Album Of The Week Superchunk – I Hate Music (Merge): "Another solid, consistent Superchunk record!" the reviews will crow. Maybe even "one of their best! " Because it's hard for old fans of a long-running rock band to accept that their tenth album is their best ever. But Superchunk's breakup-or-not second wave has proven so much better than their first, with 2010's Majesty Shredding introducing a distinct shift from the pop-punk that inspired The Get Up Kids into the power-pop redolent of early New Pornographers.

Three years later, I Hate Music's title is irony to the supreme, as the record itself is the most musical, melodically rich, harmonically generous thing these agreeable punks have ever made. There's the theatrical power-pop of "Me and You and Jackie Mittoo". Then there's the unexpected backing vocals in "Breaking Down" that run perfectly in the opposite direction. And then there's the blissfully drawn out opener "Overflows" and the even-better closer "What Can We Do" stretch out comfortably like legs on a futon, while the shockingly intense "Void" is the best thing this quartet's done in a minor key since the oft-covered "Precision Auto" 20 years ago.

McCaughn's surprising pessimism in the album title and a hook like "All I see is a void" are completely quashed by the sheer beauty of the songs they adorn. Best of all, the anthemic "FOH" comes on like a divorcee's sardonic plaint—"how's everything at the front of the house?" but ultimately turns into a tribute to making the show go smooth ("Matthew's got a wire and we're coming around") that the nicest record label owners in America could have the wisdom to pull off. So don't be fooled, I Hate Music has more love in it than nearly any rock album you're likely to hear in 2013.