In the years since Simon Reynolds coined the once-helpful term, "post-rock" has come to envelop nearly any band with rock instrumentation sans vocals playing in a non-rock context. Like Tortoise and Pelican, fellow Chicago instrumentalists Russian Circles have that cross to bear. While their mathy prog-punk certainly has elements of Don Caballero, it also features the twitch-and-burn catharsis of Fugazi and Drive Like Jehu. The loud/quiet dynamic is familiar, but such a level of precision and intensity is hard to find. Hyphenated rock-crit speak aside, Russian Circles just, you know, rock.