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... 

Dean Markley CD60 Guitar Amplifier Amped again. For: Classic tube tone. Famed string maker Dean Markley first released the CD60 in the mid-1980s, earning accolades from tone masters like Eric Clapton, Andy Summers, and Alex Lifeson. This newly reissued 60 watt combo clearly demonstrates that a great design can stand the test of time. Powered by a pair of 6L6s, the CD60 features hi and low inputs, a 12” Celestion speaker, and two footswitchable...