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An improved sequel to the Depeche Mode singer's pseudo bluesy 2003 solo debut, Paper Monsters, Hourglass blatantly resembles sedate, later-day Depeche, inevitably inviting comparisons to bandmate Martin Gore's compositional chops.

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Ever since cresting with the expansive, almost grandiose noisescapes of 2002's Beaches and Canyons, Brooklyn's Black Dice have been downsizing, parting ways with their drummer and longtime label DFA. Now on sonic brethren Animal Collective's imprint, the trio's fourth album is both more dense and concise.

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This humble, hazy soundtrack to Sean Penn's film about tramping and tragedy in the American wilderness is probably as close as the Pearl Jam singer will ever come to recording a psych-folk album.

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If 2002's A Hundred Days Off proved that Underworld's Karl Hyde and Rick Smith could scale sonic skyscrapers without former bandmate and DJ Darren Emerson, its follow-up is where they relax -- literally. Seven of Oblivion with Bells' 11 cuts feature beats that lope below cooing guitar and/or keyboards, or are submerged into the muted synth-pulse.

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Punch lines fly like goopy spitballs on the uproarious seventh studio album by the world's foremost funny-punk sextet. "Hell Toupée" finds singer Hank von Helvete lamenting hair loss and Googling for wigs against precision-tooled metallic backing that suggests Queens of the Stone Age at CBGB circa '76.