Stephen Malkmus and The Jicks “Wig Out at Jagbags” Matador With the release of “Jagbags,” Malkmus has now released more albums with the Jicks than he did with Pavement. It’s a fact Malkmus himself may or may not be aware of, but either way, “Jagbags” serves as a nice way

Max Wellman “You Must Believe in Spring” Independent Lou Reed and Metallica got together a couple years ago to collaborate on an album called “Lulu.” It was an unmitigated disaster and arguably the worst album of 2011. “You Must Believe in Spring” isn’t an unmitigated disaster. But it is a

Leslie Hall “Songs in the Key of Gold” Yarn House I admit to never having “got” Leslie and the Ly’s. I’m probably just old enough to be out of the proper demographic, but Hall’s schtick has always struck me as striving for irony a little too hard. This aesthetic, which

Har-di-Har ‘Hard Parent/Thick Child’ Independent Har-di-Har (Cedar Falls couple Andrew and Julie Thoreen) is a fairly joyous experience. The duo’s particular brand of experimental, folky dream pop (or dream poppy folk, take your pick) is one of the more unique sounds you’ll hear locally, and with good reason. Between the

Boston “Life, Love and Hope” Frontiers Let’s all just take a moment and appreciate the fact that there’s a new Boston album. It’s an actual, genuine thing that you can touch and listen to and everything. Let’s take another second to revel in the fact that the cover art looks…

Nick Cave and The Bad Seeds “Live from KCRW” Bad Seed Ltd. Nick Cave is the master of the brooding, post-punk dirge. Cave’s other 2013 release, “Push The Sky Away,” dropped in February to nearly universal acclaim. It was while out promoting that album that Cave dropped by Santa Monica’s

Deadnote “Deadnote” Crater If you ask them, Deadnote names acts like Oasis and Velvet Revolver as influences. But when listening to the Ames five-piece’s new EP, poppy, ultimately disposable acts like Primitive Radio Gods and Jet are reminiscent. Backhanded remark as that may be, the1996’s nearly forgotten PRG release, “Rocket,”

Lady Gaga “Artpop” Interscope As she says in “Artpop’s” debut single, Lada Gaga lives for the applause. She’s a phenomenally talented artist and a truly top-notch product of her time. But when you are the great hype-machine’s hype-iest piece of hype, it can be really easy to lose sight of,

Nest of Snakes “Molt” Independent Even if you’ve never heard Nest of Snakes before, with track titles like “Wall of Tusks” and “Demon’s Chair,” you have a good idea what you’re getting into. And, while the ground the band is treading may not be new or particularly inventive, there’s enough

The Saturdays “Living for the Weekend” Fascination/Polydor/Mercury You can blame Phil Spector for The Saturdays. When Spector put Darlene Love in a studio to record “He’s a Rebel” so The Crystals could then lip sync over it and score a No. 1 hit, he opened the world’s eyes to the