A Lull: Confetti (Mush)

A Lull: "Weapons for War"

Building off its early buzz for the single “Weapons for War,” Chicago quintet A Lull has drawn plenty of early attention for its debut album, Confetti.

Comprised of five multi-instrumentalists who each have a hand in its percussive style, the band unites assorted characteristics of contemporary indie electronica, with textured timbres, humming ambience, and melodic hooks building over pitter-pat beats and thumping toms. The vocals are equally as multi-layered and harmonized, alternating between soft pop refrains and “rat-tat-tats” and other percussive utterances over waves of deep, distorted low end.

Young Widows: In and Out of Youth and Lightness (Temporary Residence)

Young Widows: "In and Out of Lightness"

Now more than a few album cycles removed from its transition from post-hardcore outfit Breather Resist, Louisville's Young Widows continues coming more and more into its own.

The trio's last full-length album, Old Wounds, marked its arrival as post-punk powerhouse.  Its newest, In and Out of Youth and Lightness, displays another progression in the band's songwriting skills while also emphasizing the "quietness" in the genre.

Guitarist/vocalist Evan Patterson's reverberated instrument walks an eerie line between clean and dissonant. The rhythm section favors a ceremonial plod, often accenting select beats instead of playing straight through, but it's more than capable of mixing in urgent rock rhythms.  In between, there's a roomy silence, occasionally breached with a wandering guitar echo or backing vocal.

From the weird twang, Black Heart Procession vibes, and enveloping vocal harmonies of tracks such as "Right in the End" and "Lean on the Ghost," In and out of Youth and Lightness has plenty of new direction for familiar fans, but it's also an excellent jumping-off point for new listeners.

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

Atmosphere: The Family Sign (Rhymesayers)

Atmosphere: "Just for Show"

Back after last fall's double-EP release, Minneapolis hip-hop duo Atmosphere presents an album that is a true family effort.  Though its 2008 album was chock full of guest spots and featured DJ/producer Ant piecing together samples of live instrumentation, The Family Sign was built by a four-piece incarnation of Atmosphere, with previous collaborators Erick Anderson (keyboards) and Nate Collis (guitar).

Collis, in fact, is the surprise MVP of the album, with shimmering slide guitar and murmuring melodies that guide many songs.  Anderson plays nearly as vital a role, with gentle piano lines and chords that fill out what often was occupied by funky bass lines and horn cuts.

There are more singing and spoken-word passages than rap aficionados might like, but The Family Album isn't nearly as sunny or soulful as When Life Gives You Lemons…, and it feels like a much more cohesive and organic record.

Hauschka: Salon des Amateurs (FatCat)

Hauschka: "Radar"

Hauscka is the alias of prolific German composer Volker Bertelmann, who has released eight albums of neoclassical material since 2004 — with the most recent coming just six months ago.

His instrument of choice is the prepared piano, a piano that has objects placed on or between its strings in order to create unique, textured sounds.  Though much of his earlier material was in the John Cage school of prepared minimalism, his last album, Foreign Landscapes, was a more orchestral affair, and his newest, Salon des Amateurs, presents his instrument's version of techno.

This "organic dance" music shares similarities with fellow German outfit Brandt Brauer Frick, a trio that released a promising debut in November.  Bertelmann's range of timbres is narrower, but he achieves a lot via overdubs and guest spots by John Convertino and Joey Burns of Calexico, drummer/sampler Samuli Kosminen of Múm, and violinist Hilary Hahn.  Ultimately, Salon des Amateurs is much closer to Cage than techno, but it's another interesting cross-section that proves the potential of loops and short repetitions.

Garage á Trois: Always Be Happy, But Stay Evil (Royal Potato Family)

Garage á Trois: "Shooting Breaks"

Originally a trio with 8-string guitarist Charlie Hunter, rock/funk/jazz hybrid Garage a Trois has morphed over the past decade to a quartet comprised of saxophonist Skerik and vibraphonist Mike Dillon (both of Critters Buggin, The Dead Kenny Gs, and many Les Claypool incarnations), drummer Stanton Moore (Galactic, Corrosion of Conformity), and keyboardist Marco Benevento (Benevento/Russo Duo).

The group's sounds have undergone just as much transformation, from entirely live improvisation to unified grooves. Always Be Happy, But Stay Evil is the group's second album since the addition of Benevento, and it again takes great advantage of his keyboard melodies.  However, unlike its predecessor, Power Patriot, this album pulls back a bit from the distorted rock grooves.

Nonetheless, the album's musical moods are what fans of Power Patriot might expect: slinky ("Resentment Incubator"), polyrhythmic ("Earl Harvin"), accessible ("Earl Harvin" again), raw ("The Drum Department"), cosmic ("Shooting Breaks"), and ever so eerie ("Swellage").  Recorded by engineer/producer Randall Dunn (Secret Chiefs 3, Sunn O))), Earth), it closes with an unexpected cover of John Carpenter's "Assault on Precinct 13," a rendition that sonically embodies the album's title.

Fredrik: Flora (The Kora)

Fredrik: "Rites of Spring"

Each track on Swedish electro-folk trio Fredrik’s newest album, Flora, is adorned with a menagerie of small details.

On the third song, “Chrome Cavities,” vocalist Fredrik Hultin’s hushed intonations and a delicately clattering xylophone tiptoe over a sinister, tribal drum beat and jingling sleigh bells.  Later, on "The North Greatern," tinkling wind chimes, hypnotizing cowbell, and thundering mallet strikes conjoin over oscillating ambience.

Throughout Flora, a brooding force takes shape, often building to climactic heights similar to those of Sigur Rós. Whether laying on the heavy bounce of new-wave synth or sticking to more classical string-based melodic work (as on “Naruto and the End of the Broken Ear”), Fredrik deftly navigates varied terrain.

Honorable Mentions

Autechre: EPs 1991 – 2002 (Warp)

Between the Buried and Me: The Parallax: Hypersleep Dialogues (Metal Blade)

Causa Sui: Pewt’r Sessions 1 (El Paraiso)

Classified: Handshakes and Middle Fingers (Halflife / Sony / Decon)

Figurines: s/t (The Control Group)

Howe Gelb & A Band of Gypsies: Alegrías (Fire)

Indian: Guiltless (Relapse)

Kreidler: Tank (Bureau B)

Femi Kuti: Africa for Africa (Knitting Factory)

Last Chance to Reason: Level 2 (Prosthetic)

Little Scream: The Golden Record (Secretly Canadian)

Low: C’mon (Sub Pop)

Agnes Obel: Philharmonics (PIAS)

The One AM Radio: Heaven is Attached by a Slender Thread (Dangerbird)

Panda Bear: Tomboy (Paw Tracks)

Red Fang: Murder the Mountains (Relapse)

Alexander Tucker: Dorwytch (Thrill Jockey)

TV on the Radio: Nine Types of Light (Interscope)

The Waitiki 7: Waitiki in Hi-Fi LP (Pass Out Records)

Zomes: Earth Grid (Thrill Jockey)

The Dead Kenny Gs: Operation Long Leash (The Royal Potato Family, 3/15/11)

The Dead Kenny Gs: "Black Truman (Harry the Hottentot)"

Smooth-jazz lovers beware.  As an antidote to the polished alto saxophones and rarely improvised easy-listening jams of adult contemporary music, eccentric jazz trio The Dead Kenny Gs has released its second album, Operation Long Leash.  Given its play-on-words moniker that simultaneously drives a sock down the mouth of smooth-jazz king Kenny G and recalls the early '80s hardcore-punk band The Dead Kennedys, the powerhouse trio taps into a sound that fuses jazz and punk.  It’s a crazy mix that works surprisingly well, played intensely by a group that has the skill and knowledge to pull it off.

Composed of three of the members of legendary Seattle-based Critters Buggin — bassist Brad Houser, drummer and vibraphonist Mike Dillon, and saxophonist Skerik — the band uses its genre-mashing experience to anchor it all down.  The trio has played in countless projects together, including all three in The Black Frames, and Dillon and Skerik comprise half of Garage a Trois.  Needless to say, the three have run in the same circles for more than two decades, playing hybrid styles that are everything but conservative.

For Operation Long Leash, the trio is hostile and straightforward in fusing elements of free jazz, Afrobeat, punk, metal, and anything else that it feels like throwing in the mix.  Behind the hilarious name and the curly dark wigs, there are some serious chops at work.  Switching between instruments and utilizing a healthy selection of effect pedals, it’s sometimes hard to believe that there are only three musicians — and forget trying to decipher who’s playing what.

Sounding more like a noise-rock record, the 10-song set comes off like a swift punch to the face, making clear the band’s mission of subverting the restraints of the respected genres.  The deeper you get into the record, the more liberated the music becomes, and a sense that anything is possible emerges by the end.

Long-time collaborator and guitar virtuoso Charlie Hunter lends his style on the raw funk tune “Black Truman (Harry the Hottentot).”  The trio has mastered the mixing and matching of different sounds; even on this track alone, there is so much happening with harmony, timbre, and the nuances of melody.  Skerik rocks his saxophone in funky staccato bursts, an attack that sounds as raw as Hunter’s shape-shifting guitar riffs.  A wide variety of percussion instruments keep the rhythm inherently Afrobeat influenced, and some spacey electronic elements propel the band into some George Clinton-tinged P-funk.

“Melvin Jones” has the band bouncing back and forth between thrash, Balkan folk, and Klezmer styles, and switching time signatures between each section.  The effect is jarring, almost resembling a music form from a strange, dystopian future.  Like the cross-section where Black Flag and Albert Ayler would meet, the track is ferocious in sonic exploration, while bringing Eastern European melody lines to the forefront.

Though the tracks are as much informed by Jesus Lizard as they are by Roshaan Roland Kirk, they are entirely distinct to the DKG sound.  Songs have everyone playing frantically, making all kinds of disparate negotiations at once — whether it’s Skerik’s Klezmer sax lines with Dillon’s speed-metal drumming on “Sweatbox,” the mad electronic atmospherics with the gritty piano keys on “Bucky Balls (Spherical Fullerene),” or Dillon’s funk-infused vocal growls on “Black Death.”

Operation Long Leash's producer, Randall Dunn (Sunn O))), Earth), has worked with Houser, Dillon, and Skerik through Critters Buggin in the past, but he’s also worked with some of the heaviest metal bands in the world.  The result is a well-conceived sound that makes the punk-rock and free-jazz connection that people rarely make.  Not for the soft at heart, Operation Long Leash is aggressive, unrelenting, and designed to kill your speakers.

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)

Garage a Trois: Power Patriot (The Royal Potato Family, 10/26/09)

Garage a Trois: "Rescue Spreaders"

Garage a Trois is the improvised groove child of saxophonist Skerik, drummer Stanton Moore, and 8-string guitarist Charlie Hunter.  The trio made a grand debut in 1999 with Mysteryfunk, a raw EP of completely improvised recordings, foregoing interest in post-production effects and multi-tracking.  In 2002, percussionist and vibraphonist Mike Dillon was added to the mix, giving the group a new tonal texture, and the band began rooting its music in powerful repetitions à la Critters Buggin, Skerik and Dillon’s former band. The departure of Hunter in 2007 led to a temporary void that was filled by rotating musicians, most notably John Medeski.  Soon after, jam keyboardist Marco Benevento was chosen to permanently fill Hunter’s place.

Power Patriot is Garage a Trois’ first release since the addition of Benevento.  It strongly reflects the band’s current configuration — particularly, the role that Benevento plays, often as both the bass line (with his left hand) and the wild, distorted organ solo (with his right).  Though not as funk driven as past records Emphasizer (2003) or Outre Mer (2005), Patriot Power has a groove unto its own, and it’s heavier than the older material – again, thanks for Benevento’s organ sounds as well as the band’s small army of effects pedals.

So distorted as to mistake it for an electric guitar, the organ is a bridge that connects what otherwise could be a straight funk track to something more raucous and genre bending.  The album’s opening numbers, “Rescue Spreaders” and “Fragile,” were arranged by Benevento and are easily two of the more brash and progressive-rock-influenced songs on the album.

Dillon’s vibraphone, meanwhile, makes a more profound impact on the quartet’s melodic core.  His interplay with Benevento is a great new dynamic, best exemplified on “Dory’s Day Out,” a tune arranged by Dillon where the vibes and keys form a sugary pop harmony.

The commanding sax lines of Skerik complete the album, but the oddball virtuoso plays a more restrained role on Power Patriot.  Whereas on previous album he might run wild over a song’s foundation, his lead work here is limited to a few short solos, keeping to weighty, Funkadelic-style riffs.

The album is a fusion of each musician’s unique abilities, and because of this, Moore shines by effectively holding together what is the band’s most dissonant album to date.  His technical skills keep Power Patriot engaging, while his heavy fills help it achieve hard-hitting grooves.

Ultimately, Power Patriot demonstrates collaboration, cohesiveness, and the understanding of each member's role, as the players challenge themselves as well as one another.  The result is innovative arrangements with a big sound, and Power Patriot exposes the quartet’s hyper-compositional side.

The group can rip off wailing solos when warranted, but it brings some seriously hard-hitting riffs that translate to major live energy.  Photographer Jon Shaft captured some shots from the group's recent stop in Chicago, track suits and all.

Garage a Trois: "Rescue Spreaders"

Faith No More has an official new website, replacing one that was mired in the mid-1990s.

Following next month's release of Wavering Radiant on May 5, Isis will be on the road for a six-week US tour.  Head to the band's MySpace page or the newly redesigned Ipecac website for tour dates.

For writing/recording purposes and short tours, extreme metal outfit Arsis has been rejoined by original drummer and founding member Michael Van Dyne.

A second video teaser has been posted for Cryptomnesia, the upcoming album from El Grupo Nuevo de Omar Rodriguez Lopez.

Yesterday, percussive groove outfit The Dead Kenny Gs — multi-instrumentalist Mike Dillon, saxophonist Skerik, and bassist Brad Houser — began a short tour through the southern Midwest.  The group's members represent 3/4 of Critters Buggin.

Quirky math-rock trio Tera Melos will begin a three-week US tour (with a stop in Montreal) in late April.

By-, the debut album from Bygones, will be released June 23 on Sargent House.  Specializing in a spastic/melodic guitar/drums dichotomy, the duo consists of drummer Zach Hill and guitarist Nick Reinhart (of the aforementioned Tera Melos).

Bastard Noise has released a five-disc CD set called Our Earth's Blood Pt. IV, which is now available through the band.

On April 28, Ben Folds will release an album that consists of collegiate a cappella groups around the US recording his material.  Appropriately titled University A Cappella and to be released by Sony, the album will also feature Folds doing solo a cappella overdubs on two songs.

Playing down-tuned dirge metal a la Pelican or Isis, Kylesa rumbles with crust punk, sludge, metal, hardcore, and psychedelia, often laced with atmospheric samples.  To date, Static Tensions is the group's most powerful album, a deliberately straightforward record that exemplifies the vibes of its title.

The group's trademark tri-vocal attack has been whittled down to two for this album, with guitarist Laura Pleasants adding clean vocals to her guttural screams.  Tracks like “Insomnia for Months” and “Almost Lost” bear a crushing weight akin to a sonic bulldozer; elsewhere, the music has shifted increasingly towards the psychedelic, such as “Perception” with its guitar freak-out ending.

Kylesa: "Almost Lost"
Kylesa: \"Almost Lost\"

Les Claypool: Of Fungi and Foe (Prawn Song)

Oddball bassist extraordinaire Les Claypool returns with his ever-shifting cast of collaborators for this follow-up to his 2006 album Of Whales and Woe.  Still vibrant and weird, Of Fungi and Foe is comprised of material penned in conjunction with his work on Mushroom Men: The Spore Wars, a bizarre new videogame, and Pig Hunt, a dark comic horror film.

This time around, the material is wonderfully accented by the active bow work of cellist Sam Bass, and percussionist Mike Dillon (Critters Buggin) reprises his role in the backing band.  Saxophonist Skerik (Critters Buggin) and sitar/theremin player Gabby La La have moved on, but the tunes are as idiosyncratic and engaging as ever.  Gogol Bordello's Eugene Hütz appears on "Bite Out of Life."

Melvin Gibbs' Elevated Entity: Ancients Speak (Livewired)

Funk/rock/jazz bassist Melvin Gibbs has worked with an array of notable musicians, including Femi Kuti, Vernon Reid, John Zorn, Jeff Parker, John Medeski, Bill Frisell, the Rollins Band, and more.  His work as a musician and producer has been as varied as the aforementioned artists and has included splashes into hip hop with DJ Logic and Dead Prez.

In this venture as bandleader, Gibbs expands his palette further with Ancients Speak, incorporating tastes of Brazilian hip hop and African Yoruba culture.  With Gibbs' vision and a lengthy list of collaborators, this album honors no musical demarcations, fusing the above genres with psychedelic jam rock and Afrobeat grooves.

Melvin Gibbs' Elevated Entity: "Ancients Speak"
Melvin Gibbs\' Elevated Entity: \"Ancients Speak\"

Bonnie "Prince" Billy: Beware (Drag City)

Continuing a prolific decade under his Bonnie "Prince" Billy moniker, Will Oldham issues another tome of harmonized folk with accents of Americana.  Beware is something of a compendium to Lie Down in the Light, Oldham's most recent full-length that was released just last May.

Performing in nonstandard capacities, a number of Chicago jazz luminaries provide accompaniment on Beware, which includes the services of Michael Zerang, Rob Mazurek, Nicole Mitchell, Josh Abrams, Dee Alexander, and many other notable musicians.

Chicago Afrobeat Project: Off the Grid EP

Following the late 2007 full-length (A) Move to Silent Unrest, this self-evidently named group mixes classic Afrobeat elements with bits of modern groove, organ-splashed post-jazz, and funk rock.  This EP features three new tracks as well as a remix of "Media Man," the third track from (A) Move to Silent Unrest.

Chicago Afrobeat Project: "(A Warm) Global Warning"
Chicago Afrobeat Project: \"(A Warm) Global Warning\"

Supermachiner, the haunting, mostly instrumental side project from Converge members Jacob Bannon and Kurt Ballou, will soon have its complete 30-track, two-disc collection, Rust, available through Deathwish Inc. Listen to a few tracks here.

Big Business has announced the release of its new album, Mind the Drift, for April on Hydra Head. Listen to a new track, "Gold and Final," on the group's MySpace page.

Japanese post-rockers Mono have a new album, Hymn to the Immortal Wind, being released on March 24 on Temporary Residence. The album boasts guest contributions from a 28-member orchestra.

Seven Signs, the Southern culture documentary by J.D. Wilkes of Th' Legendary Shack Shakers, is now available on DVD.

Following the release of Old Money via Stones Throw on January 26, Omar Rodriguez-Lopez takes his group to Europe in March. Click here for a list of dates.

A new alt-metal super-group called Shrinebuilder is recording a debut album for Neurot Recordings, due this summer. The group consists of Wino (The Hidden Hand), Scott Kelly (Neurosis), Al Cisneros (Om, Sleep), and Dale Crover (Melvins) and will be in the studio with Toshi Kasai (Big Business).

Orange Tulip Conspiracy, the exceptional multi-genre new group led by Estradasphere guitarist Jason Schimmel, will play a full US tour in May. If you're involved in setting up shows, you can help Schimmel fill in dates — head here for details.

Grandaddy singer/songwriter Jason Lytle has a solo debut album, Yours Truly, being release on Anti- on May 19.

Finger-tapping indie-rock specialist Kaki King is playing a "solo guitar and no other bullshit tour" in California from January 21-31. Head here for the dates.

Post-rock/jam keyboardist Marco Benevento plays a weekly residency in February at Yoshi's in Oakland in the middle of a handful of other West Coast dates. During the stint, Benevento will be joined by special guests that include Scott Amendola, Billy Martin, Reed Mathis, Jeff Parker, and Skerik.

California math-rock trio Tera Melos has a new EP of cover songs available to download for free. Band member Nick Reinhart also has new band with drumming wiz Zach Hill, called Bygones, that has a debut album set for release in March on Sargent House.

Starting today, the new Cattle Decapitation album, The Harvest Floor, is streaming in its entirety on buzzgrinder.com. The stream will run through January 19.

Thrash/punk four-piece Trash Talk has announced a handful of shows that span Japan, California, and Georgia (the state). The shows include performances with Fucked Up, Pig Destroyer, Converge, Torche, Mastodon, and Neurosis.

Hardcore tough guys Hatebreed have posted a cover of Sepultura's "Refuse/Resist" on their MySpace page. The cover is included in the soundtrack to Punisher: War Zone.

The Bad Plus: For All I Care (Heads Up International)
With a penchant for reworked rock songs, this hard-hitting jazz trio issues a new album full of covers. Three of the disc's tunes are classical pieces; the rest are rock/pop and include vocals, a first for the group.

Powersolo: Bloodskinbones (Crunchy Frog)
A pair of oddball Danish brothers, dubbing themselves "the Railthin Brothers," create eclectic, off-the-wall rock creations as Powersolo. This full-length follows their recent X-mas single Beam Mig Op, Jesus.

Zu: Carboniferous (Ipecac)
This experimental Italian trio combines sludgy alt-metal with complex rhythms and free-jazz freakouts. If it's possible, Carboniferous presents the group's accessible side for one of the winter's better albums.

March

Kylesa: untitled (Prosthetic)
With a new disc for Prosthetic Records, Georgian stoner-metal squad Kylesa issues its first full-length since Time Will Fuse its Worth from 2006.

Dan Deacon: Bromst (Carpark)
Electro-spazz solo artist emphasizes live instrumentation for this anticipated follow-up.

Jerseyband: untitled (self-released)
It's a downright travesty that this East Coast septet is unsigned. Horns + math metal = 100% awesome.

Spring

Mastodon: Crack the Skye (Warner Bros.)
Even when Mastodon issues a dud, it's better than 95% of all metal albums. Here's hoping that it's a return to the form of Remission.

Summer

Mondo Cane: untitled (Ipecac)
Mike Patton's orchestral Italian pop covers. Enough said.

TBD

Coalesce: untitled (Relapse? Hydra Head?)
This previously defunct hardcore outfit doles out crushing grooves, mathy rhythms, and the trademark tracheal attack of vocalist Sean Ingram. Following the outstanding Salt and Passage 7" from late 2007, the group unveils a proper follow-up to 0:12 Revolution in Just Listening from 1999.

Coliseum: untitled (Relapse)
These Louisville hardcore/metal staples Coliseum continue life as a three-piece with their sophomore effort for Relapse.

Converge and Supermachiner: untitled (Epitaph / Deathwish Inc.)
This isn't a joint release, but they're worth mentioning together as Supermachiner is a semi-ambient side project from Converge vocalist Jacob Bannon and guitarist Kurt Ballou.

Crudo: untitled (Ipecac?)
Mike Patton and Dan the Automator, who were the heart of the Lovage album released in 2001, unite as Crudo for what should be one of the better hip-hop efforts of 2009.

Fantômas: untitled (Ipecac)
The brainchild of Mike Patton, Fantômas resurfaces after a four-year hiatus with another unpredictable release. The music could be anywhere between incongruous genre spasms and ambient dirges, but Rock-a-Rolla magazine says that it might be an electronic record.

Garage a Trois: untitled (Telarc)
Beautiful groove rock from vibraphonist/percussionist Mike Dillon, drummer Stanton Moore, saxophonist Skerik, and keyboardist Marco Benevento.

Isis: untitled (Ipecac)
These purveyors of epic, accessible heaviness have gotten progressively more melodic. Whatever this new album sounds like, it should take another step forward while remaining heavy as hell.

Medeski, Martin & Wood: Radiolarians 2 & 3 (Indirecto)
The famed jazz/jam trio continues its experiment of meeting for brief writing sessions, testing out that new material (and only the new material) on the road, recording the material, and then repeating the process.

Secret Chiefs 3: Book of Souls (Mimicry)
The long-awaited follow-up of Book of Horizons from this incomparable Indian/surf/metal ensemble. It has to happen this year…right?

- The London Sinfonietta has announced Sinfonietta Shorts, a series of miniatures by some of the world's leading composers to celebrate the ensemble's 40th anniversary. Contributors include Tom Jenkinson (Squarepusher), Mira Calix, Hans Abrahamsen, Luke Bedford, Harrison Birtwistle, Pierre Boulez, Jonathan Harvey, Anna Meredith and others. The event will be held Saturday, December 13 from 9 PM to 1 AM at Spirit Level of the Royal Festival Hall in London.

- Google is putting together a YouTube Symphony Orchestra that will hit Carnegie Hall in five months to perform — for the first time together — Chinese composer Tan Dun's Internet Symphony No. 1, Eroica. Classical and non-conventional musicians can submit YouTube videos of themselves playing Tan's composition and a piece of standard repertoire in order to get into the orchestra.

- On December 11 at the Brooklyn Masonic Temple, Dan Deacon will unveil his new live set, which features a 15-piece live ensemble performing material from his forthcoming album, Bromst, which will be released on Carpark on March 24, 2009. Deacon plans to tour with an ensemble in 2009 in support of the new record, which promises to be a prominent new chapter in his musical career.

- Bassist Kevin Rutmanis (Cows, Melvins, Tomahawk) will have his first solo art gallery showing of paintings and sculptures from January 7 to February 17 at DIY Gallery in Los Angeles. His latest musical offering, Hepa-Titus, plays at The Smell in LA on February 12.

- For The Ichthyologist, its upcoming album, prog/doom-rock band Giant Squid has announced the appearance of a few guest musicians — Anneke van Giersbergen (ex-Gathering, Agua de Annique), Karyn Crisis (Crisis), and Kris Force (Amber Asylum, Neurosis; no relation to ALARM publisher Chris Force). The album was recently recorded with producer Matt Bayles and will be limited to a few thousand copies, available only through the band.

- The Dead Kenny Gs began a West Coast tour last Thursday that runs through December 13. Led by saxophonist Skerik and percussionist Mike Dillon of Critters Buggin fame, the trio grabs a third member for performances — recently, bassist Brad Houser, also of Critters Buggin — and throws down some wild grooves.

- Fantômas has been added to Australia's Big Day Out festival, performing The Director's Cut in its entirety.

- Kevin Kmetz, the heart of Japanese/metal fusionists God of Shamisen, joins with two additional shamisen masters to perform the Monsters of Shamisen California tour through December 20.

- Chicago saxophonist Charles Gorczynski, one half of Ropeadope ambient jazz/IDM duo Silences (Sumire), has released a pair of solo releases for free download on his personal website, claritymusic.net.

- Rapper Yak Ballz of the Brooklyn hip-hop collective Weathermen has issued the online video premiere of "Dirt Empire," a solo single produced by Aesop Rock.

- Melodic/experimental indie rockers The Appleseed Cast will release Sagarmatha, their follow-up to Peregrine, via The Militia Group in January. A West Coast and Midwest US tour will follow in February.

- Three One G is offering 20% off of everything in its online shop. Holiday deals!