Vampire Weekend
Contra
(XL)

Following up a near-perfect debut is no enviable task, but Vampire Weekend make it look easy. Contra smartly splits the difference between exploiting the band’s proven strengths and exploring new musical terrain. The group’s propulsive mix of African highlife and New Wave pop remains largely intact, but it’s tarted up with keyboards, loops, samples and strings—so much so that songs like “Horchata” and “Diplomat’s Son” initially seem overburdened with baroque details. Fans may miss the debut’s streamlined song structures and more guitar-centric tunes, but the tradeoff is largely worthwhile for a richer sonic palette that eventually proves just as catchy and compelling.

Highlights include the shimmering electro ballad “Taxi Cab,” hyped-up rocker “Cousins,” and instant sing-a-long classic “Giving Up the Gun.” Clocking in at svelte 36 minutes, Contra‘s songs come across as artfully compressed miniatures, navigating issues of class and romance with a confidence that belies any worry about the sophomore slump.  —Jeff Jackson

Castanets
Texas Rose, The Thaw & The Beasts
(Asthmatic Kitty)

Songwriter Raymond Raposa returns with his signature brand of “derailed psychedelic country.” Oscillating between minimalist acoustic guitar lines, arrangements that blend Radiohead with Johnny Cash, and ambience that calls to mind the NeverEnding Story soundtrack, the latest Castanets album manages to cohere better than any of Raposa’s previous works. Two tracks of the 11 serve as instrumental transitions, and only one song, “On Beginning,” fails to impress.

The highlight of the album, “Dance, Dance,” chronicles a relationship’s deterioration with gritty lyrics and a subtle swell of acoustic guitars. Most of the album’s lyrics address that theme with unsentimental and unconventional phrasing. Particularly striking is the murky prayer “My Heart,” which portrays a body “pumping doom.” Yet Raposa tempers the darkness with grace.  —Tristan Macdonald

Friends of Yours
Contagious
(Senselessly Complicated Music)

Long, hypnotic songs dominate on this sophomore EP release. It’s very original stuff—and the band only has two members: singer/guitarist Lynn Simonds and drummer Brian Dipippo.

There are circus-like, tinny-sounding guitars that sometimes sound like harpsichords, pleasing vocal melodies delivered by an absolutely delicious voice, and even unexpectedly poignant lyrics: “South Dakota you smoke too many cigarettes/ and don’t lie about your drinking I can smell it on your breath.” For comparisons, think Portishead, Mazzy Star, P.J. Harvey, White Stripes (if Meg did the singing), Dresden Dolls and Radiohead.

The drums have that great, live, four-microphone sound that engineer Justin Pizzoferrato achieves fairly consistently thanks to a great room at Bank Row studios in Greenfield, and run the rock gamut from Ringo to Grohl.   —Tom Sturm