Todd Snider, "The Devil You Know" (New Door Records)

Snider deals in musique vérité: universal slices of life set to music. And the Nashville troubadour has a folksy, almost conversational vocal style ("Looking For A Job").

His tunes are homespun snapshots of Americana ("Just Like Old Times" with just an acoustic guitar and harmonica). But he is also a satirist of the first order (the solo acoustic "Carla" with the lyric: "Leaving me, Carla, was one thing. But why'd you have to walk so slow?").

He also champions the little guy (or gal) in his protest songs of everyday things ("Carla" and "Looking For A Job"), as well as the jubilation at small triumphs ("You Got Away With It (A Tale of Two Fraternity Brothers)" which gets along with a honky-tonk flow).

The disc opens with the boogie-woogie, piano-driven "If Tomorrow Never Comes" and just takes off from there. The twitchy, spare electric accompaniment of "The Highland Street Incident" sets the mood as a back-alley robbery is described from the robbers' point of view; while the urgent and intense rock Õn' roll honky-tonk of the title tune exposes the frenzy of a police helicopter chase. Rock 'n' roll honky-tonk also propels "Thin Wild Mercury," which recounts a meeting between Bob Dylan and Phil Ochs.

The disc closes with odes to females: "Unbreakable" about tough women, and "All That Matters," a love letter to his wife.

Todd Snider brings the devil he knows to the Santa Fe Brewing Co., 35 Fire Place, at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday. Peter Cooper opens the all-ages show. $15 in advance; $20 at the door. Call (505) 424-3333 or visit www.santafebrewing.com. Also, Melita Osheowitz-Snider, Todd's wife, will be displaying her artwork; she did the cover art for the CD.

Rolla, "Fits & Starts" (Cosmos Music)

This quartet, led by husband-wife duo Fuzz and Carrie, delivers laid-back pop Õn' roll, with male-female vocals and harmonies, on this six-song EP.

The sound is more electric and less acoustic than on the group's debut, "La La Land." "Let It Happen" concerns life, death and existential angst, while "How Do You Do It?" brings the comfort borne of a relationship. These songs are so intimate, it's almost as if we're sharing in the couple's pillow talk.

The buzzy and fuzzy "Strangest Thing" sounds like the Breeders, and "You Fell Down" is a mellow acoustic lullaby.

All the tunes, in one form or another and on one level or another, are love songs or songs about love.

Listen to "Strangest Thing"

Hella, "There's No 666 In Outer Space" (Ipecac Recordings)

The former duo from Sacramento has expanded to a full-band format and is now a five-piece, art-noise outfit. The music is miasmatic and shambolic; it seems the band members are each playing a different song but, somehow, all the parts fit into a whole. It is expansive, experimental, bombastic and epic in its form and function and execution.

It would be hard to comment on specific songs, as they merge from one to the next. They elicit feelings and emotions; you either like them or you don't. There's no in-between. However, the song titles are some of the best around: "The Ungrateful Dead," "Friends Don't Let Friends Win," "The Things That People Do When They Think No One's Looking," "Anarchists Just Wanna Have Fun," "Sound Track To Insecurity" and the title track.

The music is atonal, with jazz percussion and guitar freakouts, but it is a precise sound. Emotive vocals (sometimes incomprehensible, but never screamed) come out of a black hole, often sounding demented. The lyrics, however, are almost spiritual, as if of some lost primal religion.

If you like the Blood Brothers or Locust, this is right up your alley. This is headphone music for a new generation.

Listen to "World Series"