Underrated/Overrated

UNDERRATED

Sugar: Bob Mould’s most popular ensemble after post-punk pioneers Hüsker Dü imploded, Sugar might be too easily lumped in with ‘90s nostalgia bands such as the Gin Blossoms and Candlebox, but don’t let your memory play those kind of tricks. With both of Sugar’s albums returning this week in lush, remastered reissues, songs such as “Helpless,” “Changes” and the utterly flawless “If I Can’t Change Your Mind” still sound like nobody else 20 years later.

‘Sound of Noise’: Like a cinematic adaptation of “Stomp” with a Scandinavian soundtrack, this film about rogue percussionists terrorizing a Swedish city is the kind of movie that deserves a cult following among any musicians in your life. Hell-bent on completing a found-sound suite called “Music for One Apartment and Six Drummers,” a goofily gifted band of drummer-anarchists keeps an addictive beat with a music-hating cop in hot pursuit.

OVERRATED

‘Friends With Kids’: With a cast that looks like a continuation of the hit “Bridesmaids,” this parent-focused tweak on the romantic comedy earned decent reviews but ultimately falls short. A platonic partnership between “Party Down’s” Adam Scott and actor-filmmaker Jennifer Westfeldt stays predictable despite an unconventional premise, and too much of the comedy relies on shock, leaving the characters as flat as words on a page.

Dirty Projectors: A critical darling since frontman Dave Longstreth reworked the songs of Black Flag into complex pop miniatures on 2007’s “Rise Above,” this band’s ambition is exceeded only by its incomprehensibility. Built out of acrobatic vocals, arrhythmic structures and melodies that treat hummability as some kind of character flaw, Dirty Projectors’ latest overpraised album, “Swing Lo Magellan,” is easy to admire but nearly impossible to enjoy.

chris.barton@latimes.com