Tyler Ingolia's terrific cover art for The Soft Pink Truth fuses Tom of Finland and Erté: mustachioed Tom's men model couture gowns and penile feather boas as they walk chain-leashed Tom's dogs with perky haunches. While Ingolia's art exposes the queen that lurks within every leather man, Drew Daniel's music – a party break from Matmos – soundtracks a night out to remember to forget. "Everybody's Soft" sashays into the club with S'Express-era vox collages, and the pleasure factor of "Gender Studies" is greater than its academic title suggests: soul cries that flip between macho muscle and the femme masculinity of Chicago house are dressed up in Chic guitar. A cover of Vanity 6's "Make Up" conjures visions of Kraftwerk on Soloflex machines. Perhaps appropriately, the album's after-hours latter half gets sketchy. "Soft on Crime" is like fucking to dub with a PnP casualty, then "Satie (Gray Corduroy Suit)" provides an isolated comedown. A final trip to the sex club looks and sounds desperate: "Soft Pink Missy" is no "Party People," and "Big Booty Bitches" lacks the necessary ass-shaking bass. Thankfully, the beatific tea-dance epiphanies of "Over You (Ho Love)" mark that mindless moment (around 10 a.m., perhaps?) when exhaustion gives way to euphoria. All that's left is to say thank you – and good morning. (Johnny Ray Huston)

Noe Venable
The World Is Bound by Secret Knots (Petridish)

Local scenes would be hurting without hard-working artists like Noe Venable. She's got a compelling body of work, a strong supporting cast, and enough talent to justify using the word growth to describe a career that has been marked by at least five and possibly nine releases, depending on how you count.

That said, The World Is Bound by Secret Knots shows another aspect of Venable's contribution to music in these parts. The playing of the Noe Venable Trio – Venable on acoustic guitar, producer Todd Sickafoose on bass, and Alan Lin on violin and electronics – is augmented by guitarist Nels Cline and by Dan Morris on percussion and is often outstanding. On "Garden" they create a rich, thick swirl of music that's so fine you forget hearing Venable singing about "searching for those breasts pumping morphine." I've had a fair share of morphine in my life, so when I say the image doesn't work, I know what I'm talking about.