Jookabox

The Eyes of the Fly sounds like a bunch of stuff thrown at the wall by precision instruments, trebuchets and cannons primed to create something unmade, daring you to slot it into a genre and laughing at your attempts. This kind of inventiveness in music usually ends up on the Songs For My Cat side of things ― a mash of caustic noise ― but Jookabox laugh at that idea too and dare you to turn it off. The fancy clapping in the title track over some loopy vocal delivery underscores what might be the most conventional rock-along of the record's 33-minute run before blending into the vaguely tribal beats of "Nice-Boy" and the astonishing symmetry of "Webbin'," a choice mid-album single. Jookabox easily balance creation without alienation and challenging without frustrating. Parts of The Eyes of the Fly feel familiar, but the stitches holding them together don't show; it's a handsome Frankenstein.