Ours + Madame Mayhem + The Smoking Flowers

Dark-tinged alt-rock band Ours worked on its last album, Mercy (Dancing for the Death of an Imaginary Enemy), with Rick Rubin—for five years. The sweeping, epically gothy album is no doubt impressive, but we're not hearing another Mezmerize/Hypnotize or anything. Here the New Jersey dudes play behind their new, Pledge-funded album, Ballet the Boxer 1.