Rock

 "SEXY LOSERS," The High Score (Lynnpoint)

Former Ramblin' Roy and Faults members Robbie Trosper and Jason Peters team with former Mustard frontman Chris Cook for this 12-track debut. In the High Score, Trosper and Cook share vocal duties on tracks that touch on classic rock and even a little cosmic country.

The band deserves extra credit in the song title department - "Mohawks and Birkenstocks," "Motley Who," "Let the Stupidness Begin." www.thehighscore.net

"TUBES, WOOD & METAL," The French Broads (Disgraceland)

The French Broads' sophomore release continues the band's winning combination of good, catchy songs and smart playing. Fronted by John T. Baker, the Broads address sleeplessness and "Big Orange Paint" as well as producing a particularly addictive tribute to Guided by Voices singer Robert Pollard.

It's hook-heavy solid work from one of Knoxville's best back-to-basics outfits.

"SCHEISSGEIST," The Torture Lab (Whistle Britches)

This low-budget punk opera is far more listenable than it has any right to be. The creative team of Billy Decker, Jason Roach and Humpy tell the story of a boy who undergoes a demoralizing bit of abuse that gives him a certain fecal fixation.

The result combines a Frank Zappa-style-anything-goes irreverence with the "what can we get away with?" attitude of smart-alecky teenage boys locked in a bedroom with a tape recorder. The Torture Lab includes a variety of musical styles and manages to be both amateurish and accomplished at the same time.

Decker delivers one of the worst German accents on record, and the group's song "SDSF" is as simultaneously offensive and catchy as vintage Wayne County and the Electric Chairs or Dean and the Weenies.

"SPRINGTIME IS FOR THE HOPELESS AND OTHER IDEAS," Dixie Dirt (Champ)

For a release that is truly trippy, put the new album by Dixie Dirt in the CD player. It's spacey and meandering in a good way.

It's late-night music for when the party has died down to just a few hardcores watching the moths beat themselves silly on the porch light.

Long songs are punctuated with bursts of brain cell-frying guitar and unexpected harmonies. http://www.runfume.net/

"HUH," Smokin' Dave and the Premo Dopes (Disgraceland)

This reissue of the swan song by one of Knoxville's most beloved rock 'n' roll bands captures Smokin' Dave and the Premo Dopes at their best. It's irreverent but accomplished.

Standouts include the nearly classic "You Must Be From Nashville" and "Gimme Keith Richards' Blood." www.disgraceland.com

"UNDER THE HOUSE," Tim Lee (www.paisleypop.com)

After nearly a decade with Louisiana-based rock band the Windbreakers, singer-songwriter Tim Lee has relocated to Knoxville and released his first solo disc.

With help from French Broads frontman John T. Baker, Lee performs rock for those who are staring middle-age in the face and not exactly sure they like what they see.