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Bob Mould, "District Line" (Granary Music/Anti- Records, out Tuesday)

The former Husker Du and Sugar frontman still specializes in guitar-heavy rock on his first solo release in three years. As a songwriter, Mould has always been a great melodist, and this is incessant from start to finish. He even throws in a few electronic elements: "Stupid Now," with its simple hypnotic melody, and the electronic rave-up "Shelter Me," with big dance-floor beats and processed vocals.

Of the disc, Mould says: "These are stories of my simple life in a complicated town. This record really sums up the past five years of being here." "Here" is his adopted hometown of D.C., hence the title.

But, the record's not so simple. Mould has always been the thinking man's lyricist, and it always seemed like Bob was the smartest guy in the room. That's no different on this release. He offers seemingly profound insight through the turn of a phrase or point of reflection.

On the rant against middle age, "Return to Dust," he sings, "Growing old it's hard to be an angry young man." Time seems to be a constant running through the CD.

He also lets his Sugar side shine, though a little tuned and turned down (the soft-loud-soft "The Silence Between Us" and the acoustic "Very Temporary"), but it's still loud, even the ballads ("Again and Again," "Old Highs New Lows").

The album's closer, "Walls of Time," is an outtake from his first solo release, 1989's "Workbook." It's a mostly acoustic orchestral ballad with an uplifting cello section that captures the essence of Mould's music.

In fact, the whole disc seems like a sampler of his career catalog. During the late '90s, Mould was on a sabbatical from writing music while writing scripts for World Championship Wrestling; however, it's a good thing for us that he came back to his first love.

MGMT, "Oracular Spectacular" (Columbia Records)

The guys in this New York City duo are the electronic bastard children of Frank Zappa with a major dance music jones. They seem to be stuck in a time warp between 1967 and 2067. This is futurist pop-rock, electronic psychedelia presented as a cacophonous, unorthodox deconstructed wall of sound.

They say their themes are the "current apocalyptic confusion and post-apocalyptic survivalism" ("Future Reflections" is kind of electro-gospel cathedral music).

The dudes in MGMT — management — list such duos as Incredible String Band, Suicide, Hall & Oates, Spacemen 3 and Royal Trux as influences, but they're hard to pinpoint. ("Weekend Wars" sounds like Ziggy-era Bowie updated for a new generation, while "Pieces of What" is the country Stones of "Dead Flowers.")

"Time to Pretend" is the band's mission statement: "Let's make some music/Make some money/Find some models for wives." It's one giant party presented as a singalong full of electronic bombast.

Other highlights include the neu-disco "Kids," all synths and drum machine; "The Youth" with its chantlike and hypnotic chorus; "Electric Feel" that's future soul and tribal R&B with falsetto vocals; and the synth-heavy proggy "Of Moons, Birds & Monsters" with trippy acoustic guitar.

The band says it wants to "bring weirdness and chaos back to major labels." I'd say they've succeeded with a debut of grooved-out, danceable psychedelia that's catchy as hell.

Innerpartysystem, "The Download EP" (Stolen Transmission)

On this six-song EP, this electronic quartet from Philly plays loud and bombastic dance music, sometimes with guitars (dance rocker "Night is Alive").

The opener "Don't Stop" comes across as a confessional dance party of night life's darker side of lust and drugs. "Heart of Fire" is blippy and urgent, while an industrial-strength disco beat propels "The Way We Move."

The disc closes with the brusque disco of "The Lovers Dancing" and "Lovers Dancing (Remix)"; the synth-and-beat heavy remix is the more interesting of the two, with a hard industrial bent.