“And we both know/Love’s not in our hearts” sings the trademark detached androgynous voice on “Stonefist” one last time, you gritting your teeth in anticipation of the instrumental refrain, a heavy and pounding electronic assault of synthesized distortion and kick-snare repetition, a metallic taste in the mouth, a melody, then some strangely, specifically identifiable ‘80s Korg keyboard sound suddenly dotting this weird landscape of Los Angeles warehouses and apocalyptic skylines.

The independent music world can at times seem like a snobbish, closed-off community, dangerously close to drowning in its own pretension. It is increasingly important, then, that it have a few jesters to stir up the status quo.

James Hoare (Veronica Falls) and Jack Cooper (Mazes) blend Twerps’ college slacker rock and The Kinks’ sun-kissed melodies on their second Ultimate Painting album, Green Lanes.

Ohio-grown The Lighthouse and the Whaler‘s Mont Royal sounds similar at times to Band of Horses, with hints of Fleet Foxes’ Helplessness Blues.

As The Strokes approach their “heritage period,” where new material is received with a brief smile and an open gateway to touring, Albert Hammond Jr. finally appears to be making his own headway into a genuine solo career.

Considering the pitiful state of arena country, Jason Isbell is a damn messiah. Something More Than Free demonstrates Isbell’s songwriting prowess and the honed power of his band, The 400 Unit.

As a band that made their name at the cutting edge of the post-punk movement, a band revered for sounding genuinely new and original, The Jesus and Mary Chain seem unlikely candidates for nostalgia.

This is a flowery psych-folk album that musters little more than consistent pleasantness.

When you’ve been a band for 15 years, there comes a time to look at your output and decide if it’s worth it to keep going. Mates of State‘s new EP, You’re Going to Make It, is the reassurance that comes just before that final quarter of a race.