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)

An iconic poet/musician whose soulful spoken-word style helped give rise to rapping, Gil Scott-Heron has been proclaimed a major influence in hip hop, neo-soul, and acid jazz. His political activism has been at the forefront of his noted career, which includes the acclaimed poem/song "The Revolution Will Not Be Televised."

Now, marking another landmark moment in his career, Scott-Heron has released I'm New Here, his first full-length since the 1994 album Spirits, which too was something of a "comeback" — his first studio album since 1982.

Produced by XL label owner Richard Russell, who convinced Scott-Heron to go back into the studio, I'm New Here is an atmospheric, down-tempo disc of diversity.

Acoustic pseudo-ballads are accented by electronics, dramatic strings, and piano in a combination of new poems, covers, and interludes. It's a release that feels extremely personal, whether from the lyrical content or Scott-Heron's familiar voice.

Gil Scott-Heron: "Where Did the Night Go"
Gil Scott-Heron: \"Where Did the Night Go\"

Pillars and Tongues: Lay of Pilgrim Park LP + download (Endless Nest)

With just three members, Pillars and Tongues manages to craft powerful folk abstractions and interwoven, trance-inducing vocal dynamics. Both composed and improvisational, these shifting forms evoke spiritual vibes in their soulful essence, heavenly harmonies, and repeated patterns.

Violin, upright bass, and drums and other percussive elements slowly build and fall. Each member contributes to the layered vocal harmonics, often trading rounds of the same melody or balancing pitches as a low or intermediate voice begins a wordless refrain. Fans of Huun Huur Tu, Charming Hostess / Jewlia Eisenberg, and other vocally driven experimentalists will love this.

Pillars and Tongues: "The Center of"
Pillars and Tongues: \"The Center Of\"

Arsis: Starve for the Devil (Nuclear Blast)

A major force in metal just six years after its debut, Arsis is a Virginia quartet that boasts tireless harmonized shredding. Thrash and black metal, gently crossing into death metal, form the basis of a sound that leans on flawless technical proficiency in accessible time signatures.

Starve for the Devil trends towards the melodic end of the band's material, but there's no shortage of full-speed aggression. Riff lovers will get their money's worth with this one.

Hot Chip: One Life Stand (Astralwerks)

Hot Chip's brand of synthesized dance pop has allowed the keyboarded quintet to climb the UK charts and garner heaps of attention in the United States.

One Life Stand is another disc chock full of dance-floor albums, albeit a bit more restrained than on albums past. The gentle vocals of Alexis Taylor and Joe Goddard will continue receiving much of the attention from casual listeners, but One Life Stand really shines with its diversity of synth sounds and instrumental complements (such as the touches from Trinidadian steel-pan player Fimber Bravo).

Massive Attack: Heligoland (Virgin)

Seven years after its last studio offering, commercially thriving electronic producers Massive Attack — closely tied to the trip-hop explosion of the early 1990s — have finally released their long-awaited fifth album, Heligoland.

With Grantley Evan Marshall, a.k.a. Daddy G, back on board in the studio, the group attains a multitude of electronic styles on Heligoland, thanks to its divergence of tastes as well as the usual assortment of guests.

This time, Massive Attack collaborates with Tunde Adebimpe (TV on the Radio), Damon Albarn (Blur), Hope Sandoval (Mazzy Star), Martina Topley-Bird, Adrian Utley (Portishead), and Billy Fuller (Beak). The result is a minimalist electro dreamscape, one that should appeal to a sizable cross-section of music fans.

Honorable Mentions

Bluebrain: Soft Power (Lujo)
Galactic: Ya-Ka-May (Anti-)
Georgia Anne Muldrow: Kings Ballad (Ubiquity)
Shining (Sweden): VI / Klagopsalmer (Indie Recordings)
This Moment in Black History: Public Square (Smog Veil)

ALARM leaves no genre unloved in our round-up of 50 albums that didn't receive enough attention in 2009.

Omar Rodriguez Lopez: Old Money (Stones Throw, 1/27/09)

Omar Rodriguez Lopez: "Family War Funding"

The first of many releases in 2009 from prolific guitarist/composer Omar Rodriguez-Lopez. Accessible and centered on rock, sounding spacey, funky, progressive, psychedelic, a little jazzy, and a little Latin.

Kevin Hufnagel: Songs for the Disappeared (self-released, 2/3/09)

Kevin Hufnagel: "Tres"

Musical themes come and go, covering swaths of Spanish and Gypsy guitar before reverting back to haunting rock melodies, on this solo acoustic album from highly technical Dysrhythmia guitarist Kevin Hufnagel.

P.O.S: Never Better (Rhymesayers, 2/3/09)

P.O.S.: "Drumroll"

Likely the year's best hip-hop album, Never Better draws on Stefon Alexander’s background in punk and rock music (he plays most of the live instrumentation on the record), making this is an album that categorically defines the indie in indie rap.

Zu: Carboniferous (Ipecac, 2/17/09)

Zu: "Ostia"

Sludgy alt-metal with complex repeated rhythms and free-jazz freakouts. Features Mike Patton on two killer tracks.

The Andreas Kapsalis & Goran Ivanovic Guitar Duo: s/t (2/24/09)

The Andreas Kapsalis & Goran Ivanovic Guitar Duo: "Shadow Thief"

A Balkan-influenced classical guitarist joins an ethically inspired finger-tapping guitarist for a disc of skill and beauty.

16: Bridges to Burn (Relapse, 2/24/09)

16: "Throw in the Towel"

Dubbed the "Unsane of the West Coast" by ALARM's Jamie Ludwig, 16 issued another hard-hitting riff fest in 2009 with Bridges to Burn, the band's best album to date.

Umlaut: s/t (3/10/09)

Umlaut: "Kitty Puppy"

Mr. Bungle's Bär McKinnon, multi-instrumentalist extraordinaire, issued one hell of an album for this new project — one that filters meticulous melodies and asinine vocals through the lens of a whacked-out lounge group.

Jono El Grande: Neo Dada (Rune Grammofon, 3/16/09)

Jono El Grande: "Oslo Coty Suite"

Fanciful music that's different around every turn. Art rock that weaves through theatrical, progressive, classical, and absurdist styles with influences from Frank Zappa, Captain Beefheart, King Crimson and Igor Stravinsky.

Kylesa: Static Tensions (Prosthetic, 3/17/09)

Kylesa: "Scapegoat"

Down-tuned dirge metal that rumbles with crust punk, sludge, metal, hardcore, and psychedelia, often laced with atmospheric samples. To date, Static Tensions is Kylesa's most powerful album.

(MF) Doom: Born Like This (Lex, 3/23/09)

Doom: "Cellz"

Dropping his “MF” prefix, the incomparable rapper and Marvel-inspired supervillain delivered another nearly impenetrable wall of rhymes and flow, dizzying listeners with his ever-shifting, slowly delivered lyrics.

BK-One is best known as the DJ for Brother Ali and as a mainstay of the Rhymesayers roster. But with the help of beat-making buddy Benzilla, he has further established a name for himself through Rádio do Canibal.

An A-list collaboration with top-tier MCs, Rádio do Canibal is built on a foundation of grooving bass lines and horns. This sets a funky foundation for the crux of the album, BK-One’s playful commingling of samba and bossa nova samples with hip-hop beats (which is directly influenced by his frequent travels through Central and South America).

The MCs, notably P.O.S, Haiku D’Etat, Slug, and Blue Oriny, provide plenty of highlights, although Murs provides a particularly crass lowlight in “Eighteen to Twenty.” Regardless, it’s an all-star lineup, and with additional cameos from Ali, Black Thought, Raekwon, and The Hypnotic Brass Ensemble, one would do well to pick this up.

Air: Love 2 (Astralwerks)

Despite variances in style from album to album, Air’s sound is easily discernible to most anyone who is familiar. It’s spacey, synthesized yet organic, and holds a reverence for the squiggly electronic sounds of the late 1970s.

Love 2 is no different in this regard, but it may be the French duo’s most realized creation. A combination of delicate instrumentals and pseudo-sultry ballads comprise the album, which calls upon the duo’s usual armaments in addition to spots of saxophone, marimba, and glockenspiel.

Air won’t be mistaken for holding prog-rock virtuosity, but Love 2 displays some of the best “chops” of any Air album, as best evidenced by the deft piano play and swirling guitar solo of “Tropical Disease.” If you enjoy Air, the duo’s latest album won’t let you down.

A Place to Bury Strangers: Exploding Head (Mute)

After a much-hyped self-titled debut, A Place to Bury Strangers continues to perfect its sound on Exploding Head, its first release for Mute.

The album holds a hard-hitting post-punk /new-wave sound that combines the atmospherics and fuzziness of My Bloody Valentine with the rawness of Sonic Youth and the moodiness of Joy Division. Echoed, whammied chords wash over feedback, speed-picked single-note riffs, and über-reverberated, ride-heavy rock beats.

The result is a sound that is much denser than one would imagine from a rock trio. Undoubtedly, the stars of the album are Oliver Ackermann’s customized guitar pedals, which he manufactures for his own company, Death by Audio.

Honorable mentions:

Bellini: Precious Prize of Gravity (Temporary Residence)
The Black Heart Procession: Six (Temporary Residence)
Califone: All My Friends are Funeral Singers (Dead Oceans)
Betty Davis: Nasty Gal and Is It Love or Desire (reissues — Light in the Attic)
Horse the Band: Desperate Living (Vagrant)
Jason Stein’s Locksmith Isidore: Three Less Than Between (Clean Feed)