Nucular Aminals
Nucular Aminals
(K)

With a sound described as “what would happen if you woke up in the morning and squeezed your tube of toothpaste, but a thick glob of sunshine came shooting out instead of minty freshness,” the self-titled debut by this Northwest-based quartet (and yes, that’s “aminals,” not “animals”) is an upbeat delight. Many tracks feature the heavy use of a farfisa organ and ride along nicely on bouncing bass lines. However, the nasally vocals of singer and guitarist Robert Comitz are sometimes hard to understand. Though they suffer from nonsensical subject matter, the choruses on several numbers are pretty memorable. For example, the catchy refrain of “can’t all be gay” from “Day and Day” might end up stuck in your head for weeks. But the real tragedy is the album’s running time—its 10 tracks play in just over 20 minutes. The party seems to end before you’re through having fun. —Michael Cimaomo

The Book of Knots
Garden of Fainting Stars
(Ipecac)

In a deliciously post-apocalyptic style of hopelessness and decay, The Book of Knots builds rich sonic environments that evoke a bleak, steampunk-flavored world one might glimpse in a Moebius graphic novel or a Jean-Pierre Jeunet film. The music vacillates between smooth, sublime string arrangements and jerky, uncomfortable synth stabs, pounding tympani and Firehose-esque guitar twangs, painting aural landscapes which become stomping grounds for huge, hydraulic sound-robots to lurch about or speak some strange wisdom from the future. Guests include notorious musical weirdos Mike Watt and Mike Patton, and the group has also worked with other anti-pop iconoclasts like Tom Waits and Frank Black. From their press release: “The Book of Knots once again cast a wormless, rusty hook into the lifeless seas of the music industry, expecting to reap only sorrow.” Indeed. —Tom Sturm

Fucked Up
David Comes to Life
(Matador)

A rock opera in four acts, the newest CD by these Canadian punks is an ambitious project. Telling the story of fictional factory worker and the woman he falls in love with, the album opens with the instrumental “Let Her Rest” before exploding into one tightly constructed anthem after another. Lyrically, many of singer Damian Abraham’s (aka Pink Eyes) words are lost in the tumult. Fortunately, this time he has the help of guest vocalists and fellow songwriters Kurt Vile, Madeline Follin and Jennifer Castle. Though layered guitars and pounding drums keep everything moving forward, the real surprise might be in the amazing number of hooks. While it comes from a group with a penchant for pushing boundaries, the end result of listening to 70-plus minutes of hardcore riffing might be too much for the uninitiated. —Michael Cimaomo