INKED MUSIC

Over the past 13 years, influential electronic act Chemical Brothers have left a blizzard of 12-inches behind them as they dragged dance music to another level. This best-of collection rounds up 13 of the duo’s tracks, from 2005 hit “Galvanize” to “Leave Home,” from the group’s breakthrough ’95 album, Exit Planet Dust. The Brothers are at their best when collaborating, and Brotherhood includes jams with the Flaming Lips (“The Golden Path”) and Noel Gallagher (“Let Forever Be” and “Setting Sun”) alongside new track “Keep My Composure,” a blipping 16-bit frenzy featuring Spank Rock. The second disc of the set includes 10 tracks from Electronic Battle Weapons, the Chemical Brothers’ more experimental alter ego. It’s worth blowing out a pair of headphones.

Holy beard trimmers, it's hard to believe it's been 25 years since ZZ Top took over MTV with their breakthrough album, Eliminator. The Texas trio, with their beards, hot rods, and love of leggy women worked perfectly for music videos. But none of those videos would have mattered if Eliminator weren't such a killer album. Hits such as "Gimme All Your Lovin'" "Sharp Dressed Man," and "Legs" are speaker thumpers, while album tracks "Got Me Under Pressure" and "T.V. Dinners" are Top classics. This collector's edition also includes live tracks, remixes, four original music videos, and TV footage of the trio. There are at least 10 CDs in your collection that can't stand up to this.

When Slipknot singer Corey Taylor and guitarist James Root pulled together their mellower side project, Stone Sour, in 2002, metal fans worried it would mean the end of Slipknot or, even worse, a dilution of their sound. Neither really happened. While it has slowed the band (four years to finish All Hope) and the songs feature more of Taylor's melodic vocals, the album is still all Slipknot. The group makes this clear with the opening blast-beats of "Execute" and "Gematria (the Killing Name)" and some of their best mosh starters ever, such as "Butcher's Hook" and the killer riff of "This Cold Black." Then they change things up. The keyboard break on the emotional "Dead Memories" and the acoustic strum of "Snuff" balance out the fury of tracks like "Vendetta." All Hope could go down as the group's best work yet.

As the first group signed to the relaunch of the legendary Stiff Records, this U.K. trio work straight from the blueprint that made the Jam so amazing- powerful guitars, working-class mentality, and choruses worthy of being shouted from the soccer stands. “It's Not OK” rants against the nine-tofive world in the explosive chorus “It's not OK to be this way/It's not OK to be a slave.” Title track “We'll Live and Die in These Towns” (a line guitarist/singer Tom Clarke found scrawled on a bathroom wall) distills the band's fury down to a moody chorus that Paul Weller would appreciate. Elsewhere, they nod to the Stone Roses, the Verve, and other Britrock greats. They just might be next.

The Walkmen are all about atmosphere. The New York City band's sound, a tangle of deep organ, swirling drums, and jangling guitars, is hard to pin down, and their albums are giant pieces of music that beg to be played straight through. You & Me is no different. “Seven Years of Holidays,” with its rolling snare beat and references to suitcases, sunny days, and holidays, blurs into the whirling guitars of “Postcards From Tiny Islands.” The moody moments come on “Red Moon,” as singer Hamilton Leithauser croons over sleigh bells and soft horns. Opening track “Dónde Está la Playa?” thunders as Leithauser sings, “There is still sand in my suitcase/There is still salt in my teeth,” and the band breezes by. It's the first album you'll play after vacation.

It took long enough but punks are starting to treat Bruce Springsteen like The Boss. The Hold Steady and Lucero have picked up his influence, and Jersey's own Gaslight Anthem are true Bruce disciples. The band mixes classic rock and modern punk into songs about old cars, Elvis, and Audrey Hepburn (despite the members being born in the ´80s). Gaslight's strength comes from frontman Brian Fallon's songwriting, as he takes a romantic look at lost friends (“The '59 Sound”) and road trips (“The Backseat”). On “Miles Davis & the Cool,” the guitars twang and drums build as Fallon waits outside his woman's window, while “Here's Looking at You, Kid” is a gorgeous kiss-off to lost loves.

Don't doubt Ronnie James Dio. Sure, Ozzy will always be the mumbling voice of Black Sabbath, but any metal fan will tell you that the years after the Oz-man shambled off and the pint-sized Dio took over are still worthy of throwing up the horns. This five-CD box set collects every Sabbath release featuring Dio, including all three studio albums and the double live collection Live Evil. The set is a treasure chest of classic Dio hits such as “Neon Knights,” “Lady Evil,” and other songs loaded with knights, witches, dragons, and references pulled straight from a Dungeons & Dragons handbook. Despite the wealth of Tenacious D gags lurking here, the Dio-era Sabbath had great moments, and “The Mob Rules” still rocks.

There's a lot missing from the latest EP from Chicago hip-hop duo The Cool Kids. No tough-guy tracks. No rhymes about guns or jail. And the only reference to rims comes on the summer jam “Black Mags,” an ode to a slick BMX bikes with pegs on the back for hauling honeys. Cool Kid members Mikey Rocks and Chuck Inglish are hip to just how un-hip they are; on “A Little Bit Cooler” they laugh, “Fruity Pebbles. How gangsta is that? Not gangsta at all.” The Kids' too-cool-to-play-the-game attitude wouldn't work half as well it weren't for their homegrown beats. And halfway through “One Two,” when they admit they're “the new black version of the Beastie Boys,” they're damn right.

Ronnie Hawkins did more than crank out hot-ass rockabilly. The Arkansas sensation formed his first band in the 1950s before relocating to Canada. There, he assembled an amazing backing band called The Hawks that would later back Bob Dylan before renaming themselves The Band. This collection combines two classic Hawkins albums from the '60s into a 23-track rockabilly shakedown loaded with scorching covers of Chuck Berry, Muddy Waters, and others. But it's a knockout version of Bo Diddley's classic “Who Do You Love?” featuring a ridiculous solo by guitarist Robbie Robertson that shows just how much history was going down at these sessions.

When Three 6 Mafia won an Oscar for their track “It's Hard Out Here for a Pimp,” from the Hustle & Flow soundtrack, more than one music nut dropped their headphones and said, “What?” The truth is, the Memphis crew have been flooding the South with tracks for more then a decade, and anyone who has ever set foot in a club—strip, or otherwise—has no doubt heard them. With their formula perfected, Three 6 Mafia deliver as advertised. They bang it out with Akon on “That's Right,” get loaded on pills during the ecstasy anthem “Rollin',” and duet with Good Charlotte (?!) on the moody “My Own Way.” Count on hearing it the next time you're stumbling around the club with a fistful of dollar bills.

Street Dogs singer Mike McColgan carries working class street cred in spades. The Army vet fought in the Gulf War and served as the original singer for Boston punks the Dropkick Murphys before bailing to become a firefighter. Now on leave from his firehouse, McColgan leads the Street Dogs. On their fourth album, the group sound grittier than ever. But behind the riffs that recall The Clash and Cock Sparrer, it's McColgan's world experience that gives heart to his rants about honor and family. Whether he's toasting a late uncle (“Kevin J. O'Toole”) or an old friend (“Two Angry Kids”), it's obvious that McColgan keeps one Doc Marten planted in the old neighborhood.

Wig-wearing rock ‘n' roll nut-job King Khan is a true international mess. The Montreal musician spent time in a few bands before landing in Berlin, forming the nine-piece soul freak-out The Shrines, and flooding the globe with fuzzed-out rock. This collection gathers a few of Kahn's greatest hits. While The Shrines mash Nuggets rock ‘n' roll with Stax horns, Khan wails through the Animals-inspired “Burnin' Inside” and gets down like James Brown on the horn-pumping “Took My Lady to Dinner.” Check out “Welfare Bread,” in which a softy Khan offers to share his bounty with a lucky lady. This album is crucial listening for any summer BBQ.

For every two Mastodon fans out there, at least one of them should own every Melvins CD. Founding Melvins members King Buzzo and Dale Crover practically invented the formula for sludgy riffs and pounding drums and then spent nearly 25 years making it even weirder. After a few oddball projects, with everyone from Jello Biafra to Leif Garrett, the Melvins added two new members (bassist Jared Warren and second drummer Coady Willis) and rediscovered their glory. Their latest is filled with everything that makes the Melvins great. There’s Buzzo wailing (“Billy Fish”), riffs flying (“The Smiling Cobra”), and a few moments where you’ll wonder what the hell is going on.

Indie rock dudes who fawn over My Morning Jacket love to label the Louisville, KY , band “Americana” and then compare them to Neil Young and The Band, both of which are Canadian. Go figure. The truth is My Morning Jacket is closer to a twangy Radiohead, especially when singer Jim James lobs melodies through the band’s spacey jams. While the Jacket boys like to meander a bit and need to be reeled in, Evil Urges has only one extended track, the eight-minute album closer. Otherwise, James keeps the songs leaner than ever, laying down his best Cat Stevens wisdom on the romantic “Two Halves” and writing “Librarian,” an ode to the hot bookworm behind the counter.

Damn if Philly hip-hop icons The Roots don’t sound frustrated. From releasing their new album on the anniversary of the Los Angeles riots to opening the album with a recorded arguement between The Roots management and executives at their previous label, there’s more than the usual simmering anger we’ve come to expect. That sense of aggravation spills over everywhere. The guitar hook of “Criminal” builds around verses by MC Black Thought and guests Saigon and Truck North as they tear up the injustices of a capitalistic society. In “Singing Man,” Malik B and Porn join Black Thought to dissect the thoughts of killers from Virginia Tech to Sierra Leone. Check out “75 Bars,” a massive lyrical blast recorded by Black Thought in one take.

Nearly halfway through Immortalizer, metal bozos Valient Thorr synchronize riffs for “No Holds Barred,” an off-thetop- rope tribute to wrestling complete with shout-outs to the “cobra clutch” and “flying dropkick.” It’s fitting since the Thorr crew have a WWE-style knack for distilling everything bombastic and ridiculous about metal down to its basics. Led by lead screamer Valient Himself, the band musters the frantic energy of MC5 as they throw up a middle finger to video games (“Infinite Lives”) and bring the boogie rock on “Mask of Sanity.” Mostly, you just hold on for the ride, like on the swirling Thin Lizzy riffs of “Parable of Daedalus,” where Valient Himself rants about the Minotaur and Poseidon. This must be one unholy mother live.

In the mid-’70s, R&B legend Al Green walked away from recording to become a pastor and went down in music history as the last of the great soul singers. Green focused on gospel for the next two decades before returning to R&B in the ’90s. His latest, Lay It Down, started as a jam session with Roots drummer ?uestlove and stretched out for two and a half years. The guests—including John Legend and Corinne Bailey Rae—pile up, but they respect Green enough to stay out of his way as he grunts, groans, and fires up his falsetto. “All I Need” is classic Green, with punchy horns courtesy of the Dap-King Horns (Sharon Jones, Amy Winehouse). Play with the lights low.

Back when the Pogues drunkenly mashed-up traditional Irish foot-stompers and punk rock, nobody knew the style they spewed up would stagger on without them. Decades later, the seven members of Flogging Molly picked up the idea and injected it with a bigger rock sound. Float is their loudest album yet, filled with blazing guitar solos, bits of feedback, and thundering drums. Singer Dave King paints a sad image of a washed-up boxer in “Punch Drunk Grinning Soul,” as the song builds from an acoustic opener to an explosive ending worthy of Metallica. The tender moment comes on “The Story So Far,” which is filled with enough fiddle and accordion to leave you sobbing in a pint.

Spit-soaked clubs everywhere are filled with by-the-power chords street punk bands. Time Again know the formula well: loud guitars, snarled vocals, and other cues copped straight from Rancid, whose front man, Tim Armstrong, signed the foursome to his own Hellcat Records. On their second album, Time Again blast through a trio of pit-starters before hitting “Lines Are Faded,” a buzzing, mid-tempo sing-a-long that proves why the band is better than most of the street-punk pack. That same energy surfaces on “Lookin’ Back,” as Daniel Dart slurs his way through a string of hard luck stories while the group muscles around the guitar crunch. “Montreal (Street Kids),” a tale of drugged-up punks taking to the streets, is sure to become a Friday night theme for delinquents everywhere.

After the subdued vibe of their second album, the Raveonettes’ third outing finds the Danish duo searching for the gritty tones that made their early work so creepy and cool. For the most part, the rediscovery works. The Raveonettes’ strength lies in the way they marry their Jesus and Mary Chain fascination with their fetish for ’50s rock ‘n’ roll. “Aly, Walk With Me” shimmies to a drum machine beat built around a reverb-soaked guitar that swells into speaker-crackling fuzz, while later, on “Dead Sound,” Sune Rose Wagner and Sharin Foo share singing duties over chiming bells and a driving kick drum. “Sad Transmission,” with its dreamy Motown melody buried under a sea of feedback, is the sound of the Raveonettes reborn. —Jason Buhrmester

Goldfrapp fans expecting the sexy electronic thump that made the group a DJ favorite are going to be scratching their heads on the dance floor after spinning Seventh Tree. Long gone are the glammed-up sounds of Supernature, replaced instead with baroque guitars, soaring vocals by Alison Goldfrapp, and beats that rarely reach a danceable BPM. “Happiness” is a goofy Beatles romp complete with horns, while “Eat Yourself” finds Goldfrapp channeling her inner Carly Simon over a finger-picked guitar and simple melody. During the mellow “Some People,” Goldfrapp asks what’s left when the glitter is gone, making it obvious the duo are taking a time-out from the clubs and moving in a new direction.

With a father like legendary songwriter Steve Earle and a namesake like country icon Townes Van Zandt, it’s a shock that Justin Townes Earle didn’t collapse with the weight of the two hard-core troubadours around his neck. Not that he didn’t come close. The 25-year-old struggled through a few early groups, messed himself up, and was thrown out of his father’s band before finding his own voice. Rather than running from his roots, Earle’s first solo album is steeped in country music history. “Hard Living’” and “South Georgia Sugar Babe” are pure country swing, while “The Good Life” recalls early Merle Haggard. But the gem is “Who Am I to Say?” where a husky-voiced Earle shows traditional doesn’t have to mean unoriginal.

Hip-hop heads spent the past eight years wondering, “Where the hell is Del?” After pulling a disappearing act, the Funky Homosapien surfaced only a handful of times, including Deltron 3030, his collaboration with Dan the Automator, and the debut album from Gorillaz. On his first solo album in nearly a decade, Del strips down his style, claiming his rhymes were too complex for their own good. His goofy, sarcastic flow is still as sharp as his Dr. Bombay days as he smacks down fakes on the Funkadelic “Bubble Pop.” On “Foot Down” Del clowns over an ass-bouncing beat that sounds like it fermented in a New Orleans backyard barbecue. He’s back, but for how long?

Daft Punk can play at your house. Now it’s possible, with the release of Alive 2007, the two-disc set documenting the robotic duo’s live show at Paris’ Palais Omnisports de Paris-Bercy, their first hometown show in nearly a decade. The collection includes a 50-page digibook full of tour photos, live shots, and, of course, plenty of robot suits. But it gets better: the album’s first single, “Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger,” will be accompanied by a music video from director Olivier Gondry (Michel’s brother) that includes footage shot by the fans for the fans. Alive 2007 brings the Daft Punk live experience right into your living room; just be sure you have room for the immense glowing pyramids—and you’ll probably need some sort of license for the pyrotechnics.

Guitarist Mike Gallagher of the group Isis returns with his second solo project this year, a strange and solemn glimpse into his distorted mind. This album from MGR (a.k.a. Mustard Gas and Roses, a name lovingly borrowed from Vonnegut’s Slaughterhouse Five) is arranged with a clamorous structure, shifting in and out of focus over the course of the six album tracks. Gallagher conjured about as many ominous and vague feelings as possible with his almost allguitar composure. Isis fans will pick up on the familiar layering-of-echoes style laced throughout the album that is, quite often, easy to ignore. Yet pay close attention, out of all the foreboding, distortion, and noise, there is a soundtrack to a mood rarely captured in song.

Two albums in and they’re already dropping a rarities compilation? The Killers have sure got some sass. Though it must be easy to develop a good bit of impudence if you’ve been busy recording an album with Lou Reed. Yes, among the never-beforereleased- in-the-U.S. tracks and the B-sides is “Tranquilize,” a collaboration between the Killer boys and Reed. Not too shabby. Sawdust also features “All the Pretty Faces,” a B-side from the “When You Were Young” single, a cover of Joy Division’s “Shadowplay,” from the Control soundtrack, and “Move Away” from Spider-Man 3. They even managed to do their own take on the Kenny Rogers hit “Ruby, Don’t Take Your Love to Town”—how brash!

Often regarded as one of the first heavy metal bands, Led Zeppelin hit the music scene by storm back in 1969, and they’ve been ripped off, in one way or another, by scores of bands ever since. Their legacy continues with the release of Mothership, a 24-track greatest hits collection that was personally selected by Jimmy Page, Robert Plant, and John Paul Jones. Mothership includes every pillar song one would expect to make the greatest hits album (“Ramble On,” “Stairway to Heaven,” “Over the Hills and Far Away”). And if you spring for the collector’s or deluxe edition, it also includes a DVD featuring live content—a collector’s dream.

Remember, before he went Def Jam he was a Sony man, and Sony needed one last favor—a greatest hits album. The cleverly titled Greatest Hits compiles the best from multiple albums, ranging from the 1994 release Illmatic to 2004’s Street’s Disciple; but it’s no surprise that Illmatic tracks dominate a large portion of this release. Nas also managed to get two premiere tracks on the album: “Less Than an Hour,” his collaboration with Cee-Lo that first appeared on the Rush Hour 3 soundtrack, and album-opener “Surviving the Times,” perhaps a personal vaunt boasting glory in hip-hop long after Nas himself declared it dead.

Xiu Xiu’s sixth album release is not the tense, glooming sound that you’ve come to expect from the experimental Oakland, CA, band; but that doesn’t mean it comes anywhere close to an easy, accessible listen. The looming feedback, pick-heavy guitars, and repressed emotions are all still there, along with front man Jamie Stewart’s malign whispers. Women as Lovers borrows its title from a novel by Nobel Prize-winning feminist writer Elfriede Jelinek, whose work is often dismissed as pornography (which happens to suit Xiu Xiu quite well). With songs like “In Lust You Can Hear the Axe Fall,” and guest vocals by the bawdy Michael Gira (The Angles of Light), Women as Lovers is downright naughty. —Abigail Bruley

Brit-pop electro band Hot Chip counts Made in the Dark as their first album recorded in a studio, not a room or basement. Yet the overall sound of this (their third) album retains a sound that is more concrete and drywall than studio padding. After the brilliant success of 2006’s The Warning, the ambitious blokes decided they would take their sound away from the computer and focus more on instrumentation, going for something more “rock-y.” The 13-track album will certainly surprise Chip fans with its heavy Sabbath-like metal mixed and somber soul ballads, but no worries, there’s still the sonically dense, ball-bearing dance anthems that they do so darn well.

Everyone’s favorite inmate is back on the attack with her first new album in six years. Brooklyn’s Don Diva, a collection of songs Foxy recorded before being sentenced to prison, is a brazen diary of everything that’s happened to Miss Brown in the past few years: assaults on manicurists, court appearances, losing and then regaining her hearing, and, just for kicks, some troubled childhood recounts. The diva stomps and spits her way through explicit gutter anthems and incessant gloating proving the only thing more angry and frightening than a scorned woman is a scorned woman in solitary confinement.

Roscoe’s Chicken and Waffle House, that’s where it all happened; the young and bright-eyed Estelle marched right up and introduced herself to Kanye West, who hooked her up with John Legend. Fast-forward several years and she’s the first artist signed to Legend’s Homeschool Records, marking her U.S. debut, and even being touted as the next Lauryn Hill. It’s easy to see why Shine is getting so much attention; with backing and production by established hit-makers such as Wyclef Jean and will.i.am, and guests such as West, Legend, and Cee-Lo, there is little room for error. But this British singer-songwriter-rapper does more than fine on her own with a blend of finesse and attitude.

Forget computer-generated beats and dance-club anthems; sometimes you just want hard, derivative rock. New Zealand’s Die! Die! Die! are going to give it to you, whether you like it or not. Promises, Promises, the band’s second full-length album is a pummeling, emphatic version of what will no doubt garner references to the ’80s Dunedin sound. But, make no mistake, these boys from down under slash through any pop diddy ever written by The Clean. Produced by Kiwi songwriter Shayne Carter and recorded in the Walkmen’s famed Marcata studio in upstate New York, Promises is well-primed and well-grounded enough to turn any rhythm into pure, vulgar noise.

Cambodian rock is not a term one hears often when describing a band’s sound, but the term applies perfectly to Dengue Fever, the ’60s-psych, surf-lounge, world-music outfit from Los Angeles. Venus on Earth marks the band’s third full-length album, and it follows the release of the popular Escape from Dragon House. Their notable eclectic sound is still there, courtesy of four American musicians and Cambodian lead singer Chhom Nimol, who often sings in her native Khmer. As Dengue’s first attempt at an album that contains only original music, the 11 tracks smoothly transition from moonshine bebop to drugged-out garage jams to jet-setter swing without even breaking a sweat.

South Texas metal heads The Sword are serious guitar shredders. So serious in fact that the band earned a nod from the most esteemed judge of fretboard acrobatics, Guitar Hero, whose creators put The Sword’s “Freya” in the hit video game (in the “Return of the Shred” section no less). Their third album continues the guitar assault with booming riffs and singer J.D. Cronise’s Ozzy-esque vocals. The Sword picks up on what others miss in the Sabbath playbook (the blues), and rest the riffs for the bluesy “Maiden, Mother & Crone.” Elsewhere, Cronise and guitarist Kyle Shutt trade licks on the galloping “Fire Lances the Ancient Hyperzephyrians” and album closer “The White Sea,” where they construct an elaborate metal crunch that moves from moody trudge to soaring guitars faster than you can throw up the devil horns.

It’s been nearly a decade since Moby’s Play devoured the radio, commercials, and every medium open to the blend of beats and antique field recordings. In the meantime, Moby dished out two albums and went back to spinning. That stint at the turntables shows, as Last Night is his most dance-centric work in years. Like a good DJ set, Last Night builds to a peak, from the funk rhythm of “I Love to Move in Here” (with Grandmaster Caz) to the high-hat march of “Everyday It’s 1989,” and into Gloria Gaynor-esque “Disco Lies” (which, in typical Moby fashion, was already in the movie Cloverfi eld). The drugs wear off around “Degenerates” as Moby ends with “Last Night”, a mellow nine-minute come down.

Attack [Quarterstick] Most headbangers have probably never heard–or even heard of—the bands that members of Dead Child used to be in. Among the five guys in the Louisville band are ex-members of Slint, Zwan, Stereolab, and Papa M, none of which would have made a patch on any rocker’s denim jacket. Still, there’s no denying that Dead Child know their metal, from Maiden to Overkill. Guitarists David Pajo and Michael McMahan play more sludgy than fl ashy, and songs such as “Twitch of the Death Nerve” and “The Coldest Hands” lurch along with dropped-tuned riffs behind singer Dahm’s wailing vocals. “Sweet Chariot” is classic ’80s thrash (think Nuclear Assault) and the twin guitars on the slow intro to “Armies Up Ahead” will cause Ride the Lightning fl ashbacks.

Anyone expecting Pixie bassist/Breeder frontwoman Kim Deal to reproduce the catchy fun of the band’s mid-’90s hit “Cannonball” has been waiting since, well, the mid-’90s. The Breeders’ work before and since has made the song look like the exception, not the real Deal. Not that it’s a bad thing. Deal and her twin sister, Kelley, have played looser since, and Mountain Battles is seriously laid-back. After the sweet harmony of “Walk It Off,” the Breeders stroll through the all-Spanish “Regalame Esta Noche” and two-step into the country twang of “Here No More.” Mountain Battles’ dippy guitars and soft vocals suck you into the Deals’ chill vibe until the album’s few loud tracks such as “German Studies” and “It’s the Love” hit you like a, um, cannonball.

Supergrass have always riffed and rocked with an affinity for The Faces, T. Rex, and music’s other unsung heroes. And, like those idols, the British group has become one of the best and most underappreciated bands around. On their sixth album, Supergrass proves they can play anything rock-related. They shimmy through assshakers (“Rough Knuckles”) and guitarrockers (“345”) and wind up at “Bad Blood,” which opens with a great Idiot-era Iggy Pop impression. “Diamond Hoo Ha Man,” jumps straight into big drums and a fuzzed-out guitar, while “Rebel in You,” is brilliant guitar pop. They’re still one of the best rock ‘n’ roll bands around. Now it’s up to everyone else to notice.

The A.K.A.s play fist-pumping punk ‘n’ roll that’s perfect for both boozy weekends and protest rallies. Frontman Mike Ski, who spent the last 13 years inking at Long Island’s Lotus Tattoo, leads the A.K.A.s on a call to arms from the dance floor. Reverbed guitars and pumping organ mix with shout-along choruses as Ski snarls against government surveillance on “Paranoia Is a Skill” and incites a riot on the bass-thumping “We Write Our Own Anthems.” Hawthorne Heights’ JT Woodruff joins Ski on “Dead Flowers Forever,” the album’s most melodic track. Later, special guest Jello Biafra delivers a spoken word against commercialism and drives home the point that there’s more than a party here.