My Brightest Diamond: All Things Will Unwind (Asthmatic Kitty)

My Brightest Diamond: "Reaching Through to the Other Side"

Detroit-based singer/songwriter Shara Worden has long made a career as an indie-pop mercenary. Over the past decade or so, she has lent her talents to Sufjan Stevens’ Illinoisemakers, collaborated with The Decemberists, covered Radiohead for an OK Computer tribute album, appeared on numerous compilations (including her excellent cut on Dark Was the Night), and contributed to the chamber ensemble yMusic (which also includes Bon Iver, Antony & The Johnsons, the New York Philharmonic, and Rufus Wainwright).

Clearly, Worden has no problem keeping busy. But even in the midst of her many endeavors, Worden has found time for her indie-pop pet project, My Brightest Diamond, without ever skimping on musical quality or integrity.

Such is the case on All Things Will Unwind, My Brightest Diamond’s third effort on Asthmatic Kitty, as Worden’s talents are as focused and as strong as ever. Swaying between sweet, soft-edged crooning (“She Does Not Brave the War”) to full-on, forceful belt-outs (the latter half of “Be Brave”), Worden knows exactly what she’s doing. The songs swell and sway, kept adrift — and often take flight — thanks to Worden’s cosmic vocal work.

The album is suspended by quirky arrangements and orchestrations, serving as a backdrop to Worden’s ever-present voice. And Worden — an educated composer who has turned out several scores for off-Broadway productions — intertwines vocals and music together flawlessly, devising a kind of majestic, orchestral masterpiece.

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

Rob Crow: He Thinks He's People (Temporary Residence)

Rob Crow: "Sophistructure"

Rob Crow doesn't like to be pigeon-holed. As a musician, he's built numerous additions onto the foundational Pinback, which he cofounded in 1998 with Zach Smith. Those side projects have spanned math rock (Heavy Vegetable), doom metal (Goblin Cock), and indie pop (Optiganally Yours), and that diversity shows up immediately — albeit in pop form — on Crow's latest effort, He Thinks He's People. The intellectual songwriter offers five sounds in the first five tracks, which leaves eight more tracks to explore eight more sounds. He almost does it.

The diversity works because the tracks are short, but if there's a drawback to Crow's willingness — and ability — to play whatever style comes to him, it's that the album struggles for cohesion. Fortunately, Crow gives us the simple and driving drum beat that's typical of Pinback, which grounds the record and keeps it from floating away. The array of pop styles also means that listeners have to give the album more than one chance, which might be a fool-proof way to build a fan base. You've got "This Thread" for Mark Kozalek fans, "Build" for math nerds who like to play with time signatures, and everything else for those folks who like Crow for Crow.

The other common thread on He Thinks He's People is Crow's rather flippant approach. The art consists of a Microsoft Paint-style illustration of a stick figure in a doghouse. Songs are titled things like "Pat's Crabs," "Tranked," and "Locking Seth Putnam in Hot Topic." The music recalls Benji Hughes in that it's music that seems to say, "Who gives a shit?" even when you know it's giving a shit.

- Text by Timothy S. Aames.

Freestyle Fellowship: The Promise (Decon)

Freestyle Fellowship: “Step 2 the Side”

In the early ’90s, LA rap group Freestyle Fellowship burst on the scene with an innovative blend of jazzy/funky hip-hop production and dizzying rhymes. Though the group only had two albums before reuniting for Temptations in 2001, its members — Aceyalone, Myka 9, PEACE, Self Jupiter, and J Sumbi — have gone on to notable solo careers and collaborations (including with Haiku D’Etat and Abstract Rude), and Fellowship has maintained a legendary status ever since its inception.

The Promise is the Fellowship’s first album in 10 years, and it reflects a modernized sound. Though Temptations was more nuanced and reflected stylistic growth — and less of that early-’90s style — The Promise leaps into the synthesized world.

The group’s diverse samples and unconventional hooks, as usual, keep things fresh from track to track, while still retaining the characteristics that were adopted by contemporaries such as A Tribe Called Quest and successors such as Jurassic 5 and Blackalicious. “Gimmie,” about a handout-seeking acquaintance, is one of the album’s best examples of the group’s matured sound, working a fat synth sound and boom-bap beat over a neoclassical string melody and piano tinkling.

There’s just enough of new and old for old-school fans and newbies alike. Whether or not you’ve been initiated to the Fellowship, pick up The Promise.

Electro Quarterstaff: Aykroyd (Willowtip)

Electro Quarterstaff: "Waltz of the Swedish Meatballs"

Hailing from the urban wilds of Winnipeg, Electro Quarterstaff is an instrumental tech-metal quintet in the vein of Dysrhythmia and its ilk. Whereas other progressive outfits with a zillion riffs opt for smaller lineups, Electro Quarterstaff rounds out its sound with a triple guitar assault, maximizing its potential for harmonies and solos.

Though there's always a lot going on, the guitars typically don't overload the listener, and the axe-men try to avoid getting in each other's way. If there's a complaint, it's that the band doesn't stretch into its cited (personal) influences, outside of Gorguts (which includes two members of Dysrhythmia). The MO of Electro Quarterstaff is not one of a genre-hopping metal band, but it would be interesting to hear the group touch on the non-metal influences, which include Frank Zappa, Miles Davis, and Béla Bartók.

Five years after the band's last album, Aykroyd is not a departure; it simply finds Electro Quarterstaff refining its riff-intensive style. Don't let the album's beautiful minor-key intro fool you: Aykroyd is all riffs all the time, displaying masterful skills without coming off as self-indulgent.

Sandro Perri: Impossible Spaces (Constellation)

Sandro Perri: "Love and Light"

Over the course of five side projects and countless collaborations, Toronto-based producer Sandro Perri has dabbled in many styles, offering touches of indie pop, Western music, and more to his folk-based style.

Impossible Spaces, his third solo album, fully steps outside of Perri’s categorical boundaries. The indie-folk foundation is augmented by elements of electronica, jazz, and bossa nova, made possible by a diverse palette that includes guitar, flute, oboe, brass, synths, and samples. Many of the musical elements transform mid-song, through crescendos or the entry of bass, but Perri’s soulful voice remains as the album’s constant, softening any stylistic alterations.

- Text by Lauren Zens.

Sahy Uhns: An Intolerant Disdain of Underlings (Proximal)

Sahy Uhns: "Anticipation of the Night"

Sahy Uhns (pronounced "science") is the solo moniker of electronic/hip-hop producer Carl Madison Burgin, whose debut CD comes as part of a 5" x 5" book with photographs of dilapidated homes in the California deserts. The deserts are said to have inspired the album, but the glitchy, beat-ridden sounds therein are more the soundtrack for robots break-dancing than cactus needles rustling in the wind.

Though at times it simply resembles another detailed IDM album, An Intolerant Disdain of Underlings stands out with highly melodic phrasings and nuanced differences in timbre. "I'mage" is one of the album's best examples, as its blipping 8-bit sounds lead into twangy, squirming melodies that seemingly are from sequenced kora or lute samples. Huge break beats then drop back in the mix to optimal effect.

Falling somewhere between the styles of Warp recording artists (Chris) Clark and Harmonic 313, Sahy Uhns' debut is a beautiful, danceable sound collage that's good for the car or the dance floor.

- Text by Scott Morrow. Read the full review here.

Honorable Mentions

Class Actress: Rapprocher (Carpark)

Cradle of Filth: Evermore Darkly… EP (Nuclear Blast)

Guantlet Hair: s/t (Dead Oceans)

House of Low Culture: Poisoned Soil (Taiga / Sub Rosa)

Jonti: Twirligig (Stones Throw)

Kuedo: Severant (Planet Mu)

M83: Hurry Up, We’re Dreaming! (Mute)

Moholy-Nagy: Like Mirage (Temporary Residence)

Puscifer: Conditions of My Parole

Trayer: Afterlife an Abandoned Theme Park (Porter)

Glasgow instrumentalists Mogwai return with an album full of beautiful minor-key epics-including a few seriously heavy tracks like "Batcat," which nicely contrasts "I'm Jim Morrison, I'm Dead," the album's droning, thudding, tinkling opener. Sporting a still-life portrait of a bald eagle's mug on the cover, The Hawk is Howling is one of Mogwai's most diverse releases this decade, possibly since Rock Action or EP+6 2001.

*Read Drew Fortune's lengthy feature on Mogwai in ALARM 33, available soon.

Mogwai: \"The Sun Smells Too Loud\"

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God of Shamisen: Dragon String Attack (Reptile)

If you're into the fusion of metal with traditional Japanese music (and who isn't?), pick up Dragon String Attack by God of Shamisen. Shamisen master and Estradasphere member Kevin Kmetz leads the group with his acrobatic finger work on the fretless Japanese instrument, infusing said sounds with any other genre that feels appropriate (reggae, Gypsy, jam rock, funk). The shredding riffs of guitarist Karl Schnaitter and the detonating beats of fellow Estradasphere cohort Lee Smith also propel the band, which you know will be good given that two of Kmetz's listed influences are ultra-heavy death metallers Cryptopsy and classical legend J.S. Bach.

God of Shamisen: \"The Science Fiction of Ray Bradbury Attack\"

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Lymbyc Systym: Love Your Abuser, Remixed (Mush)

As Lymbyc Systym, brothers Mike and Jared Bell released a beautiful 2007 debut full-length, Love Your Abuser, on Mush Records. The album's heartening tunes used piano, synthesizers, organs, xylophones, brass instruments, and much more to provide a gorgeous multi-layered mix. Now the album gets a remix treatment with clicky electronic beats and thematic revamps by The One AM Radio, The Album Leaf, This Will Destroy You, Daedelus, and others. Magic Bullet Records will also soon release a This Will Destroy You / Lymbyc Systym split 10"/CD as well as re-release Lymbyc Systym's first studio EP, Carved by Glaciers.

Lymbyc Systym: \"Fall Bicycle\" (The Album Leaf Remix)

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Genghis Tron: Board Up the House, Remixes Vol. 1 LP (Temporary Residence)

Normally on the Relapse roster, electro-metal trio Genghis Tron has its crushing sci-fi sounds reworked as part of a five-label LP project that includes 20 mixologists. This first volume has been available for a few months, but now it has its official release, featuring renderings by Steve Moore, Justin K. Broadrick, Rob Crow, and Eluvium.

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Ten Kens: Ten Kens (FatCat)

The debut album from this Toronto-based quartet is an eclectic combination of power pop, folk, and droning, experimental rock.