Yoshida Brothers: Prism (Domo, 5/5/09)
Yoshida Brothers: "Seven"
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This pair of shamisen-wielding brothers used its newest album to tackle many nontraditional styles, tapping into rock, folk, neoclassical, film scores, and more in collaboration with great guest musicians.
El Grupo Nuevo de Omar Rodriguez Lopez: Cryptomnesia (Rodriguez Lopez Productions, 5/5/09)
El Groupo Nuevo de Omar Rodriguez Lopez: "Half Kleptos"
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The latest in Omar Rodriguez Lopez’s ceaseless output, El Grupo Nuevo… functions as a wild Mars-Volta-meets-Hella side project, resulting in a spacey, progressive album with many overlapping rhythms.
Big Business: Mind the Drift (Hydra Head, 5/12/09)
Big Buisness: "Ayes Have It"
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The frenzied beats and bass of Big Business take a breather on Mind the Drift, an epic new direction for the duo/trio that adds guitar, bits of organ, bizarre vocal moments, and restraint. Singalongs "The Drift" and "Ayes Have It" are instant favorites.
Andromeda Mega Express Orchestra: Take Off! (Alien Transistor, 5/12/09)
Andromeda Mega Express Orchestra: "Asteroids!"
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Led by 25-year-old German composer Daniel Glatzel, this 20-piece modern classical ensemble created one of the year's most beautiful and dazzling albums, romping through playful orchestrations, big-band swing, foreboding soundtrack cues, sad string arrangements, and more.
Nicole Mitchell's Black Earth Strings: Renegades (Delmark, 5/19/09)
Nicole Mitchell's Black Earth Strings: "Ice"
As a smaller incarnation of Mitchell's Black Earth Ensemble, BES combines modern jazz sounds and African rhythms via an acoustic quartet.
Skeletonbreath: Eagle’s Nest, Devil’s Cave (Ernest Jenning, 5/19/09)
Skeletonbreath: "Machinists"
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The fiery fiddle of O’Death violinist Robert Pycior leads Skeletonbreath, a trio that combines Pycior’s strings with the low-end rumble and punishing, straightforward rhythms of mid-’90s alt-rock. Pycior’s violin work combines progressive rock leads with discordant keys, neoclassical melodies, and worldly flavor.
Flat Earth Society: Cheer Me, Perverts! (Crammed, 6/2/09)
Flat Earth Society: "Vole Sperm Reverie"
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This vibrant, upbeat big-band jazz ensemble entwines circus, burlesque, lounge, and Cirque du Soleil sounds in its quirky mix — one that counts on 23 regular members.
Secret Chiefs 3: Traditionalists: Le Mani Destre Recise Degli Ultimi Uomini (Mimicry, 6/9/09)
Secret Chiefs 3: "Funeral for What Might Have Been"
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With its latest album, Trey Spruance’s unparalleled Secret Chiefs 3 set its sights on the Italian giallo horror/erotica genre of the 1960s and ’70s. This masterful album encapsulates 30 brief, often abstract film cues that sonically invoke images of bloodcurdling terror — as well as moments of passive tranquility.
Coalesce: Ox (Relapse, 6/9/09)
Coalesce: "Dead is Dead"
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After 10 years, multiple reunions, and talk of resurfacing as a new entity, the hardcore maelstrom that is Coalesce returned with a full disc of sonic punishment — while also edging into bits of acoustic melancholy, heavy blues, harmonized vocals, and Italian western.
Jerseyband: Beast Wedding (6/11/09)
Jerseyband: "The Glad Hand"
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An incredible unsigned septet that weaves furious horn/guitar riffs atop a syncopated, polymetered math-metal foundation.
