As Pantha du Prince, German producer/DJ Hendrick Weber’s approach for getting under his listeners’ skin seems deceptively simple. Rather than spearing the cerebral cortex with massive beats and jarring chunks of samples, his music works like a slowly dissolving capsule. It’s gentle but insistent, and by the time a full dose enters the bloodstream it should be clear whether this is a buzz worth prolonging or leaving it to wear off.

Matt Wagner’s ongoing “study of the nature of aggression,” or Grendel, celebrates its 28th birthday this year, so it seems appropriate to see 2007’s Behold the Devil in a snazzy hardcover. Wagner is thankfully going through his archives and re-releasing some old tales, but Behold the Devil is the Eisner-nominated writer/artist’s first Grendel series in over 10 years.

This is not a Liars album. This is a sloppy gangbang of artists re-doing songs from Liars’ stellar new album, Sisterworld. There are a couple of bright spots, but the collection just doesn’t jive. I certainly adore most of the artists on the roster here and I doubt this is an attempt on Liars’ part to make a buck; it just feels unnecessary.

The third night of the 14th annual City of Lights, City of Angels (COL•COA) film festival, a weeklong showcase of new French films at the Directors Guild in Los Angeles, was highlighted by the Cold War espionage thriller Farewell and the West Coast premiere of Please, Please Me!, from writer/director Emmanuel Mouret (Shall We Kiss?).

Plants and Animals’ last album, 2008’s Parc Avenue, was one of the year’s best, a pastoral pastiche of ‘70s-flavored folk-rock grooves, aided by strings and horns, that set a genuine, organic mood of laidback cool. Since releasing the album, the Montréal trio has toured almost constantly, playing over 150 shows in the States and abroad. Perhaps as a result, the band’s new album possesses a distinctly more volatile, rougher-edged sound.

Awesome Color are proving themselves trapped in the body of teenage boy suffering from delayed puberty. A talented band unable to find their own voice, their 2006 debut was pure Stooges worship. That was followed by Electric Aborigines, which failed to produce any tremendous songs; great guitar riffs, no memorable hooks. Massa Hypnos continues that downward trajectory with derivative songwriting and some blatant rip-offs.

Day three of Coachella 2010 more than made up for a lackluster day two, with set after set of strong artists and ending with perhaps the three best performances of the whole festival, all in a row: Pavement, Thom Yorke, and Gorillaz. It would have been nice if the wealth of great artists had been spread out a little bit more over the three days, but then again, Sunday wouldn’t have been so strong if they had scheduled it that way. Here’s what I saw on the last day of Coachella: Local Natives, Owen Pallett, Mayer Hawthorne, Deerhunter, Florence and the Machine, Charlotte Gainsbourg, Jonsi, Spoon, Phoenix, Pavement, Thom Yorke, and Gorillaz.

The final day of my maiden Coachella voyage I learned an important lesson: after two packed days, less is more. While I danced to Phoenix, got slanted and enchanted with Pavement, caught Gorillaz‘s “animated” set, and enjoyed bits of performances by Owen Pallet and Deerhunter, it was two frontmen on break from their high profile bands that truly caught my attention: Jónsi and Thom Yorke.

Swedish pop fans rejoice. After a mere four years and four million delays, The Radio Dept.‘s third album, Clinging to a Scheme, is finally completed.