Heavy Trash: Midnight Soul Serenade (Fat Possum)

As Jon Spencer and Matt Verta-Ray unleash their third disc of old-school roots rock and rockabilly as Heavy Trash, the duo collaborates with a bona fide cast of contributors to create some of its finest tunes on a disc that expands its repertoire.

Accompanying organ is spread throughout Midnight Soul Serenade, an album that also contains splashes of piano on "Gee, I Really Love You," vocal gentleness and female vocal backings on "Good Man," vocal eccentricities on "Bumble Bee," Southwestern guitar and baritone harmonies on "Pimento," and low tones and acid flair on "The Pill," a tune evocative of Twin Peaks that tells its own psychedelic tale.

Top-end players Simon Chardiet, Sam Baker, Powersolo, Mickey Finn, Daniel Collas, and Those Darlins lend their good graces. If this kind of music piques your interest, pick this up.

Themselves: CrownsDown (Anticon)

After six years of silence (spent on countless other projects, many with each other), no-nonsense rap duo Themselves — Adam "Doseone" Drucker and Jeffrey "Jel" Logan — returned with a free "mixtape" earlier this year. Now the two have released their proper third album, CrownsDown, a sample-driven album that is both experimental and traditional.

The gritty, nasally intonation and rapid-fire delivery of Jel are slathered up and down the disc, which is based on hip-hop and dance beats and patchwork samples. Subtle founder Dax Pierson and 13 & God bandmates Jordan Dalrymple and Markus Acher make cameos.

Minamo: Kuroi Kawa: Black River (Tzadik)

Avant-violinist extraordinaire Carla Kihlstedt (Sleepytime Gorilla Museum, 2 Foot Yard, The Book of Knots) and prolific classical pianist Satoko Fujii (Satoko Fujii Orchestra) spend much of their time on the outskirts of musical convention, combining their desired genres in whichever ways that they see fit.

Here the two create two worlds on two discs: one of dutifully recorded compositions and one of live, stream-of-conscious improvisations. Fans of experimental chamber music should dig this.

Honorable mentions:

Dave Douglas: A Single Sky (Greenleaf)
Jesu: Opiate Sun (Caldo Verde)
Mike Reed’s People, Places & Things: About Us (482 Music)
Jessica Pavone: Songs of Synastry & Solitude (Tzadik)
Pyramids with Nadja: s/t (Hydra Head)
Rupa & The April Fishes: Este Mundo (Cumbancha)
The Squirrel Nut Zippers: Lost at Sea
John Zorn: Femina (Tzadik)

Tortoise

Issuing its first full-length album of new material in five years, the incomparable instrumental quintet known as Tortoise makes a marked shift from its previous two albums.

Those predecessors, Standards and It's All Around You, ushered in a new era of melodic beauty that integrated synthesizers, vibraphones/marimbas, samples, and jazz guitarist Jeff Parker into the band's mixture of indie rock, post-rock, and dub.

Beacons of Ancestorship packs up the mallets to emphasize the synths, but the album's sonic palette is the most diverse of any Tortoise release.  Metamorphosing grooves lead to moments of exotic strings, fuzz bass, noodling guitar hammer-ons, and snare-heavy cadences.  Even a touch of spaghetti Western directs "The Fall of Seven Diamonds Plus One."

It may take a few listens, but Tortoise fans are sure to love this one.

Serengeti & Polyphonic: Terradactyl (Anticon)

Creative multi-genre rapper Serengeti has long held esteem in Chicago indie hip-hop community, where he has frequently crossed streams with producer Polyphonic.

On Terradactyl, the duo's second album and first for Anticon, unorthodox rhymes land alongside bass synth, acoustic guitar, cello, digitized bleeps, and restrained IDM sounds.  Special guests Adam "Doseone" Drucker, Buck 65, and Renee-Louise Carafice make appreciated vocal cameos, but 'Geti has skills that need no augmentation.

The duo's live instruments and unusual sound may alienate closed-minded listeners.  Nevertheless, with the national influence and distribution of Anticon, Terradactyl should announce Serengeti & Polyphonic as an inspirational new voice in indie rap.

The Mars Volta: Octahedron (Warner Bros.)

Maintaining his rabid album-a-year pace (in addition to his countless other projects), tireless guitarist Omar Rodriguez Lopez puts another Mars Volta disc under his belt with this move to Warner.

In contrast to last year's Bedlam in Goliath, Octahedron is a rather subdued affair, offering poppier passages, verse-chorus-verse balladry, and softer sounds from singer Cedric Bixler Zavala.  The album has a decidedly less progressive feel, but alien-esque effects and nimble guitar work are still present.  Fans that have been waiting for a more-accessible Mars Volta disc should enjoy Octahedron.

In support of Beacons of Ancestorship, out June 9, Tortoise has announced a handful of summer tour dates around the USA and overseas.  Head here for the list.

The Dillinger Escape Plan will release its next album, which is due in early 2010, on Season of Mist in conjunction with the band's new label, Phonogetic Records.  The band is touring much of the US and Europe in June and July.

Issuing its first album in five years, MC-and-DJ duo Eyedea & Abilities is unveiling By the Throat on July 21 on Rhymesayers.

Genghis Tron is contributing to a track on the new Converge album, which is being recorded this month.

On its MySpace page, Dysrhythmia has posted "Festival of Popular Delusions," the first track on its upcoming album, Psychic Maps.

Featuring Marcel and Manfred Rodriguez-Lopez, psych-groove outfit Zechs Marquise will release its debut full-length, Our Delicate Stranded Nightmare, on Rodriguez Lopez Productions this fall.  The label is run by Omar Rodriguez-Lopez, Marcel and Manfred's famous brother from The Mars Volta.

The Beastie Boys have announced the name of their new album,  Hot Sauce Committee, which will be out sometime this fall.

Múm is releasing a new album, Sing Along to Songs You Don't Know, on August 24 on Morr Music.

Jón Birgisson of Sigur Rós is working on a "sort of solo record" that will feature the work of experimental composer Nico Muhly.

CDbaby.com, online home of self-released CDs and digital tunes, has decided to add single-song downloads.

Singer/songwriter Jay Bennett, formerly of Wilco, passed away on Sunday, May 24.  More tests are needed to determine the cause of death.