Madonna (RSD 2022)

Reissue of this classic 1999 album that was originally released on Merge. The second album from these Austin noisemakers drifts from mind-sweeping tranquillity to cathartic cacophony, sometimes in the course of a single song. It all pushes toward overload by the end - many of the songs follow the same formula of a slow build to a glorious breakdown - but the band's mix of guitar simplicity and sonic ambition works to construct a tower of super sound. The distortion, too, plays a part on 'madonna'; it serves as both primal instrument and harmonic distracter.