Don't Ask Don't Tell (Expanded Edition)

Marginally brighter than their oppressive debut Eleven: Eleven, Come's second album is pretty heavy sledding regardless. Although the core duo of singing guitarists Thalia Zedek and Chris Brokaw has pure art-punk credentials (Zedek in Boston's Dangerous Birds and Uzi, Brokaw in New York slowcore pioneers Codeine), Come is basically an exceptionally intense blues-rock band. They aren't simply lifting old Chess Records riffs in the manner of theJon Spencer Blues Explosion, though; their music is basically a neurotic-'90s urban take on the roots of the blues: guitar music as catharsis. Zedek's lead vocals have the sensuous drawl of a blues mama, but her lyrics are expressions of alienation, pain, and general pissed-offedness that are more than matched by the dual lead guitars, which play intertwining lines that bounce off of each other at unexpected angles. The combination of those two elements and the extended song lengths -- nearly half of the ten songs are over six minutes -- makes Don't Ask Don't Tell a particularly intense and emotional experience. ~ Stewart Mason