Alexander Tucker’s second Thrill Jockey release exhibits a continued lean toward brainy Anglo-pop, although it’s most certainly still infused with his avant-garde past.

With his debut feature Beyond the Black Rainbow, director Panos Cosmatos delivers a film that’s light on narrative but overflowing in style, taking the trancelike pull of 2001: A Space Odyssey‘s abstract “stargate” sequence and drawing it out across almost two lysergic, ambiguity-filled hours.

One of the many frustrating things about Norah Jones is what appears to be a total unwillingness to push herself beyond her lyrical and vocal comfort zones. She’s a gifted vocalist, a good-enough pianist, and a gracious performer, and yet—without exception—her first four studio albums sound like one long, tiresome song.

Tanya Wexler’s Hysteria, a period piece set in late 19th century London, is nothing if not luscious eye candy. The cinematography is vivid, with the contrast of the muted grays of the dilapidated slums and the garish, rococo flourishes of the opulent bourgeoisie neighborhoods mirroring the struggle at the crux of the film.

In the drought since their last full-length album Bleed Like Me was released in 2005, Garbage has left fans reeling from quite a seven-year itch. It’s not that the members (Shirley Manson, Butch Vig, Duke Erikson, Steve Marker) had gone into creative hibernation-Vig was busy producing, taking home a Grammy for Green Day’s 21st Century Breakdown; Manson was acting out with a leading role in the short-lived TV series Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles when not working on her yet-to-be-released solo album; and the band itself released a greatest hits compilation Absolute Garbage in 2007 to quell the pressure for new music amid an indefinite hiatus.

Justin Paul Vallesteros has been studying his Radio Dept. How else do you explain the (very) subtle expansion of sound on Craft Spells’ new EP Gallery? Embracing a floaty aesthetic not unlike the Swedish dream pop band’s, Vallesteros and his cohorts seem to glide through six tracks, concerning themselves with (in no particular order), girls, loneliness, summer days—or, often, all of the above.

Montréal-based DJ and electronic wizard Michael Silver (stage name CFCF) was once primarily associated with his remix work on tracks by the likes of Sally Shapiro, Crystal Castles, Azari & III, and tons of others. Of late, though, he’s been slowly building on his own catalogue of gorgeous, synth-based atmospheric mood music, the best installment of which remains his 2009 full-length debut, Continent

If the cover image on Silversun Pickups’ new album seems alluringly Hitchcockian, leave the lights on when you give the record a spin. The L.A. band has never been a Prozac popper, but the 11 tracks on Neck of the Woodstakes moody to a whole other psychological level—one that moves beyond science to a technological outsmarting.

At first listen, a Violens tune can be hard to grab onto. Bat away layers and layers of silky atmosphere, burrow down to some primordial pop nugget, and it spirals off in an unexpected direction, not taking the frictionless path. It’s heady, with dense production and disparate reference points/intentions that coexist somewhat precariously; they form a house of cards blueprinted by explosive and atmospheric ‘90s shoegaze, chorus-soaked ‘80s pop, and reverbed-out ‘60s psych.