Breaking up before your first album comes out is a time-honored Dischord tradition, one the members of Antimony have honored by splitting prior to the release of Phantom Itch (which was recorded last summer). The disc is on Double Deuce, the New York label that also issued Your Majesty’s album, but the three-piece Antimony used to be three-quarters of the Dischordant Circus Lupus. Like Lupus, Antimony plays jagged, jumpy post-hardcore in the manner of Jawbox (whose J. Robbins co- produced the disc) and Fugazi (whose Ian MacKaye helped mix it).

One of these 10 songs is titled “Circumlocutor,” and the thing chattering in circles on these songs is Chris Hamley’s guitar. Bassist Seth Lorinczi and drummer Arika Casebolt provide songs like “Red Herring” with plenty of thump, and Hamley and Lorinczi trade vocals effectively (though sometimes so low in the mix that they could be in the next room). Still, the principal player is the guitar, which assays an icily vehement blend of surf music, funk, and other pop musics that let it dominate the conversation. Though much more complex than the hardcore punk from which it is distantly derived, Itch has a similar severity and impatience: These songs rage, albeit obliquely, for three or four minutes, and then they just stop. Double Deuce’s address is P.O. Box 515, New York, NY 10159-0515.