EMILY O’HALLORAN Morphine and Cupcakes emilyohalloran.com A pretty young blonde with the voice of a wizened roadhouse belter, O’Halloran figures “Nashville is where it’s at,” as she sings two songs in. The Aussie newcomer promptly lands in a Hollywood noir version of the Music City, where she savors the feeling of being done wrong.  Read More →

ANDREA BALESTRA Fine Arts Avenue myspace.com/andreabalestra Talent and training will get you far, as this Berklee-educated guitarist can attest, but it takes taste and restraint to make an instrumental album as simultaneously eclectic and enjoyable as Fine Arts Avenue. From funky wah-wah workouts to simmering jazz explorations, Balestra demonstrates the upside of virtuosity.  Read More →

SLEEP OVER Forever sleepoverforever.com Existing in some nebulous nether region between New Wave and New Age, the music of Austin synth sorceress Stefanie Franciotti is at turns soothing and frightening. It’s as though Enya has gone Goth and recreated from memory the score from a horror flick she saw as a child.  Read More →

RIGHT ON DYNAMITE In Vino Veritas myspace.com/rightondynamite Three songs into their debut album, these New Yorkers ask, “What Would Ringo Do?” If the ex-Beatle were 22 today, he might join a band like Right on Dynamite. The trio makes classic power-pop with a mussed indie edge, building big hooks from Daniel Murphy’s chunky guitars and excited mumbling.  Read More →

JONNY CORNDAWG Down on the Bikini Line corndawg.com The artwork and song titles (“When a Ford Man Turns to Chevy,” etc.) scream comedy record, but Corndawg is no hipster Jeff Foxworthy. His playing is too good, and his love of classic country—in all its heartbreaking, plainspoken, at times ridiculous glory—burns hotter than a backyard tire fire.  Read More →

TIM EASTON Beat the Band timeaston.com In Easton’s America, we’d all resist apathy (“Open Letter”), dream non-mediocre dreams (“What Do You Live For?”), and seek redemption in pop music (“Daily Life”). Whether he’s a purist or a dreamer, he’s got the raspy voice and troubadour soul to make it all seem tenable.  Read More →

THE VEDA RAYS Gamma Rays Galaxy Rays Veda Rays thevedarays.com Brooding and bombastic, Veda Rays jams straddle Echo and the Bunnymen-style ’80s psychedelia and U2 stadium pop. There’s also some modern ennui: a post-Radiohead dread that creeps into both the guitars and Jim Stark’s Red Rocks-ready bellow, giving the disc a seductive, shadowy tinge.  Read More →

ANNIE DRESSNER Strangers Who Knew Each Other’s Names anniedressner.com Now here’s a gal we can root for. A singer of plucky can-do folk-pop tunes—some electric, others acoustic—Dressner loves, loses and wakes up in Brooklyn bars wearing painter’s caps. She takes it all in stride, staying silly and sweet in a sourpuss world.  Read More →

THE PACK A.D. Unpersons thepackafterdeath.com Listening to the fourth album from this Canadian garage-rock duo, an image emerges of singer Becky Black. She’s red-eyed and sneering, hurt and angry, seconds away from either breaking down and bawling or bashing someone in the teeth. Her gnashing guitar riffs suggest the latter, as does Maya Miller’s total-war drumming. Their sound is violent and cathartic, and on “Rid of Me”—a start-stop rager... 

ADAM LEVY The Heart Collector adamlevy.com In Adam Levy’s hands, even murder ballads make for warm, easy listening. On the title track, he describes in suspicious detail a serial killer’s exploits. Levy’s narrator might be the guilty party, or in a metaphorical sense, he might just sympathize with the “cardiophile” and his hunger for human hearts. Either way, it’s a rare moment of darkness from this former Norah Jones guitarist. Levy specializes... 

THE MEKONS Ancient & Modern myspace.com/mekons On their 26th studio album, British post-punk vets and alt-country innovators the Mekons aim to cover 100 years of history, from the eve of World War I to the present. Frontman Jon Langdon’s lyrics touch on war, death, religion, nostalgia and the battle between good and evil, and because these themes are applicable to any era, few songs stand out as fundamentally “ancient” or “modern.”... 

ICEBIRD The Abandoned Lullaby rjselectricalconnections.com Philly’s answer to Gnarls Barkley, Icebird pairs producer and multi-instrumentalist RJD2—known for both his Mad Men theme and string of solo albums—with soul man Aaron Livingston, who’s sung on albums by the Roots, among others. The sound is spaced-out, low-key hip-hop crossed with moody psychedelic soul—a confluence of bumping beats, doo-wop pianos and analog synths. Highlight “Just... 

MR. LEWIS AND THE FUNERAL 5 Delirium Tremendous myspace.com/mrlewisthefuneral5 A pulp novel set to music, the second album by this Austin sextet is overrun with losers, boozers and other lowlifes. They’re all given voice by Gregory Lewis, a scenery-eating thespian of a frontman with Tom Waits’ taste for gallows humor and gutter poetics. Lewis opens the disc by singing, “There’s murder and cheap canned beer all around the highway,” and just... 

JON REGEN Revolution jonregen.com Jon Regen is a man who knows his instrument. The piano isn’t great for rocking out unless you’re Jerry Lee Lewis or Little Richard, but it’s perfect for sophisticated, slightly retro pop songs. Regen writes his with the smart, jazzy feel of Ben Folds or Randy Newman, and on such tunes as “She’s Not You (But Tonight She’ll Have to Do)” and “One Part Broken, Two Parts Blue,” he gets to play his favorite... 

ARRICA ROSE & THE …’S Let Alone Sea arricarose.com In Southern California, Stevie Nicks is a goddess and Depeche Mode are conquering heroes. Arrica Rose isn’t yet on their level, but the San Fernando Valley native is very much of their kind—an enigmatic enchantress adept at blending classic folk-rock songwriting and dark, dreamy atmospherics. She’s got a song called “Summer’s Gonna Burn Me (So Are You),” and that title sums up... 

URSULA 1000 Mondo Beyondo ursula1000.com If Ursula 1000 multi-instrumentalist, DJ and mastermind Alex Gimeno hadn’t invited Fred Schneider to sing on his latest album, the B-52s frontman might have known instinctively to show up anyway. Music this fun demands the kind of kooky enthusiasm Schneider brings to “Hey You!” a Technicolor dance track stuffed full of fuzz guitars, handclaps, whistles and honking car horns. Elsewhere, the Brooklyn-based... 

STEVE BELLO BAND Go Berserk! myspace.com/stevebello It’s no wonder Ibanez tapped Steve Bello to endorse its seven-string guitars. The New Jersey metalhead shreds with rare speed and fluidity, whether soloing or weaving the intricate leads that substitute for lyrics in his instrumental jams. On his fifth album Bello expertly mixes metal subgenres, grounding himself in the classic ’80s sound heard on opener “Surfing to Venus.” The trio flavors... 

CENTRO-MATIC Candidate Waltz centro-matic.com Of the nine tunes on Centro-matic’s latest, only one, “All the Talkers,” really lets listeners in. It’s about an overhyped rock group winning over a roomful of seen-it-all hipsters. “But the band, they were not like the ones before,” sings Will Johnson, still a rock ’n’ roll true believer 15 years after founding Centro-matic in Denton, Texas. Johnson’s faith in guitar groups might stem... 

JOE ELY Satisfied at Last ely.com Satisfaction doesn’t necessarily equal complacency. On this disc’s title track, Joe Ely finds contentedness by pushing forward, living for the moment, feeling his “bandana waving free.” Having toured with everyone from Butch Hancock and Jimmie Dale Gilmore (his partners in supergroup the Flatlanders) to the Clash, the veteran Texas country rocker sings with well-earned wisdom and self-assurance. He knows all... 

TOMMY STINSON One Man Mutiny tommystinson.com Long before his current stint in Guns N’ Roses, bassist Tommy Stinson served his apprenticeship with the Replacements—simultaneously the Beatles and Rolling Stones of the ’80s alt-rock underground. The Minneapolis group could be sharp and melodic, like a punky Fab Four, but also shambolic and self-destructive—particularly onstage, after a few drinks. Fortunately, Stinson seems to have soaked up... 

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... 

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 →

THE SHIVERS More theshiversnyc.blogspot.com With keyboardist Jo Schornikow on piano or organ, singer Keith Zarriello inevitably sounds like a salty old barstool philosopher. When she’s on synth, he becomes an unlikely pop singer—Tom Waits in Prince’s purple finery. Either way, this New York duo keeps it intense, soulful and unpredictable.  Read More →

AITAN Top of the World aitan.com Stylish L.A. synth-pop newcomer Aitan wants either to be the male Katy Perry or his generation’s George Michael. Both are worthy goals—no, seriously—and if this slick, well-crafted EP is any indication, Aitan won’t reside in the indie scene for long.  Read More →

P.J. PACIFICO Outlet pjpacifico.com Life is tough for touring musicians, but less so for those with supportive partners. P.J. Pacifico is grateful for the woman who’s stuck by him for the last 10 years, and on “As Soon as I Can,” the country-tinged pop-rock centerpiece of his third album, he thanks his wife for letting him pack up the car and chase his dreams. He probably got permission by playing her “Home With Me,” his heartfelt telling... 

CIRKUS Medicine cirkustent.com Trailblazing trip-hop producer Cameron McVey and his wife, “Buffalo Stance” singer Neneh Cherry, have been making anything-goes 21st century pop music since at least the late ’80s. For their second album as cirKus, the forward-looking couple again teams with daughter Lolita Moon and producer-guitarist Karmil, creating the musical equivalent of a family juggling act. From the woozy swagger of opener “Drug of Choice”... 

EDIE CAREY Bring the Sea ediecarey.com Artists like Edie Carey provide a valuable, if underappreciated, public service. As per her official bio, Carey occupies that “middle ground between singing at weddings and being Madonna,” and while she might never be a pop star, this strumming balladeer poetess writes truthful, elegant songs for adults. Her seventh album is about following dreams, starting families, overcoming insecurity and losing the destructive... 

LINDI ORTEGA Little Red Boots lindiortega.com Lindi Ortega knows she’s no Elvis Presley—she even sings a song called “I’m No Elvis Presley”—but she comes closer than any female Canadian country singer since k.d. lang. On pop-rockabilly opener “Little Lie,” Ortega revisits the King’s early days, pairing “That’s All Right”–style guitar with the rolling drums of “Tweedle Dee & Tweedle Dum,” the lead track on Bob Dylan’s... 

THE TUNNEL Fathoms Deep thetunnelsf.com A veteran of San Francisco’s avant-garde theater scene, hammy Tunnel frontman Jeff Wagner sings like a theme-park pirate or B-movie baddie. “I’m not of your world,” he warns on “King of the Impossible,” claiming instead to be from a “whole other underworld.” That underworld sounds suspiciously like Australia, as his sound echoes several of that continent’s most influential acts. The most obvious... 

LIL DAGGERS Lil Daggers myspace.com/lildaggers When they’re so inclined, Lil Daggers can take off on a mangy psych-blues ramble as good as any by better-known ’60s revivalists the Black Rebel Motorcycle Club or Brian Jonestown Massacre. On “Dada Brown” and “Slave Exchange,” the Miami sextet does just that, setting crud-caked guitars against cheap-o 1966 organ tones. As garage-rock classicists they’re great, but the Daggers cut deepest... 

TRS-80 Horizons trs80.com Jay Rajeck founded TRS-80 in 1997, years before the advent of “chillwave,” or hypnagogic pop, or whatever this week’s correct term is for the current wave of indie music meant to invoke hazy memories of early-’80s video-game soundtracks, New Wave hits and other sounds ingrained in the brains of people raised during the Reagan years. TRS-80 has toured with Ariel Pink and Geneva Jacuzzi—leaders of the movement in... 

ARNOLD McCULLER Soon as I Get Paid arnoldmcculler.com If James Taylor and Phil Collins picked up any extra soulfulness in recent years, they probably got it from Arnold McCuller. A longtime back-up singer for these and other pop giants, McCuller plays smooth bluesman on Soon as I Get Paid, a collection of covers and originals. His own “Gods and Monsters” is the standout—a song about a voodoo guitarist casting spells at an after-hours juke joint....