Listen up!

As always, a new season means new sounds in Chicago. Here are a few local releases that are worth your attention.

Colette, "Push" (Om Records)

Dance floor divas named Kylie or Madge have not made a dance album lately as appealing as this newest by Chicago DJ Colette. Her monthly DJ stint at Smart Bar continues to pack the house after ten years. At the forefront of the city's long-enduring house music scene, she is also an alluring vocalist with a voice well-positioned to counter the insistent beats and textures of her music.

"Push" sticks to the big beat approach of the early house pioneers. One of the album's earlier songs like "Call It Out" sets the template: splinter beats, shimmering effects and a catchy melodic hook. Her knack for sliding on layers but never making them sound cluttered is what separates her music from most of the harsh-sounding dance efforts out there. Breakout choruses in songs like "If" demonstrate an immediate pop sensibility that, if the world was fair, would make this music global instead of that made by that bald single mom always stuck on meltdown.

Visit djcolette.com.

Marvin Tate, "Family Swim" (IVR Records)

A shining light on Chicago's spoken-word scene this last decade, Marvin Tate has reinvented himself as a bandleader, playing music that is highly theatrical, which means often strange but always entertaining. On "Family Swim," he has found a beneficial collaborator: Leroy Bach, a multi-instrumentalist formerly with Wilco. Bach is responsible for the evocative backdrop of these songs, some sounding like revelry from a lost circus parade and others, swampy R&B.

Tate's poetic skills carry this album to a level where characters embody songs, requiring -- like Tom Waits, the most identifiable influence here -- a catalog of voices. Tate comes through, as each song develops into its own exotic world. The few spoken-word pieces fail to be as interesting as the musical landscapes. As a crooner straight out of Twin Peaks, Tate makes "City Promenade" both dreamy and grotesque. But nothing is as stirring as album-ender "Upstairs Neighbor," a gospel-soul shouter that stomps and leaves you wanting more.

Visit myspace.com/clownspit.

Hayden Thompson, "Hayden Thompson" (Bluelight Records)

Living history is in the voice of Hayden Thompson, a Tennessee native and former recording artist for Sun, the fabled Memphis label that drew rock its blueprint. In the decades since Thompson cut his original singles in the late 1950s, he moved to Chicago's suburbs and lived a life rotating between day jobs and music gigs. Coaxed out of retirement by European promoters transfixed with U.S. rockabilly, Thompson is enjoying a late-career revival, and deservedly so.

This album was recorded in Finland and is an energetic and sleek revival of the early Sun era, when country music met a sturdy rock beat. Thompson remains a hearty crooner with charm factor set on high. His vocals enjoy the backdrop of this ace Finnish band, complete with choir and strings, which makes it hold up to recent revival albums by Van Morrison and Merle Haggard. Thompson lends his croon and also a roof-rattling voice to classic country covers, plus a few originals. He doesn't necessarily break new ground on Johnny Cash and Elvis Presley staples, but his versions set you squarely in a time when broken hearts sounded titanic coming from the voices of larger-than-life men.

The Bird Names, "Wooden Lake/Sexual Diner" (Unsound Records)

Frank Zappa and Captain Beefheart fans, huddle up: The Bird Names will satisfy your inner freak. In Chicago's art rock circles, this band makes the Fiery Furnaces sound like Phil Collins. "Diner" is a collection of songs that work more like collages, combining itinerant sources -- wordless singing, chants, recorders, simple percussion, computer noise -- to create a single piece of music that exists in the shadows but often strikes out with whimsy.

Like an out-of-focus film, the album is blurry. Voices that could double as Teletubbies sing in loops, accompanied by toy pianos and murky percussion. In what could easily be a mess, the music offers extremely catchy melodies and a sense of childlike joy. The harmonies that carry "Beach of Teeth" sound in homage to the Beach Boys, while "Smoovebiz," with its sinister patchwork of computer noise and robotic beeps, is electronic fuzz. Like a young child, the repetition and primitive aesthetic will test anyone's patience. But not in a long time has utter nonsense sounded so fun.

Visit unsoundrecords.com.

Oh My God, "Fools Want Noise" (Split Red Records)

Until now, Oh My God was a power trio without a guitar, just bass, drums and organ. The added guitar of Jake Garcia makes the difference on the band's fourth album, a thunderously loud hard rock album that emulates the primal stomp and grind of Local H or Foo Fighters. Here, the guitars step front and center, sawing riffs while still leaving plenty of space for tricky sleights of hand that pump these songs with high-end thrills.

Like Robin Zander, singer-bassist Billy O'Neill's vocal range seems to meet no limits, his irreverent vocals giving the speed-driven title song an irreverent twist. In other places -- the burning "Get Out to Sea" in particular -- he delivers the confident swagger this music deserves. There are brief moments of calm ("Two-Hand Touch"), but mostly, Oh My God is more interested in summoning rock glory while keeping its feet dug into the dirt.

Visit ohmygodmusic.com.