Blown-out bass freak Tobacco’s new album takes music that sounds like prime Beck giving 100 percent and generously installs the actual Beck on vocals—which is the sort of courtesy you hoped for but didn’t get when MGMT made songs about Brian Eno and Dan Treacy. The drum machines don’t sweat on this, but the synthesizers do, and Tobacco hisses across the top of it like he’s got a reason to sneak up on you. This guy is the bridge between what goes on at Low End Theory or the Crosby on a crazy night and what goes on at the low end of the Billboard pop charts. All he needs now are guest vocals from HAL9000, and Tobacco singularity will be achieved.
Sat., Jan. 22, 9 p.m., 2011
