Cougar

Cougar's tricky yet boldly melodic tunes might carry some echoes of other instrumental post-rock bands, but the five-piece seems to put a lot more faith in the likes of Squarepusher and Four Tet. At any rate, the Madison, Wis.-formed band had already developed its own sonic vocabulary when its 2007 debut, Law, came out: clear-toned but assertive guitar sounds, subtly complex rhythms, and a healthy tendency to dabble in electronic textures. (Still, some reviewers lazily compare the group to Explosions In The Sky, despite its lack of interest in windy crescendos.) The new Patriot, released on the Ninja Tune sub-label Counter Records, finds the band members spreading out to different cities and crafting a more heavily rocking but also more sonically varied follow-up somewhere between math-rock and abrasive electronica.

Updated 11/12/2009