Baroness: Blue Record (Relapse)
Staying within a chromatic theme, Georgian (US) metal quartet Baroness follows the success of its Red Album with Blue Record, a disc, like its predecessor, that's chock full of riffs.
Through 12 tracks, Southern psychedelia exists amid down-tuned chugs and both vocal gruffness and harmonies. More harmonies, in the form of high-note guitar leads, rain upon a no-nonsense foundation of rhythms.
Blue Record is a riff lover's delight, but tracks such as "Steel That Sleeps the Eye" more resemble Fleet Foxes than Mastodon, and the classic disco/dance syncopation appears on "Swollen and Halo." As a result, Blue Record is an engaging addition to a promising catalog.
Sole and the Skyrider Band: Plastique (Fake Four)
The 2007 self-titled disc from Sole and the Skyrider Band marked a turning point in the career of rapper Tim Holland, a mainstay of the Anticon crew whose style reflects the label's moody sounds. The self-titled disc merged Sole's alt raps and production with live musicians, and though it was a sound "debut," this second foray into life as a group is immensely more evolved.
Plastique is delicately constructed, with breakbeats that give way to somber string vibratos and pizzicatos, dense atmospherics, and ghostly samples. Guitars weave in and out of a mix that brims with layers. All totaled, Plastique sounds like another step in the logical progression of hip hop.
Shawn Lee & Clutchy Hopkins: Fascinating Fingers (Ubiquity)
Uber-eclectic electro-funk multi-instrumentalist Shawn Lee joins forces once more with Clutchy Hopkins, a musician of international mystery, for down-tempo jams that call on lounge vibes, minimalist grooves, and backing strings.
Fans of each musician should dig Fascinating Fingers, the latest collaboration between two men whose sounds mesh with ease.
Honorable mentions:
Del The Funky Homosapien: Parallel Uni-Verses (Gold Dust)
The Flaming Lips: Embryonic (Warner Bros.)
Lightning Bolt: Earthly Delights (Load)
Imaad Wasif: The Voidist (Tee Pee)
