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Tedeschi Trucks Band, 'Everybody's Talkin''
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Not everyone in the 21st century makes their music in seclusion on a MacBook. Slide guitarist Derek Trucks and his wife, singer and guitarist Susan Tedeschi, initiated this 11-piece roots-rock ensemble as a summer touring band. So who can blame them for releasing a double-disc live set as the follow-up to their 2011 Grammy-winning debut, "Revelator"? From the opening moments of the Fred Neil title tune, ripe with warm brass and sweet vocal harmonies, the group's passion for performing together resonates loud and clear, and the extended song forms accommodate plenty of virtuoso instrumental turns -- even the flute solos rock! - K.B.R.

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Though seven years have passed since Garbage's previous album "Bleed Like Me," an audience persists for their '90s alt-rock hybrid of electronic beats, slashing guitars, hazy textures and seething vocals, as the popularity of indie acts like School of Seven Bells attests. Shirley Manson still excels at spitting vitriol ("Automatic Systematic Habit") and empathizing with outsiders ("Beloved Freak"), and a barrage of bleeps, squeals and gut-rumble bass sufficient to satisfy even severe ADD sufferers animates these 11 tracks. Amazing as "Not Your Kind of People" sounds, however, the songs lack the tenacity of the quartet's best. Grade: A for attitude, C for content. - K.B.R.

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From rural Arkansas to the runways of Paris fashion week, Beth Ditto and company have traveled a long distance, and so has the Gossip's sound. Helmed by U.K. producer Andrew Higgins of Xenomania (Girls Aloud, Sugababes), the trio's fifth album is their most polished and club-friendly yet; the thumping "Move in the Right Direction" could just as easily have been a Kylie Minogue vehicle. Punk purists might scoff, but elements of the band's DIY roots -- Hannah Blilie's inventive drumming, the sassy lyrical finger-wag of "Get a Job" -- temper the gloss. Ditto's vocals sound smoother, too, but her defiant attitude remains undimmed. - K.B.R.

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Soulsavers, 'The Light the Dead See'
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Soulsavers do not fear somber singers: The U.K. production duo's 2009 full-length, "Broken," featured a half-dozen gloomy alt-rockers, including Mark Lanegan and Will Oldham. But crafting their fourth album entirely around Depeche Mode's Dave Gahan proves unwise. At first, hearing Gahan's baritone buttressed by gospel choirs, acoustic guitars and bluesy organ offers a refreshing change from DM's electronics; his melodramatic delivery can withstand cinematic strings and timpani, too. But eventually the record collapses under its own weight. Even when Gahan's lyrics flirt with hope ("Presence of God"), the plodding tempos and portentous vocals obliterate any glimmers of optimism. - K.B.R.

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Tenacious D, 'Rize of the Fenix'
 
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