Polvo, Bronze Fawn, Water Beds

(Crocodile) On In Prism (Merge), their first album since 1997's Shapes, Polvo sound like they've upgraded their equipment since crucial mid-'90s recordings like Today's Active Lifestyles and Celebrate the New Dark Age. That means that those patented, wonky guitar tones no longer materialize. For some, those eccentric efflorescences defined Polvo. Obviously, though, Polvo are much more than advanced-calculus riffs played in weird tunings. They were keen tunesmiths, too. For proof, check out "In This Life" and "Solitary Set," two of the rock underground's most exultant, well-crafted songs. Here in 2009, Polvo have made a solid set of aging-with-dignity rock on In Prism, proving that they're still cunning composers. DAVE SEGAL

The Horrors, Japanese Motors

(Neumos) Something fantastic happened to youngish, stylishly gothic British band the Horrors in between their debut album and this year's sophomore effort, Primary Colours—and the leap can be pretty neatly illustrated just by their choice of covers: the Sonics in 2007 to Suicide in 2009. Where the previous album was all brash, preening garage thrash, their new one is full of coolly motorik rhythmic grooves, dark and droning vocal moods, and the kind of bent, smeared, and backward-masked guitar tones with which My Bloody Valentine nearly bankrupted Creation Records. It's a rare treat to see a band so outstrip their early hype and so successfully outgrow their initial sound. The Horrors have become a band to be reckoned with. ERIC GRANDY

Jolie Holland, Michael Hurley

(Triple Door) On the surface, it's so hard to tell what you're going to get with female vocalists who traffic in acoustic instruments and tuneful arrangements. For every exciting, intelligent Mirah, you'll find 10,000 crappy Norah Jones wannabes. Jolie Holland makes you forget about all those melancholy Feist-y rip-offs, though. She's a challenging, witty songwriter, and she has just enough of a flair for the dramatic—2006's experiment in chanteusery, Springtime Can Kill You, is an ornate concept album—to keep things interesting without indulging in the mopiness of your average coffee-shop musician. Maybe one day Holland will produce the heartbroken, blowsy country album I know she has in her, but for right now, I'll just enjoy her jazz-inflected laments and torch songs and be grateful. PAUL CONSTANT

Children of Bodom, the Black Dahlia Murder, Skeletonwitch

(Showbox at the Market) Finnish quintet Children of Bodom play metal with a swift, trebly attack, plenty of rococo instrumental flourishes that might please an ELP fan, and vocals (by Alexi Laiho) that suggest tremendous inner torment. Their chops are fairly amazing, even if they sometimes bloom into annoyingly fidgety arabesques. However, Children of Bodom's cover of Credence Clearwater Revival's "Looking out My Back Door" is a fruitlessly fast and grooveless marring of an American roots-rock classic. The baleful thrashing they give Billy Idol's "Rebel Yell," though, is totally justified. DAVE SEGAL

The Rosewood Thieves, the Dead Trees, Blood Hot Beat, the Bedouin Jacks, Eugene & the 1914

(El Corazón) Erick Jordan, frontman of New York City's the Rosewood Thieves, takes more than a few cues from John Lennon, et al. His leathery croon even conjures Lennon's occasionally. And while the Rosewood Thieves aren't the Beatles, their laconic folk rock has some medium-interesting moments. Also playing are Blood Hot Beat, who boast much funk-inflected boogie guitar and bass, taut drumming, and frontman "Kevin Magnum," who is reputedly quite the showman. Blood Hot Beat have an album in the works that's being engineered by Toy Box studio's Justin Cronk. Magnum thinks it will be released in late October... 2017. GRANT BRISSEY

And there's always more in our music calendar listings.