A new wave of bands is about to do for “No Wave” and krautrockers like Can what the Strokes did for garage rock. Noisy and experimental, these adventurous acts rely heavily on electronics and consider guitars percussive instruments, if they use them at all. Leading the assault are the Liars, celebrating the release of their new album with a big show on their home turf of Brooklyn on February 24.
Liars
They Were Wrong, So We Drowned (Mute; February 24)
Following their brilliant, ferocious debut, the Liars didn’t just leave Williamsburg for New Jersey—they also abandoned their chaotic dance mania and even their original drummer and bassist. Spin has declared it “unlistenable,” but this “story” album, inspired by sixteenth-century witch hunts, is fascinatingly moody, with front man Angus Andrew wailing like a dark Lord Sauron who’s just realized he can’t stop the beat.
• Warsaw, Polish National Home, 261 Driggs Ave., Williamsburg, Brooklyn; 866-468-7619. 2/24.
Aa
Big A Little A (Narnack; February 24)
Propelled by three drummers (four counting John Atkinson, who flails his maracas like a chimp on crack), Aa consistently wows loft parties with a sonic battery of driving beats, ethereal electronics, and samples of sirens and elephant cries. The EP, mastered by the Flying Luttenbachers’s drummer, proves there are lyrics in all that yelling, though we still can’t tell what they say.
Japanther
The Operating Manual For Life On Earth (Menlo Park; March 16)
The only group ever to play samples from NPR while opening for Ol’ Dirty Bastard and Mogwai matures by adding guitarist Claudia Meza and (shocker!) actually practicing for this twelve-inch vinyl EP that includes three new songs, one remastered one, and an unplayable B-side etched by underground graffiti artist UFO 907.
Tallboys
Scallywag Tag (Jakattak; In stores)
On Tallboys’s debut EP, reminiscent of Sleater-Kinney and the Slits, front woman Sheila Sixteen destroys her guitar and yelps through lyrics like “Sex! Ow! Sex! Ow! Sex with a stranger!” like Oberlin buddy Karen O in her (fictional) days as a Cake party vixen.
TV on the Radio
Desperate Youth, Blood Thirsty Babes (Touch And Go; March 9)
With blues, gospel, big band, and even doo-wop laid on a bed of steady bass distortion, this striking, genre-smashing debut would make Beck proud.
• Warsaw, Polish National Home, 261 Driggs Ave., Williamsburg, Brooklyn; 866-468-7619. 2/24.