** 1/2 Meat Puppets, “Golden Lies,” Breaking Records/Atlantic.

The new one from the quirky punk antiheroes may have some different puppets (bassist Cris Kirkwood and drummer Derrick Bostrom have been replaced by some of Austin’s finest, ex-members of Pariah and Bob Mould’s band), but the meat--singer-songwriter Curt Kirkwood--is still more than palpable here. Lyrically whimsical and dark, sonically folksy and groovy, “Golden Lies” might lack the abstract intensity of early releases, but its rootsy charm is almost as refreshing. The group plays the Knitting Factory Hollywood on Oct. 14.

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Albums are rated on a scale of one star (poor), two stars (fair), three stars (good) and four stars (excellent). The albums are already released unless otherwise noted.