Liars

Skeletal punk-funk rhythms, mercilessly repetitive guitar parts, and zombie vocals straight out of Joy Division come together nicely on They Threw Us All in a Trench, the debut by this group at the center of New York's post-millennial No Wave revival. The Liars juxtapose bare, erotic dance rhythms with ghostly echo and treble effects, yielding a seductive but implacably chilling overall picture. A death rattle sounds in "Nothing Is Ever Lost or Can Be Found My Science Friend" and the final track, "Why Midnight Walked but Didn't Ring Her Bell," drones on hypnotically for 30 minutes.

The group quickly earned a reputation as one of the strangest and most unpredictable in the New York scene, its concerts often bumbling into chaos. They Were Wrong, their second full-length following a series of singles and EPs, is an aggressive and claustrophobic blast that earned comparisons on its release to Lou Reed's famously unlistenable Metal Machine Music. But that's not quite fair: Look close and find grinding noise arranged into precise, danceable grooves, and lyrical themes of witch hunts and mass sacrifice that resonate eerily in the George W. era. (BEN SISARIO)

From 2004's The New Rolling Stone Album Guide