In the age of digital downloading, it's still possible to get people to buy CDs and records. You've just got to be smart about it.

Over the last several years, Los Angeles-based avant-garde metal act Isis have boosted their sales by offering extremely limited CDs and LPs. While the CDs are part of the band's ongoing "Live" series -- the most recent of which, "Live.04," quickly sold out last spring -- the LPs are copies and remixes of studio efforts printed on colored vinyl. Pressing only 1,000 copies or less has made each highly sought after by both fans and music collectors.

Selling a few thousand extra albums a year won't necessarily make them rich quick, but Isis have never rushed things. Formed in 1997, the quintet have spent the last decade carefully constructing their intricate, mammoth sound. What started as a crushing amalgamation of sludge metal and hardcore on 1998's "Mosquito Control" EP has morphed into a dynamic blend of hard rock and post-rock, as heard on last year's captivating "In The Absence Of Truth." Despite straying slightly from their metallic roots (Aaron Turner now sings more than he bellows), Isis haven't lost their intensity or technical edge. Their more expansive work has appealed to a larger audience and earned them an appearance on the White Stage at last summer's Fuji Rock and an opening slot on Tool's 2006 North American arena tour.