CASTANETS, ADAM GNADE, WHIP (Someday Lounge, 125 NW 5th) Over the course of three albums on Asthmatic Kitty, Castanets has been the outlet for Ray Raposa’s explorations of sonic contrasts and philosophical debates. He does so in a gripping style, based at times in folk and at times in something more experimental. Last year’s In the Vines found the ideal synthesis between his more traditionally rooted impulses and the burgeoning, electronics-heavy elements that occasionally surfaced in the earlier Cathedral and First Light’s Freeze. Live, Castanets can be transcendent, a shifting array of musicians alternating impassive drones and rock chops while Raposa’s voice cracks the surface with his narratives—sometimes oblique and sometimes buoyant with clarity. TOBIAS CARROLL

MP3:
Castanets - Sway