Midlake, 'The Courage of Others' (Bella Union)

The Pentangle tribute you didn't know you needed.

Boy, midlake's Tim Smith wasn't joking when he said that his band's third album -- and first since breaking bigger with 2006's breathtaking, Fleetwood Mac–inspired Trials of Van Occupanther -- was inspired by the affected antiquities of

Editors, 'In This Light and on This Evening' (Fader)

They wear black on the outside 'cause...guess!

On this third album, Editors expand their sonic vocabulary by supplementing -- at times, even replacing -- straightforward Brit-rock riffing with dark, '80s new-wave keyboards that alternately stab ("Big Exit") and surge ("You Don't Know Love").

Yeasayer, 'Odd Blood' (Secretly Canadian)

Brooklyn psych rockers ride a new new wave.

And from a cocoon of hazy psych-folk comes…a masterful mash-up of '80s synth pop and tribal-beat tickles?

Retribution Gospel Choir, '2' (Sub Pop)

Slowcore vets satisfy their need for speed.

In recent years, slowcore pioneers Low have forcefully shaken their defining somberness and dabbled in what actually might be called rock. So it wasn't a total shock in 2008 when singer-guitarist Alan Sparhawk formed Retribution Gospel Choir -- essentially Low minus angel-voiced wife/drummer Mimi Parker -- to canoodle with more classic sounds.

Los Campesinos!, 'Romance Is Boring' (Arts & Crafts)

Brits downplay the twee, up the clever quotient.

It's fun, if slightly jarring, to hear this infectiously hyperactive indie crew stretch out a little. Romance, their third album in 24 months, is more slickly assured -- and far less twee -- than its predecessors. At one end, the cacophonous "Plan A" gets blatantly cranky, and at the other, "Who Fell Asleep In" might be loosely called a ballad.

Andrew Bird Gets Religion in Chicago

Hometown hero’s latest unique gig at a landmark church suits his softer side.
Andrew Bird / Photo by Sally Ryan

Hometown hero Andrew Bird has plucked his way through all sorts of Chicago venues through the years, from tiny clubs to Lollapalooza to the grand Civic Opera House to the 95th floor observation deck at the John Hancock Center.

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