The closest Body Language comes to a “Can’t Get You Out of My Head”-sized pop monster is the slinky single “Slow,” but that’s not a bad thing. Instead of trying to rehash her cash cow, Kylie takes a page from Justin and updates the dance-soul of Michael Jackson, Prince and Lisa Lisa & Cult Jam. Of course, given that Kylie was actually around back in the ’80s, maybe this album is atonement for “The Loco-motion.” B+

Considering their four biggest hits (“Heart of Glass,” “Tide Is High,” “Rapture,” “Call Me”) tapped four completely different sounds (disco, reggae, hip hop, new wave), it’s a bummer to find Blondie settling for by-the-numbers synth-rock on their latest comeback album. With the exception of the spry electro-stomper “Good Boys,” Curse’s few notable moments (“Background Melody,” “Hello Joe”) emerge when they locate their once-trademark chameleonic mojo. C+

The bad news: There’s nothing on Phantom Planet that sounds like “California,” The O.C. theme song Phantom Planet does. The good news: Their newly raver sound is something Seth Cohen (you O.C. heads know what I’m talking about) would totally approve of.. Fitting comfortably into the Hollywood-fashionable retro-CBGBs rock landscape, songs like “Big Brat” and “By the Bed” come off admirably as a more ambitious, if less tuneful, Strokes. B-

Okay, yes, Wilco’s Yankee Hotel Foxtrot was good but it wasn’t the be-all of so-called alt-country. Lambchop, a baker’s dozen-plus ensemble led by the genuine Nashvillian Kurt Wagner, also stretches the twang, but as much toward jazz and mid-’70s symphonic R&B as toward college rock dissonance. Wisely picking up from 200’s Nixon instead of 2002’s limp Is a Woman, this two-album double-opus has many highlights, including “Sunrise” and “Steve McQueen.” A

After their atmospheric soundtrack work for Lost in Translation, Air returns to the electronic-acoustic space pop of Moon Safari—kind of. The tunes are less immediate and come off initially as weightless and meandering—too much ambience, not enough good eatin’. But after a few listens, the robotic swoon of songs like “Run” becomes strangely magnetic. B+

It’s easy to forget that TLC ruled the girl-group throne for almost a decade. But from the hop-hop funk of “Ain’t 2 Proud 2 Beg” to the smooth “Waterfalls,” it’s easy to hear why: They deftly adapted to the style du jour without ever sacrificing personality. Unfortunately, Now & Forever omits Left Eye’s Missyesque solo single “The Block Party,” which is easily more exciting than any of the tracks here from their last record, 3D. B