Modest Mouse: We Were Dead Before the Ship Even Sank The Newest release from Modest Mouse keeps indie fans happy with the familiar sound of front man, Isaac Brock’s emotional and slurred crooning. The album, We Were Dead Before the Ship Even Sank, offers catchy melodies and weird, semi-comprehensible lyrics with a dash of indie rock and roll. This album feels like a cross-country road-trip. Songs like Dashboard, Florida, and Little Motel give the album movement - an almost escapist feeling, sometimes melancholy, sometimes manic. Parting of the Sensory offers an extended crescendo, building from a leisurely drive into a screaming dash through hair-pin turns.  Great road-trip music.   Aesop Rock: All Day East Coast underground hip-hop legend, Aesop Rock has made an unlikely move, teaming up with Nike for his latest album, All Day.Part of Nike’s Original Run series, it’sa sort of soundtrack for your morning run.  The continuous development of the album (a single 45-minute track) leads the listener through a maze of otherworldly instrumental hip hop.  Aesop hits you with a barrage of strange sounds, instead of his usual barrage of strange, multisyllabic lyrics.  Aesop’s lyrics, gritty and profound as always, are still there, just spaced out in repeating and evolving choruses throughout the track. While indented for runners, this album provides a unique audio backdrop for a stroll through any city – at home or abroad.   Booka Shade: Movements Booka Shade is a German electro-house duet, banging out some major noise in the electronic music scene with synth drum machines and keyboards. Their sophomore album, Movements, keeps the listener engaged with tracks like Mandarin Girl with its amalgam of harmonized electro mish-mash and In White Rooms with its melodic bass line and ghostly, choppy vocals. These sounds don’t go stale. Booka Shade provides some great background noise for long Eurail rides - just be careful, if you turn the click-wheel too high, you could have quite a party on your hands! —Justin Jones