Album

There was one blowout fight between Sam Herring and William Cashion during their stay in Elizabeth City, N.C., this past spring. Herring, the guts-on-his-sleeve singer of Future Islands, and bassist Cashion were at Thumpers Downtown Bar & Grill with keyboardist/programmer Gerrit Welmers and producer Chester Endersby Gwazda after a long day of recording. Little did Herring know, Cashion and Gwazda were feeding him drinks with plans to later do "drunk takes," in which Herring would record vocals inebriated.

Alex Turner has a writer's eye. The Arctic Monkeys' singer-songwriter pens lyrics full of biting wit and pointed remarks. On "Reckless Serenade," a track from his band's recently released fourth album, he sings of the "type of kisses where teeth collide" before his narrator sadly retreats, singing, "Called up to listen to the voice of reason and got his answering machine. " His perspective, both humorous and earnest, stands out in modern-day rock. So where does the 25-year-old from Sheffield, England, draw inspiration?

This week, we asked about your favorite tunes. Here's what you had to say. •••• “Changing Times” by Iwan Rheon -- dianamramirez11  via Twitter ••• Mary Mary - “Something Big” --A ntoine Campbell  via Facebook •••• Blink-182 - “Neighborhoods” --E rin C. McGaunn  via Facebook ••••  The Civil Wars' “Barton Hollow” ...

In eight days, the Baltimore-via-North Carolina post-wave trio Future Islands will release "On the Water," the band's accomplished third album. NPR is streaming the entire album here , so give it a run-through before you decide if it deserves the accolades it'll likely receive. (Over/under on a Pitchfork score? I'd take the over at 8.0.) There are plenty of highlights, including "Great Fire," a track that features Wye Oak's Jenn Wasner on vocals. More Future Islands coverage to come.

With a timbre suggestive of Billie Holiday and an intimate style of phrasing that needs only the subtlest twist of a syllable to hook a listener, Madeleine Peyroux has cleared a distinctive path in today's jazz world. That path does not include a lot of self-promotion. The Georgia-born singer, songwriter and guitarist has a reputation for being on the reclusive side. There have been periods when she simply dropped out of sight (during one such period about a decade ago, she did some busking in Paris)

Within a couple of hours of picking up his first ring, Ravens quarterback Joe Flacco was back on a football field, a champagne bottle in his right hand and his bride and his groomsmen crouched down in front of him like hulking offensive linemen. Flacco barked out commands to his tuxedo-clad teammates as he waited for his new wife to toss him the bouquet from underneath her lacy white dress. The steel bleachers at Audubon High School were empty, save for a few friends and family members.

"Chillwave" is not a taboo word around these parts, so if you download only one song today, make it Neon Indian's latest, "Fallout. " Chillwave-detractors will laugh at this but it's true: frontman Alan Palomo shows growth on "Fallout" by finding structure in his songwriting. Where some of his tracks have felt directionless, "Fallout" floats along with a purpose, leading to the song's repeated mantra: "If I could fallout of love with you / I want to fallout of love with you. " Psychic Chasms , his first album, made him the poster boy of a genre, but it only hinted at Palomo's deft hand.

Keith Urban's new album, "Get Closer," had an inauspicious start. The guitars he had long used — some for 20 years — and that he counted as a key component of each recording session, as vital as some of his musicians, were all under water. In May of last year, Nashville was flooded, and Urban's guitars were one of the smaller casualties of the disaster. He thought he wouldn't recover. "It's a strange feeling having these guitars — you feel like the caretaker, and the flood was completely unexpected," he said.

Click here to download a free album full of tracks from Fearless artists via Amazon.com. I haven't gone through the whole album yet but most of the tracks sound like decent pop punk. This song caught my attention; Every Avenue - Whatever Happened to You: