Grampall Jookabox
Ropechain
www.myspace.com/grampalljookabox
Sounding like the lovechild of Devendra Banhart and A Tribe Called Quest, Grampall Jookabox careens from hip hop to hymnals to funk, punk and anything and everything between. However exotic or esoteric, no groove is safe from this noble savage: On “Old Earth, Wash My Beat” primal chanting, drumming and loopy lyrics reveal a primordial alphabet soup of influences. Any artist that produces trippy tribal tracks like “The Girl Ain’t Preggers” and “We Know We Might Be Fucked” as seamlessly as sharp edged Appalachian mountain folk like album closer “I’m Absolutely Freaked Out” is something to sneeze at. Jookabox has easily recorded one of the most interesting albums released this year. — Hilary Crowe

Collider
Six Story Walk Up
www.myspace.com/colliderdc
Area show: Red & the Black on Nov. 15
Solid, female-fronted, in-your-face rock from DC-based band Collider. Driving guitars and a steady backbeat pave the way for lead singer Mona Sahaf to soar on “Six Story Walk Up.” Check out the  opening track, “4PM Growl,” then head out to the Red & the Black on Nov. 15. — Robert Fulton

Thievery Corporation
Radio Retaliation
Eighteenth Street Lounge Music
www.thieverycorporation.com
The “outernational” movement — a term coined by Jamaican rastas for an appreciation and empathy for all people — is the trust that has kept Thievery Corporation going strong for the past dozen years, sampling from all sorts of music, both new and decades old. The “Retaliation” comes in the form of their expanding global reach in their samples; genres that tend not to get much commercial radio airplay. “Sound the Alarm” features an aggressive deep booming percussion, repetitive siren wailing, and smooth reggae vocals about changing the establishment from Sleepy Wonder (also featured in the title track). There are odes to Indian music (“Mandala”); Afrobeat (the trumpet-filled “Vampires”); salsa (“El Pueblo” with Verny Varela on vocals and T.C. sampling timbales, conga and other Latin instruments); and Go-Go (who better to go with in “The Numbers Game” than the Godfather of Go-Go, Chuck Brown). Groovy beats from an expanding arsenal of global rhythms combined with strong production lead to another winner for the DC DJ duo. — Alfredo Flores

6 Day Bender
6 Day Bender
www.6daybender.com
Area show: Quarry House Tavern Nov. 2
6 Day Bender’s self-titled debut album has 16 songs the band describes as Mountain Rock — a combo of country, bluegrass, punk and blues. Hailing from Charlottesville, the band consists of Luke Nutting on banjo and vocals, Clayton Avett on cello and guitar, Danny Breen on bass and Corey Gross on drums. What started as four guys having fun has turned in to one of the top bands from that area. The album sounds light-hearted, even with lyrics like “I’m hellbound on a barstool wondering where it all went wrong…I’ll try to sing along, but I fear I’m too far gone,” from the track “Hellbound.” While most of the songs are a sort of country-blues, don’t worry: they don’t all have the feel of the stereotypical country song with the dog lost and the truck broken and the woman cheating. It’s way more fun than that. Catch one of their area shows — they drop by D.C. and Northern Virginia pretty often and are even better live. —Jennie Raff

Lil’ Ed and the Blues Imperials
Full Tilt
Alligator Records
www.intrepidartists.com
Known to middle-aged Chicago natives as the consummate ‘80s party band, Lil’ Ed and his Blues Imperials have been shakin’ up the Windy City with slippery slide guitar riffs for 25 yea. “Life Got In The Way” is a slow burning, smoldering blues ballad and a throwback to the style of genre giants like B.B. King and Chuck Berry. A ballad worth a listen or two is “Check My Baby’s Oil.” Offensive in its woman-as-muscle-car trope, it’s a gem nonetheless. Any band that can pull off lines like “I gotta check my baby’s fluids, her transmission seems to be movin’ real slow” with soul and make mean mention of oil tanks and other men’s dipsticks is more than fine by me. — Hilary Crowe

ALSO AVAILABLE

Gaslight Society
Gaslight Society
www.gaslightsociety.com
Dishing out as much straightforward, blues-tinged garage rock as a Black Keys fan can handle, Gaslight Society’s eponymous debut is a promising indicator of what may come from many more gigs in seedy clubs and band practices in garages spent finding their own sound.

Safety Word Orange
Safety Word Orange
www.myspace.com/safetywordorange
Area Show: The Johnson Center at George Mason, Nov. 19. Rock with a good beat from Fairfax- and LA-based Safety Word Orange, who present their debut, self-titled EP. Lots good here, and we look forward to a full-length.

Olivia Mancini & the Housemates
The Chatterbox EP
www.olivimancini.com
Some more new music from local Olivia Mancini. Think horns and up-tempo energy creating a big, danceable sound. Great addition to the band’s earlier full length. If you liked “This Kind of Life,” you’ll like the new stuff as well.