Broadcast & The Focus Group
Investigate Witch Cults of the Radio Age
(Warp)
Although billed as an EP and stop-gap before the next proper Broadcast album, Witch Cults is actually a full length release and major work in its own right. It's a collaboration with The Focus Group, an electronic act that shares Broadcast's fascination with educational films, BBC interludes, and spooky children's programs from the '70s. Both acts have a beguiling retro-futurist quality that meshes well over these 23 tracks. There are a few recognizable songs like "The Be Colony" that feature Trish Keenan's sultry vocals, but mostly the album is a series of fragments that evoke a collision between sorcery rituals and transistor technology. Titles like "A Seance Song" and "Drug Party" sketch tantalizing bits of narrative, but don't connect in any linear way. Ultimately this is less an album than a film in audio form, casting a spell over any listener willing to get lost in its mysterious plot. —Jeff Jackson
Rusty Belle
Rusty Belle as The Vanity Pack
(Independent)
Rusty Belle trades in its standard, perhaps more countrified sound on this album for something more rocking and heavily grooving. Emulating bluesy rock feels that range from 1965 London to 1975 San Francisco, "The Vanity Pack" rips through some really raw, fun, soulful numbers. The female lead songs lean toward a scratchy, Bonnie Raitt/Janis-style feel and the male-vocalized ones ride a similar wave somewhere in the realm of Keith Relf meets Anthony Keidis. You can also hear more modern (but equally retro) influences, from Man Man to Scissor Sisters to the more ska-heavy No Doubt. Though it's fairly derivative (some progressions could be overlaid almost directly onto pretty universally known pop songs), it's a fascinating blend of eras and influences that's executed with a lot of soul and a laudable restraint from studio tinkering. And it comes with a lovely poster. —Tom Sturm
The Flaming Lips
Embryonic
(Warner Brothers)
After several years of well-crafted, docile and sweetly catchy albums, The Flaming Lips finally reclaim their crown as psychedelic freaks. The sprawling 18-track Embryonic is full of strange and unsettling songs about paranoia, astrology and dying ecosystems. The tunes are spiked with jagged riffs, spacey instrumental interludes, and off-kilter melodies. It's no surprise the band was inspired by Krautrock and Miles Davis's electric fusion. Although the album is bookended by its most accessible tracks—the jittery rocker "Convinced of the Hex" and the surging anthem "Watching the Planets"—most songs aren't in any hurry to charm the listener. Even the whimsical "I Can Be A Frog," featuring Karen O via speakerphone, sports a creepy undertow. Fans may miss the pop trappings, but overall, Embryonic is a welcome left turn. Even the weaker tracks are vital enough to prove The Flaming Lips are better untethered. —Jeff Jackson
