In Brief

* * 1/2 Gutterball, “Gutterball,” Mute. Grunge is where you find it, and basement tapes don’t have to come from an actual basement. L.A. rock- noir auteur Steve Wynn huddled with rock duo House of Freaks and some cronies in a converted Virginia barn, generating spirited garage-rock and raising many a toast to the spirits of Neil Young, Dylan and the Stones. It pays the price for its spontaneity, coming up pretty uneven, if occasionally inspired.

New albums are rated on a scale of one star (poor), two stars (fair), three stars (good) and four stars (excellent).