With their sly, earnest recordings for the Postcard label at the dawn of the 1980s, Orange Juice—for most intents and purposes—created the blueprint for indie pop that would prove massively influential over the next 30 years.

Terry Zwigoff’s (Crumb, Bad Santa) debut film remains as relevant today as it was when it finally saw release in 1985.

The energy that Matt & Kim draw forth in their music is equivalent to an army of 10-year-olds riding on pogo sticks with a sugar high. Like their raucous live shows, the Brooklyn-based duo’s third album continues their music tenure with the kind of sprightly joy that could make even the most jaded cynic crack a smile.

Last year, Stereolab announced that the band was taking a break to focus on other projects. Over the course of two decades they released a string of albums and singles that built a sizable following as the players developed and reworked the blueprint of their keyboard-driven pop.

Motorifik, the side project of Working for a Nuclear Free City’s Phil Kay, and accompanied by French songwriter Idrisse Khélifi, is rife with pop flourishes and dance elements that nod often to the fabled scene of Kay’s hometown of Manchester. It largely eschews the more esoteric, exploratory elements that have been favored of late by his main band in favor of well-crafted, conventional pop tunes.

If anyone doubted the popular importance of the recent Guided By Voices reunion, he or she would only have had to witness the line around the block in front of Philadelphia’s Trocadero Theater on November 6 an hour prior to showtime.

Another year, another new Weezer album, another…well, not disappointment, really, since we all know what to expect by now, but another dumbing down from one of America’s once-great rock bands.

Yann Tiersen closes his newest album, Dust Lane, with an upbeat guitar and voice tune called “Fuck Me.” It’s a well-earned, tongue-in-cheek movement for the violinist-turned- composer. With six studio albums and three soundtracks (including 2001 standout, Amélie), Tiersen has made a career out of delivering lush instrumentals while quietly subverting expectations.

The 15th album by punk veterans Bad Religion shows the typical mixed with some unexpected, begging the question, can a punk band reinvent themselves after 30 years?