The great thing about I Will Be is that there isn’t anything wrong with it. Basically, it’s full of Shangri-Las-style harmonies sung at the Ramones’ speed, with band leader Dee Dee singing lyrics almost always including the word “baby.” Perfect. This debut album from the L.A. librarian is another home-recording-project-gone-big, like Little Girls’ Concepts or Wavves’ Wavvves, but whereas those two albums sometimes got too caught up in their own self-importance or post-punk influences (Joy Division and Wipers respectively), I Will Be is just ten tracks of straight-ahead pop, and one ballad cover of Sonny Bono to finish off the disc. The not-so-great thing about I Will Be is that if there are any songs to be called ‘stand-out tracks,’ they only stand out incrementally from the others. “Jail La La” and “Blank Girl” are two of the catchiest in the bunch, but they’ve got the same basic drumbeat and the same chords as every other song. But if you like music like ’70s punk bands and ’60s girl groups is that really going to deter you anyways? (Sub Pop Records, www.subpop.com) Taylor Burgess

Dr. Dog’s sixth album in many ways feels like an album of firsts. In addition to it being their first album under the Anti- umbrella, it is also the first album to not be produced by the band themselves, instead relying on an outside producer. While sometimes this can cause problems, it is not the case this time around. The album feels more focused and to the point, removing some of the excesses that bogged down their previous albums. There are no psychedelic soundscapes to distract you as you listen to the album, allowing you to pay attention to the music. And the music that Dr. Dog makes is great. They’ve always sounded like a band from the late 1960s that entered a time machine and started recording today, and they still keep that sound on the album. You still get great harmonies from Toby Leaman and Scott McMicken mixed with songs that feel drawn from real life, and backing music to tie it all together in an enjoyable package. Fans of Brian Wilson, Spoon, and Novillero will find the most enjoyment in this album. (Anti-, www.anti.com) Charles Lefebvre

With the return of musical legend Mose Allison to recording after a dozen year absence the world can almost be considered a slightly more refined place. With his place in musical history firmly established two generations or more ago he has returned to recording not with a flourish but with his usual skill, aplomb and of course, humour. The Way of the World finds the august piano man working with a rootsy combo that stays out of the way of the architect allowing him just enough able support to make every song take on a distinct personality of it’s own. Opening with the cute “My Brain” replete with its acquired “My Babe” blues arrangement, Allison begins the set with a journeyman’s skill and wit. Is it jazz? Is it blues with a feeling? You will be the judge but with the added credibility of his songs being covered over the years by the Who, the Clash, Leon Russell, Blue Cheer and Van Morrison you know you are heading for the ground zero of cool iconoclasts. A most enjoyable album that commands respect and even reverence, The Way of the World is a poignant yet carefree statement from a master not yet lost to the ages. (Anti-, www.anti.com) Jeff Monk

Instead of boring you with the standard-issue disc review usually presented here, and since this new, long-awaited Archie Bronson Outfit album is just so darn entertaining, I have chosen to break down my thoughts into easily digestible chunks. Let us know your thoughts in the usual fashion. This will give allow you to get back to texting quicker.
• The grinding sonic plunge of opening track “Magnetic Warrior” is just that.
• Classic Echo and the Bunnymen pop meet Jesus and Mary Chain danger-fuzz.
• Interesting, clank arrangements that marry a somewhat jarring intensity with nervous beats and hazy vocals yelping rather preposterous lyrics.
• “Wild Strawberries” = echoed menace roiling… high note bass smacks!
• A dissonance of sound that skirts the danger zone between pop and distorted, angry indie-rock.
• “Chuck” is Echo and the B’men for a new generation, chock full of single note guitar and blind bass pulsation designed to stick in your memory.
• Fans of the older school will cherish the herky twitch of the ABO’ style
• The only quasi-ballad in the set is called “Hunt You Down.” Love as an attack.
(Domino, www.dominorecordco.com) Jeff Monk

With I Speak Fula, the Malian Ngoni lute player Bassekou Kouyate has put together a confident and precise collection of songs that ought to be heard by both those familiar and unfamiliar with the West African sound. This is evangelical music at its best, as Kouyate, backed by his band Ngoni Ba, do well in bringing traditional West African motifs and typical western sounds into conversation with one another, such that his music is ripe for the masses. The songs found throughout the record are equal parts African Highlife and American dessert blues, resulting in a fascinating fusion of sound that avoids doing violence to the genres at play. Kouyate clearly has the utmost respect for the genres he’s working with, and the performances throughout the record excel as a result. Highlights would include the trance-like “Jamana Be Diya” featuring Kasse Mady and Toumani Diabete and the wah-wah driven “Musow,” which at moments sounds like straight-up rock and roll. Considering the increased interest in the “African sound” among recent Western rock and pop bands (Vampire Weekend, Dirty Projectors et al.). I Speak Fula proves to be both a beautiful and timely record, tapping into the Western musical conscious, simply by paying due tribute to the traditional forms of West Africa. (Sub Pop, www.subpop.com) Jeff Friesen

I’ve been told that a live album is usually the wrongest way possible to get introduced to a band (the Who’s Live at Leeds perhaps being the exception). So this band, this bunch of old, English punkers, release this platter I’m holding and hearing, and I like it a lot. Very much the jam-style rock plus the Fall’s repetition and abrasiveness (plus sung by a guy who can keep a solid tone). They’ve got their three chorders like “Viva la Rock ’n’ Roll” (which sounds more evil than pop) and “Urban Kids” and a whole whack of others that wouldn’t be outta place among the Buzzcocks and banks of their kind. Y’know, snotty and fun. Their run-throughs of the Ramones’ “Now I Wanna Sniff Some Glue” and their piss on “Louie Louie,” titled “Plastic People,” is spit out and played with that middle-finger-up barre chord sass that punk used to be about. There are some longer songs that show another side of the band, a noisier, experimental, avant garde band that played how they wanted to play. “Release the Natives” is  bleak, Glenn Branca-style guitar noise. “Splitting in Two,” this one too surpassing the six-minute mark, builds for a few minutes before exploding into a Mission of Burma-like rock assault. This live album, full of tape hiss and audible audience chatter, captures a band lighting fires on whatever stage they play. Shit, man, if this is how these geezers sound now, I’m gonna step into the wayback machine and hear how they sounded before I was born. If anyone ever tells you that the live album intro is the wrong way to go, slap ’em across the head with this one. (Bongobeat, www.bongobeat.com) Patrick Michalishyn

Snotty, lo-fi rock and roll styled after the British invasion of the ’60s  may not seem as refreshing as it did a decade ago, and with bands like Girls currently enjoying massive success, the self-titled debut from Vermont’s Happy Birthday is unlikely to evoke many strong reactions from critics. It’s really too bad, because Happy Birthday have made one hell of a summer record. Taking his cue from Apples in Stereo, frontman Kyle Thomas has crafted a seemingly endless supply of tight pop hooks that borrow from pretty much everyone. “I Want to Stay (I Run Away)” is a perfect mash of late-’80s goth-rock and California surf-pop. Thomas has the perfect voice for this sort of reckless abandon: immature, obnoxious and whiney. Opener “Girls FM” is a carefree jingle that perfectly parodies radio schlock, while the oddly affecting “Fun” ends the album by breaking through all the irony, and sees Thomas admitting “all I really need is love/ And I won’t fade away.” Let’s hope he finds it. (Sub Pop, www.subpop.com) Jonathan Dyck

It’s always a risky move when an ambient artist transitions from experimental soundscapes to the more familiar territories of pop music. Eluvium is the moniker of Matthew Cooper, whose work is influenced by neoclassical musicians like Erik Satie and Philip Glass, and, more recently, takes its cue from Brian Eno’s work in the mid-’70s. Similies is Cooper’s fifth full-length and first since his breakthrough 2007 album Copia, which was a wash of lush, airy textures and conflicting emotions. On this outing, fans of Eluvium are introduced to Cooper’s unpolished baritone voice (think Ian Curtis), processed through a more traditional song structure. It all works surprisingly well, especially with lyrics that echo the mysteries of Cooper’s dream-like compositions. On “The Motion Makes Me Last,” Cooper sings, “I am surprised/ that shapes are for looking at/ and their colours create my mood/ I’m a vessel between two places I’ve never been.” Cooper’s work is still grounded in ambient sounds, but they’ve never been as absorbing or as revelatory as they are here. (Temporary Residence Limited, www.temporaryresidence.com) Jonathan Dyck

With such a personal arsenal of talent, Kaki King should succeed. But Junior, her sixth album, is a bit of a disappointment. It’s not terrible, but she’s capable of a better, more focused collection. As songs like “Sloan Shore” and “Spit It Back in My Mouth” demonstrate, King is a gifted songwriter and a truly singular guitarist (after all, there’s a reason she won a Golden Globe for Into the Wild’s original score), but her bland vocals and uninspired lyrics tend to undercut each song that uses them. Inspired by spy novels, her lead single, “The Betrayer,” (which might be the worst song on the album), is an attempt at angular punk that tries to turn the idea of infidelity into one of political intrigue. For all its energy and urgency, “The Betrayer” falls as flat as an opener as the angsty, high school journal entry “Sunnyside” does as a closer. The album’s best moments are those in which King plays to her strengths, and her producer, Malcom Burn, allows those strengths to stand on their own (as they do on “Sloan Shore”). Someone also needs to tell King that the espionage concept is kind of lame. (Rounder, www.rounder.com) Jonathan Dyck

Nice Nice, an experimental duo from Portland, Ore., know how to have fun. On their third full-length (and their first for Warp), Nice Nice try to capture the energy of their bombastic live performances, and believe it or not, they actually pull it off. “Set and Setting” sees the band kicking up dust in a slow swell as it readies itself for the massive, driving power of “One Hit.” Somewhere between Battles, Holy Fuck and Animal Collective, Nice Nice have carved out a space for themselves with the unrelenting ambition of Extra Wow. “Big Bounce” is an irresistible dub-infused summer jam that uses what seems like a nursery rhyme melody, while “Make It Gold” sounds like it could be a shoegaze anthem. What’s really surprising about Extra Wow is how full and diverse it sounds. At fifty minutes, the album can get a bit overwhelming and repetitive, but for the most part, Nice Nice have assembled a cohesive collection of material that will get your body moving and may just leave you feeling a bit dizzy. (Warp Records, www.warprecords.com) Jonathan Dyck