Metric Fantasies One might be tempted to dismiss Metric as just another one of the shards shattered out of Canadian collective Broken Social Scene, but the quartet was formed way back in 1998, and like many of their fellow alumna (Yeah Yeah Yeahs, TV on the Radio), have put out a stunning fourth album. Lead singer Emily Haines' twee vocals would almost be too precious were it not for her backing band, all muscular drum beats and taut guitar riffs. Also taking the dainty out of Haines is the vitriol she spits on tracks "Satellite Mind" and "Sick Muse," leaving no doubt that someone done did her wrong. Blending the earnestness of singer-songwriters with the disconnection of glitchy electronica, Metrics latest makes for a complex aural companion to the 21st century. Get it on: 
Silversun Pickups Swoon Rarely are albums as aptly named as this, the Los Angeles bands second full-length, and more of the gauzy-vocaled dream pop that topped many a best-of list back in 2006. Likened one too many times to the Smashing Pumpkins, the Pickups have broadened their sound, less the breathy Pisces Iscariot than the lush treatments of Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness. Lead singer Brian Auberts croaking, androgynous vocals are disorienting, like that period half-way between wakefulness and sleep. Thats not to say that the albums all dust and no grit "Some songsare just fucking loud," corrects Aubert. Bonus: song titles still drip with disdain, as on "Little Lovers So Polite." Get it on: Jill Sobule California Years Nowadays, everyones got a gimmick, and Jill Sobules no different. Thing is, she also had one back in 1995, with her hit "I Kissed A Girl." For her latest trick, the self-admitted fabulist employed an as-yet untested model, asking fans for donations in order to make California Years, and in a sense, auctioning off pieces of promotion for a few more bucks toward her album (for the low, low price of $10,000, you can play cowbell or sing back-up). But aside from gimmickry, the grassroots approach had everything to do with finding herself without a label after being dropped twice. On her latest, Sobule concerns herself with everything from bouffanted country siren Bobby Gentrys whereabouts to possibly contractually obligated "The Donor Song." Get it on:
