Perhaps reaching the limit of their minimalist guitar/drums blues-rock format, Dan Auerbach and Patrick Carney worked with producer extraordinaire Danger Mouse for their fifth album. Garnishing their febrile, white Midwestern blues with light dashings of beats, keyboards and flutes, Danger Mouse wisely opts for restraint and doesn’t mess with the pair’s basic formula. Compared with previous TBK outings, Attack & Release has an atmosphere of quiet mournfulness, with the dreamy blues number “Psychotic Girl” or the classic lament “Things Ain’t Like They Used to Be” more representative of the album than the hard rock lashings of “Remember When (Side A).” A worthy effort overall, but one that poses the inevitable question: where do they go from here? DG

Curious music hounds who want to take a dip into the waters of J-pop but don’t know where to begin could do worse than this latest installment in DJ FPM’s Sound Concierge series. A 14-song outing that provides a neat introduction to leading artists like Shina Ringo and Cornelius, “Japanese Lyric Dance” is exactly what its name suggests: a tour through Japanese pop songs reconstructed in a house mix format. Those familiar with the material will like the sonic punches the irrepressible FPM pulls behind the mixing board, recasting songs like Chara’s quiet, acoustic “Crazy for You” as a pulsing house track. The segues are smooth and FPM chooses songs with enough variety (including the Pizzicato Five chestnut “Tokyo wa Yoru no Shichiji”) to more or less maintain interest throughout. DG

Death Cab For Cutie’s last album (2005’s Plans) gave their core audience of lovelorn OC fans something they weren’t expecting. Gone was the yearning and emotional scar-baring, replaced instead with a tremendous sense of optimism. Positive thinking clearly grew old fast, however, with Narrow Stairs marking a return to more familiar ground. It walks us through unrequited love, obsession and heartbreak but resists the temptation to do so via a series of dreary ballads. Instead—and quite uniquely—several tracks see Death Cab contrasting agonized, metaphor-laden lyrics with a lazy summer sound. In addressing the type of emotions that the rest of us prefer to pretend never happen in such a way, the sentiment is made that much more bittersweet. A superb album. Catch them live at this year’s Summer Sonic. Mark Butterworth

Originally hailing from Fukuoka, Bo-Peep played last year’s Fuji Rock and recently toured England for the third time, leaving many people asking themselves how three girls could make so much noise. The release of a new album raises the question of whether a studio recording can match the energy of their live shows. With a bass player off on maternity leave, the remaining two members work overtime to prove the answer is yes. Their fourth album opens with “3,” a ferocious aural onslaught of clanging guitars and powerful drumming. Mika Yoshimura’s screams and snarls on songs like “Pit in Town” are often as distorted as her guitar, but as Kurt Cobain proved, indecipherable lyrics have never gotten in the way of a good grunge romp. Kevin McGue

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