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Nicer than Pulp, less sappy than Coldplay, Elbow excel at meticulous orchestral pop that doesn't take itself too seriously.

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After spending a decade and a half with the Wallflowers trying to prove that he could do more than mimic his legendary father, Jakob Dylan goes totally Bob on his Rick Rubin–produced solo debut, which finds the 38-year-old holding forth on love and war and evil's rude health in stripped-down acoustic ditties that sound like prosaic outtakes from The Times They Are A-Changin'.

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These Brits move with purpose from girl-group-inspired pop ("My Sunken Treasure") to fully loaded Jesus and Mary Chain–fried fuzz ("Lassoo") in remarkably short steps. The connection between such potentially disparate sounds is singer Liela Moss, who brings sultry power to every surface the band scratches.

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The Dresden Dolls' drama-club chic is undeniably cute (see YouTube for details), but as 2006's Yes, Virginia attests, the duo are hardly Rocky Horror retreads: Brainiac witty and musically astute, frontwoman Amanda Palmer skates lightly across antecedents as far-flung as Bertolt Brecht, Queen, and The Exorcist soundtrack.

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With their second album, Australian trio Cut Copy prove that 2005's unexpected dance-rock gem Bright Like Neon Love was no fluke. In Ghost Colours,coproduced by DFA's Tim Goldsworthy, teems with gracefully fluid jams like "Hearts on Fire" and "Nobody Lost, Nobody Found," and seamlessly moves from creamy French house homages to spacey psychedelic rock.

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Luciano Nakata Albuquerque (a.k.a. Curumin) is the offspring of Japanese and Spanish parents, so it's not surprising that he boasts a wide range of influences. What is surprising, though, is how effortless his second album feels. The woozy, reggaefied title track has the brain-melting charm of a pot-addled jam.