The Afro-Semitic Experience, Jazz Souls on Fire (www.afrosemiticexperience.net). This is a departure, even for the ever-eclectic and adventurous ASE. It’s not that the band doesn’t do covers, but they’ve tended to be of traditional melodies from various religious services.This is a more contemporary set, though no less sacred. The songs are rousing spiritual soul, funk, jazz ditties by such hallowed talents as Duke Ellington, Pharaoh Sanders (“The Creator Has a Master Plan,” suffused with the distinctive slide-guitar stylings of Stacy Phillips), Sister Rosetta Thorpe, John Coltrane, Hank Mobley. The foundations on which the band was built, klezmer and gospel, are diminished here (though not by any means gone), and there are a lot more vocals (in English, anyway) than ASE listeners are accustomed to. Thomas A. Dorsey’s “I’m Going to Live the Life I Sing About in My Song,” which has been recorded by both Mahalia Jackson and Nina Hagen, is given a brisk bluesy vibe. There are some trad spiritual tunes to round out the disk: “Fon Der Khupe,” “Avadim Hayinu” (previously recorded on the first Afro-Semitic Experience album, Once We Were Slaves, much fuller and richer and more resonant in this rendition, which spotlights the bass virtuosity of Afro-Semitic co-founder David Chevan) and a “Go Down Moses,” which has almost a marching band feel, until the jazz piano kicks in. A noteworthy stretch for this accomplished ensemble, less overtly prayerful than the band’s earlier work perhaps but with no less faithful fervor.

Belle and Sebastian, Girls in Peacetime Want to Dance (Matador). It’s weird to realize that I’m still having trouble dealing with the “new,” more professionally produced and mainstream-poppy Belle and Sebastian, even though the band has been that way for12 years now, since Dear Catastrophe Waitress. Something still strikes me funny about how Stuart Murdoch thinks his audience wants to dance rather than just stare at the shoes like in the good old days. Selling out, self-delusion, or whatever else, I still dig the more laid-back stuff, and fairly recent releases such as Write About Love and God Help the Girl show that it’s still in Stuart Murdoch’s power to show restraint. On the other hand, there’s an ironic bliss to songs like The Party Line, which has tacky old disco beats and lyrics like “People like to shoot at things with borrowed guns and knives,” or  the even faster, dancier, odder “Enter Sylvia Plath.” I can get it—Belle & Sebastian has its dance-pop crowd just like Stephen King has his sci-fi Dark Tower crowd, and I don’t have to like it. There’s still plenty of other stuff for me left to like, even if I wish there were some alternate solo acoustic take of the overblown yet essentially sweet and sultry “The Book of You” that I could wallow in. And I will never completely give up on a band that can write a song (the most wistful on the album) titled “Today” and subtitled “This Army’s for Peace.”

Plastikman, Ex. Here’s techno that’s not obsessed with getting out on the floor. This is a slowbuilding piece that finds its own pace and persuasive attitude, one careful blip or bloop at a time.

The Ex album can be heard here.

An EP of Ex remixes is due in late March.

Summer Cannibals, Show Us Your Mind (New Moss Records). Set for release on March 3, this is already the second full album from a band that only formed in 2012 and just started getting on folks’ radar in 2013. It’s a delirious blend of two genres I personally care very deeply about: unabashed garage rock and outspoken conversational Waitresses-style lyrical statements. No annoyingly long guitar solos; you are not allowed to forget a riff for even a few seconds. In the same wailing ballpark as Those Darlins, but sharper and cuter and just plain better.

Slutever, “Smother.” Dizzy timeless girl punk. They want you to smother them. In a good way. They’re asking you to.

Portion Control, “I Staggered Mentally (LP preview clips). Clattery yet evenly built near-noise. More reminiscent of Stomp than Faust, though. Portion control is right.

Van Kaye + Ignit, A Slight Delay (LP preview clips). Is there a ‘70s style that’s not accessed here? I hear synthesizers, glam chords, Nina Hagenesque vocals, minimalist German rock. All the tricks.

Slug, “Running to Get Past Your Heart.” Catchy sample-built rock tune. Spooky mix of human and machine.

Mount Eerie, “Dragon.” Peaceful lyre-like opening and angelic vocals with a weird murmuring in the background. Then it gets more obstreperous, but also more casual and familiar. If Belle and Sebastian had gone in a more inward direction back in the ‘00s, they might have ended up here.

Allah-Las, “Worship the Sun.” Languorous summer tune, replete with fun-in-the-sun home-movie-style video. There’s an early Velvet Underground quality to this that’s so hard to pull off—intense but casual, singing about the sun with drowsy bass lines and jangling guitars.