Like Ike & Tina Turner, this Toronto dance duo never, ever do anything nice and easy. And like Death From Above 1979 (multi-instrumentalist Jesse F. Keeler's previous two-man band, which his current cohort, Al-P, produced), they prefer to do it nasty and fucked up. That's the unrelenting sound of MSTRKRFT's continuously-mixed second album, and although it represents a major advancement over 2006's The Looks, you can't exactly call it a refinement — unless being hit harder by a heavier sledgehammer fits your definition of refined.

The guest list reflects R&B and hip-hop's growing acceptance of French electro house. Singer Lil Mo 'starts the disc on a confrontational note with "It Ain't Love," a pounding, punishing track that paradoxically liberates her: the raucous rhythms suggest that this former Missy Elliott protégé is delivering a metaphorical beat-down to an exasperating soon-to-be-ex. N.O.R.E.'s appearance on the first single "Bounce" is a rowdy update on C+C Music Factory's early '90's hip-house, while "Heartbreaker" lends a similar recklessness to its cameoing crooner John Legend. Only Ghostface Killah's sampled, rhyme-free rants on "Word Up" comes across forced.

The high points belong to MSTRKRFT alone: the blazing disco-metal instrumental "1000 Cigarettes" recycles Daft Punk's robot riffs, but… read more »