David Kilgour, A Feather in the Engine (CD)

David Kilgour's solo albums usually feature a fairly straightforward rock rhythm section. 2001's A Feather in the Engine includes a rhythm section in places, but balances the more rock-oriented songs with some more stripped down arrangements. A few of the tracks are melodic but loose instrumentals, which are closer to the Clean's recent albums than most of David's solo work. "Today is Gonna Be Mine" is the album's highlight, with multiple themes running in an unusual but effective counterpoint. Apart from David's excellent handwriting, the cover design gives little hint of the charms inside.

Sun City Girls, Valentines from Matahari (side A)

On this 1993 LP, Sun City Girls display little of their obsession with the world's indigenous musics and little of their dark sense of humor. Valentines from Matahari includes some of their most aggressive "rock" music, with an almost metal-like volume and energy peeking through at times. The riffs rarely repeat or use any grounding structure—the pieces evolve more organically over time. Perhaps the catchiest moment is in "Way Over the Rainbow", where a bit of the Harold Arlen tune sneaks in and sneaks back out. The austere packaging is instantly recognizable, and the incredibly primitive recording and mastering is equally iconic of this phase of Sun City Girls' oeuvre.

Thuja, Thuja... (side A)

2008's Thuja... starts out sounding a bit like Pelt, with layers of dark, heavy, and generally unamplified drones. It gradually resolves into a more typical Jeweled Antler Collective affair, with the drones gradually evolving into sparser acoustic layering. Seemingly everyone from Jeweled Antler shows up here, along with a few guests: 8 players in all. The recording and mastering are pretty primitive and lo-fi, without some of the exaggerated brightness of other albums from this crew, and the abstract cover painting is appropriate and tasteful.

Image Publique S.A., Paris au Printemps (side A)

The faux-French packaging is silly, but 1980's Paris au Printemps is a fine live Public Image Ltd. album. The sound quality is solid for a live album, though the vocals are a bit loud and the guitar a bit quiet (obviously, the bass sounds inferior to Metal Box, though not bad). The performances are strong, loose, and charismatic, and "Careering" ("Precipitamment") came out particularly great. The applause is barely audible, and the cover painting has little to do with the music inside.

Alice Cooper, Pretties for You (side A)

The sense of humor was already obvious on Alice Cooper's 1969 debut Pretties for You, but the darkness was barely present. The aggressive parts sound more like glam than metal, though neither genre really existed in 1969, and some parts are very psychedelic. Pretties for You is primitive and almost lo-fi, without a hint of the polish that would later appear. The musicianship is consistently great, and "Levity Ball" is now famous for a bass-line that the Flaming Lips borrowed years later. The cover art, with a painting of a woman's exposed panties, is sufficiently distasteful that my copy came with a small sticker covering the panties.

Alastair Galbraith, Mirrorwork (side A)

When I think of Alastair Galbraith's work, I think of the dynamic qualities of Morse, where occasionally his electric guitar playing can hint at heaviness. 1998's Mirrorwork is more consistently delicate, with more focus on acoustic instruments and particularly fragile vocals. Galbraith's cover paintings are as beautiful and introspective as the music, and his primitive recording techniques continue to flatter his songwriting and performances.

brise-glace, when in Vanitas... (side A)

brise-glace was a strange and short-lived combination of personalities in Chicago in 1994, and when in Vanitas... reflects the group's diversity. When Cheer-Accident's Thymme Jones plays his awkward drums, he can certainly be dominant, and some of the overt tape collage is obviously Jim O'Rourke. What's crazy about the album is that the four personalities sort of rotate through the foreground. The results seem like Henry Cow as updated through a more post-punk lens, with the rapid shifts and varied styles. The heavy riffs and drumming certainly would not be at home on Unrest. Steve Albini engineered, and some of his drum mic technique is recognizable. The front cover is even more confusing and impenetrable than the album.