No sophomore slump here – the latest from Love Is All is another delicious helping of sugary sweet pop, taking its cues from girl groups, punk, riot girrl and any other genre of high-spirited music loaded with great hooks. The Swedish five-piece makes the most un-Scandanavian of indie rock, mixing brass and bustling rhythms with high-octane boy-girl lead vocals that can border on yelping at times. It’s a sound all their own, one once again used to great, addictive affect. They have a formula, they’ve stuck to it, and they’ve churned out another winner. (Abigail)

Another Vetiver record of covers? Why not. As long as the songs are this good, they can toss out five-song EPs as much as they like. And boy, did this one throw me for a loop. When I heard the opener, a cover of the Wizards’ “See You Tonight,” I was convinced I had a Robert Pollard CD in the player. Elsewhere the band treads in familiar old-timey country rock, including a Nils Lofgren and Jerry Garcia tune and a rollocking version of “Hey Doll Baby,” all delightful. This was meant to come out before Thing of the Past, the band’s album of covers earlier this year, but for whatever reason, we’re getting it now. Enjoy. (Abigail)

Silence is Wild, Frida Hyvönen’s second album, is a slow-building, slow-burning work, autopsying past relationships and reinterpreting a life. Hyvönen’s piano-led songs have a classic, at times almost theatrical quality to them—at the same time, though, her lyrics can reference anything from Sherlock Holmes to Dirty Dancing, Smog to prehistoric life. Tonally, a lot of ground is covered, from the terse autobiography of “Dirty Dancing” to the theremin-like keyboards on “Science”. Hyvönen’s pop instincts are also memorably displayed here: “Scandinavian Blonde” and (especially) “London!” are each soaring and immediately catchy. The overall effect of Silence is Wild is one of summary, of disparate experiences and influences brought together to make a satisfying, haunting whole. (Toby)

Attention all DFA and !!! fans: do we have a CD for you. Free Blood features former !!! co-yelper and percussionist John Pugh and vocalist Madeline Davy, and the band serves up spirited dance pop a la the Rapture, Pugh’s former band and many other DFA stablemates. Free Blood is perhaps a touch more pop friendly, as suitable for your home as the dancefloor, but it’s got plenty of club edginess, with loads of attitude, funk energy and angular post-punk riffs. The Singles collects material from all the band’s 12-inches released on the DFA label as well as five remixes by the likes of Greg Wilson and Tim Love Lee, and it’s chock full of irresistible tunes, including the pot-tribute “Never Hear Surf Music Again,” “Quick and Painful,” and “Royal Family.” (Ralph)

For those of you who thought the freak-folk movement was missing a dollop or two of genuine freakiness, Larkin Grimm is your girl. On Parplar, her Young God debut, Grimm, the product of Appalachian hippie cult parents and a Yale education, veers from unbelievable beauty to ghoulish spookiness. The gorgeous and sparse loneliness of opener “They Were Wrong” aches and soothes simultaneously, but is interrupted by the ferocious gallop of “Ride That Cyclone,” letting you know that this forest is inhabited not just by fairies and unicorns but also by goblins and sex-starved witches. In fact, on “Blond and Golden Johns” she sounds exactly like a witch (or what I imagine them to sound like). She is able to vary, from track to track, between the sound of a kind and loving mother, an excited cult leader, and a heartbroken lover, each voice authentic and firmly rooted. Grimm is no tourist. She’s a vagabond anarchist folkie, for real, and the music is just as real, raw, and beautiful as a result. (Travis)

Fans of Can, OutHud and Excepter will definitely want to check out this reissue of 80s UK dub/post-punk band the Lines’ two full-length LPs, Therapy (1981) and Ultramarine (1982), remastered and resequenced here for your optimal listening pleasure. Listening to songs like “Come Home”, “Stripe” and “Have a Heart” with modern ears, it’s hard to believe this four-piece didn’t make a bigger splash back in the day, but according to the vintage interview included in Flood Bank’s 16-page booklet, they were hardly acknowledged at all. That’s a shame – although hardly revolutionary, I feel confident that their densely crafted soundscapes – full as they are of surprising textures, ominous riffing and catchy hooks – would not struggle to find an audience today. (Wendy)

Wilderness continues to not repeat itself. This Baltimore band’s third album was written for the Whitney Biennial. Moving at a very deliberate pace, no(w)here merges art rock, drone, stoner beats, and post-punk textures in a style that’s practically avant-garde. Despite being divided into eight tracks, there are no breaks; it’s one long composition (41 minutes) built around timbres. The most notable timbres are guitarist Colin McCann’s brilliantly chiming tones, but there are also the artfully placed notes of bassist Brian Gossman and even the song-speech Lydonisms of vocalist James Johnson (stentorian recitative; tremulous singing of limited range and grating intensity), who really does function like an instrument. Drummer William Goode gets to choose between pounding away with the slow yet inexorable energy of a tank or merge his timbres with the musical surroundings. When the surface of the music offers such compelling sounds, the simplest figures – say, the alternation of two sparse chords – can be a hook. Nobody else has reimagined the basics of rock so drastically or so well for a long time. (Steve)

The Numero Group is known for putting out brilliant compilations of little-known soul and R&B. Some of the finest soul compilations I’ve ever heard can be found on the Eccentric Soul and Cult Cargo series. Numero has given us one genuine rock collection, a brilliant anthology of early 80s power pop called Yellow Pills. Here’s another comp featuring music of roughly the same genre, from Kansas City’s Titan label. The period is a glorious one, 1978 to 1981, and we get two CDs of cheery and lovable power pop with a distinct AM flavor from that time, inspired by the likes of Eric Carmen, Roger McGuinn and Alex Chilton. Unless you were living in Kansas City during this time, it’s unlikely you’ve heard any of these artists or their music, but that’s half the fun. You get two discs and 42 tracks of wonderful music from a scene long in need of a proper retrospective. Gary Charlson, the Secrets, Arlis!, Gems, Millionaire at Midnight, anyone? (Abigail)

A terrific LP of acid-drenched, spacey rock jams from local band White Hills, now featuring Kid Millions of the great Oneida. A Little Bliss Forever, a limited vinyl-only release we’re lucky to have here, is, for fans of psychedelia, pure nirvana: two long tracks, each a side long, both unfurling with a dark, brooding, moody intensity. Side one’s “Walking Up Hill Against the Wind” simmers with some killer guitar work, alternating between reverb and wah-wah licks and nicely complemented by Kid Millions’ stellar drumming. Side two’s “My Girl Soars Blind” doesn’t quite wander as much, with a heavier, denser sound and some delightfully eerie vocal effects. If this is your thing, dig in, because A Little Bliss Forever is a limited pressing. (Abigail)