Various

'The World Is Gone'

Ambitious duo gets lost in swirl of somber electronics.

Spin Rating5 of 10

This mysterious British duo's confusing moniker could inspire an Abbott & Costello routine ("Just tell me the name of the band!"), but their dark music will never induce giggles. A spooky mash-up of dormant genres -- trip-hop, dub, skeletal industrial -- plus some trendy olde folkiness, The World Is Gone relies more on sonic novelty than border-bustingly creative songs. But flashes of inspiration (the Portishead-like "Lost," the eerie acoustic "Deadman") occasionally break through the whirring beehive of ideas.

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By Josh Modell

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1 Cloud Nothings 'Attack on Memory'
2 Cloud Nothings 'Attack on Memory'
3 Kathleen Edwards 'Voyageur'
4 The Mark Lanegan Band 'Blues Funeral'
5 The Mark Lanegan Band 'Blues Funeral'
6 Leonard Cohen 'Old Ideas'
7 Escort 'Escort'
8 Escort 'Escort'
9 Escort 'Escort'
10 Himanshu 'Nehru Jackets'

Various

'The World Is Gone'

The Mark Lanegan Band 'Blues Funeral'

Of Montreal 'Paralytic Stalks'

Van Halen 'A Different Kind of Truth'

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