Going to the Bone Church marks Tim Kinsella's 58th musical release. Not many musicians can make such claims, but it's this prolific nature that may be the biggest problem here. See, while Kinsella has spent time in bands like Cap'n Jazz, Joan of Arc and Owls, all of those projects have shared a similar tone. Disconnected guitar lines dance over a spastic rhythm section while Kinsella's often melody-neglecting vocals moan and yelp over top. With Make Believe, Kinsella seemed to start relying more on rock instruments rather than studio panache and the results were refreshing, but now, on the band's third album, we merely seem to be getting the old Kinsella rehash again.

Guitarist Sam Zurick has always been the driving force behind Make Believe. With his unconventional style that seems to rest somewhere between Hella and early R.E.M. he made the band's first two albums instrumentally intriguing. Unfortunately, this time out, he seems to have hit a wall and is now cranking out strangely familiar riffs. The rhythm section does its best to spice things up, but even Kinsella just seems lazy in his delivery now, while the instrumental passages are overly long and dull. Maybe it's just time for Kinsella to start yet another band. — Matt Whelihan

Flight of the Conchords

Flight of the Conchords
Flight of the Conchords (Sub Pop Records)

I've been listening to Flight of the Conchords, the self-titled, full-length release from New Zealand's two-man novelty band, for a week straight. I'm a huge fan of the quirky HBO series of the same name and the Kiwis' album hasn't worn out its welcome in my CD player. It's understatedly hilarious. Jemaine and Bret deliver a seduction song for all the "Ladies of the World" so all-inclusive that it even mentions hermaphrodites ("your sexy lady bits and your man bits too/even you must be into you"). They ponder the state of the world today in "Think About It," tossing off lines like "they're turning kids into slaves just to make cheaper sneakers/but what's the real cost because the sneakers don't seem that much cheaper." And they hit Prince-worthy high notes as they serenade the "Most Beautiful Girl (in the World)," saying she is pretty enough to be an "air hostess in the '60s" or a "part-time model."

But once you're in on the joke, it doesn't get old. Why? The duo's stylistically diverse tunes are real songs in their own right. Liberally inspired by the likes of David Bowie, Pet Shop Boys, Marvin Gaye and a host of others, they're not parodies. The songs have an originality that keeps them interesting. And they certainly are motherflippin' catchy. If you're anything like me, the Flight of the Conchords will have you singing, "the humans are dead/we used poisonous gasses/and we poisoned their asses" and attempting the accompanying binary solo (from "Robots") in the shower. There's really not a bad track on the album, but the smooth faux French 101 of "Foux de Fafa," and the absurd rap of "Hiphopotamus vs. Rhymenoceros" are insidious, guaranteed to worm their way into your subconscious and, as the Flight of the Conchords would put it, start "uckin' with your shi-." — Samantha Fryberger

Dizzee Rascal

Dizzee Rascal
Maths + English (Def Jux)

It was only five years ago that many thought Dizzee Rascal's award-winning Boy in Da Corner signaled change in music. That album's sound — a mix of UK garage and rap dubbed "grime" — eventually found many adopters (look no further than the Run the Road compilations), but Rascal was the movement's poster boy. And yet, the usual suspects squelched the world-conquering optimism. Violence by artists and fans overshadowed the music being made, to say nothing of the fact that Rascal's second album, 2004's Showtime, polished up his grimy sound into something a little less appealing. The sum of all those things has led to grime now seemingly sharing a footnote in music history with garage and drum and bass - two other predominantly UK genres touted as harbingers of musical change that never really crossed over into the mainstream.

Ironically enough, Rascal's former label, XL Recordings, has had success breaking M.I.A. — an artist that came long after the first wave of grime artists. But after Rascal's first two albums failed to do much here, XL only gave Maths + English a digital release. This physical release of the nearly year-old album includes new studio tracks such as "G.H.E.T.T.O." and "Driving" to round out an album that already seemed a bit too long. Guest stars Alex Turner (of Arctic Monkeys) and Lily Allen feature on "Temptation" and "Wanna Be," respectively, but once again, Rascal's willingness to tart up his sound makes for a solid package - but one that's nowhere near as vital as his gritty debut. — Jeremy Willets

Wolftron

Wolftron
Flesh & Fears (Eyeball)

Wolftron's name would lead you to believe the band would contain elements that somehow pertain to a wolf, or maybe tron. Unfortunately there's no tenacity, rawness or even lonesomeness to account for the wolf and no robotics, electronics or throwbacks to the '80s to suggest the "tron" suffix. Instead Flesh & Fears, the solo work of Daphne Loves Derby frontman Kenny Choi, is a dull and tedious pop-rock affair full of airy complacency and redundant compositions.

It's not often an album makes it so difficult to elicit any sort of merit from it, but Choi has done it. Whether he is acting as a breathier version of Jason Mraz ("Ms. Luna Grim"), a more lifeless version of Coldplay ("Happiness"), or an American Idol version of the Arcade Fire ("Sugar Skulls"), Flesh & Fears is a drab collection of songs that lacks any peaks or valleys. Maybe Choi has found success with the slightly louder pop rock of Daphne Loves Derby, but it doesn't seem to justify a solo record where the only difference is a softer approach. Maybe Choi had extra songs kicking around, but I think he would have been better off just saving them for his band's next album. — MW

The Friggs

The Friggs
Today Is Tomorrow's Yesterday (Singles & Unreleased Songs) (Apex East)

Led by singer-guitarist Palmyra Delran, this obscure garage-rock act outta Philadelphia purges its vaults with this 15-track compilation. Whether grooving on girl-group vocals ("Dance of Love"), indulging in surf-rock instrumentals ("Conestoga Nova") or churning out spooky, made-for-B-movie rockers ("Wild Love"), the Friggs pull off the whole retro- rock thing with aplomb. In songs such as "Born 2 Make U Cry," "Girl Power" and "Mama Blew a Hoody," Delran makes bad behavior sound like good fun. Taken from the variety of singles and EPs the band put out in the early '90s, Today Is Tomorrow's Yesterday is good enough to make you want to hunt down the primary sources, though I'll bet the records are all out of print.

While the liner notes don't have the usual info that accompanies this sort of release (like where the previously unreleased tunes have come from), recruiting band friend Michael J. Ferguson to write the liner notes might not have been the smartest move. His short essay makes so many inside references, it's virtually impossible to untangle whatever it is he's trying to say about the group, not exactly the endorsement you want for a collection of tunes whose origins are shrouded in mystery. Ferguson's blathering aside, the songs here hold up well, even if they're all over a decade old. — Jeff Niesel