Red Hot Chili Peppers' <I>Stadium Arcadium</I>
Photo: Warner Bros/ Wea

Hungry?: The Red Hot Chili Peppers have been piquing fans' appetites with their "Dani California" single, but that song has 27 brethren on the two-disc Stadium Arcadium. The guys wrote 38 songs, but the number they whittled the list down to still exceeds the number of tracks on their Greatest Hits and Best Of records combined. The two CDs — nicknamed "Jupiter" and "Mars" — are boosted by a DVD in the limited-edition black-box version of the set, which has a chunky booklet, artwork by the band, an hour-long interview, the "Dani" video and more. Tracks on both versions include "Especially in Michigan," featuring a guitar solo by Mars Volta guitarist Omar Rodriguez; "Warlocks," with legend Billy Preston on clavinet; and "She's Only 18."

Lonely: Nick Lachey makes his second solo splash as the aftershocks of his break with Jessica Simpson are still rippling through the tabloids. The writing's on the, er, CD, as they say, on tracks like "I Can't Hate You Anymore," "On Your Own," "You're Not Alone" and — well, on just about all 12 songs. Lachey shares writing credits on most tracks, finding company in British singer/pianist Jamie Cullum on "Ghosts" and Backstreet Boys' Brian Littrell collaborator Dan Muckala on three tunes, including "Outside Looking In." Hang in there, bub.

Korny: There's a reason you haven't heard about Korn's Live & Rare: It's being dished out by the band's former label, Epic, undoubtedly trying to piggyback on Korn's current album and tour promotions. Dubbed a companion piece to 2004's Greatest Hits, Vol.1, the single disc culls seven tracks from the group's gig at New York's CBGB in 2003, two from its 1999 Woodstock performance, plus covers of Pink Floyd's "Another Brick in the Wall (Parts 1-3)," Metallica's "One" and Cheech & Chong's "Earache My Eye."

Gnarly: Wherever St. Elsewhere is, expect to find astronauts, purple panthers, pink palm trees, gas masks and other scattered military equipment — if the cover of Gnarls Barkley's debut is at all accurate. All songs were written primarily by Brian Burton, a.k.a. Danger Mouse — save a surprising cover of Violent Femmes' "Gone Daddy Gone" — while Thomas DeCarlo Callaway, a.k.a. Cee-Lo, mans the mic. Both partners are Grammy nominees, so expect this one to have some extra bounce with the critics.

Agelessly: Gotta love it when soul heroes the Isley Brothers advertise a fresh number as a "new vintage classic." That would be "Gotta Be With You," one of 11 new cuts by the bros that also include "Blast Off," which features and was written, produced and arranged by R. Kelly; the Jermaine Dupri-produced "Gotta Be With You," co-written by Bryan Michael Cox (Mariah Carey, Usher); "Heaven Hooked Us Up," with guitars by Ernest Isley; and the laudably titled "Forever Mackin'," which has the priceless lyric "I rock the grooves and make moves on all the mommies."

She's not as old as the Isleys, but veteran Motown and current Cash Money heavyweight Teena Marie follows up 2004's La Doña with Sapphire. The death of her close companion Rick James is at the root of her 13th record, for which her 14-year-old daughter, Alia Rose, pays more than a couple of visits. Also chiming in are Kurupt and his wife, Gail Gotti; Teena Marie's sister, Queen; plus Smokey Robinson, Gerald Albright and the late James (on "You Blow Me Away").

Fiery: For their fourth studio venture, Eyes Open, Snow Patrol sought some help from singer Martha Wainwright for the scorching duet "Set the Fire to the Third Bar." Oh, and if you've got an all-regions DVD player and some extra motivation, try to hunt down the limited-edition import copy of the record. The accompanying video disc has making-of material plus the video for "You're All I Have."

All in the Family: This week would make Jack and Meg White proud. The Chicago husband-and-wife duo the Like Young step up with their third record, Last Secrets; Mercury Prize-nominated brothers the Electric Soft Parade deliver The Human Body EP — with a bonus track that didn't appear on the U.K. edition; and John Carter Cash contributes liner notes to a re-release of his father's The Johnny Cash Children's Album, which has four previously unissued tracks.

Pony Up is a project that pairs drummer Linsay Wills with her younger sister/ ad-hoc keyboardist Laura Elizabeth. The Montreal group cowboy up with their debut, Make Love to the Judges With Your Eyes, which the band tracked with Arcade Fire collaborator Howard Ian Bilerman and engineer Brian Paulson of Beck and Wilco note.

Grandaddy's Just Like the Fambly Cat is in the thick of the incestuous pack, even if the record is more of a signature on their set of divorce papers, while New York bluesman Popa Chubby reveals the art behind Stealing the Devil's Guitar. Accident Experiment is another family matter, so to speak, as the band's United We Fear opus adopts members of P.O.D., Sprung Monkey and Grammatrain.

And the third release by Danielson Famile spinoff Danielson brings together siblings Chris, Greg, John and Satomi and also features Sufjan Stevens and Serena Maneesh. As luck would have it, Pitchfork darlings Serena Maneesh drop their own self-titled record this week, a record the Norwegian group calls an exercise in serenity. Let's hope they don't have any in-laws!

Song Title of the Week:

"Tire Bracelets for Coffin Life" from Zach Hill and Mick Barr's Shred Earthship

Other Notables:

Matmos' The Rose Has Teeth in the Mouth of a Beast: The San Francisco duo's seventh record is really an event in and of itself. With help from Björk, the Kronos Quartet and Antony, Matmos pay homage to 10 notorious deviants, including Germs singer Darby Crash, Valerie Solanas — the woman who shot Andy Warhol — and William S. Burroughs. And it gets even more far-out when they acknowledge Bavarian ruler King Ludwig II and a '60s gay-porn director. Capping the milestone, Matmos enlisted an array of artists — including Ghost World and Art School Confidential mastermind Daniel Clowes — to craft a visual accompaniment for each piece.

Plain White T's' Hey There Delilah: Chicago's latest great "white" hope have already won big with this EP's title track, which has been downloaded more than 40,000 times on iTunes. A live version of the song plus four new numbers recorded with Sean O'Keefe (Fall Out Boy, Hawthorne Heights) and four additional videos give this EP even more bang for the buck.

Kimya Dawson's Remember That I ♥ You: The Moldy Peach just got married and is expecting a baby this summer, but apparently that's not enough — she found time to birth her fifth solo LP as well. She fumes about the response to the 2004 tsunami in "12/26," declaring, "We'd have 12/26 tattooed across our foreheads if something this atrocious happened on our coast instead." But she saves some vitriol for the White House on "Loose Lips" — after all, what would a new-releases week be these days without some Bush bashing?

New Releases:

• Accident Experiment - United We Fear (Rock Ridge)
• The Aggrolites - The Aggrolites (digipak; Hellcat)
• Astral Doors - Astralism (Locomotive)
• ATB - The DJ in the Mix 3 (digipak; Water)
• Backyard Babies - People Like People Like People Like Us (Abacus)
• Susana Baca - Travesías (Luaka Bop)
• The Black Heart Procession - The Spell (digipak; Touch & Go)
  Buy Now: The Spell (Touch & Go)
  
• Black Hollies - Crimson Reflections (Ernest Jenning Record Co.)
• Ane Brun - A Temporary Dive (V2)
• Burden of a Day - Pilots & Paper Planes (Blood & Ink)
• Clear Static - Clear Static (Maverick)
• Harry Connick Jr. - Harry on Broadway, Act 1 (two CDs; Columbia)
• Cx Kidtronik - Krak Attack (Sound-Ink)
• Danielson - Ships (Secretly Canadian)
• Kimya Dawson - Remember That I ♥ You (K)
• Casey Driessen - 3D (Sugar Hill)
• The Electric Soft Parade - The Human Body (EP; Better Looking)
• The Everyothers - Pink Sticky Lies (EP; Kill Rock Stars)
• Flying - Just-One-Second-Ago-Broken Eggshell (Millpond)
• Forgive Durden - Wonderland (Fueled by Ramen)
• The Isley Brothers - Baby Makin' Music (Island)
• Girl Talk - Night Ripper (Illegal Art)
• Gnarls Barkley - St. Elsewhere (Downtown)
  Buy Now: St. Elsewhere (Downtown)
  
• Grandaddy - Just Like the Fambly Cat (V2)
  Read: "Grandaddy Can't Wait To Leave Home — But They Have To Finish Telling It Off First"
  Buy Now: Just Like the Fambly Cat (V2)
  
• Grave Digger - 25 to Live (two CDs; Locomotive)
• Zach Hill and Mick Barr - Shred Earthship (5 Rue Christine)
• Jolie Holland - Springtime Can Kill You (digipak; Anti)
  Buy Now: Springtime Can Kill You (Anti)
  
• I See Hawks in L.A. - California Country (Western Seeds)
• Jagged Edge - Jagged Edge (Columbia)
  Buy Now: Jagged Edge (Columbia)
  
• Kieran Kane, Kevin Welch & Fats Kaplin - Lost John Dean (Compass)
• KMFDM - Ruck Zuck (EP; Metropolis)
• Korn - Live & Rare (Epic)
  Buy Now: Live & Rare (Epic)
  
• Darren Kozelsky - Let Your Mind Fly (Boo Hatch)
• Nick Lachey - What's Left of Me (Jive)
  Buy Now: What's Left of Me (Jive)
  
• Lansing-Dreiden - The Dividing Island (digipak; Kemado)
• The Like Young - Last Secrets (Polyvinyl)
• Little Annie - Songs From the Coal Mine Canary (Durtro/ Jnana)
• Teena Marie - Sapphire (Cash Money)
  Buy Now: Sapphire (Cash Money)
  
• Matmos - The Rose Has Teeth in the Mouth of a Beast (Matador)
• MC Magic - Magic City (Thump)
• McFly - Just My Luck (Universal)
• Julia Murney - I'm Not Waiting (Sh-K Boom)
• New Mexican Disaster Squad - Don't Believe (Jade Tree)
• Nomo - New Tones (Ubiquity)
• The Old Haunts - Fuel on Fire (Kill Rock Stars)
• Panzer AG - Your World Is Burning (Metropolis)
• Stephen Pearcy - Stripped (Sidewinder)
• Plain White T's - Hey There Delilah (enhanced EP; Fearless)
  Read: "Plain White T's Find Getting Personal Pays Off, Literally"
• Pony Up - Make Love to the Judges With Your Eyes (Dim Mak)
• Popa Chubby - Stealing the Devil's Guitar (Blind Pig)
• Rasheeda - Georgia Peach (Big Cat)
• Red Hot Chili Peppers - Stadium Arcadium (two CDs; limited edition with DVD also available; Warner Bros.)
  Read: "Chili Peppers Stoked About New Album, Possible Kanye Tour"
  Buy Now: Stadium Arcadium (Warner Bros.)
  
• Retisonic - Levittown (EP; Ascetic)
• Serena Maneesh - Serena-Maneesh (Play Louder)
• Shearwater - Palo Santo (Misra)
• Paul Simon - Surprise (Warner Bros.)
  Buy Now: Surprise (Warner Bros.)
  
• Smokin' Joe Kubek & Bnois King - My Heart's in Texas (Blind Pig)
• Snog - Snog Vs. the Faecal Juggernaut of Mass Culture (Metropolis)
• Snow Patrol - Eyes Open (A&M)
  Read: "Snow Patrol Turn 'Candy-Assed' Music Into Beastly Arena Rock"
  Buy Now: Eyes Open (A&M)
  
• Sodom - Sodom (Steamhammer/ SPV)
• The Stills - Without Feathers (Vice)
  Read: "The Stills Look To Britney Spears In Picking New Single"
  Buy Now: Without Feathers (Vice)
  
• Suga Free - Just Add Water (with bonus DVD; Bungalo)
• Sugarplum Fairies - Country International Records (Starfish)
• Thee More Shadows - Monkey Vs. Shark (Turn)
• Toots Thielemans - One More for the Road (Verve)
• Transition - Get There (Floodgate)
• Jim Van Cleve - No Apologies (Rural Rhythm)
• Wooden Wand - Harem of the Sundrum & the Witness Figg (5 Rue Christine)
• Yonder Mountain String Band - Yonder Mountain String Band (Vanguard)
• Hans Zimmer - "The Da Vinci Code" soundtrack (Decca)
• Various artists - Punk Goes 90's (Fearless)
• Various artists - Re-Bop: The Savoy Remixes (Savoy Jazz)
• Various artists - Rewind! 5 (Ubiquity)
• Various artists - Sail Away: The Songs of Randy Newman (Sugar Hill)
• Various artists - The Sound the Hare Heard (Kill Rock Stars)
• Various artists - "Charmed: The Final Chapter" soundtrack (Adrenaline)
• Various artists - "Mission: Impossible III" soundtrack (Varèse Sarabande)
• Various artists - "Poseidon" soundtrack (Interscope)

Notable Reissues and Archival Material:

• Chris Isaak - Best of Chris Isaak (two-disc version with DVD also available; Reprise)
• Barry Manilow - Barry Manilow II, Even Now and Tryin' to Get the Feeling (expanded with unreleased tracks; Arista/ Legacy)
• Smokin' Joe Kubek & Bnois King - "My Heart's in Texas" (Blind Pig)
• Trivium - Ascendancy (special-edition slipcase with DVD; Roadrunner)
• Gino Vanelli - These Are the Days (Universal)
• Various artists - Pure '80s: #1s (UTV)

Music DVDs:

• Rory Gallagher - "Live at Montreux" (Eagle Vision)
• Grave Digger - "25 to Live" (Locomotive)
• New Order - "New Order Story" (Rhino)
• Whitesnake - "Live in the Still of the Night" (Hip-O)

Coming Attractions:

May 16:

• Ashley Parker Angel - Soundtrack to Your Life (Universal)
  Buy Now: Soundtrack to Your Life (Universal)
  
• Cam'ron - Killa Season (limited-edition version with DVD and two bonus tracks also available; Rap-a-Lot)
  Read: "Mixtape Monday: LL Cool J Stays Hungry, Cam'ron Delivers A Preview"
• Hoobastank - Every Man for Himself (Island)
  Read: "Hoobastank Find Inspiration For New LP In Scott Weiland's Cold Shoulder"
• Christina Milian - So Amazin' (enhanced; Def Jam)
• The Raconteurs - Broken Boy Soldiers (V2/ Third Man)
  Read: "Jack White: Don't Call The Raconteurs A Side Project"
• Rock Kills Kid - Are You Nervous? (Reprise)
  Read: "Rock Kills Kid Bring Music From Windowless Room To Radio"

May 23:

• Angels & Airwaves - We Don't Need to Whisper (Geffen)
  Read: "Tom DeLonge Spills More About Angels & Airwaves' Plans For World Domination "
• Don Omar - King of Kings (Universal)
  Read: "Reggaeton Star Don Omar Out To Spread Latino Unity"
• The Walkmen - Hundred Miles Off (Record Collection)

May 30:

• The Charlatans UK - "Live at Last" (Standing Room Only)
• Les Claypool - Of Whales & Woe (digipak; Prawn Song)
• Peeping Tom - Peeping Tom (Ipecac)

• Red Hot Chili Peppers
• Nick Lachey
• Korn
• Snow Patrol
• Gnarls Barkley

Bj&ouml;rk
Photo: Scott Gries/ImageDirect

NEW YORK — Björk ran hot and cold at her performance at Radio City Music Hall Thursday evening, and both climates were ideal.

What began as a sophisticated recital of Björk's most chilling songs — a good number of which stemmed from her quiet, introspective new album, Vespertine — heated up during the second set, where she elevated the audience along with the tempo. She burned brightest during "It's in Our Hands," a new song she premiered in the encore.

With a 54-piece orchestra before her, an 11-woman choir behind, and flanked by avant-garde harpist/accordionist Zeena Parkins and electronic experimental duo Matmos (who earlier served as opening act), Björk alternately cooed and belted through the Vespertine tracks "Harm of Will," "It's Not Up to You" and "Hidden Place," as well as the solemn "I've Seen It All" from last year's "Dancer in the Dark" companion album, Selmasongs. Icy, blue-hued images of snow drifts and stalactites were projected on a backdrop, further emphasizing the mood. Her powerful voice filled the legendary venue's cavernous interior, often drowning out her onstage constituents. (Click here for photos from Thursday night's show.)

In a ruffled white dress that absorbed the cool lighting, Björk came to life as the show progressed. During the opening song, "Frosti," her only movement was cranking a music box beneath two lone spotlights. By the end of the 45-minute first set, she was as animated as anyone familiar with her videos knows she can be. Pacing the length of Radio City's grand stage in stocking feet, her mannerisms reflected the sentiment of the songs, from withered pleas to empowering struts.

Following an intermission, Björk and company reemerged in much warmer surroundings. Blue lights gave way to red, and wintry images were replaced by bizarre illustrations of what could have been microscopic sea life. The pace of the second half, along with that of its songs, also quickened. The fervor built on "You've Been Flirting Again" and "Isobel," both from 1995's Post, and by the time she launched into "Hyper-Ballad," the crowd could no longer obey Radio City's "no standing" rule, much to the dismay of ushers who stormed the aisles insisting everyone sit down.

The crowd couldn't be blamed for their enthusiasm when the object of it was more riled up than they were. Clad now in a fluffy red skirt made of huge feathers, Björk — still shoeless — was enraptured by her upbeat anthems, prancing, shimmying and shuffling her feet between fits of violent head shaking during the second-set closers "Army of Me" and "Bachelorette."

The fever pitch peaked during the final number of the two-song encore, a new tune "It's in Our Hands." In line with its title, the song began with the choir, composed of Greenland Eskimos, playing the child's game patty-cake. The tandem handclaps soon gave rise to a stuttering rhythm that the crowd was quick to adopt. The song, meanwhile, was signature Björk, with soaring and cascading vocals atop Matmos' house beats.

For their opening set, San Francisco's Matmos performed while most of the audience was still filtering in, delayed by stricter security measures implemented by Radio City. Those who caught the pair were mostly perplexed by their performance of songs seemingly devoid of melody, with rhythms that took some time to materialize. Using metal spokes and oversized balloons, among other things, as instruments, Martin C. Schmidt and Drew Daniel floated strange sounds atop their electronic beats, though their adventurousness wasn't totally lost on those who "got it," or at least pretended they did.

For a feature interview with Björk, check out "Björk's Home Cookin' ".

• Björk
• Matmos

Bj&ouml;rk
Photo: Jason Campbell

When Björk's album drops, she'll promote it in places where you can hear a pin drop.

The Icelandic singer will promote Verspertine, due August 28, with a worldwide tour of opera houses and theaters known for their alluring acoustics, according to her Elektra Records publicist.

On her first world tour in three years, Björk will play seven North American dates, beginning with two nights at Radio City Music Hall in New York City on October 4 and 5.

Along the way, Björk will play additional shows in venues capable of holding 300 or fewer people. The scaled-down gigs will be announced the day they're scheduled to take place and will feature the singer performing without a soundsystem, similar to her May performances at New York's Riverside Church (see "Björk Takes Vespertine To Church").

For her more elaborate opera-house and theater shows, the star of last year's "Dancer in the Dark" will perform with the Netherlands' 54-piece Il Novecento Orchestra, conducted by Simon Lee.

Also accompanying Björk onstage will be a girls' choir from Greenland, a Canadian throat singer, experimental electronic duo Matmos and electric harpist Zeena Parkins, according to Elektra. Parkins has released 70 albums and worked with the likes of Hole and Thurston Moore of Sonic Youth in addition to Björk.

Matmos — Martin Schmidt and Andrew Daniel — will also be the tour's opening act, supporting their recently released album, A Chance to Cut Is a Chance to Cure, which samples the sounds of surgical procedures. They provided much of the music for Vespertine.

Additional dates in Europe, Japan and Iceland will be announced later this month.

Björk's tour dates, according to Elektra:

• 8/18 - Paris, France @ Grand Rex
• 8/20 - Paris, France @ Grand Rex
• 8/23 - Paris, France @ La Sainte Chapelle
• 8/25 - Paris, France @ La Sainte Chapelle
• 8/29 - London, England @ St. John's, Smith Square
• 9/11 - Stuttgart, Germany @ Hegelsaal
• 9/15 - Lausanne, Switzerland @ Metropole
• 9/18 - Frankfurt, Germany @ Alte Oper Frankfurt
• 9/21 - Roubaix, France @ Le Colisee
• 9/23 - London, England @ National Opera House
• 9/26 - Brussels, Belgium @ Cirque Royal
• 9/28 - Amsterdam, Holland @ Muziektheatre
• 10/4 - New York, NY @ Radio City Music Hall
• 10/5 - New York, NY @ Radio City Music Hall
• 10/7 - Toronto, ON @ Hummingbird Centre for the Performing Arts
• 10/12 - Boston, MA @ Wang Center
• 10/14 - Chicago, IL @ Civic Opera House
• 10/17 - Oakland, CA @ Paramount Theatre of the Arts
• 10/22 - Los Angeles, CA @ Dorothy Chandler Pavilion

For a feature interview with Björk, check out "Björk: In Focus."

• Björk
• Matmos
• Sonic Youth

Richie Hawtin
Photo: Mute

BARCELONA, Spain — With a magic spell apparently hovering over the eighth annual Sonar International Festival of Advanced Music and Multimedia Arts, life for the techno lover was as it should be.

Heroes of electronic music's underground such as Matthew Herbert, Gez Varley, Luomo and Andrew Weatherall were elevated, if briefly, to the level of superstars during the festival's final two days (see "Sigur Ros, Aphex Twin Heat Up Barcelona Fest"), where they performed to crowds numbering in the tens of thousands Friday and Saturday nights.

Add to that a three-hour DJ set by Masters At Work and the double-bill tandem of Richie Hawtin and Jeff Mills separated by only an hour, and the result was a spectacle that Barcelona — maybe even the world — hasn't known the likes of. Part rave, part meeting of the global techno cognoscenti, Sonar was a treasure trove of unforgettable sonic delights.

Like the tapas bars peppering Barcelona's crowded streets with delicious snacks, virtually every musical flavor was available for tasting — from jagged abstractions (Richard Devine) and funky concoctions (Jazzanova) to chemical reactions (Matmos) and relentless propulsions (Hawtin, Mills).

Friday night's program presented the sort of dilemma one only dreams of. Simultaneously, at 2 a.m., one could hear the staple platters of Masters At Work's Little Louie Vega and Kenny "Dope" Gonzalez working their soulful magic on a massive undulating froth of a dance floor; Andrew Weatherall (yes, the Primal Scream and My Bloody Valentine producer) and partner Radioactive Man in their Two Lone Swordsmen guise, emitting gritty electro stomps from a bank of wires and consoles, as a swarming crowd wiggled euphorically with each added rhythm; and the skirted Luomo (alias Finland's Vladislav, responsible for last year's epic Vocal City) chauffeuring thousands into the dizzying spiral wobbling around his loose grooves under the night sky in the site's open-air venue.

No less gratifying than the fantastic music, however, was wandering among the three sound arenas and observing the whoops and cheers that arose whenever an older underground — Luomo's "Market," for example — took hold of a dance floor tuned in to every turn of the table, every segue, every knob twiddle and every glitch.

This was nowhere more evident than when England's Gez Varley (a.k.a. G-Man) began his outdoor-stage set just before the stroke of 5 a.m. on Saturday morning. A legend since co-founding the pioneer techno duo LFO (with Mark Bell) in the late '80s, Varley has issued a slew of minimal-techno templates during the past decade to little or no fanfare beyond the underground realm. Justice prevailed at Sonar, however, as Gez churned out tracks imbued with the deft subtlety he's mastered, including a couple from his dynamite 1998 G-Man LP and his upcoming return, Bayou Paradis, to a crowd of cheering thousands, his beats even reverberating in the site's bumper-car course.

Although Saturday night's lineup again tilted heavily toward the lesser knowns, the weight of double headliners Richie Hawtin and Jeff Mills threatened to tip the balance in the opposite direction. Relative newcomers such as Germany's Matthias Schafhauser and Heiko Laux, Britain's Random Factor and Ralph Lawson and Finland's Jori Hulkkonen laid down minimal techno and house in all their futuristic forms. Ultimately, though, they were no match for the scene's stars.

Employing the enormous sub-bass thrust that's become the backbone of his dynamic live set, Hawtin was typically unyielding in his intensity, dropping the beat only briefly in order to work the floor into a screaming frenzy. Much like Mills an hour later (Hawtin hails from Windsor, Ontario, just across the river from Mills' Detroit roots), Hawtin created a massive sound that relied on the minimal foundations of pounding low-end beats and hypnotically looped hi-hats or analog synth grooves. Similarly, Mills stuck to his signature rapid-fire triple-turntable antics, never allowing a rhythm to grow stale while sneaking in snippets from his bag of classic tracks from the last decade, including "The Bells" and "Casa." Tucked neatly between the two masters was an excellent live set by Phuture 303, one of the originators of the influential acid-house sound that emerged from Chicago and New York in the late '80s. Phuture's DJ Pierre and Spanky, who cut such gems as "Acid Tracks" back in the day, were joined onstage Saturday by two new members, each of whom manned a different console and handled separate rhythmic duties.

If this year's Sonar had one fault, it was that the four-to-the-floor rhythm held too much sway at a festival founded on the spirit of experimentation. Genius English producer Matthew Herbert, billed as "Mistakes," closed out the final night with a DJ set (starting at 7:30 a.m.!) heavy on schizophrenia and free-form, collective fun. After opening with the Ohio Players' "Funky Worm" and segueing into James Brown's "The Payback," Herbert dove deep, excavating treasures that spanned the left field (French house duo Motorbass' "Flying Fingers," Romanthony's "Bring You Up"), hyperclassic ("Billie Jean," "Stayin' Alive") and ultra-new (Green Velvet's red-hot "Lala Land," a mind-bending glitch-techno mix of Missy Elliott's "Get Ur Freak On").

If Sonar is the pantheon of experimental music, Herbert dusted off its pillars for all to see and love, then brought the house down.

• Plastikman
• Luomo
• Richie Hawtin
• Jeff Mills
• Matmos