Koufax, 'Strugglers'

Backstory: Lead singer-songwriter Robert Suchan has been the only constant member in Koufax, a decade-old piano-pop band that was most famously a side project of Get-Up Kids brothers Robert and Ryan Pope. Suchan was always the guiding force, releasing songs laced with synth-bounce (the Cars) and soaring harmonies (Beach Boys) to confident studio atmospherics (Spoon) and PG-rated cathartics (Dashboard Confessional). The grab-bag sound has worked to mixed results: best on ‘02’s near-perfect pop album “Social Life”; worst on ‘05’s uneven “Hard Times Are in Fashion.”

Why you should care: It’s almost October and the Los Angeles Dodgers are miraculously still in playoff contention. Get pumped for post-season with a band named after the franchise’s biggest star, Sandy Koufax. (And if that's a stretch, well, there's always the music…)

Verdict: “Strugglers” is Suchan’s most rocking (and anti-rocking) effort to date. The vaguely disco beat and massive reverb on “What I’m Saying” has a bit of a Strokesian vibe, a positive direction for a band we last saw overworking their piano hooks. Opener “Any Moment” brings a blazing, Mark Ronson-approved sax combo into the fold. It’s a ballsy, and successful, wrinkle more bands should attempt—horns can be cool. Keys return on “In the Name of Love,” but as haunting synth lines reminiscent of a Blonde Redhead cut. Lyrically, the album’s current events theme can be summed up by the refrain on the title track: “Pulling pages from the Bible, he don’t know why we struggle.” We can’t disagree with Suchan that the “party is almost over.”

X-Factor: Suchan wrote the album while living abroad in Prague, where he still resides.