Air: Le Voyage dans la Lune (Astralwerks)

Air: "Seven Stars" ft. Victoria Legrand of Beach House

More than a decade since composing the score for Sofia Coppola’s The Virgin Suicides, French electro-pop duo Air returns with Le Voyage dans la Lune, a new album that expands on its original score for the recently restored film of the same name. A 16-minute silent film released in 1902 by French director Georges Méliès, Le Voyage has an antiquated look that belies how groundbreaking the director’s use of color and science-fiction imagery were for their time.

Naturally, given the range of aesthetic and social differences between Méliès’ and Coppola’s films, Air’s latest work diverges from the despondent suburban monotone that the group supplied for The Virgin Suicides. This time, core members Jean-Benoit Dunckel and Nicolas Godin pack a lot of variety into a 31-minute span. (The album runs about twice as long as the film.) Surprisingly, though, the new music contains virtually no indications that its source material was created 110 years ago. In fact, Dunckel and Godin were intent on somehow honoring Méliès’ vision while staying grounded in modern sounds.

Whether or not the new music aligns with Méliès’ early 20th Century reveries about lunar travel, plenty of surprises await the well-traveled Air fan — such as the predominantly live, organic-recording approach and the duo’s new-found enthusiasm for timpani. Dunckel and Godin have spent much of their career gazing back at the dawn of synthesizer music, so it’s only fitting that they would set their sights further back to another future, on an artist who would in his own way anticipate what was to come. (A limited-edition run of the album includes the film.)

- Saby Reyes-Kulkarni

Trailer Trash Tracys: Ester (Double Six / Domino)

Trailer Trash Tracys: "Engelhardt's Arizona"

Written on a solfeggio scale — a seven-note diatonic scale such as “do-re-mi-fa-sol-la-ti” — this debut from London-based psych-pop quartet Trailer Trash Tracys comes off as ethereal and otherworldly, yet totally accessible.

Ester churns out track after track of slow-burning psychedelia mixed with hook-laden indie pop, though never anchored in either. Instead, the music is a movement, shifting speeds and directions to arrive at some new and unexplored topography. “Engelhardt’s Arizona” has a straightforward arrangement, guided by vocalist Suzanne Aztoria’s trailing, echoing voice, but it’s flanked the entire time by a swirling lead-guitar riff that might’ve arrived from an alien planet.

The album is entrenched in reverb and delay, echoes and effects, but the songs move fluidly, always accompanied by irregular bits. Aztoria’s voice is a guiding light through all the dark, foggy sounds, there to take your hand before you become immersed in the soundscapes.

- Michael Danaher

Psycroptic: The Inherited Repression (Nuclear Blast)

Psycroptic: "Carriers of the Plague"

Formed before the turn of the century by brothers Dave and Joe Haley, technical death-metal outfit Psycroptic has torn up Tasmania for more than a dozen years. The Inherited Repression, its fifth album, is another hearty dose of blasts, grooves, and winding guitar leads, but its differences are more pronounced.

In addition to greater disparity between fast and slow moments, a series of intros, outros, and interludes gives the listener more room to breathe. Throughout the album's duration, Psycroptic is careful not to suffocate you with technical mastery or unending riffs. Instead, Joe's harmonized guitar overdubs — which alternate between wailing, thrashing, and chugging — are broken up by acoustic melodies, industrial sounds, and marching snares. As a result, The Inherited Repression tends to avoid listening fatigue, offering an accessible dose of extreme metal.

- Scott Morrow

DJ Food: The Search Engine (Ninja Tune)

DJ Food: "Percussion Map (Pt. 1)"

Originally begun by Ninja Tune founders Matt Black and Jonathan More (better known as Coldcut), the DJ Food project helped to launch the influential London label with a collection of breakbeats, jazzy samples, and funky cuts. Though it was intended as source material for other DJs (hence "DJ food"), it evolved into a collaborative project with Patrick Carpenter, Strictly Kev, and others, before eventually being led, live and on record, by Kev.

Now, 11 years after the last DJ Food release, Kev is back with some notable friends, including JG Thirlwell (Foetus), Matt Johnson of The The, 2econd Class Citizen, Natural Self, and DK. The layoff, in part, is due to Kev's work as a designer — he works on many Ninja and non-Ninja covers — and the time has made a difference here. Plenty of the old calling cards are still around, but The Search Engine is trippier and heavier, with spacey effects and minor-key motifs.

Most tracks fall in the three- or four-minute wheelhouse, but there's a handful of long-form pieces, including a cover of The The's "Giant" (featuring Johnson, naturally). "A Trick of the Ear" helps to wind down the album with a jazzy, long-form jam that's chock full of vibraphone chords, bongo beats, and verbal samples, but it's preceded by one of the most interesting pieces, the eleven-minute, nine-suite "Magpie Music" collaboration with 2econd Class Citizen. The Search Engine showcases a healthy diversity — not too schizophrenic and not too staid.

- Scott Morrow

Honorable Mentions

Bahamas: Barchords (Universal Republic)

Big Sir: Before Gardens After Gardens (Sargent House)

Dr. Dog: Be the Void (Anti-)

Ben Kweller: Go Fly a Kite (The Noise Company)

Mark Lanegan Band: Blues Funeral (4AD)

Lindstrøm: Six Cups of Rebel (Smalltown Supersound)

Of Montreal: Paralytic Stalks (Polyvinyl)

Steve Moore / Majeure: Brainstorm (Temporary Residence)

A Place to Bury Strangers: Onwards to the Wall EP (Dead Oceans)

The Saint James Society: s/t EP (Tee Pee)

Shlohmo: Vacation EP (Friends of Friends)

The Twilight Sad: No One Can Ever Know (FatCat)

Sharon Van Etten: Tramp (Jagjaguwar)

Jim White: Where it Hits You (Yep Roc)

Shining: Live Blackjazz album and DVD (Indie Recordings / Prosthetic Records)

Shining: "Fisheye"

With its 2010 album, Blackjazz, Norway’s Shining completed a transition from jazz experimentalism to classically informed prog-fusion to sinister electro-industrial metal. The transformation seems extreme, but when heard linearly, it feels surprisingly natural. Much of that transformational fluidity, in fact, is owed to the band’s hyperkinetic live show, where old and new tunes alike are delivered with equal parts precision and punishment.

A combined DVD and live album, Live Blackjazz documents Shining’s cathartic stage show in stunning quality while bordering on sensory overload. Live recordings generally aren’t recommended for first introductions — but, as you might have guessed, Shining isn’t your average band.

- Scott Morrow

Liberteer: Better to Die on Your Feet than Live on Your Knees (Relapse)

Liberteer: "Build No System"

As the new solo moniker of Santa Cruz grind veteran and multi-instrumentalist Matt Widener, Liberteer has delivered a maiden opus that might truly justify using the words “grindcore” and “opera” in the same breath. It’s an epic and unorthodox debut — one that plays essentially as one continuous song while marrying D-beat crust to horns, flutes, banjos, and marching snares.

As expected, the album contains plenty of bellowing, ultra-low B-tuned guitar and blast-beat bury. But from the very first banjo plucks and bugle-horn strains on the introductory track, it’s obvious that Widener’s over-the-top militarism is meant as a parody of patriotic fervor.

- Saby Reyes-Kulkarni

Jono El Grande: The Choko King (Rune Grammofon)

In late 2010, the eccentric Norwegian guitarist and avant-garde composer known as Jono El Grande (born Jon Andreas Håtun) released Phantom Stimulance, a collection of previously unreleased tunes from his archives and songs that he transformed beyond recognition, demanding to be heard.

This year, Jono reached even further into his stash to bring us The Choko King, another compilation of unheard music dating back to 1995 — four years before his debut as Jono El Grande. Though the album lacks a certain cohesiveness present in his other releases, the songs serve as rough sketches illustrating his strangely brilliant mind.

For the uninitiated, Jono’s avant-garde compositions may seem either absurd and inaccessible or merely a cacophony of random sounds. Tracks like “Türbø Meuz,” however, exemplify the amount of time and labor that goes into every quirky detail: in his “insanely nerdy details” about the album, Jono explains the song’s 12-year evolution from a 20-minute orchestral piece to the two-minute art-rock composition on The Choko King.

Though some of the early pieces are interesting to hear as bizarre ideas unfolding, “Türbø Meuz” and the other later ideas showcase the more fully realized, Frank Zappa-esque era of Mr. El Grande. Certain tracks may rub you the wrong way, but given that the majority are under one or two minutes, it doesn't take long for the album to cross back into mad genius.

- Meaghann Korbel

Honorable Mentions

Buxton: Nothing Here Seems Strange (New West)

Leonard Cohen: Old Ideas (Columbia)

Gotye: Making Mirrors (Universal)

Hospitality: s/t (Merge)

Imperial Teen: Feel the Sound (Merge)

Lana Del Rey: Born to Die (Interscope)

Novalima: Karimba (ESL)

Zeena Parkins: Double Dupe Down (Tzadik)

Gregory Rogove: Piana, performed by John Medeski (Knitting Factory)

John Zorn: Mount Analogue (Tzadik)

Rodrigo y Gabriela: Area 52 (ATO)

Rodrigo y Gabriela: "Juan Loco"

With their last album, 11:11, dueling guitarists Rodrigo Sánchez and Gabriela Quintero exploded into the spotlight, gaining a new swell of fans with their blend of acoustic rock and Latin sounds. Now the duo — whose original material already is infused with the energy and frenetic fretwork of classical guitar and metal — has re-imagined its own material with the aid of a 13-piece Cuban big band.

Area 52 is full of horn stabs, jazzy piano accents, and flute flourishes, but it goes well beyond being a traditional Cuban record. A healthy diversity is borne from psychedelic guitar effects and unexpected guest appearances, including sitarist Anoushka Shankar, bassist Carles Benavent (Chick Corea, Miles Davis), and drummer John Tempesta (Testament, White Zombie).

“Hunuman,” one of the duo’s biggest songs, is re-imagined — and nearly unrecognizable from its powerful acoustic-thrash beginning — as a dramatic string-tinged intro paves the way for the song’s main melody. It even bears shades of Carlos Santana. Though fans will have to keep waiting for brand-new songs, these selections nearly qualify.

- Scott Morrow

Gangrene: Vodka & Ayahuasca (Decon)

Gangrene: "Vodka & Ayahuasca"

In November of 2010, rappers/producers The Alchemist and Oh No released their first full-length collaboration as Gangrene. The album, Gutter Water, showcased the duo’s subtly sophisticated production techniques as well as Alc and Oh’s emcee skills, although the latter fell flat in moments of self-aggrandizement or gratuity.

Now Gangrene returns with its follow-up record, Vodka & Ayahuasca — a grimy, tripped-out nightmare. Like its predecessor, V&A tends to suffer a bit from outlandish lyrics and occasionally clunky deliveries, but its hip-hop beats fused with psychedelic effects, distorted-guitar and piano samples, and as clips of ayahuasca freak-outs provide a satisfyingly weird, unnerving atmosphere. (For those unaware, ayahuasca is a DMT-laden hallucinogenic.) Though the album may be unappealing to those outside of drug culture, the bizarreness of the whole experience will keep you listening track after track.

- Meaghann Korbel

Victor Villarreal: Invisible Cinema (Joyful Noise)

Victor Villarreal: "Enters"

Following his years as an unheralded but influential guitarist in Cap'n Jazz, Ghosts 'n' Vodka, and Joan of Arc, finger-picking virtuoso Victor Villarreal went through a musical disappearance. He finally resurfaced in 2009 with Alive, a tribute to his late brother that featured Villarreal's vocal debut over strummed singer-songwriter pieces.

Invisible Cinema is, in the words of Joyful Noise, his first "fully realized" effort. The complex guitar passages are restrained but more frequent, and with them are a handful of accompanying instruments as well as, seemingly, more self-confidence as a singer. Though Villarreal's vocals can be hit or miss, he has made ample progress since Alive, and the opening track, "Enters," is proof. After two minutes of amazingly melodic guitar work and backing strings, the piece is joined by drums before Villarreal launches into a 3/4-based vocal phrasing — something that he might not have tried on Alive.

With bits of trumpet, bass, guitar feedback, and drums and other percussion, Invisible Cinema has enough flavor to keep from getting old. If being a solo performer is the next chapter of Villarreal's career, he should do just fine.

- Scott Morrow

Plug: Back on Time (Ninja Tune)

Plug: "Feeling So Special"

Back on Time is the latest collection of tracks from oddball electronic musician Luke Vibert, whose aliases of Wagon Christ, Plug, and many others have tens of albums to their credit (in addition to officially "solo" releases). In gathering these 10 tunes, Vibert rummaged the depths of his apparently massive catalog of Plug material from 1995 to 1998, a time when he was putting his own stamp on the drum-and-bass genre.

Though these previously unreleased songs are roughly 15 years old, the record sounds, for the most part, strangely renewed. Tracks like the break-beat-driven, semi-glitchy, semi-jazzy “Yes Man” display Vibert’s creativity in fusing different electronic styles. But the album’s freshness is in part due to his playful humor: the industrial “Come on My Skeleton” throws a curve-ball with the sober warning “you might also become aware of your anus or genitalia”; “Mind Bending” jerks back and forth between Speak 'n’ Spell-style synthesized speech and a stoner’s awe at some “fucking excellent acid house.”

Melodies and beats are aplenty, in nearly whichever style you prefer. But when the album threatens to become a tad too serious, you can count on that humor to cut the tension at just the right moment.

- Meaghann Korbel

Gonjasufi: MU.ZZ.LE (Warp)

Gonjasufi: "Feedin' Birds"

Written as an emotional and spiritual outlet while on the road touring, MU.ZZ.LE is psychedelic rapper Gonjasufi’s latest “mini-album” since his 2010 debut, A Sufi and a Killer. The combination of down-tempo beats and haunting lyrics on this album make for a dark and introspective atmosphere, but his voice is his most powerful and versatile instrument. At times, it’s something of a hoarse croak, a barely audible mumble; at other times, it reaches a sorrowful croon and a creeping howl, often in a sudden, drastic shift. The effect is unsettling — and unforgettable.

- Meaghann Korbel

Honorable Mentions

Abigail Williams: Becoming (Candlelight)

Bleubird: Cannonball!!! (Fake Four)

Dodecahedron: s/t (Underground Activists / Season of Mist)

Imbogodom: And They Turned Not When They Went (Thrill Jockey)

Lamb of God: Resolution (Roadrunner)

Nada Surf: The Stars are Indifferent to Astronomy (Barsuk)

Pyramids / Horseback: A Throne Without a King (Hydra Head)

Rhyton: s/t (Thrill Jockey)

Zomes: Improvisations (Thrill Jockey)

Shawn Lee’s Incredible Tabla Band: Tabla Rock (Ubiquity)

Shawn Lee's Incredible Tabla Band: "Apache"

In 1972, Michael Viner's Incredible Bongo Band released Bongo Rock, a heavily percussive and funky take on hits of the day. With the beat-driven version of the famous instrumental "Apache," the album firmly entrenched itself in the breakbeat lexicon. Now multi-instrumental and rabidly multi-genre musician Shawn Lee has produced his Indian-funk take on the classic album, covering it song by song and adding two tracks from Viner's followup record.

Though there might be more virtuosic or "authentic" voices who could recreate Bongo Rock in Indian form, there may be no more apt musician on the planet than Lee to tackle such a project. His endlessly morphing Ping Pong Orchestra has touched countless modern and retro styles; Tabla Rock is just the latest in the tireless Lee's repertoire.

By and large, the structure and melodies of the originals are intact, and many tracks (such as "Apache" and "Last Bongo in Belgium") remain jazzy and funky with horn and organ accents. But with sitar drones, gurgling tabla hits, and other accoutrements, Tabla Rock is more than a mere re-introduction to the source material — although it's excellent for that as well.

- Scott Morrow

Loincloth: Iron Balls of Steel (Southern Lord)

Loincloth: "Underwear Bomb"

It might be silly to call a band named Loincloth stripped-down, but that’s exactly what it is. There are no vocals or indulgent riffing — just pure, soaring metal.

Iron Balls of Steel is the debut full-length from the prog-metal trio, but drummer Steve Shelton and bassist Cary Rowells are also members of on-again, off-again North Carolina-based metal band Confessor. Rounding out the three-piece is guitarist Tannon Penland. Rather than adding complexity to its music through varied instrumentation, Loincloth gets incredibly technical, experimenting with tempo to an almost unfathomable degree.

Its start-stop style doesn’t come at the expense of punishing grooves, but its unpredictable percussive tangents will challenge even the most experienced of head-bangers. If that sounds intimidating, let’s not overlook Loincloth’s sense of humor about it all — Iron Balls of Steel, anyone? — as that self-awareness is what impels the band to rise above the pomp and circumstance of modern metal.

- Kyle Gilkeson

Loma Prieta: IV (Deathwish Inc.)

Loma Prieta: "Trilogy 4: Momentary"

Sharing its name with one of the Santa Cruz mountains, Bay Area hardcore quartet Loma Prieta has quietly cranked out a half-dozen records since the mid-2000s. IV, its Deathwish debut, helps to announce it to the rest of the world with the force of the 1989 earthquake that is most associated with the name.

Though previous recordings have leaned more toward "post-hardcore" with slight touches of screamo and power violence, IV goes straight for the jugular. Shades of the old influences appear in bridges and interludes, but the album is dirty, angry, and raw.

Punk beats and blast beats alike power the screams and the noisy, over-fuzzed guitars and bass into the red for much of the album. Yet there are plenty of tempo shifts and breakdowns, and though IV very predominantly is a hardcore album, it shares good company on Deathwish with its heavy dynamics.

- Scott Morrow

Honorable Mentions

Everything Went Black: Cycles of Light (Prosthetic / Lost Shepherd)

Herculaneum: Uchu

Howler: America Give Up (Rough Trade)

Justin Robinson & The Mary Annettes: Bones for Tinder (Spindle)

Cate Le Bon: Cyrk (The Control Group)

Matthew Dear: Headcage EP (Ghostly International)

Wiley: Evolve or be Extinct (Big Dada)

Kevin Hufnagel: Transparencies (Nightfloat)

Kevin Hufnagel: "Ever Rest"

When he's not lending his blistering fretwork to Dysrhythmia and Gorguts, or working on ambient pieces as half of Byla, guitarist Kevin Hufnagel finds the spare moment to work on his growing solo catalog.

Though his first solo release was self-issued back in '97, he reemerged in 2009 with Songs for the Disappeared, a masterful collection of percussive acoustic-guitar pieces. Transparencies is just as beautiful but entirely different, bridging the gaps between his electric and ambient sides.

Melodies carry nearly every moment of these 11 tracks, but most are bathed in fuzz, feedback, reverb, and glistening effects. Though some pieces edge toward post-rock territory and Hufnagel makes good use the guitar, there are plenty of minimalist repetitions and loops, often building atmosphere for each track's many layers. "Soundscape" might be an overused descriptor for this style, but with Transparencies, it's entirely applicable, representing a world of sonic depth.

Stream Transparencies in its entirety on Hufnagel's Bandcamp page.

- Lauren Zens & Scott Morrow

Kayo Dot: Gamma Knife

Kayo Dot: "Mirror Water, Lightning Night"

Last year, avant-rock outfit Kayo Dot and its multi-instrumentalist leader, Toby Driver, delivered the 20-minute Stained Glass EP, a single track that combined the band's many elements but leaned on atmosphere.

Gamma Knife (streamed here in its entirety) is Driver and company's latest, calling upon sax-infused noise metal for the majority of its 25 minutes. The recording itself is unconventional — a partial live recording with overdubs added in the studio, providing a strange balance and distant feel to much of the music.

More importantly, however, Gamma Knife is the usually unusual balance of Kayo Dot styles. "Lethe" opens with a classically influenced (and Gregorian-tinged?) piece that almost — almost — could resemble Christmas music. The skronky, progressive track that follows, however, conjures no thoughts of sugar plums. It's abrasive and hard to follow, with all sorts of ghoulish vocals bubbling under the layers — resulting in a swirling (and uncomfortable) cauldron of sound.

There's plenty more unholy noise and rhythmic prowess (see "Mirror Water, Lightning Night"), but the title track closes the album with its prettiest moments, in a melancholy piano-and-guitar duet behind Driver's troubled vocals. As always, it cautions to expect the unexpected with Kayo Dot.

- Scott Morrow

TriBeCaStan: New Deli (EverGreene Music)

TriBeCaStan: "One Day His Axe Fell into Honey"

Though its music only has been available since 2009, the quizzical “ethno-galactic” duo TriBeCaStan spans centuries with its incomparable blend of traditional folk styles with rock, jazz, and other modern styles. And though its two founding members, multi-(multi-multi-)instrumentalists Jeff Greene and John Kruth, hail from lower Manhattan, their origins, naturally, seem spread across the globe.

With its third album, New Deli, the duo (along with the eight-piece TriBeCaStani FolklOrkestra) continues its spirited, genre-bending expedition with such unlikely sonic pairings as surf rock alongside avant-garde jazz and Afghani folk. Indeed, TriBeCaStan is a strange place where East meets West and old meets new.

- Meaghann Korbel

Honorable Mentions

Keepaway: Black Flute (Greedhead)

Kronos Quartet: Music of Vladimir Martynov (Nonesuch / Warner)

For us, 2011 was another year of taking in as much as we could and sharing the best with you. Next year, however, will be a homecoming of sorts, a return to rock-'n'-roll roots. We'll soon be able to share the projects that we have in store — across multiple mediums — but for now, dig into this rock-focused list of must-own albums.

And for more, revisit (or simply visit) our lists from 2010 and 2009:

100 Unheralded Albums from 2010
50 Unheralded Albums from 2009

Steven Drozd: The Heart Is A Drum Machine (The Score) (Twinkle Cash Co., 1/18/11)

Steven Drozd: "Born"

A multi-instrumentalist and the third-most-tenured member of The Flaming Lips, Steven Drozd marked his first official solo release early this year with the nearly instrumental accompaniment to the documentary The Heart is a Drum Machine.

The music shares a lot of characteristics with the Flaming Lips of the past dozen years – synthesized grooves, big rock beats, fuzz bass, airy keyboards, and different instrumental flourishes weaving in and out. But listeners are unlikely to confuse the two, and the score succeeds as a standalone album as well as a film accompaniment.

…And You Will Know Us by the Trail of Dead: Tao of the Dead (Richter Scale Records / Superball Music, 2/8/11)

…And You Will Know Us by the Trail of Dead: "Weight of the Sun"

There has been no shortage of grand themes and allegories in the canon of Austin post-punk quintet …And You Will Know Us by the Trail of Dead. The band’s newest album, however, better matches its ambitious themes with its music, presenting an epic pair of pieces for Tao of the Dead.

The album recalls progressive albums of yore, from the likes of Rush and King Crimson, but channels them into easily digested movements. Stretches of heavy distortion and drum thrashing will appeal to the more metal-minded Trail of Dead fans, but there’s also plenty of hook-laden, radio-ready alternative rock.

Wires Under Tension: Light Science (Western Vinyl, 2/8/11)

Wires Under Tension: "Electricity Turns Them On"

Light Science is the exciting debut from Wires Under Tension, a duo comprised of violinist/multi-instrumentalist Christopher Tignor and drummer Theo Metz. With help from a few friends, including Jared Bell of Lymbyc Systym, the two combine live performance with electronic manipulation, sounding something like a progressive Dirty Three with horns, hip-hop beats, and post-rock guitar swells.

This seven-track release is a dense, fluid collection that retains consistency thanks to Metz’s steady rhythms. Electro-mechanical piano, clavinet, and synthesizers mesh with loops and samples to round out an impressive first release.

Pitom: Blasphemy and Other Serious Crimes (Tzadik, 2/22/11)

Pitom: "Head in the Ground"

Combining heavy, fuzzy rock jams with Jewish melodies, Pitom is one of many projects from guitarist, bassist, and composer Yoshie Fruchter. Blasphemy and Other Serious Crimes, the quartet's second release on Tzadik, follows the same path as its predecessor, but it does so with a bit more cohesion and restraint.

Built from the ground up with distorted bass and violin, the band's music carries similarities to that of Skeletonbreath and Miasma & The Carousel of Headless Horses. Whether driving a song with an infectious melody, commingling with the violin in the high end, or simply taking over a track with raw ability, Fruchter knows when to go full throttle (the punk power of "An Epic Encounter") or pull back (the dark slow jam of "A Resentful Repentance").

The Psychic Paramount: II (No Quarter, 2/22/11)

The Psychic Paramount: "RW"

Though relatively silent for the past six years, New York noise-rock trio The Psychic Paramount returned in February to release its first full-length since 2005. Effected guitar loops, devastating low-end grooves, and bashing rhythms again form the core of the band's sound, but II is a direct yet dynamic rock explosion.

Between the guitar, the cymbals, and the effects, the mid-range gets a constant workout. Those who are turned off by this kind of music may find it to be an exercise in patience, but the lengthier durations are a testament to the trio's skills at climax and denouement.

DeVotchKa: 100 Lovers (Anti-, 3/1/11)

DeVotchKa: "100 Other Lovers"

Following the fame from its Oscar-winning soundtrack for Little Miss Sunshine in 2006, Denver multi-instrumental quartet DeVotchKa has playfully tinkered with its sweeping, emotive sound. Though it already tossed together elements of folk, rock, Mexican, and Gypsy music, it remained united by the sullen croons and songwriting of frontman Nick Urata.

That unifying factor remains, but its newest album, 100 Lovers – its second post-Sunshine full-length – continues to expand the band’s scope. The material adds new and often subtle flavors to DeVotchKa’s repertoire. Uninitiated listeners might hear more of the same, but 100 Lovers is perfect for content fans – moving in new directions without a radical departure.

Stateless: Matilda (Ninja Tune, 3/1/11)

Stateless: "Ariel"

Matilda, Stateless' second full-length, showcases the British electro-rock group's continued maturity. Lead singer Chris James hits an impressive range of notes, from reverb-cloaked backing croons to soulful leads, atop an amalgamated mix of styles, sounds, and beats.

With contributions from The Balanescu Quartet, DJ Shadow, and Shara Worden (of My Brightest Diamond), Matilda is stylistically inventive, with familiar worldly touchstones reworked into new contexts.

Grails: Deep Politics (Temporary Residence, 3/8/11)

Grails: "I Led Three Lives"

With cinematic soundscapes, Westernized Indian melodies, film-noir mystique, 1960s psychedelia, and crushing heaviness, Grails is an instrumental rarity. The Portland band's newest offering, Deep Politics, is an engaging and epic mix of acoustic intonations, indigenous sounds and melodies, spaghetti-western motifs, somber piano balladry, and more doom-filled, Eastern-infused stylistic transcendence.

And thanks in part to arrangements by Timba Harris, the mighty violinist from unparalleled genre annihilators Estradasphere and Secret Chiefs 3, Deep Politics vies to be Grails’ best album yet.

Parts & Labor: Constant Future (Jagjaguwar, 3/8/11)

Parts & Labor: "Constant Future"

After establishing itself early last decade as an interesting new name in noise rock, Parts & Labor delivered a flurry of releases over the span of just a few years. Since then, the band has scaled back to a trio built around the fuzzed guitar, bass, keyboard hooks, and tight rock rhythms.

Featuring some of the band's sturdiest songs yet, Constant Future is direct, potent, and catchy. Behind Dan Friel and BJ Warshaw's echoing, harmonized vocals are dirty, thick grooves that power the overlaid electronic freak-outs.

Adebisi Shank: This is the Second Album from a Band Called Adebisi Shank (Sargent House, 3/15/11)

Adebisi Shank: "Micro Machines"

Released to European acclaim in 2010, the aptly titled second album from Irish electro/math rockers Adebisi Shank achieved North American release this year thanks to the peerless Sargent House.

The management company / record label describes the trio as a blend of Fang Island’s shredding riffs with Battles’ electronic quirkiness and rhythmic playfulness. That description isn’t off the mark, but readers won’t get a sense of the band’s real abilities until they hear its hyper-melodic, polyrhythmic, and — most importantly — jubilant songs in full.

Second Album delivers a maelstrom of zany electronics, unusual distortions, and triumphant, rapidly ascending scales mixed with vintage synths, marimba, horns, and other accoutrements. This is all packaged between and around gloriously catchy and powerful rock riffs, resulting in a manic and buoyant sophomore effort.

Gruff Rhys: Atheist Xmas EP (Wichita)

Around this time of year, before the reality and harshness of winter set in, December usually is a time of good cheer and holiday festiveness. And now, thanks to singer/songwriter Gruff Rhys, atheists can enjoy the season too. The Super Furry Animals front-man has just released a new EP called Atheist Xmas — a three-song offering featuring hook-heavy, head-bobbing catchiness, sure to help get you through to the coldest days this winter (or at least a few minutes of them at a time).

With this paradoxically titled recording, Rhys has become a master of juxtaposition — setting deep and dark lyrics to a backdrop of easy-listening, poppy arrangements (with elements of Rhys’ signature style firmly in place: futuristic synths, harmonized vocals, brass ornamentation, etc.). Even with misanthropic titles like “Post-Apocalypse Christmas,” “At the End of the Line,” and “Slashed Wrists This Christmas,” the prolific musician/singer has given an alternate take on holiday merriment. It takes the joyfulness of the Christmastime and turns it on its head, all while maintaining the approachable qualities of holiday music.

And don’t worry — this one isn’t sung in Welsh.

- Text by Michael Danaher.

Common: The Dreamer / The Believer (Warner Bros.)

Common: "Blue Sky"

Production for Common’s new album, The Dreamer / The Believer, started back in 2009, along with Def Jam VP and early Common collaborator No I.D., but the Chicago hip-hop emcee has valid reasons for its unplanned delay. Since his last release, Universal Mind Control, in 2008, Common has written and published his memoir (One Day It’ll All Make Sense), launched a clothing line, landed acting roles in multiple films, founded The Common Ground Foundation, and was involved in one of this year's biggest feuds as a White House poetry-night honoree.

Though the album’s title aptly represents most of its deep, positive content, there are more than a few negative rap stereotypes, creating a lyrical dichotomy. The first track, “The Dreamer,” which includes Common’s exclamations of faith and gratitude and a spoken poem by Pulitzer Prize winner Maya Angelou, rolls into “Ghetto Dreams” with sexist rhymes by Nas. Likewise, the uplifting, ELO-sampled “Blue Sky” is followed by chest-puffing machismo in “Sweet.” And later, the chorus of “Celebrate” ruins an otherwise feel-good track, proclaiming that the narrator has “a couple hundred bitches around” — all before "Windows," a ballad about a father and young daughter.

But despite the lyrical disparities, the aforementioned tracks do not lack in quality, and they rather signify the two main styles on the album – slow grooves alongside harder-hitting production. Neo-soul crooning and minor-key piano chords as just as likely to lead a track as rap-siren blares and turntable scratches. As his ninth studio in 20 years, The Dreamer / The Believer once again delivers Common’s distinctive brand of hip hop.

- Text by Lauren Zens.

Jónsi: We Bought a Zoo soundtrack (Columbia / Sony)

Jónsi: "Gathering Stories"

We Bought a Zoo, the upcoming "dramedy" starring Matt Damon and Scarlett Johansson, is not the first collaboration between screenwriter/director Cameron Crowe (Almost Famous, Jerry Maguire) and Sigur Rós front-man Jón Þór Birgisson, a.k.a. Jónsi. The relationship started a decade ago in the making of Vanilla Sky, when Crowe played the Icelandic group’s music on set to inspire his actors, and now the two have teamed up to soundtrack an entire major motion picture. Much of the material therein is re-purposed — a mix of tracks from Jónsi’s solo debut album, Go, as well as re-released Sigur Rós cuts — but it includes notable new compositions featuring brass and string contributions by Nico Muhly, who collaborated with Jónsi on Go.

Though the film may have its limitations, and though the question can be asked whether it's a good fit for Jónsi, the music itself is buoyant. Twinkling, majestic arrangements pair with Jónsi’s falsettos and Muhly's strings, creating a beautiful depth against fluttering harmonies of bells, toy pianos, and flutes. Even with soft piano ballads like the title track or percussive pieces such as “Hoppípolla,” neoclassical accompaniment and gleaming melodies sustain the score’s main musical theme. With an ambient introduction and a soaring, multi-layered closing (co-written by Cameron Crowe and Jónsi), We Bought a Zoo is arranged meticulously and proves that, as Crowe has stated, “the best music creates a movie in your mind.”

- Text by Lauren Zens.

Charlotte Gainsbourg: Stage Whisper (Elektra / Warner)

Charlotte Gainsbourg: "White Telephone"

In late 2009, actress Charlotte Gainsbourg (daughter of iconic singer-songwriter Serge Gainsbourg and singer/actress Jane Birkin) continued her adult-life return to music with IRM, a Beck-produced album that yielded major press acclaim. Stage Whisper, her new "double" album, is a sort of addendum to IRM, featuring a number of studio tracks from the same recording sessions to go with 11 live tracks from the same time period.

A few of the early cuts, "Terrible Angels" and "Paradisco," begin the album on a much dancier and electronic note, but the material shortly moves back to the organic beauty and melancholy of IRM. "White Telephone," with its delicate melodic phrasing, is one of the album's biggest standouts, setting the mood with kora-esque plucking before an accordion, violin, and xylophone accent Gainsbourg's airy vocals.

It might not be the most fitting introduction for first-time listeners, but the live tracks deliver some of her most popular cuts — including the cover of Bob Dylan's "Just Like a Woman" — on top of the unreleased tracks. Gainsbourg fans won't want to miss out.

The Black Keys: El Camino (Nonesuch / Warner Bros.)

The Black Keys: "Lonely Boy"

The Black Keys has come a long way from its modest start in Akron, Ohio. Ever since the early 2000s, the band has been one of the most consistent acts around, churning out album after album of gritty, blues-infused garage rock. But with recent appearances on The Colbert Report and Saturday Night Live, as well as a North American tour featuring numerous arena stops, the band has refined its sound to adapt to its new surroundings and mounting exposure. And El Camino, the band's latest effort, showcases that adaptation, as the band has cultivated a bigger, more varied sound.

Guitarist/vocalist Dan Auerbach and drummer Patrick Carney once again teamed up with Danger Mouse to oversee the production, and the result is one of the band’s most instrumentally diverse offerings. Though the songs are firmly fixed in the classic Black Keys style (tactile distortion, clamoring drums, bluesy vocals, and noodling guitar solos), El Camino builds on the band’s recent exploration of musical diversity and experimentation. The excellent “Dead and Gone” sounds like a ’60s jamboree, chocked full of xylophones and layered, harmonized vocals; “Gold on the Ceiling” features a variety of synths and new guitar sounds that integrate seamlessly into the duo’s signature rock-outs; “Little Black Submarines” starts out with a heartfelt, acoustic folk arrangement before colliding with a wall of grunged-out guitars and crashing cymbals.

The Black Keys may be getting bigger, but that hasn’t hindered the duo’s creative energy. If anything, it’s gotten stronger on El Camino.

- Text by Michael Danaher.

The Roots: Undun (Island / Def Jam)

It’s rare when an album asks deserving questions yet doesn’t let the message overshadow the music. But that’s what The Roots has done with its tenth studio album, Undun, which does for Philadelphia what The Wire did for Baltimore — portraying the dark and ruinous underworld of a drug trade that preys disproportionately on certain races and classes, especially their young.

The record traces the last hours in the life of Redford Stephens, a fictional Philly man whom Roots drummer ?uestlove says was inspired in part by The Wire’s Avon Barksdale. A low-level drug dealer, Stephens is a protagonist but not quite a hero. Over funk-fueled bass lines, ?uestlove’s signature beats, and a tasteful sprinkling of soul, the story is unraveled — backwards from the time of death — by MC Black Thought and a handful of guests, including Aaron Livingston, one half of Icebird.

It’s hardly a holiday record, though it does include a cameo by indie darling Sufjan Stevens, whose “Redford (for Yia-Yia and Pappou)” also helped inspire the Roots’ character and comprises the final four tracks of the album, interpreted in various styles. The third of these segments, “Will to Power,” is the most compelling, showing ?uestlove battling avant-garde pianist DD Jackson in a frenzied duel that owes more to free jazz than R&B.

It’s not untruthful to say the music on Undun stands alone — it doesn’t need its narrative any more than Fucked Up’s David Comes to Life needed its — but the words add a weight that transforms it from a solid hip-hop release into a powerful record. Musically, it ventures into some surprising territory, and lyrically, it communicates an urgent message.

- Text by Timothy A. Schuler.

Jacaszek: Glimmer (Ghostly International)

Jacaszek: "Dare-gale"

Polish composer Michał Jacaszek has made a specialty of moody, atmospheric ambience using a classical palette, with bowed strings, operatic voices, and chimes to construct a brooding build. His new album, Glimmer, is his first for Ghostly International, and though it might be misclassified as an electronic album — partly due to its affiliation with Ghostly — it's almost entirely an ambient classical release.

There's enough digital treatment and rearrangement to warrant a partial electronic tag, but it's otherwise a very organic album. Jacaszek wrote and recorded the acoustic-guitar and mellotron passages, and then he enlisted a number of other Polish musicians to play the harpsichord and clarinet parts. It's all a very stirring mix, with the harpsichord, bass clarinet, guitar, and vibraphone — not to mention the washes of fuzz — creating a richness of texture.

The album's inconspicuous complexity and professional performances make it a gem among ambient releases. Those factors also help explain why it's been a bit since Jacaszek's last release, and Glimmer was worth the wait.

- Text by Scott Morrow and Patrick Hajduch. Read the debate here.

Keep Shelly in Athens: Campus Martius EP (Planet Mu)

Keep Shelly in Athens: "Campus Martius"

Hailing from Athens, Greece, Keep Shelly in Athens (whose name is a play on the Grecian suburb Kypseli) is a down-tempo/chill-wave electronic two-piece that has garnered steady 'Net buzz since last year. The hype, to this point, might be a tad undeserved, but the duo's recent In Love With Dusk EP demonstrated potential across a spate of digitized genres, even if it was heavy on the Ibiza influence.

The major appeal here is the interplay between singer Sarah P and producer RPR, whose styles seem to be coming into their own. With Campus Martius, the duo's first release on Planet Mu, there's less of the beach-y nightlife and '80s cheese; instead, there's an urban, industrialized, and ambient vibe to better fit Sarah's elongated and reverberated vocals.

The EP also includes bits of spazzy Aphex Twin drum-and-melancholy, deep bass lines, vocals that would sound at home on a Sneaker Pimps record, and of-the-moment pitched vocal slicing. These elements hang together in a way that seems familiar and yet revelatory, and as a result, Campus Martius occupies a pleasant, bassy corner of the dubstep/post-dubstep/synthesizer continuum.

- Text by Scott Morrow and Patrick Hajduch. Read the debate here.

Loka: Passing Place (Ninja Tune)

Loka: "Sam Star"

In 1999, Liverpool residents Karl Webb and Mark Kyriacou began an exciting studio collaboration as Loka, merging psychedelic, classical, groove, down-tempo, and jazz elements in a daring but foolproof fusion. The project quickly signed to Ninja Tune, but the duo's first full album wasn't released until 2006, and Webb retired from the project in the following year. But now Loka is back, led by Kyriacou and the live Loka band, and the results were worth the wait.

Like that debut full-length (Fire Shepherds), Passing Place is a hybrid of the aforementioned elements. Here, however, a calmness meets the subdued tempos, and celestial vocals are part of a multilayered mélange. In fact, the oft-mentioned down-tempo feel of Fire Shepherds seems lively in comparison to Passing Place, which, despite its active moments, achieves a rare balance of beats and serenity.

“Entrance,” Passing Place’s opening track, almost tricks the listener into thinking that this album will be just like Loka’s first, with the heavy, haunting bass rumblings. But just as the song seems ready to launch into a break beat, a beautiful wordless vocal solo sets the mood of the album’s remainder. The vocal additions (by live-band members Lido Pimiento, Eleanor Mante, and Jaci Williams) weave through the keyboards, drums, and guitars and often determine the haunting, melancholy, or calming feel that each track transmits. It's a wonderful new direction, helping Loka to reestablish itself as a forerunner in classical psychedelia.

- Text by Lauren Zens.

Honorable Mentions

Anomie Belle: Machine EP

Czar: Vertical Mass Grave (Cracknation)

Eastern Blok: Underwater

Goldmund: All Will Prosper (Western Vinyl)

Sunn O))): øø Void reissue (Southern Lord)

Vildhjarta: Måsstaden (Century Media)

Vildhjarta: "Benblåst"

Six years ago, Vildhjarta began as a three-piece musical project in Hudiksvall, Sweden. The young band, then comprised of Daniel Bergström, Johan Nyberg, and Jimmie Åkerström, communicated musical and lyrical ideas via E-mail due to locational distances. Yet despite limited direct access to one another, the trio more than doubled its size and consequently doubled its roster of compositional ideas. From there, Vildhjarta naturally evolved from a mere project to a band with the “djent” progressive-metal style coined by Meshuggah. This physical growth of Vildhjarta has been possibly the most significant contributor to its musical growth, resulting in the band’s concept album and debut full-length, Måsstaden.

Though the mathy, chugging, down-tuned riffage is the band's main calling card, Måsstaden establishes a diversity thanks to a series of melodic yet eerie interludes and alternating vocalists.  Those vocal exchanges — between Vilhelm Bladin’s deep growls and Daniel Ädel’s mid-range screams — respond to tempo and instrumental changes, maintaining a consistency during each song’s verses and chorus. Metalcore breakdowns are recurrent throughout Måsstaden, but tracks such as "Traces" and "Benblåst" offer distinguishing characteristics, respectively, in the form of harmonized singing and a creeping introductory rhythm.

According to the band, the album's concept "tells the tale of a hidden and isolated town narrated in a classic fable manner." Although Måsstaden doesn’t evoke feelings of a jolly Disney fairytale, Vildhjarta cites The Jungle Book’s melodies as well as Final Fantasy IV’s narrative as inspirations. Outside of a few subtle moments — such as the backing polyrhythms on "All These Feelings" and "The Lone Deranger" — those inspirations are about as inaudible as they come. Nonetheless, Vildhjarta has made its mark with a crushing and conceptual debut.

- Text by Lauren Zens.

Gorillaz: The Singles Collection 2001-2011 (Virgin / EMI)

You’ve got to hand it Brit-pop stalwart Damon Albarn and Tank Girl illustrator Jamie Hewlett for creating an animated band that’s stood up to criticism in both the animation and music spheres for a decade. What could’ve burst and then fizzled has grown into a worldwide multimedia project whose collaborators include hip-hop mainstays such as Del the Funky Homosapien, MF Doom, Mos Def, and De La Soul; legends like Lou Reed and Bobby Womack; and lesser-known all-stars that include  Hypnotic Brass Ensemble, Martina Topley-Bird, and an assortment of orchestras and choirs.

This year marks its tenth anniversary, and to celebrate, the virtual band is releasing The Singles Collection: 2001–2011, a CD/DVD package that includes 15 tracks and 14 visual selections, either official music videos or live recordings. Among the latter is the standout “Kids with Guns” from Demon Days: Live at the Manchester Opera House.

What’s cool about hearing the compressed discography is the pop of each album’s highly stylized flavor, together a panorama of ideas, influences, and production values. What’s not as cool is that there’s nothing from The Fall, last year’s minimal but masterful album recorded on an iPad in hotel rooms during 30 days of a US tour. Instead, “Doncamatic,” the banal single featuring young soul sensation Daley, makes the cut.

It’s the same story on the DVD, which includes mostly major works rather than the cool animatics and other pulp that Gorillaz released in the lead up to The Singles. Despite these few missed opportunities, it’s hardly a disappointing retrospective. If nothing else, it’s worth going back to “Clint Eastwood” and pondering the decade that’s taken place since the song moseyed infectiously onto the scene.

- Text by Timothy S. Aames.

Honorable Mention

Dim Mak: The Emergence of Reptilian Altars (Willowtip)

Temple of Baal / Ritualization: The Vision of Fading Mankind (Agonia)