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After a decade of seminal albums, mythic shows, and erratic behavior (the '80s) and a decade of dud albums, spotty shows, and erratic behavior (the '90s), Bad Brains were unlikely reunion candidates. Yet Build a Nation roars and throbs with vintage fire. H.R.'s vocals, dub-echoed and buried, sound like they're transmitted from Olympus.

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Cranking up the synths and dialing down the tension, this New York Sicilian-Japanese post-punk trio continues its slow-burn, 14-year procession away from harsh guitar atmospherics to mere atmosphere.

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One hundred percent of this wrecking crew -- bassist/screamer Jared Warren (ex-Karp and Tight Bros From Way Back When) and drummer Coady Willis (ex-Murder City Devils) -- are currently serving time in the Melvins, a band that never met a sideman it couldn't drive crazy, then fire.

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About 20 years ago, when the speedy strictures and moral panic of Washington, D.C. hardcore gave way to more expansive music and politics, the scene's unofficial motto went from "Out of step / With the world" to "Live the Life," per the old Thomas Dorsey spiritual.

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A double-platinum act in their native Australia and a cult act here best known for a cover of Alphaville's "Forever Young" on The OC, Youth Group make civilized, bracingly lovely pop.

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As aging punks who value the album-as-statement, Sonic Youth release anthologies that hang together remarkably well (see their indie-'80s primer and video collection Screaming Fields of Sonic Love).