Mogwai: Hardcore Will Never Die, But You Will (Sub Pop)

Mogwai: "Rano Pano"

Mogwai, everyone’s favorite Glaswegian post-rock quintet, recently celebrated 15 years together, and during that span, its nearly unaltered lineup has been as consistent as its mid-tempo rock instrumentals. The band’s sound has changed along the way, including intermittent vocal activity, but by and large, fans know what to expect: reverberated guitar melodies, glimmering keyboard lines, steady beats, and lots of fuzz.

Along the way, the band has shifted a bit from hypnotic, repetitive guitar lines to have songs with more conventional rock leads, and a prime example is “How to Be a Werewolf” from its seventh and newest full-length album, Hardcore Will Never Die, But You Will. Still, nothing here will take listeners by surprise. It’s another 10 tracks of roughly five-minute instrumentals, with a smattering of highlights – a ghostly guitar/keyboard line in triplicate, an upbeat rock track with a half-time breakdown, and a sunny yet sludgy bass melody.

Mophono: Cut Form Crush LP (CB Records)

Mophono: "Be Human Part One"

Another of the up-and-coming DJs/producers from San Francisco’s beat scene, Mophono (also known as DJ Centipede) has just released a neck-breaking full-length debut called Cut Form Crush.  It follows a handful of EPs and remixes that were scattered over the past six years, but outside of beat junkies, it likely is an introduction for most listeners.

Released on Mophono’s own CB Records, Cut Form Crush is an LP/digital-only release where Moog bleeps meet hard hip-hop beats, jazzy fills, heavy funk cuts, and fanatical synth hooks.  Though it features guest spots by Flying Lotus and MC Subverse, Mophono does all of the heavy lifting, splicing samples over boom-bap beats and spacey dubstep passages.

Shawn Lee's Ping Pong Orchestra: World of Funk (Ubiquity)

Shawn Lee's Ping Pong Orchestra: "Cairo Cairo"

A super-prolific and accomplished multi-instrumentalist, Shawn Lee has made a career of splicing disparate styles over his foundation of funk, soul, R&B, and more.  Now, just two months after the release of a dub-, funk-, and rock-infused album of classical covers, Lee’s Ping Pong Orchestra is back with a world-driven collection of exceptionally funky jams.  It’s not old-school funk, of course, but a similar brand of Lee’s multifarious style – hip-hop and down-tempo beats, grooves galore, and layers upon layers of sounds.

Like usual, Lee employs a small music shop’s worth of instruments to achieve his diversity, this time tabbing sitar, kalimba, charango, bouzouki, tambura, steel drum, castanets, udu, and balafon among other choices.  It helps World of Funk make virtual visits to India, Egypt, the Mediterranean, and many other locales while adding Ethio-jazz, Latin psychedelia, and Eastern funk.  Guest singers also help to establish the global vibes, including some with Brazilian, Egyptian, and Cambodian heritage, with the latter coming from Dengue Fever frontwoman Chhom Nimol.

And with additional guest spots by mysterious beat-smith Clutchy Hopkins, multi-talented bandleader Michael Leonhart, and NOMO songwriter Elliot Bergman, World of Funk is a bona-fide melting pot of talent.

Total Fucking Destruction: Haters (Translation Loss)

Total Fucking Destruction: "Time Theft"

Formed after the first demise of Brutal Truth, Total Fucking Destruction has spent more than a decade presenting themes of nihilism, annihilation, and nonsense over grind, thrash, and punk rock.  Led by drummer/vocalist Richard Hoak of Brutal Truth, the band exists as a mocking assault on the global power structure, the inhumanity of homo sapiens, and mindless consumption.

Musically and vocally, the band has a very defiant vibe, and its new album, Hater, is no different.  There’s a punk-rock flair with overdubbed growls and gang vocals, and there’s the usual dose of rock-'n'-roll riffage, but the base of blast beats, double kick, and power chords remains the same.  Unlike a lot of grind bands, Total Fucking Destruction has plenty of tempo shifts, and though Hater isn’t as off the wall as previous albums have been, it might be the band’s most polished and cohesive release.

Sims: Bad Time Zoo (Doomtree)

Sims: "Burn It Down"

Headlined by Rhymesayers recording artist P.O.S, Minneapolis hip-hop collective Doomtree has some up-front name recognition but also a roster full of talent.  That includes Andrew Sims, an MC and early member of Doomtree who has done his part to help cultivate independent rap.

Bad Time Zoo is Sims’ second and newest solo album, produced by Doomtree associate and DJ Lazerbeak.  There’s enough sociopolitical content – including the call to action of “One-Dimensional Man” – but there are personal themes along the way, such as the unabashed balladry of “Love My Girl” and “When It Rolls In.”

With horn, piano, and guitar samples, double-time hi-hats, and thumping bass and synth hits, Bad Time Zoo sets a head-nodding foundation for Sims’ steady (and often doubled) delivery.  P.O.S drops a guest verse on “Too Much,” but this is far from another group effort, standing on its own as Sims continues to define his style.

Shugo Tokumaru: Port Entropy (Polyvinyl)

Shugo Tokumaru: "Lahaha"

Port Entropy is the latest full-length from Shugo Tokumaru, a Japanese singer, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist who performs or produces every sound on his records.  It’s his first US release on Polyvinyl Records, but Tokumaru has already achieved considerable commercial success in his native nation and abroad, including TV ads and a spot in the Japanese top 40.

With self-professed influences of the Beatles, the Beach Boys, and Japanese pop, Tokumaru wields an array of sounds behind his cheery, airy, harmonized vocals.  Guitar, glockenspiel, flute, banjo, and homemade percussion are just a handful of what one hears on an average album.  Some may feel overwhelmed by the layer upon layer of major-chord melody, but Port Entropy is another golden nugget of sunshine pop, with chops that aren’t too shabby either.

Honorable Mentions

Arbouretum: The Gathering (Thrill Jockey)

Beaten by Them: Invisible Origins (Logicpole)

Bright Eyes: The People's Key (Saddle Creek)

DC the MIDI Alien: Avengers Airwaves (Brick)

Elk: Let’s Get Married (Shape Up)

The Eternals: Approaching the Energy Field (Plustapes / Addenda)

PJ Harvey: Let England Shake (Vagrant)

Tim Hecker: Ravedeath, 1972 (Kranky)

The Natural Yogurt Band: Tuck in With… (Now-Again)

Austin Peralta: Endless Planets (Brainfeeder)

Phaedra: The Sea (Rune Grammofon)

La Sera: s/t (Hardly Art)

The Skull Defekts: Peer Amid (Thrill Jockey)

Win Win: s/t (Vice)

NOMO & Shawn Lee: Upside Down tour seven-inch (Ubiquity, 1/18/11)

Instrumental collective NOMO combines funk, Afrobeat, electronica, jazz, and more for a unique fusion of good-time jams.  Unclassifiable producer/multi-instrumentalist Shawn Lee, a label-mate on Ubiquity, has tackled dozens (perhaps hundreds?) of styles over his dynamic career.

Together, the two sides have collaborated to create "Upside Down," the A-side of a tour-exclusive seven-inch that NOMO officially released today.  Featuring guest vocals by Natalie Bergman, the sister of NOMO bandleader Elliot Bergman, the tune builds its groove with loops of an electric kalimba, a funky bass line, steel drums, and a flanged synthesizer.

The seven-inch is limited to 300 copies, and it also features NOMO’s “Nocturne” on side B.  It originally was available on the band's fall tour with Iron and Wine; it's now available at Amazon.com and through iTunes.

NOMO: "Invisible Cities"

Contributing photographer David Sampson shot these photos at the recent NOMO show at Schubas. NOMO's inventive Afro-jazz-rock sound spans so many styles and eras that it belies its contemporary Ann Arbor, MI origins. Meanwhile, opener In Tall Buildings (Chicago's Erik Hall, also a member of NOMO) warmed the crowd up with his brand of stripped-down folk rock.

Named after the awkwardly constructed Nintendo device of the late 1980s, Powerglove is a power-metal quartet that combines the shredding, über-harmonized, finger-tapping insanity of a band like DragonForce with the kitschy nostalgia of video-game covers.

On the band's first EP and LP, it tackled late-'80s and mid-'90s classics from Tetris, Mega Man, The Legend of Zelda, Castlevania, F-Zero, and assorted Final Fantasy games.  Now the group turns its video-game MO to the realm of Saturday-morning (and prime-time) cartoons for Saturday Morning Apocalypse, its first release on E1.

With maximum riffage and maniacal beats, lighthearted themes turn epic, sinister, or anywhere between.  Comic nerds whose formative years came in the '90s will smile upon hearing the album opener, the theme to the X-Men cartoon series — which, after three minutes, segues into a classical-guitar breakdown before finishing with full force.

Themes from The Simpsons, The Flintstones, Pokémon, Inspector Gadget, and The Transformers each are remade with squealing pitch harmonics, chugging guitars, and rapid double-kick beats.  There's a dark, powerful rendition of the Batman cartoon theme, with a glockenspiel providing a few complementary passages.  In the Batman theme — and throughout the disc — keyboards play a vital role, as killer programming accounts for the sweeping faux strings, "orchestra hits," synth arpeggios, and general spookiness.

And though these selections primarily are from Saturday-morning cartoons, there are a few other treats as well, including a fantastic metal rendition of "This is Halloween" from The Nightmare Before Christmas.  The absolute highlight is the Winnie the Pooh song ("Heffalumps and Woozles"), taking the grandeur to another level with an interlude of harp, pizzicato strings, bells, and more.

As the teenage antagonist from the 1989 film The Wizard would say, "I love the Powerglove.  It's so bad."

Powerglove: "This is Halloween"

Victoire: Cathedral City (New Amsterdam)

Formed in 2008, Victoire is an all-female electro-chamber quintet that was founded by composer Missy Mazzoli.  In just a few years, the classically trained group has issued an EP and landed a number of notable gigs, slowly building buzz around Brooklyn.

Cathedral City is Victoire's proper debut, and it's a striking album that marries emphatic string motifs to minimal yet clever accents of keyboards, clarinet, melodica, and rapturous vocals.

Other chamber ensembles have pushed boundaries in the 21st Century, but Victoire does so in a way that feels completely natural.  Digitized hi-hat beats, looped/glitched vocals, and touches of electric guitar (courtesy of The National's Bryce Dessner) subtly complement a harmonious blend of violin, double bass, and the aforementioned elements.

Epic classical-rock composer William Brittelle, bassist/composer Florent Ghys, and gifted soprano vocalist Mellissa Hughes also make appearances on Cathedral City, adding more character to an album that doesn't lack it. Cathedral City is an exciting arrival.

Victoire: "Cathedral City"

Aloe Blacc: Good Things (Stones Throw)

Starting his career as an MC in the hip-hop duo Emanon, Egbert Dawkins III — known as Aloe Blacc — transitioned to a solo soul singer early last decade.  The two careers overlapped for a stretch, but Dawkins began focusing on his solo career midway through the decade, following his 2003 debut EP with a 2006 full-length album, Shine Through.

Dawkins sang a lot on Shine Through, but he still offered a few raps to go with hip-hop production values, Latin sounds, and even a few pop vibes (like the Justin Timberlake-esque "Are You Ready?" and "Want Me").  Good Things, his sophomore follow-up, focuses on his soulful and R&B elements — with a few funky twists — in an effort to create "positive social change" through good vibrations.

A lot of it feels as personal as on previous albums, but tracks such as "Life So Hard" tackle political topics like the cruel hand of capitalism.  A similar sentiment is expressed on album opener "I Need a Dollar," a tune that has doubled as the theme for HBO's How to Make It in America.

Thanks to production assistance from the in-house team at Truth & Soul Records, Good Things remains sonically eclectic, tabbing strings, a vibraphone, and more in addition to the usual soul instrumentation.  It doesn't reach as far, stylistically, as Shine Through, but it refines Aloe Blacc's approach while expanding his political influence.

Aloe Blacc: "You Make Me Smile"

Greg Ward’s Fitted Shards: South Side Story (19/8)

Jazz saxophonist Greg Ward has accomplished so much over the past decade that it’s hard to believe he’s still in his late 20s.  His list of musical cohorts is so long that there's only time to mention a few big names — Hamid Drake, Jeff Parker, Von Freeman — and despite his relocation to New York, he's back in Chicago, his previous residence, nearly every other week for one-off gigs.

Fitted Shards is one of Ward's newest ensembles as a leader, and it features three other excellent young Chicagoans: bassist Jeff Greene (Blink.), keyboardist Rob Clearfield (Loom), and drummer Quin Kirchner (Nomo).

From the get-go, the quartet's debut, South Side Story, is unconventional for an album that is thoroughly jazzy.  "Segue," the opener, is built on a short bass repetition, providing latch-able ground for Ward's dexterous runs before an unexpectedly dense wave of keyboards provides some oomph.

The rest of Ward's compositions fall somewhere on the jazz spectrum, but each tune has its own feel and flair, including decidedly un-jazz elements like prog-ish synth accents on "All In" and distorted guitar backing on "Step Forward."  Additionally, Clearfield's talents are indispensable, as he brings Ward's softer melodies to life.

Greg Ward's Fitted Shards: "Step Forward"

Honorable Mentions

Jason Adasiewicz: Sun Rooms (Delmark)

Rahim AlHaj: Little Earth (UR Music)

Bad Religion: The Dissent of Man (Epitaph)

Ben Folds & Nick Hornby: Lonely Avenue (Nonesuch)

Black Anvil: Triumvirate (Relapse)

Enslaved: Axioma Ethica Odini (Indie Recordings)

Floored By Four (Mike Watt, Nels Cline, Yuka Honda, Dougie Bowne): s/t (Chimera Music)

Adam Haworth Stephens: We Live on Cliffs (Saddle Creek)

Alan Moore: Unearthing (Lex)

Rudresh Mahanthappa & Bunky Green: Apex (Pi)

Three Mile Pilot: The Inevitable Past is the Future Forgotten (Temporary Residence)

Unearthly Trance: V (Relapse)

Pete Yorn: s/t (Vagrant)

ALARM leaves no genre unloved in our round-up of 50 albums that didn't receive enough attention in 2009.

Omar Rodriguez Lopez: Old Money (Stones Throw, 1/27/09)

Omar Rodriguez Lopez: "Family War Funding"

The first of many releases in 2009 from prolific guitarist/composer Omar Rodriguez-Lopez. Accessible and centered on rock, sounding spacey, funky, progressive, psychedelic, a little jazzy, and a little Latin.

Kevin Hufnagel: Songs for the Disappeared (self-released, 2/3/09)

Kevin Hufnagel: "Tres"

Musical themes come and go, covering swaths of Spanish and Gypsy guitar before reverting back to haunting rock melodies, on this solo acoustic album from highly technical Dysrhythmia guitarist Kevin Hufnagel.

P.O.S: Never Better (Rhymesayers, 2/3/09)

P.O.S.: "Drumroll"

Likely the year's best hip-hop album, Never Better draws on Stefon Alexander’s background in punk and rock music (he plays most of the live instrumentation on the record), making this is an album that categorically defines the indie in indie rap.

Zu: Carboniferous (Ipecac, 2/17/09)

Zu: "Ostia"

Sludgy alt-metal with complex repeated rhythms and free-jazz freakouts. Features Mike Patton on two killer tracks.

The Andreas Kapsalis & Goran Ivanovic Guitar Duo: s/t (2/24/09)

The Andreas Kapsalis & Goran Ivanovic Guitar Duo: "Shadow Thief"

A Balkan-influenced classical guitarist joins an ethically inspired finger-tapping guitarist for a disc of skill and beauty.

16: Bridges to Burn (Relapse, 2/24/09)

16: "Throw in the Towel"

Dubbed the "Unsane of the West Coast" by ALARM's Jamie Ludwig, 16 issued another hard-hitting riff fest in 2009 with Bridges to Burn, the band's best album to date.

Umlaut: s/t (3/10/09)

Umlaut: "Kitty Puppy"

Mr. Bungle's Bär McKinnon, multi-instrumentalist extraordinaire, issued one hell of an album for this new project — one that filters meticulous melodies and asinine vocals through the lens of a whacked-out lounge group.

Jono El Grande: Neo Dada (Rune Grammofon, 3/16/09)

Jono El Grande: "Oslo Coty Suite"

Fanciful music that's different around every turn. Art rock that weaves through theatrical, progressive, classical, and absurdist styles with influences from Frank Zappa, Captain Beefheart, King Crimson and Igor Stravinsky.

Kylesa: Static Tensions (Prosthetic, 3/17/09)

Kylesa: "Scapegoat"

Down-tuned dirge metal that rumbles with crust punk, sludge, metal, hardcore, and psychedelia, often laced with atmospheric samples. To date, Static Tensions is Kylesa's most powerful album.

(MF) Doom: Born Like This (Lex, 3/23/09)

Doom: "Cellz"

Dropping his “MF” prefix, the incomparable rapper and Marvel-inspired supervillain delivered another nearly impenetrable wall of rhymes and flow, dizzying listeners with his ever-shifting, slowly delivered lyrics.

El Grupo Nuevo de Omar Rodriguez Lopez

The latest in Omar Rodriguez Lopez's ceaseless output, El Grupo Nuevo… functions as a wild Mars-Volta-meets-Hella side project, uniting key players from both outfits.

Hella beat-meister Zach Hill and synth bassist Jonathan Hischke help provide riotous rhythms with Mars Volta bassist Juan Alderete de la Peña, and Omar's long-running musical partner, Cedric Bixler Zavala, tops eight tunes with his quivering falsettos. Omar steers the ship and does his thing, but this is a much spacier and progressive release than a Mars Volta disc.

Overlapping rhythms rule much of Cryptomnesia I, the first of three albums recorded by this super-group back in 2006. The result is dynamite, and the good news is that two more albums are in the pipes despite The Mars Volta being Omar's top priority.

El Grupo Nuevo de Omar Rodriguez Lopez: "They're Coming to Get You, Barbara"
El Grupo Nuevo de Omar Rodriguez Lopez: \"They\'re Coming to Get You, Barbara\"

Isis: Wavering Radiant (Ipecac)

Since Oceanic changed its trajectory, sludge quintet Isis has leveled epic enhancements over its weighty creations.  Each successive album has found the group expanding its melodies, singing vocals, and effects, and Wavering Radiant adds a bit more to the well-established mixture.

Tracks like opener "Hall of the Dead" have a minor throwback effect, incorporating palm-muted triplet guitar riffs and growls that may not have been as throaty since The Red Sea EP.   But the tune also leans on organ and synthesizer, two newer elements that crop up throughout this balanced disc.

There's no significant change of direction here, but The Wavering Radiant is a greater step towards Isis' sonic self-realization.  Make sure to check out "Threshold of Transformation," the great 10-minute jam and album closer below.

Isis: "Threshold of Transformation"
Isis: \"Threshold of Transformation\"

Jon Hopkins: Insides (Domino)

It's been five years since the last full-length album from London pianist / electronic producer Jon Hopkins, a widely acclaimed crossover artist that garners comparisons to Brian Eno. In the meantime, the classically trained musician has created a more-flexible, more-organic landscape to showcase his talents, which shine on Insides.

Alternately distant and engaging, Insides is a beautiful work that scores great guest cameos. Its diverse mix keeps the sound from going stale and will ensure a broad appeal.

Jon Hopkins: "Light Through the Veins"
Jon Hopkins: \"Light Through the Veins\"

Nomo: Invisible Cities (Ubiquity)

Fusing funk, Afrobeat, electronica, jazz, and many other worldly elements, the style of interstate collective Nomo manages to sound much more fluid than it appears on paper.

Led by saxophonist Elliot Bergman, the group has promptly provided a sequel to last June's Ghost Rock with Invisible Cities.  Recorded during the Ghost Rock sessions, this disc scales back the electric-kalimba loops that flavored much of its predecessor, although a few pronounced moments remain — including the lead-in on "Crescent," which sets the table for some show-stealing fancy flutework.

Invisible Cities also incorporates Latin influences ("Waiting"), funky rock ("Patterns"), a dissonant, minimalist guitar pattern with soulful backing vocals ("Ma"), and a half-improvised requiem ("Elijah").  Bands don't often record two discs of killer material at the same time, so this compelling "sister album" may be a portent of greater things to come.

Nomo: "Patterns"
Nomo: \"Patterns\"

Yoshida Brothers: Prism (Domo)

Best known in the US for their accompaniment to Nintendo Wii commercials, these shamisen-wielding brothers present an active homage to traditional Japanese music.  Much more so than previous releases, Prism is greatly infused with other styles, tapping rock, folk, neoclassical, film scores, and more in collaboration with great guest musicians.

The disc opens with a bouncing rendition of "The National Anthem" by Radiohead, setting an energetic tone for an album that gracefully bobs and weaves.  If you're looking for a great introduction to the brothers' catalog, pick this up.

Pink Mountain: s/t (Sickroom)

Another progressive super-group — albeit with much more obscure members — Pink Mountain is an avant-gardist's wet dream.

Sam Coomes (Quasi), Kyle Bruckmann (Lozenge), Gino Robair (Splatter Trio), Scott Rosenberg (P.A.F.), and John Shiurba (Eskimo) comprise the quintet, which draws inspiration from psychedelic jams, free-jazz improvisation, prog rock, and spacey transmissions.

This self-titled disc is the group's second release, following its little-known but acclaimed album (also self-titled) for Frenetic Records.  This one is more cohesive, darker, and more progressive, and anyone into math/stoner/noise realms is sure to love it.

Read Frank Parisi's interview with Pink Mountain.

Pink Mountain: "Ditch Witch"
Pink Mountain: \"Ditch Witch\"

The Quin Kirchner Group @ Heaven Gallery (Chicago)

This newly formed improvisational outfit features four young standouts in Chicago's jazz, rock, and electronic scenes.

The quartet's style is more accessible than the type of experimental/free jazz that one might imagine from an improvisational outfit; according to alto/soprano saxophonist Charles Gorczynski, the group's songs aim to sound more like compositions, using repeated melodies and apparent sections.

This makes sense in the context of the members' other groups: Gorcynzki's Colorlist, upright bassist Matt Ulery's Loom, and clarinetist / tenor saxophonist Elliot Bergman's NOMO, for which Kirchner also drums.

The night's other set belongs to the collaboration of bass clarinetist Jason Stein, pianist Jim Baker, and bassist Josh Abrams — a trio with its own esteemed members that should rely more on solos and less on conventional structure.

Blink. @ Uncommon Ground (Devon Ave.)

Based around forward-thinking compositions of bassist Jeff Greene, Blink. is a jazz-crossover four-piece that touches on rock as well as improvisation.

Each member is a shining figure in the future of Chicago's avant-jazz scene: Dave Miller (Algernon) provides noisy wanderings and distant moans on his guitar, sharply contrasting but strongly complementing the refined jazz chops of saxophonist Greg Ward (We Tree, Greg Ward Quartet). Drummer Quin Kirchner (NOMO, Tomorrow Music Orchestra) ably backs any given passage with beats that bounce, gently ting, or hit hard.

Greene also provides samples, which add another layer of sonic augmentation. Already together for two years, the group recently saw the release of its debut album, The Epidemic of Ideas, on alternative jazz label Thirsty Ear, so make sure to pick up a copy if you get to this free hour-long gig.

Blink.: www.myspace.com/blinkchicago
Thirsty Ear: www.thirstyear.com

Garage a Trois

Mars Volta mastermind Omar Rodriguez-Lopez is releasing another solo album — this time his first through Stones Throw. Titled Old Money, it is currently available via MP3s and will be released on CD and vinyl on January 27.

Mastodon guitarist Bill Kelliher has been hospitalized due to undisclosed reasons. He hopes to rejoin the band, which is continuing to tour as a trio, in time for its upcoming European shows. The band, meanwhile, will release a limited-edition vinyl box set on Tuesday.

Outspoken wordsmith Saul Williams speaks with Wired about the aftermath from the release of The Inevitable Rise and Liberation of Niggy Tardust, which was released online last year through a tiered (free-$5) pricing system.

On the group's MySpace page, a sneak preview has been posted from the upcoming album by beautiful jazz/groove trio Garage a Trois. Comprised of vibraphonist/percussionist Mike Dillon, drummer Stanton Moore, saxophonist Skerik, and keyboardist Marco Benevento, the group also recently posted performance dates for the Jam Tour 7.

NOMO mastermind Elliot Bergman and producer Warn Defever have released a small edition of handmade electric kalimbas for sale. These instruments of African origin are played through metal keys and produce a unique, resonating sound.

Don Caballero has announced a small batch of northeastern tour dates for December, a few weeks after the band returns from the UK.

Pelican has released a video for "Lost in the Headlights." It makes its television debut on Saturday on Headbangers Ball.

The (International) Noise Conspiracy is streaming its new album, The Cross of My Calling, in its entirety from the band's MySpace page. The album will be released on November 25 in the US.

Led by the oozing talent of Estradasphere guitarist Jason Schimmel, his Orange Tulip Conspiracy begins its West Coast tour on Saturday.

Mike Patton has another collaboration credit, this time with The Qemists, a three-piece outfit that meshes rock with club music. The group's single with Patton, "Lost Weekend," is available on 12" through Ninja Tune.

After recently finishing the Experience Hendrix national tour, drummer Mitch Mitchell has passed away at the age of 62. He was the last living member of The Jimi Hendrix Experience.