If you think of yourself as an innovator, probably no two records you produce will be remotely similar. That's the case with Lyrics Born. From his first solo disc after recording with Latyrx, his music veered drastically away from whatever rap trappings scarcely clung to that earlier work. Suddenly, sung vocals were overwhelmingly present between verses of his dense, lucid flow. Everywhere at Once is no different in the sense that it discards the past. The first track, "Don't Change," aptly explains LB's philosophy of creativity. "Don't Change," the lead-off track, is proof he's not content rehashing past glories as he flays his detractors. At the same time though, the track seems to be an example as to why fans have complaints to lodge with LB, seeing as the production falls somewhere in the category of lackluster '70s or '80s soul.

The Kooks

Having made his point, LB moves on to further mine that same era of funk, soul and R&B but curiously enough incorporates reggaeton on "Top Shelf." His ruminations on fine women most likely got him some action, but won't please every listener. On the rest of the disc, there are some slow groove tracks made solely for baby-making and even a tune reminiscent of the B-52s ("Do U Buy It?"). Picking this one up based on the legacy of Latyrx would be a waste, but LB does put in deft work behind the boards and creates a well-produced, evenly paced multi-genre disc for newer fans. - Dave Cantor

The Kooks
Konk
(Astralwerks)

Long before the release of this album, Kooks frontman Luke Pritchard announced to NME.com that he wanted his band's follow-up to its debut, Inside In/Inside Out, to be massive, accruing radio single after radio single and literally blowing people's heads off. That's a bit of a lofty goal, even for a band whose music has been relatively well-received both in the UK and the States. And it doesn't exactly take the short attention span of the average music listener into consideration. With buzz bands like the Kooks, who get all kinds of acclaim (and blog entries) for their debut, the love is often short-lived; that is, at least here in America, we've moved on to the next import by the time the group's sophomore effort arrives in stores.

Frightened Rabbit

Konk sounds almost exactly like Inside In with acoustic riffs layered over electric melodies, Pritchard's over-pronounced, overly rhyming vocals and its subtle hooks. While it's an engaging disc as long as it lasts, there is absolutely nothing mind-blowing about it. The first single, "Always Where I Need To Be," is catchy, strikingly similar to "Ooh La" from Inside In, humming with the notion that the Kooks are successful because they have a certain sound that's mildly unique and generally interesting, not because they are notably talented when it comes to songwriting or execution. This album is good, but if Pritchard's goal was to blow people away, he has disastrously failed. - Emily Zemler

Frightened Rabbit
The Midnight Organ Fight
(FatCat Records)

Organ Fight, much like its predecessor, Sing the Greys (which was released less than a year ago), is not an immediate listen, and many of the tracks need time to sink in. Once they do, songs like "The Twist" and "Keep Yourself Warm" reveal a myriad of influences both obvious and unexpected. Recorded over two weeks with producer Peter Katis (The National, Interpol), the record's polish belies its quick studio turnaround. "Old Old Fashioned" typifies this, as it is a nice intersection between Counting Crows (in a good way) and the Long Winters (Hutchison bears a strong vocal resemblance to LW's John Roderick, albeit with a bit of a Scottish burr). Don't scare 'em off; Hutchison and his Frightened Rabbit may not like themselves all that much, but here's guessing that you might. - Chris Drabick

M83
Saturdays=Youth
(Mute)

M83

Perhaps the strangest element of Saturdays=Youth, however, is how much of a heretofore-unseen debt the band owes to Kate Bush. "Skin of the Night" features the vocals of Morgan Kibby from the Los Angeles-based band the Romanovs. Her voice is so much akin to Bush's that the track feels like it could've been on Hounds of Love. "Up!" also features Kibby's vocals and even starts with the Bush-esque line "If I clean my rocket/We'll go flying today." Later in the song, Kibby even drops the name of that aforementioned Bush album. When coupled with a synth line that immediately recalls the Killers' "Jenny Was a Friend of Mine," the whole track seems a bit more than homage. It's a great track, but it seems like it's great because it references other (and better) work. - Jeremy Willets

Jordan Zevon
Insides Out
(New West/Ammal)

On his own songs, Zevon crackles with the angular intensity of his teenage influences, his Elvis Costello/Squeeze roots shining prismatically through his Warren-given natural talents into a potent array of sounds and styles. A good portion of Insides Out shimmers and pounds in much the same way that Jellyfish, the Grays and Fountains of Wayne reworked their Britpop fixations into distinctly American translations, from the Jason Falkneresque pop rant of "The Joke's on Me" to the Nilsson-plays-Costello piano anthemics of "Home" to the Adam Schlesinger/Todd Rundgren goofy perfection of "Camilla Rhodes." The one point where Zevon's DNA plugs directly into the speakers is on "Studebaker," when Jordan revisits one of Warren's unrecorded early gems (it originally appeared on the Enjoy Every Sandwich tribute), and the son's direct connection to the father could not be more evident or lovingly embraced. But the surprise of Insides Out isn't that Jordan Zevon occasionally channels his impossibly infamous father; it's that he successfully brings that same wickedly witty sense of melody, wordplay and human understanding to a compellingly different musical direction. - Brian Baker