**1/2 A Minor Forest

FLEMISH ALTRUISM (CONSTITUENT PARTS 1993-1996)

(Thrill Jockey)

If all you're going to offer the kids is another permutation of the stark post-punk prog rock that Slint and Shellac mapped out, then you might as well have some fun naming the songs. That's how San Francisco's A Minor Forest approach their debut CD. The epic 10-minute "Bill's Mom Likes To Fuck" gets my vote for the disc's most amusing juxtaposition of title and music. Bill's mom may be a nymphomaniac, but the naked scrape of angular guitars against thudding drums conjures images of Bill furiously dry-humping a splintery telephone pole in flimsy nylon shorts.

"Jacking Off George Lucas" -- the "topical" track -- clocks in at a relatively modest 7:07, during which guitar/bass/drums, augmented by cellist Dominique Davison, build gradually from a slow Codeine whisper to an abrasive Slinty scream. And "Speed for Gavin" is pure Shellac noisemaking. (Albini and his buddy Bob Weston engineered Flemish Altruism with their Shaker-like disdain for studio "frills"). Think of it as music to endure, rather than enjoy, right down to the grainy blast of white-noise guitar skronk that finishes off "The Loneliest Enuretic," the title of which denotes a friendless person who urinates involuntarily.

-- Matt Ashare

(A Minor Forest headline upstairs at the Middle East this Sunday, February 9.)