POP/ROCK

The Gaslight Anthem, "American Slang" (Side One Dummy)

Brian Fallon, lead singer of the Gaslight Anthem, sings of working for time, tattooed knuckles and watching a band called the Jackknifes play in a basement. And he does it with such fierce conviction that it's easy to forget the bar-punk band's obvious reference points and contemporaries: Bruce Springsteen and the Replacements, of course, but also Social Distortion, Against Me and the Hold Steady. With the Gaslight Anthem's electrifying third album, the comparisons feel more like classic-rock homage (think Thin Lizzy and the Clash), and the record's 10 songs play as pieces of the same lost dream, one big on raspy choruses, guiding guitars and working-class shore life. This is your summer soundtrack.

The Gaslight Anthem performs July 26 at First Avenue.

MICHAEL POLLOCK, PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER

Robyn, "Body Talk Pt. 1" (Interscope)

The Swedish electro-pop star's self-titled previous album -- a 2005 smash in Sweden and a U.S. cult phenomenon in 2007 -- delivered a jolt of reinvention after an initial alignment with teen pop. The objective here is more ambiguous, the tone less frisky and more guarded.

Robyn is a cooler-tempered vocalist than most of her contemporaries, and what seems to interest her about technology is the way it alienates even as it connects. She likes reconciling these tensions, just as she insists on projecting confidence and vulnerability. "Play me some new kind of sound/Something true and sincere," she sings in "None of Dem." But her swagger hasn't left her. The album's grating opener, whose full title is unprintable here, makes a litany of complaints feel like a string of boasts. And "Dancehall Queen," an ode to 1990s Euro-dub, finds her alone in a crowd again, but without the angst of her current single "Dancing on My Own."

NATE CHINEN, NEW YORK TIMES