As Arts Desk noted yesterday, it’s a big month for local label Sockets Records. Sean Peoples’ annual showcase goes down January 28 at the Black Cat, with appearances by Protect-U, Cigarette, Imperial China and Buildings. Those last two groups are also releasing their latest albums this month, with a couple of tracks already available. (City Paper’s Jonathan L. Fischer shared Buildings’ “Upward Through Ever-Expanding Light,” calling it “mathy but optimistic.”)

We’ve also got a whiff of Imperial China’s new LP, How We Connect. The first track off the album, “Limbs,” opens with a brief drum rattle before giving way to a dominating prog riff that carries the two-minute-41-second barnburner. It’s booming, aggressive, powerful—everything we’ve come to expect out of Imperial China, and when played live at the Sockets Showcase, I expect it to be as loud as anything they’ve done. (True story: Last time I saw Imperial China, they blew out two amps in about 20 minutes.)

Imperial China – “Limbs” by Sockets Records

For further reading, check out Imperial China’s Three Stars interview from way back in August 2008.