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Rolling Stone | 87

BLUE WAVE The L.A. trio’s second offering

is an electro-pop treat, full of rich charac-

ter sketches (“It’s Gonna Be OK”), self-love

pep talks (“Number One Fan”), and Carly

Rae Jepsen-ian romantic melancholy.

4

Muna

Saves the World

RCA

GREAT GOTH “Everything is on fire,” Bat for

Lashes’ Natasha Khan sings, but you might

not notice the flames because the music

is so chilly. Few artists can make emotional

crises sound so serenely beautiful.

Bat for Lashes

Lost Girls

Bat for Lashes

MELLOW GOLD Seven LPs into his run as

a conjurer of sunny Seventies-tinged roots

rock, North Carolina’s MC Taylor hits a

peak, especially on somberly pretty tunes

like “My Wing” and “Down at the Uptown.”

OLD POWER “Online porn is driving me

nuts,” the 72-year-old punk sings, proving

he hasn’t changed since he was a Stooge

decades ago. But his music has, emphasiz-

ing jazz horns and Sinatra-esque crooning.

FEEL THE VERN Justin Vernon dials back

the avant-pop extremes, giving human

larynxes and other acoustic instruments

more flex room amid synths and Auto-

Tune-y veils. It can be a brilliant balance.

INDIE ELDERS The tone of the alt-rock

heroes’ third post-reunion album is more

muted than usual. But frontman Black

Francis’ well-sharpened melodies and

sense of humor guide the band through.

CROW AND CO. Everyone from Eric

Clapton to St. Vincent appears alongside

Crow on this collaborative album. The

highlights are ballads with country lions

Emmylou Harris and Willie Nelson.

DARKER ROOTS The Mumfords-y band

gets conceptual for a song cycle about

the travails of a fictional family. It’s a mixed

bag (see the cornball NYC homage “Life in

the City”), but the moodier vibe works.

LUKEWARM PLAY Rising U.K. lite rocker

Courtney is like an Adderall’d Chris Martin,

stacking his second LP with pummeling

pop hooks and lyrical nods to acts (the

Who, Prince) well beyond his pay grade.

# # 3 3 3 2

RADICAL RETRO The Philly band are stealth

pop geniuses in the guise of street-tough

rockers on their second album, able to

pull off socialist punk and Fleetwood Mac-

tinged beauty with equal ease and power.

4

Sheer Mag

A Distant Call

Wilsuns

Hiss Golden Messenger

Terms of

Surrender

Merge

Iggy Pop

Free

Loma Vista

Bon Iver

i,i

Jagjaguwar

Pixies

Beneath the Eyrie

Infectious Music

Sheryl Crow

Threads

Valory

Lumineers

III

Dualtone Music

Barns Courtney

404

Capitol

CONTRIBUTORS: JONATHAN BERNSTEIN, JON DOLAN, KORY GROW, WILL HERMES, HANK SHTEAMER

Ten new albums you need to know about now

Quick Hits

Iggy Pop

UPDATE

‘T

HE WORLD is crum-

bling and I don’t

have much to say,”

sings Greta Kline of Frankie

Cosmos. But her indie-pop

escapism is its own answer.

The fourth Frankie Cosmos

LP contains 21 precisely

catchy songs built from brittle

guitars, delicate hooks, and

Kline’s tiny, inviting voice,

which rarely gets loud enough

to wake a napping roommate.

THE GREAT

INDOORS

Bedroom-pop whiz

kids turn their

little worlds into

private utopias

Jay Som

Anak Ko

#

Frankie

Cosmos

Close It

Quietly

#

Jay Som (a.k.a. singer-guitarist

Melina Duterte) does some-

thing equally sweet on her ace

second album. “Superbike”

radiates Eighties shoegaze

glory, and “Tenderness” is

snow-globe Steely Dan. The

peak might be “Nighttime

Drive,” serene, strummy, and

adorably gangster, with Du-

terte singing about “shoplift-

ing at the Whole Foods.” Hey,

if you’re going to go out into

the crumbling world, might as

well get yours. JON DOLAN