The Best of Car Talk

We kick off this week's show with a moody rock romp from Ex Hex, a group based out of Washington, D.C., featuring Mary Timony (Helium, Wild Flag), Laura Harris and Betsy Wright. We follow with the mysterious voice of Gemma Ray, a deluxe reissue of a Smashing Pumpkins classic, the enchanting Icelandic singer Ólöf Arnalds and more. The Smashing Pumpkins reissue is the band's polarizing Adore. Originally released in 1998, some fans rejected the album for having more subdued moments and electronic textures than the group's earlier records. But now, more than 15 years later, many consider it a classic. The deluxe version has more than 100 tracks, including outtakes, demos and previously unheard songs. We play the opening cut, "To Sheila." Also on the program: the ethereal sounds of Montreal-based singer Sea Oleena; Azure Ray's Orenda Fink is back with a new solo album, a sometimes haunting examination of death and dying and Denver-based pop duo Tennis pushes itself in new sonic directions with an album produced by Patrick Carney of The Black Keys, Jim Eno of Spoon and songwriter Richard Swift.