The Ghost Is Dancing The Darkest Spark ITUNES MYSPACE Canadian indie-rock collectives start hockey league—kidding! A mini rockestra that will suffer and benefit from Arcade Fire and Broken Social Scene comparisons, the Ghost Is Dancing feature multiple members and a variety of instruments (trumpets, Theremin, pump organ), along with a tuneful eagerness that’s hard to dislike. What they don’t share with their forebears—not yet, anyway—is a pressing raison d’être: This debut full-length delivers more in the way of passion and delight than unforgettable songs, though the yelping, twinkling “Darkest Spark” and the delicately overloaded “ Great-lakescape” swell with scrappy earnestness. JOSH MODELL

check out the buzzing “Down a Spiral,” which could come from the soundtrack of a trashy exploitation flick about the tragedy of teenage drug abuse. JON YOUNG

The Icarus Line Black Lives at the Golden Coast ITUNES MYSPACE Wild boys shift focus from club-trashing to songwriting

These Los Angeles noise-punk brats built their rep by electrifying (and infuriating) audiences at their self-consciously chaotic shows, the wildest of which got the group banned from venues in Austin and Hollywood. But disorder has it limits: Here, the Icarus Line (minus guitarist Aaron North, who joined Nine Inch Nails in 2005) soften their post-Stooges blurt with gooey neo-shoegaze guitars that reveal an unexpected melodic streak. A few tunes—like “Fshn Fvr,” which sounds like something from the Lost in Translation soundtrack—are even kinda pretty. MIKAEL WOOD

Manuel” cranks out harmonized power pop (“Brand New Kind of Actress”), sticky Southern rock (“Try”), a powerful Iraq War lament (“Dress Blues”), and dark yet sprightly country (“The Magician”), all but one aided by his former bandmates. Given time, Isbell could be roots rock’s Flannery O’Connor. JOE GROSS

 

The Go Howl on the Haunted Beat You Ride ITUNES MYSPACE Narrow-minded revivalists can be curiously refreshing

When Jack White quit the Go to launch his White Stripes, he was probably leery of pure nostalgia, since this Detroit group’s only ambition is to pass for an obscure ’60s garage band. Still, singer Bobby Harlow and company are very good at their craft, mixing cheesy psychedelic rave-ups and callow love songs to make a big, fun sound that requires no knowledge of history. For starters,

Jason Isbell Sirens of the Ditch ½ ITUNES MYSPACE New-school Southern gothic rock, by the grace of God

Prior to leaving the group earlier this year, Jason Isbell was the best thing to happen to the Drive-By Truckers since Lynyrd Skynyrd. And on his solo debut, the author of incisive Truckers’ tearjerkers “Outfit” and “Danko/

Lindstrom & Prins Thomas Reinterpretations ITUNES MYSPACE Norwegian duo make the dance floor safe for potheads

In addition to remixing LCD Soundsystem and Franz Ferdinand, producers Hans-Peter Lindstrom and Thomas M. Her-mansen are leaders of the stoner-friendly “space disco” movement. And though their 2005 debut was flaccid like too-smooth jazz, that’s quickly remedied here, with the original tracks tweaked to propulsive, tantric lengths. Seventies’ spaceballs Boney M and kraut-rock legends Can (“Mighty Girl”) get name-checked en route to the mind-expanding epic “Nummer Fire En.” Piling on congas, ray-gun squiggles, pianos, and infinite drum kicks, the pair stop at nothing to shoehorn the cosmos into their platform moon boots. ANDY BETA

The Ghost Is Dancing: Psssst—the pump organist is the Secret Square.

Maps We Can Create ITUNES MYSPACE Electronic soundscapes that Maddie and Duckie would love

Meat Puppets:
Tai chi is not a
group activity.

James Chapman’s first long-player sounds like it was recorded the way Cybill Shepherd was filmed for the ’80s TV show Moonlighting—through gauzy cloth and serenely backlit. The immaculate haze makes getting close a little difficult, but beneath the layers (and past the occasionally distracting whisper-singing) sit bedroom epics reminiscent of every band on the Pretty in Pink soundtrack and the sunnier side of Spiritualized. “Lost My Soul,” with its easy lyrics (“I found a love, but lost my soul”) and clicky prettiness, is destined for end credits. JOSH MODELL

banjo and a slo-mo chord progression worthy of Crazy Horse. While the lyrics to “On the Rise” never explicitly address the seduction of addiction (bassist Cris has been arrested and shot in drug-related incidents), the pretty drone that cuts through the jangly melody nails it exactly. SHANNON ZIMMERMAN

 

Meat Puppets Rise to Your Knees ITUNES MYSPACE Alt-rock survivors show why Kurt Cobain was a fanboy

Back when Meat Puppets were midwifing our indie world, the Arizona iconoclasts specialized in bonged-out cowpunk, stretching drawled melodies over 1-2- 3-4 rhythms. They also tossed in fractured takes on Neil Young folk rock, and on Rise to Your Knees, that’s the reunited Kirkwood brothers’ forte. “Tiny Kingdom” features Curt’s gorgeously plunked

1990s Cookies ITUNES MYSPACE Swaggering and winking, Scottish punks rip it up

On their debut LP, this trio led by singer/songwriter Jackie McKeown and bassist Jamie McMorrow—who played in late-’90s indie band Yummy Fur with Franz Ferdinand’s Alex Kapranos and Paul Thomson—trade their former group’s spazzed-out sonics for taut, trashy ditties that mix ’70s proto-punk and skippy ’50s ooh-las. McKeown’s Marc Bolan– influenced rhymes and party-time shouts are always wryly slapdash, but the weaving bass line and expansive structure of “Situation” indicate that 1990s still retain some of the members’ arty ambitions. WILLIAM GOODMAN

FROM TOP: JOE FUDA/COUR TES Y PRESS DARLING; JOSEPH CULTICE/COUR TES Y GIRLIE AC TION