After several theatrical productions and movie roles, Tom Waits released a new collection of songs that existed only for themselves in 2004, and it was quite a sonic departure. The horns and piano were mostly gone, replaced with electric guitar, bass, and of all things, turntables (played by his son Casey). This is the first Waits album to contain a reference to anything remotely modern, too — the song “Metropolitan Glide” has a line about a cellular phone. Lyrically, it’s a dark and somewhat angry album, and he’s in roaring, shrieking vocal form; on that same track, he emits a high-pitched screech reminiscent of Einstürzende Neubauten’s Blixa Bargeld, and he even beatboxes on a few tracks. There are a few softly crooned ballads, too, of course (“Dead And Lovely,” “How’s It Gonna End,” “Trampled Rose”), some of which hark back to the clattering rural sound of Mule Variations. But tracks like the aptly titled “Clang Boom Steam” and “Make It Rain” are so noisy they’re almost industrial.