Jamie Lee

The brutal dance of a boxer is sprinkled with check-punches; half-shots and light jabs that unbalance the opponent before the pounding ensues. Similarly, Thee Silver Mt. Zion Memorial Orchestra & Tra-La-La Band’s 13 Blues for Thirteen Moons checks the listener with 12 tracks of eerie squeals, unsettling feedback and white noise before easing into  “1,000,000 Died to Make This Sound,” a molten- lava ooze preceding  an eruption of symphonic fire.

Dark imagery and golden melodies form the foundation of Lazarus Beach, the full-length debut from Birmingham, Alabama’s Through the Sparks. Brimming with indie zeal and uncanny illustrations, the 13 tracks resonate with guitar-and-piano pop that is meticulously crafted and peppered with imagery that reflects the loneliness of life at any age.

e Sea and Cake’s disposition has long been one of elation; Sam Prekop’s lifted vocals drifting above shimmering pop constructions. That disposition remains unchanged on Everybody, the Chicago quartet’s seventh full-length offering and its first in four years.

Bill Callahan gave listeners a glimpse of his new album earlier this year when he released the single “Diamond Dancer” with its penetrating violin and R&B bass line. But this teaser barely scratched the surface of Woke on a Whaleheart, Callahan’s first since stepping from behind the moniker Smog.

Cyann & Ben find very little difference in post-rock’s deconstructions and dream pop’s swirling overtures. The Paris-based quartet spins them into one sound, one experience which drifts through the doors and out the windows of Sweet Beliefs, its third offering.