Record Reviews

The Soft Moon

Zeros is vampire rock. The rain-slicked precipice of darkness. Icy keyboard laser beams shocking life into dead flesh. Shattering, panic-attack drum-machines on the brink of self-destruction. Guitars like creeping neurosis. "It Ends" scrapes off tattered metal, "Die Life" blisters in mottled bass. Oakland's Luis Vasquez always had a thing for the dark side, but his band always stuck to fuzzy, mid-tempo guitar goth. This sophomore effort sheds off the fat and pins down his point: clout, capital, and dedication bubbling over into a synth-pop opus so deliciously evil and devastatingly singular it deserves its own cult. (Fri., 9pm, Levitation tent)