Neil Young
Angry World (Reprise)
It cruises along on overdrive-ripped guitar chords, and you keep waiting for the drums to kick in and carry "Angry World" into the land of Crazy Horse. They never do, though, and that tension mirrors the lyrics in the most perfect way possible.

Warpaint
Undertow (Rough Trade)
Starting out moody and spare but then coming alive in a burst of sweet guitar jangle and multipart harmonies, "Undertow" is the sound of the once charmingly ramshackle Warpaint graduating to the indie-rock big league.

A Place to Bury Strangers
Suffragette City (Manimal Vinyl)
Well, it says on the label that it’s supposed to be "Suffragette City", and it’s conceivable that there might actually be a David Bowie song hiding inside this whooshing wind tunnel of feedback and reverb, but who can tell?

Wilderness Years
Build a Hut (Bush Party)
There’s definitely a Bowie song in this one—namely, "Heroes"—but mostly it’s a fuzzed-out homage to ’90s indie rock. And, in case you haven’t been listening to what they’re spinning at Le Chí¢teau lately, the ’90s are, like, totally hot right now.

Whole Sky Monitor
Freakshow (Firebomb Radio)
Today’s positive affirmation from Whole Sky Monitor is "Never forget how stupid you are." Uplifting? Maybe not, but it’s delivered with some seriously kick-ass postpunk heft behind it, so we’ll just nod our stupid heads.

Devils Brigade
Vampire Girl (Hellcat)
Desert-scorched rockabilly guitars, hard-gallop drums, and the whisky-gargling vocals of Rancid’s Matt Freeman make this the hottest bloodsucker-related thing this side of a Kristen Stewart/Anna Kendrick sandwich.

of Montreal
I Feel Ya’ Strutter (Polyvinyl)
Even if we weren’t totally there to experience them, we’ve got a pretty good idea that the ’70s sounded like "I Feel Ya’ Strutter", mostly ’cause it smells like orange shag, cheap wine, and Leo Sayer.

Violent Kin
Wolf (Violent)
Impossibly ’80s in the most synth-tastic way. This is exactly what the Luv-A-Fair sounded like back when girls looked like boys and boys bought designed-for-girls mousse by the crate.

Jay Sparrow
Villains & Lovers (Break Pattern)
Gunpowder Americana that seems like it was built to be played on an 8-track cassette player, preferably in a Ford pick- up truck with a factory-installed gun rack. And no, that’s not a putdown.

Coliseum
Everything to Everyone (Temporary Residence)
Part tightly wound, Pantera-strength metal and part early-’80s U.K. hardcore, which is to say that it kicks the shit out of 98 percent of anything that suburban mall rats heard at this year’s Warped Tour.

Christina Maria
Kind Friend (Vissen)
Think old-timey country injected with the ornate pop sound that lands record deals with Asthmatic Kitty. If Sufjan Stevens is looking for someone to open his upcoming Vancouver show, Christina Maria is his girl.