Slow but hardly slowing down. Charles Lloyd is 87, played with Chico Hamilton, Gábor Szabó, and Cannonball Adderley, and is still in good form. His tenor sax is given ample space on this gentle but never predictable album.

It's almost a year old already, but that doesn't make it any less good. This is highly addictive (and a bit dirty, sweaty) acid house/EBM from the London underworld. Featuring Fat White Family/The Moonlandingz frontman Lias Saoudi, who huffs and puffs his way through the beats.

At 67, singer-songwriter Robert Forster, once the lead singer of the indie group the Go-Betweens, still manages to pull out the occasional masterpiece. The strikingly narrative Strawberries features at least two tracks worth noting: "Breakfast on the Train" and "Such a Shame." The latter, in particular, could easily be a very lonely Christmas song.

This album is actually 35 minutes long, but it sometimes makes you forget that time even exists. It's cozy music with a raw edge and the occasional foray into shoegaze-esque scenes.

Holly Golightly (her real name!) is capable of taking revenge or breaking hearts with her songs. On Look Like Trouble, she demonstrates both. 'Miss Fortune,' for example, is "a blunt piece of advice for people without any common sense." Holly describes 'It's All' as a memorial song, "dedicated to some old friends, a contribution to funerals I couldn't attend." Dark, sharp, and rooted in the lo-fi tradition of Wild Billy Childish, Holly's solo sound is a blend of pre-rock electric blues, folk, and no-frills rock 'n' roll.