Conor Oberst “Upside Down Mountain” Nonesuch Though just 34, Conor Oberst has been playing this game for 20 years now. All those miles reflect in the construction of “Upside Down Mountain,” Oberst’s sixth solo effort. Oberst’s solo work has always eschewed most of the over-wrought melodramatics that punctuated his Bright

The White Elephant “Cocaine Love Letter” Independent After putting out two of the better roots-rock albums released in the state, The White Elephant is, in its own words, pumping the breaks a bit. Eschewing the crunchy, electrified, three-chord blues-infused rock riffs of its first two albums, “Cocaine Love Letter” is

Lily Allen “Sheezus” Regal/Parlophone This is a perfectly acceptable album. Really, that’s as close to the quick as you can cut. Nothing about “Sheezus” is particularly horrible — bland, maybe — but nothing here will re-invent your life, either. Lily Allen starts the album with the title track, which serves

Bonne Finken “Fairytales/Love Affairs” Independent I’m just going to say it: This is the best thing Bonne Finken has ever done. Originally planned as a double album (something teased in the split title), Finken condensed “Fairytails/Love Affairs” down to 14 tracks, and there’s not a song on the album that

The Pixies “Indie Cindy” Pixiesmusic There are two ways to look at “Indie Cindy.” You can compare it to the other alt-rock albums being released today, or you can compare it to The Pixies, an iconic American band that last released an album 23 years ago. If you choose to

Amps For Christ “Canyons Cars and Crows” 5 Rue Experimental folk/noise project Amps For Christ is back with its first full-length album since 2006’s “Every Eleven Seconds.” If you’re familiar with Henry Barnes’ Man is the Bastard work, you have a good idea what to expect from Amps For Christ,

The Faint “Doom Abuse” SQE The Omaha, Neb., indie-whatever-it-is returns with the band’s first album in six years, and in many ways, it’s classic Faint. A lot is going on all over the album, with the first few tracks (“Help in the Head,” “Mental Radio,” and “Evil Voices” and “Salt

Twins “Tomboys on Parade” Maximum Ames I am nakedly, unabashedly, undoubtedly a fan of Twins. The music has a happy-go-lucky, early ’60s throwback feel to it that is undeniable fun. But Twins is not simply a kitschy nostalgia act. These guys — Sires brothers Luke, Harper and Joel, along with

Various Artists “DSM@SXSW” Maximum Ames Three weeks ago, the city of Des Moines, in collaboration with the Des Moines Music Commission and Maximum Ames Records, gathered a dozen of the capital city’s most popular acts together and took them down to Austin, Texas, for the South By Southwest Festival. The

George Michael “Symphonica” Island “Symphonica” is not, in the strictest sense of the term, a new album. The vast majority of what’s covered here is from 1999’s “Songs From the Last Century” and 2004’s “Patience.” The vocals are great, of course — nobody’s ever doubted that Michael could sing —