Mammoth/Hollywood

Thirty years and 15 albums after self-releasing their debut EP, the venerable East L.A. quintet Los Lobos has released one of the finest CDs of its career. This is no mean feat. Most bands that manage three decades have long since resorted to retreading old licks and ideas — songwriting is not, after all, an endlessly renewable resource.

A substantial part of Los Lobos' resilience comes from subtle and organic style shifts they've made through the years, from a roots/vaguely punk orientation early on, to a fruitful period of experimentation, to a recent focus on a mature melding of rock, ethnic music and a unique brand of silky rhythm & blues, all informed by a continuing fondness for sonic adventurism.

The opener, "The Valley," is an apt case in point: Its simple, mid-tempo 4/4 groove comes with an insistent tug; a simmering roil of guitars — laced with feedback, loops and washes of distortion — undergird the warm, sultry melody. And it never hurts to have luminous soul singer David Hidalgo at the mic.

Much of The Town and the City is similarly restrained, but nevertheless throbs with a quiet intensity. "Hold On," the album's grimmest track, evokes the desperation a person can find in the humdrum of everyday life. As the key line — "Killing myself to survive" — builds into a chilling mantra, washes of apocalyptic noise rise in the background.

In all, though, The Town and the City is not a downcast album. It takes the tone of a journey, capturing glimpses of people and places along the way. "The Road to Gila Bend," one of the disc's most vivaciously rocking songs, conjures a wind-in-your-hair sense of celebration.

Los Lobos' forays into Latin and Tex-Mex, sung in Spanish, are now coming off as obligatory, but they're never a hindrance. "Chuco's Cumbia" delivers sprite, if predictable, results. "No Puedo Mas" fares better, with the band exploring a Latin/reggae rhythm hybrid that has shown up in its prior work.

Another crucial element of the CD's success is Hidalgo's lead guitar work: One minute, he's channeling Jerry Garcia on sublimely weary "If You Were Here Tonight," the next, he's appropriating Hendrix's chord licks on "The Town," or he's getting distortion-happy again on "The City."

With The Town and the City, Los Lobos stakes a further claim as a band for the ages. 4 stars

The Fall of Ideals

ALL THAT REMAINS

Prosthetic/Razor & Tie

Read the name, and listen to the deep breath former Shadows Fall vocalist Phil Labonte takes before diving headlong into first track "This Calling," and you immediately know what you're going to get — the same sort of death-metal-influenced metalcore that's characterized about 80 percent of all recent heavy releases. All That Remains delivers the style ably, with some jaw-dropping double-bass work and intricate, Iron-Maiden-inspired guitar lines. The band also possesses an inherent melodic sense that's both good and bad. It's good because it sets the group apart, but it's bad because those huge, anthemically sung choruses inevitably call to mind a heavier Nickelback. 2.5 stars —Scott Harrell

Trying to Never Catch Up

WHAT MADE MILWAUKEE FAMOUS

Barsuk

This ambitious debut by the heavily hyped What Made Milwaukee Famous ably references indie-rock touchstones from the still ultra-cool (fellow Austinites Spoon) to the so-two-years-ago (The Strokes), but never quite finds its own aural identity. "Idecide" sets a conspicuously cool post-pop mood. "Hopelist" waxes melancholy and Elliott Smith-esque. "Curtains!" uses give-and-take tension to set up its big payoff. Through it all, WWMF displays a consummate knowledge of how to craft a hip sound — fans of The Shins will definitely find plenty to like here — without ever committing to one of its own. 3 stars —SH

TRIO BEYOND

ECM

And what a trio it is: 64-year-old drummer Jack DeJohnette, still an absolute dervish behind the kit; guitarist John Scofield and organist Larry Goldings. Saudades is a deeply committed tribute to the late drummer Tony Williams' first Lifetime band (with John McLaughlin and Larry Young), but it doesn't stop there — the current threesome digs deeper into the Williams canon, playing, for instance, an expansive "Seven Steps to Heaven." The two-disc live set seethes and burns like the best Lifetime stuff. This is the kind of aggro-jazz that should fall nicely on the ears of jam-rock fans. 3.5 stars —ES

This article appears in Sep 20-26, 2006.

Eric Snider is the dean of Bay area music critics. He started in the early 1980s as one of the founding members of Music magazine, a free bi-monthly. He was the pop music critic for the then-St. Petersburg...