Foxholes “Can’t Help Myself” Independent Foxholes has turned a decent little trick. The band is reminiscent of a lot of other acts without ever feeling wholly derivative. Kicking back and listening to “Can’t Help Myself,” you’ll find yourself conjuring up images of The Replacements and Dinosaur Jr., and front man

Pharrell Williams “G I R L” Black Lot/Columbia This is how far feminism has come in the music industry: After helping out on Robin Thicke’s “Blurred Lines” — a date rape fantasy masquerading as a song, featuring lines like, “I’ll give you something big enough to tear that ass in

Love Songs For Lonely Monsters Self-Titled Independent After a couple years of delays and issues, LSFLM’s studio debut is here with some surprising results. For starters, the album’s a triumph of production: It’s the best they’ve ever sounded. LSFLM’s live shows are often hit-or-miss affairs, but with all the levels

Guided By Voices “Motivational Jumpsuit” Guided By Voices Inc. When Guided By Voices is on its game, the band can be very, very good. But let’s be honest, how often is GBV really on its game? Therefore, “Motivational Jumpsuit” is in many ways the perfect GBV album. “Littlest League Possible”

Justin Niceswanger “Alternate Reality” Independent Sometimes bad news is best delivered quickly, like pulling off a Band-aid: This isn’t a good album. The most charitable thing that can be said — the absolute best possible spin I can put on it — is, at its very strongest, bits of “Alternate

Aesthetic Perfection “’Til Death” Metropolis Emo-pop is still a thing. Don’t write angry letters to the editors: I assure you, they haven’t messed up and accidentally re-run a review from 2003. Nope, it’s 2014, and here’s Aesthetic Perfection (a.k.a. Daniel Graves), clinging to the idea that all you have to

Les Claypool’s Duo de Twang “Four Foot Shack” ATO Every once in a while the really talented people in this world will come up with something so off-the-wall, so inventive, that it kind of forces you to re-examine them and say, “Wow, they’re good.” Enter Les Claypool’s Duo de Twang.

Against Me! “Transgender Dysphoria Blues” Total Treble Never doubt the power of transformation. Against Me!’s last release, 2010’s “White Crosses,” was a big, loud disappointment. The album was too glossy for its own good, and the band never seemed to get on track. In the ensuing four years, there have

Green Death “The Deathening” Independent                So here’s the thing about Green Death: I don’t know if they’re supposed to be any good. I mean, I know I enjoyed the album, but there’s something about the bitchin’ Eliran Kantor cover art and the title — “The Deathening” — that just seems

Bruce Springsteen “High Hopes” Columbia Initially, “High Hopes” confused me. The Boss is renowned as a tireless, blue-collar worker, but everything about this album seemed lazy. Nothing on the album is new: There are covers, songs Springsteen has released elsewhere and tracks that had previously been left on the cutting