BRIGITTE CALLS ME BABY Irreversible (ATO) — The Chicago-based band Brigitte Calls Me Baby are on a mission to bring swagger back to rock ‘n’ roll. That’s the most reasonable conclusion to reach after a few spins of their sophomore full-length, Irreversible. With frontman Wes Leavins leading the way, the group swings through every track with a bracing brio. The posture is more confidence than arrogance, thankfully. There’s a strong sense that the band is inviting the listener along rather than condescending to them. It probably helps that the material is strong enough to deserve the inevitable comparisons to key forebears: “Slumber Drive” has a Strokes sort of grind and drive, “Truth Is Stranger Than Fiction” moves with the offhand revelry of the Killers or White Lies, and “There Always” could snag them the designation of Honorary Bunnymen. Brigitte Calls Me baby stay in their but saunter freely to the edges, as evidenced by the can’t-can one-two of “I Can’t Have You All to Myself” (a decadently languid ballad) and “I Can Take the Sun Out of the Sky” (a deliciously chewy rock song). They make a convincing case for themselves. Double back to these cuts: “I Danced with Another Love in My Dreams,” “These Acts of Which We’re Designed,” and “The Early Days of Love”

KIM GORDON Play Me (Matador) — After taking some time to start her solo career proper, Kim Gordon is settling into a dependability suited to someone who can reasonably be considered an elder stateswoman of abrasive art rock. Play Me arrives just two years after its acclaimed predecessor, The Collective, and it finds her once again working with producer Justin Raisen on a set of tracks that combine trap with the distant echoes of the industrial experimentation she engaged in during her long tenure with Sonic Youth. The throbbing intensity of “Girl with a Look” is a decent example of what she’s up to. Gordon is mildly preoccupied with A.I. and other modern ills in the lyrics, but the album mostly comes across as a dip into her stream of consciousness in both words and music. The ideas flit around each other, sometimes picking up a spooky vibe (“Post Empire”) and sometimes approaching the anthemic pop of, say, latter-day Sharon Van Etten (“Hot Today”). “Busy Bee” is murky miasma that includes distorted samples from an old episode of MTV Beach House that Gordon appeared on. Dave Grohl helped write the music for the track and pitched in on drums. That’s the kind of semi-randomness that’s afoot here. It suits Gordon well enough. She long ago earned the right to do whatever the hell she wants. Play these: “Black Out,” “Square Jaw,” and “Nail Biter.”