Rick Cassman serves up "JENNIFER JANGLE," and immediately you’re paddling in the bright, optimistic shallows of 1960s British Pop. You can almost taste the sherbet lemon fizz. Yet, knowing Cassman’s packing four decades of musical mileage – playing all the guitars, bass, keyboards, drums, and handling vocals here himself, mind you – suggests we shouldn't just skim the surface. This isn't merely throwback fun;...

Some comeback albums arrive wearing a suit. Block’s "Love Crash" kicks the shoes off at the door, laughs at the mess, then starts telling the truth before anyone has found a chair. Released on Meridian, ECR Music Group, the album is Block’s sixth full-length and his first new record in 13 years. That gap matters, but the record does not beg for sympathy. It feels awake,...