In Brief

This British trio led by noted deejay Justin Robertson hasn’t lost its aplomb in the battle for the biggest beats that started with the Chemical Brothers’ hard-rock-meets-hip-hop sound. Lionrock’s instinct includes as much chilled-out northern soul (rapper MC Buzz B recalls a Massive Attack-era Tricky) as it does hyper London techno squawk. A distant glimpse at dance music’s R&B; roots as seen through a digital lens. Lionrock appears on Friday at Frequency, at the Hollywood Athletic Club.

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Albums are rated on a scale of one star (poor), two stars (fair), three stars (good) and four stars (excellent).

Hear the Music

* Excerpts from these albums and other recent releases are available on The Times’ World Wide Web site. Point your browser to: http://video.nohib.com/soundclips