Joanna Newsom
Have One On Me
(Drag City)

Joanna Newsom’s ambitious new three-disc opus is so lyrically dense, intricately textured, and dizzyingly varied that any current review is bound to be somewhat premature. Have One On Me finds a middle ground between the compact tunes of her debut and the epic orchestral workouts of Ys. This is Newsom’s most polished production, featuring nuanced vocals and subtle chamber-pop arrangements of horns, strings, guitar and tambura. Think Joni Mitchell’s more sprawling work. Each disc is anchored by several instantly accessible songs that bank goodwill while you unpack the more abstract and expansive pieces. Sometimes spare, sometimes ornate, there are songs of aching beauty (“Kingfisher”) and mystifying complexity (the title track). There’s one wonderful certainty here—properly unpacking these vast riches and the occasional chaff is going to take a while.  —Jeff Jackson

Bourgeois Heroes
Musical Postcards
(Rub Wrongways)

The Valley’s mod tendencies may have started with The Aloha Steamtrain, but at this point it’s hard to top Jason Bourgeois as “mod supreme” among the many Valley musicians who aspire to the jangly, ’60s pop aesthetic best exemplified by The Beatles or The Kinks (though also including The Monkees, The Beach Boys, The Hollies, The Zombies and so on). His voice is uncannily suited to the task. He sounds like a working class English teenager—sometimes like George Harrison, sometimes like Syd Barrett—and his efforts are enhanced on this album by string arrangements by School for the Dead’s Henning Ohlenbusch, as well as the prodigious Valley Paganini Eric Lee. Musical Postcards, though as brief as its title suggests, still clocks in at roughly 20 minutes, which would’ve been a monstrous overture in 1965. Listen for nods to XTC and “Mr. Sandman.” —Tom Sturm

Vivian Girls
Everything Goes Wrong
(In The Red)

On their second album, these Brooklyn musicians don’t radically alter their winning mix of girl-group dynamics, primal thumping grooves and fuzzed-out feedback. Instead, they offer a second helping of catchy garage stompers like “Can’t Get Over You” and “I Have No Fun.” The 36-minute album is almost twice as long as their whiplash debut, which also allows Vivian Girls to subtly stretch out. There are more varied sonic textures, extended guitar solos, and songs that dare to push past the four minute mark. The most successful stylistic detours include the blues-punk hybrid “The End,” the breakneck jangle-pop “Double Vision,” and the art-damaged Phil Spector drone of “Tension.” There’s nothing here as arresting or melodically memorable as their debut, but Everything Goes Wrong proves that the band’s pastiche sound is more fertile and flexible than even fans may have hoped.  —Jeff Jackson