Clues, Aqueduct, Mount Eerie
(Neumos) Clues frontman Alden Penner was half of the songwriting team behind the wonderful, cartoonishly morbid indie-pop band the Unicorns (RIP), and while his new band often aims for a bigger, loftier sound, there's still something of that act's antic energy in his songs. Penner is supported by former Arcade Fire drummer Brendan Reed and a handful of other musicians, who provide percussive clatter (sometimes on dual drum kits), orchestral ominosity, and solid rock-and-roll ruckus to back up Penner's ranging voice, which flickers from a near-shout to a whisper to a falsetto. Clues can sometimes get bogged down in looming, slow-moving passages—but when the songs pick up and get poppy, it's like that old magical animal has been reborn. Mount Eerie is always a treasure. ERIC GRANDY

Peaches, Drums of Death
(Showbox at the Market) Peaches' 2006 record Impeach My Bush (ugh) spawned a couple good singles/remixes ("Boys Wanna Be Her" and the Simian Mobile Disco remix of "Downtown") but didn't make much of an impression. Her album before that, Fatherfucker, was just kind of a mess. Her new album, I Feel Cream, much of which was cowritten by Gonzales, is the best thing she's done since her debut. Peaches successfully tries out airy diva vocals over the title track's muffled rave synths and the twinkling keys and bass arpeggios of the Simian Mobile Disco—coproduced "Lose You." On other SMD coproduction "Billionaire," she's rapping monotone in fine, f-bomb-dropping form, bolstered by a breathless, brutal guest spot from Yo Majesty's Shunda K. "More," one of the album's few strictly solo joints, boasts a nicely buzzing synth line and Peaches whispering sweet-enough dance-floor nothings. The return to form is almost as surprising as that first time you heard "Fuck the Pain Away." ERIC GRANDY

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