Mastodon: The Hunter (Warner Bros. / Reprise)

Mastodon: "Curl of the Burl"

Since forming in 1999, Mastodon has grown from cult sensation to preeminent poster-child of metal’s next generation. Along the way, its crushing, complex brand of melodic sludge has absorbed elements of thrash, prog, and Southern rock, all complemented by earthen mythology, literary ambition, and serious chops.

On The Hunter, an album that breaks the band's concept-album streak, vocal melodies are at an all-time high, imbuing tracks such as "Curl of the Burl," "All the Heavy Lifting," and "Creature Lives" with genuine pop catchy-ness that, at times, approaches the intonations of Alice in Chains. But grizzly screams and up-tempo sludge riffs have not gone the way of the band's namesake; "Blasteroid" and "Black Tongue" have plenty of head-bashing fury.

A few spacey and horror-esque elements, musically and lyrically, give the album an interesting wrinkle here and there, such as on "Stargasm" and "Creature Lives," the latter of which uses pitch-shifting synths to set an alien mood. "The Sparrow" then closes the album with touches of lap-steel guitar, setting the tone for some of the airiest Mastodon vocals yet.

In all, The Hunter is a fun, riff-filled album, but it's destined to alienate more Mastodon "purists." The bottom line, however, is that the band continues to crank out killer riffs and turn on a new generation to metal — even if it has a softer edge.

Boom Bip: Zig Zaj (Lex)

Boom Bip: "All Hands"

Ever since his loop-based beginnings, Bryan Charles Hollan — known better as experimental hip-hop artist Boom Bip — has been on the search for his optimal live-band incarnation. With his latest, Zig Zaj, he seems to have found it.

In 2002, Seed to Sun demonstrated Hollan's ability to make compelling organic and instrumental hip hop. On his recordings since that time, nearly everything has been performed by hand, and the results have been admirable — but nothing has clicked quite like this.

Now Hollan is armed with a permanent live band, consisting of Josh Klinghoffer (Red Hot Chili Peppers), Eric Gardner (Gnarls Barkley, Charlotte Gainsbourg), and Josiah Steinbrick. Their chemistry is immediately evident on Zig Zaj, which also sports standout guest spots from Alex Kapranos of Franz Ferdinand (for one very Depeche Mode track), Money Mark, Luke Steele (Empire of the Sun), Cate Le Bon, and Mikey Noyce (Bon Iver).

Partly because of the guests, the new material takes a poppier and more rock-driven direction. But there's still plenty of the old Bip underneath, as synths and electronics commingle with the bass grooves and delicate acoustic riffs. It's a catchy, beautiful, and well-balanced blend, perfect for first-time Bip listeners. Pick this up now.

Welder: Florescence (Ancestor)

Welder: "Run"

Brendan Angelides is a San Francisco-based electronic producer best known as Eskmo, an IDM/electronica project that has come to focus more on atmospherics and on writing songs than on its early roots of making dance tracks. He has found a like-minded collaborator in the incomparable Amon Tobin, with whom he operated as Eskamon for a 2010 single, but for his latest release, Angelides has retraced his roots as Welder for another self-released gem.

Welder began as one of Angelides' first and most introspective projects. Living alone in a lakeside house in Connecticut for two years, he created soft, internal music, a more “chilled” version of electronica, under the alias . But it wasn’t only the remote locale that inspired the quiet sounds, as Angelides pored over documents and papers about the dark underside of American society and government and conspiracy theories surrounding 9/11.

Florescence is almost a rebirth for Welder. The IDM elements remain, but the music is more organic than ever. Gone are the bass-heavy dubstep rumblings of his self-titled Eskmo release, and the worldly elements of the earlier Welder material have been replaced by interwoven grooves, stirring melodies, and diverse timbres.

The emphasis here is on Angelides' musicianship, including his talents on the piano and bass. From the start, Florescence is highly active, intertwining feisty and bubbly melodies of faux cello and glockenspiel. Piano, guitars, synths, and strings surround those other elements, and whether they're real or library samples, they create a sound that's simultaneously lifelike and dreamy.

- Text by Marla Seidell and Scott Morrow. Read the feature story on Eskmo here.

Zechs Marquise: Getting Paid (Sargent House / Rodriguez Lopez Productions)

Zechs Marquise: "Static Lovers"

El Paso-based psych-prog five-piece Zechs Marquise is three-fifths Rodriguez Lopez — brothers Marcel, Rikardo, and Marfred — a surname that gained music-industry notoriety from Omar, the prolific Mars Volta guitarist (and head of Zechs Marquise's label). Together, the siblings have followed in the progressive footsteps of their older brother, but Zechs Marquise has blazed its own trail over its eight years as a band.

Its official debut album, the 2009 effort Our Delicate Stranded Nightmare, was a much more experimental and atmospheric work, patching together songs with eerie intros, funky keys, and jazz-tinged ambience. Getting Paid, however, fully focuses on the groove. Each of the album's nine tracks moves at its own pace, venturing into an alternate sonic universe at a moment's notice. Abrupt tempo shifts, an inexhaustible junk drawer of textures, and a healthy obsession with '70s prog fusion culminate in a truly shape-shifting record, albeit one that consistently rocks. Zechs Marquise knows when to give into its sweaty, twisted vision-quest dalliances and when to let a groove ride.

- Text by Kyle Gilkeson.

Evidence: Cats & Dogs (Rhymesayers)

Evidence: "You"

Los Angeles MC Michael Perretta (better known as Evidence) is one third of the hip-hop trio Dilated Peoples. Over the past four years, with Dilated on hiatus, Evidence has focused on his solo career, and Cats & Dogs marks his move to Rhymesayers Entertainment.

Here Perretta delivers a crisp flow that is complemented by guest vocalists such as Slug (Atmosphere), Aesop Rock, Raekwon, and Aloe Blacc. With samples anchored in soul and pop, the album lays a pliable backdrop for topics that range from the recession to distorted concepts of love. Skits between tracks bear an early-’90s influence, and with shout-outs to KRS-One and De La Soul, it’s clear that the time period remains a strong influence on Cats & Dogs.

- Text by Portia Medina.

Plaid: Scintilli (Warp)

Plaid: "35 Summers"

Despite an eight-year layoff between "official" full-lengths, London electronic/film-scoring duo Plaid certainly has not lost its touch. Initially announcing the news of their sixth studio album back in 2008 and taking as long as an entire day to produce a single beat, Andrew Turner and Ed Handley have used their tedious perfectionism to make Scintilli worth the wait.

Plaid's first non-film-related release since 2003, Scintilli is a dreamy, hyper-melodic mélange from the get-go, as ethereal female vocals glide over the first track’s delicate chimes and synths. Each of the album’s 13 tracks, however, adds an entirely new rhythmical sequence and mood to the mix. With a vast array of layered sound effects, Scintilli has a captivating range. Its infectious loops and spliced styles – hazy pop, acid house, dubstep, glitch – fade in and out in a confused muddle. Yet the mingling of these divergent electronic sounds creates a pleasant disconnect, perfect for eclectic IDM fans.

- Text by Lauren Zens.

Honorable Mentions

Apparat: The Devil’s Walk (Mute)

Bonnie "Prince" Billy / Phantom Family Halo: Mindeater (Knitting Factory)

Brutal Truth: End Time (Relapse)

Extreme Noise Terror: Holocaust In My Head (Candlelight)

Bill Frisell: All We Are Saying (Savoy Jazz)

Itsnotyouitsme: Everybody’s Pain is Magnificent (New Amsterdam)

The Janks: Hands of Time (Sprouted Records)

Junius / Rosetta: Split (Translation Loss)

Rudresh Mahanthappa: Samdhi (ACT Music & Vision)

Jono McCleery: There Is (Counter)

Rwake: Rest (Relapse)

Matt Stevens: Relic

Tom Vek: Leisure Seizure (Downtown / CO-OP USA / Island)

Craig Wedren: Wand (Nerveland)

Wilco: The Whole Love (dBpm Records)

yMusic: Beautiful Mechanical (New Amsterdam)

Dan le Sac vs. Scroobius Pip: "Look for the Woman"

It’s a slightly overcast but warm September afternoon in Chicago when the English duo Dan le Sac vs. Scroobius Pip takes the Hideout Block Party’s stage. DJ le Sac appears and situates himself behind a deck tangled with the requisite mix of wires, keys, and laptops, and then MC Scroobius Pip’s modern-day Abraham Lincoln figure pops on stage, looking as though he’s ready to spar his focused partner. Before practicing crowd-pleasing warm-up exercises — stretching as though preparing for a marathon — Scroobius Pip delves into the subject that most preoccupies his thoughts and will become, in his words, the Chicago appearance’s theme.

“Right, so, we just found out the other day that our album was given a 0.2 by Pitchfork,” Pip says, teasing the Pitchfork-staff–peppered audience, which promptly boos the rating. Whereas some artists would leave it at that, feeding off the feel-good responses from a mid-afternoon crowd, Pip follows with what has become his trademark MC lyrical technique: mixing conscientious politics in the tradition of Gil Scott Heron with a dash of self-deprecating humor à la Atmosphere’s Slug and rearranging the ideas behind them in such a way that the words, layered over le Sac’s trippy beats, become a manifesto to disregard, debate, or adopt.

In the case of the Pitchfork theme, he slides the site’s name into his banter and underneath the gyrating rhythms of the songs, renaming it Bitchfork and Pitchfuck to more applause. But Pip isn’t out to just name-call; he’s setting the groundwork for a deeper dig. For the remainder of the DvS Hideout set, Pip splices in comments about the review, reading from it as well as previous reviews from the same critic. It would be a squeamish, alienating tactic had the band not become known and loved for such scrutiny: of themselves, music, religion, and whatever else takes the lyricist’s attention.

Rapping tracks from DvS' debut, Angles — a collection of previously released singles whose lyrics touch upon such wide-ranging topics as child abuse, suicide, and misguided readings of biblical scripture — Pip alternates between jaunty stabs at the reviewer and the review, with the main argument seemingly that the duo is not a pair of hip-hop wannabes. What they do, Pip reiterates via phone some days after the Block Party show, is a mash of hip hop, spoken word, indie pop, punk, and electronica. It’s why they can open for acts as diverse as Saul Williams and Adele and Mark Ronson.
 

"You’re not meant to be able to agree with everything; that’s the whole point. For people to blindly agree with anything I say is to blindly agree with anything anyone says."

And even though he understands that “at the end of the day, a review is just a review,” he is particularly annoyed by this reading of the band, which was based on the assumption that DvS is, if not hip hop, trying really hard to be street.

“We’ve never set out to make a specific genre of music,” Pip says. “I do spoken word and emceeing, and Dan makes electronic, almost hip-hoppy beats. It’s just a variation. We never set out thinking, ‘Let’s make a hip-hop album,’ or ‘Let’s make a dance album,’ or ‘Let’s make an indie album.’ We just made the kind of songs that came out.”

From the Hideout Block Party stage, the two joked about being “street enough,” but in private, Pip seems genuinely perturbed by this idea of authenticity. “It’s hard to get a harsh review like that,” he confides, turning the authenticity question back on the reviewer. “But then when you read that the reviewer reviewed the latest Puff Daddy album and thought it was a pretty good hip-hop offering, and that he felt that we should be grateful that a band like Coldplay exists on this earth, it’s not quite so hard to be reviewed in that way.”

The main issue that Pip has with music isn’t authenticity, he notes, but lyrical irrelevance and contrived posturing.

“Don’t get me wrong; they’re a really good band,” he says, adding to his thoughts on Coldplay. “But I don’t think they’re quite up there yet as a legendary, ‘music wouldn’t be the same without them’ band. I don’t think that they’re changing that much at the moment. I’ve got nothing against them at all; they’ve made some good music. But it’s just…they’re one of the bands that seems in interviews to be quite political, and speaks about social issues and challenging issues. Ten percent of their audience will never read the interview, whereas all of their audience will hear their lyrics. Yet in their lyrics, they continue to talk about relationships, and love, and stuff like that. If these issues mean a lot to them, put some of it on record and get the word out.”

A track like “Thou Shalt,” a 2007 single that shows up on Angles, speaks to this idea. The song name-drops a series of legendary bands and immediately dismisses their hallowed legacies with a chorus punctuated by “just a band.” Such proclamations in both DvS’ lyrics and interviews are what seemingly raise critics’ hackles most and are primarily what reviewers focus on when calling the band “angster rap.” They also question whether Pip — this 27-year-old white kid from Essex’s working-class Stanford-le-Hope — can speak from such a position or even knows his hip-hop history.

“When talking on subjects like this, I don’t want to lie; the area I live in isn’t that bad,” he says. “I live in a pleasant-enough little village. I’ve only had two or three people try and mug me in my life, which isn’t by any means bad.”

He also agrees with reviews about his flow, which he admits is always in development but has been labeled quaint, Dickensian enjambment without direction. “That’s one of the things where I agree completely with the Pitchfork review,” Pip says. “I never consciously have a style or flow. The way I write, it’s about the content and the lyrics. The flow is just me fitting it all in, so I can’t argue there. I don’t claim to be well versed or trained in many different flowing techniques.”

Yet when it comes to his proclaimed lack of hip-hop knowledge, the former record-store worker couldn’t agree less. “I’m not an expert, but I’m a big fan of hip hop,” he says. “I’ve got a pretty good understanding of its history and lineage.” Pip adds that although he may have come to the hip-hop/spoken-word game later than most — after a long stint in his teen years as a guitarist/singer in punk bands — he has since done his homework.

“Finding out that hip hop wasn’t just this braggadocio kind of genre, learning about KRS-One and Rakim or learning about Gil Scott Heron, inspired me,” Pip says. “There’s an argument on where hip hop began: was it Afrika Bambaataa or was it Atmosphere’s Slug doing skits in between tracks? But there’s a Gil Scott Heron track called ‘No Knocks,’ which I think defines — more than anything else that I’ve heard — the first real hip-hop song, before it was called hip hop. Learning about stuff like that just opened up my mind to hip hop and spoken word as a broader genre, despite Pitchfork thinking I have no knowledge on hip hop and thinking I’ve got no right to speak on the subject.”

Some may find through Pip’s responses that the duo takes itself too seriously, but nothing could be further from the truth. The majority of its videos and live shows are a testament to the exuberant spontaneity and good vibes inherent in its music, and, as mentioned, self-analysis plays a strong role in its approach.

“We’re not particularly angsty, angry people,” Pip says. “We’re having a laugh out of it, particularly with ‘Thou Shalt,’ which was the one that got misinterpreted, because people thought we were so angry and lecturing. But it’s meant to be tongue in cheek. A lot of it contradicts itself, intentionally. It’s a song that tells you what to do for three minutes, and then at the end it says, ‘Think for yourselves.’ You’re not meant to be able to agree with everything; that’s the whole point. For people to blindly agree with anything I say is to blindly agree with anything anyone says. So the whole point of it was to make people question for themselves.”

Atmosphere: The Family Sign (Rhymesayers, 4/12/11)

Atmosphere: "Just for Show"

The land of independent hip hop is a dangerous, inconstant place. Giants like Rawkus Records and Definitive Jux, once considered among the most vital sources of hip-hop innovation, have collapsed into footnotes. But Minnesota-based Rhymesayers Entertainment has managed to hold its place in the world of underground rap for more than 15 years, thanks in part to founders Slug and Ant’s flagship duo, Atmosphere.

Atmosphere’s previous album, When Life Gives You Lemons, You Paint That Shit Gold, broke into the Billboard top 10 — an impressive achievement for an underground hip-hop group, and, as a result, Atmosphere represents to the general public what underground hip hop is. Its latest album, The Family Sign, typifies all of the strengths and weaknesses of indie rap, but it’s unusual and accessible enough to be easily enjoyed. If the genre must have a face, it could do much worse than Atmosphere.

Ant’s usual synthesizer-heavy beats are nowhere to be found here, as he instead recruits guitarist Nate Collis and keyboardist Erick Anderson to provide live instrumentation over his arrangements.  On uptempo songs like “Just For Show,” the two musicians prove to be admirably funky, like a pared-down Roots.

Elsewhere, their restrained, subtle playing avoids stuffing up the tracks, lending negative sonic space that gives the songs an intimate feeling that's rarely encountered in rap. Collis’ acoustic work in “Who I’ll Never Be” is an intricate wonder that’s reminiscent of some of Led Zeppelin’s more low-key numbers, and the spidery, quiet-to-loud line on “Something So” recalls the post rock of Mogwai and its ilk.  Ant’s songwriting shines throughout, crafting tracks that sound alien to the rap genre save for their propulsive beats.

Slug’s flow, however, can be choppy. He tends to rely solely on end rhymes, and one stretch on “Became” finds him ending four consecutive lines with either “you” or “ya.” His lyrics occasionally eschew subtlety for excessive explanation; on the same song, he raps, “Your footprints grew further apart / I knew what that meant, and it was hurting my heart,” before immediately following it with “It meant you started to run.”

But aside from these minor miscues, Slug’s lyrical presence on the record is a welcome one. As the title suggests, The Family Sign is dominated by themes of family, connection, and interpersonal relationships, and Slug’s vaunted storytelling abilities come through in spades.

“If You Can Save Me Now” weaves a harrowing story of a man caught in a car crash, comforted by the memories of his girlfriend. “The Last To Say” is a son’s lament for his abused mother’s wasted life, featuring haunting lines such as “In fact, the biggest beating was the day that he died / 'cause now it’s too late for her to make a new life.” “Bad Bad Daddy” takes a comedic lens to the family theme. In a tale as disturbing as it is hilarious, Slug rhymes from the point of view of a negligent father who takes his nine children to the bar to celebrate his wife’s latest pregnancy.

The album reaches its most personal note on “Something So,” Slug’s ode to his two children. His story is surprisingly emotional, with insecurity, excitement, and love proudly on display. “Thank you for the branch you grew on this tree,” he says, later acknowledging his children’s births as the only two times in his life that he’s “stood in some sunshine.”

Honest, emotional subject matter, coupled with Ant and company’s evolving sound, signal a more mature Atmosphere. It appears as though Slug’s role as a father has eroded the selfishness that so many rappers share, and it has helped him to turn his eye onto more universal issues. It's a welcome change, and one that makes The Family Sign a worthwhile listen.

Download the inaugural podcast for This Week's Best Albums: October 12, 2010 and subscribe to the free podcast via iTunes or another application.

Dimmu Borgir: Abrahadabra (Nuclear Blast)

Dimmu Borgir: "Born Treacherous"

Dimmu Borgir: "Gateways"

Norway's Dimmu Borgir is one of the preeminent names in symphonic black metal, and it garnered particular fanfare from two of its most string-infused albums, Puritanical Euphoric Misanthropia in 2001 and Death Cult Armageddon in 2003.

Abrahadabra, the band's first album in three years, is its most spectacular and elaborate release to date.  It features one hundred guest musicians – ensemble players and choir singers – helping make this a symphonic-black-metal masterpiece.

It bears a resemblance to Puritanical Eurphoric Misanthropia and Death Cult Armageddon, but whereas those albums featured large-scale orchestrations as complementary pieces, intros, or interludes, Abrahadabra intricately weaves classical flourishes into nearly every passage.  That’s courtesy, in large part, of composer Gaute Storaas, who arranged the orchestral pieces, but the overall spike in detail owes to the band not writing the album while on tour, which guitarist Silenoz said has led to lesser material.

If you enjoy black metal with orchestral additions — or just dark music in general — be sure not to miss this.

Sufjan Stevens: The Age of Adz (Asthmatic Kitty)

Sufjan Stevens: "Too Much"

In 2005, singer/songwriter Sufjan Stevens scored a major hit with Come On Feel the Illinoise, his most detailed album and the second installment in his "50-state project."  Last year he released The BQE, an instrumental soundtrack to his film of the same name, and it was even more elaborate and orchestrated than Illinois. But fans have been awaiting his first vocal-based release since Illinois, and now they have it in The Age of Adz (pronounced odds).

Longstanding fans should appreciate this more for being a great cross-section of Stevens’ career, mixing the electronic embellishments of his earlier material with the sophisticated folk of his latter.  It’s well balanced, with enough pop nuggets and layered complexities to attain a happy medium.

Atmosphere: To All My Friends, Blood Makes the Blade Holy (Rhymesayers)

Atmosphere: "Until the Nipple's Gone"

Led by MC Slug and producer Ant, Atmosphere has taken a steady ascent to indie-rap popularity.  The group's last album, When Life Gives You Lemons, You Paint That Shit Gold, was a surprise for many, focusing more on live instrumentation than samples and ushering in a feel-good R&B/pop vibe to many songs.

To All My Friends, Blood Makes the Blade Holy is Atmosphere's newest pair of EPs, combined here as a long-player, and it's much closer to the group's roots than Lemons.  The live instrumentation remains — many songs are built around guitars and keyboards — but most songs hit hard, and Slug draws shades of yesteryear.

There's slide guitar and piano in "The Number None," which starts the final three (and poppiest) tracks.  The two songs that follow — "Freefallin'" and "To All my Friends" — are both singles but something of misdirections, as the dual-EP release has, by that point, well established a different vibe.

Circle of Animals: Destroy the Light (Relapse)

Circle of Animals: "Poison the Lamb"

Circle of Animals is a new project by multi-instrumentalist producer Sanford Parker (of Minsk) and saxophonist Bruce Lamont (of Yakuza).  It’s a tribute of sorts to Chicago’s industrial scene of the late ’80s and early ’90s, although it ties in influences from other heavy experimentalists such as Swans and Godflesh.

You have to dig songs that build in layers to enjoy this album, but it’s well executed, and any given track might really pay off four minutes in.  Lamont mostly handles vocal duties here, and Parker is responsible for most of the instrumentation, but the album features a great cast of big-name drummers, including Dave Witte of Discordance Axis, John Herndon of Tortoise, John Merryman of Cephalic Carnage and Secret Chiefs 3, and Steve Shelley of Sonic Youth.

Lamont's sister Kelly makes a great vocal cameo on "Poison the Lamb," a track that you can exclusively download at the newest installment of The Metal Examiner, our weekly metal column.

White Moth: s/t (Angel Oven)

White Moth: "Shoot the Clock" (f. Dälek)

Last week we wrote about Sailors with Wax Wings, one of the two new solo projects from Pyramids head honcho R. Loren.  It was jam-packed with guest stars, and now, in as many weeks, Loren releases his second such star-studded solo effort.

Like Pyramids and Sailors with Wax Wings, White Moth bests fits in atmospheric post-metal, but its tracks are more compact and structured more like traditional songs.  There also are much stronger glitch and digital-hardcore influences, and the latter is at least partially thanks to contributions from Alec Empire of Atari Teenage Riot and Ashley Scott Jones of Evol Intent.

The album — hopefully the start of a full-blown series — also has improvised sax work by Sam Hillmer of Zs, a guest rap by Dälek, and an appearance by Lydia Lunch.  If you enjoyed Sailors with Wax Wings last week but want something a little "firmer," pick up White Moth.

Yann Tiersen: Dust Lane (Anti-)

Yann Tiersen: "Dust Lane"

Remember Amélie?  A lot of people fell in love with the 2001 French romantic comedy, and its bustling soundtrack was a big part of that.  That music was by Yann Tiersen, a folksy French composer whose lighthearted pieces use a lot of accordion, violin, and piano but also glockenspiel, harpsichord, and toy piano.

Dust Lane is Tiersen’s first solo studio album in five years, and it’s also his first release on Anti-.  His earlier work was always very melodic and accessible, but this is a push in a much poppier direction, one that maintains some of the intricate accents but wraps them around basic hooks, often built with synthesizers and guitars.

And though Dust Lane is a song-based album, the tunes are structured unlike typical pop songs.  The one weakness is the final track, "Fuck Me," which feels embarrassing despite its serious end-of-the-world theme.  On the whole, however, Dust Lane is a great album and a new chapter in Tiersen's career.

The Gaslamp Killer: Death Gate EP (Brainfeeder)

The Gaslamp Killer: "Carpool Dummy"

A founder of LA's Low End Theory weekly series, The Gaslamp Killer is a dubstep DJ whose mixes and production credits have built his name as much as his own material.

Death Gate is The Gaslamp Killer's third EP, and though it reflects his eclectic taste with the samples on "When I'm in Awe," the five-song effort is a rather stripped-down drum-and-bass release, relying on big beats and spacey effects.

Many might prefer his spliced mixes or collaborations, but Death Gate portends great new solo material on the horizon.

The Black Heart Procession: Blood Bunny / Black Rabbit (Temporary Residence)

The Black Heart Procession: "Blank Page"

After a prolific start as a band, the gloomy, piano-driven sounds of The Black Heart Procession have been heard less frequently over the past five or six years.  Recently, at least, this has been partly due to the reunion of Three Mile Pilot, singer/guitarist Pall Jenkins' old band.

With a new Three Mile Pilot album — and Jenkins' similar vocal style gracing that as well — the release of the Blood Bunny / Black Rabbit "micro-album" should come as a grateful palette cleanser for long-time Black Heart Procession fans.

Featuring three new songs and five remixes, this release takes the group to a few new places.  The new songs go a little further – more guitar, different structures, etc.  There’s a nice contrast from the remixes, including one by Jenkins as Mr. Tube (one of his other endeavors) that gets noisy and samples some kind of PVC-tube instrument.

Blood Bunny / Black Rabbit maintains a nice balance throughout, and though it may not be the ideal starting point for a listener, it accurately portrays The Black Heart Procession without getting stale.

Honorable Mentions

Belle & Sebastian: Write About Love (Matador)

Free Moral Agents: Control This (Chocolate Industries)

Hauschka: Foreign Landscapes (Fat-Cat)

Intronaut: Valley of Smoke (Century Media)

Madball: Empire (Good Fight)

Jon Mueller: The Whole (Type)

Benoit Pioulard: Lasted (Kranky)

Blockhead

As a highly lauded hip-hop producer, Anthony "Blockhead" Simon is behind many of the great tunes and fat beats of big-name indie rappers, including Aesop Rock, Slug, Cage, Murs, and Mike Ladd.

The Music Scene is only Blockhead's fourth full solo album,which seems strange given his decade of production. Nevertheless, it again documents his keen ear for melody, dynamics, and stylistic convergence. "It's Raining Clouds," the album's opener, is one of many examples of this convergence, with head-nodding beats, flute loops, sitar-like sounds, sultry horns, soulful samples, and a whistling backdrop.

Available via MP3 a few months ago, The Music Scene now gets a full CD release through Ninja Tune.

Nick Cave & Warren Ellis: The Road soundtrack (Mute)

Just months after the release of a "greatest hits" of soundtrack works, rock-and-roll mavericks Nick Cave and Warren Ellis combine forces for another melodic score that belies the post-apocalyptic nature of its film companion.

Centered on violin and piano, this score is alternately beautiful, melancholic, and tense, with emotive passages that speak to the drama and conflict of the protagonists in this adaptation of Cormac McCarthy's novel.

Rempis/Rosaly Duo: Cyrillic (482 Music)

Saxophonist Dave Rempis and drummer Frank Rosaly are two of Chicago's most productive improv musicians, delighting diehard jazz heads with the likes of The Rempis Percussion Quartet, Engines, Viscous, Cicadas Music, and dozens of other outfits.

Here the two entertain with a dose of free jazz that is as blistering as it is subdued; wild runs lead into relaxed rhythms. Though most of the material clashes with itself as each instrument does its thing, the album is more approachable than its counterparts that carry two or more tonal instruments.

Additionally, there are moments where the two really synchronize. These usually come after minutes of tension, making the payoff that much more rewarding.

Living Legends' MURS and Atmosphere's Slug are two stylized MCs who are best known for their regular gigs. However, this third installment of Felt, a side project begun in 2002, undoubtedly is their best collaboration — and may contend with their other top releases.

Produced by Aesop Rock, Felt 3 is the duo's third tribute to a second-rate actress. Rosie Perez receives the titular honor this time, joined by Kevin Spacey and Paul Reubens (in song titles) and succeeding homages to Christina Ricci and Lisa Bonet.

With 21 tracks, A Tribute to Rosie Perez exemplifies the commitment that MURS and Slug have made to this project — one that could stand on its own as an A-list attraction.

Felt: "Protagonists"
Felt: \"Protagonists\"

Beak>: s/t (Ipecac)

Spearheaded by Portishead producer Geoff Barrow, Beak> is a new project that finds the multi-instrumentalist out of his element, working with studio bassist Billy Fuller (Fuzz Against Junk) and renaissance man Matt Williams (Team Brick) in a live-band setting.

Overdubs are eschewed on this self-titled debut, one that presents minimalist rhythm-section jams that achieve a moodiness and ambience without extra tracking. Hooky synth and bass grooves surround sampled and vocal atmospherics to create a diverse down-tempo disc.

The entire album was written over the course of a 12-hour session. That fact is easily discernible upon hearing this, but this self-titled debut is still well worth checking out.

Beak>: "Backwell"
Beak>: \"Backwell\"

Honorable mentions:

Blockhead: The Music Scene (Ninja Tune)
Underworld vs. The Misterons: Athens (compilation, !K7)
V/A: Forge Your Own Chains / Heavy Psychedelic Ballads and Dirges, 1968-1974 (reissue, Now-Again)

BK-One is best known as the DJ for Brother Ali and as a mainstay of the Rhymesayers roster. But with the help of beat-making buddy Benzilla, he has further established a name for himself through Rádio do Canibal.

An A-list collaboration with top-tier MCs, Rádio do Canibal is built on a foundation of grooving bass lines and horns. This sets a funky foundation for the crux of the album, BK-One’s playful commingling of samba and bossa nova samples with hip-hop beats (which is directly influenced by his frequent travels through Central and South America).

The MCs, notably P.O.S, Haiku D’Etat, Slug, and Blue Oriny, provide plenty of highlights, although Murs provides a particularly crass lowlight in “Eighteen to Twenty.” Regardless, it’s an all-star lineup, and with additional cameos from Ali, Black Thought, Raekwon, and The Hypnotic Brass Ensemble, one would do well to pick this up.

Air: Love 2 (Astralwerks)

Despite variances in style from album to album, Air’s sound is easily discernible to most anyone who is familiar. It’s spacey, synthesized yet organic, and holds a reverence for the squiggly electronic sounds of the late 1970s.

Love 2 is no different in this regard, but it may be the French duo’s most realized creation. A combination of delicate instrumentals and pseudo-sultry ballads comprise the album, which calls upon the duo’s usual armaments in addition to spots of saxophone, marimba, and glockenspiel.

Air won’t be mistaken for holding prog-rock virtuosity, but Love 2 displays some of the best “chops” of any Air album, as best evidenced by the deft piano play and swirling guitar solo of “Tropical Disease.” If you enjoy Air, the duo’s latest album won’t let you down.

A Place to Bury Strangers: Exploding Head (Mute)

After a much-hyped self-titled debut, A Place to Bury Strangers continues to perfect its sound on Exploding Head, its first release for Mute.

The album holds a hard-hitting post-punk /new-wave sound that combines the atmospherics and fuzziness of My Bloody Valentine with the rawness of Sonic Youth and the moodiness of Joy Division. Echoed, whammied chords wash over feedback, speed-picked single-note riffs, and über-reverberated, ride-heavy rock beats.

The result is a sound that is much denser than one would imagine from a rock trio. Undoubtedly, the stars of the album are Oliver Ackermann’s customized guitar pedals, which he manufactures for his own company, Death by Audio.

Honorable mentions:

Bellini: Precious Prize of Gravity (Temporary Residence)
The Black Heart Procession: Six (Temporary Residence)
Califone: All My Friends are Funeral Singers (Dead Oceans)
Betty Davis: Nasty Gal and Is It Love or Desire (reissues — Light in the Attic)
Horse the Band: Desperate Living (Vagrant)
Jason Stein’s Locksmith Isidore: Three Less Than Between (Clean Feed)

Diamond Watch Wrists

Each maintaining a busy 2009, Guillermo Scott Herren (Prefuse 73, Savath & Savalas) and Zach Hill (Hella, Bygones) join forces to create Diamond Watch Wrists, a project that holds elements of each artist but sounds unlike what one might imagine their collaboration to be.

Like Hill's 2008 solo record, Ice Capped at Both Ends is very much a pop record, for as unconventional as both records may be.  Reverberated, multi-layered vocals guide each track, similarly to Savath & Savalas, and Hill's beats are as focused and straightforward as they've been in a while.  Effects and ambiance hold important roles, but Herren's electronic Prefuse work essentially is a nonfactor here.

Given the impending release of the next Savath & Savalas release, it's an interesting time to release Ice Capped at Both Ends, but at first glimpse, the S&S disc contains more elements of Herren's initimable work as Prefuse 73.  It seems that we've entered an impressive stretch of Herren's creative legacy.

Themselves: theFREEhoudini (Anticon)

After a seven-year hiatus, Anticon hip-hop duo Themselves (Doseone and Jel) has returned with this free (for 90 days) "mixtape."  Consisting of one 39-minute track, the release serves as a self-remixed album and teaser for the duo's third full-length album, CrownsDown, due in August.

Doseone's nasally delivery is as aggressive as ever, presenting less of the high-pitched anti-raps from his work in Subtle. Jel's breakbeats carry the well-balanced mix, and hip-hop bedfellows Aesop Rock, Slug, Busdriver, and Yoni Wolf make well-placed appearances.  Like the duo's respective careers, theFREEhoudini is a compelling, original endeavor.

Soap&Skin: Lovetune for Vacuum (PIAS)

Austrian singer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, and actress Anja Franziska Plaschg holds musical ability and power that is stunning for her age of 18.

On Lovetune for Vacuum, Plaschg's debut album, powerful, melancholy harmonies pour out of her throat and piano in contrast to softer, somber exchanges.  Vocal overdubs, pounding low keys, ominous sample, and bits of violin and electronics augment the main melodies as Plaschg channels influences from Bjork, Aphex Twin, and Sergei Rachmaninoff.  Prepare to hear a lot about Plaschg in the coming years.

Soap&Skin: "The Sun"
Soap&Skin: \"The Sun\"

Nadja: When I See the Sun Always Shines on TV (The End)

This interesting cover EP continues a highly prolific streak for Canadian heavy/ambient duo Nadja, which has a pair of upcoming albums due later in 2009 — one of which is a double release.

Foreseeable innovators like My Bloody Valentine and Swans are covered in baths of fuzz, feedback, and synthesizers, but less-predictable favorites such as Slayer, The Cure, Elliot Smith, and A-Ha also are turned on their heads.  Preexisting fans of Nadja and electro-noise dirge enthusiasts should both greatly enjoy this one.

Corey Wilkes & Abstrakt Pulse: Cries from tha Ghetto (Pi)

Trumpeter Corey Wilkes' debut album as a bandleader, Drop It, was released just 10 months ago on storied jazz/blues label Delmark Records.  The funky debut contained quirky soul jazz with moments of extended solos and improvisation, but Wilkes digs back to a bebop-fueled sound for this new release with his group Abstrakt Pulse.

Featuring the reed work of Kevin Nabors and the exemplary melodic guitar licks of Scott Hesse, the sextet fuses some 1960s Blue Note-era jazz with the freeform influence of Lester Bowie, a lauded experimentalist whose seat Wilkes filled for the Art Ensemble of Chicago.  The fusion on Cries from tha Ghetto isn't smashing any boundaries, but its execution is top notch.  Highly recommended for jazz heads.

Corey Wilkes & Abstrakt Pulse: "Visionary of an Abstrakt"
Corey Wilkes & Abstrakt Pulse: \"Visionary of an Abstrakt\"