• Slint - Tweez. I've avoided this one for decades. Their second (and final) record is so perfect, and so unusual, that I didn't want to hear anything that would change my opinion of the band, or to take away from the notion that Spiderland is a sui generis masterpiece. Of course that's exactly what happened. Musically, it's the same band, for sure. Well, OK, there's a different bassist, but the band's sound was clearly driven by the others. The records share many of the same ideas, musical approaches, tricks, sounds, the ineffable Slintyness. There's a bit of Jesus Lizard in there, too. So, Spiderland now feels like a natural progression, not a complete one-of-a-kind. Still, the records are distinct, sonically, especially. Albini recorded this, and either he, or the band (as he claims), made the guitars sound extremely harsh and thin: basically, the Big Black sound - which doesn't encourage close listening. The songs are louder and harsher on this, too; not as much of the beautiful tense near-silence that defines Spiderland (and which makes close listening necessary). But, there are some really good things here (and on the Slint EP), so it's not a disappointment. It's just that this is never going to escape the shadow of Spiderland, and I honestly don't want it to.

  Speaking of Slint, here they are doing Neil Young's "Cortez The Killer", of all things.

• The Men - Open Your Heart. I hear so many other bands in this: from Sonic Youth and various 80s punk bands, to things like The Feelies and Teenage Fanclub, and then to modern drone/stoner rock. And except for a pretty blatant rip of The Stones' "Dead Flowers", it's a blaring, gritty, guitar attack. Pretty good. Not perfect for all moods and settings, tho.
• Gentleman Jesse - Leaving Atlanta ...on "Douchemaster" records ! It's another bag of influences. Different ones, though. This band completely embraces late 70's pop/punk bands like Elvis Costello, Nick Lowe, Flamin Groovies, Southside Johnny, etc.. Their catchy, melodic, energetic, feel-good rock songs sound like overlooked classics; like, maybe it's a band who you knew from a couple of minor hits a few decades back and that you're just hearing the rest of the album for the first time now - and you can't believe how great it is. Odds are good if you remember the 70s, you'll immediately feel comfortable with these songs. They've perfectly captured a very specific, and long-forgotten, sound and style. Put it on at a party, and expect people to ask, "Hey, who's this?! It sounds like ______ !"
• Graham Coxon - The Spinning Top / A+E. Coxon is probably best known as the singer guitarist from Blur, which in the US probably doesn't ring many bells; they've had only minor success here. Nonetheless, in addition to Blur, he's had a long solo career, and these are the two most recent records. The first, The Spinning Top, is a pastoral, Brit-folk record, with a lot of really nice acoustic guitar work. Nick Drake, Pentangle, that kind of vibe. I like it. The next, A+E, is a completely different record. It's loud and fast and messy, aggressive. He bounces from early punk sounds (think Buzzcocks), Krautrock, glam, things that sound like whatever LCD Soundsystem was drawing from, to stuff that sounds like the only Blur song I know, the great Song 2. Sonically, this record is pretty experimental: in addition to the loud guitars and drums, there are odd electronic things, distressed horns, heavily-processed drums; six people are credited with "Screams" on Allmusic's review. They both give off a "self-made record" vibe - which I typically like.
  A+E isn't available in the US, for some reason (a stupid reason, I'm sure). Thanks to RobC, for pushing this into my sights.

Recommend things!