The new Nine Inch Nails’ politically conscious sixth studio release seems more focused on delivering its intense conspiracy message about the end of the world in year 2022, aka Year Zero, than it is on the production of intense music.

As the sun is shining, pong is set up and you’re out on the porch with friends, I have just the right upbeat, fun and easy-to-listen-to album that you need to have playing from your windowsill speakers: Ted Leo & The Pharmacists’ Living with the Living.

It’s been almost three years since Incubus released fresh material and their newest album Light Grenades expands on the sounds formally explored on A Crow Left of the Murder and Morning View. Overall, the album dips into a variety of styles and the new sound works rather well.

The Mountain Goats’ , which is really just one man, John Darnielle, umpteenth release called Get Lonely is packed with imaginative and literary lyrics forming a string of interesting stories as each track plays on. With lyrics as pensive and introspective as they are softly sang, this album demands a large amount of patience to really be enjoyed.