Paw Tracks

May Dent: Warm Blanket [CD]

Prince Rama: Trust Now [CD]

REPO is the fifth album by Black Dice. The Brooklyn, NY-based trio has never worked harder at crafting a set of concise, sonically battering, or flat-out bizarre tunes than on this collection of fringe-surfing tone bombs. Brothers Eric and Bjorn Copeland and Aaron Warren have spent the better part of 10 years in daily contact, touring the world over, and sculpting their saw-toothed sound balloons under circumstances most reasonable people would wretch at. The resultant hive mind occupied by the three is an inevitable consequence of so much shared experience, both musical and simply day-to-day. REPO is the sound of a disciplined group of cosmic jokers setting out to reclaim the landscape popular culture would have us believe we cannot afford. The record irreverently mulches the sounds and images of radio, TV and internet into a fertile compost pile squirming with new, raw life.

Dent May's debutLP, The Good Feeling Music of Dent May and His Magnificent Ukulele, put wry storytelling at its fore, but imbued each track with sweet strums of the titular instrument and earnest harmonies sure to arrest listeners' sympathies. Since the release of the album, we have seen May plugging in and finding footing somewhere between 60s psychedelia and disco-era balladry in the vein of Ashford and Simpson, a vibe he expands on with his new record, Do Things. Played entirely by himself and recorded in sessions outside Oxford, MS, Do Things finds the self-described "wedding reception band on acid" purveying the same heavy helpings of sentiment, but forgoing the jocular tone of his debut for a more contemplative -- but still relentlessly optimistic -- demeanor. Full of stylistic changes but retaining May's singular voice, Do Things is a great step forward for the pop devotee.

Avey Tare & Kria Brekkan: Pullchair Rubeye [CD]

Ariel Pink's Haunted Graffiti: House Arrest [CD]

May Dent & His Magnificent Ukulele: Good Feel... [CD]