White Dynamite

Luke Fairchild must have some obsession with flashing lights: The singer/guitarist's last band was named Sparkles, and his new project is dubbed White Dynamite, which is funny because the seven cuts on The Bleeder Broadcast are anything but illuminating. Instead, they cast a pall of darkness and disorientation over Fairchild's blistering caterwaul and zigzag string-mangling. Like an aneurysm slowed down and stretched out to the length of a song, "Nightmare Fever" boils over with all the contorted rage of the Jesus Lizard and mathy melody of Les Savy Fav. "Symphony" and "Wine" are moody, ambient interludes that let you gather your senses for a second before having them shattered anew by more bursts of black noise. Where Sparkles spazzed, White Dynamite wallops, pumping out a more focused beam of bleakness that's still immense enough to blot out the sun. By the time you hit the track "Braille," Fairchild and his crew have beaten your ass to within an inch of blindness. Kiss the lights goodbye.