Doomtree: No Kings (Doomtree)

Doomtree: "The Grand Experiment"

Moving from a high-school clique to a crew and record label was a natural transition for the Minneapolis-based Doomtree collective. Over just a few years, the unlikely “family” unit went from trading beats at Hopkins High to producing albums, organizing tours, and throwing the annual Doomtree Blowout, all with a small but mighty lineup.

The label’s foundation was built on the wings of impassioned, down-to-earth MCs P.O.S and Sims, hybrid rapper/songstress Dessa, multifaceted instrumentalist Paper Tiger, and nostalgic storyteller Cecil Otter, but the seven-member collective soon demonstrated its cohesiveness as a group. No Kings is Doomtree’s third studio album, and though it maintains a playful demeanor, it’s the most diverse and mature of the three.

From track to track, the different flavors and personalities of each member come through in their own ways. "Bolt Cutter," the album's second single, features four MCs (including both rhymes and vocal melodies by Dessa) and a spate of production values, shifting from a minimalist tom beat and bass line to electro-hop synths to piano and acoustic-guitar melodies — before it all layers together and adds a deep electronic groove. But no matter its style, the production is on point.

No Kings also celebrates the start of Doomtree’s second decade together. More importantly, it maintains the balance that makes such a large collaboration work, both as a group and as a business.

- Text by Portia Medina and Scott Morrow.

Calexico: Road Atlas 1998–2011 limited-edition vinyl box set and Selections from Road Atlas 1998–2011 CD (Quarterstick)

Calexico: "Griptape"

In their 15 years as a band, Calexico’s Joey Burns and John Convertino have built their music around being on the road. It’s as evident in their thematic lyrics as it is in their sound — which, though it’s been described as Southwestern or “desert noir,” really can’t be pinned to one region. The two have drawn musical influences from around the globe because that’s exactly where they’ve been.

With Road Atlas, Calexico compiles eight of its off-the-map recordings from the past 13 years, including live sets and self-released tour albums. Selections from Road Atlas is its mini-edition, combining those live cuts, exclusively available tracks, and film-score vignettes.

Latin American influences exist throughout, especially in the musical snippets from the documentary Circo and several other tunes with Mariachi-tinged guitars. But there's also plenty of the band's balladry ("Griptape") to go with lap-steel guitar swells ("All the Pretty Horses"), Italian Western motifs ("Glowing Heart of the World"), and jazzy post-rock ("Cachaça").

In a sense, the band has mapped out the detours in its history, taking listeners to places where few have been.

- Text by Meaghann Korbel and Lauren Zens.

Dimlite: Grimm Reality (Now-Again / Stones Throw)

Dimlite: "New Better Pain"

Despite drawing some similarities to outside-the-box producers such as Flying Lotus, Daedelus, and Hudson Mohawke, Dimlite falls into an altogether different category of electronic producer. The man behind the beats, melodies, and overall strangeness is Swiss musician Dimitri Grimm, also known as Misel Quitno and one half of The Slapped Eyeballers, who has made a habit of producing indescribable (and sample-free) blends of hip hop, kraut rock, funk, and electronic pastiche.

Grimm Reality, Grimm's third full-length as Dimlite, combines some of the trademarks of his alter-egos, fusing some of the minimalist loops and worldly timbres to bass and beats. Whirring electronics, simple bass licks, and sputtering beats contrast with Soul Train funk and grooves, which then are paired with spiraling lasers or wonky rhythms behind psychedelic reverb. Though it sounds like a mess, most songs have a harmonious (if confusing) appeal.

Vocals emerge intermittently on nearly every track in the form of bizarre utterances, and in most instances, these cuts of laughter and speaking are distorted in pitch or tempo. Although the spacey electronics exist throughout the album’s entirety, traditional sounds appear on and off, including a piano, viola, and heavier use of bass guitar. What comes next from Mr. Grimm is anybody's guess.

- Text by Lauren Zens.

Honorable Mentions

Beaten by Them: People Start Listening EP

Boris: New Album (Sargent House)

Kate Bush: 50 Words for Snow (Anti-)

Coalesce: Give Them Rope 2xCD reissue (Relapse / No Sleep)

Chris Cornell: Songbook (Universal)

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

Son Lux: We Are Rising (Anticon)

Son Lux: "Rising"

Composer / pianist / electronic artist Ryan Lott writes music for a post-production company, for dance productions and the arts, and, when he finds the time, as Son Lux, where he joins the worlds of classical orchestration and hip-hop pastiche.

For his second full-length album, We Are Rising, that spare time was in especially short supply, as the eclectic musician took a challenge from NPR (inspired by The Wire) to write and record the entire thing over the course of the shortest month of the year.

Given the album's level of craftsmanship and production, listeners would never guess the impulsive dare that set it in motion.  Its nine songs are even more meticulously arranged than the Son Lux debut album, At War With Walls and Mazes, and they achieve a remarkable range of sounds, from traditional (woodwinds, brass, strings) to modern (synthesizers, guitar effects, collected sounds).

The combination of styles makes Lott something of a Sufjan Stevens for the beat crowd (Anticon releases his albums, after all).  We Are Rising finds him moving further in Stevens' direction — fewer beats and more neoclassical orchestrations behind the indie balladry.  But these songs still bear a distinct Son Lux stamp, and they're a down payment on an ever-promising future.

Graviton: Massless (Translation Loss)

Graviton: "Mu Lepton"

Featuring guitarist and multi-instrumentalist Sacha Dunable of progressive-metal outfit Intronaut, psych/space/post-metal trio Graviton makes its recorded debut with a husky 10-track full-length.

Moments of elongated singing and slow, deep riffs draw comparisons to Isis and its ilk, but the band as a whole sounds very different. With intermittent piano melodies, synthesizers, 12-string acoustic guitar, and programmed beats — not to mention sonic accessories such as lap-steel guitar, field recordings, and "Celloblaster" — Massless is a new brand of spacey post-metal.

Throughout the album's 45 minutes, Graviton strikes a healthy balance between melody and dissonance, accessibility and complexity, and past and future.  Three-part vocal harmonies coast over plummeting canyons of riffage, only to segue to extended acoustic interludes or spoken-word samples about particle physics.  Post-metal lovers may have a new favorite band, and everyone else has something exciting to discover.

NOW Ensemble: Awake (New Amsterdam)

NOW Ensemble: "Burst"

In 2008, New Amsterdam Records opened shop to release and promote music by boundary-breaking classical musicians. The NOW Ensemble, a melodically inclined chamber quintet, launched the label with its previous album, and Awake ever so slightly expands the group's timbres for another dynamic collection of melodic and rhythmic interplay.

Featuring compositions by NOW guitarist Mark Dancigers, New Amsterdam co-founder / NOW composer Judd Greenstein, and New Amsterdam label-mate Missy Mazzoli, the album finds the ensemble's arsenal of flute, clarinet, electric guitar, upright bass, and piano dancing together in an arresting display of harmony and counterpoint.

Throughout Awake, simple and complex repetitions are deftly woven together, forming patterns that engage listeners while urging their ears to dig deeper, layer by layer.  Even a distant touch of dark, distorted guitar and ominous accents complement "Velvet Hammer" and "Magic with Everyday Objects," and perhaps future albums by NOW Ensemble will share traits with more of the New Amsterdam roster.

Agoraphobic Nosebleed / Despise You: And On and On… (Relapse)

Agoraphobic Nosebleed: "As Bad As It Is"

Despise You: "Bereft"

Short, fast, and to the point. That's the MO of Despise You, a no-nonsense hardcore outfit from California whose first material in 10 years comprises half of this split release with grindcore masters Agoraphobic Nosebleed.

With 18 tracks that average just a minute each, Despise You packs as much into its half as possible, offering terse exclamations over basic riffs, distorted low end, and push beats.  ANb introduces itself with a sludgy down-tempo track — a style that swerves from Agorapocalypse, its last album of assailing tempos, squealing guitar leads, and lightning-quick fret work. Its second track, however, returns those familiar sounds, and the following two "songs" challenge Despise You for the album's shortest durations (25 and 27 seconds).

Bill Frisell: Sign of Life (Music for 858 Quartet) (Savoy Jazz)

Bill Frisell: "It's a Long Story (1)"

Over the span of his 30-year career, guitarist Bill Frisell has shifted further away from jazz and experimental styles and further toward country, western, and folk instrumentals.  Sign of Life, his latest with the string-based 858 Quartet, is another in the instrumental folk vein, albeit one whose group was borne of improvisation.

The 858 Quartet is Frisell plus three esteemed string players — violist Eyvind Kang (Secret Chiefs 3, Sunn O))), John Zorn), violinist Jenny Scheinman (Vinicius Cantuaria, Marc Ribot), and cellist Hank Roberts (Tim Berne).  In 2005, they created an improvised take on works by German artist Gerhard Richter, but they've since grown into a regular unit, and Sign of Life marks a decided shift to composition.

Written during a composing retreat, the album has soloing and apparent moments of improv, but it's markedly closer in style and spirit to Frisell's Disfarmer project or Beautiful Dreamers trio (which also features Kang).  The Richter 858 album, which is much more dissonant and whose beauty is more subjective, might be best considered a musical caterpillar — eventually morphing into something more striking and graceful.

Honorable Mentions

Blue Sky Black Death: Noir (Fake Four)

Boxcutter: The Dissolve (Planet Mu)

Daedelus: Bespoke (Ninja Tune)

Deafheaven: Roads to Judah (Deathwish)

Steve Earle: I’ll Never Get Out of This World Alive (New West)

Explosions in the Sky: Take Care, Take Care, Take Care (Temporary Residence)

Jefferson Friedman (w/ Chiara String Quartet & Matmos): Quartets (New Amsterdam)

Jookabox: The Eyes of the Fly (Joyful Noise)

Kambar Kalendarov & Kutman Sultanbekov: Jaw (Cantaloupe)

Klang: Other Doors (Music of Benny Goodman) (Allos Documents)

Daniele Luppi: Malos Hábitos soundtrack (Ipecac)

Nine 11 Thesaurus: Ground Zero Generals (The Social Registry)

Primordial: Redemption at the Puritan's Hand (Metal Blade)

Small Brown Bike: Fell & Found (No Idea Records)

Tindersticks: Claire Denis Film Scores, 1996-2009 (Constellation)

Shlohmo: "Places"

Just 21 years of age, San Francisco-based producer / multi-instrumentalist Shlohmo, a.k.a. Henry Laufer, has a full-length, Bad Vibes, coming out in June. But today he dropped this four-song EP full of ultra-smooth ambient jams to whet your appetite. The Places EP includes the eponymous lead single and three new B-sides:“Forgot I Was Here,” “Things I Lose,” and “Empty Pools.” Posted above, the sample-free "Places" finds Laufer doing it all: singing and playing guitar, bass, and keys.

Laufer is also a founder of Wedidit Collective, a group of like-minded California-based musicians, including Ground is Lava, Juj, Elan, and Dr. Blunt. And he'll hit the road today, March 15, for the "Magical Properties" tour with Daedelus and Tokimonsta. See all tour dates here.

Order Places here.

“It adds an element,” says Justin Pearson, bassist /vocalist for San Diego sci-fi grind-punk four-piece The Locust, a band that dons hooded, skintight, full-body uniforms. “It’s hard to say how you feel when you do it; you’re walking on stage with three other people with absurd outfits. We’re part of the show, and part of the live performance is the energy, negative or positive. It adds a level of intensity.”

“It’s all about using your imagination,” says Tom Fec, who performs under the name Tobacco as a solo artist and as a member of dreamy psych-hop outfit Black Moth Super Rainbow. He employs masks as tools to obscure his persona, rather than The Locust’s edgy, over-the-top approach. “I think that’s a really important piece to making an impact,” he says. “When you know everything about a person, then it’s like watching someone you know up there, and it becomes something else completely. The more you know, the less you care about knowing.”

RJ Krohn, better known as soulful hip-hop artist RJD2, is a performer who has experimented with masks and costumes on stage as much for his own amusement as for the audiences at his concert. “I have always felt that theatrics,” he says, “or at least dressing up, was an obvious way to say, ‘At least I’m trying here, folks,’ to a crowd. Just walking on stage in a T-shirt and jeans is cool if you are a genius. I, however, have questionable talent, which needs to be deep fried, slathered in a tasty barbecue sauce, and dressed up like real talent.”

Krohn’s first experiment with costumes was as an alter ego that he named “Mo’ Buttons,” in a costume decked out with tons of buttons with a sampler strapped to his chest, in order to highlight that on stage, he plays the device like a keyboard or drum machine rather than simply pressing “play.” The sampler proved to be too heavy to wear comfortably every night, but when Krohn discovered that he could incorporate a MIDI controller to run the equipment rather than the entire unit, he took the premise and his sense of comedy to the next level, introducing crowds to his latest persona.

“When I had [the equipment techniques] down, I realized that it needed a way to differentiate itself from the rest of the show,” he says. “A guy just putting on and taking off a wireless spinning MIDI controller is just dumb. So the alter ego became ‘Commissioner Crotchbuttons,’because I had built the thing into a belt that spins (à la ZZ Top), and when you have a musical instrument planted on your crotch, the jokes just write themselves.”
 

“When you know everything about a person, then it’s like watching someone you know up there, and it becomes something else completely. The more you know, the less you care about knowing.”
– Tobacco

Like Krohn, The Locust’s uniforms are rooted in a sense of humor but also an equally strong sense of rebellion. Formed in 1994, The Locust began wearing costumes by the late ’90s as a reaction to what it felt was unusual backlash from the underground press, which focused more on the band’s clothes than its music. “We were just wearing our street clothes,” Pearson says. “We were poor punk kids. Somehow that became the topic of the conversation instead of our music. It was sort of a pointless round-table discussion, and people seemed really agitated with us. We weren’t a racist band. We weren’t fighting people. We were playing music, and for whatever reason, they criticized us beyond the music.”

Its first costumes, fuzzy vests and goggles, were created to be tongue in cheek. Surprisingly, as The Locust developed as a band, the costume concept stuck. “We never really thought about it,” Pearson says. “We wrote music and we played music — jagged, funny, quirky parts. We started figuring out things to do musically that coincided with us doing a visual element. It happened by chance, and then it evolved. We look ridiculous, but we’re totally serious. Maybe it’s hard for a band to achieve that? It became very honest. We’re not fucking around or being influenced by this other thing. It wasn’t self-conscious.”

In turn, the uniform concept has affected The Locust’s performance style, which Pearson says also plays off the rambunctious stage antics and overt masculinity of many of its peers in the hardcore scene. “We found ourselves with this borderline homoerotic, nerdy, sci-fi thing,” he says. “We look like robots; we move jaggedly. We don’t have breakdown parts. We’re stationary, and you can’t run or jump. It was very technical and confined to a spot. We decided, ‘Let’s do the complete opposite [of many tour mates] and stand there and not move. And we’ll stop and be completely still.’ There is a physical edginess to it beyond the fact that we looked like these science-fiction creatures.”

Though The Locust has grown an overall aesthetic from both its musical and visual components, and Krohn is happy to poke fun at himself for the sake of the show, the reality for many musicians is that a costume or mask is a form of armor, granting them space from the watchful eye of the crowd. Take San Antonio DJ Ernest Gonzales. Under his own name, Gonzales creates music that is chilled and collected, often combining elements of indie rock, pop, and hip hop.
 

“I’m an introverted kind of person. A mask enables you to be whatever you want to be on stage…like getting drunk without having to drink."
– Mexicans with Guns

When he began toying with a more bass-heavy dance sound, he opted to present it under a different name. He created an alter ego that he called Mexicans with Guns, topping off the character with a Mexican wrestling mask. “It’s branding, in a sense,” Gonzales says. “If I’ve been doing a different sound, then coming out of left field with a different sound could be positive, or it could be negative. For me, it felt like two separate projects and sounds. The sounds are so different; I realized [that] I’d be playing to different venues and crowds.”

Having an alter ego enabled Gonzales to overcome his apprehensions about testing new musical waters, and specifically, wearing a mask allowed the introverted Gonzales to bring out a different side of his personality. “When I’m on stage and I have the mask, I’m able to be more loose,” he says. “I’m an introverted kind of person. A mask enables you to be whatever you want to be on stage…like getting drunk without having to drink."

“With the mask, it could be anybody up there,” he adds. “Also, the idea of the mask is very important to Mexican culture. El Santo (Mexican wrestler Rodolfo Guzmán Huerta) has been in 80-plus films. The wrestlers come out and they never reveal their face. It’s very political too; I wanted to bring out the mask and build up [the character] as a hero.”

Like Gonzales, others create cultural discourse by tying themselves to an era. For LA DJ Alfred Darlington, who plays under the name Daedelus and dons full Victorian suits on stage, the decision to perform in costume had its origins in the philosophy of his music. “I have a big interest in invention,” he says. “I felt that the Victorian period was a period of great invention. Now I’m pretty committed to it, and it feels more appropriate to me than wearing my street clothes.”

In Darlington’s meticulously constructed electronic music, every sound is deliberate; there are no improvisations and no room for extraneous noise. Sonically, it could be seen as an answer to Dandyism, a philosophy that Darlington finds particularly inspiring. “Beau Brummell was the prototypical dandy,” he says. “He was the first person to adopt attire as a full-time religion. Performance art didn’t exist at the time, so this was revolutionary. I liked the idea that that everything he did was deliberate. It took him four hours a day to get ready because every gesture he made was artistic. Philosophically, I related in the sense that in my music, every sound is planned. Dressing up like that helps me get into the mindset.”

Darlington describes the dedication to his costumes as “masochistic” in some ways. “I’m committed to my music and my art, and it does feel like I’ve taken on the burdens of the role,” he says. “I sweat through my clothes, but the idea of stripping it down seems ludicrous.” The Locust’s Pearson echoes his thoughts, saying,“There have been times when you’re like, ‘This is so stupid.’ Sometimes it’s been pretty brutal — mainly your face, because some of the masks haven’t had a mouth opening and were attached to our shirts. You could drink through it, but you couldn’t spit. One time I was sick on tour and threw up in the mask and had to swallow it. [Our drummer] Gabe [Serbian] has flipped his mask up, and he’d throw up if he’d overexerted himself. Sometimes with singing, I’ll get vertigo or tunnel vision if I hold the note until the end of the measure.”

Darlington doesn’t wear an actual mask, but wearing the 19th Century attire accomplishes the same goal for him. The same can be said for hip-hop artist Javocca Davis, a.k.a. Vockah Redu, a prominent figure in New Orleans’ bounce community. Davis incorporates face paint, theatrical costumes, and lavish sets into a subgenre of hip hop that is notorious for its energy, overtly sexual dancers, “triggerman” beats, and party-like atmosphere.

“I have a big imagination, and I bring that to the stage,” he says. “I don’t just want to be a rapper on stage with a chain. This is the theater part of me. I love to paint my face; it goes with my music. Why wear a T-shirt when I can demand the stage?”

Davis studied theater and performance arts at the New Orleans Center for Creative Arts, but until the past year or so, he kept his two passions separate. “I wasn’t being open minded,” he says. “I thought a rapper was supposed to look this way or that way. It was limiting. Now I’m more mature. I’m representing me as a person.”

As Vockah Redu, Davis follows a tradition of artists such as Michael Jackson, Prince, and Madonna — as well as contemporaries like Saul Williams — who have toyed with sexuality and larger-than-life stage personas. Others like Tom Fec, however, are content to let their legends grow from speculation.

This includes atmospheric electro-pop trio Castratii, an Australian act that only performs in a mask of complete darkness to become anonymous or even invisible. Convention often dictates that having the right look to accompany one’s music is a key factor in launching a successful career in the entertainment business. Ironically for Fec and Castratii, not having an image has resulted in more attention from the press and music lovers.

“People are definitely more interested in not knowing right now, in particular as everything is so easily found online,” Castratii’s Jonathan Wilson says. “We like to make our own judgment on artists or musicians. We don’t need them to be real. We prefer the myth of the artist.”

“The usual stuff that comes along with being in music seems irrelevant to me,” says Fec, who gives few interviews and fewer (and often obscured) photo shoots, and who uses effects on his vocal recordings. “If I was a guy with a guitar singing about my life, it might make sense, but I have this fucked-up world that I want people to interpret for themselves. It really shouldn’t be about me.”
 

“I don’t just want to be a rapper on stage with a chain. This is the theater part of me. I love to paint my face; it goes with my music. Why wear a T-shirt when I can demand the stage?”
– Vockah Redu

Recently, Fec has invited a mask-wearing friend to join him on stage, and due to this lack of a visual public persona, audience members often walk away thinking that the masked figure is Fec. “I’ve always liked confusing people,” Fec says. “It makes everything more fun when you’re not sure what’s going on. If they mistake him for me, then I’ve done my job.” At first glance, Fec’s approach may appear as if he is having fun at the expense of his audience, but he maintains that his anonymity has given his listeners more room to interpret the music.

The members of Castratii, meanwhile, have found creative satisfaction in complete darkness — despite their visual- arts backgrounds in sculpture and installation. “Darkness is so much better for many things,” Wilson says. “It can be creepy and frightening or soft and sensual. It encompasses so many different good and evil connotations.

We also like the idea that we can barely see each other while we play. Our only link is the music.” Without the ability to actually “watch” the band, Castratii’s audience leaves its shows with a unique experience.

“We find that the sound can consume a person in a completely new way if the performer is left in the dark,” Wilson says. “It becomes about the sonic and not how it is made. When seeing a rock show or even a classical performance, most people walk away with an idea [that] they were closer to that performer as a person. They may also have an insight as to how those particular sounds are made. This is something we want to keep to ourselves — our sounds and our persons. This way it can retain a little mystery.”

Darlington, who believes that costumes and masks also can be protective forces, adds, “We live in an era where people regurgitate media. You are under this possible gaze, and it goes up on Flickr; it goes up on You- Tube. Everybody has a part and takes a role in forming your media presence. You always have to be prepared to be scrutinized.”

Although music as an art form is first and foremost for the ears, the fact that so many artists take on the additional task of elaborate visual schemes, whether masked, costumed, or otherwise disguised, is telling of its multi-sensory qualities. Perhaps thinking of music and art as separate forms is erroneous. “It tells a story,” Davis says. “Every show tells a story.”

Over the course of 240 pages, Invisible features Mike Patton, Konono No. 1, Matmos, JG Thirlwell, The Locust, Liars, Trentemøller, Mark Jenkins, Carolina Chocolate Drops, Trans Am, Tobacco, Phantogram, RJD2, Sleepytime Gorilla Museum, Daedelus, Tim Barry, Wu Fei, and much more!

Secret Chiefs 3

Having covered Indian, Persian, surf, metal, spaghetti Western, and electronic music — and so much more — Trey Spruance's unparalleled Secret Chiefs 3 has now set its sights on the Italian giallo horror/erotica genre of the 1960s and '70s.

Translating to The Severed Right Hands of the Last Men, this album encapsulates 30 brief, often abstract film cues that sonically invoke images of bloodcurdling terror — as well as moments of passive tranquility — inspired in part from the works of Bruna Nicolai, Ennio Morricone, Goblin, and other noted giallo composers.

It also represents the first release from Traditionalists, a subset of the SC3 umbrella that finds inspiration in fanciful cinematic scores.  It's impossible to know whether the next release will be the long-awaited Book of Souls or rather a full-length affair from another subgroup, but regardless, it's sure to cover uncharted (or neglected) territory.

Secret Chiefs 3: Le Mani Destre Recise Degli Ultimi Uomini preview
Secret Chiefs 3: Le Mani preview

Coalesce: OX (Relapse)

After 10 years, multiple reunions, and talk of resurfacing as a new entity, the hardcore maelstrom that is Coalesce has returned with a new full-length disc.

Following an outstanding two-song seven-inch in late 2007, OX finds the four-piece demolishing ear drums while treading new ground, edging into bits of acoustic melancholy, heavy blues, harmonized vocals, and spaghetti Western.

The softer moments aren't actually new; the Coalesce / Boy Sets Fire split included a thematic revamp of the Coalesce vibe, and There is Nothing New Under the Sun included a few true-to-form renditions of Led Zeppelin classics.  Here, however, the moments are interspersed or used as intros/interludes.

The upcoming OXEP, a seven-song addendum, branches out further, featuring vocalist Sean Ingram's preteen daughter screaming on a part of "Through Sparrows I Rest."  If that doesn't grab you and force your head to bang, OX surely will.

Coalesce: "Dead is Dead"
Coalesce: "Dead is Dead"

Busdriver: Jhelli Beam (Anti-)

Delivering his rhymes in a melodic, fast-talking, pinched-nose intonation, Regan Farquhar can be compared to few contemporaries.  And after a recent collaboration with jazz-rock group Kneebody, fans could have predicted another dose of indescribable idiosyncrasy on this, his newest full-length.

With beat/producing assistance from Daedelus and a host of others, Jhelli Beam winds through piano melodies, famous classical samples, synthesized dance grooves, and electronic hip hop.  And though the disc name drops everyone from Michael Richards to Idi Amin, Busdriver can be enjoyed without picking up one full sentence.

The Horse's Ha: Of the Cathmawr Yards (Hidden Agenda)

Layered over a mellow folk backdrop with country undertones, The Horse's Ha pairs the complementary vocals of James Elkington (The Zincs) with Janet Beveridge Bean (Freakwater).

The group also features the lofty talents of cellist Fred Lonberg-Holm (Vandermark 5), drummer Charles Rumback (Colorlist, Leaves), and bassist Nick Macri (Jeremy Enigk).  Though The Horse's Ha has been around since '02, this is its debut disc — a pretty, laidback affair that doesn't break any molds but will be enjoyed by those who dig the vocals.

The Horse's Ha: "The Piss Choir"
The Horse\'s Ha: \"The Piss Choir"

Stian Westerhus: Galore (The Last Record Co. / Rune Grammofon)

A presiding member of Jaga Jazzist, Monolithic, Puma, and a handful of other endeavors, Norwegian guitarist Stian Westerhus has expanded his scope and influence over the past decade in the Scandinavian Peninsula.

Limited to 500 copies, this vinyl-only release finds Westerhus partaking in noisy, effected meanderings. Experimental listeners and vinyl fanatics should be into this one.

Glasgow instrumentalists Mogwai return with an album full of beautiful minor-key epics-including a few seriously heavy tracks like "Batcat," which nicely contrasts "I'm Jim Morrison, I'm Dead," the album's droning, thudding, tinkling opener. Sporting a still-life portrait of a bald eagle's mug on the cover, The Hawk is Howling is one of Mogwai's most diverse releases this decade, possibly since Rock Action or EP+6 2001.

*Read Drew Fortune's lengthy feature on Mogwai in ALARM 33, available soon.

Mogwai: \"The Sun Smells Too Loud\"

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God of Shamisen: Dragon String Attack (Reptile)

If you're into the fusion of metal with traditional Japanese music (and who isn't?), pick up Dragon String Attack by God of Shamisen. Shamisen master and Estradasphere member Kevin Kmetz leads the group with his acrobatic finger work on the fretless Japanese instrument, infusing said sounds with any other genre that feels appropriate (reggae, Gypsy, jam rock, funk). The shredding riffs of guitarist Karl Schnaitter and the detonating beats of fellow Estradasphere cohort Lee Smith also propel the band, which you know will be good given that two of Kmetz's listed influences are ultra-heavy death metallers Cryptopsy and classical legend J.S. Bach.

God of Shamisen: \"The Science Fiction of Ray Bradbury Attack\"

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Lymbyc Systym: Love Your Abuser, Remixed (Mush)

As Lymbyc Systym, brothers Mike and Jared Bell released a beautiful 2007 debut full-length, Love Your Abuser, on Mush Records. The album's heartening tunes used piano, synthesizers, organs, xylophones, brass instruments, and much more to provide a gorgeous multi-layered mix. Now the album gets a remix treatment with clicky electronic beats and thematic revamps by The One AM Radio, The Album Leaf, This Will Destroy You, Daedelus, and others. Magic Bullet Records will also soon release a This Will Destroy You / Lymbyc Systym split 10"/CD as well as re-release Lymbyc Systym's first studio EP, Carved by Glaciers.

Lymbyc Systym: \"Fall Bicycle\" (The Album Leaf Remix)

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Genghis Tron: Board Up the House, Remixes Vol. 1 LP (Temporary Residence)

Normally on the Relapse roster, electro-metal trio Genghis Tron has its crushing sci-fi sounds reworked as part of a five-label LP project that includes 20 mixologists. This first volume has been available for a few months, but now it has its official release, featuring renderings by Steve Moore, Justin K. Broadrick, Rob Crow, and Eluvium.

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Ten Kens: Ten Kens (FatCat)

The debut album from this Toronto-based quartet is an eclectic combination of power pop, folk, and droning, experimental rock.