FLOOD

“Divers” is a remarkable release based on its linguistics alone

But man, awesome drums!

Arthur Ashin’s (a.k.a. Autre Ne Veut) unabashed love of deep soul comes through in the way he stretches and elongates the simplest of phrases into breathy crooning.

It’s an addictive sound, as if the early ’90s records released on labels like Creation and Slumberland have been stripped of all excess, then run through some kind of reverb grinder.

With “Stuff Like That There,” YLT are playing it short and sweet, leaning on a brushes-and-stand-up-bass rhythm section that carries each tune from one sweet melodic resolution to the next.

It may be the most welcomed and least compromised, least diminished return of a ’90s act since…well, ever.

The album thrives on bent and busted riffs unfolding around a ferocious rhythm section that sounds like it could dig its way through several layers of earth and magma.

Christopher Owens’s “Chrissybaby Forever” follows 2014’s rather boldly titled “A New Testament,” but feels closer to Girls’s debut than anything he’s done since.

The album is pristinely produced, with songs that echo the big rock and California-centered records of the ’70s and O’Rourke literally belting out choruses.

While Unknown Mortal Orchestra has flirted with big moves beyond the bedroom psych realm before, this LP really transports listeners into lush zones filled with hypnotic future-funk.

“Hypnophobia” takes Gardner’s sound into the future—granted it’s definitely still a retro-themed future—and shows off his seemingly endless, ghost-like melodies, and warm, groove-centered production.

Juan Wauters came to the United States from Uruguay in 2002 and we should all be thanking his parents for making that trip because otherwise we might not have this fine platter of shambling folk-pop songs.

“Makes A King”—the latest collaboration between Malawian singer Esau Mwamwaya and UK producer Johan Hugo as The Very Best—dives deeper into the pop genre than the duo’s two previous LPs.

Lightning Bolt has been a concern of many since the dawn of the new (and rather screwed) millennium.

For a few years now, Australian foursome Dick Diver (named after a F. Scott Fitzgerald character) has been making a fair amount of well-organized indie-rock noise with a couple of records that showcased the band’s unique brand of slipshod, jangling effervescence.

The King Khan & BBQ Show have been making records like every night is a Saturday night since the ’90s when they were in the raucous band Spaceshits together.

Sonny Smith’s latest is full of mystical West Coast folk tales with a rambling, pre-punk feel (read: slashing guitar occasionally and overall no-fucks-given vibe).

Skipping the time-tested structure that normally leads guitar guys to eventually start playing acoustic blues as they advance, Ben Chasny has flipped his own script.

This is a fittingly elegiac album of stately notes and blissful figures that feels like a sad hero waking up pre-dawn to a deserted world.

“La Isla Bonita” is another testimonial of their avant-punk-pop charm and innovation, still untouched two decades in the game.