Mayday

Punishing, kinetic electro and catchy rap hooks, Mayday nods to rave’s early days. For his fourth album, Boys Noize tapped some of electronic music's most experimental minds—namely Kanye West-collaborator Hudson Mohawke and dubstep pioneer Benga—to fuse techno and hip-hop. The result is an ambitious, adrenaline-pumping LP of warehouse bangers with a few big twists: He dips his toes into heavy metal on “Hardkotzen,” loosens up on the swaggy synth-pop song “Birthday,” and explores indie rock on “Starchild,” a wonderfully unexpected slow song featuring the Minneapolis band Poliça.