Cold Cave, Former Ghosts

(Vera) What do you do when your self-destructive hardcore band finally exhausts itself? Furthermore, what do you do when one of the most embarrassingly popular modern pop-rock acts—Fall Out Boy—plagiarizes large chunks of your lyrics and attempts to pass them off as their own? Well, you take legal action against said pop band, claim a sizable chunk of cash, and begin crafting brooding bedroom electro pop for your own amusement. Such is the story for Cold Cave, the solo project of former Give Up the Ghost/Some Girls vocalist Wesley Eisold. Any hardcore kids looking for vestiges of Eisold's gritty and venomous tirades will be disappointed to hear Cold Cave's fragile and somber numbers. But anyone craving the morose electronic sounds of the early '80s will rejoice to hear this sound resurrected. BRIAN COOK See also Stranger Suggests.

Simian Mobile Disco, JDH, Dave P

(Neumos) Simian Mobile Disco's sophomore album, Temporary Pleasure, takes an approach not uncommon for marquee electronic acts—namely, calling up what seems like nearly every vocalist they've ever remixed or produced for a guest appearance. As often happens with this scenario, the results can feel uneven and cobbled together more out of expediency than out of any kind of grand plan for an album. What works: the gauzy, falsetto motorik-lite of "Cream Dream"; the corny "Audacity of Huge"; the Beth Ditto—led neon disco ballad "Cruel Intentions"; the satisfyingly sour, Hot Chip—assisted "Bad Blood"; as well as steam-building instrumentals like "10000 Horses Can't Be Wrong" and "Ambulance" and the minimally vocal "Synthesise." What fails: hip-house track "Turn Up the Dial"; "Off the Map," which criminally squanders weirdo soul singer Jamie Lidell; and the Telepathe-featuring "Pinball." What never fails: the duo's eyeball-searing, ass-moving, always incredible live sets. ERIC GRANDY

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