L.A. Takedown

II RIBBON. CD/DL/LP

Aaron M. Olson’s “Baywatch meets Krautrock” album. Part synth pop, part prog, and part ’80s-sounding shred guitar, L.A. Takedown’s filmic, all-instrumental successor to their self-titled debut comes with suggested ways to imbibe. “Put this album on, mute your TV, and watch the Planet Earth series,” point six suggests, but lest David Attenborough morph into The Hoff, your scribe advises forgoing the “doobie” Olson prescribes in point two. There’s a lot to enjoy in his seven-piece band’s alternative soundtrack to La La Land, a place where Vangelis takes on Tangerine Dream (Heatwave), Steve Vai seems to vie with The Allman Brothers Band (Us; Night Skiing), and the phoned-in muzak of soft-porn is repurposed to artful effect (L.A. Blue). At its best, II packs a winning, sun-scorched lethargy, and with City Of Glass conjuring Robert Fripp riffing on Steve Reich, the surprises keep coming.