair’s debut features the suave soul throwback “Chateau Marmont” and electro-glam gem “I’m... 

LAUREN LUCAS On With the Show laurenlucas.com The cover portrait for Nashville-based Lauren Lucas’ first new music since 2007 (illustrated by noted comic-book artist Jim Starlin) finds the South Carolina native cutting herself free of puppet strings. While it’s a not-so-subtle metaphor for Lucas’ frustration with her wranglings with Music City’s oft-maddening business machine, it’s also representative of the broader and more organic musical... 

MARE WAKEFIELD Meant to Be marewakefield.com The letter to heaven is a common songwriting device, especially for folk and country artists, but Nashville songstress Mare Wakefield addresses the Almighty in a unique way. “In case you don’t know,” she sings, having just accused God of letting humanity destroy itself, “if we go, you go.” It’s a song of faith and skepticism—a prayer from someone who believes religion is man-made. “If We... 

ARMY NAVY The Last Place myspace.com/armynavy The latest in a long line of inexplicably underappreciated power-pop bands (see also Big Star, the Flamin’ Groovies and the Nerves), Army Navy debuted with one of the best albums of 2008. All sparkling guitar and infectious melody, that self-titled effort should have been a million-seller. Here’s hoping the band scores big with The Last Place, which picks up right where its predecessor left off. Frontman... 

TIDELANDS If… facebook.com/tidelands.music As the story goes, Gabriel Montana Leis needed to learn flugelhorn before he could play the melodies he began dreaming up in 2009. In forming Tidelands he enlisted Mie Araki, a percussionist able to play drums and Moog bass at the same time. Leis blows his horn throughout the San Francisco duo’s debut, but these tracks are built more on his guitar loops—jangling tangles that nuzzle Araki’s synths... 

KINDEST LINES Covered in Dust myspace.com/kindestlines Back in the ’80s, bummed-out teens could take solace in at least one thing: their killer record collections. In those days groups like Depeche Mode, New Order and Cocteau Twins created sumptuously gloomy pop, making it more fun to wallow in supposed misery than hang with the popular kids. Kindest Lines revisits the sound of yesterday’s mopey classics here, most notably the Cure’s 1989 Disintegration.... 

THE FEAR AND TREMBLING This Old Earthquake thefearandtrembling.com This New York band’s second full-length finds singer-guitarist Ryan Stimpson, multi-instrumentalist Adam Bains and drummer Morgan Loy (here abetted by bass player and percussionist Charlie Kessenich) tightening its grooves and reining in some of the My Bloody Valentine-ish expansiveness of 2007’s The Fear and Trembling’s Octopus. Still, this is an act that follows its instincts... 

URSA MINOR Showface ursaminor.info Give Ursa Minor some electric pianos—the featured instrument on the New York City group’s 2003 debut—and singer Michelle Casillas will bring the drama like Regina Spektor. She’s got the pipes and personality to go the quirky folk-chanteuse route, but here, as she and her bandmates trade keyboards for electric guitars, she proves she can also rock out. Opener “Lead & I Will Follow” recalls vintage... 

JASON WHITE The Longing jasonwhitemusic.com Jason White went into his third album with two rather lofty goals. First he wanted to connect with his sensitive side—something former girlfriends said they found lacking in his music. A decade after Tim McGraw took one of his songs to the country Top 5 (“Red Ragtop”), White also sought to reaffirm his own artistic identity. He certainly accomplishes the former. Aside from “April”—a mournful... 

MAKING FRIENDZ Social Life myspace.com/makingfriendz Tami Hart could have written nine songs just like “Situation,” the one that opens her debut as Making Friendz. “Bet you think you got me pegged,” she taunts, just before spelling out the title like a ticked-off Toni Basil. She goes on to salute Black Flag and dismiss today’s music as “commodity.” It’s brash, bratty stuff, but Social Life marks Hart’s transition from folkie rocker... 

THE WOOD BROTHERS Smoke Ring Halo thewoodbrothers.com Thanks to crossover successes Mumford & Sons and the Avett Brothers—whippersnappers who jammed with Bob Dylan at this year’s Grammys—Americana is hotter than fresh-baked pie on Mama’s windowsill. Woefully missing from the Grammy hootenanny were the Wood Brothers, virtuosic Colorado natives with a refreshing take on rootsy sounds. Oliver and Chris Wood haven’t recorded with Rick Rubin... 

BOOK REVIEW EDDIE TRUNK Eddie Trunk’s Essential Hard Rock and Heavy Metal [Abrams Image] It’s almost impossible to keep from becoming jaded even on the periphery of the music business—especially when one is a popular radio DJ who hosts a TV show and is allowed access to the innermost rock circles. Still, Eddie Trunk is a fan first and foremost, and his enthusiasm for the music he loves comes through in this primer on the sounds that drew him... 

DVD REVIEW EMERSON, LAKE & PALMER 40th Anniversary Reunion Concert [MVD Entertainment Group] The members of progressive-rock supergroup Emerson, Lake & Palmer have never quite been able to keep away from one another, despite a constantly shifting series of internecine squabbles. The band broke up through the ’80s, but a steady stream of projects united at least two of the three; a ’90s reunion fell to pieces after a few years, but just... 

REISSUE REVIEW DEEP PURPLE Scandinavian Nights In Concert 1970-1972  Live in London MKIII: The Final Concerts [Eagle Rock Entertainment] By the time Deep Purple hit the 1970 show captured on Scandinavian Nights—one of four new double-CD re-releases of live material from that decade—the band had already seen a few changes, having enjoyed a pop hit (“Hush”), shuffled members and experimented with orchestral pieces. But the group’s classic... 

ROBERT ELLIS Photographs [New West] He may be only 22, but Houston native Robert Ellis displays an impressive ability to channel influential elders while nimbly shifting his own style. The first five songs on his debut find him in singer-songwriter mode a la the early ’70s, with Jackson Browne, James Taylor, Paul Simon and the Laurel Canyon crowd serving as obvious reference points. Mellow acoustic ballads with occasional strings offer the impression... 

RANDY MONTANA Randy Montana [Mercury Nashville] Clean-cut newcomer Randy Montana establishes himself as a genuine heir to the George Strait tradition on his self-titled debut. The 25-year-old New York native, as soft-spoken and mild-mannered as his obvious role model, owns a warm baritone and a winning knack for finding songs with indelible hooks. Montana, who co-wrote eight of the 11 tracks, spends a large chunk of the album on songs that express... 

THE KENNY WAYNE SHEPHERD BAND How I Go [Roadrunner] It’s been more than 15 years since a teenaged Kenny Wayne Shepherd burst onto the scene as a hotshot blues savior. In that time he’s continually proven himself as a guitarist and repeatedly shown his respect for tradition as well as a willingness to evolve beyond it. On most of How I Go Shepherd assuredly reaches for a bigger, slicker, harder rock sound. That’s clear from the first blazing... 

OLD 97’S The Grand Theatre Vol. 2 [New West] Like the Replacements before them, Old 97’s enjoy navigating that tricky line between brilliant songcraft and ramshackle execution. Following fast on the heels of its 2010 companion disc, Grand Theatre Vol. 2 picks up right where its predecessor left off. Opener “Brown Haired Daughter” sets the tone: Powered by hard-strummed acoustic guitars, a Crazy Horse-style solo and an exhilarating chorus,... 

ALKALINE TRIO Damnesia [Epitaph] Alkaline Trio has spent 15 years channeling heartbreak and righteous indignation into gut-punching pop-punk songs with the aid of electricity. On its eighth album the group unplugs and offers stripped-down versions of its best-loved tunes, as well as two new ones and a Violent Femmes cover. As longtime fans might have guessed, the Chicago band doesn’t need speed or distortion to get its material across. Singer and... 

GEORGE THOROGOOD AND THE DESTROYERS 2120 South Michigan Ave. [Capitol/EMI] George Thorogood has always acknowledged a heavy debt to Chess Records’ pioneering Chicago blues artists, but on 2120 South Michigan Ave. he and his Destroyers pay formal tribute to the trailblazing guitarists and songwriters who influenced him. An original, “Going Back,” kicks things off in spirited blues-boogie fashion, but it’s the Chess covers that shine brightest.... 

BURLAP TO CASHMERE Burlap to Cashmere [Essential/Jive] A breakout band on the contemporary Christian music scene thanks to their 1998 debut release Anybody Out There?, the folk-rockers in Burlap to Cashmere went on to win two Dove awards before going on hiatus in 2001. Drummer Theodore Pagano found unlikely acclaim as an interior designer, while guitarist John Philippidis was left in a month-long coma after a road-rage altercation in 2005. Philippidis... 

WILD FLAG Wild Flag [Merge] Between records and tours with their main bands—Sleater-Kinney, Helium and the Minders, among them—the members of supergroup Wild Flag have spent the last decade working together on various side projects, dabbling in everything from ’60s garage to ’90s alternative while always maintaining a punk-rock ethos. Given their curatorial passion for rock music, it’s fitting the ladies open Wild Flag’s debut with “Romance”... 

TOMMY KEENE Behind the Parade [Second Motion] You’d think that after 25 years of plying his trade, Tommy Keene might have run out of ideas—or worse, inspiration. After all, that’s an awfully long time to labor below the radar. But if Keene’s dismayed, there’s no evidence of it here. Behind the Parade is brimming with enthusiasm, as reflected in the earworm hooks and enticing melodies that have long since become his stock in trade. The muted... 

TORI AMOS Night of Hunters [Deutsche Grammophon] After a couple of missteps, Tori Amos gets back on track with Night of Hunters, a 14-song cycle that finds her adapting the music of classical composers to her own symbolism-packed mythical tale of a relationship gone sour. Throughout the course of her 11th studio effort—set to variations of works from Erik Satie, Frédéric Chopin and Claude Debussy, among others—Amos examines relationship recovery... 

O.A.R. King [Wind-up] O.A.R.’s seventh album showcases a self-assured band at the height of its creative powers. Frontman Marc Roberge and company offer up a healthy dose of kinetic reggae grooves, with bright splashes of horns and other colorations. Longtime fans will welcome the return of the Wanderer, the fictional narrator of their early work, on the opening title track. The bouncy acoustic opening of “Taking on the World Today” conveys... 

RICKY SKAGGS Country Hits Bluegrass Style [Skaggs Family] In the 1980s, Ricky Skaggs ruled the country music roost, scoring 19 Top 10 hits—a whopping 11 of them chart-toppers—as the masses fleetingly embraced country traditionalism. Once radio lost interest, the man who had earned his stripes as a youth playing behind legends like Ralph Stanley returned to his native bluegrass and has remained there ever since. Now the Kentucky native and mandolin... 

SONNY ROLLINS Road Shows, Vol. 2 [Doxy/Emarcy] Without a doubt the most buzzed-about jazz concert of 2010 in New York City was Sonny Rollins’ 80th birthday celebration, held last September at the Beacon Theatre. Road Shows, Vol. 2 offers four selections from that gig—only a fraction of it, unfortunately—and tosses in a couple more from a Tokyo show. Rollins’ chops have yet to diminish one iota, as he remains an imaginative player whose gift... 

PISTOL ANNIES Hell on Heels [Columbia Nashville] Miranda Lambert recently enlisted friends and fellow singer-songwriters Ashley Monroe and Angaleena Presley to form the old-school trio Pistol Annies, an opportunity to shake off her superstar status for a while and showcase the considerable talents of her lesser-known bandmates. True to Lambert’s spitfire image, the characters in Hell on Heels encompass several species of bad girl: In the title track... 

DREAM THEATER A Dramatic Turn of Events [Roadrunner] Legions of Dream Theater fans were dismayed when drummer (and founding member) Mike Portnoy and the band parted ways last year. Never fear—with new drummer Mike Mangini behind the kit, the veteran prog-metal ensemble sounds re-energized, engaged and focused on songwriting in ways not heard since 2002’s Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence. On the harder side of the ledger, songs such as “On the... 

BUTCH WALKER AND THE BLACK WIDOWS The Spade [Dangerbird] Butch Walker has been putting out catchy pop-punk records for years, yet he’s probably more famous as a producer and songwriter (his credits include Weezer, Pink and Avril Lavigne) than as a performer. The Spade is his most infectious effort yet, so if it fails to turn him into a breakout star you can blame it on the sorry fact that few artists suddenly make it on the radio after 40. Just... 

MATES OF STATE Mountaintops [Barsuk] Thirteen years and seven albums in, Mates of State—the married duo of keyboardist Kori Gardner and drummer Jason Hammel—still sound like lovestruck teens on their latest self-produced effort. Their voices volley back and forth among bouncing, bubbling synth lines, crashing cymbals and lyrics like “You’re a pot of gold and you’re sitting at the rainbow’s edge” (from the girl group–inspired “Total... 

STEPHEN MALKMUS AND THE JICKS Mirror Traffic [Matador] If you’re wondering how much of an effect last year’s Pavement reunion had on singer and guitarist Stephen Malkmus’ ongoing solo career, the answer seems to be … well, some. The Beck-produced Mirror Traffic has a vaguely Pavement-ish anarchic feel and playful energy, veering from the punchy stop-start rhythm of the sarcastic political comment “Senator” to the languid “Long Hard Book.”... 

LINDSEY BUCKINGHAM Seeds We Sow [Buckingham] Lindsey Buckingham’s music is annoyed by your vibrating phone. It is openly contemptuous of your shuffle mode. It spits at your Spotify. It stands uncomfortably close to you, demanding that you look it in the eye and pay attention. And if you’re willing to do that, you two will get along just fine. You can go ahead and prefer his classic Fleetwood Mac guitar tone over the style he employs on Seeds We... 

ANCIENT VVISDOM A Godlike Inferno myspace.com/ancientvvisdom Proving it’s possible to worship the beast while playing at a reasonable volume, these Texas folk-metal mavens temper electric crunch with acoustic picking, boot stomps and bamboo percussion. The quiet suits frontman Nathan Opposition—a thoughtful pagan who’s spent time contemplating man’s wickedness.  Read More →

JACK BEAUREGARD The Magazines You Read myspace.com/jackbeauregard Synth-pop is the medium, not the message, for Jack Beauregard, a German duo whose sensitive-guy songs are more Belle and Sebastian than Depeche Mode. When Daniel Schaub sings about going all night, his fantasy entails comforting a troubled lover, keeping her warm while she tosses and turns.  Read More →

FORD & LOPATIN Channel Pressure myspace.com/gamesmusic If it sounded cool in the ’80s, Brooklyn duo Ford & Lopatin squeeze it onto this record. Thomas Dolby synths, slap bass, shredding guitars, soft-rock vocals and the hook from Ready for the World’s funk hit “Oh Sheila”: They’re all here, warped and blended to brilliant effect.  Read More →