Jerseyband: "The Glad Hand" (Beast Wedding, self-released, 6/11/09)

On stage, a costumed septet prepares to unleash a serious sonic force that belies its members’ festooned bodies. An all-male horned frontline of three saxophonists and a trumpeter is adorned in women’s clothing, a red cape, and a spiky foam wig, belting out furious riffs that weave back and forth atop a syncopated, polymetered math-metal foundation.

The trumpeter unleashes a harrowing scream, and the music darts to a quick brass motif reminiscent of The Green Hornet before the all-male rhythm section — a bassist in a dress, a guitarist in a lab coat, and a drummer in a tank top — pounds out down-tuned accompaniment as the saxophones create one giant, unwieldy power chord. After a rapid-fire call and response and a prolonged groove, the horns switch to a somber harmony, which transitions to one final math-rock breakdown.

On any given night, in any given song, this might be Jerseyband, the self-bestowed musical merchants of “lungcore.” Remarkably tight for men in costumes, this New York City outfit is unconcerned with musical demarcations, fusing its unconventional lineup into a browbeating dynamism. In another context, the group’s softer, fluttering, neo-classical moments might conjure thoughts of a jazz ensemble or pit orchestra. But with brutal metal influences such as Meshuggah and Pig Destroyer, Jerseyband won’t soon be mistaken for Benny Goodman.

“I think that it’s hard to say what the direction is with this band,” baritone saxophonist Alex Hamlin says. “I think that it still lies firmly in solid rhythm and groove, and unexpected changes within that construct. What fascinates me most about Meshuggah is how it maintains an element of solid groove backbeat, but then there are subtle layers of rhythm going on. There may be a couple phrases going on at the same time, rhythmically, which is really just fascinating.”
 

"When people leave the show, I want them to say, 'The music was nonstop intensity, and the whole time their nipples were on fire, and during the third song, they built a machine that launched hot dogs into the audience.'"

This focus on recurrent and concurrent rhythms is as evident as ever on Beast Wedding, the group’s new album and first studio recording since 2005 that, at press time, was being shopped to a handful of labels. Much of the new material dates back to Jerseyband’s previous release, the excellently mixed 2007 live album Lung Punch Fantasy, but it has benefited from another few years of incubation and performance.

Entirely new songs, such as Beast Wedding opener “The Glad Hand,” churn with unrelenting force as bass-drum triplets, pitch harmonics, and layered horn vibratos accent massive head-banging breakdowns. “The Queen’s Laser” has a distinct black-metal element, and the disc’s penultimate track, “Private Parts,” is a subdued affair that includes one of Beast Wedding’s few moments of clean guitar.

Throughout the album, the band’s main structure — horned frontline versus metal rhythm section — becomes ever more blended, and any instrument can lead any song at any time. The horns are still the crux of the band, but the songwriting has taken a more egalitarian approach.

“Horns and rhythm section is a convenient way to abbreviate the structure of the band,” tenor saxophonist Ed RosenBerg says, “and that is certainly where our music began when we first formed. But now I think that the compositions have orchestrationally advanced in such a way that practically every song has its own unique sub-grouping of the seven voices. In fact, most songs are constantly changing in that regard. Like, for these two bars, I am doubling the guitar line, but then the trumpet takes over doing that while I shift to a line with the bass and bari sax. It’s always shifting and moving like that.”

Vocals also play a more prominent role on Beast Wedding, as trumpeter Brent Madsen bellows a sporadic mixture of black-metal screams and growls and Hamlin includes a bit of his “smoker’s voice.” Lung Punch Fantasy featured its share of screams, grunts, and spoken-word vocals, but Madsen’s voice is more focal than ever, capable of dominating a passage with raw power.

“People often associate [screaming] with anger, but I look at more as just a sound, a very intense and penetrating thing that a voice can do,” Rosenberg says.

Formed 10 years ago, Jerseyband has roots in the Eastman School of Music at the University of Rochester in New York. Hamlin, RosenBerg, and guitarist Ryan Ferreira each partook in the same improvisation workshop, where the three viewed recitals as “real performances,” performing brief, convulsive pieces — often in costumes — as a group called Bambe.

“The concept was to see how many songs we could come up with that were a minute or less in length,” Hamlin says. “That was sort of the antithesis of improv class — improvise over a form.” Laughing, he continues, “We kind of took it in a different direction. We wrote in sections like ‘improvise here,’ but it was sort of a blitz exercise in jingle writing. But the result was really fun; we came up with these spastic, schizophrenic jingles. In our eyes, it was a success.”

As a result of the class, Jerseyband was created around the concept of “music nuggets” and sections of improv, but shifting circumstances and personnel altered the trajectory of the group’s “anything goes” arrangements. Now the band’s material is almost entirely composed, with each song’s writer responsible for every instrument, including drums.

“Because of the circumstances, we’ve been required to compose more and more,” Hamlin says. “It turned into, ‘Well, we really like composing.’ This isn’t quite jazz; it’s more like some weird jazz-rock bastard project. This basically turned into a laboratory for us horn guys.”

But the band’s audio isn’t its only scripted element. In an effort to thank its audience and establish a visual boundary between listeners and performers, Jerseyband puts together those goofy, garish outfits for its onstage wardrobe. This notion has worked its way into the first photo session for Beast Wedding, featuring the band split into three grooms, three brides, and a monk. Only time will tell whether these newest band uniforms appear on stage, but crowds can be sure that they’ll see something unorthodox at a Jerseyband show.

“Unless everyone at the show has their eyes closed,” RosenBerg says, “their feelings about the show will be based on two primary sources of input: what is sounds like and what it looks like. We just want it to look a little bit like it sounds — invite the audience to go a little crazy with us. Costumes and abstract dance are frequent means to that end. When people leave the show, I want them to say, ‘The music was nonstop intensity, and the whole time their nipples were on fire, and during the third song, they built a machine that launched hot dogs into the audience.”

Hamlin adds, “[Wearing costumes] says that we took the time to think about what we were going to wear for you. In addition to this ridiculous music, you get some ridiculous garb. Awesome.”

Seven That Spells: Future Retro Spasm (Beta-Lactam Ring, 5/20/10)

Seven That Spells: "Olympos"

Morrow: Based in Zagreb, Croatia, Seven That Spells plays a powerhouse fusion of psychedelic rock, math and jazz influences, and full-tilt drumming assaults.  The group, originally a power trio, is led by guitarist/keyboardist Niko Potočnjak but has undergone radical changes in its lineup over its relatively brief tenure, and its last album, Cosmoerotic Dialogue with Lucifer, was a noisy, progressive, multi-drummer attack on the senses.

Future Retro Spasm features the return of saxophonist Lovro Zlopaša (who appeared on Black Om Rising in 2008), but this time around, he steals the spotlight.  His sax lines, often interwoven with each other, are the album's driving melodic force, and their interplay with Potočnjak's acid-soaked riffs is spectacular.  With that deft relationship and the brawn of the rhythm section, 12-minute jams seem to pass in half the time.

Hajduch: One cool thing about this album is that it has a few sweet galloping parts with a one-note bass line.  As the bass keeps a sturdy anchor, the drums shuffle at double time but with a consistent snare on the 2 and 4.  The result is "jazzy" and "flashy" but feels heavy, because there is still a groove to hold onto.

When the bass gets "complicated" (three notes at one point during the song "G"), the guitar situates itself as a new rhythmic center — a single octave, repeated on every quarter note.  The octave eventually gives way to a six-note scale that is mutated and mirrored and eventually is buried in the interplay with the saxophone.  At the exact moment that the streams get crossed, the tempo and riff are abruptly transplanted to parts unknown.  The effect is not disorienting or wanky but seems declarative: this is the moment that we exhausted this idea, and now we are exploring a different one.

Elsewhere, as on the 14-minute "The Abandoned World of Automata," this type of math/tech logic takes a backseat to slow-burn psychedelia, to fantastic results.  The interplay between the sax and the guitar is really something, especially as the song hits its final crescendo around the 13-minute mark.  It is a totally captivating track, showcasing a band of members adept at jumping from lead to rhythm and back again, with a jazz-combo ear for when and how to do so.

Morrow: Absolutely, and Seven That Spells has that common thread with a few of my favorite bands — mixing heaviness and horns to perfection, like Zu and Jerseyband.  But compared to those groups, this is much more in the progressive camp, with swirling guitar leads and horn harmonies over thumping, tom-heavy beats.  It's much closer to Omar Rodriguez Lopez than Meshuggah, although the drumming often crosses into metal with occasional double-bass blasts.

Oh, and there's one other unifying element on Seven That Spells albums: lots of naked chicks.

Hajduch: I was previously unfamiliar with the band, and I just have a single-disc promo (no artwork), so I was unable to see these "lots of naked chicks."  If anybody out there on the Internet has any idea how to use the World Wide Web to fix that problem, please let me know in the comments.  I'm dying here.

Making an impressive debut on Other Electricities, Nashville duo Tallest Trees is the union of two separate projects — an expansive solo experiment by Thomas Samuel (who began as Tallest Trees) and the looped-cello project of Dabny Morris (dubbed Human Voice).

Together, the two have created their own brand of off-kilter pop, weaving weird effects and echoing vocal harmonies over malleable foundations.

Each element — whether a wash of distorted guitars, a toy piano, or hymn-like singing — combines with the others to create a well-meshed, unique whole.  Glitches, found sounds, feedback, and more give The Ostrich or the Lark a warm, welcome feel.  It's a beautiful pop debut — one that will make many take notice.

Tallest Trees: "Alouette!"
Tallest Trees: \"Alouette!\"

Boris & Ian Astbury: BXI EP (Southern Lord)

Globe-crossing collaborations have become substantially easier in the Internet age, but Greg Anderson and Stephen O'Malley of Southern Lord have facilitated a pleasant surprise: the collaboration of UK post-punk, goth-rock front man Ian Astbury and Japanese drone-metal trio Boris.

Best known as the voice of The Cult, Astbury is no stranger to collaboration; he was chosen for the 2002 Doors reunion and has recorded with UNKLE and a number of other musicians.  The surprise, in fact, is that his work over these four songs with Boris sounds so natural.

BXI showcases Boris' ability to fit Astbury's style with fist-pounding rock rawness.  But the final track, "Magickal Child," may be the best, combining Boris' doomy qualities with Astbury's vibrato-heavy vocals.  The one cover tune — a version of The Cult's "Rain" — is another standout, featuring Boris' Wata handling vocal duties.

Both parties must be pretty satisfied too, because co-performances are scheduled for the coming months, and they're already discussing a followup.  Wherever that leads, the result is sure to be just as interesting.

Boris & Ian Astbury: "Teeth and Claws"

Asphalt Orchestra: s/t (Cantaloupe)

Co-directed by Ken Thomson and Jessica Schmitz, Asphalt Orchestra is a 12-piece marching ensemble that performs brass-led covers of eclectic selections as well as commissions from esteemed songwriters.

Thomson and Schmitz have ridiculous résumés, but the rest of the lineup is no less preposterous in talent, featuring members of Jerseyband, Gutbucket, Balkan Beat Box, Barbez, and Slavic Soul Party, as well as bandleaders and contributors to ensembles such as Bang on a Can, Alarm Will Sound, So Percussion, and others.

The twelve-tet's self-titled debut is a luminous romp, reimagining tunes from Frank Zappa, Charles Mingus, Meshuggah, and Björk with equal ease.  The group also delivers beautiful commissions by Tyondai Braxton (Battles), Stew and Heidi Rodewald (The Negro Problem, Passing Strange), and composer Goran Bregovic.

With matching uniforms and a diverse songbook, Asphalt Orchestra draws comparisons to Chicago's Mucca Pazza.  This NYC ensemble, however, employs choreographed moves and even more crowd interaction.  If you get the chance, don't miss them on your street.

Asphalt Orchestra: "Electric Red" (Meshuggah)
Asphalt Orchestra: \"Electric Red\" (Meshuggah)

Esperanza Spalding: Chamber Music Society (Heads Up)

Still just 25 years old, multi-instrumentalist and vocalist Esperanza Spalding holds a glut of talents and a set of experiences that few can call their own.  And with African, Hispanic, Native American, and Spanish roots, Spalding has a heritage as diverse as her influences.

Her previous albums have mixed jazz singing, scatting, and down-tempo jazz with elements of chamber, Brazilian, and flamenco music.  For Chamber Music Society, her third full album, Spalding focuses on her chamber influences, albeit with bits of the other styles in the mix.

Best known as a bassist, Spalding has experience across various chamber instruments, and as a child prodigy, she became concertmaster of The Chamber Music Society of Oregon at age 15.  Clearly, the abilities never left, as Chamber Music Society is a collection of deliberate, delicate chamber-jazz tunes.

Spalding's vocals are less of a focal point, often used as accompaniment or absent for long stretches.  When they return, however, it's easy to hear why that aspect of her career is so celebrated.

Her next album, Radio Music Society, is in the works now and will explore funk, hip hop, and rock in genre-less creations.

Esperanza Spalding: "Short and Sweet"
Esperanza Spalding: \"Short and Sweet\"

Honorable Mentions

Brass Menazeri: Vranjski San (Porto Franco)

Camu Tao: King of Hearts (Def Jux / Fat Possum)

Chief: Modern Rituals (Domino)

Drivan: Disko (Smalltown Supersound)

Knights of the Abyss: The Culling of Wolves (Ferret)

Lissie: Catching a Tiger (Fat Possum)

Night Horse: Perdition Hymns (Tee Pee)

Orbs: Asleep Next to Science (Equal Vision)

Valkyrie: Man of Two Visions (Meteor City)

Menomena: Mines (Barsuk)

With its Barsuk debut (Friend and Foe) three and a half years ago, Menomena came to indie-rock prominence thanks to a junior effort that stood out amid a sub-genre that was exploding in the mainstream.

The trio's quirky arrangements, unorthodox instrument switching, and three-part harmonies generally won over critics. It has been a blog favorite ever since, but despite this popularity, the group was in no rush to churn out another release — even with a relative abundance of material.

Taking those three and a half years to craft and finalize Mines, Menomena now returns with a mature and focused 11-song affair. In a forthcoming ALARM print feature, the group's drummer and co-singer/songwriter, Danny Seim, explains, "We’re more interested in writing more concise pop melodies than on Friend and Foe."

And though Mines falls into "pop rock" categorization, each tune retains its own skewed sense of structure, and Menomena remains unclassifiable within the broader distinction. As on previous albums, the trio employs many wailing vocalizations, epic harmonies, and unique blends of instruments — including fuzzed-out bass grooves, rock-and-roll guitar leads, piano, stuttering brass riffs, string accompaniment, guitar slides, marimba, and keyboards.

Unfortunately, this is not enough to describe Menomena; listeners have to hear for themselves.

Menomena: "Queen Black Acid"
queen_black_acid

William Brittelle: Television Landscape (New Amsterdam)

A composer and former front man of The Blondes, William Brittelle demonstrates the possibilities of pop when filtered through classical instrumentation and progressive song structures.

Television Landscape is only Brittelle's sophomore effort, but it may prove to be his magnum opus. It's a concept album based on a "media-saturated, pre-apocalyptic world," with stated influences ranging from harmony champions The Beach Boys and Animal Collective to impressionist composers Maurice Ravel and Claude Debussy.

This ambitious undertaking is executed with the deft abilities of an all-star lineup, featuring members of So Percussion, Alarm Will Sound, Jerseyband and many other talented ensembles. "Sheena Easton," the album's first "single" and ode to the 1980s pop singer, puts many of the album's best elements on display via piano, strings, harp, rock-guitar solos, Brittelle's falsetto harmonies, and the Brooklyn Youth Chorus.

Other tracks have layers upon layers — many subtle, and many overt (horns, vocoder) — to create dense, interwoven soundscapes that twist and turn through movements. Brittelle's overarching theme and dramatic vocals unify Television Landscape, resulting in something of a classical rock opera. But no matter how you classify it, Television Landscape is a realized vision.

William Brittelle: "Sheena Easton"
William Brittelle: \"Sheena Easton\"

La Gritona: Demasiado Tonto Para Los Niños Listos / Demasiado Listo Para Los Niños Tontos 2xCD discography (Hydra Head)

Rescued from obscurity, the 41 tracks on this double-disc collection are the reflection of a powerful alt-rock sound whose heyday came too soon.

Headquartered in mid-1990s Boston, La Gritona took a definite influence from the Amphetamine Reptile roster, drawing upon elements of Helmet, Unsane, and The Jesus Lizard while channeling the vocal intensity of Henry Rollins.

The material is a dissonant, debauched mix of down-tuned guitars, distorted bass, mid-tempo beats, atonal vocals, and noise. A song such as "+2 Charisma" (bonus points for D&D reference) aptly summarizes the band's raw energy and repetitive power in just 63 seconds, and the collection's live tracks capture La Gritona's on-stage muscle.

La Gritona: "+2 Charisma"
+2_charisma

Jesca Hoop: Hunting My Dress (Vanguard)

[Originally appeared on This Week's Best Albums: December 15, 2009]

Having gained industry exposure via her contact with Tom Waits (as a nanny), songstress Jesca Hoop has released a series of well-regarded albums in the vein of Marissa Nadler, Mirah, and other enchanting folk artists.

Hoop, however, takes a few more chances with her production, and though the songs on this third full-length album are similar in tone and structure, it has enough differing elements to maintain a sound balance. Hoop's bewitching sound may be best epitomized by the beautiful harmonized overdubs of "Whispering Light," the album's opening track.

With a catchy cadence and rangy melodic progression, Hoop grabs listeners from the album's opening seconds. Her multi-tracked folk harmonies are the unquestioned highlight, but her steady acoustic guitar and instrumental complements make Hunting My Dress a complete, well-rounded work.

Released independently in the UK in November, Hunting My Dress is now available as a full US release after seeing imported availability in December of 2009.

Jesca Hoop: "Whispering Light"
whispering_light

Honorable Mentions

Blipvert: Quantumbuster Now EP (Eat Concrete)

Common Grackle: The Great Depression (Fake Four)

Cruel Hand: Lock and Key (Bridge 9)

Cut Chemist: Sound of the Police

Dale Earnhardt Jr. Jr.: The Horse Power EP (Quite Scientific)

Dead Kenny Gs: Bewildered Herd (Ropeadope Digital)

Decrepit Birth: Polarity (Nuclear Blast)

Madlib (Yesterday’s New Quintet): Medicine Show No. 7: High Jazz

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

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

Omar Rodriguez Lopez: "Family War Funding"

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

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

Kevin Hufnagel: "Tres"

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

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

P.O.S.: "Drumroll"

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

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

Zu: "Ostia"

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

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

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

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

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

16: "Throw in the Towel"

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

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

Umlaut: "Kitty Puppy"

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

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

Jono El Grande: "Oslo Coty Suite"

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

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

Kylesa: "Scapegoat"

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

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

Doom: "Cellz"

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

Dan Deacon: Bromst (Carpark, March 24)
This electro-spazz solo artist emphasizes live instrumentation for this anticipated follow-up to Spiderman of the Rings.  On Bromst, Deacon's sonic evolution is highlighted with lively marimba and glockenspiel melodies, live drums, and "real" singing.

Mastodon: Crack the Skye (Warner Bros., March 24)
Mastodon's publicity team has done a great job of building the buzz for Crack the Skye, an album whose themes deal with wormholes and astral travel.  Even if it turns out to be a disappointment, it likely will be better than 95% of all metal albums released this year.

Jerseyband: Beast Wedding (late March)
This incredible unsigned band is in the mixing stages of its new album, one that should further the band's "lungcore" style with mathy grooves, heavy horns, and metal breakdowns.

Staff Benda Bilili: Tres Tres Fort (Crammed Discs, April 7)
This group of paraplegic Congolese street musicians is releasing an album of inspiring material via Crammed Discs. The band's feel-good music will also be celebrated in a forthcoming documentary.

Karl Sanders: Saurian Exorcisms (The End, April 14)
The newest solo album of Nile linchpin Karl Sanders is another beautiful acoustic release of Arabic flavors mixed with Western structures.  Following Saurian Meditation from Relapse in 2004, this album will be released through The End Records.

Prefuse 73: Everything She Touched Turned Ampexian (Warp, April 14)
Guillermo Scott Herren's newest album as his glitchy alter-ego is meant to be a linear work — one that Herren describes as both straight ahead and obscure.

Mr. Lif: I Heard it Today (Bloodbot Tactical Enterprises, April 21)
Continuing a great few months for independent hip-hop releases, outspoken rapper Mr. Lif issues his newest full-length on his own, collecting songs meant to reflect on the recent political landscape and meant to inspire others.

Coalesce: Ox (Relapse, April or May)
Following the outstanding Salt and Passage 7″ from late 2007, this recently reunited pummeling hardcore group unveils a proper follow-up to 0:12 Revolution in Just Listening from 1999.  Taking the Salt and Passage release as a portent, the decade between albums should be worth the wait.

Isis: Wavering Radiant (Ipecac, May 5)
These purveyors of epic, accessible heaviness have gotten progressively more melodic. Whatever this new album sounds like, it should take another step forward while remaining heavy as hell.

The Bad Plus: For All I Care (Heads Up International)
With a penchant for reworked rock songs, this hard-hitting jazz trio issues a new album full of covers. Three of the disc's tunes are classical pieces; the rest are rock/pop and include vocals, a first for the group.

Powersolo: Bloodskinbones (Crunchy Frog)
A pair of oddball Danish brothers, dubbing themselves "the Railthin Brothers," create eclectic, off-the-wall rock creations as Powersolo. This full-length follows their recent X-mas single Beam Mig Op, Jesus.

Zu: Carboniferous (Ipecac)
This experimental Italian trio combines sludgy alt-metal with complex rhythms and free-jazz freakouts. If it's possible, Carboniferous presents the group's accessible side for one of the winter's better albums.

March

Kylesa: untitled (Prosthetic)
With a new disc for Prosthetic Records, Georgian stoner-metal squad Kylesa issues its first full-length since Time Will Fuse its Worth from 2006.

Dan Deacon: Bromst (Carpark)
Electro-spazz solo artist emphasizes live instrumentation for this anticipated follow-up.

Jerseyband: untitled (self-released)
It's a downright travesty that this East Coast septet is unsigned. Horns + math metal = 100% awesome.

Spring

Mastodon: Crack the Skye (Warner Bros.)
Even when Mastodon issues a dud, it's better than 95% of all metal albums. Here's hoping that it's a return to the form of Remission.

Summer

Mondo Cane: untitled (Ipecac)
Mike Patton's orchestral Italian pop covers. Enough said.

TBD

Coalesce: untitled (Relapse? Hydra Head?)
This previously defunct hardcore outfit doles out crushing grooves, mathy rhythms, and the trademark tracheal attack of vocalist Sean Ingram. Following the outstanding Salt and Passage 7" from late 2007, the group unveils a proper follow-up to 0:12 Revolution in Just Listening from 1999.

Coliseum: untitled (Relapse)
These Louisville hardcore/metal staples Coliseum continue life as a three-piece with their sophomore effort for Relapse.

Converge and Supermachiner: untitled (Epitaph / Deathwish Inc.)
This isn't a joint release, but they're worth mentioning together as Supermachiner is a semi-ambient side project from Converge vocalist Jacob Bannon and guitarist Kurt Ballou.

Crudo: untitled (Ipecac?)
Mike Patton and Dan the Automator, who were the heart of the Lovage album released in 2001, unite as Crudo for what should be one of the better hip-hop efforts of 2009.

Fantômas: untitled (Ipecac)
The brainchild of Mike Patton, Fantômas resurfaces after a four-year hiatus with another unpredictable release. The music could be anywhere between incongruous genre spasms and ambient dirges, but Rock-a-Rolla magazine says that it might be an electronic record.

Garage a Trois: untitled (Telarc)
Beautiful groove rock from vibraphonist/percussionist Mike Dillon, drummer Stanton Moore, saxophonist Skerik, and keyboardist Marco Benevento.

Isis: untitled (Ipecac)
These purveyors of epic, accessible heaviness have gotten progressively more melodic. Whatever this new album sounds like, it should take another step forward while remaining heavy as hell.

Medeski, Martin & Wood: Radiolarians 2 & 3 (Indirecto)
The famed jazz/jam trio continues its experiment of meeting for brief writing sessions, testing out that new material (and only the new material) on the road, recording the material, and then repeating the process.

Secret Chiefs 3: Book of Souls (Mimicry)
The long-awaited follow-up of Book of Horizons from this incomparable Indian/surf/metal ensemble. It has to happen this year…right?

The Bad Plus

Care to peek at our personal playlists? Here is a collection of ten songs that we're jamming at the moment, including work by Mike Patton, Helms Alee, 2 Foot Yard, Ocean, The Bad Plus, and more.

Mike Patton: "A Perfect Twist (Vocal)" (A Perfect Place soundtrack)

With the brilliant soundtrack to the short film A Perfect Place, Mike Patton filters the same melodic theme through spaghetti western, ragtime swing, film noir, and much more. The theme is first heard while blasted through commanding horns and played over Latin percussive elements, and it later undergoes dark atmospherics while morphing to and fro.

With "A Perfect Twist (Vocal)," Patton uses the melody in a vibrant, springing, Munsters-inspired rock tune, in which he first declares, "I'll bend you over my knee / let's see what you can take / never gonna break."

Ocean: "The Beacon" (Pantheon of the Lesser)

Opening Pantheon of the Lesser, "The Beacon" is almost 36 minutes of the slowest doom. Don't try to match your deep-breathing exercises to this band; you'll die due to lack of oxygen.

Ocean: \"The Beacon\"

Andreas Kapsalis Trio: "Doppelganger" (Original Scores)

Finger-tapping guitar virtuoso Andreas Kapsalis creates captivating pseudo-soundtrack work that bounds across genres. With the aid of percussionists Jamie Gallagher and Darren Garvey, Kapsalis traverses Mediterranean, Spanish, Asian, and African styles to fantastic effect while establishing a unique sound.

Andreas Kapsalis Trio: \"Doppelganger\"

Helms Alee: "A New Roll" (Night Terror)

Mixing male/female vocal harmonies with alternately melodic and fuzzed-out rock riffs, Helms Alee engages listeners through its ability to soothe as well as bludgeon. "A New Roll," the first song after Night Terror's intro, does the former with bassist Dana James' soft two-part vocals and the latter with guitarist Ben Verellen's searing screams.

2 Foot Yard: "Octopus" (Borrowed Arms)

Leading off the group's 2008 album Borrowed Arms, this song is beautiful enough to melt the coldest of hearts. The gorgeous chamber pop of violininst Carla Kihlstedt, cellist Marika Hughes, and percussionist/guitarist Shahzad Ismaily creates a stirring backdrop for Kihlstedt to sing about her three hearts (like the title's namesake).

American Relay: "Long Gone" (Corn & Oil)

Blues-rock two-piece American Relay doesn't beat around the bush. The duo's straightforward approach will get you grooving with fuzzy slide riffs and driving beats.

Jerseyband: "The Glad Hand" (unreleased exclusive)

From the forthcoming full-length by this lungcore seven-piece, "The Glad Hand" marks another pummeling chapter in the band's horns + metal oeuvre. Check out the exclusive track below.

Jerseyband: \"The Glad Hand\"

The Evpatoria Report: "Eighteen Robins Road" (Maar)

This Swiss outfit produces dreamy, spacey, instrumental rock with a violin that can double as a slide guitar. "Eighteen Robins Road" opens the band's epic new release for Get a Life! Records.

The Bad Plus: "Feeling Yourself Disintegrate" (For All I Care)

In February, hard-hitting jazz trio The Bad Plus will release a disc entirely of covers. The group's deconstructed renditions of rock songs are often fan favorites, and with "Feeling Yourself Disintegrate," the three make an already-grand Flaming Lips tune into a jazz-rock epic. Guest vocalist Wendy Lewis establishes a powerful presence throughout For All I Care.

Nebula: "All The Way" (BBC/Peel Sessions)

Psychedelic garage-rock trio Nebula recently released an official bootleg of live cuts recorded with John Peel between 2002 and 2004. A worthy listen for any long time fan or psych/stoner rock aficcionado.

With a demolishing dose of horn-heavy chug metal, Jerseyband stands as the logical result of loose forerunners such as John Zorn's Naked City, Mr. Bungle, and Estradasphere. The seven-piece band's progressive fusion touches on jazz, groove, big-band flair, and math rock, making a sonic concoction as wild as its live shows.

Unfortunately, groups that are inventive and unwilling to compromise their musical ambitions often find themselves without much publicity, and ALARM caught up with saxophonist Alex Hamlin to discuss this plight of imaginative independent musicians.

We also caught news of Jerseyband's new full-length album, hopefully due in spring of 2009. Here is an exclusive unreleased track — "The Glad Hand" — for your listening pleasure.

Jerseyband: "The Glad Hand"
Jerseyband: \"The Glad Hand\"

What drives your musical amalgamation?

Our concept is driven by the individual composers of the group. Ed RosenBerg, Brent Madsen, Matt Blanchard, Ted Poor, and myself are the contributing composers. Overall, the pervading tone throughout the bulk of our repertoire is that of subtle humor or not-so-subtle humor.

Granted, there is a bit of blood-curdling screaming involved, but if you examine the words — i.e. "Chewah wah may amo, Chee wah wah key largo" — you find that there is an element of playfulness involved with that as well.

Within this group of composers, there is a unspoken consensus on the importance of rhythm and rhythmic patterns, that the horns be the leading voice of the ensemble, and that there are two teams on stage: the horns and the rhythm section. What has been discussed is the influence of bands like Meshuggah, Pig Destroyer, etc., and how we should allow our composition to harken to that stream of music.

Do you find that having such a unique sound makes it harder to find someone to release your albums?

Indeed, we have not found a record label or organization that is interested in supporting our endeavors to create recordings. Instead we have to release the material (soon to be six records in all) at our shows and online through www.jerseyband.com and cdbaby.com.

Back in 2000, I just made up a record label name, Rangletorian Records, and we released our CDs under that record label name because I thought it would increase our chances in getting booked at rock clubs to play shows. It didn't. What it really took was me bugging the bookers 5 million times until they would give us a show.