The Big Gigs: Our critics' music picks

POP/ROCK

Dave Matthews Band, "Big Whiskey and the GrooGrux King" (RCA)

The DMB endured a catastrophe while making its sprawling, nervy new album. Saxophonist and founding member LeRoi Moore was killed in an accident on his Virginia farm during a break between sessions. Although the album title incorporates his nickname, and its cover, drawn by Matthews, pictures him transformed into a Mardi Gras float, this isn't simply a long eulogy. It's more a renewal of band vows, made more intense by the loss of a key player.

Producer Rob Cavallo, known for sharpening the teeth of Green Day, encouraged Matthews and his colleagues to turn up the juice and make some sharp turns. The shambolic groove that's long been the band's trademark remains, but it's toughened up by foregrounded electric guitars. "Shake Me Like a Monkey" and "Squirm" howl and snap, with drummer Carter Beauford pushing his mates to resist taking it easy. The drive to be more precise and aggressive reveals the prog-rock side of the Dave Matthews Band; Peter Gabriel seems like one clear influence, and so does "The Dream of the Blue Turtles"-era Sting, especially on the darkly whimsical "Funny the Way It Is."

Matthews is still writing lyrics that will make undergrads nod their heads in quiet wonder; but at album's end, he also offers "You and Me," a modestly sweet love song to his wife in which he exchanges that trademark quirkiness for an unfussy adult voice. It's just one little song on a big record, probably doomed to be overlooked by many. The Dave Matthews Band performs July 25 at the 10,000 Lakes Festival in Detroit Lakes, Minn.

ANN POWERS, LOS ANGELES TIMES

Art Brut, "Art Brut vs. Satan" (Downtown)

You have to love a band that cops the Fall and takes its name from French painter Jean Dubuffet's outsider aesthetic. Wonky, witty singer/lyricist Eddie Argos inherits the mantle of clever punk held by Johnny Lydon, Ian Dury and Damon Albarn, preserving the best qualities of each. Yet fans of Art Brut's first hit -- the caustic "Formed a Band" -- are in for an odd treat. With Frank Black of the Pixies behind the board, the sound of "Satan" is raw and powerful, as if the mix were pushed into the red without losing clarity. It's a musical and lyrical thrill ride, from the punch of "What a Rush" to the poignancy of "Am I Normal?" But don't let that touching moment fool you. Argos is a caustic everyman, a goofball extraordinaire. "Slap Dash for No Cash" makes fun of Eno's belabored sonic endeavors, and the contagious "Mysterious Bruises" winks at the Bobby Fuller Four with the lyric "I fought the floor and the floor won." Who but Argos can sing a love song to DC Comics and chocolate milkshakes and make it sad and sarcastic?

A.D. AMOROSI, PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER