Michel Poiccard (Bonus Track Version)

Once you discover Michael Poiccard (see: Godard’s “Breathless”), you’ll have a hard time forgetting it. One of the two founding members of the Death Set, Beau Velasco, died only a year after their thrilling 2008 debut Worldwide, and not only is Velasco here in spirit (“I Miss You Beau Velasco” is a wash of shoegazey melancholy), but his voice opens the collection with a jolt on the first track, and he’s the storyteller on “Is That a French Dog?” Founding partner Johnny Siera channels Velasco’s energy throughout the record, and the Death Set’s everything-and-the-kitchen-sink, electro-punk mix carries on, as irreverent, funny, hard-hitting and electrifying as ever. The Death Set’s ancestral roots reach way back to early Beastie Boys, but they take that duo’s super-charged and fearless brattiness to new heights, fueling their songs with blistering blasts of punk energy. With cool guests like Diplo and Spank Rock (XXXChange is the producer here), savvy sequencing, tasty interludes of electronica and soft indie pop, Michael Poiccard is a beautifully conceived and exciting record, from beginning to end.