Cursive’s “From the Hips” took a few listens before I became obsessed with it. Now, I simply can’t get enough. Their wildly raucous recent performance on Letterman sealed the deal for me. Tim Kasher’s had the dynamics game in his pocket for years, but now he’s able to spin a yarn that’s not claustrophobic and one-dimensionally self-obsessed. The video for the first single off Mama, I’m Swollen (album title of the year, thus far) was directed by Michael Grodner, who also directed Cursive’s excellent “Dorothy at 40.” It overtly satirizes Kasher’s distaste for predictable, expected, and paralyzing social humdrum, wherein the only redemption is, evidently, fucking.