- la Jungla is a quote from Townes Van Zandt, his description of a drug-addled, booze-fuelled trip south of the border; it’s Spanish for -you guessed it- the jungle. Kyle Jenkins of Suicide Swans takes it more generally as a symbol of all the many ways a person can be lost. It’s both a fitting and yet a funny name for the band’s latest full-length. Fitting because the record’s full of that archetypal, broken country sadness and also a roaring richness, really orchestrating a sensation of rising confusion and wild-eyed insanity.

- Tracheotomies. Not the sort of subject matter you find in most songs, but then again, most songwriters aren’t Will Sheff. So begins Into the Rainbow Rain, the ninth album by venerable indie rockers Okkervil River. The album is an upbeat, jaunty affair with mellifluous melodies that would go well with a summer breeze and an icy drink. That’s not to say that it is without dark moments and lyrics (it isn’t), but by Okkervil River standards, this is joyous as an album gets.