Richard Buckner

OUR BLOOD

Merge Records

Richard Buckner has a polarizing voice. But while his gristled vocals are an acquired taste, his songs are universally likable. Sure, he’s a cult hero with an underground following that adores his ’90s output, but after a very rough couple of years, Buckner is back with the brawny, yet modest, “Our Blood,” out today.

Just how rough have the last few years been on Buckner? Legendarily bad, it seems, with a busted film score, a broken tape machine, a stolen laptop and a random run-in with Johnny Law that was quickly resolved.

But Buckner is now back and in fine form. On tracks like “Escape,” he’s as meditative as usual, capturing poetic pictures via his jagged, uneven singing. “Confession” is a straightforward, driving song that gives Buckner plenty of room to weave a story that resides somewhere between the worlds of country, folk and rock.

It’s a treat to have Buckner back, especially since we hadn’t heard much from him since 2006’s “Meadow.” Fans of Gram Parsons, Kris Kristofferson or Joseph Arthur might very well find their next favorite artist in “Our Blood.”

— Ricardo Baca,

The Denver Post

Boston Spaceships

LET IT BEARD

Guided by Voices Inc.

It’s easy to make the argument that Robert Pollard is enjoying a career renaissance.

His seminal indie-rock band, Guided by Voices, is taking its victory lap at music festivals around the country after reuniting its “classic” early ’90s lineup last fall. His prolific string of solo albums and collaborations has seen a marked uptick in quality the past couple years.

And now, side project Boston Spaceships — with Decemberists’ drummer Jon Moen and ex-GBV bassist Chris Slusarenko — is a side project no longer.

The hugely ambitious, 26-song “Let It Beard” is the concept album Pollard has been threatening to make for years, and it’s a doozy. Never mind the who’s-who of post-punk and indie-rock guests, including Wire’s Colin Newman, Dinosaur Jr.’s J Mascis, Dream Syndicate’s Steve Wynn and Mick Collins of the Dirtbombs and the Gories.

The core of the band is the star here. Boston Spaceships has always been a strong act, but “Let It Beard” is the first time since Guided By Voices’ 2004 swan song that all of Pollard’s considerable strengths have come together so well. His prog-addled melodies and psychedelic-poetry lyrics are particularly honed on songs like “The Vicelords” and the darkly majestic “I Took on the London Guys.” His vocal turns on “Tourist UFO” and “Tabby and Lucy” are as sweet and affecting as the best of GBV’s work.

But it would mean little without Moen’s snappy, propulsive drumming and Slusarenko’s textured, instantly ingratiating instrumental work. “Let It Beard” is a massive statement from the inexhaustible mind of Pollard, indie-rock’s mad musical scientist, and a testament to the chemistry and talent of his rock-ready bandmates.

— John Wenzel,

The Denver Post

Mat Kearney

YOUNG LOVE

Universal Republic Record

There’s a giddiness to much of Mat Kearney’s “Young Love” that’s infectious. Though we’ve gotten used to the oh-so-serious singer-songwriter sounding a certain way in recent years, Kearney busts that convention, adding a touch of island rhythm to the acoustic-guitar base of “Hey Mama” and “She Got the Honey,” a bit of hip-hop in “Chasing the Light” and “Ships in the Night.” Then, on “Learning to Love Again,” Kearney shows he can still beat the sad sacks at their own game, too.

— Glenn Gamboa,

Newsday

John Hiatt

DIRTY JEANS AND MUDSLIDE HYMNS

New West Records

“I got me a deuce and a quarter, babe/ She will ride you right,” John Hiatt boasts on “Detroit Made,” singing of General Motors’ Buick Electra 225. The celebration of automotive style, craftsmanship and durability is fitting, since these qualities continue to mark the work of the 58-year-old Indiana-born singer and songwriter.

“Dirty Jeans and Mudslide Hymns” shows Hiatt’s muse to be as sharp as ever. Amid another earthy amalgam of rock, soul, blues and country, Hiatt still writes about restless, haunted, and on-the-edge souls with the penetrating power of someone who’s been there. (“Have you ever been broken, really broken?” he asks on “All the Way Under.”)

“Down Around My Place,” meanwhile, sounds like an allegorical State of the Union that’s all dark and foreboding. But “I Love That Girl” is unabashedly upbeat, and the somber remembrance of 9/11 that closes the album, “When New York Had Its Heart Broke,” ends on a note of stubborn resilience. It’s a trait that applies to many of the characters here — and to the artist himself.

— Nick Cristiano,

The Philadelphia Inquirer

The Wood Brothers

SMOKE RING HALO

Southern Ground Records

Five years ago, when the Wood Brothers released their first full-length album, “Ways Not to Lose,” the group seemed like a side project, sweet and sensible but probably not built for the long run. Oliver Wood, formerly of the Atlanta roots-rock band King Johnson, took the singer-songwriter lead; Chris Wood played upright bass and sang backup harmony. The album was produced by John Medeski and released on Blue Note, which has been a home both to Medeski Martin and Wood — as in Chris Wood — and, in a more recent development, to lightly countrified folksters like Amos Lee.

The Wood Brothers put out another Blue Note album, “Loaded,” in 2008, gradually seeming less and less like a digression, and more and more like the main point. But the group still hadn’t delivered a consistently satisfying album before “Smoke Ring Halo.”

Produced and engineered by Jim Scott, it sounds both tossed off and impeccably balanced, which is the smart move for a band of this sort. The bass playing comes across as a physical force, and the vocals sound close at hand. The band’s drummer, Tyler Greenwell, lays deep into every groove, keeping things simple and taut. Medeski plays organ on a few tracks, and Clay Cook sings background vocals on a few others. There are an occasional cohort of horns, and more electric guitar than before.

The songs, credited to both brothers, give off an old-timey musk even at their jauntiest: “Shoofly Pie” could pass for a rejuvenated front-porch blues, and “Mary Anna” shifts from a talky verse to a country-waltz chorus, voices blended with a hint of grit.

The root-level rapport of the Wood Brothers no longer sounds casual, or merely natural. This band has been working at something, and it shows.

— Nate Chinen,

The New York Times