New Releases: The New Pornographers Take On All Comers

You know what? I'm through with Challengers-related puns. The New Pornographers did a clever thing by setting themselves up for a million insanely obvious headlines related to the title of their new album. But besides the one above, you're not going to see another one from this keyboard. No sir. It's a challenge to myself. Oh crap. Challengers, The New Pornos' latest, is out on Tuesday.

Summer is officially gone. Just check the temperature outside. But thankfully, no more summer means a lot more music. The fall release season makes its usual early kick-off this week with a number of huge titles beyond the Pornos' LP. Here are a few:

Caribou's Andorra takes Dan Snaith's space-pop to new and surreal highs that will make you wonder what the hell happened to the laptop musician who was once just as famous for legal battles over his moniker.

Architecture In Helsinki have decided the best way to escape making twee pop is to beef up their sound and make themselves sound like Beck, circa Midnite Vultures. Not bad, says I. Places Like This is their newest effort.

It seems like only yesterday that Bedouin Soundclash were winning a Juno Award and gracing the cover of Chart. Actually, truth be told, it really wasn't too long ago. Nevertheless, Street Gospels sees the band moving in a slightly less poppy direction, but should continue their success.

Once MIA got past her immigration issues, she proceeded to hit every festival this side of the Atlantic to stir up buzz for her second effort, Kala. It worked, because what I've seen so far has led me to believe the album is really, really good.

Stay tuned in the next few weeks. It's going to be a busy fall.