The Los Angeles band led by Michael Fitzpatrick goes for 1960s soul on its debut album.

Paul Manley returns as a producer for the rock band's second full-length album.

The Clientele’s 2009 album Bonfires on the Heath was one of the best, most hauntingly beautiful records of the band’s impressive career. So strong that it spawned an equally wonderful EP made up of songs recorded at the Bonfires sessions that were deemed suitable for the album itself. Hard to believe that they couldn’t find room for the title track "Minotaur" as its fragile melody and sweetly swaying dynamics would have fit in perfectly. The same with the bouncing and sweet "Paul Verlaine"; it would have been one of the more memorable tracks there. That these songs were indeed left off only points out how good Bonfires was, and how easily the Clientele concoct note-perfect autumnal pop. Add in a moodily drifting cover of The West Coast Pop Art Experiment's creepy ballad from the late 60s,“As the World Rises and Falls,” a couple of tracks that hit the usual Clientele sweet spot between heartbreak and tender melancholy, and a long spoken word ramble from leader Alasdair MacLean, and you have a record that rises above stopgap or left-overs status. Minotaur is as essential as anything else the band has released and whether as part of Bonfires or on its own, the record stands as a welcome addition to their legacy as one of the great indie pop bands of their era. ~ Tim Sendra

James Jackson Toth's latest album is his first on the Young God label.

The 11th album for the jam rock band features a cover of Vic Chesnutt's "This Cruel Thing."