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

In July, Chicago local David Cohn, better known as independent hip-hop artist Serengeti, dropped his first solo album on Anticon. The record, titled Family and Friends, showcases Cohn's informal rapping style, which gives the impression that he's just chillin’ with you in a bar, rattling off stories about somebody's junkie dad or a failed UFC fighter.

A follow-up to Cohn's 2009 release with Illinois native Polyphonic, Family and Friends also explores new sonic territory with producers Owen Ashworth of Advance Base and Yoni Wolf of Why?. The washed-out breakbeats on tracks like “PMDD” and “Ha-Ha” complement the more experimental electro-pop mixes of “ARP” and “The Whip.”

Cohn recently took some time to chat with us about his solo release, his current collaborative projects, and his future in film-making.

How do different producers’ styles and strengths complement the many sides of Serengeti?

Well, I have many sides, so working with great guys helps with that. I like to see what each producer does and work within what they do. I used to rap over beats that were already done. Advance Base, Yoni Wolf, the Breakfast Kings, Polyphonic, Jel, and Odd Nosdam are really the only cats I've actually sat down to work with. I definitely prefer that way.

What were the biggest differences or adjustments in working with Owen and Yoni for the new album?

With Yoni, I went out to his pad in Oakland, and we did our tunes in a week. With Owen, I'd take the El to his house and work once or twice a week on stuff. No real difference, really — both fellas were very easy to work with. I'd been trying to get it up with Owen for a while, so once we had our first session booked, I was a tad anxious, like, "Don't blow it." We did "Flutes," "PMDD," and "Kenny vs. Spring" in about two hours.

Shaun Koplow from Anticon hooked up the Yoni thing, so I was again feeling anxious when I flew out there, although we'd done some shows together on a tour. This was different, staying in a pad and such. We had a goal of a song a day, and we did it. Both fellas were great to hang out with, and I'd liked them for a long time, so it felt like a step in the right direction. Thanks, Owen, Yoni, and Shaun.

Some of your outlandish characters and narratives might lend themselves to theater, sketch comedy, or fictional memoirs. Have you ever thought about another type of stage career?

Yes. I'd love to. That's a whole different game; I'd have to do just as much hustling around as I do with tunes. I wish it were just as easy as having the desire, [but] just like everything, you gotta work for it. Last summer, in about a week's time, I got hit up to do a Kenny Dennis sitcom, a Kenny mockumentary, and a feature-length about Kenny trying to get Jueles back by reuniting Tha Grimm Teachaz. I was very excited; [I] even told my father. I normally keep this shit to myself for fear of being a clown, as most stuff doesn't work out, and sure enough, one by one, they all fell off. That's why I let my people just stumble on the stuff.

The best was when they played the "Dennehy" [video] on the WGN morning news. I got a call: "Son, saw you on TV with a mustache. What is this?" I thought that was funny. I'd love to do some film work. I haven't given up. Paul Matian and I have some thoughts, as do Alex Beh and I. Hopefully one day.

Can you give a headcount of how many characters you have? How many are biographical/autobiographical vs. fictional?

I had Lee, Kenny Dennis, and Derek. The only one I really mess with is Kenny, though. None of the characters are biographical.

Can you explain the "Kenny" character a bit for non-Chicagoans? How much Kenny is there in David?

[He's a] family guy, loves his sports, loves his wife, Jueles, [his] buds, and brother, Tanya. Not too many hangups, except for with Shaq (who dissed Kenny in the '90s, when he used to be a rapper in a group called the Tha Grimm Teachaz), and [he's] a generally great guy. I want to be like Kenny, a guy whose neighborhood loves him, has cookouts, loves his wife — an insider. I always felt like an outsider — dreamed of being an insider.

You have a crazy discography. Are you constantly brainstorming and writing new material?

I have a problem of checking out of life and living in my head. Instead enjoying or dealing with situations, I look at them and internalize them. Not too good.

What else is in the works?

I have this Grimm Teachaz about to drop on wax, an album I did with Jel and Odd Nosdam, a tape with Matthewdavid, an album with Advance Base, Josiah Wolf in the works, some tunes for movies (Sadermania is being shown at the Chicago International Film Festival in October), and other things.

Antonionian: "Into The Night"

This MP3 premiere comes courtesy of Antonionian, a.k.a. Anticon stalwart / multi-instrumentalist Jordan Dalyrmple. Dalrymple is known for his drumming and production work with Subtle (with Dose One and Jel), French-pop act General Elektriks, and experimental super-group 13 & God (The Notwist and Themselves).

Long behind the scenes, Antonionian is Dalrymple's solo project — a name inspired by the work of Italian cinema auteur Michelangelo Antonioni. Just as Antonioni's films explored themes of inescapable, materialistic hedonism, Antonionian's "Into the Night" features glossy, sparkling '80s synth lines, a dance beat, and funk guitar hurdling towards ecstasy. Watch for Antonionian's self-titled, full-length debut to drop on March 15 via Anticon.

Download the podcast for This Week’s Best Albums: November 16, 2010 and subscribe to This Week’s Best Albums for free with iTunes.

Stream the podcast for This Week's Best Albums: November 16, 2010.

Black Francis: The Golem

Black Francis: "Miriam and Florian"

In 2008, the iconic Pixies frontman Black Francis — a.k.a. Frank Black — was invited by the San Francisco International Film Festival to write a score for The Golem: How He Came into the World, the classic 1920 silent film and prequel to the 1915 film The Golem.  Black took the challenge, performing an hour-and-a-half of material as a live accompaniment, and earlier this year, he released a limited edition of the music alongside a DVD.

Now the quirky singer/songwriter is self-releasing most of the music individually, reordering it, and billing it as a rock opera.  Most of the material remains unaltered from its earlier recorded forms — the biggest difference, largely, is that this pairs down the reprises and extra song versions.

The music is easily recognized as Black Francis, but it establishes a playful, campy vibe thanks to harpsichord, saxophone, bass clarinet, and flute parts as well as string melodies that are played in reverse.  The challenge, ultimately, was a success, and The Golem shows a new side to an already multifaceted musician.

Jesu: Heart Ache & Dethroned (Hydra Head)

Jesu: "Annul"

Multi-instrumentalist Justin K. Broadrick has been involved in many boundary-crossing industrial, metal, and electronic bands — including Godflesh, Techno Animal, and Final — but these days, he's best known for his post-metal/shoe-gaze work as Jesu (and its electronic offshoot, Pale Sketcher).

Jesu's debut came back in 2004 with the Heart Ache EP, which presented two behemoth 20-minute tracks that were slow and doomy yet covered a lot of sonic territory.  Now Hydra Head Records has re-released Heart Ache and packaged it with a new EP of unreleased material, called Dethroned.

Much of the Dethroned EP was written and recorded in 2004, but Broadrick didn’t complete it until this year, and it better resembles the newer Jesu material – more concise, with seven-minute tracks instead of those 20-minute beasts.  The stylistic changes on Dethroned are a little more self-contained within each song, and though it still has heavy, occasionally chugging riffs, Broadrick’s vocals are more pronounced and airier, at times sounding vocoded.

Though Jesu only has three full-length albums since 2004, Broadrick's output under this name is expansive, and this is just the latest in a lengthy series of EPs.  Jesu fans already know the story, but because this is now packaged with Heart Ache, it presents a good starting point for the uninitiated.

Harmonious Bec: Her Strange Dreams (Monotreme)

Harmonious Bec: "Progress"

With members who go by ZaMaRoo and From Vapor to Water, Harmonious Bec is a relatively mysterious Japanese duo that makes exotic, far-reaching IDM.  Her Strange Dreams is the duo's debut, and it's a marvelous first effort.

The material is packed with hyperactive melodies, glitchy cut-ups, atmospheric effects, and sporadic dissonance.  Everything is cohesive, but from track to track, Her Strange Dreams is liable to take sharp turns.  "Funny Hierophant" combines massive drum-and-bass beats with glockenspiel and a harp-like instrument; "Shunrai" adds a quivering sample over a pretty piano line and a hip-hop beat; "Solitary Bonze Prayer" is a senses-altering journey through chopped-up vocal clips.

When put together, it channels more than a dozen electronic sub-genres — it builds upon some of the best genre-smashing artists that electronic music has to offer, such as Aphex Twin.  Undoubtedly, Her Strange Dreams is one of the best electronic releases of the year.

Serengeti & Polyphonic: Bells and a Floating World (Anticon)

Most known around their home base of Chicago, Serengeti and Polyphonic are a pair of unorthodox indie hip-hoppers who jumped to Anticon with their second LP, Terradactyl, in 2009.

Each has his hands in many forward-thinking releases.  Serengeti is particularly prolific, with too many projects and characters to list here.  (One such character, a sports-loving super fan, will be reprised on a forthcoming release with Anticon's Jel and Odd Nosdam.)

Bells and a Floating World, essentially, is a pair of combined EPs — six tracks of new material and six remixes featuring Why?, Jel, Son Lux, and others.  In the new material, Polyphonic's electro-classical style is every bit as vital as Serengeti's spoken-word musings and off-beat rhymes.

There are many great entry points to discover either artist, and listeners interested in this collaboration should start with Terradactyl.  After that, however, get this extra dose of strangeness and hear a few older tracks in a new way.

TOMO: Butterfly Dream and Other Guitar Works (Subvalent)

TOMO: "Carnival in Full Bloom"

TOMO – an acronym for Transcendental Organic Magical Objective — is a multi-instrumentalist and native of Japan who spent his late teens in Missouri, where he learned a bunch of folk-based styles of music (including blues, country, bluegrass, ragtime, and Dixieland jazz).  In addition to the guitar, he became proficient in the oud, saz, sitar, banjo, violin, hurdy gurdy, and more, and he later returned to Tokyo, where he picked up Middle Eastern and Indian techniques.

And if that weren't enough, he also is proficient with the saxophone, his instrument of choice in psychedelic improv trio Tetragrammaton.

Butterfly Dream and Other Guitar Works is TOMO's newest solo album.  There are scores of beautiful folk melodies, often care of super-fast finger-picking, and many tracks contain Eastern undertones as well as the hazy drone of the hurdy gurdy.  Ranging from slide-guitar blues to an Indian raga to a European waltz, the material is beautiful, intricate, and multicultural.

Soviet League: s/t (Angel Oven)

Soviet League: "Shylight"

Singer/songwriters Ben Eshbach and Matthew Kelly have a history in the LA underground, respectively fronting indie-rock bands The Sugarplastic and The Autumns.  By combining forces a few years ago, however, the two may have created something even better than what they've done individually — leading to a dense and masterful indie opus.

With the help of countless guest musicians, their new project, Soviet League, presents 12 meticulously crafted tracks, tapping into orch-pop, electronica, and Western music.  There are oodles of pretty guitar tones, big bass tones, and overabundant harmonies.  With the guest instruments, the music routinely crosses into baroque pop; there’s plenty of pizzicato strings, horns, marimba, glockenspiel, organ, and whistling.

Certain tracks, naturally, are denser than others.  "Row," the album's opener, is a lighthearted rock romp, whereas "All the Sailors Wave Goodbye" is a complex exhibition of classical technique.  Most of the album falls somewhere between these ends of the spectrum, and the music will appeal to both casual and hardcore music lovers.

The Soviet League debut threatens to be one of the best indie-rock albums of 2010.  No matter your tastes, if you love pop music, you’ll love this.

Honorable Mentions

Ranjit Barot: Bada Boom (Abstract Logix)

Ches Smith & These Arches: Finally Out of My Hands (Skirl)

Norah Jones: …Featuring Norah Jones (Blue Note)

Lavinia: There is Light Between Us (The Mylene Sheath)

Stereolab: Not Music (Drag City)

Bjørn Torske: Kokning (Smalltown Supersound)

Themselves: "You Ain't It"

Themselves: Crownsdown

Meet Adam “Doseone” Drucker and Jeff “Jel” Logan. Raised in completely different fashions — Drucker in hippie idealism in Idaho, and Logan in the city of Chicago — the two simultaneously developed a love of hip hop. When they met through a tape trade in 1998, and joined forces as hip-hop duo Themselves, it was the beginning of journey filled with triumphs, tragedy, experimentation, and perseverance. After a six-year hiatus, Themselves came back in 2009 with its most impressive album to date, Crownsdown.

In 1997, the members of Themselves helped to co-found Anticon Records, an artist-run hip-hop collective that early on was based out of Drucker’s adopted homes of Cincinnati, Ohio and Portland, Maine. Themselves released its debut album Them in 1999, which featured Drucker’s machine-gun-paced introspective rhymes (which had landed him victories in countless underground freestyle battles) and Logan’s fresh-beat machine and unique, ear-catching production.

Themselves and the Anticon cooperative stood with the elite of the late-’90s underground: artists like Atmosphere, J Rawls, and Aesop Rock. “Back then we considered ourselves the next Guru and Premier,” Drucker comments. That same year, Themselves and the Anticon collective uprooted themselves from the Midwest and relocated to Northern California. As Drucker and Logan moved into a house with nine people and got jobs at the Bay Area’s iconic Amoeba Records, everything about how they saw life and hip hop changed.

“Prior to moving west, I considered myself a rap elitist, meaning I only listened to rap,” Drucker explains. “When I lived in Cincinnati, I only knew rappers, not musicians. When Jel and I moved to Oakland in 1999, we started meeting a ton of musicians. Right away our perspective started to change. Then we hooked up with Dax, a keyboardist and coworker at Amoeba. He opened the door to a whole new world for Jel and I.”

The addition of keyboardist Dax Pierson signaled big changes for Themselves. “Things were shifting,” Drucker says. “Before Subtle, Dax was in [Themselves] playing our music. After a while, it was apparent that Dax was experiencing angst about playing music he didn’t help create. Also, the exposure to new genres and sounds made us want to journey deeper into music, but Jeff and I were fairly limited in what we could do. Jeff was just starting to do live beat-machine playing, and I had never really picked up an instrument, much less a keyboard. We formed Subtle to go back to the basics [with instruments].”

Subtle, a six-member indie-electro ensemble, proved to be about far more than just going back to the basics. Driven by innovative, instrumental electronic music, a massive infusion of Jack Kerouac / Bob Kaufman-inspired poetic prose, and telekinetic improvisation, Subtle became a phenomenon that crossed into indie-rock audiences as well.

After releasing several well-received singles, “Long Vein of the Law,” “F.K.O.,” and “The Mercury Craze,” the group attained street credibility, which gave it the opportunity to travel the world several times over. “Things that seemed unattainable in Themselves suddenly became within sight in Subtle,” Drucker notes.

Though Subtle was praised for being creative and original, it also was on the receiving end of criticism. “There was all this back talk,” Drucker says. “People and rappers alike were like, ‘What are these guys doing?’ and ‘Where’s Dose’s rhymes?’ But I was making what I had to make. There is no oath I took that binds me to a sequence of doing certain things, or paying a definite amount of dues. The more that people expressed their issues about what they felt were my issues, the more their angst became apparent to me.”

A tragic tour-van accident in 2005 left Dax Pierson paralyzed from the neck down. “Dax’s tragedy was a nightmare that none of us wanted to live,” Drucker says. “But luckily, with technology today, he’s able to live a meaningful life, and he continues to contribute to what we do musically.”

Armed with lessons learned from artistic growth, human tragedy, and everyday life, Drucker and Logan decided to pick up where they left off with Themselves. “We’ve always been a rap group,” Druker says. “And although some people out there forgot that, we never did.”

To signify the return, Themselves produced two releases. The first was the FreeHoudini mixtape, an album disguised as a mixtape available for free download and made “to be more boundless and to get the stupid shit out of our system — like playing the refrigerator.” The second album, Crownsdown, is “the record that we wanted to make when we made the Them record,” Drucker says.

“Crownsdown is our interpretation of a classic rap record, meaning that it has certain types of songs on it that all of the records we consider classic contain,” he continues. “There are ‘don’t fuck with my crew’ songs, ‘don’t fuck with me’ songs, ‘don’t fuck with what I’ve worked so hard on’ songs, love songs. We tried to build this record from an architect’s perspective.”

From the first moment of the first track to the end of the last, Themselves fans and newcomers alike will be knocked back by the intensity, clarity, and catchiness of Crownsdown. It is a record full of thick, gritty beats, 100-MPH rhymes, and — perhaps most importantly — focus. “In Subtle and before, I was rhyming about death and really [a] broad scope [of] stuff that were more of inner monologues. In Crownsdown, I’ve really zoomed in on specific topics, which allowed the rhymes to come together and sound cleaner instead of forced or even contrived.”

With one listen to Crownsdown, released in late 2009, it seems that the six-year hiatus paid off. Logan and Drucker now have skills in hand to both reinvent the genre they helped define and to make an impression on the music world as a whole. “We’d like to think that this record will change things, make a statement,” Drucker says. “But who knows? All I know is that we play a style of live, improvised hip hop that doesn’t seem to exist yet.”

More collaborative projects by Jel, Odd Nosdam, and Serengeti are soon to come, with a project in the works for 2011.

Heavy Trash: Midnight Soul Serenade (Fat Possum)

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

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

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

Themselves: CrownsDown (Anticon)

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

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

Minamo: Kuroi Kawa: Black River (Tzadik)

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

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

Honorable mentions:

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

Diamond Watch Wrists

Each maintaining a busy 2009, Guillermo Scott Herren (Prefuse 73, Savath & Savalas) and Zach Hill (Hella, Bygones) join forces to create Diamond Watch Wrists, a project that holds elements of each artist but sounds unlike what one might imagine their collaboration to be.

Like Hill's 2008 solo record, Ice Capped at Both Ends is very much a pop record, for as unconventional as both records may be.  Reverberated, multi-layered vocals guide each track, similarly to Savath & Savalas, and Hill's beats are as focused and straightforward as they've been in a while.  Effects and ambiance hold important roles, but Herren's electronic Prefuse work essentially is a nonfactor here.

Given the impending release of the next Savath & Savalas release, it's an interesting time to release Ice Capped at Both Ends, but at first glimpse, the S&S disc contains more elements of Herren's initimable work as Prefuse 73.  It seems that we've entered an impressive stretch of Herren's creative legacy.

Themselves: theFREEhoudini (Anticon)

After a seven-year hiatus, Anticon hip-hop duo Themselves (Doseone and Jel) has returned with this free (for 90 days) "mixtape."  Consisting of one 39-minute track, the release serves as a self-remixed album and teaser for the duo's third full-length album, CrownsDown, due in August.

Doseone's nasally delivery is as aggressive as ever, presenting less of the high-pitched anti-raps from his work in Subtle. Jel's breakbeats carry the well-balanced mix, and hip-hop bedfellows Aesop Rock, Slug, Busdriver, and Yoni Wolf make well-placed appearances.  Like the duo's respective careers, theFREEhoudini is a compelling, original endeavor.

Soap&Skin: Lovetune for Vacuum (PIAS)

Austrian singer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, and actress Anja Franziska Plaschg holds musical ability and power that is stunning for her age of 18.

On Lovetune for Vacuum, Plaschg's debut album, powerful, melancholy harmonies pour out of her throat and piano in contrast to softer, somber exchanges.  Vocal overdubs, pounding low keys, ominous sample, and bits of violin and electronics augment the main melodies as Plaschg channels influences from Bjork, Aphex Twin, and Sergei Rachmaninoff.  Prepare to hear a lot about Plaschg in the coming years.

Soap&Skin: "The Sun"
Soap&Skin: \"The Sun\"

Nadja: When I See the Sun Always Shines on TV (The End)

This interesting cover EP continues a highly prolific streak for Canadian heavy/ambient duo Nadja, which has a pair of upcoming albums due later in 2009 — one of which is a double release.

Foreseeable innovators like My Bloody Valentine and Swans are covered in baths of fuzz, feedback, and synthesizers, but less-predictable favorites such as Slayer, The Cure, Elliot Smith, and A-Ha also are turned on their heads.  Preexisting fans of Nadja and electro-noise dirge enthusiasts should both greatly enjoy this one.

Corey Wilkes & Abstrakt Pulse: Cries from tha Ghetto (Pi)

Trumpeter Corey Wilkes' debut album as a bandleader, Drop It, was released just 10 months ago on storied jazz/blues label Delmark Records.  The funky debut contained quirky soul jazz with moments of extended solos and improvisation, but Wilkes digs back to a bebop-fueled sound for this new release with his group Abstrakt Pulse.

Featuring the reed work of Kevin Nabors and the exemplary melodic guitar licks of Scott Hesse, the sextet fuses some 1960s Blue Note-era jazz with the freeform influence of Lester Bowie, a lauded experimentalist whose seat Wilkes filled for the Art Ensemble of Chicago.  The fusion on Cries from tha Ghetto isn't smashing any boundaries, but its execution is top notch.  Highly recommended for jazz heads.

Corey Wilkes & Abstrakt Pulse: "Visionary of an Abstrakt"
Corey Wilkes & Abstrakt Pulse: \"Visionary of an Abstrakt\"

Themselves @ The Empty Bottle (Chicago)

After a six-year hiatus, Anticon hip-hop duo Themselves (Doseone and Jel) has returned and will issue a third full-length album, CrownsDown, in August.  In advance of the anticipated release, the two get back on the stage during this early-spring North American tour.

Friday, March 27 & Saturday, March 28

Wil Blades Organ Trio @ Green Mill (Chicago)

An ascending jazz organist, Chicago native and San Francisco resident Wil Blades returns to the Green Mill with his Hammond B3 and luminous local guitarist Jeff Parker (Tortoise), who will join an unannounced drummer for Blades' classic, easygoing jazz sounds.

Meanwhile, Mike Patton has kept busy with yet another project — scoring his first feature film, Crank 2: High Voltage (out April 17).  His soundtrack for A Perfect Place, a short film noir, was one of last year's best albums.

In an interview with BBC, Adam Yauch of the Beastie Boys describes the group's next album, Tadlock's Glasses, as being a combination of live playing and obscure samples.  The album is expected to be out later this year.

Rapping virtuoso Doom — dropping the "MF" — has a new album, Born Like This, that will be out March 23 on Lex Records.

After a six-year hiatus, Anticon hip-hop duo Themselves (Doseone and Jel) has returned and will issue a third full-length album, CrownsDown, in August.

Definitive Jux rapper Cage has a new album, Depart From Me, that will be out June 30.  In the coming months, he'll also release a free EP, I Never Knew You, available through Def Jux and Adult Swim.

Mogwai has announced a new North American tour, running from April 20 to May 16.

Dinosaur Jr. has signed to Jagjaguwar and announced a five-week US tour that runs through April.  For these "intimate" shows, concertgoers will receive either a limited-edition 7" or a free digital download.

Atmosphere has announced a lengthy North American tour that runs from April 9 to May 22. The hip-hop duo gets great direct support from P.O.S. from April 9-24.

Psychedelic Cambodian pop-rock group Dengue Fever will provide musical accompaniment to the 1925 silent adaptation of The Lost World during the San Francisco International Film Festival on May 5.

Grizzly Bear's new album, Veckatimest, will be released May 26 on Warp.

One-man grind project Toxic Holocaust has announced a North American tour with Napalm Death that runs from early April to mid-May.

Ennio Morricone

Legendary film-score composer Ennio Morricone will write music for Inglorious Bastards, Quentin Tarantino's next film. Whether he has enough time to score the whole film remains to be seen.

Undefinable folk/hip-hop crossover artist Tim Fite has posted a video for "Big Mistake," his single from Fair Ain't Fair (Anti-). Watch it here.

Fellow Anti- artist and somber, raspy crooner William Elliot Whitmore now has "Old Devils" posted on the label's website. "Old Devils" is a track from Animals in the Dark, his new album due in February.

In promotion of its five-part series of remix records, electro-grind trio Genghis Tron has posted a track from the third volume. Head to the group's remix-specific MySpace page to hear Danny Lohner (of Nine Inch Nails) remix "Board Up the House."

Gorgeous electro-acoustic duo Lymbyc Systym has announced dates for its first European tour. The dates span two weeks and can be seen at its MySpace page.

Ambient horror soundtrack artists Zombi have released the cover artwork for their upcoming album, Spirit Animals, which will be released on February 3, 2009. The cover art is pretty freakin' awesome.

Multi-talented folk artist and loop specialist Andrew Bird has posted US tour dates for January and February in support of Noble Beast, his upcoming full-length due in winter. For now, fans can listen to "Oh No," the album's first track. Melodic genre masher Dosh opens for Bird at Carnegie Hall.

Blistering metal maniacs Burnt by the Sun have posted the first demo track, "F-Unit," from their long-awaited third full-length. The track, which will be on the group's first album since 2003, can be heard at its MySpace page.

Danish psychobilly/alt-country/surf-influenced trio Powersolo has uploaded "Murder in SFAX" to its MySpace page. The song will be on the group's upcoming album, which will be available in March.

Indie hip-hop label Anticon has announced a 10th anniversary show in New York City. The event will be held at The Knitting Factory and feature Themselves (Doseone, Jel), Yoni Wolf of Why?, Sole, Alias, Buck 65, Odd Nosdam, and more.

In a total no-brainer, GQ has named Nick Cave its "Rock 'n' Roll Badass of the Year."