Mobius BandHeaven**This album comes on strong, with a noisy load of guitars and electronics that threatens to bring some serious funk if left to its own devices. Unfortunately, this muddy energy peaks pretty early on, and the rest of the record is spent laying uneventful vocal lines over instrumentation that retains its earlier rawness but loses all of its dramatic arc. While the record still offers some exceptionally well-placed beeps and bops (sometimes coming dangerously close to apeing The Postal Service) the overall song craft isn’t strong enough to lead the arrangements in an interesting direction.Playing Oct. 19 at Holocene-Shane Danaher
EulogiesSelf Titled**The production on this record is so slick that it drips from the speakers like audible Teflon. Textbook-perfect mastering and sound equalizing take these post-Strokes mopers into sonic realms usually unseen on a debut album–and for good reason. This sucks, and any energy these guys had is washed out by the layer upon layer of remixes, and even though Eulogies isn’t a bad band and their debut isn’t a bad record, it really should have been given a rougher treatment that would have allowed them to come a little further into their own before being pushed into the big leagues. Instead they’ve created a radio-ready album sure to alienate the dive bar crowd that they’re going to be relying on for buzz.Playing Oct. 11 at Dante’s-Shane Danaher
Cipes and the PeopleConscious Revolution***I don’t really consider myself especially well versed on the intricacies of reggae, so in order to procure a more insightful view from a true devotee of the genre, I played a couple of this album’s tracks for my friend, Stoner Dave. After several minutes of halfheartedly bobbing his head to Cipes and the People, Stoner Dave declared, “Yeah man, that’s cool,” and returned his attentions to the game of Super Smash Bros. already in progress. -Shane Danaher
Blaqk Audio Cex Cells **If the Davey Havok of 1997 saw the Davey of 2007 at a show, hopefully the elder singer of AFI would punch his sissy-ass modern counterpart in the face. Traditionally, punk kids don’t go to raves, straight-edge kids won’t go out at all and no one (hopefully) listens to major-label pop-punk electronica… So, Blaqk Audio, who really is your target demographic? Dr. Dre or Danzig… I think we know. Our beloved AFI are no more; today is the sad day that techno side-projects, uninspired lyrics, and casual, fruity loops-reject beats triumph over relevant counter-culture anthems. Basically, another year of Jade Puget ruining the band. I love punk music and I can dig some techno, but Blaqk Audio’s first CD is fucking ridiculous. It’s possible to be both a fan of the Misfits and Nine Inch Nails; just don’t make songs that sounds like a 10-years-late, sober Depeche Mode. The result: unless you’re incorrigibly trendy or hopelessly goth, stay away. Or just buy old AFI records, which have the same politics but much better stories.-Ryan Mclaughlin