COHEED AND CAMBRIA The Afterman: Ascension [Hundred Handed/Everything Evil] Products of the early-’00s emo boom, Coheed and Cambria distinguished themselves with an evolved, complex punk sound, basing all of their albums around a continuing fantasy storyline, The Amory Wars. Their sixth album, The Afterman: Ascension, continues the epic tale with all of the pageantry one would expect. At times mathematical, Coheed’s song structures display a... 

MADNESS Oui Oui, Si Si, Ja Ja, Da Da [Cooking Vinyl] In the late ’70s and early ’80s, Madness scored a Beatlesque run of U.K. hits, and for good reason: a Beatlesque way with melody. Initially affiliated with the 2 Tone ska movement, the septet put Jamaican bounce behind quintessentially British songs, sidestepping the political sloganeering of their post-punk peers to paint nuanced portraits of everyday London life. Their fourth album since... 

JAMEY JOHNSON Living for a Song: A Tribute to Hank Cochran [Mercury] It’s fitting that Jamey Johnson, perhaps the best songwriter on the country scene, chose to honor one of the greatest and most prolific songwriters of all time. During his half-century in Nashville, Hank Cochran, who died in 2010, created a body of work so rich that this could have easily been a three-disc set. Instead, Johnson intersperses Cochran’s most famous songs, such... 

AMY WINEHOUSE At the BBC  [Universal Republic] Thankfully, the second posthumous Winehouse release isn’t filled with scraps that didn’t make last year’s Lioness. Drawn from BBC appearances, it reminds listeners what a charismatic vocalist Winehouse was. The early material, recorded circa 2004’s Frank album, showcases Winehouse’s jazz roots, pairing her sultry, scat-like singing with big band arrangements. The handful of tracks from her... 

BUDDY MILLER AND JIM LAUDERDALE Buddy and Jim [New West] The two brightest stars in Americana have found success with solo albums and written gems for giants like George Strait and the Dixie Chicks. They’ve also scored with collaborative efforts: Miller has played with Emmylou Harris and Robert Plant’s Band of Joy, while Lauderdale has recorded with Ralph Stanley and toured with Elvis Costello. This team-up album has been a long time coming. Comprising... 

CRYSTAL CASTLES  III [Casablanca] On the third album by this frequently terrifying Toronto duo, all of the elements needed to make euphoric dance music are present but just out of reach. Producer Ethan Kath and singer Alice Glass are handy with the celestial synth tones and four-to-the-floor beats, but rather than party like it’s the end of the world, these electro-goth freakniks anticipate the actual coming of the apocalypse. Apparently recorded... 

AARON LEWIS The Road [Blaster] Old-school country fans unimpressed by the modern state of the genre need only look to this, the sophomore country album by Staind frontman Aaron Lewis, for solace. Sure, Lewis was raised in Massachusetts, but thanks to his country-loving grandfather, he absorbed the sounds of the greats. And although he made his name with hard rock, his success in that arena has as much to do with his emotive storytelling as it does... 

DEFTONES Koi No Yokan [Reprise] Despite a good deal of drama—most notably bassist Chi Cheng’s near-fatal 2008 car wreck—the Deftones retained the distinctive alt-metal sound it forged in the early ’90s. Keeping its collective foot on the distortion pedal, the band’s seventh full-length album, Koi No Yokan, provides moments that range from hauntingly tender to downright punishing. Tracks such as “Leathers” feature slow, ominous intros... 

Color Me Obsessed:  A Film About the Replacements   [MVD Visual] A rock documentary with almost no music—and not a lick by the film’s subjects—Color Me Obsessed is the visual document the Replacements deserve. Brilliant one minute, awful the next, and doomed to fail, if their story can really be seen as a failure, the Minneapolis foursome is among the most mythologized bands of the last 30 years. As Goo Goo Dolls singer John Rzeznik says,... 

ANDREW BIRD Hands of Glory [Mom & Pop] Inspired by the popularity of his old-timey sets on his last tour, Andrew Bird returns less than a year after his last record, Break It Yourself. For this eight-song companion piece, the violinist and his band recorded in a barn around a single microphone. The approach was old fashioned, but the song selection was anything but. On the lone traditional tune, “Railroad Bill,” Bird’s jaunty fiddling and... 

HOW TO DESTROY ANGELS An Omen [Columbia] Nine Inch Nails mastermind Trent Reznor continues to play mad chemist with industrial music, this time via a side project featuring his wife, Mariqueen Maandig. Her soothing voice lends a twisted effect to this EP. The largely acoustic “Ice Age” is oddly folksy, and for a six-song set, An Omen boasts a wide emotional spectrum. There are periods of tranquility that give way to invocations of disaster—something... 

SETH GLIER Things I Should Let You Know [MPress] With his polished tenor vocals and natural affinity for creating shimmering, seductive melodies, singer-songwriter Seth Glier knows how to sway the sentiments of his listeners. Here, the album title alone is enough to catch one’s attention, but it’s Glier’s precise phrasing and subtle touches that make for an engaging start-to-finish listen. Whether he’s singing solitary ballads like “Everything... 

JOHN TRAVOLTA & OLIVIA NEWTON-JOHN This Christmas [UMG] In 1978, Olivia Newton-John and John Travolta were that too-cute couple from the blockbuster film Grease, not to mention its smash single “You’re the One That I Want.” Nearly 35 years later, they’re back with This Christmas, a 13-track collection of holiday faves that features such special guests as Tony Bennett (“Winter Wonderland”), Barbra Streisand (“I’ll Be Home for Christmas”)... 

THE WORLD FAMOUS HEADLINERS World Famous Headliners worldfamousheadliners.com How do you know Big Al Anderson still loves his job? Leading this Nashville supergroup, the 65-year-old sounds younger than he did on “No Good to Cry,” the garage nugget he cut in 1967 with the Wildweeds, the Connecticut band he fronted before serving 22 years with cult heroes NRBQ. In fact, singing and playing guitar is no longer Anderson’s main gig. Since the 1990s,... 

MASTA ACE MA_Doom: Son of Yvonne mastaace.com In the flashback skit that begins this hip-hop nostalgia trip, young Duval Clear rechristens himself Masta Ace. The Brooklyn MC has used that tag for nearly a quarter century, influencing scores of better known rappers, but this album’s subtitle, Son of Yvonne, is perhaps the meaningful pseudonym. After all, it was Duval’s mom’s record collection—romanticized on “Ninteen Seventy Something”—that... 

RAFIQ BHATIA Yes It Will rafiqbhatia.com On his full-length debut, guitarist and composer Rafiq Bhatia presides over jagged jazz jams that don’t always feature guitar and seldom feel particularly composed. True, his sharp, spiraling runs are all over “Background Music”—a song with far too many dynamic shifts to justify its self-deprecating name. Ditto “Try” and “Endogenous Oscillators.” But on the seven-plus-minute centerpiece “Annihilator... 

SKYLINE DRIVE Topanga Ranch Motel skylinedrive.me Bless the acoustic guitar—the go-to instrument for rock ’n’ rollers looking to reinvent themselves as troubadours. Among the latest to unplug and rejoice is Skyline Drive main man Derek Thomas, formerly of experimental L.A. rockers 60 Watt Kid. On Topanga Ranch Motel, there’s nothing remotely innovative—just rootsy strumming, craggy singing, woe-is-me sentiments and the seriously sad pedal... 

HARLAN Night Loop thestillbeat.com This Southern duo has everything it needs to make edgy electro-pop for urbane Northerners. There are static-electric synth sounds, restless beats, reverb-rich vocals, cryptic lyrics, and the kinds of bluesy guitar riffs Depeche Mode uses to conjure the mystical dread of the Mississippi Delta. Only this isn’t music for nightclubs. Multi-instrumentalists John Norris and Scott Campbell aim more for planetariums, campfires... 

45 GRAVE Pick Your Poison 45grave.net One generation’s devil’s music is another’s easy listening, and while the return of L.A. “death-rock” pioneers 45 Grave—back after a 27-year hiatus—won’t mean much to today’s bloody-eared extreme-metal fanatics, there’s plenty here to recommend. Like a West Coast cross between the Misfits and New York Dolls, the band does trampy, campy psychedelic bar rock, gobbling up Halloween clichés like... 

KENDRA MORRIS Banshee kendramorrismusic.com Having spent nearly 10 years on the New York City scene, fronting an all-girl band before going solo, this Florida native is too poised and focused to warrant the “American Amy Winehouse” tag she’ll inevitably receive. That said, there are similarities. Like her late U.K. counterpart, Morris is a cool, tattooed retro-soul sister who came of age in the hip-hop era. On her debut, she links Billie Holiday... 

JANIS MARTIN The Blanco Sessions cowislandmusic.com Rockabilly pioneer Janis Martin—dubbed “the female Elvis” during her brief ’50s heyday—died in 2007, but not before teaming with producer Rosie Flores, one of the genre’s finest revivalists, for one final session. After Martin’s death, Flores struggled for years to shop the album, and she ultimately financed this release via a Kickstarter campaign. The result is a bittersweet 11-song... 

RUBY VELLE & THE SOULPHONICS It’s About Time facebook.com/soulphonics The title doesn’t lie: It is about time, and that time is the golden age of soul and R&B. We’re talking Motown, Stax and young Aretha, but rather than mimic any single artist or classic label stable, Ruby and her suit-clad sidemen roll a decade of music into one nattily dressed package. That means a mix of JFK-era love songs—check out the “(Love Is Like a) Heat... 

SUSAN CATTANEO Little Big Sky susancattaneo.com Students at Boston’s Berklee College of Music have a fine teacher in Susan Cattaneo, part-time faculty of the songwriting department. On this EP, she leads a crack Nashville squad through seven pro-built country tunes. Whether stomping (“Let the Music Deliver Me”) or pining (“A Place Called Love”), she places each verse, chorus and bridge exactly where it belongs. Like any master crafter, Cattaneo... 

DISPATCH Circles Around the Sun dispatchmusic.com This insanely popular New England band’s first album in 12 years takes its name from the leadoff track—an underdog story that may be a parable for Dispatch itself. As the song opens, doctors rocket a sickly child into space, and after a few years in orbit, he returns “with a smile as big as the whole world.” Formed in Vermont, this markedly un-hip trio logged mad miles in the ’90s, becoming... 

TUMBLEWEED WANDERERS So Long tumbleweedwanderers.com Are those echoes of Sugar Ray’s “Fly” in “Take It Back,” the closest the Wanderers come on their debut album to penning a summer jam? Could be—the members of this San Fran Americana quintet are children of the ’90s, even if they’d like to pretend otherwise. “This ain’t ’69 / you’ve gotta change your mind,” frontman Jeremy Lyon sings on the soulful “Take It Back,” only... 

PINEY GIR Geronimo! pineygir.com Raised by a Pentecostal minister, Gir failed at speaking in tongues—unless you count “tang-ticky tang-tang-tang-tang,” one of the nonsense phrases she’ll throw into her smiley ’60s-style pop songs. Her sheltered upbringing hasn’t left her naive—just sweet and hopeful, even when life bursts her balloon.  Read More →

LOWTALKER The Marathon EP myspace.com/lowtalkermusic Properly channeled, the rage required to play hardcore can also produce music like this: earnest, surging, scream-along rock for tattooed dudes in touch with their feelings. It gets pretty heavy, but love of classic Midwestern punk keeps this Milwaukee foursome from steamrolling the listener.  Read More →

JOE FIEDLER’S BIG SACKBUT Joe Fiedler’s Big Sackbut joefiedler.com Three trombonists and a tuba player walk into a studio. It has the makings of a joke, but bandleader Fiedler plays it straight, fitting intricate melodies and inventive solos around Marcus Rojas’ anchoring tuba. On “Calle Luna, Calle Sol,” he even makes the t-bone sound sexy. Take that, saxophone.  Read More →

GRACE PETTIS Two Birds gracepettis.com Landing somewhere between old-school country and Top 40 folk-rock, Pettis pens detailed songs about lovers on the mend and young musicians on the move. Through these vignettes, she offers glimpses of her own personality, revealing herself to be an observer and a dreamer—a winning combo.  Read More →

BIRDS OF CHICAGO Birds of Chicago birdsofchicago.com It’s not quite Rod Stewart-meets-Billie Holiday—and that’s probably for the best—but husky-voiced JT Nero and silky-smooth Allison Russell lead a kind of Americana equivalent. They deliver barefoot, butt-shaking country-rock uplift and somber folk meditations, never skimping on poetry.  Read More →

GREEN DAY ¡Uno!  [Reprise] Fourth act, same as the first: That’s the story Green Day aims to tell with ¡Uno!, the first installment in a trilogy of albums they’ll roll out over the next few months. Having played alt-rock heroes in the post-Cobain ’90s and unlikely political rock-opera dramatists in the Bush ’00s, the trio inches back toward its punk roots, crafting restless power-pop tunes that—modern studio sheen notwithstanding—might... 

DIANA KRALL Glad Rag Doll [Verve] Earlier this year, Diana Krall collaborated with Paul McCartney on Kisses on the Bottom, his tribute to pre-rock standards. She displayed an undeniable affinity for the songcraft of that earlier, simpler time, so it’s not surprising that she covers similar ground here. What is surprising: her adventurous approach. With T Bone Burnett producing and a guitar-heavy band behind her, Krall digs into the core of each... 

BAT FOR LASHES The Haunted Man [Capitol] After earning Mercury Prize nominations for each of her previous albums, Natasha Khan, aka Bat for Lashes, remains broody and beguiled on her self-produced third album. On this cohesive collection, she spins languid arrangements of gentle electronics and channels the ’80s heyday of Kate Bush—to the extent that she even mentions running up hills. Khan’s aptitude for subtle yet striking rhythm is particularly... 

MUSE The 2nd Law [Warner Bros.] Muse singer Matthew Bellamy has said his group’s new album would sound like the work of three different bands if it weren’t for his voice. That may be an understatement. Yes, Muse’s latest is a set of wildly divergent songs that coalesce around Bellamy’s voice—but the trio’s sheer force of will and considerable musical chops don’t hurt either. With a massive guitar riff and imposing strings, opener “Supremacy”... 

BOB DYLAN Tempest [Columbia] Bob Dylan’s 35th studio effort isn’t his “death album.” He’s been singing about kicking the bucket since his 1962 debut, and fans looking for evidence of Dylan facing mortality will find more clues on 1997’s Time Out of Mind—though there’s plenty of life on that one, too. What’s funny about Tempest is how comfortable Bob sounds staring into the abyss. Whether detailing a deadly love triangle (“Tin... 

AEROSMITH Music From Another Dimension [Columbia] Having weathered interpersonal issues, health problems and frontman Steven Tyler’s American Idol stint, Aerosmith return with their first album of all-original material since 2001. Working with Jack Douglas, who produced Get Your Wings, Toys in the Attic and other records from their prime, the band delivers a slick album, trying hard to meet high expectations. On the Diane Warren-penned “We All... 

TIFT MERRITT Traveling Alone [Yep Roc] Although Tift Merritt has always shown a knack for vivid, poignant songs, her albums have occasionally ducked nuance in favor of emphasizing her robust voice. That changes on Merritt’s latest, a collection that draws much of its power from the quieter moments. She embraces the dusty romance of a solitary life on the road in the title track, sighs through curtains of steel guitar on “Feeling of Beauty”... 

BENJAMIN GIBBARD  Former Lives [Barsuk] Benjamin Gibbard is known for being earnest. The Death Cab for Cutie frontman’s solemn reputation precedes him, and given his recent divorce from singer and actress Zooey Deschanel, fans might expect his solo debut to be a bit dour. To be sure, Gibbard’s trademark broken heart is ever present, but this is no typical breakup record. Featuring songs discarded and half-written over the last eight years, Former... 

Something from Nothing: The Art of Rap  [Indomina] DVD REVIEW  In rap, you are whatever you say you are. Until someone contradicts you with faster, flashier rhymes, your words carry a kind of truth. It’s music of self-definition, and as such, it’s the perfect genre to tell its own story—and spin its own mythologies. With  The Art of Rap, director Ice-T chats up old- and new-school MCs from the Bronx—the birthplace of hip-hop—to Compton,... 

VAN MORRISON Born to Sing: No Plan B [Blue Note] Like any free spirit, Van Morrison follows his muse wherever it takes him. He may tilt toward R&B, country or traditional Irish music, but he never sounds like anyone else. That’s led to a certain predictability—and a certain coziness. Born to Sing is as familiar as Van Morrison albums come. It’s his first set of all-original material since 2008, but these tunes could have turned up at any... 

JASON ALDEAN Night Train [Broken Bow] By combining country and arena rock like a macho-hillbilly alchemist, Jason Aldean has become Music Row’s most popular male vocalist. Helmed by his longtime producer Michael Knox, Night Train sticks close to Aldean’s hicks-from-the-sticks formula. Rattling off the usual menu of Southern-fried clichés, he sings with attitude over screaming guitar riffs. The lead single, “Take a Little Ride,” and the title... 

JEFF THE BROTHERHOOD Hypnotic Nights [Warner Bros.] After 10 years of thrashing around with garage-rock aesthetics, real-life band of brothers JEFF the Brotherhood have begun to explore new sonic territory. Hypnotic Nights, their seventh album and major-label debut, shows a great sense of adventure. Jake and Jamin Orrall give each song a unique touch, using rolling pianos, synthesizers—some psychedelic, others futuristic—and the odd guitar twang... 

THE ROLLING STONES  Some Girls: Live in Texas ’78    [Eagle Rock] As the Stones mark their 50th anniversary with talk of a new album and tour, it’s useful to look back to ’78, when Mick, Keef and the gang were in their mid-30s, and the band was nearly 20 years old. These days, their longevity is a source of wonder, and for all the gruff they get for shaking their sexagenarian rumps like a bunch of frisky grandpas, few really want them to... 

THE ROBERT CRAY BAND Nothin but Love [Mascot]  For decades, singer and guitarist Robert Cray has been in an odd position. He’s credited with bringing the blues back into the mainstream yet criticized for making the genre shiny and acceptable. His fans outnumber his detractors, though, and Nothin but Love reveals why. Produced by Kevin Shirley, the album is audacious and potent yet tidy and accessible. Cray and his band prefer their blues soundly... 

ANITA BAKER Only Forever [Blue Note] Soul-jazz chanteuse Anita Baker is a timeless performer who weaves challenging emotions into the smoothest of melodies. Only Forever, her first album since 2004’s My Everything, is filled with romantic paeans, and on songs like “Lately” and “Play Me Your Music,” Baker expresses the many facets of love with a religious fervor. “Free,” a gorgeous ballad that explores her bout with empty-nest syndrome,... 

RY COODER Election Special [Nonesuch] Ry Cooder has played so many roles—go-to guitarist, in-demand soundtrack composer, booster of World Music and Americana—that one almost forgets his sizable and generally exceptional body of solo albums. In recent years, Cooder has grown comfortable as a songwriter, penning tunes increasingly topical in nature. Election Special comprises broadsides in the tradition of Pete Seeger, Woody Guthrie and Phil Ochs.... 

BAND OF HORSES Mirage Rock [Columbia] Band of Horses wasted no time following up 2010’s Grammy-nominated Infinite Arms, and on Mirage Rock, the intention to move forward is clear. The band focuses on ramshackle alt-country, seldom playing straight rock songs and occasionally forgoing the “alternative” altogether. After recording their first three albums with Phil Ek, the group recruited producer Glyn Johns. The slight country twang frontman... 

NO DOUBT Push and Shove  [Interscope] When Gwen Stefani sings, “Never, ever, ever gonna be the same,” the opening line on “Sparkle,” a standout track from No Doubt’s first new album in 10 years, she’s not kidding. With its brassy accents and fat-bottom, pop-reggae bounce, the tune recalls the 2002 hit “Underneath It All,” itself a reminder of No Doubt’s roots as the little SoCal ska band that could. But “Sparkle” is the exception... 

AIMEE MANN Charmer [SuperEgo] “Charmer” is less a term of endearment for Aimee Mann than it is a source of curiosity: What are they after, these charming people? What’s their angle? Mann, who made her name as a member of the Boston New Wave band ’Til Tuesday, explores the concept on her eighth studio album, a collection of smart songs drawn from what she calls the “super pop” of the 1970s and ’80s. The sound suits Mann, who’s always... 

OLD CROW MEDICINE SHOW Carry Me Back [ATO] In the four years since Old Crow Medicine Show’s last studio album, string music has gone from acquired-taste appetizer to semi-standard entrée. While acts like the Punch Brothers, Carolina Chocolate Drops and Crooked Still have done their part to push the string-meets-bluegrass-meets-alt-country format ahead, Old Crow’s absence left a thirst not easily quenched. Fans craving new Old Crow will find Carry...