Listen if you like: Phish, Grateful Dead, Disco Biscuits, The Flaming Lips, psychedelic rock, jam bands of all stripes.

First impressions: “Jam band” can be a polarizing label nowadays, but New York quintet moe. has never shied away from the tag. In many ways, their independent-minded nature, exploratory spirit, and risk-taking reputation perfectly embody what’s come to be associated with the genre. After all, its not uncommon for .moe to stretch its songs to impressive lengths onstage, as they’ve mastered a patient style of segueing that maintains a delicate flow within sets. What sets them apart from almost everyone else in jam-band land, however, is the consciousness to leave that behavior onstage while relying on a fine formula for working in the studio, perfecting robust, concise records that really stand on their own.

The nitty-gritty: .moe’s new offering, What Happened To The LA LAs, won’t have the staying power of the band’s studio pinnacle, 2002’s Wormwood, but man, this is still a damn good record. There isn’t anything particularly groundbreaking here but moe. proves that sometimes the tricks are best left at the door. The band’s raw, gritty, loud, and proud collection is built for a dive-bar jukebox, a pool table, and a couple of pitchers of beer, which is a really beautiful thing. “Bones Of Lazarus” kicks things off, and only two minutes in and we’re in the thick of the moe. magic: an onslaught from guitarists Al Schnier and Chuck Garvey, built on the percussive precision of drummer Vinnie Amico and multi-instrumentalist Jim Loughlin, all unified by the punchy low end of bassist Rob Derhak.

Other recommended tracks: The eight-minute “Downward Facing Dog” is the longest track on What Happened To The LA LAs, but it feels like two songs: the first part a Stones-ish, Sticky Fingers twang, and the second a psychedelic blues throwdown. “Haze” and “Paper Dragon” offer meaty rock sizzle, the latter sounding like garage shred at its finest, particularly from Amico, who finds an honest tenaciousness throughout.  The Alice In Wonderland trippiness of “Chromatic Nightmare” lets Loughlin shine on the MalletKAT, an electronic MIDI percussion controller, while the curious ecstasy of “Puebla” and playfulness of “Suck A Lemon” carry the album home.

East Coast tour dates? This is a veteran band that’s honed its craft on the road, and What Happened To The LA LAs is a record made for the everyman. There’s a shortage of bands this deep into a career who can be as honest and fresh, and moe. delivers as usual. Don’t over-think things here: bring a nickel and tap your feet, because moe. will be touring the west coast in January and early February before heading home to the Midwest and Northeast starting on February 15th. Find out more at www.moe.org. By Jim Murray

Listen if you like: Pop-punk with a modern English hint of lemony, whine-free female vocals; obscure 1980s British bands a la Primal Scream or The Mighty Lemon Drops; jangling guitars and melodic power-pop.

First impressions: Sheffield, UK-based threesome (one girl, two guys) Standard Fare is well on its way to building a quaint pop-punk house with the release of the band’s second album, Out Of Sight, Out Of Town. They do manage some slip-ups — namely a ghastly attempt at reggae on “Half Sister” — but overall deliver a unique Pixies-meets-Sum 41-meets-The Strokes take on pop-punk.

The nitty-gritty: Now in their mid-twenties, bassist/lead vocalist Emma Kupa, guitarist/vocalist Danny How, and drummer Andy Beswick have found the balancing point between teenage pimple popping and the coffee and nicotine stains of adulthood. How lays down a deceptively upbeat Albert Hammond Jr.-esque guitar riff on “Suitcase,” masking Kupa’s haunting lyrics about a Holocaust survivor finding her way to freedom: “My only fear/ Is how I’m going to save my family/ I can get away/ I can only take what I can carry,” she sings with shell-shocked desperation over the fast-paced, happy-go-lucky backing melody. While “Suitcase’s” light/dark ethos permeates the adult world of lies and fake smiles, “Call Me Up” snaps back into the carefree indulgence of youth. How takes the lead on vocals, laying down the ground rules for drunken late-night hook-ups for those of you who haven’t received the “loving, not love” memo.

Other recommended tracks: Standard Fare strikes its most mature sound with the in-no-way-possibly-mature-titled “Darth Vader.” The song’s at times ridiculous lyrics touching on abandonment are Standard Fare at its best, before stepping back post-ejaculation and mellowing the tempo for a cigarette over greasy barf-inducing fish and chips. “Bad Temper,” “Older Women,” and album closer “Crystal Palatial” also present the band’s punk roots like a 55-year-old woman in need of a hair coloring. Both find Beswick letting loose and How tossing in some ball-dropping distortion. Surely these are the two songs you don’t want to miss live.

East Coast tour dates? Nope. These Brits are wandering around their home island through February, then heading over to Germany for some brats and kraut in March. Keep your eyes glued to www.StandardFare.co.uk for potential North American announcements. By Alex Lemonde-Gray

Listen If you like: Black Moth Super Rainbow, The Flaming Lips, Gary Newman’s new stuff, pillow fights, Beach House, whispering, warm dishwater,  pruning hands, gasping for air.

First Impressions: Porcelain Raft is hitting the dream pop genre at just the right time to capitalize on a healthy turnout for the band’s recent UK tour and upcoming European and U.S. dates. Strange Weekend is a solid listen from the first track, “Drifting In And Out,” but it can become repetitive if you require fewer ambiences and/or more energy in your library. Lyrically, Porcelain Raft lacks straightforward ingenuity, but carries a few powerful tracks rooted in heavy shifts of attitude and melodic respect for pioneers of genre crossovers like M.I.A. or The Flaming Lips.

The nitty-gritty: Mauro Remiddi is Porcelain Raft. His voice is androgynous, and he leans more toward the soprano than the alto or baritone when pressured. Strange Weekends is Remiddi’s debut album, but he is rumored to have a case full of recordings collected over nearly three decades of international travel serving a number of positions in the world of music. His back-story is a good one for a record sale: Italian by birth, Remiddi has been around the European block. This includes a stint with the Berlin Youth Circus, where he worked with traditional Klezmer gypsy music; a piano gig with an off-Broadway show; and a point in his life where he had something to do with traditional North Korean music. Gypsies + youth + almost-Broadway + North Korea = commercial slam-dunk.

Other recommended tracks: That opener, “Drifting In And Out,” pulls instrumentally from several acid-rock bands of the late ‘90s, but it’s a literal repeater lyrically. “Shapeless And Gone” is original and one of the best tracks on Strange Weekend, mainly for the fact that it is unique to the album. The first shift happens with “Is It Too Deep For You?”, which transitions from decent pop to decent pop with sexual darkness. “Put Me To Sleep” is void of repetition but lacking enough energy to keep most of us on the edge of our seats. “The End Of Silence” is quietly memorable, and the passive-aggressive nature of the track’s title makes for a well-planned and -executed song. “Picture” and “The Way In,” though, are both kind of boring, non-elaborate bookends to the album.

East Coast tour dates: January 27th and 28th in Toronto and Montreal, respectively; January 29th in Boston, January 31st in New York, February 1st in Washington, DC, and February 3rd in Chicago, all with Smith Westerns. Find out more at www.PorcelainRaft.com. By Will Tunstall

Listen if you like: Golden Age hip-hop, early ‘90s boom-bap, Brand Nubian, Large Professor, Guru, MC Solaar, or straightforward beats, rhymes, and life.

First impressions: Leave it to French DJs/producers/”rare groove connoisseurs” Hugo and Soulbrother Suspect of The Funk League to do their part to keep old-school American hip-hop alive. These two America-philes have been working with Sadat X from legendary ‘90s rap group Brand Nubian for three years now, and after producing several singles for hip-hop’s “Wild Cowboy” it became clear that the results had to lead to something bigger.

The nitty-gritty: The beats on Funky As Usual should sound like to heaven to hip-hop purists’ ears: crisp SP1200 drum hits, expert vinyl scratching, with a heaping helping of subtle fusion, acid jazz, and Latin flavors. But how can you resist Sadat X’s fire spitting on the upbeat “On & On,” the original The Funk League collaboration with one of our greatest American living legends? “MC3” gets a little more abstract and bombastic with Gift Of Gab on guest vocals, while downtempo interlude “More Blue Funk” lends the album a sense of serene late-night calm. Ditto for the icy cool on “Through Good & Bad” and “Humble Arrogance (Part 1 & 2),” which both rely on subdued horns and smooth beats to make their case for genuine jaz-hop in the 21st century.

Other recommended tracks: “Why You…?” is hands down the funkiest, most James Brown-worthy track on Funky As Usual — and that’s surprising only because it finds The Funk League teaming up with Swedish rhyme crew Speech Defect. Further diversity comes on all-acoustic lounge-jazz album closer “Hypnotized,” which would certainly make live-instrument aficionados The Roots proud. But again, American ears will perk up the most for “The Boogie Down Bombers,” another old-school Bronx track featuring Diamond D & Sadat X. It lacks the energy of “On & On,” but it still represents homegrown hip-hop at its finest. How about here in the U.S.A. we start treating our rap forefathers with the same respect that the French fellows of The Funk League do?

East Coast tour dates? Being a transatlantic collaboration between two producers and numerous MCs, it’s highly unlikely. But cross your fingers and keep your eyes peeled to
http://fr-fr.facebook.com/pages/The-Funk-League/107859477161. By Nick McGregor