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It used to be that young hopefuls would copy old bluesmen to confer some secondhand authenticity and depth upon their efforts. This strikingly handsome London trio applies a similarly studious sense of imitation to sad post-punk icons like Joy Division by way of the Killers.

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President Barack Obama made it official: Optimism is no longer uncool. On their ultra-whimsical second album, this U.K.

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It's a risky proposition when a largely unheard artist wraps himself in a new identity that's clearly evocative of two trendy styles -- Panda Bear's Beach Boy–ish psychedelia and the Afro-pop revived by Vampire Weekend. But Brooklyn's Luke Temple possesses both an eerily high-pitched cry and a facility for his adopted grooves that makes the results far more distinctive than derivative.

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This small-town California-reared singer could hypnotize forest critters with her mournful, oddly serene voice, which seems to be a timeless element of nature. To Be Still's subject matter has a similar eternal quality -- lingering dreams, snow-covered mornings, blue eyes, bluer moods -- but the music's arresting calm is so powerful that little else initially matters.

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Produced by the National's Aaron and Bryce Dessner, the latest in the Red Hot series of AIDS benefit albums plays like a musically and thematically linked NPR broadcast from a gentle corner of indie-rock heaven.

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Despite her third full-length's title, Keyshia Cole doesn't mess with the formula established on her previous platinum albums, and that's a blessing. Matching street beats to stringed-up balladry, she narrows the gap between classic and contemporary soul with lived-in love songs that sidestep filler.