The Gaslight Anthem, 'The '59 Sound'

Tortoise, 'Prepare Your Coffin'

Something Fierce, 'Aliens'

Altar-native Rock: The Church

THE CHURCH IS 29 years old. While that's a drop in the bucket compared to many European houses of worship, it's forever in rock 'n' roll.

"I always said this is a very special chemistry which works beyond the logistics of surviving, beyond the occasional personality conflict or philosophical disagreement," said guitarist Marty Willson-Piper.

"All that is irrelevant. ... There's something that we do that you can't just hire somebody to do. So, if that's the truth, you want to be holding onto it really, really hard."

But it's been 21 years since the Australian band's "Under the Milky Way" was a mainstream hit for the former college-radio faves, and that has meant the Church has had to learn to work smart.

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Liner Notes: Adam Franklin, 'Spent Bullets'

ADAM FRANKLIN HAS always sounded reserved, even when his previous band, Swervedriver, was crushing psychedelic riffs that sounded like The Stooges and Hawkwind engaged in a cosmic joy ride.

But with his new solo record, "Spent Bullets" (Second Motion), he's finally nailed his laconic post-Swervedriver voice.

Perhaps it was because Swervedriver's 2008 reunion tour went so well, or that his Magnetic Morning project with Interpol drummer Sam Fogarino was so well received, but Franklin's songwriting on "Spent Bullets" is as confident as it is consistent, presenting 10 mostly midtempo songs that capture his folky, dreamy melodies and quietly soulful voice.

"Various people have said — and I agree — that it's good that the whole album has a consistent sound," Franklin said. "But the songs are from various periods — some of the songs are quite old — but somehow it all kind of all falls into place thematically. ... But you never know quite how it's going to turn out: You start recording and there's one song you think might be the main song, then it falls by the wayside. Then another song that you think is a complete throwaway comes up at the last minute."

When Swervedriver was on hiatus, Franklin started recording and touring under the name Toshack Highway — mostly because he felt odd about being a solo artist.

"When you go out under your own name — it feels a bit strange," Franklin said. "That's partly why I went for Toshack Highway initially, but then I thought people didn't remember the name Toshack Highway. And basically when you're a band on the road, and you're at a truck stop, sitting down getting your coffee, and the waitress comes over and says, 'Hey, are you guys in a band?' And we say, 'Yeah, we're in a band.' And she says, 'What's the name of the band?' And it seems weird to say, 'It's named after him.' Now we can say, 'It's named Bolts of Melody.'

So, you named your backing band based on the fear and loathing you'd receive from truck-stop waitresses?

"I suppose so," Franklin laughed.

Express did manage to get the reserved Franklin to open up a bit with a track-by-track tour of "Bolts of Melody."

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Liner Notes: Wheat, 'White Ink, Black Ink'

WHEAT RELEASED ITS first album 11 years ago — and this is most likely the first time you've heard of the band, which plays vintage Flaming Lips-like indie rock, swinging from epic layered freak-outs to sparse experimental pop.

But that relative anonymity doesn't bother the group's mainstays — guitarist-singer Scott Levesque and drummer Brendan Harney — in the least.

"Not at all frustrating," said Harney. "[Rather it's] both something that is liberating and something we're basically indifferent about. See, we've kinda found that people really dig one record of ours ... and then kinda want that version of Wheat to be the one that they always get — and that seems to leave a trail of disappointment. ... We are a tough band to follow because of the constant changing."

But Wheat's latest album, "White Ink, Black Ink" (The Rebel Group), is its most straightforward, least obtuse CD yet, featuring 11 songs that are as catchy as they are consistent. Levesque's voice recalls the tremulous croon of Tim Kinsella, but his lyrics address more relatable things than the Joan of Arc frontman's cryptic observations. "Living to Die" and "I Want Less," for instance, address a Zen-like approach to life, which was inspired in part by the February 2008 death of Levesque's father.

Even with the CD's instant likability, Wheat's music still retains the mystery that made its previous releases — four LPs, one mini album, plus expanded reissues — such great headphone gems.

"My love of musical acceptance is always overshadowed by my love of artistic exploration," Levesque said. "But not just being as far out for far out's sake, but all the spaces in between the extremes, like, say, atonal screechy gray noise pressed up against the most pristine and pointed woodwind."

"It's not being willfully obscure; it's more about being very easily bored," Harney said, "and never wanting to even come close to repeating ourselves. We really do love pop, but we really also do love strange and difficult beauty."

Express conducted an epic e-mail interview with Wheat and had Harney and Levesque give a track-by-track tour of "White Ink, Black Ink."

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Liner Notes: Darkest Hour, 'The Eternal Return'

THE THEORY OF eternal return posits the universe has no starting or ending but the matter within it is finite and ever-changing.

Darkest Hour's own take on "The Eternal Return" (Victory Records), the D.C. metal band's sixth album, deals with that philosophical concept by trying to bash it into submission. The breathless CD was recorded in Baltimore's Salad Days Studio with producer Brian McTernan but without guitarist Kris Norris, who left the group last year.

"The press is an interesting place to tell the dirty insides of the way a band operates," said guitarist Mike Schleibaum, 32, who co-founded Darkest Hour in 1995 with singer John Henry. "So, in fairness to Kris and our friendship ... sometimes real-life problems start to creep in, and it just got to the point where there were problems that were creeping into the band."

Mike "Lonestar" Carrigan replaced Norris, and he and Schleibaum handle all the ax duties on "The Eternal Return." While Darkest Hour still mixes melodic Swedish death metal and D.C.-inspired hardcore, the album is the group's most furious since 2001's "So Sedated, So Secure." That return to Darkest Hour's early brutality was due in part to the influence of McTernan, who produced the group's 2000 debut, "The Mark of the Judas."

"We wanted to find out what is Darkest Hour," Schleibaum said. "It just felt like we needed to go back to somebody who knew where we came from to figure out the actual essence of what we're trying to do. ... This is a band that grew up in front of everybody ... and every record got a little better. This record is, like, adults who beat the [stuff] out of each other to make some [angry stuff]."

While "The Eternal Return" sounds tumultuous, it also captures the essence of what makes Darkest Hour so amazing and its concerts so inspiring.

"We still love metal," Schleibaum said. ""Musically [the CD is] very angry, but you definitely see five guys who want to be there, who like it enough to have dedicated our lives to it."

Schleibaum gave Express a track-by-track tour of "The Eternal Return" while standing outside the Sonar club in Baltimore where Darkest Hour was performing on the "Summer Slaughter" tour. Click hear to listen alone to the whole album while reading Schleibaum's funny, energetic, swear-word-loaded commentary.

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Punk Means Cuddle: Insubordination Fest 2009

THE NAME SHOUTS anarchy, but Insubordination Fest is more like a punk-rock cuddle. The brainchild of the Insubordination Records label in Columbia, Md., the two-day event (plus a jam-packed pre-show concert the day before) is a first-class showcase for the thriving pop-punk underground.

"And there's a lot of great melodic hardcore bands playing, too," said label and festival co-founder Christopher Thacker. "We just try to find bands that write catchy, hook-driven songs."

That includes everything from goofy '80s punkers Dead Milkmen to the 15-year-old pop-punk group Dillinger Four as headliners, along with Toys That Kill, Pansy Division, Teen Idols, Squirtgun, Copyrights and about 50 more bands including the recently reformed Boris the Sprinkler and Abducted. Also on the bill are Insubordination Records bands Be My Doppelganger, Le Volume Etait au Maximum, The Adorkables, Beatnik Termites and The Cretins.

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Sing It Loud, 'Come Around'

The Dangerous Summer, 'Where I Want to Be'