The band will release its double live album / DVD, Live Blackjazz, in the States on January 17 via Prosthetic Records. You can check out a track-by-track preview of the album here.

Justice: Audio, Video, Disco (Ed Banger, 10/25/11)

Hajduch: When Justice emerged in 2007 with †, it signaled the logical end of Daft Punk's arena-house takeover. Chunky Ratatat riffs and absurdly compressed samples, all blown out as loud as possible — it was a tacky 4/4 onslaught that just made absolute sense. Justice was a "rock band" inasmuch as it was loud and had black leather jackets (and maybe lip-synched?) and made dance music that was very clearly informed by the trashier end of the rock-and-roll spectrum.

So now it's 2011 and the sophomore release is out. For the talk about it being more baroque/prog/(insert term of choice denoting "wanky" here), it doesn't sound like much else but another Justice album. Every song sounds at least a little bit like Night on Bald Mountain, and everything is loud. Also, "Ohio" pretty clearly samples the throb from NIN's "Closer," which is a really good choice.

Morrow: I like the Fantasia / Modest Mussorgsky association, but I think that those baroque elements are more pronounced. "Horsepower" puts the classical influence front and center, basically from the start of the disc, "Ohio" uses harpsichord flourishes, and "Canon" sounds like, well, the type of composition for which it's named.

Of course, you're right that the whole thing still sounds like Justice with its French electro sound and disco bits. But I would echo that it sounds less like future-ized funk and party jams and more like Johann Sebastian Bach writing simplified dance-floor burners (for fame and women, of course).

Hajduch: I like the cut of your jib, sir. Over the course of the album, Justice exhausts all the gimmicks and tricks and melodies to which their fans have grown accustomed. I was pretty surprised by how much I enjoyed the listen; † was great, but over the years I became a lot less excited for a follow-up. In fact, I don't know if I would have checked this one out if it weren't for our column.

Tracks like "Newlands" are a welcome surprise, especially the driving arena-Kraut bridge. Justice's combination of '70s indulgence with millennial anthemic stomp works perfectly here. It's particularly striking against the opening of "Helix," which is about as "classic Justice" as the album gets, chopping vocals atop four-chord drama.

Morrow: I was going to mention "Newlands" and its synthesized-classic-rock vibe. The track has a total AC/DC or The Who-style intro, and it almost — almost — goes prog at the end of the bridge. But the song scales it back to return to the '80s pop elements that supplement the old-school rock riffs.

As for the wait, yeah — it's been four years. The first album feels like it was so hyped, and "D.A.N.C.E." was all over the place — yet the charts don't really reflect that. But either way, Justice is the Daft Punk of this generation; it's only a matter of time before sales reflect that more. And Audio, Video, Disco gives people a reason not to write off the duo as a one-trick pony.

Hajduch: Sure, but isn't Daft Punk the Daft Punk of this generation?

Adebisi Shank: This Is The Second Album From A Band Called Adebisi Shank (Sargent House)

Adebisi Shank: "Micro Machines"

Released to European acclaim in 2010, the aptly titled second album from Irish electro/math rockers Adebisi Shank has now achieved North American release thanks to the peerless Sargent House.

The record label / management company describes the trio as a blend of Fang Island’s shredding riffs with Battles’ electronic quirkiness and rhythmic playfulness. That description isn’t off the mark, but readers won’t get a sense of the band’s real abilities until they hear its hyper-melodic, polyrhythmic, and — most importantly — jubilant songs in full.

Over 40 minutes — a self-described "double album" given the band's riff-intensive style — Second Album delivers a maelstrom of zany electronics, unusual distortions, and triumphant, rapidly ascending scales mixed with vintage synths, marimba, horns, and other accoutrements.  This is all packaged between and around gloriously catchy and powerful rock riffs.

It's a manic and buoyant sophomore effort.  Simply put, Adebisi Shank is a revelation.

Trap Them: Darker Handcraft (Prosthetic)

Trap Them: "The Facts"

Originally conceived as a side project to Backstabbers Incorporated, riotous hardcore quintet Trap Them became a full-time endeavor half a decade ago and has been perfecting its sound ever since.

For Darker Handcraft, its third full-length album and first for Prosthetic, the band continues expanding, ever so slightly, its grindcore style to present more assailing D-beat rhythms and impossibly heavy sounds.  The production, again courtesy of Kurt Ballou, draws understandable parallels to the producer's main gig in Converge.  But Trap Them's low tunings, dark chord progressions, and noodling high-string riffs are more responsible for the comparison, even if Trap Them is less about diversity and more about straight-forward fury.

This time around, vocalist Ryan McKenney has a crisper but equally brutal delivery, often recalling former Refused front man Dennis Lyxzén.  It might be one of the album's best evolutions — outside of "Drag the Wounds Eternal," the melodic, mid-tempo penultimate jam.  In all, Darker Handcraft is top-notch modern hardcore, meshing punk and metal with equal aplomb.

The Dead Kenny Gs: Operation Long Leash (Royal Potato Family)

The Dead Kenny Gs: "Devil's Playground"

Fans are long used to seeing the names Skerik, Mike Dillon, and Brad Houser in the same sentence.  Together, the three multi-instrumentalists comprised three quarters of genre-hopping groove merchants Critters Buggin (along with percussionist/keyboardist Matt Chamberlain); Skerik and Dillon have worked in Garage a Trois and a few outfits with Les Claypool, and Houser has again joined forces to create The Dead Kenny Gs, a trio of musicians who "listen to Bad Brains and Art Ensemble of Chicago."

Operation Long Leash is the group's second album, and though it isn't freewheeling punk jazz, it shares that marriage of rock aggression, funky hooks, and left turns.  Call it heavy acid swing — or something completely different — but it shares just enough elements with the trio's previous projects while exploring new territory.

After a cohesive, rhythmic blend of dueling saxophones, Dillon's glistening vibraphone, and freak-out effects, the middle and tail end of the album get into more heavy rock grooves, including distorted bass on "Black 5" and pounding tom hits and sax bleeps on "Sweatbox" — which quickly transforms into a jazzy jungle groove.  The thuds soon return for more of the album's wildest and loudest sounds, almost resembling some of Zu's most recent "sludge jazz" album.  From there, the soothing outro of "Jazz Millionaire" proves that The Dead Kenny Gs' moods can swing as much as its music.

Mamiffer: Mare Decendrii (SIGE)

Mamiffer: "We Speak in the Dark"

Led by pianist and graphic artist Faith Coloccia, Mamiffer is a project born from the ashes of a similar if more loosely structured group, Everlovely Lightningheart.  With a rotating cast of guests and permanent members — now including ex-Isis front man, Hydra Head honcho, and SIGE partner Aaron Turner — the group surrounds down-tempo, minor-key piano melodies with eerie, ambient soundscapes of assorted instrumentation.

Though strings, guitars, drums, and slowly unfolding vocals are all regular elements of the group's music, Mare Decendrii — its sophomore full-length — amasses another collection of semi-decipherable sounds.  There are moments of minimalist classical beauty and others of echoing tangents to post-metal, as is the case with the sprawling 20-minute track "We Speak in the Dark," a microcosm of the whole.  It begins with minutes of building dissonance before a lead piano/string line turns into emotive vocal harmonies and a churning post-rock passage with a nearly Nine Inch Nails melody.

And though the album's breadth and reach are to be expected from what Mamiffer has previously delivered, it's fueled further this time thanks to guest spots by violist-and-vocalist duo Eyvind Kang and Jessika Kinney, bassist Don McGreevy (Earth), bassist Brian Cook (Russian Circles), violinist Timb(a) Harris (Estradasphere), drummer Aaron Harris (Isis), and many others.

Honorable Mentions

Antonionian: s/t (Anticon)

Disco Doom: Trux Reverb (The Static Cult Label)

Does It Offend You, Yeah?: Don’t Say We Didn’t Warn You (The End / Cooking Vinyl)

KEN Mode: Venerable (Profound Lore)

J. Mascis: Several Shades of Why (Sub Pop)

Mi Ami: Dolphins 12” (Thrill Jockey)

Sin Fang: Summer Echoes (Morr Music)

V/A: Those Shocking, Shaking Days (Now-Again)

Does It Offend You, Yeah?: "We Are The Dead"

Following its debut in 2008, Does It Offend You, Yeah? challenged Virgin Records' ideas for its music, and the frustration caused by demanding executives and mainstream models is evident in the band's outspoken nature today. Although it took nearly three years to release its second album, the five-piece outfit from Reading, England has ditched its major-label constraints, disregarded boundaries, and comfortably created a musical adventure titled Don’t Say We Didn’t Warn You.

The album fuses psychedelic acoustic interludes, electro-pop attacks, dirty-grime raps, and one synth-free ballad into a single collection. One of the band's founders, synth player Dan Coop, recently took some time while touring the States to answer our questions.

First and foremost, your animosity towards the mass-music media, major record labels, genre tags, etc. is justifiable. But if you believe that mainstream musicians have simply found an obvious “formula,” can you explain how your approach to music is different?

Well, I think we just write tunes that we like and run with them. We've got a bit of a love-hate relationship with the first record. We were getting a lot of pressure from our ex-major label to do stuff we weren't comfortable with, so in that way, we see it as a quite naïve and pretty disjointed album.  At one end, you've got '80s synth pop, and then at the other, you've got produced dance-floor tracks. Luckily, I think it kind of worked out, as we've got fans coming at us from lots of different "scenes" so to speak, be it the metal scene who liked "Heavy Heart" and "Let's Make Out," the electro crowd who liked "Rockstars" and "Weird Science," or the indie kids who liked "Dawn of The Dead."

It's a bit of a cliché, but it really pains us to be just dumped in a pigeonhole. The UK press really tried to put us into the whole "new rave" debacle, which was pretty funny as there really was no such thing as new rave until some journo thought of it, and, of course, since we use a synth in our songs, it was automatically assumed we were part of it. The only thing we want to do with our band is play sold-out shows and write songs we would like to hear on the radio. Scenes are fine if you want stereotypes; we just want to do our own thing.

A lot has changed between your debut and this second album: shedding some members, replacing them with new faces, and ultimately dropping your record label. How has working with smaller labels like The End and Cooking Vinyl affected the group and benefited the upcoming release?

As I was saying before, on the last record, we were really pressured into doing stuff we didn't want to do, and then when this record was being written and recorded, the label monster reared its ugly head and tried to tell us what kind of music we should be writing, what mixes we should be using, and all that bullshit. It’s really beggar's belief sometimes! You get a label signing a band for three instrumental dance bangers, and then all of a sudden you're pressured into writing landfill indie tracks.

We basically just dragged our heels so much over the course of three years that they basically just had to give up on us and give us our record back so we could put out the version we wanted to put out and not something they thought would be a bit more commercially viable. So with this new record, you've got our vision and not some dude sat in a skyscraper in New York shitting himself if we don't have a middle-of-the-road rock song that will get a rotation on KROQ.

In terms of new faces, we have Mattie [Derham] on guitar and Chloe [Duveaux] on bass. The whole dynamic of the band has changed; the live sound has become a lot heavier and quite a bit darker than before! Plus we all get on, and Mattie is a bit of a joker, so he's always making us laugh.

This sophomore album is a collection of months of self-recorded bits here and there, while being on tour as well. What were the challenges of welding everything together to create the cohesive finished product and, more importantly, what were you aiming to achieve with it?

Well, I've already done my rant about major labels, but otherwise, it's mainly trying to get stuff to sound "right." I think "The Monkeys Are Coming" got mixed about eight times, and James was literally freaking out about it because it was just never what it sounded like in his head. Our main goal this time was to define our own sound. Because the last record had this disjointed mixtape vibe, we wanted to see if we could get a bit more cohesion, i.e. get a dance-floor track like "The Wrestler" to fit with a metal tune like "John Hurt" and make it sound like it was the same band fucking around in the studio that day.

As for what we want to achieve? Erm, I guess it's good enough if we can keep ourselves on tour playing to people, but also making enough to take a holiday once in a while to spend with our families, as we are on the road pretty much 90% of the year.

Don’t Say We Didn’t Warn You is a synthetically violent yet unexpectedly adventurous album. How are you guys still developing your sound, or do you consider it established now? Do you write music with the intent of performing it to dance-ready ragers, or are you more focused on producing an album for an array of listeners?

Well, let's see where this album takes us. We've got a dubstep-remix version of this album in the works, but that's more of a fleeting thing for us I think — something to stretch our musical toes with.

I think [the] question of whether the track is good or not is more of an indicator of if it will get on the album. For instance, we've got a track called "Broken Arms" on the album that is a ballad! In fact, that was the first song that was written when we started on the album.

Focusing a little more on the new album, which films of John Hurt’s inspired the song on Don’t Say We Didn’t Warn You, and what happened to your failed attempt to feature him on this new track?

Well, we're massive fans of Alien, so that was really a no-brainer for us when we wanted a voice-over. We did have a window of time to do it, but an ex-manager of ours sat on his arse and didn't sort out the stuff that managers are supposed to do, and we missed out, unfortunately.

The new album involves a lot of movie references, and you have been featured in various films. If you were to be in a movie, which would it be, what character would you play, and why?

Fuck, I would love to be in Aliens, although I would be scared shit-less. At least it'll be a good way to die, having an eight-foot exoskeleton caving your skull in. Unless I could be the alien and chase around Sigourney Weaver in her panties.

You guys worked with rap-battler Trip on “Wondering.” How did that collaboration come about? Who are some prospective musicians that you would like to work with in the future?

Well, Trip was a resident MC at a club that me and James had dealings with. He is amazing at free-styling and can just rhyme about things you pull out of your pocket. Although now I think he is more content with writing screenplays. I've read one, and it was fucking great.

For “Yeah!” you guys had fans send in recordings of them personally shouting the phrase. How else do you hope to get fans involved with your music?

Well, “Yeah!” was a hard one, as we had all these recordings from fans, and then we taped them, chopped them up, then taped the band playing bits and pieces, chopped them up, and then spent many tireless hours splicing it all back together in front of the tape machine in some sort of order 'til we got a big beautiful mess of a song. As for fan interaction, I think we’re pretty open and approachable. We've got a band E-mail address, and we have wrestled control of all of our social-networking sites, so it really is us posting stuff up and not some guy at a PR agency.

You guys are now playing huge arena tours. Is there any difference between playing direct support for bands like Linkin Park versus headlining your own tours?

Well, obviously, the vast majority of people there are going to see Linkin Park and not some weird alt band from the UK. But it's just a war with numbers. We don't alter our sound or stage show to cater to the LP fans, and I think that the vast majority of them have got at where we are coming from and have enjoyed our performance, even if they aren't tearing the roof down, like at one of our own headliner shows.. We've supported massive bands before, like Nine Inch Nails and The Prodigy, but it's scary on this tour how nice the band, crew, and fans have been to us, which is great.

What does the future look like? I know you guys are headlining an album-release tour in the upcoming months. Are you writing any more material or just cruising on this new release for a bit?

Well, hopefully, this dubstep-remix album will get finished, and then we can look to album three. I think now we're in full control of our destiny; hopefully, it won't be another three years 'til we put it out!

[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]

El-P: Weareallgoingtoburninhellmegamixxx3 (Gold Dust)

It's almost strange to think of Jaime Meline as a solo artist, but his bitter rap intonations, sci-fi rhymes, and dark hip-hop productions as El-P have become as beloved as his work for others.

Meline may still be best known for fronting Company Flow, heading Def Jux Records, and producing Mr. Lif, Aesop Rock, Cannibal Ox, Nine Inch Nails, and other big names.  But his last (and essentially sophomore) full-length solo album, I'll Sleep When You're Dead, garnered more acclaim and proved that El-P offers something that few others do.

This collection is his third "mega mixxx," but unlike the first two that were released at shows, Mixxx3 is a different beast — a collection of full-length and vignette-length instrumentals, with a pair of remixes of Kidz in the Hall and Young Jeezy.

El-P has cited J. Dilla's Donuts as an inspiration, noting, "I didn't want anyone to listen to this record and at any point get bored."  Mixxx3 is being treated as something of an official release while he works on his followup to I'll Sleep When You're Dead, and it works on its own.

Naturally, it doesn't feel as complete his next rap-filled album likely will, but many of the same elements carry Mixxx3 — from dirty synth leads to ominous effects and big beats.  Seeing that it's been nearly three and a half years since I'll Sleep…, this is a welcome treat to tide us over.

El-P: "Meanstreak (in 3 Parts)"
el-p_meanstreak

Autolux: Transit Transit (TBD)

After a noteworthy debut six years ago on a major-label subsidiary, LA's Autolux was on the precipice of a promising pop career.  Touring with Nine Inch Nails and Secret Machines, playing All Tomorrow's Parties, and late-night TV appearances all followed, and the future was bright.

But slow-developing new material and record-label legalities got in the way, and now Transit Transit finally sees the light of day on TBD.  Saby Reyes-Kulkarni documented the story on alarmpress.com a few months ago, describing a band that  "shuttles seamlessly between space rock, psychedelia, and shoegaze and developed a penchant for honing effects-borne noise into pop hooks."

Transit Transit expands the eclectic pop sounds of Future Perfect, the debut — combining soft vocal and forthright melodies with unorthodox arrangements and noisy effects.  It calls upon dissonance and harmony, not only contrasting the two but often combining them.  Listeners who forgot about Autolux or are just discovering the group will find something to enjoy on Transit Transit.

Autolux: "Audience No. 2"
audience_no_2

Horseback: The Invisible Mountain (Relapse)

As the one-man operation behind Horseback, multi-instrumentalist Jenks Miller channels equal parts shoegaze, stoner rock, and black metal to create dark, hypnotic rock jams.

On The Invisible Mountain, Horseback's second official full-length, each song eclipses six or seven minutes and is built around the same part, subtly building and layering over lengthy passages.  Slow, moderately fuzzy riffs lay beneath clean guitar accents, keyboards, and other complements, all as Miller rasps evil, low-volume vocals that sound like a black-metal David Yow on downers.

Extra layers phase in and out, and slowly meandering guitar lines provide an appreciated foreground fix. Hitting 38 minutes with only four songs — thanks to a beautiful and eerie 16-minute closer — The Invisible Mountain will be a stoner's new best friend.

Horseback: "The Invisible Mountain"
Horseback: "The Invisible Mountain"

Vox Arcana: Aerial Age (Allos Musica)

Veterans of Chicago's jazz and improv scenes will quickly recognize the members of Vox Arcana, a trio that combines the best elements of each into a wild whole.

The group's second recording features more quirky, circular cadences from clarinetist James Falzone, noisy improvisations and low-end rooting from cellist Fred Lonberg-Holm, and amorphous drumming from percussionist Tim Daisy.  Daisy, the multi-talented bandleader, switches between faint brush strokes, quick-twitching snare hits, and oddly timed marimba melodies.

Like a good deal of Falzone's catalog, Aerial Age falls under the broader "chamber" umbrella, but its alternating improvisation and strict, rapid-fire progressions put it in a category all its own.  Some of the best moments are when Falzone and Lonberg-Holm's parts are wound together tightly, such as on the quickly prancing 7/4 refrain of "The Number 7."  Lonberg-Holm's contributions can be the noisiest, but at other times, he takes a more restrained role, playing the trad-jazz walking bass line.

Aerial Age isn't for minimalists or jazz purists, but fans of intricate scripting and wild improvisation will love it.

Vox Arcana: "The Silver Fence"
Vox Arcana: \"The Silver Fence\"

Dax Riggs: Say Goodnight to the World (Fat Possum)

Though Say Goodnight to the World is only his second "official" full-length album, Dax Riggs has been delivering powerful, blues-infused rock balladry for a decade.

Following his time crooning and screaming in Southern metal quintet Acid Bath, Riggs led Agents of Oblivion and Deadboy & The Elephantmen before operating under his own name.  His first such album, We Sing of Only Blood or Love, was eye-opening if considered a debut — but those familiar with Riggs' work weren't surprised by its forceful charm.

Say Goodnight to the World doesn't quite have a standout like "Night is the Notion" from We Sing…, but it reflects a more integrated approach to songwriting, with tracks that aren't as rigid in their structure.  A slow, intoxicating rendition of Elvis Presley's "Heartbreak Hotel" — more in tune with the suicide-inspired tune written by Tommy Durden and Mae Boren Axton — is just one of many highlights.

Dax Riggs: "Say Goodnight to the World"
Dax Riggs: \"Say Goodnight to the World\"

Honorable Mentions

Arcade Fire: The Suburbs (Merge)

Four Tet: Angel Echoes Remixes 12" (Domino)

JJ: JJ No. 2 (Secretly Canadian)

Loden: Buggy (Mush)

Mt. St. Helens Vietnam Band: Where the Messengers Meet (Dead Oceans)

Versus: On the Ones and Threes (Merge)

You can get a free download of an Aesop Rock / Jeremy Fish audio/video collaboration of "Tomorrow Morning" from Definitive Jux.

Trent Reznor has strongly reprimanded the US military's use of Nine Inch Nails' music during the torture of overseas detainees.  According to Reznor, any realistic legal options will be "aggressively pursued, with any potential monetary gains donated to human-rights charities."

Experimental and occasionally psychedelic folk group Akron/Family will release a new album, its fourth overall, for Dead Oceans / Secretly Canadian in April. It will mark the group's first effort for Dead Oceans and first as a three-piece.

Stoner-metal bad-asses High on Fire have signed a deal with Koch Records, which will release a new studio album sometime in 2009.  Before that happens, Relapse will release Live from the Relapse Contamination Festival on January 6.

The transition of Conan O'Brien to Jay Leno's old job has created an opening for a new house band on Conan's old show, which was deftly soundtracked by the Max Weinberg 7. Good news for hip-hop and funk fans: The Roots will handle the duties on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon.

In an interview with Billboard, guitarist Tom Morello states that there may never be another Rage Against the Machine album.

Idiosyncratic rapper Busdriver recently compiled a list of his top ten albums (not limited to 2008) for LAist.com. Portishead's long-awaited third album tops his rankings.

The RZA releases a new selection of tunes for Afro Samurai, an animated series for Spike TV, on January 27.  The soundtrack marks the first release from Wu Music Group, a new label co-run by RZA.

Ennio Morricone

Legendary film-score composer Ennio Morricone will write music for Inglorious Bastards, Quentin Tarantino's next film. Whether he has enough time to score the whole film remains to be seen.

Undefinable folk/hip-hop crossover artist Tim Fite has posted a video for "Big Mistake," his single from Fair Ain't Fair (Anti-). Watch it here.

Fellow Anti- artist and somber, raspy crooner William Elliot Whitmore now has "Old Devils" posted on the label's website. "Old Devils" is a track from Animals in the Dark, his new album due in February.

In promotion of its five-part series of remix records, electro-grind trio Genghis Tron has posted a track from the third volume. Head to the group's remix-specific MySpace page to hear Danny Lohner (of Nine Inch Nails) remix "Board Up the House."

Gorgeous electro-acoustic duo Lymbyc Systym has announced dates for its first European tour. The dates span two weeks and can be seen at its MySpace page.

Ambient horror soundtrack artists Zombi have released the cover artwork for their upcoming album, Spirit Animals, which will be released on February 3, 2009. The cover art is pretty freakin' awesome.

Multi-talented folk artist and loop specialist Andrew Bird has posted US tour dates for January and February in support of Noble Beast, his upcoming full-length due in winter. For now, fans can listen to "Oh No," the album's first track. Melodic genre masher Dosh opens for Bird at Carnegie Hall.

Blistering metal maniacs Burnt by the Sun have posted the first demo track, "F-Unit," from their long-awaited third full-length. The track, which will be on the group's first album since 2003, can be heard at its MySpace page.

Danish psychobilly/alt-country/surf-influenced trio Powersolo has uploaded "Murder in SFAX" to its MySpace page. The song will be on the group's upcoming album, which will be available in March.

Indie hip-hop label Anticon has announced a 10th anniversary show in New York City. The event will be held at The Knitting Factory and feature Themselves (Doseone, Jel), Yoni Wolf of Why?, Sole, Alias, Buck 65, Odd Nosdam, and more.

In a total no-brainer, GQ has named Nick Cave its "Rock 'n' Roll Badass of the Year."

The Voodoo Music Experience celebrated its 10th anniversary in New Orleans with its most ambitious lineup ever and crowds from all over the country. Mixing a tableaux of both international touring bands with local acts that embody the New Orleans indie/alternative/traditional culture, the 3-day weekend continued proudly once again in its City Park homestead which had been underwater during Hurricane Katrina.

With the festival just rolling into shore, New Orleans glam-punks, The Bad Off kicked off Friday's festivities with their sexually-infused jams and clever, but cocky lyricism of frontman Eric Corveaux.

Following their set, local indie darlings Big Blue Marble brought their distorted big indie sound and abstract lyricism to the stage. Next up, folk-rock combo, Paul Sanchez Rolling Road Show rocked it with New Orleans' next-big-thing, Americana-punk singer Sonia Tetlow.

Friday afternoon highlights included sets by Joss Stone and TV on the Radio. With her positive, genuine energy and soul stylings, Joss Stone charmed the New Orleans audience with her British accent and powerful command of the R&B sound (which is a staple in these parts). Avant-garde rockers TV on the Radio launched into an emotional, guitar-shredding sound, which can easily be compared to John Coltrane during his "sheets of sound" phase.

Saturday saw the largest crowd of the fest as crowds primarily clamored to see former New Orleans resident Trent Reznor return with Nine Inch Nails. Drawing every Goth in the entire Gulf Coast region, NIN pleased their loyal audience ranging from teens to Gen Xers by playing several songs from the band's 20-year catalog.

Playing comparatively under the radar but drawing a very passionate crowd, Thievery Corporation conjured loungey electronic music samples, escalating in energy as the set went on.

Sunday proved to be a more mellow day as VoodooFest regulars Bingo Show! once again dazzled  audiences with their 1930s Weimar Republic Cabaret aesthetic. On this particular day, they were followed in short order by "noise parade" Noiscian Coalition marching through the fest with their homemade instruments and black & crimson costumes conjuring images of Dada art and Marcel Duchamp. 

Two New Orleans based bands with frontmen singing behind their drumkits provided the day's most memorable moments. Edge Set Mary delivered their southern-metal/grunge-infused hard rock. Later on, cowpunk group Cowboy Mouth showed why they are loved by the Crescent City as their legions of fans drank beer as singer Fred LeBlanc irreverently mouthed off.

Fresh off their European tour, R.E.M. closed the festival. Visually the band's multimedia show was exciting and their playlist combined "standards" from the 80s with newer songs from their recently released Accelerate (Warner Brothers) album.

On its 10th anniversary Voodoo Music Expereince continues reach out to a wider audience while showcasing acts from both the region and abroad. 

-John Alfone 
Voodoo Music Experience:www.thetenthritual.com

Shining (Norway)

Thursday, October 23

Pillars and Tongues, Remindring @ The Hideout

Somber vocal harmonies emanate from aptly named Pillars and Tongues, an experimental trio whose creations exhibit mystical influences. As Remindring, multi-talented bassist Josh Abrams (Town & Country, Nicole Mitchell's Black Earth Ensemble) lays out looped soundscapes with Emmett Kelly and Frank Rosaly.

Fucked Up @ Reggie's Rock Club

Punk-rock misdirection artists Fucked Up hit Chicago two weeks after the release of The Chemistry of Common Life, the group's follow-up full-length to Hidden World. This time around, Fucked Up's material moves through more variety of atmosphere than your standard punk/hardcore, with peaceful, otherworldly intros and layers and layers of guitar. There's less stop-start fury than Hidden World-more sheets of sound-so it will be interesting to see how this vigorous live act performs.

Coliseum starts North American and Japanese tour dates

Louisville hardcore staples Coliseum begin five weeks of performances today, hitting many cities in the USA as well as a few in Canada and Japan. The group doesn't hit Chicago until Nov. 15, but there's a good chance that it will be your city in the near future.

Friday, October 24

Ears & Eyes Festival @ The Hideout

With three outstanding weekend shows at The Hideout, independent jazz/avant-garde label Ears & Eyes Records celebrates its third annual Ears & Eyes Festival. The performances feature groups on the Ears & Eyes roster as well as other local standouts and friends of the label, and one such outside artist, Brooklyn's Parts & Labor, headlines this first night with a catchy mix of indie rock and electronics.

The six-artist, six-hour show also includes bass-and-drums rock duo Black Ladies and free-rock guitarist Tobin Summerfield, but the biggest highlight might be the collaboration between Sunfish Ensemble guitarist David Daniell and Tortoise cofounder/bassist Doug McCombs.

Voodoo Experience begins @ New Orleans' City Park

With a massive three-day lineup that can only really be explored at thetenthritual.com, New Orleans' Voodoo Experience celebrates its 10^th anniversary. If you're in the Big Easy on Friday, the fest's first day, be sure to catch DeVotchKa, Reverend Horton Heat, The Gutter Twins, Man Man, Extra Action Marching Band, and Andre Williams.

Shining (and other picks) at CMJ Music Marathon & Film Festival

There are hundreds of bands playing at the dozens of CMJ venues on Friday, the festival's second-to-last day, but we had to single out Norway's Shining at Cake Shop (and again at Knitting Factor on Saturday). The post-prog jazz-rock experimentalists return to New York, one of three cities on their first US tour earlier this year, and it might be a while before they return. If you're in NYC, do yourself a favor and check them out (and pick up Grindstone on Rune Grammofon).

The night's other highlights include sBACH, An Albatross, Akimbo, Phosphorescent, Sole and the Skyrider Band, and Broken Social Scene.

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