Golden, with Rye Coalition and *mytwilightpilot*

From Chicago's edgy world-beat/ rock scene comes Golden, a semi-supergroup composed of players from Trans Am, Royal Trux and Six Finger Satellite. Guitarist/vocalist Ian Eagleson is a Ph.D. candidate in ethnomusicology, and it shows to best effect in the complex, chirping guitar lines housed inside imposing fortresses of rhythm on the band's July release, Apollo Stars. "Goldenization" and "Ma Petite Est Mariée" wouldn't sound too far out of place on early '80s Nigerian juju records. Album opener "Feel This Flow" fuses that style with wah-wah funk and the mid-'70s crime jazz of police dramas like Barettaand S.W.A.T., and ends up sounding like the theme to a nonexistent show -- call it The Mean Streets of Lagos.The band missteps on its New Orleans forays; "Henry Earl Ansell" calls to mind the Meters on the edge of nodding off, and similarly snoozy is their Big Easy blues "The Other Side of the Sun." But when Golden looks further afield, the result is as blissful as a hot bath.