“Nothing ever ends up quite like what you planned,” rasps firebrand frontman Bradford Cox in the closing verse of “Pensacola.” This lyric could serve as an apt credo for Deerhunter’s modus operandi: a gradual process of distorting and mounting upon tightly coiled grooves until the listener’s endgame, by track’s conclusion, has been met with a seamless sort of subversion. On the other side of the coin, the line has thematic resonance also, as the idée fixe of this particular case of monomania—as near or far as one can see—seems to be Cox’s curious preoccupation with his own doom. “And in my dying days/I could never be sure.../They’ll never take me away,” he finally issues on “Monomania”...

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Perils from the Sea will give you chills the first time you hear it. By the fifth or sixth listen, you’ll want to have a box of Kleenex handy. “1936” is about a kid who steals a collectible coin from his mother, only to discover that its real value was the priceless memory it gave the woman of her dead dad. “Gustavo” is about a man who hires an illegal immigrant, then laments his decision not to lend him a hand in the worker’s time of need. “Baby In Death Can I Rest Next To Your Grave” speaks for itself. Kozelek’s prose is often placed atop acoustic guitar, but LaValle’s truly haunting electronic backdrop makes the storytelling even more devastating. Kozelek said one song here was...

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The name may appear like it was penned by a kindergartener’s crayon, but Canada’s Majical Cloudz create sparse bursts of emotive electronica that’s anything but whimsical. Lead singer Devon Welsh’s baritone grumble is the only emotive element of Majical Cloudz besides collaborator Matthew Otto’s bare-bones chords, a welcome relief from the maximalist stylings of many contemporary artists working with synth loops and samplers. Rather, the duo utilize minimalist instrumentation, focusing instead on casting a spell on the listener with quietly unsettled lyrics like, “I want to feel like somebody’s darling.” On their Matador debut, the two manage to plummet you into a melancholy somewhere...

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Does a band have to sacrifice its intellect for an infectious pop melody? Cayucas attempt to answer that question on this, their debut effort. The brainchild of Zach Yudin, the LA-based outfit show their range on an eight-song collection that features “Cayucos” and “High School Lover,” both tracks that have garnered some radio attention and with good reason: they’re catchy tunes blending electronica seamlessly with breezy pop and perhaps serve as the best reflections of the band’s MO. The non-electronic tracks have a retro, ’60s-era California pop vibe, like the groovy “Will ‘The Thrill’” and the pleasant “A Summer Thing,” both of which would soundtrack an evening beachside campfire...

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The double album Drifters/Love Is the Devil is Alex Zhang Hungtai’s cathartic response to 2011’s cinematic Badlands. The somber man behind the Dirty Beaches moniker, Hungtai has mastered the shadowed soundscape. You can almost see the cigarette smoke hanging in the air with the leather jacket bravado of “I Dream In Neon.” His growl is the centerpiece of the records, traveling to the very baritone depths paved by Jim Morrison with a gasping immediacy accentuated on tracks including “Casino Lisboa” and “Aurevoir mon visage” (translation: “Farewell, my face”). Both sides of the album act as mirror images of torment. Drifters rattles with verbalized unsettlement of transience, punctuated by...

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The opening and title track of the debut by LA-based DJ and production team Classixx is an elegant, spaced-out disco romp that swims and swirls around a melodic refrain lifted from the Sandy Stewart–penned 1987 Fleetwood Mac single “Seven Wonders.” It’s a perfect liftoff for Hanging Gardens because just like the Mac’s seminal Tango in the Night, the album is slated for release just in time for summer and you’d be hard-pressed to find a more shimmering or sunnier pool party soundtrack. Lead single “Holding On” is an irresistible keyboard-driven dance floor igniter that’ll most certainly be oozing out of iPods on beaches east to west. Featuring vocal cameos from Nancy Whang of LCD...

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