Animals as Leaders: Weightless (Prosthetic)

Animals as Leaders: "Odessa"

Begun as a solo project that highlighted guitarist Tosin Abasi’s unmistakable shredding, Animals as Leaders released its debut album in 2009, emitting progressive-metal instrumentals with tasteful ambient, electronic, and jazz undertones. Now a trio, Animals as Leaders has returned with Weightless, its first recording as an official band.

The album features more hyper-prolific finger-tapping on eight-string guitars, the instrument of choice for Abasi’s meticulously crafted material. Electronica intros and bridges play a large role, but Weightless — ironically — often is very, very heavy, more so than its predecessor, trudging into sludge territory for spells. Despite the insane technicality, there’s always an emphasis on melody and head-banging rhythms, but the music — endorsed by shred virtuoso Steve Vai — is just as suitable for those with short attention spans.

- Text by Scott Morrow & Jenn Beening.

David Lynch: Crazy Clown Time (Sunday Best / PIAS)

David Lynch: "Crazy Clown Time"

Filmmaker David Lynch, best known for surrealist works such as Mulholland Drive and Blue Velvet, may forever be considered an artist first and a musician second. And true to these labels, his new musical effort, Crazy Clown Time, is heavy on the art and light on the music. Maybe this draws the lines too sharply, but it’s fair to say that what Lynch has created here is nearly all atmosphere. It’s still a pop album, but it’s a pop album that a filmmaker like Lynch would make.

With echoing guitars lifted by highly defined cymbal splashes that enliven water-logged beats, Crazy Clown Time could score a washed-out Italian western, Nick Cave’s deviant Death of Bunny Munro, or, not surprisingly, a David Lynch film. The strangest thing about the album is that despite the great ’80s bass riff of “Stone’s Gone Up” or the elliptical synths of the somewhat banal “Good Day Today,”­ Lynch never completely loses the atmosphere.

More than writing songs, what Lynch is really doing is creating characters. These characters then are the subjects of dark narratives, all of which feature a similar texture: perpetual dampness, heavy light, and the disembodied chill of film noir.

Accessibility has always been Lynch’s worst enemy, but even though some listeners will abandon the record after the first track, “Pinky’s Dream” — a charged nightmare featuring an incredible performance by Karen O — there are several entry points for pop listeners. And longtime fans will love it all, the electro-pop confessionals and the more cinematic vignettes.

- Text by Timothy S. Aames.

Trentemøller: Reworked/Remixed (In My Room / HFN Music)

Efterklang: "Raincoats" (Trentemøller remix)

Danish production guru Anders Trentemøller built his name in the mid-2000s as a dance-floor DJ with extensive remixes and studio credits. In 2010, however, he went “live” and released a sophomore album of chilling organic orchestrations, complemented by electronics but driven by tremolo-swollen guitar riffs.

With Reworked/Remixed, a new double-album release, listeners can hear both of these sides of Trentemøller. These 22 tracks include his remixes of other established artists (UNKLE, Depeche Mode, Franz Ferdinand, Mew, Efterklang), remixes of Trentemøller material by others, and self-remixes and instrumental outtakes. By its nature, it’s a little more oriented for the dance crowd, but Reworked/Remixed remains a compelling cross-section — and introduction to — Trentemøller’s catalog.

- Text by Scott Morrow.

And So I Watch You from Afar: Gangs (Sargent House / Richter Collective)

And So I Watch You from Afar: "Beautiful Universe Master Champion"

In March, the peerless Sargent House label gave American listeners a much-needed introduction to Adebisi Shank, an Irish instrumental trio that merges raging guitar harmonies with spasmodic electronics. Now Sargent House is at it again with Richter Collective, the DIY Irish label that counts Adebisi drummer Mick Roe as a co-founder, to provide American distribution for the sophomore release of And So I Watch You from Afar, a Belfast-based trio of mathy post-rockers from Northern Ireland.

Based on the other side of the Emerald Isle, And So I Watch You from Afar has a similar MO to Adebisi and sonic brethren such as Don Caballero, The Advantage, and Maps & Atlases. And like Don Cab, the band excels with a heavier rhythmic quality thanks to single-octave riffs, deep bass grooves, and mid-tempo breakdowns. At times, it seethes with a punk ferocity, but at others, it's content to charm listeners with clean-channel harmonies and wordless choruses (such as on the buoyant and glistening "7 Billion People All Alive at Once").

Over the course of its 44 minutes, Gangs delivers an unrelenting and celebratory riff fest. There's a dash of Fang Island here, a touch of Mogwai there, and a smidge of whatever math- or post-rock group fits any given passage. But when it's all said and done, ASIWYFA just sounds like itself — a band having a grand ol' time.

- Text by Scott Morrow.

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

Ralfe Band: "Bunny and the Bull Title Theme"

The world got its first taste of Ralfe Band's playful folk in 2004 thanks to BBC Radio1’s late and great DJ John Peel. Since that introduction, songwriter Oliver Ralfe, drummer Andrew Mitchell, and crew went on to release a pair of quirky singer-songwriter albums, but their soundtrack to the 2009 British comedy Bunny and the Bull portrayed a different side of the group. Ralfe, musically inspired by scores like Ennio Morricone's Once Upon a Time in the West, Bernard Herrmann’s Vertigo, and Herbie Hancock's jazzy Blow-Up, embraced the opportunity to compose his own original soundtrack, and the result was an eclectic, flavorful set of mostly instrumental accompaniment.

Produced by Warp Films, Bunny and the Bull joins Stephen, a man disgruntled by his humdrum life, in his recollection of a humorously catastrophic odyssey through Europe with his lunatic friend Bunny. The instrumental diversity and tempo fluctuations on the score, occasionally appearing within a single track, perfectly suit the film's road-movie style. Whether or not you imagine the music in conjunction with the film, the score’s ditties vividly illustrate scenes of freewheeling, nomadic travel throughout Eastern Europe. Pianos, cowbells, accordions, triangles, flamenco guitars, ukuleles, and violas establish the whimsical nature of the music and bring the listener to atmospheres of French cabarets, Victorian England, Balkan folk dances, and bull-fighting Spain.

- Text by Lauren Zens.

Owen: Ghost Town (Polyvinyl)

Owen: "No Place Like Home"

Mike Kinsella has spent the better part of two decades playing in a bevy of Illinois-based indie-rock bands. Cap’n Jazz, Joan of Arc, Owls, American Football — each has shown a different side of Kinsella’s abilities. But Owen, his now decade-running solo project, has been the most multifaceted, and Ghost Town is more proof.

The album, as usual, is rooted in Kinsella’s delicate vocals and multi-instrumental prowess, but the timbres are as assorted as ever. Overdubbed acoustic and electric guitars, strings, piano, marimba, and glockenspiel complement the crux of each song, resulting in another heavily layered and highly melodic batch of tunes. Though Ghost Town won’t catch you off guard, its unassuming depth might surprise you.

- Text by Scott Morrow.

Slugabed: Sun Too Bright Turn it Off EP (Ninja Tune)

Slugabed: "Sun Too Bright Turn it Off"

Like many other UK cities, including Brighton and Bristol, London is on the forefront of current styles and approaches to beat-making. It’s also the residence of DJ and producer Slugabed, whose new EP, Sun Too Bright Turn it Off, sounds like the East London and Los Angeles beat scenes coming into one.

This new release marks back-to-back EPs for Slugabed, a.k.a. Greg Feldwick, as he makes a strong and steady buildup to his debut album for Ninja Tune. Parallel to the Moonbeam Rider EP, Sun Too Bright Turn it Off builds a spacey, multi-dimensional soundscape filled with chopped-and-screwed break beats, wobbly bass drops, and wild 8-bit synths.

But the two releases are unquestionably different in terms of spacing and pacing. Sun Too Bright is a substantially more down-tempo affair, which in fact better establishes Feldwick’s ability as a composer. Though his productions inherently lean toward dubstep and bass spatterings, Feldwick makes the transcontinental connection by unleashing Brainfeeder-textured melodies that thrust his music into a futuristic universe where genres are connected in unexpected ways.

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

Ben Frost & Daníel Bjarnason: Sólaris (Bedroom Community)

Ben Frost & Daníel Bjarnason: "Reyja"

Last year, Mat Schulz, who started Poland’s Unsound Festival, asked composers Ben Frost and Daníel Bjarnason — each residents of Reykjavík, Iceland — to rework Andre Tarkovsky’s 1972 film Sólaris. For both Frost and Bjarnason, Music for Sólaris is a complete departure. Though Frost’s music is often labeled everything from dark industrial to classical minimalism, Bjarnason’s compositions are wildly extravagant yet controlled; together, it’s an inspired collaboration. Under their guidance, Sólaris achieves a delicate balance of the two personalities.

The soundtrack begins with “We Don’t Need Other Worlds, We Need Mirrors,” a subtle, almost piercing string arrangement that eases into the album’s steadily mounting tension. That tension reaches its summit in the latter half of the third track, “Simulacra II,” when restraint is dismissed for something more vivid and emotional.

As the soundtrack’s intensity waxes and wanes throughout, there also develops a clearer distinction between the two composers. In “Saccades,” one of the album’s closing tracks, Frost’s disturbing guitar-thumping creates an eerie discord against Bjarnason’s controlled piano, played one note at a time.

What began as an improvisation played to Sólaris resulted is something far from the original score. Nevertheless, it skillfully captures the haunting and beautifully fragmented quality of the film.

- Text by Meaghann Korbel.

Archaios: The Distant (Dark Canvas)

Archaios: "The Distant"

Dominican melodic-death-metal band Archaios has been at it since the mid-’90s, cranking out crushing, wailing riffs and blast beats. But due to the nation's lack of wealth, support, and proper metal production — not to mention its weighty presence of right-wing media — Archaios has only now been able to release The Distant, its second full-length album.

The album's release, however, is an accomplishment in itself, made even more impressive by the fact that it's the first Dominican metal album to be internationally released by a North American label. But Archaios' selection here is more than as mere novelty; its music, though drawing parallels to plenty of extreme-metal outfits, weaves together trademarks of black, prog, death, and electro metal to make one head-crushing blend.

Somehow, the tiny island nation with an equally miniature metal scene has produced a metal band that can hang with the best of them. With proper distribution and promotion, Archaios just might bring the metal spotlight to the Dominican Republic.

- Text by Kyle Gilkeson and Scott Morrow.

Honorable Mentions

200 Years: s/t (Drag City)

Brian Eno & (the words of) Rick Holland: Panic of Looking (Warp)

Chris Connelly: Artificial Madness (Relapse)

Matthew Friedberger: Death-in-Life LP (Thrill Jockey)

Hubble: Hubble Drums (Northern Spy)

Lateef the Truthspeaker: Firewire (Quannum)

Cass McCombs: Humor Risk (Domino)

Marissa Nadler: Covers Volume II (Box of Cedar)

Oneohtrix Point Never: Replica (Software / Mexican Summer)

Polinski: Labyrinths (Monotreme)

The Skull Defekts f. Daniel Higgs and Zomes: 2013-3012 (Thrill Jockey)

Zs: 33 2×7” (Northern Spy)

[Chromatic, our 400-page exploration of musicians and color, is out now. Order here!]

Lateef the Truthspeaker: FireWire (Quannum, 11/8/11)

Lateef the Truthspeaker: "Testimony"

In 1992, a collective of up-and-coming hip-hop artists at UC Davis — future big names DJ Shadow, Gift of Gab and Chief Xcel of Blackalicious, Lateef the Truthspeaker, and Lyrics Born — started up an underground record label called Solesides Records. Seven years later, the label transformed into Quannum Projects, and with the change came a host of esteemed releases that made it an independent hip-hop powerhouse alongside labels such as Definitive Jux, Rhymesayers, Stones Throw, and Anticon.

In addition to its commitment to quality hip hop, Quannum upholds values of ethnic diversity, artistic freedom, and do-it-yourself perseverance, sticking to its roots as a fully independent label throughout hip-hop's pivotal evolution from burgeoning statement to mainstream farce. In advance of the label's 20th anniversary, ALARM caught up with Lateef to chat about underground hip hop, his debut solo LP, and "selling out."

What is your definition of hip hop? Do you think that the rise of mainstream rap diluted the art and culture of hip hop from decades ago?

To me, hip hop is a lens through which you see the world. I think that because the history of hip hop is not really something that is taught or passed on, different generations have different colored lenses. I don't know if hip hop has been diluted as much as it has simply changed.

Unfortunately, a lot of that change has been dictated to the culture from those outside the culture. When pop culture values become the dominant voice of a counter-culture, the counter-culture becomes a pop culture. That's kinda what's happened to hip hop. As the genre became popular, the things that sold were the things that reflected popular culture values more than the values of hip hop. The stuff that sold more was viewed as more successful and (in the eyes of pop-culture values) "bigger." The values of hip-hop culture were quickly trashed as being invalid.

One example is the notion of "selling out." At one time, the concept was taboo to the point of rhetoric in hip hop. These days, it's a key point in most marketing plans. People actually consider themselves lucky if they can sell out. It's kind of the point for a lot of artists now, the reason they are even in hip hop to begin with.

In a lot of ways, hip hop has been commodified in a way that reduces it to a sales pitch. I mean, a lot of bubble-gum-pop singing acts are tagged as "hip hop" because they wear cargo pants. Crazy but true. It's just another way that the culture is exploited by those that have no respect or real appreciation for the music or culture. They don't really care, and nobody’s going after them, so why would they stop?

Still, I think there are a considerable number of artists – old and new – that are still making great music, even in a challenging and rapidly changing musical environment. In some ways, those that are making music in what is increasingly becoming a market wasteland are doing it for purer, more passionate reasons than ever.

That was probably a much longer answer than you were looking for…

How does the underground hip-hop scene in the Bay Area differ from elsewhere?

It is just crazy diverse, and it is fiercely independent in a way that encourages individual, unique expression. There are representations of every hip-hop sub-genre in the Bay, and most know several artists in completely different genres well. As a result, you get these crazy-interesting hybrids, or projects that defy logic beautifully.

How have the successes of Quannum's artists affected the trajectory of the label?

I think it's given the label a lot of credibility, as well as kept the label a very healthy place for featuring and nurturing new talent. Artist development is unheard of nowadays, but it's par for the course at Quannum. We like good music, and we enjoy giving good projects a platform to be successful.

Solesides / Quannum often is called a family. What are the artist/label relationships like there?

I think it depends on the artist. In general, I think that Quannum is very fair and honest about what it can and cannot do as a label. It's one of the reasons that QP is still around while so many others have gone under. We have always preached that the label is a resource, and that projects must be artist-driven. I think that has made a lot of artists that have come into the fold blossom into good, well-rounded and -grounded artists. We really try to debunk the label-as-a-parent myth and empower the artist. I think the fact that the owners are artists themselves make this message resonate that much more.

How do the KPM remixes reflect your love of crate-digging and library music? What else can you tell us about Quannum's 20th-anniversary releases?

Love of the history of music and reinterpreting that history through our own lens is in many ways the essence of hip hop. That is what we are doing with the KPM stuff, and it is really an awesome opportunity to showcase our talents.

I don't want to give away too much too soon, but with my solo record, The Gift of Gab's solo record coming soon, DJ Shadow's album having just been released, the KPM remix series, additional new artist releases, and new stuff from Latyrx and Blackalicious as well as touring including all sorts of crew combinations, I think it should be a great year — maybe one of the best to date for QP music lovers.

Lateef, how does FireWire, your debut solo LP, portray you differently than on previous releases?

I think it is a little more personal. I really tried to make sure I allowed people to have a window through which to see me. I didn't just try to display skill ad nauseum, but instead really tried to hit an emotionally resonating vibration, something that listeners could connect to and use in their lives. Hopefully, I succeeded.

What has Quannum learned about running a record label over the past two decades?

It's not all roses. Honesty is the best policy. Treat others fairly. Know when to hold 'em — and other various clichés.

Seriously, the bottom line: keep putting out great music. It's important to produce quality art that you believe in. Be smart about it, but follow your heart. Aaaannnd there's the cliché again…but I mean it!

What more would you like to achieve with Quannum? What's in store for 2012 and beyond?

World domination. Occupy everything. Outside of that: continue to put out great music.

Lymbyc Systym: Shutter Release (Mush)

Brothers Jared and Mike Bell have kept busy since 2007, releasing their heavily layered electro-acoustic jams on two full-length albums, a remix album, a re-released debut EP, and a split EP with This Will Destroy You.

With Shutter Release, the two showcase their continued musical development, laying tape to a new set of densely packed, melodically driven creations that lean on reappearing refrains and crescendos.

The album opens with a circular, cascading beat that gives way to one of the album's most noted additions — a clean-channel electric guitar that presents the first of innumerable melodies to follow. A glockenspiel and synthesizers join, and soon the duo's familiar brand of post-rock is in full effect.

Shutter Release succeeds with the familiar, but it expands Lymbyc Systym's catalog with mellow moments and does well to capture its live energy. Don't sleep on this release.

Mr. Chop: For Pete's Sake (Now-Again)

Coz Littler, also known as the multi-instrumentalist producer Mr. Chop, has begun making a name for himself in the States with an EP on Stones Throw and production work on MF Doom's Born Like This.

Littler can handle most of his albums' instrumentation by himself, but for his newest release, he again calls upon more studio vets for funky, jazzy, effects-fueled renditions of the beats and productions of critically acclaimed producer Pete Rock.

For Pete's Sake stands on its own as a funky good time, but for those familiar with Rock's catalog, it should prove to be doubly enjoyable.

Nile: Those Whom the Gods Detest (Nuclear Blast)

On the heels of a haunting solo album, cultural fusionist and guitarist Karl Sanders leads a new album from Nile, his extreme metal quartet with influence from ancient Egyptian themes and imagery.

A traditional Middle Eastern vocal passage makes a strange (but effective) complement to an otherwise brutal, shredding opener, but much of Those Whom the Gods Detest consists of Nile's relentless guitar fury, blazing double bass, vocal ferocity, and slowly churning chugs.

Beginning with more of Sanders' worldly influence, the title track shortly transforms to a harrowing assault of lightning-fast riffs and blast beats before working to an epic chorus. Ultimately, the track vies for title of the album's best, and it comes to typify the stylistic convergence that has separated Nile for the past 15 years.

Honorable mentions:

Bill Frisell: Good Dog, Happy Man reissue (2xLP + bonus CD, Nonesuch)
The Gift of Gab: Escape 2 Mars (Cornerstone RAS)
Lateef the Truthspeaker: Truth is Love (Dread Piper Sounds)
Nirvana: Bleach deluxe edition (Sub Pop)
Rita J: Artist Workshop (All Natural)