In their own incongruous way, Psychic‘s two creators do an admirable job of defining the sound of Darkside‘s debut LP. While Nicolas Jaar believed he was making an electronic record, Dave Harrington thought he was involved in a rock record. It turns out they were both right-it’s an impressive combination of the two.

Luke Temple’s songwriting template has followed a decidedly circuitous path throughout the late ’00s and early ’10s.

Murray Lightburn’s debut solo album is something of a departure from his work with The Dears, the Montréal-based outfit he has headed for 18 years and five albums. Firstly, for MASS:LIGHT, Lightburn played all the instruments, constructing all the album’s sounds, save for some strings and brass.

England’s Anna Calvi is a master of moodiness. Her eponymous 2011 debut album was slightly unnerving, slightly scary, and hauntingly magnificent—10 tracks of Calvi and her guitar against the world.

Grieving Sonic Youth fans are suffering no dearth of releases to keep their ears occupied while the band rests in (possibly permanent) hiatus.

Experimental pop outfit Poliça returns with the unsettling Shulamith, replete with grisly cover art and the video for “Tiff,” which indulges in a twisted self-torture scene with singer Channy Leaneagh.

Regardless of whether one already has all of The Clash’s albums, the immersive experience of sinking into the lovingly detailed Sound System will serve as a reminder of why fans agreed with their label’s slogan, “The Only Band That Matters.”

New finds Paul McCartney no closer to resting on his golden laurels than he was 40 years ago. After last year’s album of standards, Kisses on the Bottom, New is his first collection of new material since 2007’s Memory Almost Full, and judging by the tone of the album’s liner notes, he sounds downright buzzed about sharing the experience and its outcome.

After frontman Daniel Blumberg’s bombshell departure from the band earlier this year, the remaining members of Yuck—drummer Jonny Rogoff, bassist Mariko Doi, and guitarist-turned-frontman Max Bloom—have a lot to prove.