Celebration: The Modern Tribe

Katrina Ford gets measured against Siouxsie Sioux a lot, but she has more in common with The Slits; on The Modern Tribe, Celebration's second album, Ford and family harness The Slits' totem-like mystique and avant-punk dubbiness, not to mention Ari Up's girlish yet ancient voice. But Tribe upgrades it all for 21st-century ears. Members of Yeah Yeah Yeahs and TV On The Radio guest on the disc, and knotted percussion pumps like a dozen sympathetic hearts under lush keyboards and swathes of guitar gauze. On songs like "Pressure" and "Tame The Savage," Ford even shares a few tics and tones with Bat For Lashes' Natasha Khan—minus Khan's annoying Tori Amos fixation. But despite such similarities, The Modern Tribe smolders with a primal force all its own.