Cinematic Pop Deluxe

Since forming in 2012, Seattle-based duo ODESZA quickly became one of the most popular, influential indie electronic acts in America. By the time they made their Counter Records debut in 2014, with their second album In Return, they had already become a staple at music festivals, and their headlining gigs were selling out left and right. Their music typically consists of warm, glitchy chillwave beats and choppy, pitch-shifted vocals, as well as an intriguing usage of exotic-sounding acoustic instruments, all fine-tuned for maximum emotional impact…

Nearly unrecognizable as the work of the one-time punk rock outfit, Night Drive is effectively Chromatics' third debut album in a row, following a wholesale transformation in sound and style and yet another lineup change: Adam Miller is again the sole constant member; vocalist Ruth Radelet is a new addition even since the 2006 teaser Nite, replacing Lena Okazaki, while Glass Candy's Johnny Jewel, who produced that single, is now a full-fledged member. Actually, this seems to be Jewel's record more than anyone's – in the silver-screen conceit of the liner notes he's listed as director to Miller's screenwriter, though he also has a writing credit on all the record's originals, only four of which (the vocal songs) Miller co-wrote – indeed, Jewel is emerging as the primary musical force behind much of the Italians Do It Better label. Among that camp of synthesizer-disco revivalists, Chromatics stand out as the most lush and cinematic, drawing on the more languorous, atmospheric aspects of '80s electronica to fashion a hazy imaginary soundtrack to a stylish, decadent noir film (as the album's visual presentation suggests) or just a lonely late-night drive (as per the opening "Telephone Call").

There is poignant irony in the fact that Enigma's Michael Cretu chose painter Wolfgang Beltracchi, the world's most famous art forger, to illustrate The Fall of a Rebel Angel, his first album in eight years. …

Lana Del Rey is a femme fatale with a smoky voice, a languorous image, and a modeling contract. Not coincidentally, she didn't lack for attention leading up to the release of her Interscope debut, Born to Die…