With the renewed interest in the ’80s, Manchester, Joy Division, etc., it’s peculiar we don’t hear more about James. Though active long before, it wasn’t until 1992’s Seven and 1993’s Laid, the latter produced by Brian Eno, that the world—namely America—took notice of James. However, it seemed that it was too little too late. They’d peaked, and they’d soon again disappear from the charts. After a brief hiatus in the early 2000s, James have returned to deliver their second studio album in two years. Actually two mini-albums, The Morning After the Night Before finds the band sounding ageless and totally self-assured. The sound is big and it’s inspired. Frontman Tim Booth grapples with...

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For Azure Ray’s long-awaited fourth album, the newly-reformed duo again employs hushed electronics and whispered vocals to build its collection of sad songs. For a band with a more abundant output, such recycled energy would be a pity. But it’s been seven years since Maria Taylor and Orenda Fink uttered a peep as Azure Ray, so instead of being tired, Drawing Down the Moon feels loaded with nostalgia, like being welcomed home by an old and very heartsick friend. And by the time Taylor timidly asks a would-be lover, “If I could give this a shot, could you?” on standout track “On and On Again,” it’s a fact: Time has not diminished Azure Ray’s ability to craft songs that are both bittersweet...

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With so much of today’s music echoing the past, it’s difficult to tell if The Vaselines are timeless or just outdated. Listening to Sex with an X is like entering a Technicolor time warp, and the Scottish pop outfit’s sophomore LP—20 years after the release of Dum-Dum—reminds us just how vintage the ’80s really are. Variety is not so much a priority for the band as is foot-tapping appeal: the hooks are catchy and the lines are even catchier, like the title track’s singable mantra, “It feels so good/It must be bad for me.” Yet as delectable as the melodies are, Sex with an X seems like it’s all been done before—and in fact, we know that it has. “I Hate the ’80s” lifts the album from its...

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With an album cover that sports a shark flying into an office building, Black Mountain is making a statement to which you better be paying attention. The Canadian quartet’s third release is different than its earlier material and like the album’s cover, the music has evolved to the point where you have no choice but to take heed. Though the sound varies from song to song, “Old Fangs” showcases Black Mountain’s familiar formula with hard riffs, a driving bass and haunting space synths that compliment Stephen McBean’s booming vocals and Amber Webber’s smooth voice. Folk-inspired songs like “Rollercoaster” and “Buried by the Blues” and raw guitar-driving rock jams “Let Spirits Ride” and the...

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Public Strain is Women’s second record after a wonderfully confusing debut…and it provides no answers to our persistent questions: Is this pop or noise, ambient or rock? Most importantly, are Women exorcists or ghosts? What we do know: The quartet wrangles feedback, dissonant strings and Krautrock thump into surprisingly manageable songs, finding the types of hooks that both stick in your ear and leave claw marks. “Drag Open” is a jagged 2003-N.Y.C. kiss-off; sweetly cooing “Penal Colony” recalls The Shins. But still, what sort of guitar-rock band inspires tender songs about penal colonies and finds single tones, like on “Bells,” and lets them hum uninterrupted? Public Strain evokes such...

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