Beastwars: s/t (5/9/11)

Beastwars: "Damn the Sky"

Morrow: Hailing from New Zealand, Beastwars is a four-piece stoner/sludge-metal outfit that specializes in down-tuned guitars, deep grooves, and gruff wailing. The group remains unsigned for now, but after hearing this self-titled album (which you can do for free at Beastwars' Bandcamp page), it's only a matter of time before an indie label picks them up. (Hello, Tee Pee?)

The music isn't groundbreaking, but it's a fist-pumping, head-banging good time — part Unsane, part old-school Soundgarden, and part High on Fire.

Hajduch: There is a major, major grunge influence at work here. "Lake of Fire" sounds a whole lot like a burlier "School" by Nirvana. The way the vocals interact with these huge riffs carries a definite Pacific Northwest influence. There's also something about the riffs that remind me of Undertow-era Tool but with more of a classic-metal gallop to them.

I'm definitely shocked at how little exposure this band has gotten. This is a really solid stoner-metal album that should appeal to everybody who even slightly likes this kind of thing.

Morrow: Now we know where grungy metal went to mature: across the ocean to the Pacific Southwest. Being from New Zealand probably doesn't help for touring, as it must be a pain just to get to Australia (which in itself is a pain in the ass for touring). But the Internet allows for fantastic discoveries, so hopefully they'll latch on somewhere soon.

As for the quality — absolutely. The album blows away a lot of the mediocre stoner-metal releases that are undeservedly lauded. If only those other bands adopted Beastwars' mantra of "obey the riff."

Hajduch: Readers, please head to Beastwars' Bandcamp page and pick this album up. It's solid from start to finish, and you will bang your heads; it's that simple. In conclusion, I'm proud of Scott and I for making it through this review without a reference to Lord of the Rings — except for this one, which doesn't count.

Morrow: Or Transformers! This one counts, though.

Trash Talk: "Dig"

"I’m the new guy in the band,” says Rashod Jackson, drummer for Sacramento’s Trash Talk. Though he has been in the band for less than a year, it’s been a particularly busy time for the thrash-spiked hardcore four-piece, which also includes guitarist Garret Stevenson, vocalist Lee Roy Spielman, and bassist Spencer Pollard. After releasing its Plagues… EP on Malfunction Records in January 2008, the group wrote and recorded its second release of the year, a self-titled album that also served as the debut record on its newly established Trash Talk Collective label.

For many rising bands wishing to leave their day jobs behind forever and support themselves purely off of their music, breaking away from a label could appear counterintuitive. Jackson agrees: “It was a bold thing to do, but sometimes you have to take risks.”

Pollard explains that the motivation for starting the label was to have complete control over the group’s creative vision. The process of cutting ties with the group’s former label was stressful, but Jackson says that things have been great lately, and he wants to make it clear. “No matter what you hear about Trash Talk and record labels,” he says, “we don’t have beef with anyone.”

Since forming in 2005, Trash Talk has chosen a lifestyle that has found its members practically living on the road. In fact, Jackson estimates that he’s only been home for a total of six weeks since joining the band. Though they uniformly enjoy the whirlwind pace, it did add some particular complications to the process of releasing an album on their own. Jackson credits Stevenson for dealing with the band’s business operations while on tour.

“There were days when he was super stressed out, and he couldn’t really talk to anyone,” Jackson says. “He was literally doing band business all day and all night. We’d wake up at nine in the morning after getting back late from a show the night before, and he’s still awake trying to get things done so the record could come out. He is the mastermind behind it all. I don’t know where the record would be without him.”

The results proved to be worth the struggle. Pollard says, “Luckily, we were able to lasso distribution through Revelation Records, gaining us equal distribution to that of our former label. So in the end, our efforts paid off, and we didn’t have to compromise anything in the process.” For now, Trash Talk Collective will focus exclusively on Trash Talk music, but Pollard says that the idea of releasing other projects in the future has come up.
 

“There’s no such thing as peace anymore. It’s not even just about the government. People in general are at war with themselves. This is pretty much saying there is no peace anywhere.”

Business aside, a listen to Trash Talk indicates that the split was the best decision for the group’s creative side. The band spent two days at Electrical Audio Studios in Chicago with recording engineer Steve Albini, who proved to be a great match for Trash Talk’s extreme, grinding sounds. Recorded straight to tape, Trash Talk captures all the grittiness of the band’s chaotic live show. With 12 songs clocking in at just over 14 minutes, like a car crash, it’s over in the blink of an eye but leaves a glut of destruction in its wake.

Trash Talk’s newfound aesthetic was further signified beyond its DIY mindset — and beyond creating its most brutal record to date — by the artwork that was chosen for the self-titled album’s cover. That art is based around the upside-down peace sign that the band adopted long ago, Pollard says, as a way of creating “an iconic image that our fans would be able to associate with us.” Jackson explains that for the band, the image is a way of expressing that “there’s no such thing as peace anymore. It’s not even just about the government. People in general are at war with themselves. This is pretty much saying there is no peace anywhere.”

At times, though, the band’s use of the emblem has been misconstrued. “The first time we were in Europe, people were saying it was some kind of racial imagery. Then they see three black dudes get on stage and they think, ‘Wait, this doesn’t make any sense!’” Jackson says. “We got asked about it numerous times. It means what it means to us, and as long as people know that, that’s what matters to us.”
 

The cover art, designed by Sammy Winston and Alex Capasso, takes this idea of independence one step further. Featuring a chalkboard-black background with a white upside-down peace sign scrawled in its center, the lines making up the “tree” formation bust through the circle like the “A” in an anarchy symbol. Trash Talk, it wordlessly says, will resist any boundary or limitation placed in front of it.

Upon its release, Trash Talk elicited a mixed reaction from some longtime fans, largely due to its grimy, cutthroat sound as opposed to the relatively cleaner Plagues… (bringing to mind another Albini client, Nirvana, whose earlier Nevermind album sounds like a delicate flower next to the rawness of Albini-engineered In Utero). Nevertheless, Jackson contends, “We don’t care who likes it or who hates it. We love it.”

But along the stops of their never-ending tour, the members of Trash Talk have learned that they’re not the only ones. “The first time we went to Europe, we played our first show at a festival and kids knew the words and were going apeshit. We were looking at each other, saying, ‘Wow, is this for real?’ Punk and hardcore, no matter what anyone says, is alive and well all over the world.”

British rock band The Boxer Rebellion made a splash in the US when it was featured as an unsigned band pursued by a talent scout ("I'm a Mac" Justin Long) in the film Going the Distance. The Cold Still, out in February, is the band's third full-length, following Exits in 2005 and Union in 2009. We tapped the Rebellion's bassist, Adam Harrison, to pen a piece explaining the influence of Latin jazz on his musical development.

How Latin Jazz Unlocked the Secrets of the Bass
by Adam Harrison of The Boxer Rebellion

Everybody knows that the bass guitar is the easiest instrument to start from scratch. Like many before me, I had learned guitar and then joined a band that already had a lead guitarist and no bass player. As the “inferior” guitarist (and, in retrospect, the smaller 12-year-old), I filled the role. However, concern at the sudden realisation that I would never be Kurt Cobain soon disappeared when I started playing the bass. I think the deep end perfectly made up for my lack of height, and the more I started to follow the bass players in my favourite bands, the more I realised that they were, in fact, the coolest in the group.

A few years down the road and with many dodgy gigs behind me, I somehow could still not shake the desire to be a successful musician, and on finishing secondary school, I decided that The London Music School would give me the biggest possible chance of future success (somehow my father did not find this to be ridiculous, and off I went).

As a musician up until that point, I had developed a fast technique and a good ear for mimicry; I had been playing mostly covers, and my original bass lines were little more than root notes. I thought I was good until the very first time I heard my new bass teacher, Nico Gomez, play. He defined bass as part of a rhythm section, and the freedom he had whilst playing both melodically and rhythmically made me simultaneously very excited to start learning more and worried that I was nowhere near his level.

Although Nico had been the session guy for many high-profile artists, Björk amongst his biggest, his true passion was Latin jazz and passing on what he knew of it. Latin jazz seemed to be the musical outlet that freed his melodies and his rhythms for use in every other genre that he played, and listening to how he played any bass line made me want that same perspective. Nico also played in one of the best Afro-Cuban jazz bands in the world (Snowboy and The Latin Section), and seeing them perform at London's Jazz Cafe was one of my most exciting gigs. Suddenly, I was listening to Tito Puente instead of Nirvana on my mini-disk player and loving it.

Over the next months, I learned a great deal about Latin jazz and something strange started to happen: the fretboard of my bass suddenly opened up with opportunity. It sounds odd, but I could suddenly see to the full extent of how I could put together a huge variety of melodies. On the rhythm side, the beat that runs throughout the music is called “clave”; it's an instantly evocative beat that is a staple of Latin jazz and salsa music, and to me it's straight rhythm as opposed to traditional jazz's swung rhythm, which is far more exciting for improvisation.

All in all, I think that my discovery of Latin jazz gave me a completely different perspective on playing. Whilst I don't overtly use it in the band, it still influences the bass lines I write and hopefully adds something slightly original to what we do. Latin jazz was the catalyst in forming my style, and without it being there, I'd be a very different musician. My biggest lesson was the lesson of perspective; as with many things in life, if you get to know a perspective completely different from your own, many other perspectives make more sense. Latin jazz certainly isn't the only key to unlocking one's musical mind, but it was mine.

Do you ever wonder what a stunt driver does during his quiet time at home? Well, you might not have to anymore, thanks to the arrival of Never Stop, the seventh studio album from The Bad Plus.

On “Bill Hickman at Home,” a dreamlike New Orleans blues piece that crawls at a snail’s pace, the piano peels away from the rest of the music as notes warp out of pitch, and the hard-driving, progressive jazz trio imagines late stunt driver / car-chase choreographer Bill Hickman “drinking a glass of milk and playing solitaire” — at least that’s what pianist Ethan Iverson, who wrote the tune, was picturing. And if that seems like a rather absurd setting for an action specialist like Hickman — who is most well known for his work on the iconic (and emphatically masculine) chase sequences in the films Bullitt and The French Connection — it’s precisely the kind of cheeky, off-angle perspective that The Bad Plus has become known for.

The band’s first long-player to consist entirely of original music, Never Stop should, if not silence, at least give pause to anyone — fans and detractors alike — who has up to this point focused on The Bad Plus’ well-documented affinity for reinterpreting rock and pop standards as jazz instrumentals.

“The populist conception of The Bad Plus as ‘the band that plays Nirvana covers’ might help fill seats, but it’s fundamentally incorrect.”

After six albums, Iverson says that the decision was an “obvious” one to make. And whether or not the album succeeds at steering attention to the band’s compositions — which Iverson calls its “lifeblood” — it at least allows for The Bad Plus to finally stand and be judged on its own merits. Arguably, after making waves for covering “Smells Like Teen Spirit,” Iverson and his band mates — drummer David King and bassist Reid Anderson — could have freed themselves of a ton of baggage a lot sooner by putting out an all-originals album as the follow-up to their 2003 major-label debut, These Are the Vistas.

Iverson readily admits that covers have been profitable, but he seems to understand that the attention they’ve attracted cuts both ways. “The populist conception of The Bad Plus as ‘the band that plays Nirvana covers’ might help fill seats,” he says, “but it’s fundamentally incorrect.” He also stresses that original compositions have always made up “about 75–90%” of the group’s repertoire. So if The Bad Plus has been guilty of capitalizing on rampant misconceptions on both sides of the rock and jazz divide — and of pandering to listeners’ most pedestrian instincts by making showy gestures with obvious, overplayed hits — then Never Stop makes the statement that the back catalogue is worth reexamining. And because it comes from a band that has (intentionally or not) relegated its own music to B-side status, Never Stop is a tribute of sorts to the value of the proverbial deep cut.

Stripped of the band’s most tried and true gimmick, Never Stop reveals what The Bad Plus could (and should) have exploited as its “gimmick” all along — namely, the idiosyncratic writing style of all three band members. Iverson explains that he, King, and Anderson all write alone before presenting complete compositions to the whole band. At that point, he says, there is “lots of room for everyone to have their say” in how the arrangements take shape.

For Never Stop, released in September on E1, King and Anderson contributed three tunes apiece while Iverson contributed two, and longtime fans should be able to distinguish each composer’s hallmarks — in Iverson’s words, King’s “meta-metric and prog-rock rhythm concepts,” Anderson’s “wonderful command of melody,” and Iverson’s “jazz surrealism.” Iverson considers the title tune, an Anderson composition, to be “pure pop candy,” while he describes King’s "The Radio Tower is a Beating Heart" as “post-Albert Ayler ecstasy followed by a wild minimalist groove.”

If much of Never Stop revisits familiar territory, that’s partly because, according to Iverson, each band member came to the band with his writing style more or less fully developed. “I'm pretty sure all of us knew what we did by the time the band was formed,” he says. They’ve also focused on refining their approach rather than attempt to reinvent themselves. “Hopefully,” Iverson adds, “you get better over time. But the voice is the voice, really. I don't know if I've ever really written anything better than ‘Guilty’ on Vistas. But ‘Bill Hickman At Home’ has some of that same surreal blues feel, only a little more complicated and worked out.”

Unsurprisingly, some of the album’s most affecting moments occur when the band turns the bombast way down. At their best, Iverson and company certainly have a knack for musical muscle and bravado. But, much like the imaginary Bill Hickman that the band immortalizes on the aforementioned tune, the more subdued aspects of The Bad Plus are appreciated more easily away from the glare of flashy stunts.

Crossing the lines of minimalist performer and powerhouse artist, Scout Niblett is one of the strongest voices to emerge in recent years. With each successive album, Niblett emboldens her material with a hypnotic and stirring display of honest emotion and inspired will. Acting as an introspective one-woman force of nature, she eschews superfluous support and production without sacrificing an already demanding sound.

Born in Staffordshire County, near the city of Birmingham in central England, Emma Louise Niblett grew up within the duality of the rural and industrial state. At a young age, she was trained on the piano and violin, and raised on music from the Top 40 countdown, from which she regularly taped her favorites to listen to over and over again. Her artistic roots and an English tradition of emotional repression clashed within her. Though Niblett had begun writing songs on her classically trained instruments, they never acted as an emotional or creative outlet.

When the grunge movement reached English shores, a 17-year-old Niblett discovered acts like Nirvana and Sonic Youth. Kurt Cobain’s powerful voice and raw emotion especially captured her attention, compelling her to move to guitar and becoming a major influence in her burgeoning songwriting. As soon as she got that guitar, she learned a few chords and immediately began writing material. With a stockpile of ideas from her youth on the piano, Niblett began building with simple melodies and heart-pounding vocals.

In college in Nottingham, Niblett split her time between music and performance art. She first took to a stage, but not to sing. Her performance art included multimedia monologues and an almost Cabaret-style exploration of music and images. However, it would not be long before she shared her songwriting with the intimate audiences. “I didn’t want to do anything else,” she says of her advent into performing. “I was pretty stubborn about it.”

For her stage name, Niblett turned to Jean Louise “Scout” Finch, the spunky narrator from To Kill a Mockingbird. “The character almost reminded me of myself, but a very free version of myself as a child,” she says. “I didn’t really express myself in the way that she did. I didn’t do that. And I felt that I should have, like that was a part of me that I really repressed. I think music is a way of expressing myself fully.”

From the beginning, Niblett was a solo artist. “I’ve never had a band,” she says. “I never learned other people’s songs. That didn’t interest me.” But that’s not to say that she’s an isolationist. She has contributed to a broad range of friendly collaborations and the odd duet, only to remain a predominantly lone figure throughout her work.

Niblett released her debut LP, Sweet Heart Fever, on Secretly Canadian in 2001, introducing listeners to her minimalist yet powerful and resonant songs. The album also introduced Scout Niblett the percussionist, as some songs were just her stark voice over a rumbling beat. This too would become a signature aesthetic.

Turning an ironic ear to her material, Niblett kept up an irreverent and enigmatic front. In her early shows, the musician would act out in odd yet comforting ways, like donning a blonde wig or engaging in morbid sing-a-longs. After building a reputation as a bold live presence, Niblett began touring Europe. She soon decided to pick up and move to the United States, where her music was being discovered by fans of PJ Harvey and Cat Power. Her constant touring led to a restless lifestyle, as she explored the country while living in places like Chicago, Philadelphia, and Oakland before landing in Portland.

The year 2002 saw the release of the I Conjure Series EP, where again Niblett played the entire album and captured a sparse, moving atmosphere often with only guitars and vocals. Her subsequent releases, starting with I Am in 2003 and Kidnapped by Neptune in 2005, feature the songwriter working with producer Steve Albini, after they met during recording on a mutual friend’s album.

In 2007, Niblett opened her world slightly by experimenting with folk and country lines and even inviting Will Oldham to collaborate on the album This Fool Can Die Now. By this time, Niblett also had gotten into the habit of bringing a drummer on tour with her, rather than flying solo. The new dynamic didn’t change the intimacy of the performance, nor did it lighten the brooding, raw emotion lying at the center, but it did allow the songwriter to focus on bringing a more refined and contemplative approach to her music, one that has expanded her creative outlet.

The latest offering from the artist is her most challenging and heavy work yet. The Calcination of Scout Niblett (Drag City) poses tough questions to our protagonist. The process of calcination is the first step in turning lead into gold, a metaphor that suits the album well. A cathartic and reflective journey, The Calcination… carries an unbelievable weight with strained resolve that explores many of the all-too-often taken-for-granted moments and memories. From the blazing opening seconds, and throughout the intensely personal record, Niblett’s energy never falters.

As always, Niblett’s inner voice speaks and informs her songwriting. A dedicated astrologer as well, she takes subconscious mysteries and lures them right to the surface. “To me, songs really are kind of messages from my subconscious,” she says. “I don’t sit down and try and write something with a concept. I can’t really do that. I just start playing, and then something will emerge that wasn’t there when I started. I can’t say I want to write a song about this and do it.”

She admits that the messages are not always so clear. Sometimes a song written years ago will suddenly become relevant, immediate even. Such is the case with “Pluto.” Written initially over a decade ago, this track only now is featured on her newest album, observed in new light, with new purpose. And it’s not the only one. Niblett hints at scores of works remaining perhaps as live performance only, or even kept further out of reach, until their meanings becomes clear.

Niblett’s raw torrent of emotion is anchored in her deeply sensitive and mature outlook. She takes subconscious mysteries and lures them right to the surface. Looking straight at what most people spend years ignoring, the depth that Niblett’s songwriting taps into is matched only by her staggering resilience, offering respite for the rest of us.

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)

Toxic Holocaust: An Overdose of Death (Relapse)

An Overdose of Death, the third full-length and Relapse Records debut by Seattle's Toxic Holocaust, is a full-on assault of thrash-metal anthems and balls-to-the-wall punk-rock attitude. Recorded by Jack Endino (Nirvana, High On Fire), An Overdose… is equally appropriate for a futuristic bout of zombie slaying or to bring home with you to piss the hell out of your neighbors.

Led by Joel Grind, Toxic Holocaust has primarily been run as a one-man band since its inception in Baltimore in 1999. Grind chooses to hire out for touring musicians and session drummers rather than work with a full-time band due to disparities in lifestyle and musical vision.

Thankfully, he's found a kindred spirit in former Zeke drummer Donny Paycheck, who joins him for the first time on An Overdose of Death. Paycheck's face-peeling punk/metal drum style is a fitting complement to Grind's growling vocals and raging guitar riffs.

Fist-pumping sing-along choruses on tracks such as "War is Hell" (read: "War is fucking hell!") and "Feedback, Blood, and Distortion" add to the good time. Grind's lyrics on the aforementioned songs, as well as others on the album ("Nuke the Cross," anyone?), may be tongue-in-cheek, but the music is never presented in a way that is watered down or meant to be ironic.

It's aggressive, it's heavy, and most of all, it's fun.

- Jamie Ludwig

Toxic Holocaust: www.toxicholocaust.com
Relapse Records: www.relapse.com

P.O.S.

P.O.S. has saved hip hop. Minneapolis rapper Stefon Alexander, a.k.a. P.O.S. or that guy from the punk band Building Better Bombs, has made what is likely to be the best hip-hop album of 2009.

Never Better draws on Alexander's background in punk and rock music (he plays most of the live instrumentation on the record), making this is a record that categorically defines the indie in indie rap.

Freezing weather, bold racism, wheezy lungs, and zero-balance checking accounts create an unlikely backdrop to this strangely positive album, all delivered through Alexander's dynamic vocal cadence.

Read the extended review of Never Better by ALARM founder/editor Chris Force.

P.O.S.: "Goodbye"
P.O.S.: \"Goodbye\"

The Bad Plus: For All I Care (Heads Up)

Drawing inspiration from both Igor Stravinsky and Nirvana, veteran jazz trio The Bad Plus wields its chops with considerable force and eloquence.

The group’s live and recorded covers, often sprinkled throughout fantastic originals, showcase its broad musical palette. That holds true with For All I Care, the group's first all-covers release.

The album contains two firsts for The Bad Plus: renditions of classical material and the use of a vocalist (alt-rock vet Wendy Lewis). Lewis nails the material’s vocal melodies with stunning power and exactitude, allowing the group to explore other sonic colors.

Nirvana's "Lithium," The Flaming Lips' "Feeling Yourself Disintegrate," and György Ligeti's "Fém (Etude No. 8)" stand out as particular highlights.

The Bad Plus: "Lithium" (Nirvana cover)
The Bad Plus: \"Lithium\" (Nirvana cover)

Kevin Hufnagel: Songs for the Disappeared (Nightfloat)

Whirlwind guitarist Kevin Hufnagel, one third of math-metal trio Dysrhythmia, issues this beautiful, melancholy collection of tunes centered on acoustic guitars and percussion.

Musical themes come and go as quickly as Hufnagel works his frets, tossing around swaths of Spanish and Gypsy guitar before reverting back to haunting rock melodies. Prepared guitar (similar to prepared piano — placing objects between strings) gives tracks like "Hunter/Hunted" a distorted, effected, and percussive feel, making use of a simple method to create relatively rare sounds.

Kevin Hufnagel: "Hunter/Hunted"
Kevin Hufnagel: \"Hunter/Hunted\"

Marco Benevento: Me Not Me

Following last year's solo debut Invisible Baby, keyboardist Marco Benevento (The Benevento/Russo Duo) returns for another studio effort, this time mostly of covers. Benevento's handful of originals have a fuller treatment this time around, employing the type of layered, post-jazz instrumentation that highlighted Invisible Baby.

The cover material is especially interesting for those familiar with the original versions. Led Zeppelin, Beck, Deerhoof, Leonard Cohen, and more are remade, with the pretty piano of Cohen's "Seems So Long Ago, Nancy" standing as one of the disc's best moments.

Marco Benevento: "Twin Killers" (Deerhoof cover)
Marco Benevento: \"Twin Killers\" (Deerhoof cover)

Zombi: Spirit Animal (Relapse)

Influenced by the work of Goblin and other 1970s horror soundtrack artists, ambient and cinematic acoustic/electronic duo Zombi showcases a sound that fits these films and any number of other retro soundtracks.

On Spirit Animal, the duo's songs are a bit more focused on modern rock sounds, and they certainly pack a punch. The album doesn't tread new ground, but existing fans of the genre are sure to love it.

Zombi: "Spirit Animal" sample
Zombi: \"Spirit Animal\" sample

Sabertooth: Old Days & The Island (Arena Rock Recording Co.)

Not to be confused with the Sabertooth that frequents the Green Mill, Chicago's storied jazz venue, this album is built around the gentle neo-folk songs of Nicholas Marshall. Far from the over-hyped indie folk and freak folk that have saturated the blogosphere, Old Days & The Island excels with lasting melodies, genuine vocals, occasional strings, and distant effects.

Aether: Artifacts (Exponential) [US]

URB Magazine calls Artifacts a hip-hop album, unquestionably. I challenge that statement because I feel that just cheapens the icy beauty of 2008's best electronic album.

That challenge'll take some doing since most of my friends into labels like Mush, Anticon, and Stones Throw are feeling this album from long-standing San Antonio micro-imprint Exponential.

Even my friends who would turn their noses up at those kinds of "race" records yet turn around and buy albums from Warp (WASP?) artists like Boards of Canada and Flying Lotus are feeling this one.

Sure, Artifacts is even constructed of pastiche of loops — just like a hip-hop album, but the only guy in hip hop capable of making a record like this is DJ Premiere, from whose playbook Aether borrows liberally. I can practically guarantee that Primo ain't gonna be rockin the M83 or My Bloody Valentine's "Glider" EP in search of those fragile melodies and tender hooks all over this sucker.

Twenty years ago this album actually would have been labelled some sort of goth or Cure-damaged amalgam, stripped of the boom-bap, and it's hard to shake the emotional and art-damaged beauty Aether steals directly from dudes like Roger Eno and Steve Reich on this album. But here comes the "amen" break, some Lee "Scratch" Perry sub-bass action, the latest noise from Berlin, and even a few timbales.

Voila! Suddenly, the trip down new romantic lane got enough rhythmic go juice to keep high-school kids from getting their asses kicked for daring to explore their sensitive sides. There are so many possibilites uncovered on Artifacts, from indie to ambient, but what this is definitely not is unquestionably hip hop. Rather, it is one of the great downtempo chill albums of this decade.

John Tejada: Fabric 44 (Fabric London) [UK]

Twice last year, the Fabric label looked out westward for some top-shelf DJ mixes. First we had Mark Farina on #40 — who sounded better than he had in years — and closing out the 2008 roster comes this offering from Los Angeles techno veteran John Tejada.

This guy has been around forever and worked in every facet of techno, including mid-'90s drum & bass. But at his molten core, like many other DJs from LA, you'll find a KDAY influence buried below. The infamous AM radio station was known in the 1980s for its electro-party style, typified by artists like the World Class Wreckin Cru and J.J. Fad.

As expected, the mix has some of those KDAY electro underpinnings, but it could have used some old-school quick mixing tricks to enliven it. The second half of the mix after Orbital's acid/piano house classic "Farenheit 303" just fades into a dull and tuneless mess.

It's a shame because the first half of Tejada's mix brings out some undiluted techno influences, and frankly, it's a breath of fresh air to hear that in opposition to all of the SF tech house and everyone else's just-plain-dreary minimalism. Too bad Fabric 44 is so hit or miss, as though Tejada can never quite find the right groove.

If techno boys like Carl Craig and Justin Maxwell ain't your bag, I'd say you can probably safely miss this one. But even if you do like this kind of stout techno, you may be kinda disappointed by Fabric 44's lack of focus.

Hercules and Love Affair: Hercules and Love Affair (DFA) [US]

I absolutely loved this record. It has become one of my favorite mainstream pop records since the second B-52s album. And though there is no "Planet Claire" on the self-titled debut album from this NYC nu-disco outfit, it does manage to crank out a theme song ("Hercules Theme") and "Blind" — one of the finest singles of 2008.

"Blind," especially, has the whole Nile Rodgers '80s thing going on, but the lyric delivered by transgendered persona Antony is as painful and bittersweet as anything penned by Patti Smith.

That combo of Manhattan indulgence and Lower East Side grittiness had me immediately identifying with Hercules and Love Affair while the slick dancefloor production left me ready to bust a move. I wish more pop albums could be this bold and yet still manage to have some fun.

Various: Sean's Lolla 08 Mix

My pal Passean has a definite nose for good pop music, and this collection inspired by his annual pilgrimage to Lollapalooza was an excellent indicator of what was actually good last year that got played on the radio — something that most of you reading this will quickly discover that I know little about.

Cat Power does her best to sound like Chrissie Hynde jamming with the Muscle Shoals players on the empowering rocker "Aretha, Sing One For Me," while Warp artist Jamie Lidell channels his inner Motown on "Little Bit Of Feel Good," "Another Day," and "Wait For Me" from his latest.

These artists shocked me by wearing their influences so much on their sleeves, and yet the retro appeal somehow really worked for both of them quite well. I was also surprised at how I absolutely fell in love with the Amy Winehouse and Mark Ronson pairing, "Valerie."

I know the inspiration for the song is the Brill Building and old Phillie Spector all the way, but with a barbed lyric and Winehouse's raspy pipes, I'd say this song was better suited for a punk rogue like Johnny Thunders. But with all of those greats dead now (RIP Ronnie Asheton), who could even do this song properly (although I do have visions of Elvis Costello & the Attractions…)?

I really miss simple two-and-a-half-minute pop gems like "Valerie," and Mick's kid seems capable of making them in his sleep. To Mr. Ronson, I say, "Kudos."

Lastly, I wanted to mention Marshall Law — a DJ that my man Passean really supports and turned me onto a few years back. Law is obviously an old-school college radio DJ, and doesn't create the typically annoying Beyonce vs Nirvana or Phil Collins vs ANYBODY mash-ups associated with dead-from-the- neck-up plane-crash survivors like DJ AM. On the two cuts on this comp, he wields his massive record collection like a highly specialized weapon.

The street music rave-up is part hip hop and part The Blow Up and could only be topped by the flawless "All Apologies" mash-up. I generally hate mash-ups because they debase the power of the DJ's hands, but when I hear a cat like this tear it up manually on Nirvana like that, it restores my faith in the DJ — which has been shaken these past few years.

The rest of the disk is loaded mostly with the typical college rock faire that I have grown tired of over the years and did little to spark my interest, but these above-mentioned artists made me rethink writing off 2008 as a total lost cause.

Lars Horntveth: Kaleidoscopic (Smalltown Supersound) [Norway]

Norway's Smalltown Supersound imprint is no stranger to 30-minute-plus epic tunes — look no further than Lindstrøm's latest album for proof of that.

However, the sophomore album Kaleidoscopic from Jaga Jazzist leader Lars Horntveth takes that extreme to its logical conclusion with an album that is 37 minutes long and composed entirely of one track — "Kaleidoscopic."

Do I dare call this a single, and how much will it cost if I buy it on iTunes? Performed by Horntveth and the 41-piece Latvian National Orchestra, the album is a concept soundtrack to an imaginary movie, and what a movie it must be.

I hear echoes of George Martin's side on the Beatles' Yellow Submarine album and even funky old Lalo Schiffrin in some places, but generally, Kaledioscopic sounds like a low-rent version of Philip Glass on ecstasy at a rave, trying to convince everyone that he's Steve Reich and coming up with the soundtrack to The Party instead.

It's fun, but in the same hollow kitchy way that those Martin Denny and Arthur Lyman records are too.

- Sean-Michael Yoder

Sean-Michael Yoder is a Chico, California-based music writer and tastemaker. Check out more at vinyljunkierecords.blogspot.com

SSION Live at The Metro (Chicago)

Cody Critcheloe, frontman and creator of SSION, has a lot to talk about these days — the mockumentary he's working on, touring, his art and music videos, his eyebrows…but in an interview with ALARM, he opted to discuss his favorite ladies in rock.

Beneath the eye liner, street jizz, and punk attitude, there lies a softer side to Critchloe. All of these women have genuinely been a source of inspiration for him.

1). Courtney Love

"Courtney Love is the reason I wanted to play guitar. In 7th grade, Live Through This came out. [Before that] I was into Madonna and she was a punk-rock Madonna.

Every gay guy who was into music was inspired by her. I listened to Nirvana too, but I related to her more. She spoke to me on a different level.

People don't like her because they think she stole Kurt Cobain, but I feel like every woman who marries an icon is going to get criticized. People forget that he did love her, and she's a smart person so I think that's sad.

Also, I think there should be more Courtney Love drag queens."

2). Boy George

"Growing up, we had satellite TV, and I would watch the MTV countdown with my mom. I got into Boy George when I was really little. He writes really great love songs — as good as any Motown singer.

At the time, it was shocking that a gay guy could be that big, that my redneck father would let him into the house.

But Boy George is smart and witty, and when you write songs like that, you can get away with murder. "Time" is a great song; it has good delivery, it's direct and catchy, and it can reach a lot of people."

3). Madonna

"I was introduced to Madonna when I was young, but I was drawn to her when the public saw her as a bad person, during the Erotica era. There need to be more pop stars riling it up; kids need something that will scare their parents. I appreciate anyone who sticks with it and makes people uncomfortable.

Something Madonna does is that she takes an underground trend and turns it mainstream. 'Vogue' originated in Harlem, and when she went on tour, she took the original Harlem dancers and exposed them to the world.

I saw Madonna recently in LA and I had front-row seats. I was expecting her to be very serious and into the show, but she was so interactive. She was so surreal. I thought I would be dancing the whole time, but I was just in awe. Her aura was overwhelming."

4). Lydia Lunch

"She's still doing stuff, still rocking the East Village scene. What I like about her is that if she started something and it caught on, she was onto something else. She has worked with so many people; she's an extreme personality and there need to be more people like that."

5). Beth Ditto / Kim Gordon

"I really admire Beth for doing exactly what she wants. The Gossip is really big in Europe, and I wish they were big here. It's important for girls to see her, to see people in music who aren't stereotypical hot girls.

I was really into Sonic Youth, and I liked Kim song's the best. I wouldn't want to hang out with her though; she seems cold. When I was a junior in high school, my mom took me to see them. It was my first concert. I was crying when Kim came on.

Sonic Youth was my connection to art. They were so supportive of the art scene. I was introduced to Mike Kelley through them, and they were the reason I wanted to go to art school."

6) Donita Sparks / L7

"They were huge into the grunge scene. I loved their music and she was a great front person. I'll never forget when they were playing that festival, I can't remember which one, but she threw a tampon into the crowd." [ed. note: Redding Festival 1992, and don't forget -- she co-founded Rock for Choice!]

7). Diana Ross / Wendy O. Williams

"I read Diana Ross's biography on the last tour along with Lenny Bruce's. She had a long career of really good songs. Motown had all of these acts and they needed a lead, and she was easy to sell.

She broke down boundaries and was such a diva, having everyone call her 'Miss Ross.' I'm sure I couldn't take that shit, but she has a great voice for pop and had made some great disco songs.

Wendy's band the Plasmatics were so over the top. They blew up a car — just ridiculous dramatics, and I love how she was. She's very cartoonish and so is Diana Ross. That's what they have in common — they're both cartoonish."

8). Peaches

"She is amazing. Fucking amazing performer. She is totally in control. I wish she was mainstream. She still pisses people off. It's amazing that people still get upset about Peaches. Lyrically, she's not revolutionary; it's the packaging.

There's people like Lil' Kim that are way worse [lyrically], but Peaches is underground and that disgusts people; she's not trying to be sexy. If she tried to be sexy, it would change things.

It's been great to see her progression; she's still doing what she does and doing it well. It goes to show that if you do something enough, people will take you seriously."

9). Karen O / Britney Spears

"Karen O is an amazing performer with a good voice and good taste. It's magic about what she's able to do. [Yeah Yeah Yeahs'] music really touches people and it's so underground; it shouldn't be so popular.

I was watching Rockers To Swallow the other night, and I was thinking 'I can't believe this is so huge.' People immolate her but not well. She's not a sex kitten; her energy is silly and over the top — just watch her hand movements. Sometimes she looks sort of disgusting, but she doesn't care. She's out of control.

Britney Spears — I never cared about her. My interest peaked with the release of Blackout, like everyone else I'm sure, but it was great and I didn't expect a lot. I may be buying into it, but she's real; she's genuine.

She reminds me of my family, of my mom and the girls from my high school. She's not dumb; she's just different.

She's always under scrutiny — I mean, I was probably fed Pepsi in a baby bottle. She has a lot of drive and ambition, and it sort of backfired. Unlike Madonna, she was never alone — everything was taken care of."

10). The Woman [SSION multi-instrumentalist]

"I'm under contract not to say anything about her."

- Story and Photo by Katelyn Bogucki