High

After crashing the garage punk scene with a brilliant debut album that sounded like a lo-fi Undertones backing a barely audible-for-all-the-noise Otis Redding, Royal Headache return with a second album that does a little bit of cleaning up, but sacrifices none of their ragged, rough soul. On High, the sound takes a small leap into the mid-fi range, with the guitars sounding fuller and tighter, the rhythm section delivering a heavier punch, and some subtle keyboards added to the mix. Most importantly, vocalist Shogun is no longer buried in the mix. This time his nakedly honest, torn-from-his-throat vocal is out front where it belongs. Most of the time he shouts, cajoles, and pleads like the best soul singers of the '60s, but he never oversings, either. Occasionally he even scales back and croons a little, like on the heartbreaking ballad "Wouldn't You Know," which works to give the album some variety. The songs on the album are just as good as on the debut, maybe a little catchier overa