Another bunch of high-quality records threatening to escape over the hills. We don’t want them wandering off, getting lost in the wilderness, all alone and scared as the night falls, maybe tumbling over a cliff in the darkness. It just ain’t right. So let’s round ’em up:

Ra Ra Riot – Beta Love If you happen to known Ra Ra Riot’s first 2 albums, Beta Love may come as a bit of a shock. What used to be a chamber-pop indie band with cello and violin players has transformed into a power-synth dance band. (You would never guess this is a semi-concept album based on the futurist writings of Ray Kurzweil and William Gibson.)

A most delicious candy. It melts in your ears, not in your hands.

Foxygen – We Are The 21st Century Ambassadors Of Peace & Magic These crazy cats take the music of the 60s and 70s and then proceed to fold, spindle, and mutilate. A little glam, a little Kink, a little psych, a little funk, a little of whatever The Velvet Underground is — it’s all crammed in there, like a United Nations of music history.

Diplomacy just got a lot cooler.

Mothership – Mothership Yes, my alien overlord. I will obey you. If your command is to rock the universe, then rock it we shall. It is clearly futile to resist your outspread wings and large bosom.

Also, I find your lack of face disturbing.

Dawes – Stories Don’t End As with the bands mentioned above, Dawes sounds like music from another time. In this case, the singer-songwriter, soft-rocking 70s. If you like the idea of Al Stewart, Gerry Rafferty, and Jackson Browne forming a supergroup with the ghost of Gram Parsons, then maybe you should check out this album.

If soft, faded denim blue jeans and jacuzzis could make music . . .