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This Week\'s Best Albums: January 18, 2011

Steven Drozd: The Heart Is A Drum Machine (The Score) (Twinkle Cash Co.)

Steven Drozd: "Born"

Steven Drozd is a multi-instrumentalist and the third-most-tenured member of The Flaming Lips; live, he usually plays guitar and keyboards and sings a bit, but he began his stint as the band’s drummer. Now he’s releasing the nearly instrumental accompaniment to the documentary The Heart is a Drum Machine, a film by the producers of the Moog documentary that attempts to explain what music “is” and how it affects human beings.

The music shares a lot of characteristics with the Flaming Lips of the past dozen years – synthesized grooves, big rock beats, fuzz bass, airy keyboards, and different instrumental flourishes weaving in and out. Listeners are unlikely to confuse the two, however, and the score succeeds as a standalone album as well as a film accompaniment. Maynard James Keenan of Tool and A Perfect Circle provides guest vocals on a cover of Elton John's "Rocket Man," which feels a bit out of place when listening straight through, but it’s a unique rendition of a classic-rock hit.

Beep: City of the Future (Third Culture)

Beep: "Robo Pup"

A genre-bending electro-rock-meets-experimental-jazz trio, Beep is a Bay Area band that began as a more traditional jazz outfit.  But with its third album, City of the Future, it has moved into a category all its own. Accessible beats and upright-bass grooves build into keyboard leads and polyrhythmic breakdowns, and though a few passages become harder to follow, it doesn’t take long for Beep’s powerful melodies and rhythms to come back to the fore.

The best contemporary comparison here might be a group like Kneebody, which expertly combines some of the best elements of rock and jazz. Beep, however, adds more disparate elements in the way of wordless vocal harmonies, an electrified mbira, woodblocks, and electronic squiggles, and City of the Future pulls all of that together for a swirling jazz-rock odyssey. Ultimately, beyond the style shifting, it showcases a real knack for melody as evidenced by the final track, "Robo Pup," which premiered last week on AlarmPress.com.

Ghost: Opus Eponymous (Metal Blade / Rise Above)

Ghost: "Con Clavi Con Dio"

With its debut full-length, Swedish metal band Ghost — not to be confused with the Japanese psych-rock band of the same name — has quickly built buzz thanks to its infectious mix of classic metal riffs, sing-along vocals, and abundant melodies. The overarching satanic themes and high-priest visual aesthetic don’t hurt either in appealing to the band’s target market.

Opus Eponymous, out now in the USA on Metal Blade, is being billed as a black-metal album.  There’s a bit of that in the darker moments, but truthfully, it falls much closer to classic rock with its organs and vocal harmonies. The press materials recommend it for fans of Judas Priest, Mercyful Fate, and Blue Öyster Cult, but there are just enough left-field elements – Benedictine-style chants, church bells, spaced-out keyboards – to separate these guys from the pack.

Braids: Native Speaker (Kanine)

Braids: "Lemonade"

Another promising debut this week comes via the highly orchestrated indie-rock creations of Braids – not to be confused with indie-rock favorites Braid from Champaign, Illinois. The pluralized version is actually a group of kids, still just a few years removed from high school, who skipped college, moved to Montreal, and began making a record. The result is an album that’s mature beyond its years, with musical dynamics that many bands never achieve — and chops that aren't too shabby either, perhaps best shown by rapid, looping guitar work.

The durations of Braids’ songs are another indie-rock anomaly, often eclipsing seven and eight minutes. Thanks to that and the band’s other elongated, reverberated guitar parts, it has a fair share in common with post-rock and bands such as Mono, even if the music is topped with sugary pop vocals. But even those elements are turned on their heads at times, and vocalist/guitarist Raphaelle Standell-Preston, who’s also capable of Björk-style power, borders on manic shrieking in the song “Glass Dears.”

Joel Harrison String Choir: The Music of Paul Motian (Sunnyside)

Joel Harrison String Choir: "Misterioso"

Guitarist/composer Joel Harrison has a head-spinning discography, spanning world music, ethnic folk songs, country and Appalachian tunes, avant-classical music, experimental jazz, blues, hymns, and more. Now the boundary-defying songwriter has undertaken another ambitious project: translating the music of legendary jazz drummer Paul Motian to fixed and improvised chamber renditions.

Having played with Bill Evans and Thelonious Monk in addition to recording dozens of albums as a bandleader, Motian has a wealth of material from which to choose. Harrison, in these new versions, does an exemplary job of balancing classical orchestration with improvisation. And he accomplishes this (for the most part) with two guitars plus a string quartet – omitting bass and drums, which usually are crucial jazz elements.

Honorable Mentions

Amina Alaoui: Gharnati, En Concert (Music & Words / Saphrane)

The Decemberists: The King is Dead (Capitol)

Electric Wizard: Black Masses (Rise Above)

Eulogies: Tear the Fences Down (Dangerbird)

Fergus & Geronimo: Unlearn (Hardly Art)

Ion: Immaculada (Restricted Release)

Daniel Martin Moore: In the Cool of the Day (Sub Pop)

Aaron Novik: Floating World Vol. 1 (Porto Franco)

Smith Westerns: Dye it Blonde (Fat Possum)

Social Distortion: Hard Times & Nursery Rhymes (Epitaph)

Secret Chiefs 3

Having covered Indian, Persian, surf, metal, spaghetti Western, and electronic music — and so much more — Trey Spruance's unparalleled Secret Chiefs 3 has now set its sights on the Italian giallo horror/erotica genre of the 1960s and '70s.

Translating to The Severed Right Hands of the Last Men, this album encapsulates 30 brief, often abstract film cues that sonically invoke images of bloodcurdling terror — as well as moments of passive tranquility — inspired in part from the works of Bruna Nicolai, Ennio Morricone, Goblin, and other noted giallo composers.

It also represents the first release from Traditionalists, a subset of the SC3 umbrella that finds inspiration in fanciful cinematic scores.  It's impossible to know whether the next release will be the long-awaited Book of Souls or rather a full-length affair from another subgroup, but regardless, it's sure to cover uncharted (or neglected) territory.

Secret Chiefs 3: Le Mani Destre Recise Degli Ultimi Uomini preview
Secret Chiefs 3: Le Mani preview

Coalesce: OX (Relapse)

After 10 years, multiple reunions, and talk of resurfacing as a new entity, the hardcore maelstrom that is Coalesce has returned with a new full-length disc.

Following an outstanding two-song seven-inch in late 2007, OX finds the four-piece demolishing ear drums while treading new ground, edging into bits of acoustic melancholy, heavy blues, harmonized vocals, and spaghetti Western.

The softer moments aren't actually new; the Coalesce / Boy Sets Fire split included a thematic revamp of the Coalesce vibe, and There is Nothing New Under the Sun included a few true-to-form renditions of Led Zeppelin classics.  Here, however, the moments are interspersed or used as intros/interludes.

The upcoming OXEP, a seven-song addendum, branches out further, featuring vocalist Sean Ingram's preteen daughter screaming on a part of "Through Sparrows I Rest."  If that doesn't grab you and force your head to bang, OX surely will.

Coalesce: "Dead is Dead"
Coalesce: "Dead is Dead"

Busdriver: Jhelli Beam (Anti-)

Delivering his rhymes in a melodic, fast-talking, pinched-nose intonation, Regan Farquhar can be compared to few contemporaries.  And after a recent collaboration with jazz-rock group Kneebody, fans could have predicted another dose of indescribable idiosyncrasy on this, his newest full-length.

With beat/producing assistance from Daedelus and a host of others, Jhelli Beam winds through piano melodies, famous classical samples, synthesized dance grooves, and electronic hip hop.  And though the disc name drops everyone from Michael Richards to Idi Amin, Busdriver can be enjoyed without picking up one full sentence.

The Horse's Ha: Of the Cathmawr Yards (Hidden Agenda)

Layered over a mellow folk backdrop with country undertones, The Horse's Ha pairs the complementary vocals of James Elkington (The Zincs) with Janet Beveridge Bean (Freakwater).

The group also features the lofty talents of cellist Fred Lonberg-Holm (Vandermark 5), drummer Charles Rumback (Colorlist, Leaves), and bassist Nick Macri (Jeremy Enigk).  Though The Horse's Ha has been around since '02, this is its debut disc — a pretty, laidback affair that doesn't break any molds but will be enjoyed by those who dig the vocals.

The Horse's Ha: "The Piss Choir"
The Horse\'s Ha: \"The Piss Choir"

Stian Westerhus: Galore (The Last Record Co. / Rune Grammofon)

A presiding member of Jaga Jazzist, Monolithic, Puma, and a handful of other endeavors, Norwegian guitarist Stian Westerhus has expanded his scope and influence over the past decade in the Scandinavian Peninsula.

Limited to 500 copies, this vinyl-only release finds Westerhus partaking in noisy, effected meanderings. Experimental listeners and vinyl fanatics should be into this one.

The Jesus Lizard

With its first performances since 1999, pummeling mid-tempo rock icons The Jesus Lizard will briefly reunite to play at the All Tomorrow's Parties festival in Minehead, UK in May of 2009. The group's original lineup will be present and play a short series of additional dates that culminates in Chicago next November.

Idiosyncratic rapper Busdriver performs live with a jazz-crossover band called Kneebody tonight in Los Angeles. Pigeon John also performs and tickets are only $10, so don't miss it!

Instrumental violin-centered trio Dirty Three will perform its beautiful fan-favorite album Ocean Songs at All Tomorrow's Parties in New York in 2009.

Comprised of vocalist J. Bannon (Converge), Dwid Hellion (Integrity), and Stephen Kasner (Blood Fountains), Irons is billed as an artistic, nonlinear expression of melancholy through electronics, guitars, and vocals. The trio has announced the impending release of a split 12" with Pulling Teeth.

Minimalist folk group Phosphorescent has recorded a full-length covers collection of Willie Nelson tunes titled To Willie. The group will tour this winter and spring.

One-man grind project Toxic Holocaust will assemble in band form for January tour dates with 3 Inches of Blood and Early Man. Currently, Toxic Holocaust is touring with GWAR.

Andrew Bird's deluxe edition of Noble Beast, due out on January 20, is available to pre-order through Fat Possum Records. The deluxe edition includes a second disc, Useless Creatures, that includes new instrumental works.

Rhymesayers has posted the video for "The Truth," the single from Jake One's great new album, White Van Music, that features Freeway and Brother Ali.

Beginning today, you can download the Christmas single "Beam Mig Op, Jesus" by Danish rockabilly weirdos Powersolo via iTunes or Clicktrack.

Groove trio Jacob Fred Jazz Odyssey is playing a New Year's Eve show in Tulsa in which the featured performers play the tunes of Prince, Lionel Richie, and Michael Jackson. Get down.