*** Laika

GOOD LOOKING BLUES

(Too Pure/Beggars Banquet)

Formed from dissenting members of Moonshake, this Anglo/American outfit favors what amounts to an artier version of the Luscious Jackson style -- grrrl-power funk balanced on a fulcrum of found sounds and obscure samples. Silver Apples of the Moon, the band's debut, offered a multi-layered disco-concrete æsthetic; Good Looking Blues, their third album, is more of a techno-organic affair that's reported to have come about when they opted to re-record what were originally electronic-based demos in a semi-live-in-the-studio setting. A number of players from England's avant-rock underground (such as PJ Harvey drummer Rob Ellis and Eardrum percussionist Lou Ciccotelli) are along for the ride, which lacks some of the structural complexity of Laika's earlier releases but compensates with a compelling mix of studio effects and human interactions. The result may be the world's finest post-rock groove band, as turntable scratching meshes with familiar funk-jam ingredients like Fender-Rhodes piano, punchy horn charts, and wakka-wakka guitars. Singer Margaret Murphy Fiedler adds soft, tactile vocals, plus a topical rant about the pomo plague of computer viruses.

-- Patrick Bryant