These days lots of different bands/songs are called noise pop, but these folks are doing it right.

With Positively Bob, Nile manages to make one of the few cover albums worth owning.

Modern Creation may not their best collections of songs--that honor is still held by 2012’s Enjoy the Company--but there’s still some damn fine tunes to be found here.

While not much new ground is broken on A Forest of Arms, and it fails to surpass 2012’s excellent New Wild Everywhere, something can be said for the additional polish the music gets from heavy string embellishment and rather refined production values.

If this all sounds sort of strange or back-handed, that can be attributed to the fact that Strange Mercy takes a few listens to grasp, and it makes the repeat visits enticing. And that's a sign of a strong album.

Buy It’s Her Fault, a 12-pack, then enjoy the ride.

Unison chants (“Kaani”) and stray bursts of percussion (“Nouvel”) punctuate the multi-lingual songs, but the dominant timbre is a delicious, delirious clang.

From the opening cut of “Earthen Gate” the songs nudge, heave, shove and then finally bulldoze their way to your hearts.

In Between takes more spins to reveal its charms than is usual for the Feelies, but the effort pays off handsomely.

Thanks to this well-constructed compilation CD (including a very informative booklet), his legacy will be exposed to a new generation of musicians, and music fans.

It's an A-list of contributors for sure, but what's most impressive is how Hogan makes each offering her own.

Year of No Returning may not be the definitive post-Harpoons Furman record – he’s got another one coming this fall--but it is an album to build on.

He still has plenty to communicate, his music not losing any creative potency over the years.

Bradley and his band are such great interpreters and expanders of the soul tradition that you don’t mind the nagging feeling that you’ve heard these cuts before.

Phillips’ very considerable skill is in getting to the core of an idea, stripping it down to essentials and then shading it subtly with cross-currents of meaning and musical counterpoint.

Not as prolific as some of his peers, it’s easy to forget what a great musician Wolf is. Thankfully, this new one serves as a fresh reminder.

Costello, James, Mumford, Goldsmith and Giddens put their disparate origins aside and pull together as a team. They clearly own these songs, and ply them accordingly. Both credence and comradery play crucial roles here, elevating this effort to that of an essential acquisition.

Consolidation more than innovation, The Glowing Man still presents the current incarnation of Swans in its best light, as if this is the record the band has been working toward these past seven years.

Like it or not, the synths are here to stay, and The Minimal Wave Tapes Volume Two adds several more fascinating pieces to the puzzle.

The name of this project might be 7 Days of Funk, but there’s enough groove in this mofo to last a lifetime.

Louis Armstrong may have provided the raw material for Ske-Dat-De-Dat: The Spirit of Satch, but make no mistake: this is a Dr. John LP through-and-through. As it should be.

This is quite overtly a party record.

They exit the proverbial time warp tunnel with a sophisticated release that beckons recollections of classic rock groups while forging their own sound. Influences from Buddy Holly to Beach Boys to even The Beatles are felt on Uncle, Duke & the Chief and Born Ruffians rightfully stand in good company.

Yet aside from that one cut, Megafaun's self-titled album seamlessly integrates an easy-going tuneful-ness with a nearly mystical devotion to tone and texture.

Backed by his acoustic guitar, a fiddle player, a bass and little else, Millsap’s record has a timelessness that will preserve it well years from now.

Despite the unlikely set-up, there’s a classic archetypical feel to the set as a whole.

Here, together again, they pick up more or less where they left off, slipping subdued hooks into strummy reveries and spiking easy breezy tunes with jarring, occasional violent lyrics.

They come back hard and a bit more focused on this terrific sophomore effort.