The weather in Chicago today is chilly and cloudy, but you’d never know it based on the sunny sounds of the Windy City’s Allá (pronounced “ayê-ya”). The trio’s globally savvy pop embraces not just their Mexican heritage, but immaculate Swedish pop, Brazilian Tropicalia, Krautrock, and Chicago’s post-rock scene. Singer Lupe Martinez sounds alluring no matter what backdrop brothers Jorge and Angel Ledezma put behind her, whether it’s the languid guitars on “Golpes del Sol” or “Un Dia Otra Noche”’s giddy strings and handclaps. Allá spent four years recording self-financed sessions all over the globe, stopping at musical ports of call including Chicago’s Soma Electronic Studios and Sweden’s Tambourine Studios, where Jorge worked with arranger Patrick Bartosch to get the string and horn sounds that have graced the Cardigans’ and Eggstone’s music.

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When there are as many great music releases as there were this past October, it’s difficult to narrow down my favorite albums, let alone songs. PJ Harvey’s White Chalk, Jens Lekman’s Night Falls Over Kortedala, Café Tacuba’s Sino, Saturday Looks Good to Me’s Fill Up the Room, Jesu’s Lifeline, Neil Young’s Chrome Dreams II, Juanes’ La Vida…Es un Ratico, Celebration’s The Modern Tribe, Dwight Yoakam’s Dwight Sings Buck, Band of Horses’ Cease to Begin, the Fiery Furnaces’ Widow City, Sunset Rubdown’s Random Spirit Lover, Radiohead’s In Rainbows, Beirut’s The Flying Club Cup — these were some of my favorite albums. Ten of my favorite songs from this past month follow:

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Beginning with a series of high-profile concert performances this past summer at Lollapalooza (Chicago), Central Park SummerStage (New York), and the Hollywood Bowl (Los Angeles), Café Tacuba has returned to the forefront of the global alt-rock scene after an absence. The acclaimed band from Mexico City recently released a new album, Sino, their first studio effort in four years; their previous one, Cuatro Caminos (2003), was a critical favorite stateside, frequently described in shorthand as “Kid A en español.”

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