From bleak urban scenes came fascinating music – including that of Chris Frantz’s own band, Talking Heads – and then, life-long love.

The Brainiac 5’s ‘Another Time Another Dimension’ fuses ’70s-era psych/punk with a dose of reggae, and several new tunes that continue their second coming.

Ken Sharp’s latest album ‘Miniatures’ stands as a complete departure from the genre he is generally associated with among power-pop aficionados.

‘Third Impression’ is less a direct extension of Robert Berry’s earlier 3-related projects, and more a solo album following in their footsteps.

To quote Mark Twain, Israel Nash’s ‘Topaz’ is a “barrel of odds and ends,” spinning in a cosmic folky and sometimes soulful space.

The reflective “Smoke From the Chimney” is an advance single from the late Tony Joe White’s upcoming Dan Auerbach-produced album.

Rather than trying to sound exactly like the inspiration, ‘Fanfare For the Uncommon Man: The Official Keith Emerson Tribute Concert’ takes a personal tack.

A self-composed piece of straight-up hard rock, Richard Turgeon’s “Parasite” is recited in a stadium-sized leer that firmly pushes the point home.

Dan Wilson, Maximo Park, Benjamin Lazar Davis are part of the latest edition of Five for the Road, an occasional look at music that’s been in my car lately.

The Sails are quite the rage across the pond, and ‘Bang!: The Sails Best of 2006 to 2020’ provides the reason why.