When Lafayette’s J Burton heard Brian Eno’s “King’s Lead Hat” for the first time, he noticed something: a juxtaposition of sloppy rock with a dance beat, varied arrangements, dense sounds, noises as instruments. More importantly, Burton realized music is not just about the artist; it’s about the audience. Genre defiance is fine—but does it make the crowd sweat?

Eno’s influence is very present as Burton’s band FIGHTs releases its first full-length album, Music for Villains. The result runs close to “King’s Lead Hat,” as songs like “Out There Part 1” melt perfectly into a Talking Heads or Eno populated set list. However, FIGHTs is undoubtedly its own band that definitely requires an extra application of Speed Stick. Keeping with Eno’s left-of-center style, Burton—lead vocals and Rhodes piano plus samples—assembled an odd configuration of musicians. There are no guitarists, only a bassist. Borrowing from Burton’s work on a King Sunny Ade album and African talking drum music, there are two drummers playing what Burton describes as a lead and rhythm drum.

Straddling Eno’s inspiration and a modern sense of melody, it’s quirky and light, playful and harmonious. Tracks such as “Lowdown Dirty Orphan” are downright zany. Eno now seems dated, but FIGHTs’ “In Spades” belongs on a commercial for the latest Apple product. With its bizarre line-up, it’s tempting to dismiss Music for Villains as a weird art album but that would mean missing out on a record that delivers more often than it plays by the rules.