Rob Crow’s pipes are one of the most readily identifiable traits of perennial easy-listening indie rock favorites Pinback, but the band’s strengths in its rhythm section and steady plodding melancholic style have kept his real fantastic riff writing and catchy hooks from shining through. It’s only been in his more experimental home recordings and side projects that he’s focused his compact rough-edged rock-pop into songs that max out at roughly 2 minutes and pack all their ideas concisely into undeniably memorable bursts. Some of his strongest writing has been with Thingy, in which he paired his own silky vocals with harmonies from a female counterpoint, and featured the drumming of my personal favorite Mario Rubalcaba from Rocket from the Crypt, and Clikitat Ikatowi. The band is wound insanely tight, and the sometimes frivolous lyrics give their albums a breezy and humorous tone (see their acoustic ode to Star Wars “O.B.1″, one of his many dedications to the series), but on darker songs like “Blueprint” and “Letterbomb” the tightness of the band, though evidently catchy and refined, can leave you breathless. There isn’t a better pop writer working in indie rock.

Thingy - Letterbomb

No one knows how to really take white people in hip hop, not that race is a big issue, but you always have to wonder how authentic it really is. That probably opens up a whole other can of racial worms, but I honestly have an inherent distrust of my own race, and I can’t say white people haven’t earned it. We don’t talk about it, but we’re really terrible. We by-and-large can’t rap, we have some good authentic producers, but the only time I’ve been able to take a white rapper seriously has been when they stop being a cop-out and represent their roots (Bubba Sparxxx is the exception, I can’t even look at him without laughing).

Food for Animals kind of personify where they’re from without cheaping themselves as caricatures. They’ve been based out of Washington, D.C. for the formative years of their sound, and on the majority of their “Scavengers” EP they take huge shots at the Bush Administration in between bursts of chainsaw-distorted melodies. Andrew Field-Pickering (aka Vulture Voltaire) and Nik Rivetti (aka Ricky Rabbit) hide hip-hop under layers of drill & bass and glitchy noise that sometimes bypasses all semblance of a beat, while punchlines fly at directly at you with clear delivery and gruff inflection, energetic and pronounced enough to keep the song punchy over the discordant melody backing it. Ricky Rabbit’s production style shows knowledge of hip hop roots on their new album “Belly”, but the band has been lauded more by the IDM crowd and Jason Forrest’s label Cock Rock Disco releases “Belly” this month, after half a year of delays. It’s more cohesive than “Scavengers”, and it’s the first sign of Vulture Voltaire distancing himself from the D.C. political themes of their earlier stuff, while the U.S. gets a licking, he’s frank and vivid on “Grapes”, where he waits around as his mother dies from cancer, laconically dead-panning “every time I hear the word cancer, I need a cigarette/I’m not sure I get it yet”.

They’re a tough listen for casual fans of rap or anyone who can’t digest glitchy songs, but if you want something to alienate everyone in the world when you blast it from your car speakers, look no further. (Also see: Hearts of Darknesses)

Food for Animals - Elephants
(off Scavengers EP)

Food for Animals - Grapes
(off Belly)