Rain Machine, Diane Cluck

(Neumos) After a double whammy of masterworks—2006's bottomless volcano Return to Cookie Mountain and 2008's art-rock funk blast Dear Science—TV on the Radio are taking a hiatus while individual members get busy elsewhere. Last week I was happy to see Tunde Adebimpe giving a perfectly lovely performance in Jonathan Demme's Rachel Getting Married; this week I'm happy to see Rain Machine—aka the solo project of Kyp Malone—get to work at Neumos. The just-released Rain Machine sounds pretty much how you'd expect/hope—like stripped-down, rough-draft TV on the Radio, what Malone might bring to the table to be digested and refined by the deeply collaborative band. A constant: the voice, that rich, layered near-whine that either leaves you cold or makes you want to follow it anywhere. DAVID SCHMADER

Paintings for Animals, Demian Johnston, New Red Sun, Sokai Stilhed

(Josephine) I think it was the smart folks in Midday Veil who told me about Paintings for Animals (Seattle musician Pearson Wallace-Hoyt and myriad highly evolved cats) a while ago, but somehow his name slipped my mind—until now. Thankfully, Paintings for Animals returned to my consciousness—and proceeded to raise it to astronomic heights. PFA's gist resides in mysterious drones filigreed with field recordings of equally enigmatic origins. Uneasy atmospheres redolent of Coil and Organum's work drift through your sensorium, hover and whir for a while, and then rearrange the ganglia there. It's really something else—a weird party soundtrack at the microcosmic level or a score to your most mystical, baffling dreams. DAVE SEGAL

And there's always more in our music calendar listings.