Underworld have always hid a decidedly punk aesthetic beneath their crunching electronics. While hardly as confrontational as the all-gobbing, safety-pin-punctured acts of the late 1970s, Karl Hyde and Rick Smith have tended to take a similar sneering look at the subcultures around them, never afraid to call out bullshit over their propulsive techno throbs.

Full Circle, the debut album from London-based trio, HÆLOS, is a lake at nighttime-you have no way of knowing how deep it is until you wade in. Once you plunge beneath the warm water’s surface, you realize this is a world you have rarely experienced before.

When Primal Scream truly hit their groove, there’s no resisting the overpowering engulf of their omnipresent psychedelic disco. Bobby Gillespie and co. are masters of hypnotics at this point, their immersive signature baggy tumult as undeniable as it is effortless.

Look, let’s not beat around the bush here: this is shit. I know it’s shit, you know it’s shit. I’ve reviewed some shit albums in the past and I’ve said some pretty mean, albeit justified, things about Beady Eye and The Strypes. The Feeling are very much as shit as those bands, but this time, meh, what’s the use in summoning the energy to come up with a crushing metaphor?

Kula Shaker emerged in 1996 as both immensely popular and hugely disparaged. The British group’s inclusion of Eastern sonics and mystic vibe set it apart from its Britpop contemporaries, as well as providing an unshakeable identifier to its creations.

A refreshing bit of beach gloom, Adult Books cast a hazy shadow from Los Angeles’ generally sunnier Burger and Lollipop records mecca. Perhaps it’s a reflection of the contrast between Adult Books’ New Wave sensibilities and their hometown scene, but the band can show a bit of a split personality, alternating between excellent post-punk and pretty-good garage rock.

It’s hard not to be moved by Emma-Lee Moss’s third album. Songs like “Algorithm” or “Shadowlawns” are pristinely pressed matters of the heart, each enveloped in sensitive melody that’s steered by Moss’s ornate vocal.

On Nada Surf‘s eighth album You Know Who You Are, Matthew Caws and his veteran band continue to prove that they haven’t forgotten what they do best even after 24 years together.

More Rain starts with silence. Then the patter of rain on tarp slowly reintroduces us to Matthew ‘M’ Ward‘s lightly graveled croon for the first time in four years. And as he sings “it’s alright if you don’t mind, it’s alright if you do” during opener “Pirate Dial” you’re reminded and reassured of the beauty he is capable of creating. It feels like finding an old friend.