From the first track on Then The Morning Came, the latest release from local group Roma di Luna, listeners may be able to tell that this band has gone through a transformational period: entering parenthood.

The Orchard is very apt title for the sophomore release from Ra Ra Riot, the six-piece indie band whose debut, 2008's The Rhumb Line, was a sleeper indie hit that year.

The Strokes' fourth album, "Angles," comes on the heels of a five-year band hiatus that saw numerous solo projects and sparked doubt over whether the band would ever record together again.

"Collapse Into Now" isn't perfect, or groundbreaking, or even a complete return to form, but it proves that R.E.M. -- in their thirty-first year -- is still capable of making satisfying songs.

In recent years, Lucinda got married. Many of us were worried she would run out of subject matter. No worries here, it turns out!

DeVotchKa's music is part of a trend that includes artists like Andrew Bird, Beirut and Calexico seemingly sprung from an alternate reality in which the British Invasion never reached American shores and yet the alternative movement flourished anyway.

Toro y Moi has a tough act to follow on his new album, "Underneath the Pine."

"The King of Limbs" consists of eight strange and understated songs. There are no anthems and no multi-part epics, no nostalgic returns to form and no game-changers. Instead, it's the kind of record that a band their age should and would make: modest in scope, yet unselfconscious, exploratory and wise.

It's quite rare for a producer of dance music to make a foray into singing, but that's exactly what British electronic wunderkind James Blake has done on his self-titled debut LP.

If Brian Wilson wanted the Beach Boys' "Smile" to be a "teenage symphony to God," it may be that Sam Beam has managed to write such a symphony for grown-ups on the latest offering from Iron and Wine, "Kiss Each Other Clean."