Even though his band's pun-loving moniker conjures '90s funk-rap-metal or something equally godawful, don't be fooled. Milwaukee's Decibully is a beautiful collision of Americana and Britpop. With banjos plunking alongside reverb-drenched guitar and marching snares leading alt-rock choirs, Decibully's new album, Sing Out, America! (Polyvinyl), sounds as if Spirtualized kidnapped Kansas City folksters the Afterparty and forced them into a Civil War re-enactment with real gunpowder and bayonets. Though it's a testament to pop grandiosity, the album sometimes gives way to sunny sounds, as on the beach-party-ready "Notes to Our Leaders" — which, upon close listening, reveals itself to be gritty and satirical. Likewise, the a capella "Temptation" sounds like a born-again, ex-con chorus cautioning a group of young, wayward Southern Baptists. It's a feast of an album, and if Decibully's live show is half as good, then, combined with the spectacular acts sharing the bill, this may be the under-the-radar concert of the year.
