Both groups normally share Melvins guitarist Buzz "King Buzzo" Osborne as a member, and the release should come as no surprise as both are friends, both are released on singer Mike Patton's Ipecac label, and both were involved in a 2002 collaborative CD.

The low production quality of the concert film makes for a more realistic and intimate experience. Filmed at the Kentish Town Forum in London on May 1st of 2006, the film is almost exclusively comprised of the beguiling concert, thus giving fans the feeling of being in attendance in this unique concert setting.

The most interesting aspect of the film is watching as the band members play off of each other from song to song. The group's performance of "The Omen" is particularly enthralling as the filmmakers let go of their traditional concert film aesthetics that have driven the film so far to create an enthralling visual experience of spliced shots, jump cuts, and close-ups of the big band as it constructs the layers to the song.

Once you're done watching the film in its entirety, don't forget to take time to watch it with the "special guest commentary" with none other than Danny Devito (yeah, that's right) adding his two cents.

- Britt Julious

Fantômas: www.ipecac.com/artists/fantomas
Melvins: www.melvins.com
Ipecac Recordings: www.ipecac.com

Some folks can't understand why people listen to soundtracks. "Without the movie to accompany it," they ask, "what's the point?" Yet it's hard to imagine that seeing Crank 2: High Voltage would make its score more relevant or interesting.

This release is Mike Patton's first attempt at scoring a feature-length movie, but it isn't his first foray into the world of movies. In 2008, he scored the short film A Perfect Place, whose outstanding soundtrack was twice the length of the film.

He voiced the monsters in I Am Legend the year before, and this summer, he will be voicing the Mixmaster character in the Transformers sequel. And then, of course, we can't forget the masterpiece that his band Fantômas put out in 2001, The Director's Cut, which was a series of experimental metal covers of classic movie themes.

One can definitely hear the influence of Fantômas at various parts in this score — especially the tracks "Chelios," "Tourette's Romance," and "Carpark Throwdown," but there's so much more going on here.

Tracks like "Tourette's Breakdance" and "The Hammer Drops" could have been tracks from any great electro/industrial band, with their crushing drumbeats and chunky, thick keyboards. "Massage Parlour" and "Hallucination" put you straight on a pagoda in the midst of an intense kung-fu stare-down.

"El Huron" and "Verona" have a spaghetti western feel. A personal favourite is "Chevzilla," conjuring images of a big alien space ship grinding its way across the horizon. "Chickenscratch" gives us the weirdest, almost Butthole Surfers-like track, which could be the backdrop to a wild chase scene.

That tune is contrasted with the final track, the ethereal church choir "Epiphany." It's amazing that the same guy wrote all of this.

The beautiful thing about a soundtrack like this is that it conjures up so many different visuals for the listener, especially one who hasn't been influenced by images from the movie. The opposite is analogous to having a favorite book, then seeing it made into a movie and subsequently always having that actor's image in your head whenever you read the book again.

Gone is your image of what the person should have looked like; your mind has formed the lines on his forehead, the curve of his brow, the slope of his shoulders, the scowl on his face. All you have now is the Hollywood star, forever.

This music has taken me to spaceships, smoky blues caverns filled with drunken old men, dusty one-horse towns, porn sets, polka parties, '70s newspaper buildings, scummy punk bars, and dark, horrific corners. Do I want to see the movie? Now that I've heard the soundtrack, what's the point?

- Daniel Fuller

Mike Patton: www.myspace.com/mikepattonofficial
Lakeshore Records: www.lakeshore-records.com

Mouth of the Architect: Quietly (Translation Loss)

Quietly is an interesting choice for the title of Mouth of the Architect's new record, considering the band's reputation for ear-splitting live shows and noisy recordings.

It's fitting, though; like its contemporaries Isis and Pelican, the band doesn't just rest on its volume-knob laurels, opting instead for dynamic and intricate songwriting, highlighted with delicate flourishes of feedback, samples, and noise play usually associated with ambient music.

But make no mistake: this may be art metal, but it's metal all the same. Keyboardist Jason Watkins and guitar player Alex Vernon share vocal duties on "Quietly," belting out anguished, sludge-style screams over the ethereal waves of sound.

The pair is complemented by the sultry and lithe guest vocals of Made Out Of Babies' Julie Christmas on "Generation of Ghosts" and "Pine Boxes." The pairing makes for a stark but soothing juxtaposition of aesthetics.

On the whole, Quietly is a more focused record than Ties That Bind from 2006, though fans of the genre will likely notice the similarities between this new offering and Isis' 2002 epic, Oceanic. The dense, atmospheric backdrop, the departure from the overwhelming aggression of the band's previous releases, dueling male/female vocals, and drawn-out song structure seem right out of the Oceanic playbook.

Though Mouth of the Architect doesn't do anything new on Quietly, it's important to recognize that Isis has moved beyond the aesthetic it presented on Oceanic. It seems fitting for Mouth of the Architect to pick up the torch.

And for what it's worth, Isis also spent many years unfairly living in the shadow of Neurosis — it's only natural that this niche group of artists would draw on similar signifying sounds. With that in mind, Quietly is a huge artistic step forward for a band just beginning to find its voice.

- Oakland L. Childers

Mouth of the Architect: www.myspace.com/mouthofthearchitect
Translation Loss: www.translationloss.com

Having created a template for the more ambient side of krautrock with seminal band Cluster (among other bands/collectives), collaborated with the likes of Brian Eno, and contributed to numerous soundtracks, Roedelius is a studied and practiced master of the minimalist gesture.

Tim Story, meanwhile, has made quite a name for himself in a somewhat shorter time frame. Disenchanted with rock in the '70s, and drawn to the ambient sounds of Cluster and the heady deconstruction of Can, Story began combining these ambient elements with classical influences like Béla Bartók and Claude Debussy to create something wholly alien yet deceptively unobtrusive.

If the whole of Roedelius/Story isn't more than the sum of its parts, Inlandish is at least equal to that sum, an impressive feat. It might seem backhanded to call Inlandish meditative, but it's a charge of which Roedelius/Story might have a hard time clearing themselves.

With Roedelius' piano and keyboards offering the skeleton, and Story's production and electronic manipulation providing the flesh (if one can call it that; the "flesh," in this case, has all the substance of mist), they create a soundtrack to a Socratic dialogue, an existential debate in which all paths of argument lead to fecund silence.

Some stray beats may weave their way into the music, but they are never jarring enough to create more than a ripple on the music's glasslike surface. Lazy ears would be inclined to dismiss this as new age, but this would be an error.

Rodelius' spare, simple piano lines have more in common with Philip Glass, or a less archly iconoclastic John Cage, than with Scott Cossu or Yanni, and Story's manipulations are too neoclassical and dissonant to write off as music for wine tastings (though both artists have suggested that wine was tasted during the course of recording).

Titles like "Ripple and Fade" and "House of Glances" might suggest comforting cerebral wallpaper, but they might also suggest quiet observations of mundane enigmas.

- Lyam White

Grönland Records: www.groenland.com/2006

The Fiery Furnaces: Remember (Thrill Jockey)

The Fiery Furnaces, an oft-difficult sibling duo, has released an album or two every year for the past five years. Each release is seen as a departure from the last — a new direction and a new set of challenges to overcome.

From the epic jigsaw of Blueberry Boat in 2004 to the classic-rock groove of Widow City in 2007, the manic keys and voice that emanate from Matthew and Eleanor Friedberger have not so much redefined themselves as they have evolved.

So what happens when the pair releases a live album compiling music recorded over a few years? Remember is the fifty-plus-track monstrosity that emerged from the Friedbergers' penchant for playing songs differently show to show.

The album is packed with music taken from a dizzying number of performances, and as expected, this is no straightforward affair. The Fiery Furnaces has cut and sown these songs into brand new compositions fit for head shaking and floor hopping.

It's one of the most authentic-feeling live albums to come out in years. A perfectly mixed and mastered recording is abandoned here for an "in the corner, jacket in hand" experience that seeing live music really is.

Songs interrupt others and are cut up, commenting on the restless and shifting focus of the Furnaces' live sets. The crowd makes cameos but never invades the music or the energy, like so many albums with mics pointed at the crowd for singalongs (e.g. Colin Meloy).

Eleanor sounds front and center and better than ever, whereas Matthew is off to the left, over by the bar, shouting along with the band while ordering a pint.

It has that lived-in feel, the good-times-now-past nostalgia that comes with such memories of favorite shows and classic sets. The band offers reprises of several songs, usually only two or three tracks later, and they are so different that they are almost unrecognizable from the previous version.

Some casual listeners will have to keep looking at the stereo to know when a new song is playing, as it all sounds like one long ever-changing montage. The only thing lacking from this live album is any kind of lull, the quiet between songs where tunings and banter take place.

With so much material to pull from, The Fiery Furnaces simply does not have time for silence.

- Charlie Swanson

The Fiery Furnaces: www.thefieryfurnaces.com
Thrill Jockey Records: www.thrilljockey.com

Audion: Billy Says So EP

Matthew Dear spent the end of 2007 basking in universal praise for his poppy vocal full-length album Asa Breed. In 2008, he brought back his harder techno alias Audion with this three-track release for Spectral Sound (Ghostly International's minimal techno imprint).

Eponymous opener "Billy Says Go" begins with a flurry of percussive ticks and half of the simple pentatonic bass line of "Billie Jean" before firing straight across the bow with a prominent, high-pitched synth lead.

The lead doesn't seem to work on first listen, but it grows, and the track might mark the first time that an Audion track could sound better on headphones than cranked loud at a club.

The kick drum is there, but it's not propulsive. The song swings instead of pushing, and the end result is more suitable for the couch than the dance floor.

By no means is it bad, but it seems a bit out of character. "Snap Into It" fits a bit more squarely into the Audion template.

It has the same slow burn utilized to such great effect on 2006 record Mouth to Mouth, with the mid-range squirreling around on the periphery while claps, kick, and a simple arpeggio anchor the track. A vocal whisper slithers in and out, and as it recedes, a gradual barrage of hi-hats swells to overwhelm the beat, kicking the whole track into overdrive.

The space that the hi-hats leave when they fade out at the end of the track is a gaping hole that speaks volumes. "Against All Odds" sets a hollow, relentless thud against a bass line, modulated occasionally into a piercing howl. It's the longest track on the EP at just under eight minutes, and it is also the most monotonous.

As the dynamics of the track focus less on a gradual build and more on sudden tweaks, it feels a bit gimmicky. Overall, the EP is a solid step forward for an artist whose output is always worth a listen.

It may not drop jaws like the exhilarating Mouth to Mouth or 2007 record Noiser / Fred's Bells, but Matthew Dear's ear for dynamics and texture remains as sharp as always.

- Patrick Hajduch

Audion: www.suckfish.org
Spectral Sound: www.spectralsound.com

RTX: JJ Got Live RaTX (Drag City)

Vocalist Jennifer Herrema was one of the two main brains behind legendary '90s noise rockers Royal Trux. Witnessed in her latest band, RTX, Herrema's sound and vision have changed drastically since parting ways with collaborator Neil Hagerty in 2001.

RTX is a band in a universe all its own, where it's apparently always the summer of 1985. That's good, although at first listen to JJ Got Live RaTX, it may be the only thing on which many people will focus.

This is indeed a mid-'80s hair-banging guitarist's wet dream. Herrema snarls, shouts, and sugarcoats her way through several hundred vocal-processing power plants on the ten tracks that make up JJ Got Live RaTX, the second addition to the RTX catalog.

The entire time, she manages to sound like the long-lost love child of Joan Jett's black guardian angel, and Iggy Pop's street-walkin' cheetah.

Guitarist Jaimo Welch grinds out smoking mountains of molten crunchy stuff, swirling and splashing every imaginable hue of sonic day-glo paint available. If you listen carefully enough, you can hear the sound of Axl Rose and Vince Neil crapping their diapers all the way from LA.

So turn off the Muppet pop, throw a copy of this in your ride, roll the windows down, cruise the day, and rock on, rebel warrior.

Those seeking a replacement for the halcyon days of Royal Trux's dirty boogie and spaced-out slammers may be a tad confused. The completely uninitiated should also consider picking up a copy of the Trux's Sweet 16 as well as the first two RTX recordings, Transmaniacon and Western Xterminator.

- Chris Raths

RTX: www.truxrox.com
Drag City: www.dragcity.com

Oneida: Preteen Weaponry (Jagjaguwar)

Oneida's Preteen Weaponry is both a stand-alone piece and the beginning of a larger triptych to be known collectively as "Thank Your Parents."

In a divergence from the song-oriented structures of The Wedding and Happy New Year, the tracks here are an accurate representation of the band's live shows, where a single thought or riff may be extended into something beyond recognition.

Recorded in one day with "Oneida members past, present, and future," there are three distinct movements, each based around a solitary idea that then grows to colossal proportions out of improvisation.

The first track features some nimble drumming from Kid Millions — basically, a long drum fill over the top of looped keyboard and guitar parts. The song sucks you in with its hypnotic repetition and sets the stage for the following two tracks.

The second is a slower song where the simple, stolid drums take a backseat to waves of distorted, slow-flanged keyboards and heavily effected guitar. It is the only song with vocals, although they are nearly too translucent to understand.

The song begins and ends with noise, bleeding the three arrangements together. The closing passage takes a vaguely motorik drumbeat and runs the high-hat through a gate, clipping and punching holes in its continuity.

This is then surrounded by plinks and pops of seemingly random sounds and reverb attacks. Although the drumming sounds incredible, the rest of the piece doesn't seem to be as well conceived, however improvisational, as the first two tracks are.

As a studio document of what Oneida does live, Preteen Weaponry shows the band flexing its space-rock muscles in a controlled setting. If this is the first part of a continuing series, then there is much to anticipate for the rest of the series.

- Nate Daly

Oneida: www.enemyhogs.com
Jagjaguwar: www.jagjaguwar.com

So tight that merely listening to it raises shoulders to ears, Portland trio 31 Knots mixes the dissonance of Sonic Youth, the time signatures and stop-start changes of Fugazi, and the deconstructed funk of Talking Heads to create a nervous, hysterical din that reads like Michel Foucault having a nervous breakdown.

The band's work is an exhilarating mess of short lines and severe angles, tracing the journey of some sentient machine exploring lonely frontiers, from epiphany to disappointment to tantrum, seeking solace in a universe as ill equipped to offer solace as the machine is to receive it.

Although everything in the above paragraph is still true, everything has changed on Worried Well. If the rhythmic chicanery and atonal tension of previous releases is fully in evidence, it only lays a foundation for a newfound looseness.

The improvisational acuity and theatricality of 31 Knots' live shows had always eluded the band in the studio. Apparently, those days are over. A sound that was once pure convulsion has evolved into something more jaunty and playful, though no less angry or haughty for it.

Worried Well simultaneously emerges from the band's previous work as the next logical step and turns the old aesthetics on their head. It's like Sturm and Drang emerging from the Enlightenment.

Though a lot of younger bands borrow liberally from '80s post-punk, 31 Knots has taken the genre so far from the source as to become something genuinely its own. And though the songs on Worried Well are distinctly 31 Knots songs, they're only barely so.

The sentient machine that is 31 Knots, always so adept at exploring alien territory, has finally discovered life. It's not sure how it feels about it, but it's more than happy to share the shock of its recognition.

- Lyam White

31 Knots: www.31knots.com
Polyvinyl Record Co.: www.polyvinylrecords.com

Nisennenmondai is the Japanese term for "Y2K bug," and, yes, the band does sound like the end of the world. Zaikawa Yuri (bass), Himeno Sayaka (drums), and Takada Masako (guitar) are the three women behind this Boredoms-meet-Neu! instrumental trio, and these two EPs are their first release outside of Japan.

Originally self-released in 2004 and 2005 respectively, Neji/Tori are a maelstrom of furious drumming, completely blown/ fuzzed-out bass, and screaming guitar that sucks your ears into a vortex of noise.

Neji is the noisier of the pair, living completely in the red as if recorded without a VU meter. Tracks such as "Pop Group," "This Heat," and "Sonic Youth" serve as something of a tribute to the bands by which Nisennenmondai has been influenced.

Although "Pop Group" doesn't employ any dub elements like the late '70s post-punk band, it does take on a repetitive, trance-like state thanks to a relentless tribal beat.

Again, "This Heat" doesn't use any of the tape looping that British experimenters This Heat were known for, but it manages to capture the creepy soundscape feeling from the Health & Efficiency EP through the use of tapped guitar and droning bass. Perhaps easier to emulate, "Sonic Youth" sounds just like its namesake.

Neji also contains two non-band-named songs, which are equally noisy, filthy, and inspiring, the last being "Ikkkyokume," which sees the band moving in a more progressive direction. Tori is a slightly cleaner recording than Neji and shows the band following krautrock influences to terrific success.

"Kyuukohan" opens with a simple hi-hat and bass-drum pattern complemented by subdued strumming on bass and guitar. This is punctuated with guitar stabs and, eventually, snare cracks that lend an off-kilter, disorienting feeling to the song.

Around the four-minute mark, the song explodes in a mess of guitar and a fury of drums; it's an amazing track. "Kyaaaaaaa" is a two-and-a-half-minute rumbling noise piece, featuring short human shrieks.

The second version of "Ikkkyokume" is a refined version of the first and is a monumental take. Finally, "Iyashi" closes out the EP with a very Sonic Youth-sounding forty seconds before ten minutes of silence.

After the silence, the song returns with something that could only be described as classic Japanese noise rock. Taking the baton from its predecessors, Nisennenmondai and its contemporaries are the future of the scene.

- Nate Daly

Nisennenmondai: www.nisennenmondai.com
Smalltown Supersound: www.smalltownsupersound.com