Anagram

A friend of mine recently got into a car accident which left him with a broken collarbone, windshield shards in his face, a black eye and swollen jaw. Five days later he considered going to an Anagram concert because he felt he’d "fit in.” In fact, Anagram front-man Matt Mason has performed with black eyes and they weren’t a vestige of rhinoplasty. This disc captures that sensation of a collective pummelling (the band use their instruments — including a hardy sax — as conduits of aggression, anxiety and animus), while one kid stands over your prostrate body, thrumming the reasons why you got beat up. With Anagram, the only pauses are for breath and there is no next, there is only more. A lesson in how music should be played.