Clockcleaner, 'Babylon Rules' (Load)
The traditional, crushing sound of not giving a good goddamn.
By Joe Gross 01.18.08 4:17 AM
This Philly trio prefers to nuke first and apologize never. Their second album is not as kinetic, nor as indebted to Big Black as 2005's violent debut, Nevermind (the title should give you a hint of their bite-me worldview), but its sludgy, creeping noise still flattens everything in sight.
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Patrick Watson, 'Close to Paradise' (Secret City)
Hallelujah, it's Montreal indie rock's answer to Jeff Buckley.
By Stacey Anderson 01.18.08 4:17 AM
Patrick Watson is a man, a band, and a circus waiting to explode. The dramatic singer/keyboardist and the quartet that bears his name have hit a kinetic stride on their second album, a balletic sweep of cabaret pop, spacey rock, and effusive classical piano that thinly veils an anxious pathos (cued by dissonant brass and threatening strings).
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Blanche, 'Little Amber Bottles' (Original Signal)
Friend of Jack and disciple of Johnny walks a fine line.
By Bret Gladstone 01.18.08 4:17 AM
Blanche is a genetically purebred Detroit band: vinyl-happy Dumpster divers with a penchant for theatricality, an innate sense of decay, and a keen feel for country music's gothic underbelly.
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Dave Gahan, 'Hourglass' (Mute/ Virgin)
For the black-clad diehards who still can't get enough.
By Barry Walters 01.18.08 4:17 AM
An improved sequel to the Depeche Mode singer's pseudo bluesy 2003 solo debut, Paper Monsters, Hourglass blatantly resembles sedate, later-day Depeche, inevitably inviting comparisons to bandmate Martin Gore's compositional chops.
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Black Dice, 'Load Blown' (Paw Tracks)
This is what it sounds like when hipster doves cry.
By Andy Beta 01.18.08 4:17 AM
Ever since cresting with the expansive, almost grandiose noisescapes of 2002's Beaches and Canyons, Brooklyn's Black Dice have been downsizing, parting ways with their drummer and longtime label DFA. Now on sonic brethren Animal Collective's imprint, the trio's fourth album is both more dense and concise.
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Serj Tankian, 'Elect the Dead' (Serjical Strike/ Reprise)
Armenian-American antiwar metal with polka breakdowns.
By Mikael Wood 01.18.08 4:17 AM
Tankian may be taking a break from System of a Down, but his solo debut hardly favors wimpy love songs over fiery political jeremiads. Indeed, he opens with "Empty Walls," one of his prickliest jams yet: "I loved you yesterday / Before you killed my family," he sings over operatic guitar thrash, channeling the rage of Iraqis living under U.S. military rule.
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