Rolling Stones
Exile on Main Street (Rarities Edition)
(Universal Music)

Record producer Don Was listened to hundreds of hours of tape from the Exile on Main Street sessions in order to cull eight songs that hadn’t made it to the album, and two alternate takes to classic songs. While Exile is made up of many great songs, no single one steals the limelight, and it’s the sum of the parts that makes it an excellent album. Certainly, the scraps from the Rolling Stones table are far more appetizing than the main courses of most rock groups, but as interesting and sometimes rewarding as these tracks are (“Plundered My Soul” and “So Divine” are standouts), it seems clear why they didn’t make the first cut. Either they captured a sentiment less well than another song, or they just didn’t feel cut from the same cloth. Still, for fans, there’s much here that will be of interest, even if it falls short of being utterly delightful. —Mark Roessler

Holy Fuck
Latin
(Young Turks/ XL Recordings)

A barn in rural Ontario may seem an odd recording location for an electronica band, but the seeming contradiction does much to explain the sound of the group. The key word here is expansive, and what better place to expand one’s sound than in the Great White North? On its third full-length album, Holy Fuck delivers slow-building tracks that often start as white noise before developing into pummeling assaults incorporating tireless drumming. The effects on the record are created without looping, splicing or programming tricks. Instead, the band uses live instruments and other implements such as a toy phaser guns and a 35mm film synchronizer. Still, too many songs veer into hazy interludes that appear to lead nowhere. The band’s flair for the dramatic can be worthwhile if there is a suitable payoff, but too often these detours lead to dead ends.  —Michael Cimaomo

Mainly Lanes
Oomami
(independent)

Oomami is well produced and offers an eclectic combination of alt-pop, strummy folk and quirky rock. Guitarist/vocalist Toni Zaman sings with a Chrissy Hynde/Alanis Morisette sneery quality, and even a hint of P.J. Harvey in her more rocking moments. You can hear some R.E.M. and Elliot Smith in the writing, complete with creamy cello arrangements courtesy of Sharon Kalbacher. The rest of the band is composed of (as the name informs us) Lane siblings (Alexander, guitar; David, drums; Zoe, bass). Though the lyrics are a bit awkwardly cadenced and even a bit foreign-sounding at times, it’s melodically pleasing stuff. “Global Warming” has radio potential in a Jewel sort of way, if it’s not too silly for the mainstream; “So Sad,” with a chorus that actually made me LOL, is definitely too silly. And the “Denteen Ice” lyrics are just a list of gum ingredients—truly bizarre, but enjoyable.  —Tom Sturm