Amoeba Music

Finnish extreme metallers Children of Bodom were beloved in the ‘90s for their ferocious double-riffing attack and pitch-black evilosity. Their past few albums veered offroad into flailing high-velocity thrash, nonplussing many of their original fans. Fortunately their eighth full-length Halo of Blood marks a return to the solid, focussed melodic black metal sound of their early work, which will surely bring smiles and laughter to their dark fanbase. Epic, soaring riffs, blasting cannonade and evil, roaring vocals will make first-wave black metal fans feel young again. Rediscover these extreme metal pioneers as they deliver the murderous goods.

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The L.A. indie-disco powerhouse duo of Sebu Simonian and Ryan Merchant blows up an ammo dump of trash-house beats and Weezer-worthy stoner lyrics on their majestic full-length debut. It sounds destined for the big time and it already IS the big time, making its way onto commercials and dancefloors the world over. Not hard to hear why upon first casual listen; it’s hilarious, body-rockin’ party music, with slammin’ drums, pulsing bass, freaky synths and everyman lyrical awesomeness. Shades of MGMT and LCD Soundsystem, but the CC are partying on their very own planet of fun. I think my favorite is the song about Farrah Fawcett’s hair, pieced together from snippets of NPR commentators and Andre 3000 listing things he likes. Occupy yr Capital Cities tonight!

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One of Austin’s best kept secrets, Bob Schneider is the rock star who never happened, a Ryan Adams / Jack White / Tom Petty troubadour who’s still just a cult favorite to his hugely devoted cult of fans. He’s got the looks, the operatic pipes, the soulful sensitivity and the expressiveness but somehow he’s eluded the stratosphere. Perhaps Burden of Proof will change that: his best album yet, a wondrously dreamy, strummy set where the love songs are funny, the funny songs pierce your heart, and the bummer songs make you want to go out and change the world. Get into these tunes and enjoy him while he’s still on the hush-hush.

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Classic rockers rejoice: Andrew Stockdale, onetime frontman of Aussie spaceblasters Wolfmother, has gone solo and taken his riffs and his wailing vocals into outer orbit! This is a tasty set of Stonesy rockers, that wastes no time in getting to the hooks: every song is instantly catchy and rides a chunky riff and a whomping groove straight back to the heavy ‘70s. Need I add, he is personally keeping the classic rock afro in circulation, in the grand tradition of Rob Tyner, Phil Lynott and Lenny Kravitz. Hitch a ride with Andrew in the Keep Moving van, it’s headed for a monster desert party from sunset to sunrise.

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Classic rockers rejoice: Andrew Stockdale, onetime frontman of Aussie spaceblasters Wolfmother, has gone solo and taken his riffs and his wailing vocals into outer orbit! This is a tasty set of Stonesy rockers, that wastes no time in getting to the hooks: every song is instantly catchy and rides a chunky riff and a whomping groove straight back to the heavy ‘70s. Need I add, he is personally keeping the classic rock afro in circulation, in the grand tradition of Rob Tyner, Phil Lynott and Lenny Kravitz. Hitch a ride with Andrew in the Keep Moving van, it’s headed for a monster desert party from sunset to sunrise.

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Anyone can serve under a classic style, it takes real strength and individuality to make it serve you. Indiana's great roots-rock combo Houndmouth plays a familiar style, gutbucket country soul a la Dylan and The Band, but what hits you first is the voice and the stories -- which means they're doing their job right. Matt Myers and Katie Toupin unfold wry hardluck tales of life at the bottom in cracked, whiskey-soaked voices, tales of drug running, casinos and back alley hustlers, and barely scraping by. The tough, honeyed backbeat grooves and swells with their twining harmonies, the ragged-but-right guitar and Hammond sound vintage but the stories are new. Fans of classic roots rock, and of newer revival bands like the Alabama Shakes or the Black Keys, will know this is the real thing. More

It’s been four years since Camera Obscura released their last album and it feels like a lifetime ago when their brand of witty, winsome indie pop was the underground style du jour — does the world need another album from Camera Obscura? One listen to Desire Lines and the answer is a resounding yes, yes, yes. The time off has done them wonders, following a run of increasingly great albums that hit a wall with the so-so My Maudlin Career. Desire Lines is invigorated with a warmer sound, billowed by warm synthesizers and sultry horns, giving songs like “This is Love (Feels Alright)” a postmodern blue-eyed soul feel, like they’re updating what Roxy Music did on Avalon. Camera Obscura have always been able to do downtrodden-yet-upbeat well (see past singles like “Lloyd, I’m Ready to Be Heartbroken”), and they take that winning formula to new heights on songs like the new-wavey “Troublemaker,” the sea-shanty-style “Every Weekday” and their good ol’ fashioned ’60s pop style “Do It Again.” Even when they slow things down, on songs like “William’s Heart,” whereas in the past they’d be charmingly bookish, Tracyanne Campbell sounds rapturous when she dwells on the evocative line “to die in the arms of a 20-year-old.” Lyrically, she’s as strong as ever, and her delivery remains the perfect concoction of shy and snarky, singing self-deprecatingly of her “New Year’s resolution to write something of value.” The totality of Desire Lines would qualify as just that. More

As City and Colour, Dallas Green of Canadian post-hardcore band Alexisonfire lets his quiet side sing, on nakedly personal acoustic ballads with confessional, poetic lyrics. The way it sometimes goes, the side project has eclipsed the original group, and City and Colour has taken on a life of its own. The Hurry and the Harm is his highly anticipated fourth album, and Green has never been more intensely emotional and honest, as the lead single "Of Space and Time" immediately shows. Over a stark backbeat, Green's voice patiently rises from tenor to falsetto, measuring out emotional complexity with a high-wire bravado that's somewhere between Jeff Buckley and OK Computer. Recorded in Nashville with a crack session group, this is the most confident songwriting and fullest sound he's achieved yet, and it looks like City and Colour could be headed from opening band to headliner.

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It starts boldly — over spare keyboards that sparkle and menace, Tricky’s vocalist invokes the great Patti Smith, singing, “Jesus died for somebody’s sins but not mine.” He repeates the trick on “Valentine,” borrowing a line from Frank Sinatra to unleash more digital menace. It almost speaks to Tricky’s desire to connect after years of somewhat falling from public favor after his breakthrough 1995 album, Maxinquaye — False Idols is his most enjoyable album in years, maintaining the dark energy of his early work but with renewed vibrancy. “Parenthesis” lurches and heaves with a hooky guitar line, high-end vocals and empty space, referencing the classic trip-hop sound. But it’s not all nostalgia; “Bonnie & Clyde” features a shuffling beat and a sexy back-and-forth between his female vocalist (the album features British singers Francesca Belmonte and Fifi Rong) and Tricky’s own growling whisper, keeping in line with the sound he helped pioneer while moving past nostalgia into something that feels current. The sun may have set on trip-hop’s initial run, but as Tricky sings on the luxurious “Nothing’s Changed,” “I was born to give,” and give he does on the great False Idols.

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With a new second lead singer in Dawn Joseph (though N’Dea Davenport still contributes to several tracks), The Brand New Heavies appear somewhat brand new to their fans once again. Luckily, this change isn’t a bad thing. The band still kicks in hard, on the opening title track, spinning looped, funky sounds. Davenport helps kick things off on “Sunlight,” a disco-flavored track in which Davenport eases into the song and belts only when she needs to, letting the emphasis remain on the band’s studied interplay and those lush soul strings. Forward continues delivering jam after jam, with the aptly titled “Do You Remember” drawing up fond memories of ’70s radio disco and funk, “A Little Funk in Your Pocket” providing easy-listening bliss and the horns come on strong for the funktastic “The Way It Goes.” Longtime fans of the band and acid jazz won’t be disappointed by the Heavies’ first album in six years.

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