Electrelane

Since originating as an obtuse instrumental group, Electrelane has inched toward accessibility. Last year’s The Power Out attached tuneful vocals to actual hooks, creating the all-female quartet’s first sing-along moments. Abetted by producer Steve Albini, Electrelane shoots back into the sonic stratosphere with Axes. The album opens with an ominous held-note buzz as the group’s guitars idle high, like heavy machinery warming up for a massive task. Choppy piano plinks, syncopated bass lines and elliptical drum skitters appear at sporadic intervals, uniting during intense climaxes. On “Gone Darker,” an alarming train whistle alternates with a weary saxophone tone; then the track dissolves into erratic clatter, as if Electrelane’s members were packing away equipment still attached to amplifiers. “Business or Otherwise,” all sharp splinters without anything resembling a linear melody, pushes that atonal experimentation even further. These pieces possess a certain avant-garde appeal, but they’ll be iPoded out of existence in favor of the album’s scattered dance-punk tracks. Still, even its catchy numbers have jagged edges — “Atom’s Tomb” starts with handclaps punctuating its percussion before the beats degenerate into the sound of breaking glass.