DANTE VS. ZOMBIES Buh myspace.com/wwwdantevszombies These L.A. garage-punk all-stars clearly had a blast writing their latest press release, which cheekily refers to their music as “spaghetti-western jungle” and “not-quite-gentrified-ghetto-pop”—although maybe not as much fun as they seem to have had actually recording this debut album. Featuring Starlite Desperation frontman Dante White-Aliano and a pack of his wacky buds, DVZ makes ’50s... 

JON CLEARY Occapella joncleary.com In the steamy, groove-drenched version of New Orleans presented on this album—a tribute to legendary Crescent City songwriter Allen Toussaint—Jon Cleary has but one rule: “Everything I Do Gohn Be Funky.” Well, not everything. The English-born session ace mellows out on Glen Campbell’s 1977 hit “Southern Nights,” but he gets toes tapping even as he gazes at the stars and plucks out a spare piano melody.... 

STONERIDER  Fountains Left to Wake  stoneriderband.com Don’t be misled by the extramusical trappings of this Atlanta trio’s latest—neither the Floyd-at-Pompeii visuals of the cover, seemingly designed for meditating upon while in an altered state, nor its double-album sprawl. StoneRider singer and guitarist Matt Tanner, bass player Neil Warren and drummer Jason Krutzky do seem to believe rock peaked in 1973 (and there’s a case to be made),... 

BOB CANNON Unbreakable Heart facebook.com/bobcannonmusic As a journalist whose byline has appeared in such publications as Entertainment Weekly and M Music & Musicians, Cannon has soaked up the finest in country, rockabilly and pop. As a musician he reveals his connoisseurship here, loading his debut with hooks, subtle humor and, above all, heart. Along the way he faces heartache, joblessness and treacherous women—check out “Weapons of Mass... 

THE CORNER LAUGHERS Poppy Seeds cornerlaughers.com Even when they’re not referencing landmarks in their hometown of San Francisco, the Corner Laughers make it known they’re a California band. Singer and ukulele player Karla Kane’s melodies hit like injections of vitamin D. If she’s slightly more pragmatic and sarcastic than the twirling flower children of the ’60s, she nonetheless nails the shiny-happy likes of “Twice the Luck” while... 

ANDY DAVISON Let Music Unfold andydavisonmusic.com The “you” Davison pleads to on “Back on You” and this EP’s title track could be a god, a lover or both. The ambiguity is down to this young Belfast singer-songwriter’s earnest lyricism and angelic old-soul vocals. On his promising debut, Davison enlists hip-hop producer Homecut to flesh out his acoustic tunes with snatches of electronic drums, upright bass and piano. The latter is particularly... 

COMPANY  Dear America exitstencil.org/company.php This Charleston quintet’s excellent sophomore album is all about emotional highs and lows. Opener “Moonlight” is the Young Rascals’ “Good Lovin’” done in the rousing arena-Americana style of My Morning Jacket, and the vibe stays as lively on “Show Me You Really Want Me,” a Weezer-grade ’90s-rock basher. By “Bound to Drop the Ball,” however, singer Brian Hannon has dug out his... 

ANT MCNAUGHT Apache Lane antmcnaught.com After a stint in the New York folk scene, this singer-songwriter moved to Santa Cruz in 1980 and started a family. He never stopped playing—it just took him a few decades to get his stuff on tape. Better late than never. This set reveals McNaught to be a deep-thinking, dusky-voiced strummer with some lingering questions to work out about love and mortality. The delicate country shuffle “Cottonwood Tree”... 

THE HOLLYHOCKS Understories thehollyhocks.com Guitarist Dan Jewett once played with a pre-fame Adam Duritz, and like Duritz’ Counting Crows these Oakland newcomers do moody jangle-rock with a dash of Americana. “I’m getting nothing done, having not much fun,” sings Kristin Sobditch, forever turning sadness into sweet, irresistible pop.  Read More →

CHELLE ROSE Ghost of Browder Holler chellerose.com Rose’s unadulterated Appalachian accent makes just as strong an impression here as her grimy, sexy mountain-folk songwriting. Her first record in 12 years deals with love, death, God, the devil, divorce and coal mining. One spin and you’ll know where she’s been.  Read More →

MICHAEL THE BLIND Are’s & Els michaeltheblind.com Michael Levasseur hails from Portland, so right away you’re thinking smarty-pants indie rock. The multi-instrumentalist and his band deliver just that—sometimes with strings (“Another Circle of Fifths”), sometimes with cow-punk gusto (“Depth Perception”), always with passionate Michael Stipe-tinged vocals and wordplay that demands to be heard.  Read More →

RYAN MONROE  A Painting of a Painting on Fire ryanmonroemusic.com A lot happened between “The White Album” and punk, and this Band of Horses multi-instrumentalist offers a 12-track summation of the process. There’s Paul McCartney piano balladry, proggy hard rock, even gleaming ELO pop. “If I keep moving, the darkness will be gone,” Monroe sings, already squinting.  Read More →

RANI ARBO & DAISY MAYHEM Some Bright Morning raniarbo.com Because these not-quite-old-timey New Englanders sing about constants—death and disasters—they need music built to last. Or maybe it’s the other way around. Either way, Arbo and company do bluegrass, gospel and even a Springsteen cover, offering moments of somber reflection and unfettered release.  Read More →

Neil Young & Crazy Horse Americana  [Reprise] The stories adults tell children are often sanitized. In the original version (spoiler alert!), Little Red Riding Hood gets eaten by the big, bad wolf after being tricked into cannibalizing her grandmother. The jealous villain who orders Snow White’s murder isn’t her stepmother, but her mother. The same is true of the folk songs we learned as kids, many of which have origins far darker or more... 

JOHN MAYER Born and Raised [Columbia] On his fifth album, John Mayer continues his slow shift away from the pop-rock mainstream and back into the singer-songwriter territory of his early days. The mostly mellow tone evinces some country leanings, with his gentle fingerpicked guitar, pedal steel and even some ’60s folk harmonica. But there are a couple of low-key classic-rock jams with quiet, rambling electric guitar leads and subtle Hammond organ... 

SANTIGOLD Master of My Make-Believe [Atlantic] Four years is an eternity in pop music, yet Santigold sounds as distinctive on her second album as she did on her first, 2008’s Santogold. (Born Santi White, she changed her stage name slightly in 2009 to avoid legal entanglements.) Like her debut, Master of My Make-Believe is a mix of styles, blending elements of new wave, dub reggae and electro-rock into a compelling hybrid, with writing and production... 

BEACH HOUSE Bloom [Sub Pop] On their first three albums, Beach House architects Alex Scally and Victoria Legrand built one of the more recognizable sounds in modern indie rock. With the fourth, they don’t change things up so much as they focus and improve them. As always, the songs mix drum-machine beats with the dizzying slo-mo whoosh of keyboard, echo-rich guitar and Legrand’s stately, often unintelligible vocals. It’s a recipe for gloriously... 

THE CULT Choice of Weapon [Cooking Vinyl] It’s been more than 20 years since the Cult achieved platinum success with Electric and Sonic Temple, records that appeared to establish the band as goth-metal’s reigning power. Unable to sustain the momentum, the group ultimately disbanded in the mid-’90s, with frontman Ian Astbury going on to gain notice as the fill-in for Jim Morrison in touring configurations of the Doors. The group’s latest album... 

SIGUR RÓS Valtari [XL] Sigur Rós’ indefinite hiatus certainly didn’t last long. A mere two years after the Icelandic quartet publicly questioned its own future (and frontman Jónsi released a solo album), they have returned with a sixth studio album. Clocking in just shy of an hour, Valtari is in many ways a more subdued affair than previous efforts. Tones are soft, and anything remotely raw is muted into a subtle buzzing in the background.... 

ALABAMA SHAKES  Boys & Girls [ATO] Alabama Shakes plays in a pocket deep enough to lose your keys in. It’s like a protective bubble for the quintet, which has managed to ignore inflated industry expectations to record this fierce, compelling debut LP. Although the band insists it’s not a retro-soul act, Boys & Girls is drenched in guitar, organ, round bass and edge-of-the-beat drums. What truly elevates Alabama Shakes, though, is Brittany... 

 DVD/BLU-RAY  GEORGE HARRISON  Living in the Material World   [UMe] From the relatively tender age of 20 until the day he died from lung cancer in 2001 at age 58, the world’s eyes were locked on George Harrison. At the same time, he was looking at the world—from the early days of Beatlemania, through his worldwide journeys in search of spiritual enlightenment and musical enjoyment, Harrison was rarely without a camera in hand. His personal... 

JOEY RAMONE …Ya Know? [BMG Rights Management] Joey Ramone embodied rock ’n’ roll at its most joyous and elemental, from the mid-’70s—when he and his fellow Ramones basically invented punk—to his death in 2001. The lovably gawky frontman bleated fast and catchy songs about loving pop culture and living the life of a weirdo outsider. His second posthumous solo album revisits these ideas, and if “Rock ’N’ Roll Is the Answer”... 

PAUL THORN What the Hell Is Goin’ On? [Perpetual Obscurity]  Its title comes from one of the songs contained in this set of covers, but Paul Thorn has earned such a reputation for his own singular, sometimes autobiographical material that its existence might well provoke the titular question from fans. What’s going on, according to Thorn himself, is simply an effort to paint beyond his usual palette. The results turn out to be as idiosyncratic... 

MARTY STUART AND HIS FABULOUS SUPERLATIVES Nashville, Vol. 1: Tear the Woodpile Down [Sugar Hill] Over the course of his four decades in Nashville, Marty Stuart has transformed from 13-year-old bluegrass prodigy to radio hit-maker and finally elder statesman. He’s one of the genre’s protectors now, amassing a museum’s worth of memorabilia, hosting his own TV variety show and championing a sound that’s all but vanished from mainstream country.... 

REISSUE PANTERA   Vulgar Display of Power (Deluxe Edition)   [Rhino] Few albums in rock history have boasted a cover that so perfectly matched the contents. Pantera’s groove-metal landmark Vulgar Display of Power is indeed a musical blow to the head—and the fist that delivers it was never more tightly clenched than in 1992. Singer Phil Anselmo, guitarist “Dimebag” Darrell Abbott, bass player Rex Brown and drummer Vinnie Paul Abbott together... 

LOUDON WAINWRIGHT III Older Than My Old Man Now [2nd Story Sound] Wainwright’s latest finds the singer, songwriter and satirist typically wry and reflective, contemplating mortality and musing about life’s tangled trajectory. Mirth and melancholy are present in equal measure, from the humor infused in “My Meds” (“If the side effects don’t kill me, meds might save my life”) and “I Remember Sex” (a brassy duet with the wacky Dame... 

VIOLENS True [Slumberland] Two prevailing indie trends of the day come together on Violens’ second album—with sexy, sexy results. The guitars are crisp, cool and prismatic; set against bouncing bass and snappy beats, they recall the finest U.K. jangle bands of the ’80s. But mastermind Jorge Elbrecht paints from memory, and memories are unreliable. His songs are abstractions, and thus the album’s leadoff single and not-quite-title-cut “Totally... 

EVE 6 Speak in Gold [Fearless]  It’s been a while since the members of Eve 6 were rocking Gen-X radios with hits like “Inside Out” and “Promise,” but the band’s first new album in nine years proves they never surrendered their knack for creating hard-driving pop songs. In fact, they’ve gotten even better at it—tracks like “Victoria” and “Situation Infatuation” could pass for a sped-up Fountains of Wayne minus a little wit.... 

THE WACO BROTHERS AND PAUL BURCH Great Chicago Fire [Bloodshot] Great Chicago Fire comes to us, so the story goes, as the serendipitous result of Paul Burch and members of the Wacos knocking back margaritas together at an industry gathering. What they’ve whipped up brings together the characteristic Waco Brothers strum und twang with Burch’s melodic classicism. The jointness of this joint undertaking doesn’t extend to songwriting (with one... 

THE DB’S Falling Off the Sky thedbsonline.net In power-pop, there’s no success quite like failure. For whatever reason, the genre’s best and brightest tend to be cult heroes rather than the Top 40 superstars their tunefulness would seem to suggest—and this is certainly true of the dB’s. During their original 1978-1988 run, the North Carolina-born, New York-based foursome played earworm ’60s rock with an arty New Wave bent, influencing... 

JOEL HENDERSON Locked Doors & Pretty Fences joelhenderson.com The sound of a heartland rocker losing heart, Locked Doors finds Joel Henderson shuffling begrudgingly into middle age. On opener “Growing Up (Is Hard to Do),” he sets the tone, trying in vain to remember even the previous night’s dreams. On “Heartless Kisses” he stews in the ashes of a once-blazing romance, and on “This Time of Year” not even the onset of spring can brighten... 

J.D. BLAIR 2012? vixrecords.com Only one song on the latest from this groove master comes with the parenthetical “(Smooth Mix)” appended to the title, but the tag could apply throughout. An ace session and touring drummer, Blair has played with everyone from Bootsy Collins to Yo-Yo Ma, earning special recognition for his country work. It all comes together on 2012?—an album that, true to its title, transcends time and place. Blair’s Nashville... 

CHARLENE SORAIA Moonchild charlenesoraia.com The debut from this British songstress begins with high, wordless vocals, equal parts Karen Carpenter and John Carpenter. As “When We Were Five” progresses, the line between love song and horror flick only grows blurrier. “I’ll declare you’re mine,” sings Soraia (who attended the same performing-arts school as Adele), but then Moog synth creeps in and she’s making that pledge from The Twilight... 

LOGAN MIZE Nobody in Nashville loganmize.com Had Tom Petty anticipated Shania Twain’s savvy marketing strategy of releasing country and pop versions of her 2002 Up! for his 1989 classic Full Moon Fever, he’d have come up with something like Nobody in Nashville. Logan Mize doesn’t have Petty’s sarcastic seen-it-all wit, but he’s still young—and besides, his outlook is fundamentally sunnier. Mize bucks rock clichés and yearns for the simple... 

ARCHIE POWELL & THE EXPORTS Great Ideas in Action archiepowellandtheexports.com  The big idea on Great Ideasis pairing crisp power-pop hooks with complex lyrics about careening into adulthood. Powell puts this particular notion in motion by spewing nervous words nearly as quickly as he strums his palm-muted chords. Conjuring riffs that somehow recall both the Stray Cats’ “Stray Cat Strut” and Richard Hell’s “Blank Generation”—twins... 

PEELANDER-Z Space Vacation peelander-z.com No band relishes outsider status quite like Peelander-Z, sci-fi-loving Japanese musicians who came together in New York City but claim to hail from outer space. The group makes vibrant B-movie rock in the spirit of Devo and the Ramones—wearing costumes like the former, using pseudonyms like the latter and absorbing musical ideas from both. Here it adds up to a synth-punk concept record about surfing the... 

WHITEJACKET Hollows and Rounds whitejacketmusic.com “Let me take you down,” Whitejacket mastermind Chris McDuffie sings on “River’s Song.” His next words aren’t “… ’cause I’m going to Strawberry Fields,” but they might as well be. The former Apples in Stereo keyboardist paints with Beatlesque brushstrokes on much of his debut, recreating George Harrison’s guitar tones, Paul McCartney’s “Blackbird” picking (on “Single... 

WALTER TROUT Blues for the Modern Daze waltertrout.com What would Blind Willie Johnson have thought about Facebook and Occupy Wall Street? Guitar great Walter Trout ventures his best guesses on his 21st album, using Johnson’s country-blues style as a jumping-off point. The fun is hearing where he lands. On “Money Rules the World,” the former John Mayall sideman busts out his wailing wah-wah and rails against politicians and fat cats. With “Lonely,”... 

BALKAN BEAT BOX Give balkanbeatbox.com From Jamaican dancehall and American hip-hop to Arab Spring street chants, the music of the oppressed shares a certain rhythmic and lyrical toughness. As Israeli musicians based in New York City, the members of Balkan Beat Box are well positioned to take it all in. On its fifth album the trio aims for mass mobilization, lobbing hand-grenade slogans—“Money leads to more money!” “Fight the urge to be violent!”... 

PEASANT Bound for Glory iampeasant.bandcamp.com From the sound of things, Damien DeRose is having a few problems with the ladies. They leave him standing on street corners and “laying on the carpet” (as he notes in “The Flask”), and he’s not quite sure how to put things right. The young Doylestown, Penn., native spends his third album under the Peasant banner sorting out his girl troubles, setting heartbreak and confusion to hushed indie-folk.... 

WORLD BLANKET 2012 worldblanket.com When not fronting World Blanket, Mike Pomranz writes for Comedy Central and blogs about beer. It’s funny, then, just how sober (in both senses of the word) he sounds on 2012, his Brooklyn-based band’s first album since 2008. With more electric guitar and less violin, these songs would hit like bar-rock anthems. Instead they push ahead with pensive energy, their downcast strings contrasting nicely with Pomranz’s... 

THIRD WORLD LOVE Songs and Portraits thirdworldlove.com Make no mistake, this international foursome plays jazz—all cool-cat bass, dynamo drums, lyrical trumpet and color-splash piano—but rock fans will find plenty to dig. Amid sonic trips to Spain and the Middle East, the players stay melodic and direct. On “The Abutbuls,” they’re positively psychedelic.  Read More →

THE McEUEN SESSIONS For All the Good themceuensessions.com John, the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band’s enduring “string wizard,” teams with his sons on this warm and virtuosic country-folk affair. Bittersweet covers “Long Hard Road” and “Leader of the Band” could have been written by the youngsters to their dad; Jonathan’s rose-tinted instrumental “Banjormous” almost certainly was.  Read More →

LOGAN VENDERLIC Logan Venderlic myspace.com/loganvenderlic This wordy West Virginian lets lyrics spill forth like Bright Eyes and Bob Dylan, but he hasn’t forgotten those Blink-182 records he rocked in his youth. Hence the punky pep of “Blue Pills/Red Cups” and “Jerkwater Town”—heavy-subject folk with a wonderfully light touch.  Read More →

WHITE WIDOW A Psychological Thriller whitewidowmusic.com Austin-based Carla Patullo excels at gothed-out ’80s balladry—think Quarterflash or Bonnie Tyler on an Evanescence kick—and that’s the perfect sound for this imaginary film score about twisted romance. Spoiler alert: It ends with a dream of white horses, leaving plenty of mystery for the sequel.  Read More →

SILVER SWANS Forever myspace.com/silverswansband Ann Yu is filled with secrets. That goes for “Secrets,” obviously, but also the other 10 dance-floor daydreams conjured up by these San Fran synth-poppers. “I’m spinning you around in my head,” she sings on “Diary Land,” as if dizzy is the only way to be.  Read More →

DAYNA KURTZ American Standard daynakurtz.com American music comes from the church, so it’s fitting that American Standard—a sampling of homegrown sounds spanning hollerin’ blues to the Replacements’ “Here Comes a Regular”—opens with a prayer. “I’ll be a great sage or a fabulous liar,” Dayna Kurtz sings on “Invocation,” pleading with “mama”—maybe her mother, maybe the Virgin Mary—to “let me come home.” Kurtz will... 

UNICYCLE LOVES YOU Failure unicyclelovesyou.com Perhaps intended as film criticism, “Wow Wave Cinema,” the second track on the third album from this Chicago slacker-punk trio, also applies to rock ’n’ roll. “It’s nothing new,” frontman Jim Carroll sings. “It’s just called by a different name.” Twenty years ago, the band’s loveably skuzzy tunes would have been tagged “alt-rock.” Today, they’re “neo-” something-or-other,... 

BAHAMAS Barchords bahamasmusic.net If not for its twin indie-rock guitars—one glistening, the other grinding—the Bahamas standout “Never Again” might pass for a Lenny Kravitz ballad. And that would be just fine—having spent years playing with fellow Canadian singer Feist, Afie Jurvanen is no stranger to mainstream acclaim. But on his second disc under this tropical moniker, he paddles farther out from the pop mainland. Give him an acoustic... 

YVA LAS VEGASS I Was Born in a Place of Sunshine and the Smell of Ripe Mangoes myspace.com/lasvegass To say Yva Las Vegass has a unique point of view is putting it mildly, and there’s no room for mildness where she’s concerned. The native Venezuelan moved to Seattle as a teen and roughed it as a street musician, battling homelessness and addiction. After performing at a birthday party for Krist Novoselic, she played with the Nirvana bassist in...