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At the core of every great Interpol song hangs a hook so barbed it could draw blood, no matter how heavy the surrounding goth atmospherics.

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A year ago, Brooklyn art rockers Dirty Projectors teamed up with alternative icon (and fan) Bjork for a one-off benefit performance inside tiny SoHo bookstore Housing Works, crafting an intimate, resplendent performance from an esoteric song cycle written by lead Projector David Longstreth (inspired by bandmate Amber Coffman's sighting of a family of whales off the northern California coast).

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Los Angeles' Magnetic Zeros suffered some guff over first impressions. Not only did the 11-piece hippie-folk ensemble appear out of thin air (apparent time-travelers, sporting '60s garb and analog equipment), but bandleader Alex Ebert experienced an improbable rebirth: from glammy lead yelper of slick synth rockers' Ima Robot into "Edward Sharpe," a long-maned messianic shaman.

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With the heroically stomping folk songs on this winning debut, Marcus Mumford and his hale mates (who aren't kin) employ the soft-to-loud strategy with more finesse than most plugged-in rockers.

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Such is the predictable cycle of pre-release Weezer buzz that Rivers Cuomo fans must've been skeptical upon hearing that, on the new Hurley, their hero was forgoing the simplistic MTV interstitial bait he's been churning out for a decade to return to the devastating self-confessional form of 1994's self-titled debut and 1996's emo touchstone Pinkerton.