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Luna - Rendezvous - Jetset Records
Revered New York guitar popsters Luna will play their final shows as a band in February, 2005. After twelve years, the group has simply decided to bow out while the getting is still good - and if *Rendezvous* does end up standing as their final recorded studio effort, well, it’s a darned good one. With pretty, languid melodies being sung by the reliable, dry-witted Dean Wareham, the disc may be a little melancholy as the band shoegazes towards their collective end. but it’s no less a testament to the group’s songwriting skills. Standout tracks include “Star Spangled Man,” “Malibu,” and the revisited “Astronaut” - plus “Rainbow Babe,” the album’s gentle final track, which will serve as their farewell to fans.

The Music - Welcome to the North - EMI Music
Pairing up the Leeds, England quartet The Music with Seattle’s favorite rock producer Brendan O’Brien (Pearl Jam, Soundgarden) could’ve been a smart move or a trainwreck. Luckily for the band, it ended up being closer to the former. The Music’s bombastic, arena-rock style fits well with O’Brien’s Big (capital B) Rock (Capital R) producing style, loading up this disc with 11 powerful, anthemic tracks, from “I Need Love” to “Guide,” “Breakin’” to what might be the album’s best track, “Freedom Fighters.” The Seattle seasoning doesn’t mean that The Music have let go of their familiar prog-rock influences, though - you can still hear flairs of Rush and Yes amidst the messy guitars and surprisingly danceable keyboard lines - but now there’s even more focus.

Camera Obscura - Underachievers Please Try Harder - Merge Records
Reminiscent of both modern troubadours, such as Belle + Sebastian, and more retro influences, such as Donovan and Petula Clark, Camera Obscura crafts gentle yet punchy songs that the Girl From Ipenema would absolutely adore. Anchored by the group’s ‘60’s-pop influences, the tunes here still put forth a modern tone even admist all the retro-ness, with poetic lyrics and an effective arrangement of the songs from start to finish. “Number One Son” features some pretty unique backing instrumentals, indie pop peeks its head in with “Suspended From Class,” and a little Leonard Cohen can even be heard in “Your Picture” - and every one of these songs has its own appeal.

Marianne Faithfull - Before the Poison - Anti Music
Still managing to hang ten on the final foamy dregs of British rock’s first wave, there are many reasons why Marianne Faithfull is still relevant even 40 years after her first mainstream recording, the first two, of course, being her presence itself and her now-tattered but distinctive voice. On this effort, she chooses more forward-thinking collaborators, as she did on her last release, when she worked with the likes of Billy Corgan and Beck; this time around, it’s producer Jon Brion and singers PJ Harvey, Nick Cave, and Blur’s Damon Albarn.
This results in yet another collection of heartfelt songs, from “The Mystery of Love” to “City of Quartz,” that showcase the simple fact that Marianne’s still got it.

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