Volume 3

Last year's "Pools" having taken up a sizable chunk of our cold dark hearts, we were delighted to hear that LA post-industrial trio Prettiest Eyes have a new gang of crowd-stirrers. None too early, either; once you've become accustomed to their clanging synthetic orbit, it's hard to find other tunes that truly scratch the same itch. Volume 3 bursts at the seams with chrome-dipped timbres and surprise sharp edges, alien klaxon-calls and wailing dissonance offsetting the ziplock'd grease of their insistent drum and bass grooves. Prettiest Eyes are one of the most exciting live bands going on right now, and Volume 3 catches them in fine fettle.

Like: Thee Oh Sees, Duds, The Intelligence, Exploded View, Flat Worms

FCC: 10

Play: 2, 4, 5, 12

1.Johnny Come Home (2:36) Pumping bass line, high-pitched radar-like squeals, skittering, nervous reverbed synth.
2.It Cost's To Be Austere (4:00) True-to-life science-cover crash course with bass boosts.
3.I Don't Know (4:37) Powerfully frantic synths and electro-manipulations.
4.Mr. President (4:33) Rallying call rounded by razor-sharp riffs, steam-pressed synths, and twitchy rhythms.
5.Nekrodisco (2:42) Taut, paranoid psych punk.
6.The Shame (2:53) Blasts of radiated noise often doing battle with volleys of space-rock.
7.Another Earth (3:45) A crunchy bounce leads to a riot-esque finale of party punk.
8.Marihuana (2:10) Whip-crack kraut goes deep.
9.Summer In L.A. (2:45) Dystopic electropunk that prepare yourself for this cosmic voyage.
10.No More Summer (2:58) Garage infused synth-punk.
11.Strange Distance (3:20) upbeat keyboard synth-rock song.
12.La Maldad (3:44) Distorted organ and layers of lo-fi garage rock.