And so everything slowly returns to normal. Happy new release year! We're starting off slow with kaleidoscopic microcosms (?) and a granite country record.

Album of the Week

Alex Kapranos and co. haven't lost a thing in recent years. Eight years after Always Ascending , Franz Ferdinand still looks as sharp as they did in 2004. In fact, on The Human Fear, they even sound like they've just rolled off the production line—still brimming with bravado and good ideas. Bold is the key word. The Scots can pull off some grand choruses, but they never play them straight. In that respect, they're still learning from their FFS comrades Sparks, as well as The Specials, Madness, and Queen, indeed. Beneath the hit-worthy quality lie songs about fear of commitment and (in)dependence, and on "Black Eyelashes," Kapranos confronts his Greek identity. And all of that in 35 minutes. CD / LP

	Lambrini Girls plays like they both have two hands full of middle fingers. Enough themes to drive you mad, as evidenced by titles like "Company Culture," "No Homo," and "You're Not From Around Here." Police brutality, check. Homophobia, check. Racism, check. Mic check . Let's smash this place to pieces. IDLES could learn a thing or two from the infectious fury of "Who Let The Dogs Out . " CD / LP
	Hooks Ringo Starr Opportunistically capitalizing on the country revival? No way. Even back in his Beatles days, he was playing Buck Owens covers. Such classic country music dominates " Look Up ," beautifully arranged by none other than T Bone Burnett. From the new(er) generation, Billy Strings, Larkin Poe, Lucius, and Alison Krauss, among others, appear. CD / LP
	Fuse is a rather elusive concept. They're the house band at Podium Klassiek, sound suspiciously like a jazz band, but play like a pop group. Their latest album is called Mikrokosmos : because it encompasses a hundred styles in one and, in the span of a double album, covers the entire life cycle of the universe. From Big Bang to the final gasp. CD / LP

Pre-orders

	No one makes such alienating pop music as Destroyer . Dan's Boogie (March 28) promises more of the unexpected. CD / LP
	Go to space and back with Steven Wilson. The Overview (March 14) promises to be another dizzying weekend – Wilson style. CD / LP / Blu-ray