In Brief

* * * Curve, “Cuckoo,” Anxious/Charisma. The second album from singer Toni Halliday and instrumentalist Dean Garcia lives up to the promise of last year’s debut, with powerful vocals and thoughtful lyrics mated to harsh yet lush techno rock that falls somewhere between Ministry and the Sugarcubes. Curve plays the Palace on Wednesday.

New albums are rated on a scale of one star (poor) to four (excellent).