Coyote: Outsides

Coyote's Trevor Butler died in July in a van wreck while on tour with his other band, Bottom Of The Hudson. Sudden tragedies like these often cast a haunting shadow over a band's subsequent release, but Outsides bursts with such primal energy and alchemy, it feels more like a celebration than a eulogy. Granted, the disc is dark: Featuring members of Man Man and Vaz, the band successfully summons The Doors and Black Heart Procession on "Tea Kettle," one of Outsides' many instances of keyboard-twisted slither. Elsewhere—for instance, on the cloudy, wailing cabaret of "Gala Of Spades"—Coyote sounds like a zombified Pleasure Forever. But the disc never succumbs to morbidity in its attempt to revel in the spooky stuff.