Tom Waits: Bad as Me (Anti-)

Tom Waits: "Bad as Me"

Few musicians are as cloaked in mythology as Tom Waits. Yet his music is both comforting and jarring, pushing boundaries while always honoring the legacy of American songwriting. Bad As Me, Waits’ first studio album in seven years, is all of these things. The songs oscillate between manic and maudlin, flip-flopping throughout the entire album. Where a Depression-era blues tune ends, a ballad begins.

There are multiple references throughout, the most obvious of which is when Waits calls out Mick Jagger and Keith Richards on “Satisfied.” The punch line of the joke is that Richards is playing guitar on the track. And he’s not the album’s only superstar. Flea plays bass; so does Les Claypool. Marc Ribot, who’s played with Waits since 1985, lends his Latin-infused guitar licks to just about every tune. And Waits’ son, Casey, plays drums, emerging here as a versatile musician in his own right.

Despite several blistering tracks, the best song on the album also is its softest. “Pay Me” is a tearjerker. An instrumental coda is the perfect end to the melancholy reverie, and in that moment, Waits seems like nothing more than an anonymous and soft-spoken piano player. Of course, it’s only a moment. Three minutes later, he’s back to his droll wordplay and violent howls, talking at us in spoken asides and then cackling in our faces.

- Text by Timothy S. Aames.

Russian Circles: Empros (Sargent House)

Russian Circles: "Mlàdek"

In 2009, instrumental rock trio Russian Circles released Geneva, an album that both introduced the worming bass lines of Brian Cook (of These Arms are Snakes) and showcased the band’s balance of metallic fury and melodic beauty. Complementary strings and horns also dotted the sonic landscape, creating a superlative post-metal opus.

Empros cuts away the complementary pieces of Geneva, instead focusing on the trio’s interplay. Cook has further ingrained himself in the Russian Circles sound, allowing the galloping rhythm section just as frequently to play the lead as Mike Sullivan’s effects-heavy, overdubbed guitars. And the usual ear for dynamics is present once more, building moments of tension and release to go with the killer riffs.

- Text by Scott Morrow.

Dub Trio: IV (ROIR)

Dub Trio: "Control Issues Controlling Your Mind"

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When dub-rock powerhouse Dub Trio last released a full album at the start of 2008, it marked a significantly heavier direction, with chugging hardcore and sludge-metal tendencies creeping into its unparalleled blend of grooves and riffs. The trio’s newest, IV, continues that trajectory, committing the group first and foremost to metal.

Dub remains a key factor, albeit more subtly. Few tracks bear the mark of modern reggae or dub music, but individual instruments are tweaked at key moments. “Ends Justify the Means” is the band’s first venture into the wobbly bass sounds of dubstep, but palm-muted and manipulated guitar stabs make it entirely new. And “1:1.:618” is an experiment in prepared piano and improvised effects, emphasizing the unpredictable nature of this inimitable outfit.

- Text by Scott Morrow.

Kid Koala: Space Cadet graphic novel and soundtrack (Ninja Tune)

Kid Koala: "Main Title Theme"

Canadian artist Eric San, better known as Kid Koala, is a non-traditional, storytelling turntablist, classically trained pianist, and accomplished visual artist. Like his 2003 release Nufonia Must Fall, Space Cadet is a joint graphic novel and soundtrack, each of which has been meticulously handcrafted between other artistic endeavors.

Over 132 pages of etchboard images, Space Cadet tells the tale of a guardian robot and a girl whom he raises to be a great astrophysicist-slash-space-explorer. It touches on themes of love and seclusion, as San sets the tone with a gentle and somber piano score. His turntable work makes intermittent appearances, usually to give the piano or other accompanying instruments (strings, horns, marimba) a warped and “drunken” feel.

The album’s tracklist provides follow-along page coordinates for the music, providing the type of audio/visual synthesis that is central to his “headphone concert” tour of 2011.

- Text by Portia Medina. Read our Q&A here.

Darkness Falls: Alive in Us (HFN Music / Fake Diamond)

Darkness Falls: "Noise on the Line"

Part of Copenhagen's blossoming pop scene, Darkness Falls is a two-woman dream-pop duo with throwback flair consisting of singer/keyboardist Josephine Philip and guitarist/bassist Ina Lindgreen. The two made a splash in April with their debut EP, and now on their first full-length effort, produced by DJ/composer Anders Trentemøller, they present a fuller and more dynamic sound.

In no small part from Philip's haunting harmonies, the music serves an atmospheric and hypnotic mood. The timbres are assorted yet thematic, united by guitar tones that drip with twang and surf-rock reverb. Accents of acoustic guitar, glockenspiel, Theremin, harp, and harpsichord join the spooky synths and sparse percussion for a soundscape that's alternately minimal and flourishing.

In all, Alive in Us is a promising debut that shouldn't be overlooked due to its Danish origin. And if you want to hear more of Philip's talents with Trentemøller, listen to the heartbreaking ballad "Even Though You're With Another Girl" on the producer's outstanding 2010 album, Into the Great Wide Yonder.

- Text by Scott Morrow.

Corridor: Real Late (Manimal)

Corridor: "Objective Lens"

Led by multi-instrumentalist Michael Quinn, Los Angeles-based Corridor is a quirky one-man pop experiment, crossing streams with classical and world sounds. But Quinn, who released a self-titled debut as Corridor in 2009, also cites influences such as industrial/folk art-rockers Swans, medieval English folk, and Django Reinhardt, creating one massive — but cohesive — confluence of styles.

Corridor’s blend of electronic looping and acoustic plucking is often dark and emotive, with an almost grunge/metal heaviness. Real Late also is populated by thumping tribal percussion and distortion on the verge of squealing, avant-garde hysteria. Even when venturing into dirge-ful, down-tempo territory, a jazz-like sense of melodic phrasing pulls it all back together.

- Text by Kyle Gilkeson and Scott Morrow.

Mr. Gnome: Madness in Miniature (El Marko)

Mr. Gnome: "Ate the Sun"

Formed in 2005, Cleveland-based duo Mr. Gnome has been offering introspective, spooky indie rock ever since its inception. Even though the art-rock band is composed of just singer/guitarist Nicole Barille and drummer/pianist Sam Meister, Mr. Gnome finds a way to make a lot of noise.

Madness in Miniature, the duo's third full-length album, flexes its muscles frequently. Oscillating between raucous guitars, atmospheric soundscapes, persistent drumming, and Barille’s full-on belt-outs and soft-spoken vocal layers, the body of work immediately calls to mind the best stuff by Yeah Yeah Yeahs and The Kills, with hints of Queens of the Stone Age peppered throughout.

“House of Cards” is the clear-cut hit here, featuring an array of sonic qualities: clean guitars at the intro and verses, riff-laden interludes and bridges, forceful choruses, both sweet and distorted vocals, creepy harmonies, pulse-pounding percussion, and Halloween-esque howling. This variety is reflected in the rest of the album, making Madness in Miniature an indie-rock success.

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

The Brandt Brauer Frick Ensemble : Mr. Machine EP (!K7)

The Brandt Brauer Frick Ensemble: "Pretend" (f. Emika)

On its debut album, You Make Me Real, German “acoustic techno” trio Brandt Brauer Frick introduced the world to its unholy marriage of dance-floor forms and neoclassical minimalism. Over the course of the last year, the band has performed, on occasion, as a 10-piece ensemble, which has enabled it to transfer its digital components into the hands of even more humans.

Now that 10-headed beast, known The Brandt Brauer Frick Ensemble, has released Mr. Machine, an eight-song EP. The title track kicks things off with a steady, spare drum beat and half-cooked instrumental detritus populating the wide-open spaces. From there, things should sound a bit more familiar, as four tracks are reinterpretations of tracks from You Make Me Real and three are reinterpretations, including "Pretend" by Ninja Tune recording artist Emika.

The production is incredibly rich without being dense, and each of the instruments is given equal measure of the spotlight. It’s definitely headphone music; you’ll want to catch every new wrinkle and texture.

- Text by Kyle Gilkeson.

Honorable Mentions

The Boddie Recording Company retrospective release (Numero Group)

Deer Tick: Divine Providence (Partisan)

Dirty Projectors & Björk: Mount Wittenberg Orca (Domino)

East of the Wall: The Apologist (Translation Loss)

Giant Squid: Cenotes (Translation Loss)

Junius: Reports From the Threshold of Death (Prosthetic)

Justice: Audio, Video, Disco (Ed Banger)

Morkobot: Morbo (Supernatural Cat)

Nordic Nomadic: Worldwide Skyline (Tee Pee)

Gary Numan: Dead Son Rising

Prurient: Time’s Arrow EP (Hydra Head)

Ralfe Band: Bunny and the Bull OST (Warp Films / Ghost Ship)

Raleigh Moncrief: Watered Lawn (Anticon)

El Rego: s/t (Daptone)

Roedelius Schneider: Stunden (Bureau B)

Roots Manuva: 4everevolution (Big Dada)

Slugabed: Moonbeam Rider EP (Ninja Tune)

Star Fucking Hipsters: From the Dumpster to the Grave (Fat Wreck Chords)

Statik Selektah: Population Control (Duck Down)

Christina Vantzou: No. 1 (Kranky)

Wild Child: Pillow Talk (Major Nation)

Zakarya: Greatest Hits (Tzadik)

Late last year, we were treated to the debut LP from Brandt Brauer Frick, a German "acoustic techno" trio that is influenced as much by dance music as by the minimalist compositions of Steve Reich. Next week, the trio returns with its 10-piece ensemble — which has performed live with the group on special occasions — for Mr. Machine, an eight-song EP that's available from !K7.

Here's the video for "Pretend," the EP's first single. It's an exquisitely reworked rendition of Emika's own synth-heavy track off her debut album, and the video gives us a glimpse into the lives of the truly wealthy (and twisted). It involves food fights, foot fetishes, and being slapped in the face with a squid — an excessively decadent lifestyle for an equally decadent song.

Mr. Machine will be released on October 25, and in support, the trio will be stateside and in Mexico, sans ensemble, from October 21 to November 12. Check the tour dates here.

Brandt Brauer Frick: "Bop"

Enter to win a pair of tickets to the Brandt Brauer Frick of your choice. For the unacquainted, the German avant-garde acoustic dance trio makes uptempo, textured-based techno infused with hyperactive drums, piano, and guitar. Each instrument becomes another brick in the wall of percussive propulsion. It's sure to be a great show.

The eligible dates:

3/8 – Chicago, IL @ Empty Bottle
3/10 – Toronto, ON @ The Drake
3/11 – New York City, NY @ Coco 66

[Note: The band just had to cancel a show that was scheduled for 3/12 at New York's Le Poisson Rouge.  We'll add that date again if it can be rescheduled somewhere else.]

Fill out the form below, and you'll be entered to win. Even if you don't win, you can always check out the band in its upcoming performances at SXSW and Coachella.

Update: Contest has ended.

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

Download the podcast for This Week’s Best Albums: November 23, 2010 and subscribe to This Week’s Best Albums for free with iTunes.

Stream the podcast for This Week's Best Albums: November 23, 2010.

Killing Joke: Absolute Dissent (Universal)

Killing Joke: "In Excelsis"

Over the past 30 years, England's Killing Joke has helped shape the industrial-rock and post-punk landscapes.  The band's trademark sound was formed in no small part by keyboardist Jaz Coleman's raspy singing and massive growls — as well as his slight orchestral flourishes — and the muscular riffs of guitarist Geordie Walker.

Absolute Dissent is the band’s first new album in four years, but remarkably, it's Killing Joke's first with its original lineup since 1982.  The album is another great mix of heavy riffs, synth-rock influences, and epic choruses, and at least in terms of songwriting and production quality, it has to rank near the top of the band's catalog.

The music doesn’t incorporate some of the disparate elements of albums past, and it doesn’t have as many dance-rock moments or the unpolished charm that some of the older albums do.  But it’s a solid mix of rock aggression and sing-along accessibility – and more importantly, it’s more protest music, with themes about omnipresent surveillance, microchipped populations, shadowy international powerbrokers, and never-ending wars.  Like the band’s 2003 self-titled album, it’s another powerful return to form.

The deluxe edition includes a collection of Killing Joke songs previously covered by bands such as Metallica, Nine Inch Nails, Helmet, Fear Factory, and Foo Fighters.

Gangrene: Gutter Water (Decon)

Gangrene: "Chain Swinging"

Gangrene is the new hip-hop duo of The Alchemist and Oh No, each an esteemed producer-slash-rapper. The Alchemist has produced for Dilated Peoples, Nas, Eminem, and many other huge names, and Oh No, the younger brother of Madlib, has released a handful of great albums for Stones Throw.

Gutter Water is their first collaboration.  It calls upon a number of friends and guest MCs too, including Raekwon, Evidence, Planet Asia, and others, but the album is much more than a bunch of great guest spots.  The material has ample rawness, with hard-hitting beats and rhymes, but there’s an underlying sophistication, whether from string, piano, and flute samples or from quick references to conspiracy theories.

The album does suffer from a lot of self-aggrandizement and a little tough-guy syndrome, and a few lines are crass for the sake of being crass.  Overall, though, it’s not particularly offensive, and it’s an exciting new project.

Fred Frith: Eye to Ear 3 (Tzadik)

At first glance, the catalog of guitarist/composer Fred Frith is seemingly endless.  Many know the genre-hopping experimentalist from his collaborations with John Zorn, including the avant-jazz-punk Naked City outfit, but his recorded output goes back more than 35 years.

Eye to Ear III is Frith's third and newest collection of film music, and it’s nearly as eclectic as his regular catalog.  The music covers a lot of ground over what mainly are two- to four-minute rock instrumentals, with big roles played by the violins of Ada Gosling and Carla Kihlstedt.

Later on the disc, in the "Water Music" suite,  an Indian bansuri and a Chinese guzheng provide an Eastern inflection.  A few ambient tracks are built around distant guitar tones and simple keyboard lines, and others present a sort of quirky jazz rock.  There’s even a spell of Italian western in the song “Once Upon a Time in Anatolia,” a tribute to Ennio Morricone.

In all, it's another eclectic and beautiful album by one of music's most daring guitarists.

Agalloch: Marrow of the Spirit (Profound Lore)

Agalloch: "The Watcher's Monolith"

Portland's Agalloch has already spent 15 years as a band, drawing praise for its infusion of neofolk, post-rock, and dark atmospherics into its black-metal base.

Though the band's lengthy EPs make up for the gaps in long-playing releases, Marrow of the Spirit is only the band's fourth official full-length, and it presents the most epic song durations of the band’s career.

With the exception of the intro track, every song is more than nine-and-a-half minutes.  “Black Lake Nidstang” sprawls over 17 minutes, and it uses a slightly Spanish-sounding acoustic guitar line as well as glockenspiel, other atmospherics, and delayed/dueling clean-channel guitars.  There's a grand 10-minute outro track, with a slight classical influence and string backdrop, and it's proof of the band's continued maturation.

If you love moody black metal but tire of constant screams and blast beats, pick this up.

Brandt Brauer Frick: You Make Me Real (!K7)

Brandt Brauer Frick: "Bop"

Only using organic instruments, the members of Brandt Brauer Frick, a German avant-garde acoustic dance trio, create an incomparable take on techno that's filtered through a classical lens.  With any number of layers in a given song, the music is based on textures, as every instrument becomes part of the overlapping rhythms.

You Make Me Real, the trio's debut full-length, exudes the influence of minimalist composers like John Cage and Steve Reich – including a bit of “prepared piano,” which Cage made famous – but undoubtedly, it wants you to dance.  In addition to the piano, there is a small army of instruments making this happen, including pizzicato strings, bass clarinet, tuba, timpani, and other percussive objects, and each builds in a mess of polyrhythms that always keeps a steady dance beat.

The group’s video for “Bop” gives an interesting glimpse of the process, visualizing every looped layer as they’re introduced.  Going forward, the group will tour as a 10-piece ensemble to accurately replicate the album, and that figures to be just as engaging.

Honorable Mentions

Broughton's Rules: Bounty Hunter 1853 (Relapse)

Giant Sand: Blurry Blue Mountain (Fire)

Killing the Dream: Lucky Me (Deathwish)

Southern Culture on the Skids: The Kudzu Ranch

William Tyler: Behold the Spirit (Tomkins Square)

V/A: Revelation 150: Past Present, Breaking Out the Classics (Revelation) [50% of profits go to Human Rights Watch]

The video visualizes every looped, polyrhythmic layer of a weird but danceable style — one that should be impressively recreated live as the trio tours as a 10-piece ensemble in the future.

Living Legends' MURS and Atmosphere's Slug are two stylized MCs who are best known for their regular gigs. However, this third installment of Felt, a side project begun in 2002, undoubtedly is their best collaboration — and may contend with their other top releases.

Produced by Aesop Rock, Felt 3 is the duo's third tribute to a second-rate actress. Rosie Perez receives the titular honor this time, joined by Kevin Spacey and Paul Reubens (in song titles) and succeeding homages to Christina Ricci and Lisa Bonet.

With 21 tracks, A Tribute to Rosie Perez exemplifies the commitment that MURS and Slug have made to this project — one that could stand on its own as an A-list attraction.

Felt: "Protagonists"
Felt: \"Protagonists\"

Beak>: s/t (Ipecac)

Spearheaded by Portishead producer Geoff Barrow, Beak> is a new project that finds the multi-instrumentalist out of his element, working with studio bassist Billy Fuller (Fuzz Against Junk) and renaissance man Matt Williams (Team Brick) in a live-band setting.

Overdubs are eschewed on this self-titled debut, one that presents minimalist rhythm-section jams that achieve a moodiness and ambience without extra tracking. Hooky synth and bass grooves surround sampled and vocal atmospherics to create a diverse down-tempo disc.

The entire album was written over the course of a 12-hour session. That fact is easily discernible upon hearing this, but this self-titled debut is still well worth checking out.

Beak>: "Backwell"
Beak>: \"Backwell\"

Honorable mentions:

Blockhead: The Music Scene (Ninja Tune)
Underworld vs. The Misterons: Athens (compilation, !K7)
V/A: Forge Your Own Chains / Heavy Psychedelic Ballads and Dirges, 1968-1974 (reissue, Now-Again)