"Merry Go 'Round," the spectacular gut-punch single from 24-year-old Texan country singer Kacey Musgraves, dropped out of the clear blue sky in September. Same Trailer Different Park proves Musgraves is for real. Although she sings just fine, she doesn't have a powerful voice; like all Nashville bands, hers can play, but the music is careful, meticulous, midtempo. But man, can Musgraves write. The album showcases a songwriting voice you won't hear anywhere else in pop: young, female, downwardly mobile, fiercely witty. The loping "Follow Your Arrow" advocates nonconformity, pot-smoking (if you feel like it) and homosexuality (if you're so inclined). "Blowin' Smoke" is a blues-tinged short story about nicotine addiction and waiting tables in Vegas; "It Is What It Is" is the best, saddest ode to friends-with-benefits­ sex you'll ever hear. Musgraves' tunes are as supplely catchy as Taylor Swift's; the lyrics bite as hard as Elvis Costello's. More, please.

“Ambling Alp”

The "Ambling Alp" was the nickname of the six-and-a-half-foot-tall Primo Carnera. Though the song is named after the Italian-born 1930s heavyweight champion, Yeasayer are actually paying tribute to boxing legend Joe Louis with this first-person psychedelic dance-rock tune. “I was always interested in writing a song that had boxing mythology in it,” Yeasayer’s Chris Keating said. “It’s pretty fascinating: There were so many amazing characters, and it was so closely entwined with 20th century history.” Yeaseyer also invokes German champ Max Schmeling and hints at the historical significance placed on the historic bouts between the Nazi-era boxer and the African-American Louis.