Danger Mouse & Daniele Luppi: Rome (Capitol)

Danger Mouse & Daniele Luppi: "Two Against One" f. Jack White

After meeting in the mid-2000s, eclectic producer Danger Mouse and Italian composer Daniele Luppi began work on a new project — part pop collaboration and part homage to the classic Italian film scores of the 1960s and '70s.

The two met in Rome to begin recording nearly five years ago, laying down tracks with studio musicians who recorded on some of Ennio Morricone's most famous scores (by American standards).  Now, after a number of trips back to Italy and the addition of guest vocalists Jack White and Norah Jones, the project has finally been released to anxious ears.

Though at least 50% instrumental, Rome falls closer to elaborate pop than Morricone mimicry, with basic foundations allowing for romantic tinges and sweeping strings to flavor the surroundings.  (Think of a less-digitized and more-heavily layered sister album to Air's Virgin Suicides soundtrack.)

There are only minimal doses of reverberating Western guitar leads; tracks such as "The Gambling Priest," with six-string twang and wandering keyboard melodies, are less common than the verse-chorus-verse arrangements, instrumental or otherwise.  Each track is short and sweet, with none clocking in over three-and-a-half minutes, resulting in a beautiful old-school pop album that doesn't overstay its welcome.

Nader Sadek: In the Flesh (Season of Mist)

Nader Sadek: "Petrophilia"

Born in Egypt and residing in New York, visual artist Nader Sadek has become a leading purveyor of extreme-metal imagery, creating backdrops, videos, installations, masks, and more, often for music-related purposes.  Now he has called on many of his metal brethren to help create a collaborative concept album of pummeling death metal with black-metal undertones and brooding interludes.

Credited as a writer and producer, Sadek is the key creative component, but he doesn't play the music.  Instead, that's left to a super-group trio of vocalist Steve Tucker (ex-Morbid Angel), guitarist Rune Eriksen (ex-Mayhem), and drummer Florent Mounier (Cryptopsy) as well as a small army of high-profile guests, including Attila Csihar (Mayhem, Sunn O)))), Travis Ryan (Cattle Decapitation), Nick McMaster (Krallice), Mike Lerner (Behold…The Arctopus), and others.

Musically, In the Flesh is a bombardment of speed picking, dive-bombing guitar leads, blazing double-bass beats, and deathly growls, but it always demonstrates a sense of balance, avoiding the listening fatigue that's common to the genre.  In addition to the varying riffs and tempo shifts, the album benefits from percussive outros, interjections of dark ambience, and finishing touches such as choir vocals on "Of This Flesh."

The concept is based on the life/death cycle of petroleum (and the animals that turned into it over the course of millions of years).  Sadek draws parallels between this cycle and petroleum's present effect on countless lives around the world.  The music fits the dark theme — one that will be further explored as Sadek rolls out videos for each song on In the Flesh.

13 & God: Own Your Ghost (Anticon)

13 & God: "Old Age"

In 2005, the members of American indie-rap group Themselves and German experimental post-rockers The Notwist combined for a side project called 13 & God. The self-titled release meshed the nasally delivery, super-fast rhymes, and synthesized production of the former with the gentle singing, acoustic guitar, and piano melodies of the latter — while retaining both groups’ affinity for uncommon sounds.

On Own Your Ghost, the successor that’s been six years in waiting, the group is joined by Themselves collaborator Jordan Dalrymple (also known as Antonionian). This addition, on top of further musical maturity, helps 13 & God to become more than the sum of its parts — and more than a collection of beats and melodies with alternating vocalists.

If you missed 13 & God the first time around, now’s a great time to check it out.

The Fierce & The Dead: If It Carries on Like This, We Are Moving to Morecambe

The Fierce & The Dead: "10×10"

A proponent of building listener-ship via social networking and "name your price" sales models, British guitarist Matt Stevens has used 21st Century conventions to build a buzz about his melodic, instrumental works.

The Fierce & The Dead, Stevens' latest endeavor, was spawned out of collaborative improvisations during the writing of his second solo album. With the aid of bassist Kev Feazey and drummer Stuart Marshall, Stevens' song sketches morphed into structured yet improvised post-rock jams, 10 of which comprise the trio's full-length debut, If It Carries on Like This, We Are Moving to Morecambe.

Like much of Stevens' solo work, the guitars here are looped and layered to create a much denser and harmonized sound. His guitar is the most likely instrument to explore spur-of-the-moment directions, thanks to the steady rhythm section, but it never goes on meandering free-time tangents.

Many songs, in fact, might sound entirely composed if not otherwise known. But no matter the method of creation, The Fierce & The Dead's debut engages while keeping things simple. From the slowly building circles of "10×10" to the glitch-y effects and sax cameo on "Daddies Little Helper" to the buzz-saw rock of "Landcrab," this is a promising addition to the post-rock landscape.

Starlicker: Double Demon (Delmark)

Starlicker: "Double Demon"

The members of jazz trio Starlicker are each a mainstay in Chicago's dynamic, intermingled improv scene.  Cornetist Rob Mazurek, vibraphonist Jason Adasiewicz, and percussionist John Herndon all have a long history with each other — including in Mazurek's otherworldly hard-bop extravaganza Exploding Star Orchestra — and each is involved in a good half-dozen projects at any given time.

Double Demon is the latest creation by Mazurek as a bandleader.  In the past, the veteran composer and soloist has utilized Adasiewicz in a variety of capacities, but none has found the two balancing duties quite as much as in Starlicker.

Adasiewicz alternates between rapid single-note runs and pounding chords, walking the line that a bassist normally does between melody and rhythm.  Mazurek takes the traditional lead more often than not, but he often syncs up with either the vibes or the drums before the three split for polyrhythmic improvisation.

More often than not, jazz fans will need to appreciate the genre's "free" variety to dig Starlicker, but even if they don't, there's plenty of superb musicianship on display to warrant interest.

Honorable Mentions

Altar of Plagues: Mammal (Profound Lore)

Animal Farm: Culture Shock (Focused Noise)

Austra: Feel it Break (Domino)

Bachelorette: s/t (Drag City)

Bonnie "Prince" Billy / Phantom Family Halo: The Mindeater EP (Sophomore Lounge)

J Rawls: The Hip-Hop Affect [sic] (Nature Sounds)

A Storm of Light: As The Valley Of Death Becomes Us, Our Silver Memories Fade (Profound Lore)

Tokimonsta: Creature Dreams EP (Brainfeeder)

Chad VanGaalen: Diaper Island (Sub Pop)

Weekend Nachos: Worthless (Relapse)

Hank Williams III: Hillbilly Joker (Curb)

Antonionian: "Into the Night"

Antonionian, a.k.a. Anticon affiliate and multi-instrumentalist Jordan Dalyrmple, is known for his drumming and production work with Subtle, General Elektriks, and 13 & God. His solo-project name, Antonionian, is inspired by Italian cinema auteur Michelangelo Antonioni. In this piece, penned exclusively for ALARM, Dalrymple picks four upcoming film releases to watch and, more specifically, hear.

Four Forthcoming Film Scores
by Antonionian

1. Cosmopolis by Howard Shore

The general public might know him from the Lord of the Rings movies or, more recently, the Twilight series, but to me, Howard Shore's most compelling work has been in collaboration with director David Cronenberg. Starting with The Brood in 1979, Shore helped introduce the "body horror" genre with his dissonant orchestration and spooky synth washes. Videodrome and Naked Lunch wouldn't be the surreal classics they have become without his otherworldly aural vision. I'm very interested to hear and see what the duo does with a Don Delillo adaptation. Info at www.cosmopolisthefilm.com.

2. We Need To Talk About Kevin by Jonny Greenwood

I've always considered Jonny Greenwood to be the most interesting member of Radiohead, and after hearing his scores for Bodysong and There Will Be Blood, I was no less impressed. When the "Popcorn Superhet Receiver" excerpt kicks in with that clattering, cult-y percussion during the pivotal scene in P.T. Anderson's epic, I still get chills. Greenwood's accompaniment to the recent Norwegian Wood is also an intriguing melange of somber string arrangements with lesser known Can jams. Looking forward to his tonal choices for this forthcoming Tilda Swinton thriller.

3. The Future by Jon Brion

Synecdoche, New York's brilliance as a film is only matched by its surreal, light-hearted soundtrack by Jon Brion. Punch-Drunk Love was another triumph of wit and beauty that really jelled with its score. With that being said, it makes sense that he would team up with someone as artsy and forward-thinking as Miranda July for her new film, The Future. Brion's Nilsson-esque charm and July's hopeless romanticism should make for an engaging experience. Info at www.mirandajuly.com.

4. Khu by Jonathan Bepler

Matthew Barney's Cremaster series was so visually arresting that one might overlook the genius of Jonathan Bepler's scores. With Khu, an interpretation of the Norman Mailer novel Ancient Evenings, Barney and Bepler seem to have integrated performance art, music, and film into an entirely new form. I'm not sure that it qualifies as a proper film score, but with a sonic palette incorporating such unusual elements as trombone choir, giant harp, and breath mask, its inclusion on this list seemed to be a necessity. There's a short clip from the score on Bepler's website, www.jonathanbepler.com.

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

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.

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)