pop

Maybe Seattle electro-popsters Brite Futures named Dark Past (Turnout), their debut-as-such, in reference to their decidedly dubious original moniker, about which the less is said, the better. It certainly couldn't be about the music, which is as DayGlo bright as all get-out: glamtastic party-rocking power-pop with mirrorball glimmers of everybody from Queen to Daft Punk. It's blatantly mindless fun that, for once, is genuinely fun. —K. Ross Hoffman

rock/blues/punk

Janet Bressler has worn many hats, literally and figuratively, over the last 20 years but none more dramatic than the "psycho-Celtic glam blues band" Sylvia Platypus. On SP's new self-titled EP, Bressler's girl-Iggy voice leaps furiously and tenderly over Bill Barone's crunching guitars and Charlie Rutan's bagpipes, while her rhythm section churns like Raw Power -era Stooges. Though they touch on gypsy jams and punk paeans, Bressler saves room for ballads and drinking songs on "Pass the Tankard, Wench." SP plays Tin Angel tonight (Dec. 22, tinangel.com). —A.D. Amorosi

electronic/pop

M + A is Michele Ducci and Alessondro Degli Angioli, two young Italians whose things.yes (Monotreme) feels less like a debut album than a magical mechanical music box stuffed with surprises, curiosities, sunny clutter and uncloying cuteness. It's a funny, beguiling little record that's tough to place in a contemporary context but would've made perfect sense a decade ago, sandwiched between the tunefully glitchy IDM of Plaid and Plone and the so-called lap-pop of Notwist and Lali Puna. —K. Ross Hoffman

hip-hop

Gucci Mane, God bless him, is one rapper who's never let good judgment mess with his shit. Makes perfect sense that the lovable, always-in-jail Atlanta MC would collaborate with V-Nasty, the oft-incarcerated court jester of Oakland's Kreayshawn-led White Girl Mob. Their BAYTL (Warner Bros.) comprises a dozen tracks, all crafted by longtime Gucci collaborator Zaytoven in that synth-juggling Bricksquad style. Best song? Maybe "F*** You," whose sing-along chorus is the best possible complement to V-Nasty's unstable/hilarious gun talk ("I think they mad 'cause I'm relevant/ big choppers put holes in elephants"). —Drew Lazor