Pop

While Stuart Murdoch was working on the last Belle & Sebastian album, 2007's The Life Pursuit, he hatched the idea for God Help the Girl, a musical narrative with female singers. The result: a set of chiming, chirpy, deeply orchestrated songs that looks backward to '60s Brit-pop (think Sandie Shaw or Petula Clark) and sideways to the last two B&S albums.

The 14 tracks, including two instrumentals and several repurposed and rerecorded Life Pursuit songs, feature the B&S band with gorgeous widescreen orchestral arrangements from B&S' Mick Cooke. The vocals come from newcomer Catherine Ireton and other women (several drafted via an Internet posting), with Murdoch singing on two tracks and the Divine Comedy's Neil Hannon on one.

Murdoch plans to incorporate these songs into a film, and a few feel constrained by their narratives and a few others seem like very good B&S karaoke. But there are gems, too, including the galloping "Musician Please Take Heed," the lilting "I Just Want His Jeans," and the goofy "I'll Have To Dance With Cassie."

- Steve Klinge

Moby
Wait For Me
(Little Idiot ***1/2)

It's been a decade since pint-sized Moby blew up to extra-large to become the world's biggest shaven-headed vegan DJ, with the blues-infused field-holler techno of the ubiquitous Play. Since then, the mixmaster born Richard Melville Hall has receded to a more comfortable size, most recently with last year's old-school dance-floor workout, Last Night.

Wait For Me is that album's antithesis: It's an ambient chill-out record on which Moby wisely puts aside the modern rock moves of 2005's Hotel and smartly farms out the vocals to singers more skilled and soulful than he, while melding the melancholy of Play with delicately pretty electronic textures. An old pro, getting back to what he does best.

- Dan DeLuca

Japandroids
Post-Nothing
(Polyvinyl ***)

"We used to dream," the Japandroids repeatedly sing, feeling their youth slipping away in "Young Hearts Spark Fire." "Now we worry about dying / I don't want to worry about dying / I just want to worry about those sunshine girls."

So it goes on Post-Nothing, the first full-length from the Vancouver, B.C., duo of guitarist Brian King and drummer David Prowse, who specialize in droning, catchy garage-rock salvos that express the angst of early adulthood without boring us too much with the details. They would dearly love to stay "Crazy/Forever" but know the chances of that are pretty slim, which makes them want to make that much bigger a noise.

- D.D.

Levon Helm
Electric Dirt
(Vanguard ***)

With 2007's Grammy-winning Dirt Farmer, Levon Helm made a triumphant return after a long battle with throat cancer. Electric Dirt, as the title hints, expands on that folk-based record, making it more reminiscent of his legendary work with the Band.

Rural themes surface again. "Growing Trade," by Helm and guitarist-producer Larry Campbell, is a moving farmer's lament, and Happy Traum's "Golden Bird" has the fiddle-laced air of an old Appalachian ballad. "Move Along Train" and "When I Go Away," however, introduce deep gospel grooves, and "You Can't Lose What You Ain't Never Had" injects a dose of blues.

Helm's Arkansas drawl is a bit pinched now, but it's still robust enough for a funky, very Band-like take on the Grateful Dead's "Tennessee Jed." Also making a Band connection are two numbers with horn arrangements by Allen Toussaint, who did the charts for the Band's Rock of Ages live album: Randy Newman's New Orleans-flavored "King Fish" and an R&B workout, "I Wish I Knew How It Would Feel to Be Free," that ends the set on an appropriately lively note.

- Nick Cristiano

Country/Roots

From her sensational jailbait debut in the '70s through her recent TLC reality show, Tanya Tucker has often led a tabloid-worthy life. Her musical instincts, however, have more often than not remained true. That's especially so on My Turn, as the smoky-voiced singer teams with Pete Anderson, Dwight Yoakam's old guitarist and producer, for a set of vintage country songs.