The more IDM acts mine cutout-bin luminaries the Art of Noise, the better. True, Autechre architects Sean Booth and Rob Brown specialize in harder, spazzier beats than those that powered that group's deathless '80s robo-jam "Close (to the Edit)." But get past glitchy irritants like "SonDEremawe" and an artful payoff of cerebral, booty-shaking decadence awaits on their ninth album.

Now in their third decade, this Kentucky-spawned, New York–based trio could pass for a bunch of eager newcomers who can't decide what kind of band they want to be when they grow up. Although the two-disc, 26-track Opus Mixtum lacks focus, the

American Music Club produced perhaps the most emotionally intense indie rock of the late '80s and early '90s. Singer Mark Eitzel can silence a room with his beautiful-loser conviction, but his brain is too abuzz with ambivalence to ever settle for simple angst or

The U.S. debut of Damien Rice's former band turns sentimental mush into something surprisingly palatable. Paul Noonan has a sweetly apologetic voice that matches the songs' creamy melodies, but he tweaks the formula subtly. "When your hand brushed against mine, I thought I'd collapse," he sighs on "Flame," then slips into a jaunty clap-along about toasting marshmallows.