2. Richard Hawley, Lady’s Bridge (Mute UK) Roy Orbison. Lee Hazlewood. Scott Walker. Sam Cooke. Carl Perkins. Nice touchstones, you say? Well, Hawley hits upon them all, and does so with a reverence that will most likely keep you checking the liner notes for the release date. A dear friend and co-conspirator of Jarvis Cocker, this Sheffield, England, native - whose album title refers to the bridge he used to take with his Da as a kid to check out their favorite record shop - is blessed with a warm brandy baritone, and he knows to seduce a room with it. Better yet: underneath the fitted suit there’s a rough-and-tumble boxer’s heart, ready to raise a ruckus if some dumb sod tries to step to his lady. Hawley might know how to pull off an ascot, but he’s still got bruised knuckles. Lady’s Bridge sways with an intriguing form of after-hours rockabilly; it’s an album that could play just as successfully in your favorite dive bar as it could in your grandparents’ living room. And yes, I mean that as a compliment.

3. Husky Rescue, Ghost Is Not Real (Catskills) Finland’s finest electro-poppers are back, and they’ve gone prog! Or, sort of. Remember when Saint Etienne headed out into the soundscapes of beyond for their Sound of Water album? What Husky Rescue has done here is comparable in its left-field-ism, and it may have alienated a few fans looking for the same squiggle-funk of 2005’s “Summertime Cowboy” single. Can’t please ‘em all, I say, but I’m still a-reveling in the pedal-steel-flavored electro-space-rock of their three-part “Blueberry Tree” epic, a fascinating 10 minutes’ worth of newly revealed intersections between Saint Etienne pop romanticism, KLF ambience, and Explosions in the Sky’s guitar-bombast melodrama. It’s perhaps the most surprising sophomore effort I’ve heard in ages. For a single-serving slice, may I suggest the video for their first single, “Nightless Night”:

4. Super Furry Animals, Hey Venus! (Rough Trade) Last time I checked, this one won’t be out over here till sometime in February, I think, and yet Britain has been falling in love all over again with the Furries for a couple of weeks now, ever since its recent release. No fair! And yes, the rumors are true - the frantic electronics of past albums are nearly absent from Hey Venus!, opening up room for lush strings, ringing brass, and plenty of emphasis on glowing harmonies. Dare I say it? Oh, hell - there’s a curious alternate-universe AM gold feel in places, particularly on “Show Your Hand” and “The Gift That Keeps Giving," and let’s just say I’m hooked on a feeling. Another standout is the lulling, vocally-treated futuristic doo-wop known as “Carbon Dating,” which to my ears feels like an homage to Brian Eno’s Taking Tiger Mountain By Strategy.

5. Candidate, Oxengate (Snowstorm Recordings) Anthemic grab-a-pint English folk-rock, glistening from subtle embellishments which keep these carefully constructed songs from tumbling into ho-hum strum-strum cliché territory, as well as steering clear of predictable radio-ready bluster. Largely forsaking the creep-folk element of earlier works such as 2002’s Wicker Man re-telling Nuada, Candidate retains their tried-and-true English summer holiday aesthetic while still introducing the occasional “citified” sounds of electric guitars and synthesizers. It works, marvelously. The biggest surprise? “Marie Alexander”’s careful build from somber ballad to full-on Dark Side of the Moon-tinged psychedelia, complete with stirring diva vocals straight out of “The Great Gig in the Sky.” Oh, and “(Going Back to) Amsterdam” stands as one of the finest pub-stompers of the year, no question.

So, there you are. Write your favorite record companies. Beg them for mercy.

Or, start saving those pennies.

Postscript: Oh happy day! Turns out Richard Hawley’s Lady’s Bridge will be released here after all, on Oct. 2, thanks to Mute’s American division.