New albums: Desaparecidos; Eilen Jewell; Major Lazer

Desaparecidos

Payola

(Epitaph ***1/2)

nolead ends Read Music/Speak Spanish, the first Desaparecidos album, came out in 2002. Conor Oberst had taken a break from Bright Eyes to join some friends from Omaha to play loud, pointed punk rock, and the record seethed with Bush-era political venom. The band soon went on hiatus, however, to let Oberst devote himself to other projects, until a few years ago, when a reunion show led to some topical new singles. And now we have Payola, the second Desaparecidos full-length. It rocks, rants, and roars.

Opening with "The Left is Right," Payola rails against racism ("MariKKKopa"), questions invasions of privacy in the name of national security ("Search the Searches"), endorses the hacker group Anonymous, and encourages meaningful activism in "Radicalized" and "Slacktivist." Like the lyrics, the riffs are blunter and sharper this time, which makes the songs all the better as shout-along anthems. Oberst shreds his vocal cords screaming; the guitars crash, crackling with feedback; and the songs recklessly hurtle forward. It's a thrilling, provocative ride.

- Steve Klinge

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Kacey Musgraves, Pageant Material; Richard Thompson, Still (2 CDs); Rickie Lee Jones, Other Side of Desire; Leon Bridges, Coming Home

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Desaparecidos, with the So-So Glos and the Bandroidz, play at 8:30 p.m. Aug. 7 at Union Transfer, 1026 Spring Garden St. Tickets: $25. Information: 215-232-2100, www.utphilly.com.

nolead begins Eilen Jewell
nolead ends nolead begins Sundown Over Ghost Town
nolead ends nolead begins (Signature Sounds ***)

nolead ends "If sweetness had a sound, it would sound like my hometown," Eilen Jewell sings midway through her new album. The music, however, is anything but sweet. The atmospheric, acoustic-textured arrangement hints at something dark beneath the sultry surface, and the sense of foreboding gives the song a delicious tension that makes it anything but a syrupy ode.

So it goes throughout Sundown Over Ghost Town, Jewell's first album since moving from Boston back to her hometown of Boise, Idaho. She's always been one of the most arresting of Americana singer-songwriters, and here she weds vivid imagery to similarly spare and evocative music without the overt retro touches of some of her past work. If she feels as though she doesn't quite fit back in - she identifies with a "Half Broke Horse" - that seems only to keep her muse sharp. And if the album title reflects the downbeat nature of much of the material, Jewell concludes on a note of optimism with "Songbird."

"You illuminate, renew," she sings to her baby daughter, using a line that could apply just as well to the singer and her work.

- Nick Cristiano

Eilen Jewell, with Dietrich Strause, plays at 8 p.m. Friday at World Cafe Live, 3025 Walnut St. Tickets: $14. Information: 215-222-1400, philly.worldcafelive.com.

nolead begins Major Lazer
nolead ends nolead begins Peace is the Mission
nolead ends nolead begins (Mad Decent ***)

nolead ends For all the cartoonish multinationalism and dance-hall-reggae decor of Major Lazer, the Adult Swim animated series, it's all pop at heart. That's because the act called Major Lazer and its creator, Wes Pentz (a.k.a. Philadelphia expat DJ/producer Diplo), loves pop, plain and simple. Diplo always loved big pop, throwing scores of trashy '80s hits into Hollertronix DJ sets in North Philly and giving Madonna a luxurious synth-pop shimmy throughout Rebel Heart, recalling her glory days. As Diplo pops, so pops Major Lazer.

The dance-hall vibe of previous Major Lazer works is still part of Peace is the Answer. Thus we have hip-hoppity tracks such as "Blaze Up the Fire." The new single "Lean On" is caramel-coated dance hall, with a playful soul jive. The meeting of MC Pusha T and toaster Mad Cobra on "Night Riders" is a new hybrid: Kingston gangsta rap. Beyond the Jamaica flavor, Peace is gentle, sinsemilla-scented EDM pop, perfect for new-school divas working on their emotive yearning skills. Thus, we have turns by Ariana Grande (an epic "All My Love"), Wild Belle's Natalie Bergman ("Be Together"), and Ellie Goulding with crooner Tarrus Riley ("Powerful"). The title says it all: For Diplo, dance-hall pop is the way to the Top Ten.

- A.D. Amorosi