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.

Oxbow: "Daughter"

With his band Oxbow, Eugene S. Robinson has become known for his simple, primal lyrics howled over increasingly complex arrangements, and for his fearsome live performances. The band's most recent studio album, The Narcotic Story, was released in 2007. More recently, its second full-length, King of the Jews (released way back in '91), was reissued this year on Hydra Head. Though the band's avant-punk music is aggressive, and Robinson's vocals powerful and howling, even they need dial things back and unwind with a little quietude once in a while.

Music to Put the Gun Down to

The world is sometimes a hectic place. People running back and forth, screaming, diving under cars. All of this modern hubbub and these frenetic and shouted cries to "put the gun down" will sometimes just drive you crazy. And so, as a tonic or a salve to the savage soul, Oxbow's Eugene S. Robinson suggests 10 songs that go well with surrender. Enjoy.

1. Johnny Mathis: "Open Fire" from Open Fire, Two Guitars

Jesus Christ, this is just a great stocking-feet, throw-pillow paean to fine "bachelor" living. In front of a fireplace. With a glass of sherry.

2. Johnny Hartman: "The Day the World Stopped Turning" from The Voice That Is

Listened to this record once for a week straight. Without leaving the bed. That says it all.

3. Johnny Hartman: "A Slow Hot Wind" from The Voice That Is

Ditto.

4. Eartha Kitt: "Lazy Afternoon" from Miss Kitt, To You

When I die? I want this playing. Over the bullhorns.

5. Joy Division: "Day of the Lords" from Unknown Pleasures

"Where will it end?" In 4 minutes, 47 seconds, if you're not dead first.

6. Arab Strap: "Pyjamas" from Elephant Shoe

Great song about the sucking end of relationships. Which is as good a time as any to take a nap.

7. Tindersticks: "Don't Look Down" from Curtains

Apparently the Tindersticks in person are nothing like their quiet, contemplative crooning selves on stage. They jerk off in hotel rooms while watching porn and screaming at the TV. My idea of relaxing for sure.

8. Oxbow: "It's the Giving Not the Taking"  from The Narcotic Story

Sure…this is the band I am in. So what? Nothing says "take it easy" like a song you've already recorded that thematically has to do with escaping into the woods.

9. Untitled 1: "Labradford" from E Luxo So

Set this song on infinite loop, and you will forget everything.

10. Lydia Lynch: "Gloomy Sunday" from Queen of Siam

Not her song, but her cover of it is the definitive one for me.

Sole & The Skyrider Band: Hello, Cruel World (Fake Four)

Sole & The Skyrider Band: "Hello, Cruel World"

As one of the co-founders of the Anticon rap collective, Tim Holland (better known as Sole) has spent his career pushing the boundaries of alternative hip hop. His own rap career has been no less unconventional, and after joining forces with the band Skyrider to record his last two albums, he parted with Anticon and went further afield.

Hello, Cruel World is his third album with The Skyrider Band and first on Fake Four, and it’s another reinvention. Sole’s rapid-fire rhymes remain enlightened and outside the box, but his delivery is slowed a bit and surrounded by pop-infused and often vocoded vocal choruses. There’s a strange, dramatic mixture of synthesizers, club-friendly styles, stuttering beats, and orchestral flourishes.

The title track nearly conjures a witch-house vibe, only with strings weaving in and out, and after “We Will Not Be Moved” begins with a haunting mixture of piano, acoustic guitar, and strings, it drops one of the album’s strongest themes via a shot at Western indifference: “We will not be moved / comfortable with apathy and mediocrity / the truth is too depressing for me / integrity is too deep / leave me to my lonesome / text me on my phone, son.”

Serengeti: Family and Friends (Anticon)

Serengeti: "Ha-Ha" (f. Otouto)

Chicago rapper Serengeti has built a small but rabid following thanks to an unorthodox “indie” style and a tireless work ethic. His 2009 album with frequent collaborator and producer Polyphonic, named Terradactyl, helped introduce him to a wider audience thanks to its release by the Anticon collective, and now his newest solo album, Family and Friends, should help garner more deserved attention thanks to its big-name producers.

Half of Serengeti’s appeal is how well he mixes with other musicians and other styles, and this album — produced by Yoni Wolf of Why? and Owen Ashworth of Casiotone for the Painfully Alone — is no exception. The music is a quirky confluence of organic and electronic sounds and beats, but the real stars — as usual — are Serengeti’s disparate narratives and unpredictable rhymes.

Josh Ottum: Watch TV (Tapete)

Josh Ottum: "Fool in the Night"

Just the second album from Seattle-based singer-songwriter Josh Ottum, Watch TV is a sonically diverse pop gem. Though it was recorded bit by bit from 2007 to 2010, Ottum was able to tie all of the loose ends together and deliver a cohesive, experimental indie-pop record, mixing cheese-ball hooks with interesting left turns and euphonic diversity.

There are elements of pared-down power pop from the likes of Matthew Sweet and Brendan Benson (see “Work on a Feeling” and “My First Love”) as well as softer, more intimate singer-songwriter moments (“Too Sure to See” and “Not Built For Two”). The album’s real success, however, lies in Ottum’s seamless integration of classic pop instruments (guitar, bass, drums, etc.) and digital experimentation.

When the album finishes, you’ve forgotten the individual diversity within each song and are left with a complete satisfaction in having heard a highly focused and interesting record play so well.

- Text by Michael Danaher. Read the full review here.

Prurient: Bermuda Drain (Hydra Head)

Prurient: "Many Jewels Surround the Crown"

Better known as Prurient, Ian Dominick Fernow is a hyper-productive noise artist who has released an avalanche of records, cassettes, and CDs on underground labels. Bermuda Drain is his first release for Hydra Head, and it marks something of a "pop" direction.

Though older releases have included synth melodies, Bermuda Drain is downright accessible with "normal" song structures and durations. The synth melodies are front and center — possibly a result of Fernow's addition to Cold Cave — and they're catchy. There are even elements of digital hardcore and seeming reference points from Goblin or soundtracks such as those for Blade Runner, Terminator, etc.

Bermuda Drain still is noisy, weird, and creepy, however, as spoken-word passages and gut-wrenching screams are placed atop a dark, cinematic, and synth-based backdrop. The lyricism is the strangest (and often most disturbing) element, as evidenced by the main line, which is calmly spoken and later screamed, from "Palm Tree Corpse": "If I could, I would take a tree branch and ram it inside you — but it's already been done."

Honorable Mentions

Babe Rainbow: Endless Path EP (Warp)

Crone: Endless Midnight (Translation Loss)

Crystal Antlers: Two-Way Mirror

Dying Fetus: History Repeats… (Relapse)

Eternal Tapestry & Sun Araw: Night Gallery (Thrill Jockey)

Hail! Hornet: Disperse the Curse (Relapse)

How to Dress Well: Just Once EP (Yours Truly / Love Letters Ink)

Theophilus London: Timez Are Weird These Days (Warner Bros.)

Pictureplane: Thee Physical (Lovepump United)

Portugal. the Man: In the Mountain, in the Cloud (Atlantic)

Rodrigo y Gabriela: Live in France (ATO)

Angelo Spencer: World Garage (K)

Wiley: 100% Publishing (Big Dada)

World’s End Girlfriend: Seven Idiots (Erased Tapes)

World's End Girlfriend: "Teenage Ziggy"

World’s End Girlfriend is the wild, hyper-melodic project of Japanese composer Katsuhiko Maeda, whose vivid arrangements have created a following in his homeland and been used in critically acclaimed films. Originally released last year in Japan, Seven Idiots is his tenth studio album.

The music is a dense, larger-than-life blend of post-rock, classical music, and electronica, and within just the first minute of Seven Idiots, the listener is hit with a beautiful union of Battles-esque guitar lines, funky bass slaps, classical melodies, glitch beats, and squiggly synth lines. As the album progresses, it delves into polyrhythms, improvisation, and other complexities — particularly during the “Bohemian Purgatory” triptych — but a robust sense of melody and an opportunity for head-nodding are almost always at its core.

Helms Alee: Weatherhead (Hydra Head)

Helms Alee: "8/16"

With its 2008 debut album, Seattle trio Helms Alee forged a sound all its own — part metal, part post-punk, part melody-driven rock, and all abandon.

If it was Isis joining up with The Breeders for a quick outing into the wilderness, then the band's sophomore effort, Weatherhead, returns to the woods to find our friends older, craftier, and better bonded.

As a trio, the band's personal contributions are easier to discern: the driving, effected guitar and guttural screams of Ben Verellen, the distorted low end and breathy, light-weight vocals of bassist Dana James, and the steady, pounding aggression of Hozoji Matheson-Margullis.

On top of alternately punishing and pulchritudinous riffage, Verellen and James again are paired for vocal harmonies.  But this time around, they're joined by the assertive vocals of Matheson-Margullis, who leads a call-and-response exchange with the two in the standout single "8/16" and who adds screams to the title track.  James, however, takes the lead at other points, and she frequently harmonizes with Verellen's clean vocals to produce some of the album's most hypnotic tracks.

The egalitarianism of the vocals is nearly matched by the diversity of the music — albeit music that nearly always rocks.  But the soft moments are pronounced, and the acoustic interlude of "Anemone of the Wound" is a welcome change of pace.  This contrast and disparity makes Weatherhead just as compelling as its predecessor, while featuring additional growth as a trio.

3:33: The First Thousand Days (Parallel Thought Ltd.)

Stream the entire album here.

Just two months ago, the mysterious, experimental electronic group 3:33 released its debut album, 333LP1. Its follow-up has an uncharacteristically communicative title — The First Thousand Days (Bandcamp) — but the group's mechanical, idiosyncratic number/letter combinations are still present in the track list.

If it weren't so amorphous and downright sinister, The First Thousand Days would fall somewhere in the experimental electro-hop territory typified by musicians like Prefuse 73. It is set apart by a rawness of texture that recalls Amon Tobin's field-recording-style compositions, where the line between digital and analog is scuffed beyond recognition.

The mystery of the music, and of the artists themselves, is compounded by spare, muffled vocals and crunchy, textured instrumentation. The group's ability to simultaneously plod and pulsate, to move swiftly from tribal percussion to glacial ambience, is unmatched — and unsettling.

- Text by Kyle Gilkeson.

Seun Anikulapo Kuti: From Africa With Fury: Rise (Knitting Factory)

Seun Anikulapo Kuti: "Rise"

The youngest son of Afrobeat legend and political dissident Fela Kuti, saxophonist and singer Seun Anikulapo Kuti is the latest to continue the cherished legacy of his last name.  Similarly to Femi Kuti, Fela's eldest son, Seun maintains his family's tradition of activism and rump-shaking funk, both of which are prevalent on his sophomore album, Rise.

For the second time, Seun is joined by his famous father's Egypt 80 ensemble, a group that played with Fela 30 years ago.  The music, though not treading new ground, is chock full of tightly wound horn harmonies and dance-inducing rhythms, as filtered through the one-of-a-kind sounding board that is co-producer Brian Eno.

As per the album's title, there's plenty of political fury: "African Soldiers" addresses the cyclical nature of military governments throughout modern African history, and "You Can Run" dissects the cowardice of brutal dictators who flee when the prospect of justice is threatened.  "Rise," meanwhile, emphasizes tribal heritage, rejecting the imposed demarcations placed upon Africa by the Western world.

The fact that the music doesn't delineate from the Afrobeat legacy is irrelevant.  Africa, perhaps as much as ever, needs a messenger like Seun Kuti.

Honorable Mentions

Bon Iver: s/t (Jagjaguwar)

Cassettes Won’t Listen: Evinspacey (Daylight Curfew)

The Devin Townsend Project: Ghost (Century Media / Inside Out)

Elitist: Fear in a Handful of Dust (Season of Mist)

Father’s Children: s/t (Numero Group)

Grieves: Together/Apart (Rhymesayers)

Laurel Halo: Hour Logic (Hippos in Tanks)

Mark Wingfield & Kevin Kastning: I Walked into the Silver Darkness (Greydisc)

Painted Palms: Canopy EP (Secretly Canadian)

Ty Segall: Goodbye Bread (Drag City)

So Hideous, My Love…: To Clasp A Fallen Wish With Broken Fingers (Play The Assassin)

Viva Voce: The Future Will Destroy You (Vanguard)

White Hills: H-p1 (Thrill Jockey)

Cave In: White Silence (Hydra Head)

Cave In: "Sing My Loves"

When Cave In returned from hiatus with its Planets of Old EP in 2009, it marked a true full-circle moment — from metalcore mastery to pop-rock faltering back to thrashing, effects-driven hardcore.  It was an exclamation that the quartet had plenty of heavy riffs left in the tank, but better than that, it seemed to be the band's best coalescence of its members' influences.

Now Cave In is back with White Silence, its first full-length since Perfect Pitch Black, the 2005 transition back to heaviness that featured trance-inducing grooves as well as acoustic balladry care of guitarist/singer Stephen Brodsky.

White Silence is nearly as much a melting pot as Planets of Old.  Though tracks such as "Serpeants" lean on bassist Caleb Scofield's searing screams and Old Man Gloom-esque riffs, and the final three tracks are built around Brodsky's singer/songwriter abilities, the members always complement each other in a way that keeps the band treading new ground.

The guitar effects of Brodsky and Adam McGrath are especially crucial, as a celestial or shrieking texture often pairs with the pure riffing.  They make as much of an impact on the tracks that Brodsky leads, making his first ("Heartbreaks, Earthquakes") sound like if John Lennon fronted a psych-sludge band.  This fusion may be best exemplified on the album's opus, the eight-minute "Sing My Loves," where all elements come together for a killer jam.

It's been a strange trip for Cave In, but White Silence finds the Boston band in a sort of "second prime."  Hopefully, it won't be another six years between long players.

Amon Tobin: ISAM (Ninja Tune)

Amon Tobin: "Lost and Found"

During his 15-year career, DJ and electronic artist Amon Tobin has transitioned from expert sampler and breakbeat artist to field-recording guru and sound designer.  ISAM, his first full-length album in four years, completes this move to synthesized and manipulated original samples, turning otherwise atonal sounds into instruments.

Tobin's last few albums have been as heavy on ambience and abstraction as on piecemeal beats, and ISAM is no different.  Melodies are interwoven into unsettling mixtures of timbre, which often come together to sound like one gigantic, mechanized alien insect wielding a lightsaber.  There are cuts of recognizable instruments, such as guitar or bells, but they're often just a layer in a greater sea of sound.

Interestingly, ISAM marks the first time that Tobin has recorded his own vocals for an album, and at times they're manipulated to sound like a woman or a young boy.  As one might imagine, they're rarely used in a traditional manner — except for the weird falsetto harmonies of "Kitty Cat," which might just foreshadow an Amon Tobin "pop" album.

Tobin's live plans for ISAM are just as unconventional as his style, as he's planning to tour with a "multidimensional / shape-shifting 3-D art installation" to complement his music.  The album also is being released as a limited-edition art book that includes images of the collaborative installation between Tobin and visual artist Tessa Farmer, whose miniature insect-versus-humanoid creations adorn the album.

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Boris: Attention Please + Heavy Rocks (2011) (Sargent House)

Boris: "Hope" (Attention Please)

Boris: "Riot Sugar" (Heavy Rocks)

The prolific output and stylistic convergence of Boris has been difficult enough to track over the past 15 years, so fittingly, the Japanese post-metal trio has made things more confusing and released two brand-new albums at once — one of which shares the same name (and same art with a different color scheme) as a previous album but that has entirely new music.

Attention Please is the first of the two releases, and it highlights Boris' softer side, showcasing guitarist Wata's delicate vocals against an alt-rock, art-rock, and dance-infused backdrop.  Ambient, echoing soundscapes transition to moments of soft electronic/acoustic rumination ("You"), psychedelic solos ("Tokyo Wonder Land"), and classical guitar ("Aileron," which gets a long drone-sludge reprise on Heavy Rocks).  It's up and down but shows a potentially exciting new direction for the band.

The new Heavy Rocks, however, makes this worth the price of admission.  Sharing a name with the band's 2002 album, it highlights Boris' recent strength: mixing sludgy, down-tuned riffage with psych effects, punk beats, and soft vocal harmonies.  But it also combines plenty of the other elements that Boris has incorporated over the years, and these two albums are much more than a soft/heavy dichotomy.

(For the record, Boris actually has a third new album — titled, naturally, New Album.  It shares most of its songs with Attention Please and the 2011 version of Heavy Rocks but only has been released in Japan.)

Venetian Snares: Cubist Reggae EP (Planet Mu)

Venetian Snares: "The Identification Circles Levitate"

Tireless breakcore artist Venetian Snares (a.k.a. Aaron Funk) is a master at keeping listeners guessing, and his latest EP explores more new territory: reggae.

This, however, is reggae as only Funk could produce, as referenced by the album's title.  Guitar samples are chopped, warped, and mangled into oddly metered IDM.  Certain moments, unless you're listening closely for the samples, can sound devoid of Jamaican influence all together, resembling something more like the darker orchestral moments of My Downfall (Original Soundtrack).

Though the EP is brief — and contains a rather misleading first track with creepy spoken-word vocals — it's another notable release by one of electronic music's most adventurous explorers.

Honorable Mentions

Alpinist: Lichtlaern / Minus.Mensch (Southern Lord)

David Bazan: Strange Negotiations (Barsuk)

Dels: Gob (Big Dada)

Face Candy: Waste-Age Teenland (Rhymesayers)

Friendly Fires: Pala (XL)

Inevitable End: The Oculus (Relapse)

King Creosote & Jon Hopkins: Diamond Mine (Domino)

Efrim Manuel Menuck: High Gospel (Constellation)

Nicole Mitchell: Awakening (Delmark)

Thurston Moore: Demolished Thoughts (Matador)

Vieux Farka Touré: The Secret (Six Degrees)

Helms Alee: "New Roll"

With fresh sea legs, Seattle’s Helms Alee has not only put out a spectacular debut album, Night Terror, but also forged a sound all its own — part metal, part post-punk, part melody-driven rock, and all abandon.

“We started playing about October of 2006,” says guitarist/vocalist Ben Verellen. “We thought we’d get together and just jam around, play our thing. It quickly grew into doing a band.”

Shortly after these initial sessions, drummer Hozoji Matheson-Margullis joined up. “I was just talking to Annie — oh, Annie’s real name is Hozoji — and she said, ‘Well, I’m a drummer,’” Verellen says. “I got embarrassed because I hadn’t already asked her [to play with us]. We figured out pretty quickly that she worked well. We try not to be too calculated about anything. That might be an easier way to define something that’s a little more…something that sounds less contrived. We just stick it all together and it’s…it’s just a lot of drinking and smoking grass in the practice space.”

If that appears to be a crap-shoot of sorts, its sound is, in fact, unapologetically so. “[Bassist] Dana [James] and I laugh about it because we have no idea, but we both decided to say that it’s just a rock band,” Verellen says. “I mean, we take stuff from the heavier side, the metal, but we also have our other things going on. There is no ‘A’ part, ‘B’ part, ‘C’ part; everything is in kind of its own weird place.”
 

"There is no ‘A’ part, ‘B’ part, ‘C’ part; everything is in kind of its own weird place.”

Think of Neurosis joining up with The Breeders for a quick outing into the wilderness. If the music isn’t striking enough, the name Helms Alee is even a bit mysterious. “It’s a sailing thing,” Verellen explains. “About four years ago, one of my buddies and I bought an old, beat-up sailboat and tried to learn how to sail. We got really into the strange terminology, and that was one of the terms that you’re supposed to yell. ‘Helms alee’ means to watch out when you’re swinging the boat around, because the boom swinging overhead could knock you into the water. I thought that it was pretty neat and that it fit the band pretty well.”
 

Photo: Faith Coloccia

The band took a short West Coast tour in November of 2008 with Verellen’s old pals Minus the Bear. “[We were driving] across the state of California and ended up right in the middle of all those forest fires and lightning storms,” Verellen says of an old trip. “We were going on this mountain, and there’s fucking smoke everywhere, in our faces, and…sorry, this isn’t very interesting. I don’t do interviews. I have no quirky stories to tell."

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)

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The Glitch Mob: Drink the Sea – The Remixes, Vol. 1 & 2 (Download to Donate)

The Glitch Mob: "Fistful of Silence" (Eskmo remix)

Formerly a four-piece of electronic musicians, The Glitch Mob is now a trio of artists who each have released music individually.  Despite only self-releasing one full-length album together, which came in 2010, the group has achieved remarkable success and visibility thanks to digital mixtapes and high-profile remixes, including some for TV on the Radio, Coheed and Cambria, and Linkin Park.

Now, to remember and help the victims of the earthquake in Haiti one year ago, The Glitch Mob is releasing two volumes of remixes of Drink the Sea, the group’s full-length debut.  The first volume will be available on January 12, exactly one year after the earthquake, and the second will be released one month later, on February 12.

The group’s own material isn’t as “glitched” as you might expect from the band’s name, but it covers a few different electronic bases, from heavy drum-and-bass to dubstep grooves to sultry electronica.  There’s a focus on gritty synthesizers, squiggly effects, and big, thunderous beats, and a lot of it flirts with electro-rock, sort of akin to The Qemists but without the straight-up dance elements.

The remixes are a unique batch of variations from King Britt, DJ Vadim, Eskmo, Deru, and nearly 20 more established electronic artists.   Some of the best moments are the extra instrumental inclusions, from Jogger’s distorted and possibly African-inspired guitar on “Between Two Points” to Salva’s faux tablas on “How to Be Eaten by a Woman.”

If you love remixes or just great electronic music with hooks, buy both of these volumes to benefit a great cause, and then go back and buy the original version of Drink the Sea.  Both volumes are available from the Download to Donate campaign of non-profit organization Music for Relief.

X-Ray Press: UVB-76

X-Ray Press: "Holy Ghost"

A ’90s-style alt/math-rock band from the Pacific Northwest, X-Ray Press uses its sophomore release to combines melody and harmony with powerful rock beats, noisy effects, and challenging, circling rhythms.  The music is built around the dual vocals and instrumental interplay of guitarist Paurl Walsh and bassist Michael Pasuit, but explosive drumming as well as distorted keyboards and Rhodes piano are just as vital to the album’s success.

That Rhodes, which was “prepared” using felt stoppers and felt scraps, provides great breaks in style throughout the album in the form of neoclassical interludes.  The rest of the music has a lot of harmonizing, progressive, post-hardcore riffs akin to Volta Do Mar or Don Caballero, but it also has a definite Shudder to Think vibe, particularly with vocal elements that are reminiscent of Craig Wedren's quirkiness.  At other times, the vocals even recall a raspy Dave Grohl, but they always achieve an original balance.

Ballaké Sissoko & Vincent Ségal: Chamber Music (Six Degrees)

Ballaké Sissoko & Vincent Ségal: "Histoire de Molly"

Combining traditional West African music with Western classical, Malian kora virtuoso Ballaké Sissoko and French cellist Vincent Ségal have just released their first collaboration, a beautiful and striking collection mostly of instrumental duets.  Sikssoko has released more collaborative albums than solo works, proving his instrument’s modern adaptability, and though this release doesn’t push too many boundaries, it’s an excellent fusion of sounds.

The harp-like sounds of the kora are a warm complement to the deep, vibrating strikes of the cello, which frequently shifts from bowed to plucked passages.  Chamber Music also features a handful of guest vocal and string parts as well as some light percussion, but at its heart is the interplay between these two dynamic musicians.

Kayo Dot: Stained Glass EP (Hydra Head)

Kayo Dot: "Stained Glass" excerpt

Since its formation in 2003, avant-rock outfit Kayo Dot has undergone frequent lineup changes and stylistic shifts, but uniting it all has been the adventurous, long-form compositions of multi-instrumentalist Toby Driver.  The band’s wandering creations vary from savage to beautiful to noisy and ambient, and its newest release, the 20-minute Stained Glass EP, is one long piece that embraces all of those characteristics, albeit without much of its previously established heaviness.

Sadly, Stained Glass comes after the passing of Yuko Sueta, a close friend of the band who also wrote the story and text that accompanied the band’s last album, Coyote.

Musically, Stained Glass uses the vibraphone of Russell Greenberg to provide a calming, unifying element to a long track that presents distorted bass, horns, woodblocks, soft vocals, and assorted keyboards.  There’s an unassuming, atmosphere-building guitar cameo by Trey Spruance, the mastermind behind Secret Chiefs 3, but Stained Glass doesn’t have firm segments to latch onto.  Fans of Kayo Dot, however, have generally come to expect that, and they should love Stained Glass all the same.

Matt Ulery’s Loom: Flora. Fauna. Fervor. (482 Music)

Matt Ulery's Loom: "Great Full"

With diverse influences and an ear for melody, bassist Matt Ulery has been a standout in Chicago's jazz and improv scenes, performing in the classically inspired Eastern Blok and penning his own compositions for solo material and for the multifaceted jazz band Loom.  Now Loom is releasing its second album, Flora. Fauna. Fervor., with the goal of balancing its composer’s creations with the performances of its players.

The material does a great job of balancing those strengths, never allowing wild performances to take over and yet never getting too staid.  It flows from folksy chamber-jazz elegance to playful three-note grooves and to more traditional jazz structures.  Ulery never forces his bass lines to the fore, instead using them as melodic foundations for the additions of trumpet and sax, Wurlitzer electric piano, violin, and vibraphone.

Honorable Mentions

Abigail Washburn: City of Refuge (Rounder)

British Sea Power: Valhalla Dancehall (Rough Trade)

Basil Kirchin: Primitive London soundtrack (Trunk)

Lemuria: Pebble (Bridge Nine)

Tapes ‘N Tapes: Outside (Ibid)

Verbal Kent: Save Yourself

Wire: Red Barked Tree (Pink Flag)