Amoeba Music

Youth Lagoon aka Trevor Powers at only 22 was the precocious new kid on the indie block with 2011’s The Year of Hibernation. Though a strong debut, the album could get a bit precious as one would expect when listening to a 22-year-old’s debut indie pop album. But if The Year of Hibernation was sugary, Bughouse is coated with codeine syrup. It’s a woozy collection of psychedelic pop, as eccentric as it is rousing. “Mute” sprawls with epic grandeur in its first minute before breaking down into spiraling sounds of broken-down toys and keyboards. Powers’ vocals climb to the top of his manic creation, which gradually becomes a psych rocker with a gorgeous guitar solo. “Attic Door” is prime Syd Barrett in Wonderland weirdo psychedelia, while “Pelican Man” takes a similar notion to Sgt. Pepper’s-style pop heights. As Wondrous Bughouse progresses, it seems to grow more assured, as mid-album cut “Dropla” makes for the album’s catchiest moment — an eyes-wide-open pop song in the vein of Mercury Rev and Flaming Lips’ finest, built on the naïve, repeated couplet “you’ll never die.” True to its Strawberry Alarm Clock title, “Raspberry Cane” is a beautiful slice of acidic sunshine pop that moves from esoteric to a crowd-pleasing refrain that marks Powers’ most classic pop moment to date. It’s a wondrous thing to hear, indeed.

Ruby Suns’ sparkling indie pop, which in the past has built its base on tribal beats and washy synths, makes a remarkable jump to out-and-out pop on Christopher. “Desert of Pop” takes off on freestyle beats and Pet Shop Boys synthesizers while singer Ryan McPhun moves his vocals up slightly in the mix, singing that “he’s always falling in love” with a clubgoer’s glee. The shyness that made Ruby Suns’ previous releases charming is still intact, as McPhun sings “I’m not ready for the real life” on “In Real Life,” which is something like Ibiza twee. While no one will mistake McPhun’s loopy, gauzy songs for radio confection, his new pop aspirations take his wallflower psychedelia to new heights.

Retracing their steps back to their more familiar and hardcore-based beginnings, All We Love is nothing short of a masterpiece of an album.

Guitar wondergirl Orianthi can tear off a Hendrix-y electric riff, pen a catchy blues-rock tune, and sing it pretty sweetly too. For years her star has been rising, as she performs and tours with everyone from Santana to Prince to Alice Cooper to Carrie Underwood (she was even slated for the This Is It tour with Michael Jackson). Her cute looks don't hurt, but her bold, quicksilver axework is the main attraction. For her third studio album, she and producer Dave Stewart spent time in Nashville, and several of the songs have a young-country radio twang. Lead single "Frozen," though, is a fiery slice of Heart / Zeppelin style strut, with burnin' riffs and a big chorus. Take a heartfelt roots-rock trip with this sultry siren!

If Jeff Magnum (Neutral Milk Hotel) had been born 10 years later and became obsessed with tape loops, this is sort of what it would sound like. Stellar effort, even better than their first LP. Get on it, people.