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.

Grails: "I Led Three Lives"

Since its first full-length album in 2003 for Neurot Recordings, Grails has redefined the boundaries of the instrumental-rock record.

Much like its songs, the Portland-based quartet has built a persona around the concept of evolution, releasing album after album that bears few resemblances to its predecessors. A look at Grails’ extensive discography reveals a prismatic display of every genre that the band has contorted with its psychedelic surrealism: post-rock, minimalist kraut rock, Eastern-infused soundscapes, and metal.

Displaying a remarkable knowledge and respect for music and music history, Grails is confident in crossing through genres and sounds that would be estranged in another context. The group's songs build as swiftly as they deconstruct, always with an eclectic catalog of ideas at play.

Deep Politics, the band’s fourth release on Temporary Residence Limited, delves deeper into its countless influences and can be seen as yet another turn in the Grails music catacomb. Released three years after the heavier Doomsdayer’s Holiday, Deep Politics further nurtures Grails’ rapport with fringe culture and the occult history of library music, channeling musical modes that muddle the bizarre and accessible.

“Music history is one way we’ve learned to appreciate other human beings,” says drummer Emil Amos, who also spends time in Om and Holy Sons. “We feel this perennial camaraderie with these weird people – like David Axelrod making funk symphonies out of William Blake poetry. It’s that perversion and ruthless creative imagination that has always been a part of radical record production. We’re paying tribute to that heritage and responding to that dialectic of the century.”

“It’s a way to cast yourself in the grand scheme of things,” guitarist Alex Hall says. “If you’re walking around during the day and having trouble appreciating anyone on the sidewalk, and you put on these records and see a commonality between you and human history – there’s something positive about that. That’s something Grails is trying to shed light on. It’s taught us the value of music.”

Over the course of eight tracks and 45 minutes, Deep Politics stands as an ambitious mix of compelling melodies and lush sounds bridged by new techniques, most notably an increased utilization of a cut-and-paste production style that's commonly used by electronic and hip-hop artists.

“We’re not trying to imitate library music,” Amos says, referring to material that is written for film and media purposes and that often touches a range of emotions. “We’re just trying to break it down. It’s just a way to describe a jumping-off point.”
 

“Music history is one way we’ve learned to appreciate other human beings. We feel this perennial camaraderie with these weird people."

It’s a point that gave rise to eight songs of concentrated inventiveness, informed not only by Ennio Morricone’s prolific Italian-western film scores but the disorienting 1960s psychedelia and heavy atmospherics for which the band, whose other half is composed of William Slater and Wm. Zak Riles, is essentially known.

For Hall, the Italian-western description is just a small glimpse into the record. “To me, honestly, it sounds like a mess,” he says. “But there are usually one or two tracks that have such a strong personality that they cast an umbrella over everything else.” He recalls Burning Off Impurities, an album from 2007 that the band was afraid would be slammed for being too heavily influenced by German rock, but in the end was ultimately labeled as a desert-psych record.

“When we listen to the record, we hear a reflection of our fucked-up psychology — the processing of these toxins we were dealing with at the time,” Amos says. “We definitely don’t hear the story everyone is hearing — the story of a saloon in the desert. Anyone starting with that much of a referential understanding of what they’re trying to make is just basically writing a college thesis.”

He meditates for a second. “It can be frustrating. I think we want to force people to deal with the sound and think for themselves, but unfortunately, sometimes people end up hearing a concept they thought about before, instead of hearing the raw expression. But people can call it homosexual-cowboy trip hop and it wouldn’t matter; we’re just thankful that people are listening to us.”

Perils of an instrumental band? Yes. Though the description “cinematic” is tired and overused, especially in the post-rock game, there is a certain truth about it when talking about Deep Politics. There are grand stretches of music when listeners will almost feel obligated to fill in the anecdotes. Soft instants swell into big moments seamlessly, a tension augmented by an opposing mishmash of acoustic and electric guitar intonations, soulful piano lines, East-meets-West melodies, and lush string accompaniments from the renowned Timba Harris (Estradasphere, Secret Chiefs 3).

From the first moments of opener “Future Primitive,” one gets a sense of the band's signature demonic ambience hovering over the instruments. Suspiria-like layers of psychosis subtly crowd the musical space that is entranced by a heavy guitar riff, giving way to a pure-toned acoustic guitar that exudes the western motif. And while Harris’ presence as lone violinist is established here, so are disparate sounds; pounding drum beats meet heavy distortion and gloomy layers of background pressure.

Describing himself and Hall as the “matrix of post-rock,” Amos discloses their approach to the post-production sessions. “You’re hearing us hear our own boredom,” he says. "We want to live with the song’s creative process as long as possible, and that’s why our songs have so many weird layers. We want to hear something new happen, and we’ve learned to use the computer to excite our own ears.”

“Being an instrumental band, we’re very self-conscious about the danger of our music being boring,” Hall says. “It forces us to pack in the atmosphere and ambience. Though all the chill moments are deliberately there to cure our boredom, they still have to be engaging. We’re not a drone band that feels content with putting out 45 minutes of two notes.”

Grails’ strictly instrumental music gives instant payoffs all over the record. “All The Colors of the Dark” takes its overarching melody from Bruno Nicolai’s work in Sergio Martino’s 1972 giallo film of the same name, though it transforms it into a completely different being. The song’s brooding bit, dominated by a lone piano, traverses into a symphonic guitar assault, all the while keeping the same mood and composure.

Harris' strings lift the whole affair into a standout track that takes on a classical guise. A perfect match in music sensibilities, what begins as a somber piano ballad turns into an endearing string symphony over a hard drum beat. It all begins to amplify a protagonist’s existential crisis in a film plot that ultimately is imaginary. “If you’re trying to create a Hitchcock movie, you have to evoke Bernard Herrmann,” Amos says. “And we were lucky enough to be put in touch with Timba by Randall Dunn.”

Harris, who can also be heard on the grand anti-finale of “Deep Snow,” has a way of creating depth and drama. “He has a lot of interesting ways to evoke full-out symphonies,” Hall says. "He came in at the right time, when we were making something grand and melancholy.”

The band more quietly experiments with the world of samples, employing the aforementioned cut-and-paste approach so cunningly at times that it’s impossible to tell where one source ends and another begins. This technique is readily apparent on “Corridors of Power,” an experimental track that sounds as if “Madlib contributed a song to Deep Politics,” Amos says. “We were trying to reduce our spectrum to drum machine and turntables. It was a way to come from a completely different angle but reach the same mood.”

“Almost Grew My Hair” provides a stark contrast as a powerhouse that begins the record’s grand descent, with three of the last songs averaging eight minutes each. Dense in range and reach, instruments begin to jumble, progressing through movement after movement with little respite. One moment of clarity leads to aggression in the next, heavy bass riffs draw back and forth, and focused guitar melodies spontaneously turn into nightmarish screeches.

“One of our favorite things about people like Morricone,” Amos says, “is that for the first time in the century, a respected master of musicology could employ instruments into his music just to evoke, for example, a schizophrenic killer who talks in a Donald Duck voice. What kind of music comes on the screen when he appears?”

Examining Morricone's creative freedom ultimately sheds light on Grails’ music philosophy. Hall looks to the session players who actually played the music for inspiration. “You have these forms of music that were totally boxed in and completely framed with a context," he says, "where most of the time you had these guys in the studio who just wanted to express themselves.”

Amos agrees, saying, “[These composers' and musicians'] message to us is that there are literally no rules. When you seize that concept — that’s the most powerful moment you have. Most people are using music as though it’s a simple video game; they’re trying to reach an easy objective. But when you hear those masters, you perceive a higher level of freedom. Listening to those composers, you can see where we’re trying to get back to — how they seized those frontiers.”

Grails’ grand narrative, after all, is searching out those new musical frontiers. Deep Politics, yet another compelling synthesis of music past and present, continues the long-running investigation into the unknown.

Adebisi Shank: This Is The Second Album From A Band Called Adebisi Shank (Sargent House)

Adebisi Shank: "Micro Machines"

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

The record label / management company 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.

Over 40 minutes — a self-described "double album" given the band's riff-intensive style — 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.

It's a manic and buoyant sophomore effort.  Simply put, Adebisi Shank is a revelation.

Trap Them: Darker Handcraft (Prosthetic)

Trap Them: "The Facts"

Originally conceived as a side project to Backstabbers Incorporated, riotous hardcore quintet Trap Them became a full-time endeavor half a decade ago and has been perfecting its sound ever since.

For Darker Handcraft, its third full-length album and first for Prosthetic, the band continues expanding, ever so slightly, its grindcore style to present more assailing D-beat rhythms and impossibly heavy sounds.  The production, again courtesy of Kurt Ballou, draws understandable parallels to the producer's main gig in Converge.  But Trap Them's low tunings, dark chord progressions, and noodling high-string riffs are more responsible for the comparison, even if Trap Them is less about diversity and more about straight-forward fury.

This time around, vocalist Ryan McKenney has a crisper but equally brutal delivery, often recalling former Refused front man Dennis Lyxzén.  It might be one of the album's best evolutions — outside of "Drag the Wounds Eternal," the melodic, mid-tempo penultimate jam.  In all, Darker Handcraft is top-notch modern hardcore, meshing punk and metal with equal aplomb.

The Dead Kenny Gs: Operation Long Leash (Royal Potato Family)

The Dead Kenny Gs: "Devil's Playground"

Fans are long used to seeing the names Skerik, Mike Dillon, and Brad Houser in the same sentence.  Together, the three multi-instrumentalists comprised three quarters of genre-hopping groove merchants Critters Buggin (along with percussionist/keyboardist Matt Chamberlain); Skerik and Dillon have worked in Garage a Trois and a few outfits with Les Claypool, and Houser has again joined forces to create The Dead Kenny Gs, a trio of musicians who "listen to Bad Brains and Art Ensemble of Chicago."

Operation Long Leash is the group's second album, and though it isn't freewheeling punk jazz, it shares that marriage of rock aggression, funky hooks, and left turns.  Call it heavy acid swing — or something completely different — but it shares just enough elements with the trio's previous projects while exploring new territory.

After a cohesive, rhythmic blend of dueling saxophones, Dillon's glistening vibraphone, and freak-out effects, the middle and tail end of the album get into more heavy rock grooves, including distorted bass on "Black 5" and pounding tom hits and sax bleeps on "Sweatbox" — which quickly transforms into a jazzy jungle groove.  The thuds soon return for more of the album's wildest and loudest sounds, almost resembling some of Zu's most recent "sludge jazz" album.  From there, the soothing outro of "Jazz Millionaire" proves that The Dead Kenny Gs' moods can swing as much as its music.

Mamiffer: Mare Decendrii (SIGE)

Mamiffer: "We Speak in the Dark"

Led by pianist and graphic artist Faith Coloccia, Mamiffer is a project born from the ashes of a similar if more loosely structured group, Everlovely Lightningheart.  With a rotating cast of guests and permanent members — now including ex-Isis front man, Hydra Head honcho, and SIGE partner Aaron Turner — the group surrounds down-tempo, minor-key piano melodies with eerie, ambient soundscapes of assorted instrumentation.

Though strings, guitars, drums, and slowly unfolding vocals are all regular elements of the group's music, Mare Decendrii — its sophomore full-length — amasses another collection of semi-decipherable sounds.  There are moments of minimalist classical beauty and others of echoing tangents to post-metal, as is the case with the sprawling 20-minute track "We Speak in the Dark," a microcosm of the whole.  It begins with minutes of building dissonance before a lead piano/string line turns into emotive vocal harmonies and a churning post-rock passage with a nearly Nine Inch Nails melody.

And though the album's breadth and reach are to be expected from what Mamiffer has previously delivered, it's fueled further this time thanks to guest spots by violist-and-vocalist duo Eyvind Kang and Jessika Kinney, bassist Don McGreevy (Earth), bassist Brian Cook (Russian Circles), violinist Timb(a) Harris (Estradasphere), drummer Aaron Harris (Isis), and many others.

Honorable Mentions

Antonionian: s/t (Anticon)

Disco Doom: Trux Reverb (The Static Cult Label)

Does It Offend You, Yeah?: Don’t Say We Didn’t Warn You (The End / Cooking Vinyl)

KEN Mode: Venerable (Profound Lore)

J. Mascis: Several Shades of Why (Sub Pop)

Mi Ami: Dolphins 12” (Thrill Jockey)

Sin Fang: Summer Echoes (Morr Music)

V/A: Those Shocking, Shaking Days (Now-Again)

Grails: Deep Politics (Temporary Residence)

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 last album, Doomsdayer's Holiday, offered a stark contrast to its predecessors with increased heaviness, but its newest offering, Deep Politics, offers a better cross-section of the band as a whole.

It’s 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. With 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)

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.  During that period, the band replaced a drummer and expanded from a trio to a quartet and delivered its most recent full-length album, Receivers, an album of "collage art" that was created with the help of fan-submitted found sounds.

Since then, the band has scaled back to a trio built around the fuzzed guitar, bass, and keyboard hooks of Dan Friel and B.J. Warshaw.  The three — including the tight rock rhythms of drummer Joe Wong — spent two years working on new material and amassed more than 40 songs, 12 of which were selected for its newest album, Constant Future.

Featuring some of the band's sturdiest songs yet, Constant Future is direct, potent, and catchy.  Behind Friel and Warshaw's echoing, harmonized vocals are dirty, thick grooves that power the overlaid electronic freak-outs.  These humming eccentricities continue to give the band an extra dimension, but it's the continued improvement in Friel and Warshaw's sing-along vocals that makes Constant Future a real success.

The Human Abstract: Digital Veil (E1)

With its first two albums for Hopeless Records, The Human Abstract presented a variety of metalcore that left critics wanting — with vocals that might have made them cringe.  But after a move to E1, the addition of vocalist Travis Richter, and the return of co-founder / guitarist / pianist A.J. Minette, the quintet has made a noteworthy transformation to something heavier and more brutal yet more dynamic and melodic.

The opening track of the group's third full-length, just two minutes long, is an epic pronouncement of the band's new direction, with a classical-guitar lead-in that builds to a wailing blast of mid-tempo harmonies.  From there, the material works into rapid guitar scaling, double-kick triplets, and feral growling with moments of soaring (though melodramatic) vocals, piano interludes, and powerful breakdowns.

Yet for as much as the melodramatic moments may make some wince, the underlying musicianship — both in technical prowess and song-craft — is enough to look the other way.  While infusing classical melodies into progressive/tech/death metal, Digital Veil brims with killer riffs and dynamics, reflecting the band's great balance.

Vijay Iyer with Prasanna & Nitin Mitta: Tirtha (ACT Music + Vision)

Vijay Iyer with Prasanna & Nitin Mitta: "Duality"

Pianist Vijay Iyer is best known for his nimble jazz creations, and though most of his work is in that canon, his career has stretched into orchestral commissions, an ongoing project with experimental MC Mike Ladd, and random collaborations in the hip-hop/electronic world with Dead Prez, DJ Spooky, Karsh Kale, Das Racist, and many others.

His latest project, Tirtha, is a trio with world-fusion guitarist Prasanna and tabla master Nitin Mitta.  The group's debut material most easily is recognized as jazz — often meandering into the free, discordant variety — but it just as frequently redirects its collective energy into elements of progressive fusion, North and South Indian classical, and piano-driven bebop.

Prasanna's guitar is most malleable, usually responsible for shifting between Indian and jazz styles but also reflecting other cultures, such as the seemingly African intonation on "Falsehood."  The biggest detraction might be the seldom-changing timbre of the tabla, but that too is an important element in bridging hemispheres.

Honorable Mentions

Agnostic Front: My Life, My Way (Nuclear Blast)

Ahleuchatistas: Location Location (Open Letter)

Augury: Concealed reissue (Sonic Unyon)

A Hawk and a Hacksaw: Cervantine (Langspielplatte / LM3 / Dupli-cation)

Jib Kidder: Library Catalog Music Series Vol. 11: Music for Hypnotized Minds (Asthmatic Kitty)

Juv: s/t (Miasmah)

REKS: R.E.K.S. (Showoff)

Ryat: Avant Gold & Avant Gold Remixed

Saille: Irreversible Decay (code666)

The Sway Machinery: The House of Friendly Ghosts, Volume 1 (JDub Records)

Kurt Vile: Smoke Ring for My Halo (Matador)

Wye Oak: Civilian (Merge)

[Have you pledged yet? Don't forget to visit the Kickstarter page for Chromatic: The Crossroads of Color and Music, our next book that profiles independent musicians and artists who explore color in unorthodox ways.]

Oh! Pears: Fill Your Lungs EP (3/13/10)

Oh! Pears: "Fill Your Lungs"

Morrow: Guitarist Corey Duncan left indie rockers Pattern Is Movement in 2007, opting to focus on a solo chamber-pop project.  That project turned into Oh! Pears, a 13-piece ensemble that plays Duncan's classically and pop-inspired pieces.

Released independently earlier this year, Fill Your Lungs is Oh! Pears' promising debut EP.  It begins with rounds of looping acoustic-guitar riffs and pizzicato, staccato, and legato strings, with Duncan's deep voices joining to guide the music.  The rest of the five-song release is accented with other sounds, but this marriage of guitars, cellos, and violas best defines the EP.

There are plenty of big-time melodies and harmonies, both instrumental and vocal.  By the end, however, it feels like too much of the same thing — particularly when the vocals start sounding a bit like Antony & The Johnsons (notably on "I'm a Forest"), which is not too flattering.

Hajduch: The 4/4 thump of "Helen," coupled with the strings, reminds me of Patrick Wolf, who I think reached the apex of what you could do with this sort of melancholy chamber pop (before he exploded it into a million garish pieces, as evidenced by this cover artwork, which actually makes me uncomfortable).

But you're right about how similar it is.  The vocals are pleasant, but they inevitably follow an instrument around rather than forging their own path.  The arrangements are just sort of there — a lot of fifths sliding up and down.  If you're going to do that, you may just want to stick with a guitar?  It's produced well, and I can't really point to anything wrong with it per se, but this EP is about to make me get up and grab some coffee.  The drums of "I'm a Forest" hit hard and inject some much-needed energy, but it's too little too late at this point.

I feel bad picking on this EP — again, there's nothing about it that comes off as bad — but it just seems like wallpaper to me.  Perhaps I'm not the target market for this type of thing.

Morrow:  I'm a sucker for chamber pop, so I'm sort of the target market (or at least as much as an Estradasphere super-fan can be), so I'll defend it.  It is, after all, an independently released debut EP.  Like most releases, there are some weaknesses, but I think that it's a solid release from someone with a lot of potential.  And I think that some of those melodies are great.  Furthermore, at no point does he ever sing, "It's you who puts me in the magic position"!

Hajduch: That's a good approach.  I'm willing to play wait-and-see as well, as this release might not be super memorable, but it does show promise.  Also, for the record, it is now Gilbert Arenas who puts me in the Magic position.

As usual, ALARM leaves no genre unexplored in our list of this year's overlooked gems.

Sigh: Scenes from Hell (The End, 1/19/10)

Sigh: "The Summer Funeral"

With a history of fusing other revered genres to a doomy combination of black metal and thrash, Japan's Sigh used its eighth studio album to deliver symphonic, epic metal that calls upon classical instrumentation to top its rock foundation.

Brass, woodwind, and string instruments — as well as organ and piano — accent as well as lead sinister melodies that take surprising turns through fanciful themes. Raspy, menacing vocals coat each track, resulting in a dramatic presentation that isn't much at odds with its complex backdrop.

RJD2: The Colossus (RJ’s Electrical Connections, 1/19/10)

RJD2: "Games You Can Win"

Following a divisive album that saw the introduction of poppy, soulful vocals, producer RJD2 returned with something of a split release — an album that leaves no shortage of accessible, vocal-driven tunes but that emphasizes some inventive instrumentals.  Whether or not you dig the soulful RJ, there's no doubt that the music on The Colossus is some of his best to date.

Chicago Underground Duo: Boca Negra (Thrill Jockey, 1/26/10)

Chicago Underground Duo: "Spy on the Floor"

For 15 years, the Chicago Underground Duo (and Trio, Quartet, and Orchestra) has been an avant-garde jazz outlet for prolific Chicago musicians Rob Mazurek (Exploding Star Orchestra, Isotope 217) and Chad Taylor.  Boca Negra is an interesting dichotomy, as spiraling vociferation leads to upbeat grooves, shifting piano chords, harmonic electronics, and ambient samples.

Algernon: Ghost Surveillance (Cuneiform, 1/26/10)

Algernon: "Broken Lady"

The brainchild of guitarist Dave Miller, Algernon walks a thin line between melodically driven post-rock and instrumental unconventionality.  Ghost Surveillance places greater emphasis on synthesizers and sprawling song structures, but at its core is the combination of accessibility and technicality that has defined Miller's style. Noisy, circular rock riffs transform to tranquil, wandering passages. "Timekiller," the album's fourth track, is a beautiful, buoyant number — and one of the band's best creations to date.

Bei Bei & Shawn Lee: Into the Wind (Ubiquity, 1/26/10)

Bei Bei & Shawn Lee: "East"

In the hands of a marvel, the guzheng — a gorgeous Chinese zither — resonates with tactile beauty as its many strings are plucked with precision.

Bei Bei, a native of Chengdu, China, is one such musical technician. And this collaboration with Shawn Lee, a prolific producer who can man as many genres as he sees fit, is undoubtedly one of the year's finest albums.  Together, the two use Into the Wind to navigate through funky down-tempo jams, Kung-Fu flavor, hip hop, soul, and driving grooves.

Daníel Bjarnason: Processions (Bedroom Community, 2/1/10)

Daníel Bjarnason: "Bow to String I: Sorrow Conquers Happiness"

Best known as a conductor and arranger for indie groups such as Sigur Rós, composer Daníel Bjarnason also holds a lofty classical résumé. Processions, his proper debut, is, at many points, a challenging classical work.  Powerful cellos scale and race with crackling percussions before settling into gently bowed and pizzicato string accompaniments; easily half a dozen strings battle for dominance in a sorrowful, harmonic piece that resonates long after hearing it.  Undoubtedly, Processions is a daring and original debut.

Shining: Blackjazz (Indie Recordings / Distribution, 2/2/10)

Shining: "Fisheye"

Beginning as an experimental acoustic jazz ensemble, Norway's Shining — the brainchild of saxophonist Jørgen Munkeby — transformed to a progressive jazz-fusion outfit before delving into its darker side for a collaboration with black-metallists Enslaved.

Blackjazz pushes deeper into the band's dark recesses, forging a progressive industrial sound for the young century.  Big, complex rock riffs, twisted through gnarly distortion, form the foundation and support a mass of frantic, whirring synth lines and gut-wrenching black-metal screams.  In all, Blackjazz is a new epic — and perhaps the best metal album of 2010.

Pillars and Tongues: Lay of Pilgrim Park, LP + download (Endless Nest, 2/9/10)

Pillars and Tongues: "The Center of"

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.

Dessa: A Badly Broken Code (Doomtree, 2/9/10)

Dessa: "Dixon's Girl"

The only female member of Minneapolis hip-hop collective Doomtree, Dessa is a spoken-word vocalist, singer, and MC whose awaited full-length was finally released earlier this year.

On A Badly Broken Code, her true solo debut, Dessa's vocal diversity is matched by its underlying music, ranging from hard-hitting beats and rhymes to lilting harmonic overdubs.

The Bastard Noise / The Endless Blockade: The Red List (20 Buck Spin, 2/16/10)

The Bastard Noise: "Mutant World of Shame / Underworld"

A spinoff of treasured "power-violence" hardcore group Man is the Bastard, The Bastard Noise is approaching its 20th anniversary of creating noisy electro-doom brutality.  For this split release with hardcore/punk experimentalists The Endless Blockade, the group utilizes the trademark drum-and-bass style of Man is the Bastard in combination with its far-out sounds.  The Endless Blockade contributes three tracks to the release — one 14-minute epic and two avant-garde remixes.

Freeway & Jake One: The Stimulus Package (Rhymesayers, 2/16/10)

Freeway & Jake One: "Know What I Mean"

Continuing his life after Roc-A-Fella Records, former freestyle star Freeway now makes his debut on Rhymesayers, a fitting new home — if only temporary before a move to Cash Money.  Fellow Rhymesayers standout Jake One provides a funky, malleable backdrop for Freeway's fiery delivery and lyrics that are alternately personal and light in content. And though Freeway deserves his accolades, Jake One's production is the MVP of this collaboration.

Carolina Chocolate Drops: Genuine Negro Jig (Nonesuch, 2/16/10)

Carolina Chocolate Drops: "Hit 'Em Up Style" (Blu Cantrell)

Beholden to the traditions of Americana and early African-American folk, the string trio Carolina Chocolate Drops continues blurring the lines of old and new. On Genuine Negro Jig, the group's fifth album, a few original numbers and a trove of traditionals take root in banjo, fiddle, and percussion. Three-part harmonies shimmer on the famous folk tune "Trouble in Your Mind," and simplicity shines on gripping renditions of "Why Don't You Do Right?" by Kansas Joe McCoy and "Trampled Rose" by Tom Waits.  Most surprisingly, Genuine Negro Jig includes an enjoyable rendition of "Hit 'Em Up Style," an unintentionally farcical pop hit by Blu Cantrell.

Mako Sica: Dual Horizon LP (La Société Expéditionnaire, 2/16/10)

Mako Sica: "I'Itoi"

A translation of the phrase "land bad," Mako Sica has more than a nominal Native American influence; the trio's distant vocal reverberations and dirge-inspired tunes recall the spirituality of America's original inhabitants.

Between the vocalizations of Brent Fuscaldo, the melodies of guitarist Przemyslaw Krys Drazek, and the rhythms of drummer Michael J. Kendrick, Mako Sica maintains a strong balance of abilities — with a brooding combination of jangly guitars, reverberated vociferation, and instrumental dynamics.

High on Fire: Snakes for the Divine (E1 Music, 2/23/10)

High on Fire: "Snakes for the Divine"

Stoner-metal trio High on Fire has built a devoted following over the past dozen years as fans fell in love with Matt Pike's gruff vocals and thunderous guitar riffs. On Snakes for the Divine, Pike uses his throat to channel Lemmy Kilmister; meanwhile, the band has picked up its pace and crafted an album that isn’t as outstretched. Hard-hitting riffery leads an effort that, though diverse at times, may be the band’s most driving release.

Jaga Jazzist: One-Armed Bandit (Ninja Tune, 2/23/10)

Jaga Jazzist: "One-Armed Bandit"

Five years have passed since we've heard the powerhouse melodies of Norway's Jaga Jazzist, the post-rock/"nü-jazz" conception of brothers Lars and Martin Horntveth.

One-Armed Bandit, immediately the group's best album, resembles symphonic prog rock, arguably a few steps removed from parts of Frank Zappa's expansive catalog and closer to countryman Jono El Grande's diverse and theatrical style.  This album, however, is much more cohesive than either of those comparisons suggest, and at times it is nearly overwhelming with grooves and harmonious refrains.

Rob Swift: The Architect (Ipecac, 2/23/10)

Rob Swift: "The Architect"

Turntablist/DJ Robert Aguilar, formerly of the X-ecutioners, has long utilized his love of jazz, R&B, and other musical movements to create compelling hip-hop instrumentals while displaying his tight beat-juggling skills.

The Architect is Swift’s foray into the classical world. In addition to a multitude of sampled styles and sounds, classical cuts comprise a substantial chunk of this Ipecac debut. Rearranged strings, organ, and horns often make the foundation of a given track, occasionally evoking high-tension Italian Westerns, as Swift’s scratches dance atop banging beats.

Rotting Christ: Aealo (Season of Mist, 2/23/10)

Rotting Christ: "Aealo"

For more than 20 years, Athens' Rotting Christ has traversed different directions on the metal path.  With its previous release, Theogonia, the group released a striking, original album that fused its dark sound to the ethnic sounds of its ancestors.

Like its predecessor, Aealo features female Benedictine chants, lingual pipes, and a medieval feel. Combined with dueling high-pitched harmonies and powerful guitar work, these new elements highlight an album that should be among the most original metal releases of the year.

Ali Farka Touré & Toumani Diabaté: Ali and Toumani (Nonesuch, 2/23/10)

Ali Farka Touré & Toumani Diabaté: "Ruby"

As two of Africa's most internationally renowned musicians, guitar legend Ali Farka Touré and kora phenom Toumani Diabaté have displayed impeccable abilities while integrating the styles of other cultures into their ethnic sounds.

Each Malian, the two collaborated for the acclaimed In the Heart of the Moon in 2005, shortly before Farka Touré's passing in 2006. Fortunately, the two set aside time to record new material before touring for In the Heart of the Moon, and the result is another beautiful set of duets that sees a posthumous release.

Throughout Ali and Toumani, Farka Touré roots each creation in melodious African-blues pieces. Diabaté's virtuosity accents each track in the form of fanciful scales, which at times evoke classical harpsichord passages, perhaps most notably on "Sabu Yerkoy."

Fang Island: s/t (Sargent House, 2/23/10)

Fang Island: "Sideswiper"

Mostly comprised of ex-Daughters, the good-time rock quintet Fang Island was one of the most quickly ascending bands of 2010, jumping onto tours with The Flaming Lips and Stone Temple Pilots following the release of its first full-length album.

The self-titled release is chock full of palm-muted and speed-infused indie-prog anthems, with über-layered vocal harmonies to go with a triple-thick guitar assault and distorted-bass bludgeoning.  It's one of those rare releases that feels absolutely radiant and thrashing at the same time.

B. Dolan: Fallen House, Sunken City (Strange Famous, 3/2/10)

B. Dolan: "The Reptilian Agenda"

Going way back with Sage Francis, rapper B. Dolan is a like-minded MC and slam poet whose style isn't terribly dissimilar to that of his long-time friend. Fallen House, Sunken City is Dolan's second full-length for Strange Famous, and it's full of the sociopolitical themes (if often in quick blasts or asides) and contentious delivery for which he's known.

In addition to some seemingly personal lyrics, Dolan takes passing shots at big business, taxation, the pharmaceutical industry, the concept of ownership of natural resources, the Israeli razing of Palestinian developments, and, among many other things, the so-called New World Order — dropping clips of Dick Cheney and George H.W. Bush in "The Reptilian Agenda."  On top of Dolan's socially conscious rhymes, A-list production by Alias makes this one of the year's top hip-hop releases.

Archie Bronson Outfit: Coconut (Domino, 3/2/10)

Archie Bronson Outfit: "Shark's Tooth"
Archie Bronson Outfit: "Shark's Tooth"

With its warbled vocals and driving percussion, British psych-rock trio Archie Bronson Outfit is like a more adventurous Wolf Parade — as comfortable burning up the dance floor with clean, bouncy riffs as it is turning up the reverb and rocking in a garage.

Coconut is the band's first LP in nearly four years, and it kicks off with a crunchy, swirling guitar line and a hypnotic bongo-laden beat. Produced by DFA's Tim Goldsworthy, Coconut gets spaced-out and drone-like at times, but it always offers a hint of pop accessibility amidst the static and haze.

Download the podcast for This Week’s Best Albums: November 30, 2010 and subscribe to This Week’s Best Albums for free with iTunes.

Stream the podcast for This Week's Best Albums: November 30, 2010.

God of Shamisen: Smoke Monster Attack

God of Shamisen: "Last Shamisen Master Attack"

Featuring a pair of members from genre annihilators Estradasphere, God of Shamisen is a boundless project of East/West fusion combining heavy metal, improvised Japanese folk, and much more.  The four-piece is led by Kevin Kmetz, a US native who grew up on a military base in Japan and later mastered Tsugaru-shamisen, a striking, percussive style that developed during the late 1800s and early 1900s in the north of the island of Honshu.

The band’s music is built on Kmetz’s mastery of the shamisen, a slender, three-stringed Japanese instrument, but it has drawn the ire of some traditional shamisen masters for adding thrash riffs and rapid-fire metal beats. (Read the band's story in our newest book, Invisible: Overlooked Albums and Unseen Artists, and online here.)

On the band's 2008 debut album, Dragon String Attack, its aggressive blend skips from blast beats to reggae jams to Turkish folk. There are plenty more tangential visits to other styles, but at the band’s heart is the mixture of metal and shamisen.

Smoke Monster Attack, the band's digital-only second release, accentuates that mix. It features a few unreleased originals as well as a handful of video-game and movie covers, including wild renditions of the themes to Final Fantasy, Dragon Quest, and Star Wars. The album was co-produced by Billy Anderson, a brief member of the Melvins who has produced or engineered for dozens of excellent heavy bands, and his presence makes Smoke Monster Attack that much stouter.

Tristeza: Paisajes (Sanity Muffin / Better Looking)

Tristeza: "Newbury"

Over the past 13 years, this highly melodic group of post-rock instrumentalists has released a constant stream of LPs, EPs, and outtakes.  And though Tristeza has slowed in recent years, Paisajes — the band's latest full-length — is another beautiful batch of churning rock tunes.

The group’s lineup has shifted a bit since former member James LaValle left to focus on The Album Leaf, and it has since added and lost a keyboardist. Paisajes is back to the basics, in a sense – at many points, it’s just the harmonic interplay of a reverberated guitar and bass on top of drums. However, there are accents of vibraphone and violin as well as a few funky horn cuts, and the band is billing this as an "album of sound, color, and textures."

No matter the context, Paisajes excels with more pretty rock instrumentals — recorded, notably, by Tim Green of The Fucking Champs, helping recapture some of the vibe of the band’s classic album Spine & Sensory.

Locrian: The Crystal World (Utech)

Locrian: "The Crystal World"

Not to be confused with the metal band of the same name, this Locrian is the dark noise duo-turned-trio from Chicago that has released dreary, droning, long-form experimental soundscapes.  The Crystal World is the group’s first album as a trio, and though it still builds slowly and is noisy and dark, it’s Locrian’s most palatable release yet for casual listeners.

Also sharing its name with the Locrian musical mode, which is built on tension and dissonance, the group has added more live instrumentation to make what might be the most melodic, accessible, and structured of its releases.  The Crystal World is, at times, essentially a cousin of brooding post-rock and horror-score atmospherics, but it walks a fine balance between order and chaos.  In all, it’s another evolution of a band that’s still coming into its own.

Honorable Mentions

King Cannibal: The Way of the Ninja (Ninja Tune)

Jason Stein’s Locksmith Isidore: Three Kinds of Happiness (Not Two Records)

God of Shamisen: Smoke Monster Attack

Despite a predilection for combining the shamisen — a fretless, three-stringed Japanese lute — with any dissimilar musical style, God of Shamisen’s Kevin Kmetz is very much the traditionalist. Kmetz is a student of Tsugaru-shamisen, a striking, percussive style of performance developed during the late 1800s and early 1900s in the northern region of Honshu (the largest island of Japan). Evolved in part by players such as Takahashi Chikuzan, who contributed to the “Tsugaru boom” of the 1950s, Tsugaru-shamisen eventually adopted long improvisations and began to reflect American influences such as the burgeoning free-jazz movement.

The name Tsugaru-shamisen, however, didn’t gain popularity until the ’50s and ’60s, an era when America again declared itself protector to Japan. Military bases had sprouted up in the region, and with them came American music suddenly filtering through the radio. Influences of jazz, blues, and rock ’n’ roll were added to the Tsugaru repertoire, and just as quickly, the shamisen community named the folk-infused improvisations as the true tradition of Tsugaru-shamisen — a tradition that must stay rigid, according to some.

It is particularly apt, then, for an outsider who spent his youth in the 1980s going to school on an American military base in Japan to advocate a tradition of change inherent in the beginnings of Tsugaru-shamisen.

"I feel like if you’re pissing people off, you’re making an impact."

Kmetz had a desire to play the shamisen during his early teens — something that he says was impossible for a gaijin, an outsider, to do at the time. “There was no way I could have gone into a shamisen school,” he says. “It was just closed off to foreigners. You just wouldn’t see a gaijin going to a shamisen master and learning. I had to wait until I was an adult to go into shamisen.”

Since picking up the instrument, Kmetz has become the first foreigner to win the honorary Daijo Kazuo Award in 2005, as well as finish as a runner-up in 2006 and in second place in 2007 — honors that he hopes to surpass by becoming the first foreigner to win first place in a Tsugaru-shamisen tournament.

Apart from the tournaments, however, Kmetz leads God of Shamisen (www.godofshamisen.com), a conduit for the change that he sees as paramount to Tsugaru-shamisen’s continuity. Dragon String Attack, the band’s 2008 debut, deftly weaves metal, funk, ambient electronic, and even a sense of the 8-bit-music renaissance into an effluent, funny, intelligent mess of Eastern and Western influences.

The album, including contributions from Trey Spruance of Secret Chiefs 3, fellow shamisen player Masahiro Nitta, and bansuri maestro Deepak Ram, has at its center the shamisen — with a rhythmic, buzzing, and tonally striking sound that is never out of place yet always surprising in its context.

For Kmetz, the band’s changes in style — from blast beats to reggae jams to Turkish folk — are a natural progression for Tsugaru-shamisen.

“I feel there’s a duty to keep adding to it,” Kmetz says, “because that’s what it was originally about. People forgot that you could add a phrase and still call it Tsugaru-shamisen. You’re going to make people mad, but that’s really what it’s supposed to say. To me, that’s the only way to keep a tradition alive.”

Those whom God of Shamisen are angering, surprisingly, are not the Japanese masters — a group, Kevin admits, that is not the most vocal in its true opinions.

The most outspoken individuals come from the USA. “I’m thrilled to report I’ve actually been making a lot of fellow American shamisen players quite upset,” Kmetz says. “I’m really taking huge authorities with the instrument, which is one of the major complaints I’m getting from a lot of fellow American players. They’re saying, ‘You can’t really call yourself Tsugaru-shamisen, because you’re not sticking to the language.’ It’s been sort of a satisfactory moment for me, because I feel like if you’re pissing people off, you’re making an impact. Finally, I’m considered worthy enough to get upset about.”

It’s been two years since the release of Dragon String Attack, and despite the distance between players, God of Shamisen has released a follow-up digital album titled Smoke Monster Attack. Kmetz, after spending most of his adult life in the States, has moved back to Japan to study under the current masters of the shamisen.

Bassist/producer Mark Thornton and guitarist Karl Schnaitter reside in California, and drummer Lee Smith — a fellow alumnus, along with Kmetz, of genre annihilators Estradasphere — resides in Seattle, where some of the recording for Smoke Monster Attack was completed.

Produced by Thornton and Billy Anderson, a name very familiar to metal heads, Smoke Monster Attack continues to blend the shamisen’s unique sound with Western music. Anderson has produced for the likes of Sleep, Secret Chiefs 3, and Mr. Bungle, and he brings to Kmetz’s instrument a frantic immediacy that hits at every note. The rhythmic, acoustic strikes somehow fit right in with heavy riffs and video-game covers.

The metal influences heard on the first album take center stage with Anderson’s production, and Smoke Monster Attack is less likely to bound from one genre to another. The music loses none of its spontaneity or humor, and if anything, it feels like a stronger, more cohesive release than the first.

Within the time between albums, God of Shamisen has been as active as a band can be with its members spanning the globe, playing Japanese-American festivals, dive bars, and concert halls. The band plans, however, to accomplish one elusive goal: to tour Japan. “We’ve never done that, and that’s always been weird,” Kmetz says. “It’s like, ‘Wow, you’re doing this thing that’s mixing Japanese culture with American culture, and you’ve never gone to Japan and showed that to anyone.’”

This means that Japan has something wholly original coming, derived from the best that American and Japanese culture could birth, flitting between two worlds despite the tendency for stagnation in the name of tradition. As Kmetz so rightly says, tradition is about keeping things alive enough to change.

Sigh

No strangers to fusing other revered genres to a doomy combination of black metal and thrash, Japan's Sigh uses its eighth studio album to deliver symphonic, epic metal that calls upon classical instrumentation to top its rock foundation.

Brass, woodwind, and string instruments — as well as organ and piano — accent as well as lead sinister melodies that take surprising turns through fanciful themes. Raspy, menacing vocals coat each track, resulting in a dramatic presentation that isn't much at odds with its complex backdrop.

Fans of Estradasphere, Diablo Swing Orchestra, Trans-Siberian Orchestra, Emperor, and Gonin-Ish would do well to check this out. With grade-A melodies that would sound at home with orchestras and chamber ensembles, Scenes From Hell is one of the first great albums of 2010.

Sigh: "The Summer Funeral"
Sigh: \"The Summer Funeral\"

Colorlist: A Square White Lie LP (482 Music)

A Square White Lie, released via heavyweight vinyl and MP3s, is the first album in two years from Colorlist, an ambient improvisational duo from Chicago that texturalizes sound by utilizing delayed, echoing loops, mounting tension, harmonic and dissonant layers, and germane percussion.

The four-tune album is a soothing, shifting sea of sound that finds Charles Gorczynski, with sax, harmonium, and electronics, building full melodies out of fragments, accompanied by the beats, brush strokes, and accents of drummer Charles Rumback.

Gorczynski and Rumback are staples in Chicago's younger circle of improvisers. With groups such as Silences (Sumire), Leaves, the Charles Rumback Quartet, and L'Altra already in their portfolios, the duo uses A Square White Lie to further supplement its distinguished body of work.

Colorlist: "The Lows"
Colorlist: \"The Lows\"

RJD2: The Colossus (RJ’s Electrical Connections)

Following a divisive album that saw the introduction of poppy, soulful vocals, producer RJD2 returns with something of a split release — an album that leaves no shortage of accessible, vocal-driven tunes but that emphasizes some inventive instrumentals.

Notably, one of those instrumentals, "Let There Be Horns," opens the disc. In addition to sporting a music video with a protagonist minotaur, "Let There Be Horns" is a grooving instrumental that, at times, sounds vaguely Indian while dousing the listener in synth horns, rock guitar, and squiggly keyboards.

"Games You Can Win," featured below, is a vocal jam that follows and glistens with an apparent glockenspiel or chimes. "Giant Squid" then returns the funky instrumentals, leaning on fuzzy bass, harpsichord, and spacey effects.

Fellow electro-crooner Kenna makes an appearance on The Colossus, and RJ gets more vocal assistance from Phonte Coleman, Aaron Livingston, and others. But whether or not you dig the soulful RJ, there's no doubt that the music on The Colossus is some of his best to date.

RJD2: "Games You Can Win"
RJD2: \"Games You Can Win\"

Honorable mentions

Good for Cows: Audumla (Mimicry)
Worm Ouroboros: s/t (Profound Lore)

Perhaps the poster group for its genre, Sunn has spent the past 10 years experimenting in epic, doomy sound and noise.

Now, with Monoliths & Dimensions, the core duo of Stephen O'Malley and Greg Anderson teams with guests galore to create, in the words of the group, "the most musical piece we've done."  Guest musicians Eyvind Kang (John Zorn, Bill Frisell), Jessika Kenney (Eyvind Kang, Asva), Oren Ambarchi (Burial Chamber Trio), Dylan Carlson (Earth), Julian Priester (Sun Ra, John Coltrane) and others help make that so, while retaining the creeping, end-of-the-world vibe that persists thoughout Sunn's work.

Khanate: Clean Hands Go Foul (Hydra Head)

As the belated swan song for the super-group collaboration between Stephen O'Malley (Sunn O)))), James Plotkin (Phantomsmasher), Alan Dubin (OLD), and Tim Wyskida (Blind Idiot God), Clean Hands Go Foul is a fitting endgame for Khanate's aural presentation of desolation and despair.  Evil ambience crests and falls, working with ominous chords and soul-shredding screams; naturally, fans of O'Malley's other work will love this.

Khanate: "Wings from Spine" (excerpt)
Khanate: \"Wings from Spine\" (excerpt)

Grizzly Bear: Veckatimest (Warp)

Unconventional indie darlings Grizzly Bear have pushed three years since their last full-length release, and the passage of time hasn't diminished the band's creative stroke.

On Veckatimest, Grizzly Bear's trademark vocal harmonies and layered orchestrations are still present, but the album features a slightly heavier touch of electronics and chamber elements.  By and large, however, this is the same Grizzly Bear, and preexisting fans won't feel alienated by this disc.

Sir Richard Bishop: The Freak of Araby (Drag City)

In his solo creations and many collaborative endeavors, ex-Sun City Girls guitarist Richard Bishop weaves through Arabic, Indian, flamenco, African, and Gypsy influences in both composed and improvised settings.

With his new album, he employs a clean, reverberated electric guitar in place of his usual acoustic sound, and he adds a bit of percussive assistance. For spring and summer tour dates, Bishop will perform with a full ensemble, which should make his ethnic creations even more compelling.

Master Musicians of Bukkake: Totem One (Conspiracy)

Milky and Don McGreevy of Earth, producer extraordinaire Randall Dunn (Secret Chiefs 3, Sunn O)))), Bill Horist of Ghidra, and other noted Northwest musicians comprise this collective that designs psychedelic, ethnically inspired folk freak-outs.

With Totem One, the group begins a musical trilogy while expanding and maturing its expansive sound.  The album's guests include Alan Bishop of Sun City Girls and Timb Harris of Estradasphere and Secret Chiefs 3.

Vieux Farka Touré: Fondo (Six Degrees)

The son of musical Malian icon Ali Farka Touré, guitarist/singer Vieux Farka Touré has garnered international distinction since the release of his self-titled debut album, issued the year after his famous father’s death.

That disc, which was remixed later in the same year, featured kora virtuoso Toumani Diabate on a pair of tracks and combined Mande and Sonrai folk styles with pop and a touch of reggae.  Diabate is back to help with Fondo, which finds Vieux taking more of a distinctive direction while improving his songwriting chops.