*** Halo Benders

THE REBELS NOT IN

(K)

"A real career ender" is how the Halo Benders referred to themselves in the de facto theme song "Halo Bender" on 1996's Don't Tell Me Now (K). But that line was just a convenient rhyme for the two principals in this indie-rock supergroup: Built To Spill singer/guitarist Doug Martsch and K Records/Beat Happening dude Calvin Johnson. Both have continued to lead productive musical lives outside the Halo Benders, and both have once again found time to collaborate with keyboardist/engineer Steve Fisk on another wonderfully loose and tuneful collection of Halo Benders material. (Violent Green bassist Wayne Flower and Feelings drummer Ralf Youtz round out the cast.)

This pair's voices are an acquired taste -- Martsch's in a high, whiny, Perry Farrellish sort of way, Johnson's in a flat, deep-throated manner that brings to mind the dude from Crash Test Dummies (especially on the tender ballad "Love Travels Faster"). But that's all part of the skewed fun of a Halo Benders tune, which typically features the two singing disconnected circles around each other over scruffy strum-and-drone guitars, a steady backbeat, and the kind of simple yet artful hooks and melodies that remain fundamentals of both men's busy indie-rock careers.

-- Matt Ashare