Paint The Fence Invisible is an adorable album recorded by the cute, stylish couple that formed Drug Rug in 2006, conquering the fickle bitch that is sincerity in their willingness to delineate from one sound to another. Thomas Allen and Sarah Cronin are so endearing in a variety of categories, ranging from their love-till-death approach, their prodigious use of outlets such as Twitter and Myspace, their cheery visual appearance, and their tour friendship with the likes of Dr. Dog and Fiery Furnaces. What’s surprising is that the same holds true in their vocal compatibility.

To be honest, Drug Rug’s sophomore album didn’t hook me on the first or second go-around. Now that I’m armed with a bit of background knowledge, the highly valuable perks of Paint The Fence Invisible are showing through. The band has been compared to old-hat-meets-indie-improvement on several media fronts; think The Beach Boys, Bob Dylan, The Byrds, and Velvet Underground with contemporary flair and fluff. But I think Allen and Cronin deserve a little more credit for creating original recipes, not just changing old ones. Timelining Paint The Fence Invisible by reverting back to the past takes something away from the band’s beginnings in the present.

Thomas and Sarah are clearly in love, have now written two great albums about being in love, and I appreciate the energy they bring to a subject so often taken for granted. “Haunting You” is lovely, despite the song’s name and the fact that it was recorded in a haunted house; whining instrumentation on “Never Tell” makes me consider loving whiners; and Cronin’s scratchy vocals on “Blue Moon” are rugged and loveable. Best of all, after a few more listens, Paint The Fence Invisible slows down a bit and loves me back. By Will Tunstall

Josh Kouzomis, otherwise known in the DJ world as Troublemaker, has led an eventful life: music director at Ohio University’s ACRN, Epitaph Records radio promoter, Celestial Recordings co-founder, remixer of everyone from Justice to Linkin Park to Johnny Cash to Good Charlotte, and resident DJ at the Hard Rock Hotel Las Vegas. You may wonder how the guy has time to actually record and release music, but he’s done just that with solo debut The Maestro, released on his own Hollyrock imprint.

The Maestro straddles the best of both East Coast hip-hop and west coast club worlds, jumping from energetic breakbeat workouts like “Louder” to swaggering rhyme showcases like “Work It Out,” which features Brooklyn-born MCs Naptron and Phoenix Orion. “All Night” relies on a catchy alt-rock guitar riff, shiny beats, and Iggy Pop-like vocals from Messinian to make its dance floor-ready case, while The 87 Stick Up Kids and Micah James lend a darkly humorous lyrical bent to the police brutality tale “Mr. Officer.” But the fun returns in short order, as cheesy ‘80s sound effects and speaker-rattling bass make “Hollyrock Beatdown” the perfect shit-talking DJ track.

The Maestro stumbles a bit when Troublemaker teams up with girl-rapper Baby Cashtrid for the poppy “I’m Famous,” but sultry Lady Tigra saves the female guest spot from irrelevance on the electrifying “TNT.” Micah James’ unadulterated flow on “Tight Rope” also saves The Maestro from an extraneous club-heavy gloss, but it’s the emotional sheen of album closer “Significant Other” that really highlights Troublemaker’s talents: in 32 short minutes, the Los Angeles native wraps silly, serious, and sentimental all up in one easily digestible package. –NM

Don’t be fooled by the silent Ys: Yim Yames is the thinly veiled pseudonym of My Morning Jacket frontman Jim James, who bolstered his long resume in 2009 by joining Conor Oberst and M. Ward in the aptly named supergroup Monsters Folk and releasing a six-song tribute to fallen Beatle George Harrison simply titled Tribute To. Recorded in 2001 immediately after Harrison’s death, Tribute To contains little more than acoustic guitar, Yames’ multi-tracked, reverb-drenched vocals, and six of the Quiet Beatle’s finest moments.

Opener “Long, Long, Long” — originally a White Album gem — gets by on a hauntingly sparse guitar riff and mournful vocals from Yames, before languid post-breakup number “Behind That Locked Door” inherits a bit of Southern twang, something Harrison surely thought of when he penned the track for Bob Dylan in 1970. Yames takes the original Eastern inspiration of 1966’s “Love You To” (widely considered the first Western pop song to incorporate Indian elements) and relocates it to the banjo-led Southern Gothic backwoods, before stripping “My Sweet Lord” down to its majestic bones, reminding us in the process of Harrison’s prodigious talents. But it’s existential closer “All Things Must Pass” that brings a tear quickest to the eye, as Yames’ pitch-perfect approximation of Harrison’s honey-dipped voice adds extra weight to the song. Know what’s really fun? Give Tribute To’s stark spirituality a spin while debating whether Harrison would have approved of Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr’s decision to market The Beatles: Rock Band as a $250 video game. –NM

The Octopus Project first came to my attention by way of their excellent collaboration with Black Moth Super Rainbow on 2006’s The House Of Apples And Eyeballs. That history made me expect something different from the Austin, TX, trio’s newest EP, Golden Beds, but instead of in-your-face electronica and syrupy vocoder lyrics, the six-song set contains organic and warm offerings that point in a new direction. “Wet Gold” features bleating synthesizers and cozy vocal harmonies layered over standard drums and lightheaded keys, while “Moon Boil” comes off as more abrasive, with crunchy and frenetic guitar riffs zooming from end to end of the two-and-a-half-minute track. The Octopus Project’s trademark feedback-heavy lyrics return on “Moon Boil,” allowing the entire concoction to build to an exhilarating bubble.

Contrasting those two short but sweet contributions, “Rorol,” retooled from the band’s 2002 debut, never builds on an eerie theremin opening, wasting nearly a third of Golden Beds. “Wood Trumpet” is basically instrumental electro-lite with an indie rock lilt, packing a punch that may have felt stronger with lyrics, while EP closer “Half A Nice Day” relies strictly on blips and bloops to further its candy-coated message. No matter what path The Octopus Project pursues next, one of Golden Beds’ diverse six tracks will have pointed in that direction, making it a perfect stopgap for fans and newcomers alike. –NM