Jenny and Johnny

6.9/10.0

Jenny and Johnny may appear to be a rather anonymous pairing, but it’s hardly a fluke.

Jenny is Jenny Lewis (Rilo Kiley) and Johnny is Johnathan Rice, who produced Lewis’ two solo efforts (“Acid Tongue,” “Rabbit Fur Coat”) in addition to his own solo career.

And yes, this is just about as sickeningly cute as a couple can get … a match made in indie heaven.

And the couple’s debut effort is just as adorable, if teetering on uninteresting at times.

The chemistry is undeniable, especially on the leadoff single, “Scissor Runner,” but at points, it feels as though Jenny and Johnny are just trying not to step on each other’s shoes.

The aforementioned single captures the ’60s pop radio romance like a Polaroid, a sunny haze of boy-girl harmonies and motoring guitar riffs. The sultry “My Pet Snakes” is an equally brilliant outing from the twosome, with a rearing blend of choppy baselines and seductive whispers.

“Big Wave” proves to be the peak before rolling onto shore. Like no other effort on “I’m Having Fun Now,” the track finds the duo pushing each other in new musical directions while uniting their strengths into something new and interesting.

The rest of the album — with notable exceptions “Animal” and “Just Like Zeus” — politely ambles along without an original thought to be found.

But something can be said for making pretty music, which Jenny and Johnny could feasibly do in their sleep, and the streamlined “She & Him” formula works on most levels.

If they can move beyond the cuteness — as they do at times here — we could have a romance for the ages … or at the very least, a lovely summer fling.

Phil Selway

7.3/10.0

Phil Selway might sound like another no-name singer-songwriter. He’s anything but. Being the drummer of the biggest band in the world — Radiohead — affords you certain opportunities, like releasing a solo disc on the same label that has put out albums from Wilco and The Black Keys.

But “Familial” isn’t the product of privilege and is worth release on its own merit.

Selway has occasionally provided backing vocals to Radiohead tracks (“There There,” “2+2=5”), but here, he’s on his own and stripped totally bare.

And just like the band he’s famous for being in, Selway continues to innovate, if in a more tightly restrained manner.

Bedroom noodlings have a certain limit in invention though, and “Familial” suffers a bit for it.

Selway has claimed that in recording his solo debut, he actively edited out anything deemed “very Radiohead.” He would have done well to include it, pushing the boundaries of traditional acoustic music.

There are the faintest echoes of “Kid A” in “The Ties That Bind Us” and even more so on “A Simple Life” and “Beyond Reason” — the best, and most ingenious, ditty “Familial” has to offer.

There’s a certain novelty to hearing Radiohead funneled through coffee house speakers, but even so, “Familial” doesn’t go above or beyond the scope of solo side-efforts.

But there is an unquestioned, admirable beauty to Selway’s courage and solo musings, enough to make you hope that he can find more spare time to test the bounds yet again.

Dead Confederate

8.9/10.0

The South consistently gives rise to a bountiful heap of stellar music running the gamut from blues to country to hip-hop to rock.

The one thing uniting the sound of each is an undeniable Dixie flavor, and Dead Confederate — with a southern-fried name to boot — is hardly an exception.

The Athens, Ga. five-piece’s flavor comes off as Southern Gothic, falling somewhere in the spectrum between My Morning Jacket and Smashing Pumpkins.

“Sugar” is anything but sweet — it’s as thick and dense as you can imagine. The droning, hard rock inspired riffs are pulled off with an artful tact and studied formulation.

Most remarkable is Dead Confederate’s ability to continue to layer these murky harmonies and boggy bass chords into something that is both deep and accessible.

“In the Dark” launches to an appropriately perilous, heavy start with a scorching bridge and alert organ flares. “Father Figure” sounds like it is straight out of “Siamese Dream” with a coiled, but dangerous, structure. “Giving It All Away” — which features Dinosaur Jr. frontman J. Mascis — has Dead Confederate at its most flexible.

The album’s biggest sin is the unrelenting bleakness the cover promises, an endless storm of dark, dredging elements nearly driving to the breaking point.

But the band manages to stop just short, and “Run From the Gun” is just the luscious pause “Sugar” was in dire need of.

As heavy as “Sugar” is on your heart, the temporary lifts stop just short of drowning in dense, always powerful, Southern dirges from the talented land of Dixie.