Still reviewing the CDs.

I feel like I should start out my review of Lightning Bolt's Hypermagic Mountain by imagining them taking the stage: "Hello, we're Lightning Bolt and we've come to destroy Western Music! One! Two! Three! Four!" The band has an aggressive, noisy, energetic sound that seems to hide some ambitions to bigger ideas. And I've never seen them in person, but I doubt they harbor such dark ambitions to destroy Western music.

I had assumed when I first heard the band that they were a drums/guitar duo. In fact, this is an electric bass and drums only, but if you give them a listen, you'll pardon my mistake when you hear what Brian Gibson does with that single four-stringed instrument.

When they take a brief, calmer interlude, it gives the same sort of impression the cartoon character, the Tasmanian Devil, gives, that the band is merely panting and will resume the hyperactivity shortly, but in the main, Lightning Bolt powers ahead at full speed. That full-speed approach is a wild ride built on chattering, restless drumming and distorted, sharp-edged bass-playing. Mr. Gibson is a constant fount of harmonic and melodic ideas, grafting warp-speed riffs with kinetic solos and chunky power chords. I assume that the recordings contain dubbed second or even third basses in spots, but for the most part, the duo play together in a connected, intimate fashion that shows how intimacy isn't necessarily a quiet, calm thing as all those wimpy singer/songwriters would have you believe. These two show a real connection in their music that's just as visible in the squalling, tumbling noise (complete with indistinct, muffled wailing in a couple of songs).

While I think the relentless thrashing and noise might be a bit much for some listeners, this is a sensational band in its prime: inventive, spontaneous, and confident.

9 out of 10

CDs listened to today:

• Ingram Marshall: Hymnodic Delays
• Heitor Villa-Lobos: String Quartet No. 6
• Various Artists: Only For The Headstrong
• Kenny Wheeler: Music For Large And Small Ensembles