Miike Snow, La Sera, Cain & Abels [week's Top Releases]

This weeks list of top releases comes from an eclectic group of artists, each with their own distinct sound and genre. There are also no debuts here. These musicians are all striving for new horizons in their sonic futures, while hanging on to something of the past as well.

Pop trio Miike Snow (@miikesnow) have managed to capture the very rare quality of being almost universally enjoyed. Their second album, Happy To You, re-employs their mastery of the addictive backbeat but also expands upon the button pushing monotony of their debut. Happy To You is simply more orchestral and less repetitive. The release definitely shows the Swedes branching out into new, broader territory, while maintaining that catchy magic that garnered them a strong fanbase to begin with.

Madonna and Macy Gray are both releasing albums this week, but for those of us who prefer our female rockers to have a bit more subtlety and a touch of indie cred, Katy Goodman is also dropping her second LP as La Sera (@iamkatygoodman) today. Goodman’s side project has always been decidedly dreamier and more opaque than the lo-fi, garage pop she dabbles in with her main gig as bassist for the Vivian Girls. Sees The Light is no exception. It continues on the same wistful path as La Sera’s debut, but with a bit more hard rock edge this time around.

The new record from Chicago’s Cains & Abels (@cainsandabels) could easily draw comparisons to a number of folk rock bands creating music these days. Deep down, though, the band is a bit more retro rock and roll. Frontman David Sampson grew up with highly religious and strictly conservative standards, and “only very specific classical and folk music” was deemed appropriate for him to listen to. My Life Is Easy reflects a merging of the folk music Sampson grew up with and the classic rock that his energized and more rebellious self secretly indulged in.