I like when noise makes me feel mellow instead of insane. Angela just played a kazoo over what sounds like a humming engine, making you feel like your feeling the heater blowing at you in a car on a cold winter night. It’s nice the way she uses silly children’s toys with the electronics. It gives it a human touch. The music kind of slips gear. Instead of developing and gathering to a conclusion, the climax happens when things have completely fallen apart, leaving you with a question mark.

They’re funky and smooth, with an international feel. What were they going to do without Simon, buck naked icon; or Ian, who held the ship together? They got Toby, the only one who really looks like a rock star, and Pat, on bass, understated and cool.

I love the steel drum sound Toby gets on his synth. Peter is as dominating as ever in his kit, but with a freer feel, that allows the others to knit together what they have better.

Which is better? Not a fair question. Shifting lineups have defined the band since its onset, so it’s the change itself that counts, not any individual change.

That said, the new group gives more pleasure in the moment, if it’s not the same provocative assault on the brain. It’s a sports car taken on the highway into overdrive, wheeling and weaving and having a good time.

Ursula

I never knew Sona was in a band. She plays drums with a guitarist, and it’s very goth. Dark, icy tones cascading over rocky rock. The drums have a jet engine force. The guitar is a slipstream.

Show Me the Body

This band’s whole mission is to show what you can do with a banjo in a power trio. The banjo sounds are strange, mad, electric. This is a type of avant punk. It stops and starts, jolts forward on sudden rhythms. The drums are rattling bones. The bass is the Indy 500.