Amoeba Music

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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Mice Parade and main man Adam Pierce have gone through so many guises over the years, the band is like a consistently erupting volcano, always creating new ground. That continues on their latest release, Candela, on which Pierce and his cohorts augment their indie rock with bits of afrobeat-inspired percussion (“Currents”), flamenco guitar (“Candela”) and Latin rhythms (“Las Gentes Interesantes”). Mice Parade are also often at their most inspired when they trim the hedges, as the simplicity of “Listen Hear Glide Dear’s” swooning shoegaze or “This River Has a Tide’s” paired groaning chords and floral guitar lines can attest. Of course, their weirdest moments also draw gasps, such as the metallic jazz explosion in the final passage of “Pretending.” But with Candela’s relatively reined-in approach, Mice Parade’s adventurous genre-hopping and globe-trotting as able to land on appreciative ears. Provided listeners are willing to go along for the ride, Candela delivers a mind-opening experience.

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Jared Leto is back with a new 30 Seconds to Mars record, and this time he’s getting conceptual. The four notions that make up the album title factor into the album itself, with four segments, each given its own interlude and mood. Leto goes full-throttle in the “lust” portion, imbuing “Up in the Air” with a sexual longing, while musically the band continues to experiment with electronic beats and synthesizers, landing the song somewhere between Depeche Mode, Lady Gaga and Panic! At the Disco. Leto and co. would like to take new wave doom and gloom to the arena, much as Muse did with their latest record. If the guyliner set is willing to follow, 30 Seconds to Mars should have a huge hit on their hands with Love Lust Faith + Dreams.

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Ever since the late great Sublime frontman Bradley Nowell discovered these guys in Ocean Beach S.D. while they were still in high (sic) school, and immediately signed them to his Skunk label, they've been growing and perfecting their stoney blend of folk, reggae and beach freak boogie for an ever-expanding universe of fans. Since then they've toured with fellow spirits Snoop Dogg, Dave Matthews, Damien Marley and the Roots, emanating a cosmic rainbow of acoustic slop for the people. In 2011, El Supremo Dead Muerto Bob Weir brought them into his TRI studios to record a live party, and now you're invited... it's a mega soul funk jam featuring Ivan Neville, Greyboy All-Star sax king Karl Denson, and of course, host Tommy Chong. So put on your boogie shoes and join the fun!

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Small Black’s lush Limits of Desire proves there’s more to the Brooklyn band than the limiting chillwave genre would suggest. Much as chums and genre-mates Washed Out and Toro y Moi did with their sophomore albums, Limits of Desire finds them significantly upping the ante, coming across like vintage U2 after taking muscle relaxers on opener “Free at Dawn,” with all of the epic melodicism and none of the melodrama that that implies. “Canoe” is brilliantly catchy with a high cooed melody and battling synths, bearing some resemblance to M83 but, you know, chilled out. “No Stranger” introduces a light dance beat, pushing the vocals further toward the front of the mix and giving Small Black one of their best singles yet. The reason it works is that while a song like “Sophie” might be your perfect poolside jam for the summer, it doesn’t aim to be just that. Particularly in the way “Sophie’s” romantic sophistication dissolves into whispered nothings that lead into the danceable “Breathless,” Small Black have a knack for elegant pacing and delivering the jams, while making it all sound effortless. Limits of Love is putting in an early bid for the perfect summery pop album of 2013.

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