Chromatics, 'Night Drive: IV' (Italians Do It Better)
Cruising down the autostrada of broken dance-floor dreams.
By Andy Beta 01.22.08 11:17 PM
Since 2002, Chromatics' Adam Miller has pared down his noisy punk band to a dance-pop skeleton, while adding singer Ruth Radelet and Glass Candy guitarist/producer Johnny Jewel for the band's fourth full-length. But who's to argue when their waifish sound -- haunted synths, ice-pick drum machines, and chilly chanteuse vocals -- is so en vogue?
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Ricardo Villalobos, 'Fabric 36' (Fabric)
Militant soundtrack to an international free-for-all.
By Andy Beta 01.18.08 4:17 AM
It takes a certain level of ego to release a mix CD exclusively of one's own productions, but minimal house/techno producer Ricardo Villalobos is no ordinary DJ mortal. Though he hasn't set foot on U.S. soil post-9/11, his exhausting, hallucinatory eight-hour live sets are legendary elsewhere.
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Baby Dee, 'Safe Inside the Day' (Drag City)
One novelty that should have stuck to the sideshow.
By Andy Beta 01.18.08 4:17 AM
A fiftysomething transgendered singer/songwriter, performance artist, former church organist, and classically trained harpist, Cleveland-born Baby Dee has performed with Antony and the Johnsons, David Tibet's Current 93, and the Bindlestiff Family Cirkus. And for her third album, she collaborates with Will Oldham, Andrew W.K., and Matt Sweeney, among others.
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Sightings, 'Through the Panama' (Load)
New York art-noise vets suit up for another mission down below.
By Andy Beta 01.18.08 4:17 AM
A decade into a career spent deconstructing the rock-power-trio format, Sightings continue to excavate the same noisome hole. On their sixth album, the band drill even deeper, abetted this time by pomp-rock motivational speaker Andrew W.K. at the boards.
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White Magic, 'Dark Stars' (Drag City)
Enchanting mystics still have a spell or two to master.
By Andy Beta 01.18.08 4:17 AM
This New York indie-folk group, built around keyboardist Mira Billotte's keening, haunting voice, have never quite reached their full potential, issuing but one album, 2006's mixed-bag Dat Rosa Mel Apibus. With Dirty Three drummer Jim White again sitting in, White Magic opt for a second EP, featuring more of their well-worn but still spectral songcraft.
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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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