Paramore's second album Riot! is essentially more of the same as their first, All We Know Is Falling. Musically, it's a bit of an upgrade, but that's never been a major selling point for this band, which will probably never do anything to further the music world with its basic chord progressions and simple song structures. What ultimately makes both albums tick is that frontwoman Hayley Williams, hot or not, can really sing. It makes their rehashed music and somewhat uninspiring lyrics easier to swallow when you've got her outstanding vocals on tunes like the uber-catchy "That's What You Get," "Hallelujah," and "Born For This." Even the minor escape from the musical norm with the swing-inspired "Fences" is saved by Williams' excellent voice. Is this going to "wow" anyone? Probably not. But it is a fun summer album that you don't have to feel guilty about. [www.paramore.net]

God Save the Clientele is the portrait of a band comfortable in their artistic skin, a group that understands their strengths and confidently plays to them. The UK outfit's fourth LP is marked by lush, subdued orchestration and magnetic melodies; as the band weaves their way through fourteen exquisitely produced pieces of pop they reveal a certain late '60s influence (the band's MySpace page lists retro acts The Monkees, Love and The West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band among their inspirations) on their sound which consistently falls in the vein of Belle and Sebastian or Merge labelmates Lambchop (Lambchop collaborator Mark Nevers guided the album's production). A cursory listen suggests a resemblance from each track to the next, especially in the hushed tones and dynamics of each song, but further exploration illuminates just how the band varies elements and arrangements in such a way as to create striking points of nuance. Album highlights include pace-setting opener "Here Comes the Phantom" which displays well the engaging vocals of Alasdair Maclean, the jazzy, postmodern feel of "The Dance of The Hours", the retro-flavored pop of "Somebody Changed" and the buoyant, bouncing rock of "Bookshop Casanova." God Save the Clientele is a project full of radiant activity and is an album not to be missed. [www.theclientele.co.uk]

So perhaps there’s no need to be down-hearted, but listening to the Electric Soft Parade’s latest won’t leave you frothing in vivacious cheerfulness either. Rather, the album has that morning after feel, the start of a fresh day as it knocks its boots clean of some somber difficulty that persisted in clinging to your step. No Need to be Downhearted is full of nods to things beginning and ending, in so many words. “Misunderstanding,” projected to be the group’s next single, is a decent example of this (and a good tune as well): “The day is done, the story’s over / Let’s forget about the things I told you.” Hopeful, but maybe not quite happy, Electric Soft Parade have delivered. [www.electricsoftparade.com]

Secondhand Dreaming, the debut album from Tooth and Nail's Ruth, is a sparkling rock album full of effecting vocals, strong melodies and solid instrumentation. Fronted by Dustin Ruth (though the band claims the name is an acronym for Return Us To Him), who sounds a lot like Switchfoot's Jon Foreman, the band succeeds in creating a memorable group of songs. Mostly upbeat rock tunes reminiscent of bands like Third Eye Blind and Switchfoot, they take a few detours along the way, including the spright, country-tinged "Here To New York," the softer "Mr. Turner" and the introspective album closer "Well With Soul." When the band really lets go, though, their radio friendly rock is a joy to listen to. [www.ruthrock.com]

Two years after the release of the superb Get Behind Me Satan, The White Stripes return with the oddly titled Icky Thump, their sixth full-length album. And this time, no marimba. But worry not, all you fans of quirky instrumentation, there are bagpipes to be heard this time around (featured on "Prickly Thorn, Sweet but Worn" and "St. Andrew (This Battle is in the Air)"). Icky Thump kicks off with the wicked title track, a heavy-beated rocker with exploding guitars, in which Jack spews "White Americans, what? / Nothing better to do? / Why don't you kick yourself out / You're an immigrant, too / Who's using who? / What should we do? / Well, you can't be a pimp and a prostitute, too." Meanwhile, single "Rag and Bone" is set to become the new anthem for all you extreme garage salers out there (of which, I'm sure, there are many). The song features a hilarious lyrical track in which Jack and Meg test the old cliché "one man's junk is another man's treasure" over a bouncy chorus fit for play on an iPod commercial. The wonderful "Conquest," a Patti Page cover, sounds like a missing number from a Quentin Tarantino soundtrack with its mariachi wail and bombastic backdrop of drums. "I'm Slowly Turning into You" and "Little Cream Soda" are other highlights of the album, both wonderful examples of the barely-contained heavy rock energy erupting from the Whites' instruments. Jack's vocals are in top form throughout the album, attacking each note with bluesy-punk determination. Likewise, Meg still knows how to keep a beat; she keeps it, if you will, thumpin'. The music itself is raucous and frenetic, a modern blues burst of energy, the way rock and roll is meant to be played. And rock and roll this is, really and truly. The Stripes, here and with all of their releases, breathe life into a genre of music once thought, and still thought, to be dead. Their lack of pretentiousness is refreshing, their sense of humor intoxicating. Yes, indeed, there is not a lot of real icky to be found here. [www.whitestripes.com]

“NOT a low rent imitation of Liz Phair,” reads a comment on Jenny Owen Youngs MySpace page. The only way I can see a comparison to Liz is the confessional nature of Jenny’s lyrics, and the somewhat “shocking” presentation. For example, one of the key tracks on her new LP Batten the Hatches” is called “Fuck Was I.” For me, that’s where the similarities end. Jenny’s also more folk-oriented than Liz ever was, and Jenny probably has more integrity. So in short, how anyone could compare the two beyond some superficial characteristics is beyond me. The album is really good, full of solid folk-oriented songs. Besides “Fuck Was I,” check out “From Here” and both mixes of “Woodcut.” A new voice has emerged in the indie-folk genre, and one can hope she has plenty to say. [www.jennyowenyoungs.com]

British rockers Fields have created an ambitious debut with their new LP Everything Last Winter. Infusing straight ahead guitar rock with elements of psychedelia, the album opens with “Song for the Fields,” which is probably NOT about the band. I got a kick out of the third track “You Don’t Need This Song (To Fix Your Broken Heart)” and its lampooning of “sad bastard music” (Thank you High Fidelity for that term). You might also want to check out “Feathers” and “You Brought This on Yourself.” Now, let’s stand back and see if Fields can deliver on the ambition embodied in this album. [www.fieldsband.com]

The Mad Caddies make music in the ska scene, which rests outside of my normal tastes in music. In the interests of broadening my horizons, I agreed to review their new LP Keep It Going, and I liked it. While you may say this is blasphemy, I couldn’t help but to notice similarities with early Police, both in terms of sound and lyrical content. Songs like “Coyote” and “Don’t Go” wouldn’t sound out of place on Outlandos d’Amour or Regatta Blanc. However, don’t think every track on here is like that–there’s plenty of up-tempo numbers, such as “Backyard,” the second track. Wayne Jobson, no stranger to the genres the band straddles (he produced No Doubt and Gregory Isaacs), helps give this album a solid grounding in the reggae/ska/punk tradition. [www.madcaddies.com]

Indie outfit Bottom of the Hudson has created a masterpiece in 2007's Fantastic Hawk. Described as a “January album” on their MySpace blog, one can see how the label fits. A melancholy blend of guitars and keyboards, it’s the perfect album to nurse you through a break-up or any other dark time in your life. Eli Simon, the group’s principal songwriter, has helped craft great songs, such as “Bee Hive,” “Suffering Time” and the title track. I’m a total novice to this group, but if they continue to issue albums as hauntingly beautiful as Fantastic Hawk, I’m a fan for life. [www.bottomofthehudson.com]

Ah the sophomore record. I’ve said it a million times…It’s a tricky thing. But the most acclaimed British band in recent years, Kaiser Chiefs, handle the whole thing with great aplomb. Yours Truly Angry Mob is, in short, fucking brilliant! My personal favorites are the sardonic yet haunting “Love’s Not a Competition (But I’m Winning),” quirky, driving “Retirement,” which closes the album on a perfect note, and "Learnt My Lesson Well" with its clever line "It's just seven days / And feels like a week." Overall, this album is much more polished and cohesive than the first while still retaining the flavor that have made them tops on the British scene of late. And you’ll get no complaints from me. [www.kaiserchiefs.co.uk]

If Pink Floyd began in 2003 instead of the mid-60s, their early records might have sounded quite a bit like Black Moth Super Rainbow. On Dandelion Gum, already their fourth full-length, BMSR send the listener on a journey that must be comparable to gallivanting through the darkest corners of the galaxy with a head full of acid. Psychedelic synths that are both harmonious and melodic bounce around your stereo above trance-y beats while the occasional guitar and filtered vocal chimes in to further heighten the trippiness. If the extra-planetary music doesn't make you wonder what they're smoking in the band's native Pittsburgh, song titles such as “Neon Syrup For the Cemetery Sisters,” Lollipopsichord” and “Spinning Cotton Candy In a Shack Made of shingles” might pique your curiosity. Imagine a more galactic “Fly Like an Eagle” by Steve Miller and you’ll understand the sonic vibe; it’s not rock and it’s not electronica, but it’s more than interesting. Just don’t operate any heavy machinery while listening. [www.blackmothsuperrainbow.com]

At moments on his first full-length record, Maps mastermind James Chapman performs with an effervescent and winsome quality; at others, his work is gently mesmerizing. No matter what the tone or dynamic, the UK songwriter delivers a glowing debut, deftly mixing elements of ambient, pop, indie rock and electronica. Chapman opens the project with three quickly paced cuts which marry engaging vocals and a spirited yet controlled rhythmic drive with a variety of electronic and organic sounds. The best of these initial tracks, "Elouise" begins with harmonic noise; over several minutes the song evolves and progresses, allowing one of Chapman's most memorable melodies to emerge. This short sequence gives way to the heart of the album, a string of stirring and beautiful tracks, which though steeped in quieter and more atmospheric sounds, retain the richness and soul Chapman displays on the opening trio of songs. Of these cuts, "Glory Verse" and "Back + Forth" stand out most. Press material accompanying the album asserts that Chapman undertook the recording without the use of computers, instead "preferring the painstaking process of splicing sounds together on his battered 16 track recorder." This revelation only serves to further emphasize the talent and potential for brilliance which lies in Chapman's work. We Can Create seems to be the start of something special. [www.mapsmusic.com]

So the little boys from Hanson are all grown up. The pipsqueaks who invaded your radio with "MMMbop" a decade ago are back -- with low voices, chest hair and all the other great things that come from puberty. Their music is a little more mature too, but you can still hear traces of the crackling single that drove America to the brink of insanity during the late 90s. When push comes to shove, The Walk is everything you'd expect from a pop outfit that has been honing its craft since their days in diapers. Frontman Taylor Hanson clearly is still the engine that makes the band go. His voice has dropped into a surprisingly pleasant and versatile tenor that guides his bandmates through the rockers and the ballads. He performs particularly well on the opening track, "Ngi Ne Themba." (That's right, Hanson is so deep now that they've turned to Africa for inspiration.) Brothers Isaac and Zac also chip in vocally: they support Taylor ably enough, and both have grown into pretty nice players with the instruments too. Isaac handles a few heavy guitar solos with admirable skill and grace. The big problem with it all is that it's like Hanson is finally catching up to what the grown-ups were playing in 1997. Songs like "Georgia" borrow too much from what was popular when the boys were still MMM-bopping. They can play very well, but the songwriting's still got a long way to go. Even still, the Hanson brothers deserve some credit for the effort, but they may have benefited from a different approach. Just think of how many heads they would have turned if they had covered the Grateful Dead's "Fire on the Mountain" instead of writing their own tune with that title. [www.hanson.net]

From the opening ominous drum beat of The Klaxon’s Myths of the Near Future, the tension never stops. And I’m not going to pretend that I have any idea what they’re talking about (the lyrics are completely baffling to me), but I don’t really care. The key to enjoying is to enjoy the multi-level harmonies they put out; a falsetto register layered under a more normal, mid-level vocal. I think it’s a brilliant piece of mixing, but I can see it being a matter of taste. Some of the stand-out tracks on this record are “Isle of Her,” with its rhythmic chanting “Row! There’s only seven more miles to go…;” the frenetic “Atlantis To Interzone” that harkens back to good ol’ ska at certain points; "Forgotten Works" sounds so familiar and yet so new at the same time; and of course, the gorgeous “Golden Skans.” What I like about this band is that they don’t follow a formula, and they don’t sound like they should be popular…but they’re just too good not to be. [www.klaxons.net]

With the roar of a lion and the purr of a kitten, Noisettes singer/bassist Shingai Shoniwa has one impressive vocal range. While she’s justifiably garnered the majority of publicity following the release of her band’s first full-length, What’s the Time Mr. Wolf?, her bandmates aren’t just sidemen. Guitarist Dan Smith and drummer Jamie Morrison provide the perfect garage blues-punk bed that allows Shoniwa to soar or be gently dramatic, which often happens during the same song. The tracks are all edgy, but they’re versatile enough to still sound fun and soulful. Hints of prog, funk, blues and punk keep the listener on edge as to what’s coming around the next corner to the point the band has almost reinvented what a power trio is capable of. Having recently toured the United States with both Bloc Party and TV on the Radio (they sound like neither), the band is being exposed to a larger and larger audience. Judging from the enticement of Mr. Wolf and the magnetism of the group as a whole, they’ve probably picked up quite a few new fans along the way. [www.thenoisettes.com]

What songs like Snow Patrol’s “Signal Fire” have to do with Peter Parker battling escaped convicts, goblins, and alien symbiotes is uncertain. What is certain is that this album has some strong musicians from The Killers to the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Rogue Wave to The Flaming Lips. Chubby Checker has a cameo as well, which is a little off-putting, but perhaps it’s one of those special comic book things when they throw someone famous in the story to make it fun, like Scooby-Doo did when they had the Harlem Globetrotters help them solve a crime. Whatever the case may be, the album is passable. A compilation of fairly strong songs like something you’d get for free if you bought a new cell phone at a Verizon store for a limited time. [www.spiderman3.sonypictures.com]

Five great songs leave you hoping for fifteen more when Sea Wolf’s first full length album comes out, for this EP is indie pop at its finest. Using producer Phil Ek (The Shins), Alex Church, lead singer and founder of the group, has created a solid, beautiful album with mesmerizing lyrics and swaths of musical color. “You’re a Wolf” uses guitar and cello excellently, and “Sea Monuments” is a happy guitar-strumming ditty that’ll lead listeners to finger-snapping fun. It feels like one of those warm '80s songs you listened to when school was out. And there are not many better feelings than that, are there? [www.seawolfmusic.com]

A pagoda is an exotic, religious, many-tiered tower, and taken in that context Pagoda's self-titled debut is aptly named. Built from folk, feathering into grunge, and grinding into a classical stupor, Michael Pitt's band is a wild experience. There's throat-choking punk in "Lesson Learned" just as much as there's the balladeer's dirge on "Fetus." Songs like "Amego," which mixes political clips about immigration with the blah-blah text of another MTV generation, bounce against their tonal opposites: tracks like "Death to Birth," or "Sadartha," which succeed at transmuting polemics into discordantly angry swells. Even songs like "Alone," a forced admixture of dismal screeching and mournful whispers with a weepy violin, are salvaged by the music. Unfortunately, they've filled out their CD with a lengthy b-side clip of their experimental "I Do," which is almost pretentious enough to make me, despite generally liking this album, say "I Don't." [pagodaonline.com]

Toronto rockers Uncut cite bands like Joy Division, Swervedriver and The Jesus and Mary Chain as influences, and these are fitting reference points for the darkly beautiful concoction of melody, atmosphere and instrumental drive the band delivers on their second record. Sonically, the group finds an ideal place of moderation, balancing these elements skillfully. The record's best moments, which include "Hideaway" and "New Cities", display Uncut's command of dynamic and momentum as well as their ability to give immediacy and presence to their work. Uncomplicated gem "Kiss Me," on the other and, is the band at their most straightforward; it's also one of the more well-written '80s rock cuts never to have been written in the '80s, or to have graced the romantic conclusion of an '80s film. Instrumentally, the record is exceptional, each of the band's four pieces locking into groove and complimenting each other. Even as the consistency of Modern Currencies' tone and scope is to be commended (the band never deviates into any ill-advised or uncharacteristic territory), the seamless sameness of Uncut's work could potentially wear on some listeners by album's end. For those who appreciate the vibe the band establishes in seemingly effortless fashion, Modern Currencies has the potential to make Uncut the next addition to their list of personal favorites. [www.thenewviolence.com]

It can be a dangerous thing when a musician, in the process of promoting her latest album, name drops artists she feels have been influential to her sound. More often than not, these kinds of comments serve no other purpose than to remind her audience that the music she makes isn’t nearly as good as the music she listens to. So when Siobhán Donaghy, formerly of girl group The Sugababes, claimed that her second solo album, Ghosts, was heavily influenced by idols Kate Bush and Liz Fraser-fronted trio Cocteau Twins, red flags were raised, alarms were sounded, faces were seen twisted into outraged grimaces. It turns out, however, that Donaghy comes respectably close to the sound she claims to admire without—and this is important—totally ripping it off. All throughout the album, from the opening song and first single “Don’t Give It Up” to “Halcyon Days,” the influences are present in Donaghy’s voice; breathy but powerful, quiet but soaring. The album’s closer, the track from which Ghosts takes its name, is by far the most fantastic piece of music to be found here. It blends the indecipherable lyricism (some portions of the lyrics are even played backwards) of Cocteau Twins with the swirling high-note vocals of Kate Bush in a truly chilling, atmospheric moment of aural pleasure. Underneath all of the ethereal hooting and cooing is an unmistakable pop sensibility that at once betrays the complexities of this quirky, experimental pop-ish genre and makes once difficult music beautifully accessible. More often than not, Donaghy favors a radio-ready melody over experimentation and easy rhymes over true poetry (“And I know/ although I am alone/ I am at home/ here with my selfish pain” from the uber-catchy “Coming Up for Air”), but this does not hurt the music; instead, it melds the insanely wonderful sing-along of mainstream pop with the beautiful, beloved voice of the experimental pop genre. Combining the stylish beauty of her idols with a smart ear for wonderful hooks (just try, I dare you, not to get the chorus to “Medevac” stuck in your head), Donaghy succeeds in paying tribute to music of the past while making something that sounds refreshingly fresh. [www.siobhandonaghy.co.uk]