What if

Walk the Moon lit up the pop world in 2014 with "Shut Up and Dance," a giddy love song that's become a staple of baseball-stadium dance-cam breaks and sweaty parties thanks to its anthemic, commanding chorus and jittery, Eighties-inflected feel. With their new record What If Nothing, the Cincinnati-based band is ready to show fans what else it can do.

Since the release of his debut album, Substantial, in 2004, Volker Bertelmann - aka Hauschka - has, slowly but surely, earned a remarkable reputation as a purveyor of imaginative, distinctive, prepared piano music. This isn't, to be fair, a heavily populated field, but it's one he's made his own, and while some might have dismissed his work early on as a novelty, Bertelmann has proven himself to be uncommonly inventive, coaxing ever more unprecedented, euphonic sounds and rhythms out of his instrument. Even so, on What If - which finds him adding player pianos (also known as pianolas) to his armoury - Bertelmann expands his range even further, defying expectations and delivering what is without doubt his most ingenious album yet.