Black Dice

Black Dice

Brooklyn's Black Dice may be inextricably linked to their Animal Collective label heads, but it's a comparison that serves the experimental trio well. Whereas Animal Collective has softened with pop precision, Black Dice's fifth studio LP burrows deeper into the electronics toolshed, restlessly rolling between the undefined extremes of Lightning Bolt's noise attacks and Aphex Twin's bizarre beats. While Repo jump-starts smooth enough with the skuzzed samples bleating through "Nite Creme," the infectiously funky warp of "Glazin" gives way to an industrial stomp and grind that begins to unravel into darker territory. "La Cucaracha" unleashes a mind-bending mirage of ungraspable rhythms, while "Lazy TV" devolves into a psychotic blitzkrieg of loops and effects that, coupled with the demented samples of "Buddy," bleeds into "Ten Inches" of rapid-fire noise barrage. Black Dice leaves little to hold on to for stability, but the vertigo capped by "Ultra Vomit Craze" is an incomparable ride.