Special Request | B+ If the quarter-century-plus lineage of U.K. urban dance music has a soul, it exists in the iconic sound signatures — pirate-radio rewinds, 303 acid throbs, grimy gun-cocks and breakbeats breakbeats breakbeats — that form the nucleus…

Michael Milosh | A- Michael Milosh’s tender, introverted croon first bewitched listeners earlier this year via his work with Rhye, and Jetlag (eOne/Deadly) will hopefully benefit from the increased exposure. This album favors a more modern flavor of electro-soul over…

Bongos | B- They may take a close second to The Feelies when it comes to Hoboken indie rock luminaries (pre-Yo La Tengo division), but the recently reunited Bongos offered their own sharp, gutsy brand of ’80s jangle-pop that’s too…

The players behind Livity Sound, a vast two-disc compilation from the eponymous boutique imprint, are U.K.-based bass/post-dubstep producers Asusu, Kowton and label head/ringleader Peverelist. But the sounds it contains — skeletal, hypnotic, spooky, addictively syncopated, hybridizing minimal techno and dub…

Nightmares on Wax debuted in 1989 with some of the earliest singles (and the second-ever album) for the still mighty Warp Records, helping define the label’s bleepy take on Detroit techno and acid house while also exploring playful undercurrents of…

[ folk/rock ] Courtney Barnett is a saucy-Aussie-slacker-type who’ll charm you with a single, sly turn of phrase — say, the precise way she mutters “asthma puffer” on instant winner “Avant Gardener.” Even if you can’t be bothered to follow the…

This has been well-established as a banner year for triumphant musical returns, with Justin Timberlake, Boards of Canada, The Knife and The Blow dropping their first albums since 2006, while Daft Punk, David Bowie, Mazzy Star, Luscious Jackson and the…

pop/electronic VV Brown emerged as a perky retro-pop songbird with a delightful debut in 2009, but her long-awaited follow-up represents an almost complete aesthetic overhaul; a dramatic left turn into Gothic, quasi-operatic electronica that’s as magnificent as it is unexpected.…

Autumn de Wilde John Vanderslice is one of indie’s surest bets; a steadfast, sure-footed songwriter who’s never made a bad record, even if he’s never turned out a clear masterpiece. (I’d probably point to 2005’s Pixel Revolt as his finest…