It’s been a long time since I’ve thought in terms of, "This band could speak for me—I would let them." But sitting here trying to catalog everything that is so right-on about London’s Comet Gain, the coolest indie vets that side of Superchunk, I was reminded how much actual talking they do in their songs, a tradition they continue on the brilliant, ragged and absolutely necessary Howl of the Lonely Crowd. Then I realized that even when David Christian and Rachel Evans are singing, the songs still speak—Comet Gain songs are chants, battle-cries, declamations and statements of disapproval, loyalty, disgust and love. Howl of the Lonely Crowd sounds like the work of a band that’s been thoroughly informed by every good strain of pop and post-punk to come along in the past 20 years, which really is the simplest way to sum up Comet Gain. And their song titles so closely mirror the emotional temperature within: "An Arcade from the Warm Rain That Falls," "After Midnight, After It’s All Gone Wrong," "A Memorial for Nobody I Know," "Some of Us Don’t Want to Be Saved"—god! Thirteen perfect tune-stories, no shortage of lyrics you’ll scrawl on your leather jacket, in the margins of your textbooks, all rounded into shape by pop legend Edwyn Collins: It’s here to save you, and maybe even howl for you, whether you like it or not.

Perpetual buzz band Real Estate’s second album is so coolly understated that it’s hard to make a ginormous fuss about their move to ginormous indie Domino for Days. From one song to the next, this album blurs into breezy, hazy imagery, and in another review this could be meant negatively. Not so here. The lead instrument is guitar, handled in varying combinations by no fewer than three Real Estate agents; classic in a UK-’80s indie-pop style, the guitars are always tinkling, tracing out heartache and gently urging these ten songs onward. In a sense, all the band does is modulate the pacing and placing of hooks, and yet, the whole of Days sounds so incredibly right on. While it seems particularly silly to draw out song highlights here—neither a bummer tune on the album nor one that blows away the rest—the bittersweet "Green Aisles" makes a romantic play in its vocals toward the end (wish we knew offhand which dude was singing which song), while the "oh, oh oh, oh OHH, oh oh, it’s real" vocal hook on single "It’s Real" stands out as a casually devastating move.

Anthony Gonzalez, the veteran French shoegaze champion who is M83 (along with collaborators here and there), does nothing small-scale on his latest. For one, it’s a copiously packed double-CD package, with typically lush nostalgia-tweaking imagery to match its title. Gonzalez, who recently relocated to L.A., has even talked about the ambitiousness of ’90s albums by Smashing Pumpkins as part of his inspiration in making Hurry Up, We’re Dreaming so...so...maximal! The set opens grandly, with Zola Jesus sending a tune humbly called "Intro" into the stratosphere. The synth hook from first single "Midnight City" lives up to that promise, and in their own way, so does nearly every track here—"The Bright Flash" surging through post-shoegaze histrionics with blistering energy. The second disc—the two are meant to represent siblings—does seem to reflect a softer side, yet still operates at high altitudes, with synths cresting and crashing continuously (as on "Another Wave from You"). There’s enough lushness here to swaddle an entire nursery of newborns! Sink into it.

Here at Sound Fix HQ we’ve coined the term Björky Projectors for this one, and the name might stick, because this pairing—unusual on the eye at first—has been making sweetly off-kilter music together for a couple of years already. Their first real attempt at capturing it all in the studio is an understated success, in part because the whole of Mount Wittenberg Orca is 21 minutes long and also because the focus here is on vocals: trilling, cooing, chirping and pinging off one another in acrobatic pyrotechnics. "On and Ever Onward" finds the Dirty Projector ladies harmonizing the title and then handing off to Björk—sounding more like the girl from the Sugarcubes than the veteran global art star—to offer, "Our love is all around us." Somewhat more of a test is the astonishing "When the World Comes to an End": You’ll be flabbergasted by what they’re doing here, and you may never want to hear the song again! Far more mellifluous are the sweetly swirling "No Embrace" and "All We Are," which bring lead Projectionist Dave Longstreth to the fore, sharing space and balancing the feminine energy that drives the rest of this curious, enthralling and occasionally maddening little record. Try it!

Everything about this record is so right-on that I’m getting a contact high just telling you about it. And I haven’t even told you about it yet! Psychic Ills are a long-running NYC band dedicated to the unspooled life, how the horizon just keeps going to infinity, and they transmute and transmit this notion into note-perfect narcoticized jams. Hazed Dream is the record that old-school Ills fans have been waiting for: three- and four-minute slices of spare, deep-psych grooves, tightly written and arranged toward the band’s strengths—namely, frontman Tres Warren’s assuringly blissed vocals, and the way his simple yet intricate guitar lines amble through the astral hills and shadowy woods spun into existence by the rhythm section of Elizabeth Hart (bass) and Brian Tamborello. And this mellow magic holds form for the entirety of Hazed Dream. Sure, we could single out tunes like "Mind Daze" ("I’m doin’ fine / Goin’ out of my mind"), "That’s Alright" and "Sungaze" as being especially effective in squelching all of your reality-based concerns, but there’s not a downer moment to be found on this low-light classic.

Years ago, when J Dilla’s The Shining was released, I kept reading in press releases how Dilla was using samples from the horror film in his album. One review even mentioned Nicholson’s rants on one track. I listened over and over again and didn’t hear anything that sounded like it came from The Shining. So I rolled my eyes a bit when I heard about this new album also inspired by Kubrick’s Gothic masterpiece, until I saw it was a band called Nettle headed by none other than DJ Rupture, the extraordinary Brooklyn-based musician, producer and deejay (check out his WFMU show). On El Resplandor: The Shining In Dubai, Rupture and an acoustic five-piece remake The Shining set in a luxury hotel in Dubai, combining North African folk, experimental electronics, modern classical and avant-garde noise to give us one of the year’s most bold and imaginative releases. The opener, "El Resplendor," features eerie and beautiful vocals; "Radio Flower" has a distinct Arthur Russell vibe in its use of cellos and strings; while "Simoom" is the album’s highlight, a gorgeous and haunting mélange of loops, strings and guitar feedback. The concept may be interesting, but it’s the music that makes this album truly special. Highly recommended.

How do you follow up a breakthrough record, both artistically and commercially? For Rhode Island ass-kickers Deer Tick, the answer is not to try and top it—just tear off a ripping hot party album. Ta-daa, Divine Providence—read a layer deep into the title and you’ll get that this is also something of a beery crush-note to their city. If you don’t believe me, then witness song titles like "Let’s All Go to the Bar" and "Clownin Around," which describe the overarching tone of the album. That said, don’t fail to take these guys seriously at being a little less than serious; on The Black Dirt Sessions, Deer Tick showed the full range of its personality, which includes the 1 2 3 4 pow! of being such a raucous roots-rock band. The album starts with three down-’n-dirty burners: "The Bump," "Funny Word" and the aforementioned field trip to the watering hole. From there though, frontman John McCauley & Co. mix it up a la the Replacements, turning out a set of songs that’ll alternately have you throwing back your beer and crying in what’s left of it ("Chevy Express," "Walkin Out the Door"). Divine Providence isn’t meant to top The Black Dirt Sessions; it’s just here to be a good Deer Tick record.

Austin’s Strange Boys, who include a lady among their ranks, want to make sure you know that the name of their third album is pronounced a la "I live here"—live music is what we do, after all (I’m writing this and you’re reading it, so...). As for them, they’ve put together a wonderfully ramshackle collection of modern blues and plaints in the form of hard-not-to-like garage pop, tinged with country roots and the sort of personality that just becomes you when you’re young and worried and possibly drink too much. While some of the tunes come off as living-room jams (the kind of living room that’s filled with beer-stained second-hand couches), all of the loose and limber musical ideas that add up to Strange Boys come roaring through on "Omnia Boa," a rouser that borrows a bit of Velvets and drags them into the dusty Texas sun. The title "Mama Shelter" invokes weird visions of the Stones and damn if the song doesn’t do likewise; and while "My Life Beats Me" could be left as self-explanatory, the oddly skipping rhythm and playful guitar make you think the Boys kinda like the beatings.

A gas. Some may ask what the purpose is of these strange LateNightTales compilations, since they are nothing more than mixtapes from high-profile bands and musicians, but when they are put together as seamlessly as this one, only a churl would complain. MGMT’s contribution to this esteemed series features a delightful mix of psych folk, avant rock and Brit-centric post-punk, beautifully strung together in 20 tracks totaling 80 minutes of supurb music. This is a great way for MGMT fans to discover the artists who influenced the band, from Suicide to Television Personalities to Mark Fry and the Chills. (There's a new MGMT song too.) Of course we also get the Velvet Underground and Spacemen 3, but some of those bands’ lesser-known tracks (an outtake version of "Ocean" and "Lord Can You Hear Me?"). And the transition from Durutti Column to Charlie Feathers is perfection.