Cool discs you might have missed

Before you close the book on 2009, musically speaking, pay attention to the footnotes. By now, you've probably seen plenty of year-end, best-of lists, but what about all those albums that slipped through the cracks for one reason or the other? This being said, check out a few of my favorite overlooked discs of the past 12 months:

16, "Bridges To Burn." Be sure to refill that Zoloft prescription -- hey, make it a double -- before braving the latest from these veteran, vastly underrated Los Angeles misanthropes. Having signed with Relapse Records after years spent toiling on tiny labels such as Pessimiser/Theologian, 16 comes with their beefiest, most in-your-face sounding record yet, an album of vein-bursting metallic rumble colored black and blue by larynx-bloodying outbursts and massive riffs that congeal into a pissed-off pressure valve spun wide open. Clearly, these dudes are their best when feeling their worst.

Spinnerette, "Spinnerette." Former Distillers frontwoman Brody Dalle shakes her hips instead of her fists on the debut from Spinnerette. From moody, wistful power pop ("Driving Song") to cooing, beat-driven dance floor sweat baths ("Baptized By Fire") to haunting, acoustic daydreams ("Impaler"), Dalle demonstrates that her heart bleeds just as much as her knuckles used to.

The Hunches, "Exit Dreams." Not since Entombed's "Left Hand Path" has a band unleashed a more savage and unremitting guitar tone than these garage rock nasties do on "I Ate My Teeth," one of the many ear-bleeding highlights here. This is rock 'n' roll at its most primal, visceral and impactful, though. The Hunches do more than just court tinnitus. There's also a swinging, granite-hard groove buried beneath two tons of cigarette butts and empty beer cans. This is allegedly the band's final release, so check 'em out before they check out.

Therapy? "Crooked Timber." Remember these punchy Irish rogues from the '90s? Neither does anybody else on these shores. They've maintained a decent following overseas, if not here, though Therapy's? latest would do well to change that, thanks to frontman Andy Cairn's ceaselessly sardonic wit and knack for wedding dark themes with bright, bruising hooks.

Lissie, "Why You Runnin'." Her voice is as stunning as the sunsets of the town in which she lives, Ojai, Calif., where a "pink moment" occurs daily, resulting in a scarlet-colored landscape as depicted on the album cover of this five-song EP. Over a shifting backdrop of foot stompin' campfire folk, near-gospel reveries and a lovelorn, country-western crackle, Lissie sings of mighty rivers and mighty hearts, clearly in possession of the latter.

Contact reporter Jason Bracelin at jbracelin@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0476.