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Most bands that last 25 years go a bit soft, but Dutch anarchist punks the Ex haven’t lost their edge; they’ve just gotten smarter about how to wield it. They’re in magnificent form on “Turn,” their 15th album. Singer GW Sok skewers globalization and militarism with humor as well as rage, while the rest of the band grinds away with machinelike precision. In their hands, Sonic Youth-like altered tunings and jagged improvisational excursions mesh seamlessly with stirring Eritrean folk airs, and insistent melodies thrust out of remorseless rhythms like sturdy weeds pushing through the pavement.
