by the King Khan & BBQ Show

(Fat Possum, 7-inch)

If you know this act already, chances are you've already figured out what they sound like—a likably skuzzy garage stomp with yowled vocals and guitars that never get tired of playing their one strutting lick. The lick is good, though, and so are the words, which concern the kind of bash you'd expect to see on Adult Swim, complete with imitations of animal noises and an unexpected pizza delivery. A far more apt depiction of college life than Asher Roth's—but then, so was the Marx Brothers' Horse Feathers.

by Math Head

(Ad Noiseam)

Math Head is the alias of Brooklyn dubstep producer Ben Deitz, who debuts with this three-song EP. It opens with "Terror Inc.," whose clichéd guitar gnarl grinds over the track in a way that kind of reminds me too much of My Life with the Thrill Kill Kult. It's followed by one actually called "Thrill Kill," which is not only unscary but actually kind of dreamy: dubstep as sonic playground, some knife's-edge snare work here, a menacing robot riff over there, none of it groundbreaking but pretty pleasurable anyhow. The aptly named "Last" skulks around the corner near a bodega whose radio is playing banjo music for two minutes and 42 seconds, before deciding to get out of the rain. (As for My Life with the Thrill Kill Kult, whom I name-checked less than a month ago regarding friggin' U2, I will hereby not allow myself to be reminded of them in this column again.)

"Mirando"/"Mirando (Animal Collective Remix)"

by Ratatat

(XL)

I'm still a believer that a single can sum up an artist better than an album can, and while I wouldn't put money on it, that's sort of how "Mirando" strikes me. I've never been much of a Ratatat fan—seen 'em live and everything, and I have to imagine listening to them do this for an hour would get to me. "This" being instrumental electro-rock where the cheesy, outsized arena-rock guitarmonies mainly demonstr-ate the futility of bothering to declare anything "ironic." For four minutes it gives me a nice glimpse into a band that mark their time but don't seem like they'll go beyond it. Of course, I used to think that about Animal Collective, whose remix of "Mirando" stretches it out to a 10-minute moss-covered strobe-light special; if you're frothing over their new album, try this, too.