Television Personalities - Are We Nearly There Yet?

One of the few remaining original punk rock bands, Television Personalities revolves around the fragile psyche of Dan Treacy, whose talent for writing simple yet infernally catchy songs is still intact some 30 years after his first hit, "Part-Time Punks" (bouts of mental illness and a spell in prison notwithstanding). However, despite the snarky observation of "The Peter Gabriel Song" and the sing-song childish innocence of the title track, there's a distinct sense of adult insecurity in songs like "I Get Scared When I Don't Know Where You Are" and the confessional "You Are Loved."

Treacy sounds like he's having fun doing punk rock karaoke on the faux-rap "The Eminem Song," but the lyrics are deadly serious, and "All the King's Horses," which again sounds like karaoke, has an air of despondency. On the bright side, two enjoyable covers, of Bruce Springsteen's "If I Should Fall Behind" and the Killers' "Mr. Brightside," find the band in full punk rock effect, and the gorgeous "If I Could Write Poetry" is a classic, punk-flavored slice of synth-pop.

Lambchop - Damaged

Lambchop's Kurt Wagner professes to having a love-hate relationship with country music, and the Nashville band's sprawling music certainly takes in far more influences than one will find on Music Row. The gorgeous arrangements on Damaged feature a 15-member band, including a full-time chamber-music ensemble and two members who provide the subtle electronic soundscapes that link these 10 lengthy tunes. However, at the root of Lambchop's music is Wagner's pure country voice, which has the gravitas of Porter Wagoner and Lefty Frizzell. And like those artists, Wagner has a similarly conversational tone to his singing, delivering each song on Damaged in a hushed near-whisper that sounds cozily intimate over the grand, stately arrangements of songs like "Paperback Bible" and "The Decline of Country and Western Civilization."

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Art Brut - It's A Bit Complicated

Art Brut's 2005 debut Bang Bang Rock & Roll introduced the South London outfit's brand of bratty, conceptual art-punk. Ironic and arch, while also managing to rock with sincerity, Art Brut sounded like naive, irreverent school kids who were actually smarter than their teachers. It's not a shock that It's A Bit Complicated, the 2007 follow-up, doesn't branch far into new territory: to "mature" and "develop" would be against the band's M.O.

Instead, the album delivers more clever, brainy fare suitable for both pogoing and chin-stroking. Singer Eddie Argos applies his wry, biting humor to such topics as break-ups, adolescence, and pop music itself in his Fall-ish half-sung, half-spoken drawl. Meanwhile, the band slams and shuffles behind him with amps cranked, offsetting Argos's ironic stance with a raucous glee and pop smarts. Listeners not charmed by Art Brut's overall concept the first time out (and they are, after all, a concept band) are unlikely to be converted, but fans of Bang Bang Rock & Roll should give It's A Bit Complicated a well-considered spin.

Devo - Q: Are We Not Men? A: We Are Devo!

Devo's 1978 debut is an absolute new wave/alternative classic. Produced by Brian Eno, the album serves as a great introduction to the band's quirky and highly original sound-- stiff grooves, robotic rhythms, and humorously intellectual lyrics abound. Although Devo is considered a joke band by some, co-leaders Mark Mothersbaugh and Gerald Casale are exceptional songwriters, capable of creating unpredictable song structures and contagious melodies (Soundgarden, Nirvana, and Robert Palmer have all covered Devo compositions). That said, Are We Not Men is one the band's best and most consistent records.

Kicking things off with the concert favorite "Uncontrollable Urge," Devo instantly transports the listener into its warped world, where potatoes (or "spuds") are considered sacred, mutants run rampant, and mankind is constantly regressing, or "devolving"--hence the band's name. More intriguing oddities follow, such as a totally reconstructed version of the Rolling Stones classic "Satisfaction" (its imaginatively funny video was an MTV favorite in the network's early days), as well as such fan favorites as "Mongoloid," "Jocko Homo," "Gut Feeling," "Come Back Jonee," and the creepy "Shrivel Up." A truly great album that certainly hasn't lost it's edge over the years.

Amy Winehouse - Back to Black

It doesn't take much listening to Amy Winehouse's 1960s pop period piece to realize that this is a tribute with an edge--nice girls back then didn't sing about boozing and rehab. Since her 2003 debut album, Frank, Winehouse has been a frequent presence on the gossip pages of the U.K. tabloids, and her songwriting here candidly reflects her experiences with drinking, sex, and drugs.

Back to Black's production is an artful blend of sophisticated '60s R&B and 21st-century stylistic poaching, with "Tears Dry on Their Own" incorporating elements of Marvin Gaye and Tammi Terrell's "Ain't No Mountain High Enough," and Winehouse sounding like Billie Holiday fronting a reggae band on the old-fashioned cheating song "Just Friends." Densely packed with musical history and often conjuring a dark, Portishead-esque atmosphere, Back to Black is a sumptuous-sounding collection freighted with blunt confessionals of a lush life.

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Kraftwerk - Minimum Maximum

This sense of arrival marks the 2004 live album Minimum Maximum. The two-disc set captures Kraftwerk in action (well, as much action as you get from four men stoically manning laptops), and acts as a career retrospective. Aside from the cheers from the audience, there isn't much "live energy" here (Kraftwerk might just as easily have played a pre-recorded DAT of the performance), but the music sounds as crisp, fully realized, and dazzling as ever. In fact, modified versions of "The Robots" and "Autobahn" arguably improve on the originals, while pieces from 2003's excellent Tour De France Soundtracks round out the track list nicely. In all, this is a superbly selected set of the band's epoch-defining music.

Air - Moon Safari

Moon Safari , Air's full-length debut, is like a fuzzy, blissful daydream in which a glowing ambiance pervades over a crossroads of '60s French pop, '70s Philly soul and '80s Eurodisco. Rarely does the tempo reach mid, and when it does ("Kelly Watch The Stars" and "Le Voyage de Penelope"), it's on the strength of funky synth-pop grooves. Overall, their sounds are rarely less than kaleidoscopic, enveloping the listener in happy, high-IQ muzak. If it sounds somewhat disposable, it's because all good pop should. It is the fact that one can't leave Air's aural confections behind that makes Moon Safari great.