The Prodigy - Invaders Must Die
Twenty years after England’s Summer of Love, rave had made a comeback — at least in indie circles — and Liam Howlett’s Prodigy, the only original rave group still going (anyone remember Altern-8?), could hardly have done worse than jump aboard. But Invaders Must Die is a curious nu-rave record, as though the sound of 1991 (such as their Top Ten hit “Charly”) has been filtered through the sound of 1996 (such as their number one, “Firestarter”) to emerge as nothing more than a hodgepodge of uptempo dance music with extroverted beats and grimy basslines. If that sounds basically like your average electronica record circa the turn of the millennium (albeit produced by one of its greatest heroes), then you’re a long way towards understanding what this nu-rave record from the Prodigy sounds like.

Soundtrack of Our Lives - Communion
Issuing a double album in the 21st century, with increasing industry focus on single tracks and ringtones seems crazy at best, pretentious at worst. Communion, the fifth album by Gothenburg, Sweden’s rock sextet the Soundtrack of Our Lives, proves that assertion to be dead wrong. This band has stubbornly followed an inner sense of direction that embraces paradox while using the very best of what rock & roll has to offer in order to create powerful music. Communion’s 24 tracks are spread over two discs and its total playing time at over 90 minutes makes it longer than the Who’s Quadrophenia or Pink Floyd’s The Wall. Communion is a loosely based concept record. It addresses alienation and other difficulties of mass culture run amok with technological innovation, yet it unapologetically seeks — and finds — hope in the madness. Paradoxically, these song’s all stand independently of one another, they aren’t topically or musically heavy-handed, and most are catchy as all get out.

Neko Case - Middle Cyclone
Neko Case looks formidable on the cover of Middle Cyclone, brandishing a sword in one hand while crouching low on a muscle car’s hood. It’s mostly camp, of course — the sort of superwoman image Quentin Tarantino might have used for Death Proof’s ad campaign — but it also draws contrast with the songwriter’s previous albums, two of which featured moody shots of Case sprawled on the floor, ostensibly knocked out. Middle Cyclone isn’t the polar opposite of Blacklisted’s downcast Americana; there are still moments of heartbreak on this release, and Case channels the sad cowgirl blues with all the rustic nuance of Patsy Cline. Multiple years in the New Pornographers’ employ have considerably brightened her outlook, however, and Middle Cyclone balances its melancholia with some of the most pop-oriented choruses of Case’s career.

Rush - Retrospective, Vol. 3
Few bands warrant, let alone deserve, a three-volume retrospective. Rush, however, make the case. As a concern, Rush are still going strong — perhaps stronger than ever as a live attraction — and their studio albums in the 21st century have been as heavy as anything they’ve ever cut, and very consistent in terms of quality. Rush have issued many compilations, but this makes three that bear the title Retrospective. The first volume covered the years 1974-1980, which addressed the period between their self-titled debut long-player and Permanent Waves; the second covered 1981-1987, bookmarked by the recordings Moving Pictures and Hold Your Fire; and this set covering 1989-2007 tracks the full-lengths Presto through Snakes & Arrows. Taken as a whole, these three CDs provide an excellent overview of a band that has continued to develop its sound, push its own boundaries, and remain timeless without concessions to trends or music biz nonsense.

U2 - No Line on the Horizon
A rock & roll open secret: U2 care very much about what other people say about them. Ever since they hit the big time in 1987 with The Joshua Tree, every album is a response to the last — rather, a response to the response, a way to correct the mistakes of the last album: Achtung Baby erased the roots rock experiment Rattle and Hum, All That You Can’t Leave Behind straightened out the fumbling Pop, and 2009’s No Line on the Horizon is a riposte to the suggestion they played it too safe on 2004’s How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb. After scrapping sessions with Rick Rubin and flirting with will.i.am, U2 reunited with Brian Eno and Daniel Lanois (here billed as “Danny” for some reason), who not only produced The Joshua Tree but pointed the group toward aural architecture on The Unforgettable Fire. Much like All That You Can’t and Atomic Bomb, which were largely recorded with their first producer, Steve Lillywhite, this is a return to the familiar for U2, but where their Lillywhite LPs are characterized by muscle, the Eno/Lanois records are where the band take risks, and so it is here that U2 attempts to recapture that spacy, mysterious atmosphere of The Unforgettable Fire and then take it further.

Bell X1 - Blue Lights on the Runway
Boozoo Bajou - Grains
Boston Spaceships - Planets Are Blasted
Liz Carroll & John Doyle - Double Play
De Rosa - Prevention
Drowning Pool - Loudest Common Denominator
Justin Townes Earle - Midnight at the Movies
Faust - C’est Com…Com…Complique
Béla Fleck - Throw Down Your Heart, Tales from the Acoustic Planet, Vol. 3: Africa Sesss
Harmonic 313 - When Machines Exceed Human Intelligence
Jesse Harris - Watching the Sky
The Sensational Alex Harvey Band - Hot City: The 1974 Unreleased Album
Ben Klock - One
The Long Lost - The Long Lost
Low Frequency in Stereo - Futuro
Raul Malo - Lucky One
Buddy and Julie Miller - Written in Chalk
Marissa Nadler - Little Hells
Say Hi - Oohs & Aahs
Starry Eyed and Laughing - And Their Best
Angus & Julia Stone - A Book Like This
Tierney Sutton - Desire
Thin Lizzy - Still Dangerous: Live at Tower Theatre Philadelphia 1977
Marty Willson-Piper - Nightjar
Various Artists - The Complete Motown Singles, Vol. 11B: 1971