For us, 2011 was another year of taking in as much as we could and sharing the best with you. Next year, however, will be a homecoming of sorts, a return to rock-'n'-roll roots. We'll soon be able to share the projects that we have in store — across multiple mediums — but for now, dig into this rock-focused list of must-own albums.

And for more, revisit (or simply visit) our lists from 2010 and 2009:

100 Unheralded Albums from 2010
50 Unheralded Albums from 2009

Steven Drozd: The Heart Is A Drum Machine (The Score) (Twinkle Cash Co., 1/18/11)

Steven Drozd: "Born"

A multi-instrumentalist and the third-most-tenured member of The Flaming Lips, Steven Drozd marked his first official solo release early this year with the nearly instrumental accompaniment to the documentary The Heart is a Drum Machine.

The music shares a lot of characteristics with the Flaming Lips of the past dozen years – synthesized grooves, big rock beats, fuzz bass, airy keyboards, and different instrumental flourishes weaving in and out. But listeners are unlikely to confuse the two, and the score succeeds as a standalone album as well as a film accompaniment.

…And You Will Know Us by the Trail of Dead: Tao of the Dead (Richter Scale Records / Superball Music, 2/8/11)

…And You Will Know Us by the Trail of Dead: "Weight of the Sun"

There has been no shortage of grand themes and allegories in the canon of Austin post-punk quintet …And You Will Know Us by the Trail of Dead. The band’s newest album, however, better matches its ambitious themes with its music, presenting an epic pair of pieces for Tao of the Dead.

The album recalls progressive albums of yore, from the likes of Rush and King Crimson, but channels them into easily digested movements. Stretches of heavy distortion and drum thrashing will appeal to the more metal-minded Trail of Dead fans, but there’s also plenty of hook-laden, radio-ready alternative rock.

Wires Under Tension: Light Science (Western Vinyl, 2/8/11)

Wires Under Tension: "Electricity Turns Them On"

Light Science is the exciting debut from Wires Under Tension, a duo comprised of violinist/multi-instrumentalist Christopher Tignor and drummer Theo Metz. With help from a few friends, including Jared Bell of Lymbyc Systym, the two combine live performance with electronic manipulation, sounding something like a progressive Dirty Three with horns, hip-hop beats, and post-rock guitar swells.

This seven-track release is a dense, fluid collection that retains consistency thanks to Metz’s steady rhythms. Electro-mechanical piano, clavinet, and synthesizers mesh with loops and samples to round out an impressive first release.

Pitom: Blasphemy and Other Serious Crimes (Tzadik, 2/22/11)

Pitom: "Head in the Ground"

Combining heavy, fuzzy rock jams with Jewish melodies, Pitom is one of many projects from guitarist, bassist, and composer Yoshie Fruchter. Blasphemy and Other Serious Crimes, the quartet's second release on Tzadik, follows the same path as its predecessor, but it does so with a bit more cohesion and restraint.

Built from the ground up with distorted bass and violin, the band's music carries similarities to that of Skeletonbreath and Miasma & The Carousel of Headless Horses. Whether driving a song with an infectious melody, commingling with the violin in the high end, or simply taking over a track with raw ability, Fruchter knows when to go full throttle (the punk power of "An Epic Encounter") or pull back (the dark slow jam of "A Resentful Repentance").

The Psychic Paramount: II (No Quarter, 2/22/11)

The Psychic Paramount: "RW"

Though relatively silent for the past six years, New York noise-rock trio The Psychic Paramount returned in February to release its first full-length since 2005. Effected guitar loops, devastating low-end grooves, and bashing rhythms again form the core of the band's sound, but II is a direct yet dynamic rock explosion.

Between the guitar, the cymbals, and the effects, the mid-range gets a constant workout. Those who are turned off by this kind of music may find it to be an exercise in patience, but the lengthier durations are a testament to the trio's skills at climax and denouement.

DeVotchKa: 100 Lovers (Anti-, 3/1/11)

DeVotchKa: "100 Other Lovers"

Following the fame from its Oscar-winning soundtrack for Little Miss Sunshine in 2006, Denver multi-instrumental quartet DeVotchKa has playfully tinkered with its sweeping, emotive sound. Though it already tossed together elements of folk, rock, Mexican, and Gypsy music, it remained united by the sullen croons and songwriting of frontman Nick Urata.

That unifying factor remains, but its newest album, 100 Lovers – its second post-Sunshine full-length – continues to expand the band’s scope. The material adds new and often subtle flavors to DeVotchKa’s repertoire. Uninitiated listeners might hear more of the same, but 100 Lovers is perfect for content fans – moving in new directions without a radical departure.

Stateless: Matilda (Ninja Tune, 3/1/11)

Stateless: "Ariel"

Matilda, Stateless' second full-length, showcases the British electro-rock group's continued maturity. Lead singer Chris James hits an impressive range of notes, from reverb-cloaked backing croons to soulful leads, atop an amalgamated mix of styles, sounds, and beats.

With contributions from The Balanescu Quartet, DJ Shadow, and Shara Worden (of My Brightest Diamond), Matilda is stylistically inventive, with familiar worldly touchstones reworked into new contexts.

Grails: Deep Politics (Temporary Residence, 3/8/11)

Grails: "I Led Three Lives"

With cinematic soundscapes, Westernized Indian melodies, film-noir mystique, 1960s psychedelia, and crushing heaviness, Grails is an instrumental rarity. The Portland band's newest offering, Deep Politics, is an engaging and epic mix of acoustic intonations, indigenous sounds and melodies, spaghetti-western motifs, somber piano balladry, and more doom-filled, Eastern-infused stylistic transcendence.

And thanks in part to arrangements by Timba Harris, the mighty violinist from unparalleled genre annihilators Estradasphere and Secret Chiefs 3, Deep Politics vies to be Grails’ best album yet.

Parts & Labor: Constant Future (Jagjaguwar, 3/8/11)

Parts & Labor: "Constant Future"

After establishing itself early last decade as an interesting new name in noise rock, Parts & Labor delivered a flurry of releases over the span of just a few years. Since then, the band has scaled back to a trio built around the fuzzed guitar, bass, keyboard hooks, and tight rock rhythms.

Featuring some of the band's sturdiest songs yet, Constant Future is direct, potent, and catchy. Behind Dan Friel and BJ Warshaw's echoing, harmonized vocals are dirty, thick grooves that power the overlaid electronic freak-outs.

Adebisi Shank: This is the Second Album from a Band Called Adebisi Shank (Sargent House, 3/15/11)

Adebisi Shank: "Micro Machines"

Released to European acclaim in 2010, the aptly titled second album from Irish electro/math rockers Adebisi Shank achieved North American release this year thanks to the peerless Sargent House.

The management company / record label 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.

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, resulting in a manic and buoyant sophomore effort.

Like its remixed predecessor, "I Think I'm Noam Chomsky," the video makes use of Carl Orff's famous "O Fortuna" movement, but this time it's rearranged and spliced with a sonorous bass line and a stuttering hi-hat beat. Check out both videos and then pick up Hello, Cruel World, the latest from Sole & The Skyrider Band.

Hella: Tripper (Sargent House)

Hella: "Headless"

In 2002, a wild math-rock duo named Hella released a much-ballyhooed debut that sounded impossible to perform with just two members. From there, guitarist Spencer Seim and drummer Zach Hill expanded their sound (and level of complexity) with synthesizers and additional members, eventually recording as a five-piece for their 2007 release, There’s No 666 in Outer Space.

Now, following a few years off to pursue other projects, Seim and Hill are back as Hella’s core, releasing their first album based around guitar and drums since Hold Your Horse Is, that 2002 debut. It’s a welcome return to original form, one that is both “accessible” and melodic despite being highly technical.

Jacob Fred Jazz Odyssey: Race Riot Suite (Kinnara Records / Royal Potato Family)

Jacob Fred Jazz Odyssey: "Black Wall Street"

Race Riot Suite is a new long-form work from Tulsa, Oklahoma-based jazz-fusion quartet Jacob Fred Jazz Odyssey. The record was written by lap-steel guitarist Chris Combs, who has taken a large songwriting role since founding member Reed Mathis departed in 2009. A wealth of guest contributors helped in the recording process, and the album's formidable horn presence comes courtesy of Jeff Coffin (Bela Fleck & The Flecktones, Dave Matthews Band), Steven Bernstein, Peter Apfelbaum, Mark Southerland, and Matt Leland.

The album addresses an oft-overlooked, racially charged incident that took place in 1921. The track above, "Black Wall Street," refers to the affluent, largely African American neighborhood in Tulsa where a day-long conflict saw 800 people hospitalized and 35 city blocks destroyed by bombs. As racial tensions escalated, and the prospect of a lynching loomed, violence broke out outside the town courthouse and rapidly spread across the city — culminating in an aerial assault that was reportedly launched to help neutralize the nonexistent "Negro uprising."

The suite was performed in its entirety at the Tulsa Performing Arts Center in May, and JFJO will tour the US in the fall, following the release of the album.

- Text by Kyle Gilkeson.

Tinariwen: Tassili (Anti-)

Tinariwen: "Tenere Taqqim Tossam" f. Tunde Adebimpe and Kyp Malone of TV on the Radio

Though the voyage of Tinariwen has been well chronicled, the back-story of the Malian desert-blues band remains fascinating for first-time listeners. That sense of fascination, even for longtime fans, extends to the group’s newest release, Tassili, which returns Tinariwen to its acoustic roots.

Recorded in the Algerian desert with only unamplified guitars and percussion, the album is a more organic version of Tinariwen’s sound, which again is led by group chants and vocal harmonies. This time, however, the band has high-profile guests in the form of TV on the Radio members Tunde Adebimpe and Kyp Malone, Nels Cline of Wilco and the Nels Cline Singers, and members of the Dirty Dozen Brass Band. Perhaps the big names will help others discover what many already have: a unique band with a compelling story.

Vieo Abiungo: And the World is Still Yawning (Lost Tribe Sound)

Vieo Abiungo: "Drowsy Salted Morning"

Chances are that you’ve heard work by Oakland-based composer/multi-instrumentalist William Ryan Fritch, a.k.a. Vieo Abiungo. Fritch is a member of Skyrider, a band that joined forces with hip-hop artist Sole in 2007. He also has worked with Kronos Quartet, and he released a solo album entitled Music for Honey and Bile for the Asthmatic Kitty Library Catalog in 2010.

His new album, And the World is Still Yawning, expands on his established experimental sound, which combines modern classical, meditative ambience, and rich electronics. Having scored roughly 30 films since 2008, Fritch has a well-honed ear for nuance; many compositions evolve from apparent chaos to a grand cinematic climax. Unintelligible vocals fade in and out, buried beneath layers of polyrhythmic percussion and unusual, resonant instrumentation.

With a refined sound-collage aesthetic — like The Books without samples — the album drifts calmly, occasionally catching a strong gust of wind in its open sails. Song titles reflect this lazy-river sensibility: "Flotsam and Jetsam," "A Sad Swell," and "Still and Tepid Waters." Though nothing is forced, a masterful hand is clearly at the helm, navigating and orchestrating with veteran confidence.

- Text by Kyle Gilkeson.

YAWN: Open Season (FeelTrip/Englophile)

YAWN: "Acid"

Chicago quartet YAWN has demonstrated remarkable growth since it first emerged as a high-school rock trio. After a makeover influenced by Animal Collective and other modern psych-pop outfits, the band issued a promising debut EP with heavy use of vocal harmonies, poppy electronics, and quirky effects.

Yawn’s first full-length album, Open Season, reflects an additional dose of musical maturity. A few more hints of the 1960s and ’80s have seeped into the band’s sounds to go with dueling croons, polyrhythms, and a broader spectrum of moods. While maintaining the tom-heavy drumbeats and electronics of prior recordings, Open Spaces fuses unusual samples (croaking frogs, high-pitched vocals, rushing waves) with previously unexplored instrumentation, giving each track a distinctive vibe.

- Text by Lauren Zens. Read the band's story in Chromatic: The Crossroads of Color and Music.

Others & Honorable Mentions

Alias: Fever Dream (Anticon)

Balaclava: Crimes of Faith (Southern Lord)

Beirut: The Rip Tide (Pompeii)

Blood Orange: Coast Grooves (Domino)

Butch Walker & The Black Widows: Spade (Dangerbird)

Century: Red Giant (Prosthetic)

End of Level Boss: Eklectric (Exile on Mainstream)

Michael Gordon: Timber (Cantaloupe)

Tom Morello: The Nightwatchman: World Wide Rebel Songs (New West)

The Nocturnes: Aokigahara

Jamie Saft: Borscht Belt Studies (Tzadik)

Thundercat: The Golden Age of Apocalypse (Brainfeeder)

Sole & The Skyrider Band: "Hello, Cruel World"

Citing differences in vision for his label and a desire to release music independently, Tim Holland split in 2010 with the Anticon collective that he helped to found. Now, with his faithful Skyrider Band at his side, Holland has released his first official release as Sole since the departure, and it's another bold chapter in a bold career.

Skyrider, which has been the force behind Sole's sonic development over the past few years, now sets a surprisingly mainstream and orchestral backdrop for Holland's rhymes, which have slowed and become more decipherable — but no less potent in criticism. As he explains below, Holland wanted Hello, Cruel World to sound more like a "big rap album," and it accomplishes the feat with club beats, vocoder-inspired choruses, and a posse of collaborators (Sage Francis, Xiu Xiu, Lil B, and many more). But the musical backdrop also is more cerebral and beautiful, thanks in part to the talents of band member and film-score composer William Ryan Fritch (a.k.a. Vieo Abiungo).

Holland also is keeping busy with DIY videos and his Nuclear Winter mixtape series, which employs the Situationist détournement technique of "turning expressions of the capitalist system against itself." In this case, it's taking hits by Lil Wayne, Rihanna, and the like and dropping politically current themes on them. Here Holland explains this mixtape concept while discussing the state of the world and the Sun Tzu-inspired direction of his new album.

Now three albums into recording with Skyrider, how do you feel that your sound has evolved since joining forces?

It's pretty crazy, really. When we started out, all I wanted was to be a hip-hop version of Godspeed You! Black Emperor, and somehow along the way, we listened to way too much Young Jeezy and Lil Wayne in the car. The rest is history, I guess! For a while, The Skyrider Band was living in LA and working a lot with Telephone Jim Jesus, and Skyrider really came into its own on the production tip.

A member of Skyrider (William Ryan Fritch) has experience scoring films. How much did he influence the orchestral accents of Hello, Cruel World?

Ryan has always been way too talented for his own good. On our past work, we weren't experienced enough with how to make the band aesthetic work for a hip-hop album, and I feel like through all of Ryan’s work with real composers, doing film scores, working with Asthmatic Kitty, and branching out on his own, he has a really solid grasp of what to add to Skyrider's beats to take them over the top. The big surprise on this album is his vocal contribution; he's able to layer my off-key singing with his beautiful crooning and really make stuff sound great.

Hello, Cruel World has a much more radio-friendly sound and even features Melodyne software (similar to vocoder software) in many choruses. Was there any deliberate decision to target a broader audience to get your messages across?

Yes, there was. In Sun Tzu’s Art of War, he says you can't keep attacking using the same method; in order to succeed, you have to surprise your opponents. I had listened to gangster rap so much that its influence and aesthetic had taken over what I did, and coincidentally, that is what the hip-hop people are listening to right now. It wasn't so much an opportunistic move as it was a natural evolution. So we thought it would be an interesting gamble to try to make an album that would be an SSRB take on Jay-Z or TI — a big rap album. What I like about those albums is that they all collaborate with their homies and put each other on. After years of mainly writing music alone, it was really fun to try to collaborate with some of my favorite artists. Usually, when people use these styles, they try to be ironic, but we take rap music very seriously.

How much did this album's direction have an impact on your departure from Anticon?

Well, a lot of people think that I left Anticon to make this kind of music, and that’s ridiculous. I've certainly had a lot to prove since I left Anticon. When I moved to Denver, I was tired of being broke, so I took a day job at Denver Open Media, pulled my catalog from Anticon (because I felt I had nothing to lose), and then, for fun, I made Nuclear Winter. And something about the new approach kind of bridged what I needed from rap — my Public Enemy / Pete Seeger roots and my love for the new rap aesthetics that had come about. I just found it as a platform to be myself. On Anticon, I always felt this need to temper everything that I said, because it would reflect poorly on all the people around me. If I can't be this crazy, belligerent dude, I almost have nothing to say.

And as soon as I left Anticon, all of a sudden I had a safe financial cushion, because I was getting all the royalties, and from there, I felt more confident and less desperate, so I could just do whatever I wanted whenever I wanted. On top of that, I’m kind of a businessman at heart, and instead of having this frustrating back-and-forth with the business side of Anticon, I was able to take matters into my own hands and benefit directly from all of my labor, which makes a huge difference. It’s easy to feel empowered when you don't have to do desperate things for money. I was liberated, and so I just started following every whim. And when you create something and release it the same day, you get a lot of instant gratification and inspiration. Through this freedom, I was able to re-envision what kind of rapper I wanted to be, or what I think a rapper should be in 2011. My mom always said, "When you jump off a cliff, a net appears." Life is all about taking risks; if you never take risks, you never get anywhere.

Your delivery seems calmer, clearer, and slower on this album. Was this deliberate? What changed for you?

Well, through touring, I would always hear the same thing: "Dude, you have such great lyrics, but no one can understand anything you are saying." So I started to really open myself up to criticism from the people I respect, and what really seemed like the most important thing was to have people understand my lyrics. I’m this bedroom scholar who places more emphasis on content than anything. When I would listen to a Jay-Z song or a Kanye song, I'd always be so impressed by how smart they sounded, simply because their character would come across, and their lyrics would grab me.

With the early Anticon stuff, we had created our own sub-genre of rap, and at a point, I felt my music was so self-referential — so far left-field — that it was no longer relevant to the new generation of rap fans. Most of the philosophers that I respect think that political art should be in "popular form"; it has to be relate-able if you want people to get something out of it. I don’t want to preach to the choir. I spend all this time on lyrics so that I can have a conversation with the world about the horrors that we live with. If I can get 17-year-old kids reading Slavoj Žižek or listening to Democracy Now, I feel like I've succeeded.

"We Will Not Be Moved" seemingly addresses the Western indifference to many of the world's atrocities. How can this be overcome, and what do you feel is most enabling this indifference?

Well, this is a huge question. Since I’m a musician, of course, the first thing that comes to mind is the media — its glorification of banal music and trivialization of music with a political slant. I think artists should be held accountable for what they say and the impact that it has. I know firsthand — after I watched Boyz n the Hood, my friends and I started a gang and got into all kinds of trouble. For people to act like what they talk about in music is just "entertainment" is a cop-out, and rap is such a powerful format that it should be used as such.

Outside of music, I feel like the left's inability to defeat the Fox News-es of the world is a huge obstacle. Watching Obama and the democrats just bow down to the right and have no conviction whatsoever is so disheartening. I really believe we need to support the kind of leftism in America that isn't afraid to quote Emma Goldman or Noam Chomsky, that isn't afraid to make bold statements that are true and shout down the interests that are keeping people down. I blame the video-game industry. I blame Hollywood. I blame journalists who trivialize music with a political slant. I blame the public-education system. I blame the uneducated having kids. I blame the FCC for media consolidation. I blame the FCC for not banning outlets like Fox News that broadcast straight lies all day. I blame myself for not being more effective at what I do. We all share the blame.

For those unfamiliar, can you explain the détournement technique of your Nuclear Winter series? What type of statement is it to make an apolitical song into a political one?

It has kind of become a bad habit for me; every time I hear a rap song, I want to change its meaning now, and there just aren't enough hours in the day! "Détournement" is an art form pioneered by the Situationists in the '60s. The idea is that they would take a piece of art and hijack it for their own means. Sometimes the end result would be a "correction" to an original; sometimes it would be completely ambivalent. I choose the "ambivalent" approach, because after all is said and done, I love the originals.

The idea came about through the hip-hop-mixtape aesthetic. I loved hearing rappers redo each other's songs with different slants. I thought it would be cool to hijack them for my anarchistic purposes, because I want to rap on those beats, and because it’s an interesting experiment for me.  It's also kind of like learning to draw well by tracing. Every time I fuck with another rapper's style, I add my own voice to it, and it makes me a better rapper.

Israel is rumored to be planning a strike on Iran in September. Between this and America's proxy war on Iran, do you think that we'll be sucked into yet another war in the Middle East (before the others end)?

I don’t like to make predictions, because we never really know what’s gonna happen. Events move so quickly right now that anything can happen. Israel is always rumored to attack Iran. We're already waging covert wars in Yemen, Somalia, and Pakistan…why not in Iran? Personally, I don’t think this can happen. With all the Shia empowerment that has happened in the Middle East over the past year, this would literally, officially start World War III, and that wouldn't be good for America or Israel.

One of your recurring themes is to be mindful of wasteful time and "who you're serving." How can the world's backroom machinations be better related to everyday life in America?

People need to understand that our way of life functions on violence, most of it outsourced. The goods we wear, our computers, the chips in our phones are all brought to us by oppressing children in Africa and China. They literally had to install nets on the side of the buildings at Foxconn (where all the iPhones, Intel devices, etc. are built) because Chinese workers were jumping out the windows. If it weren't for violent dictators that we support, oil would be prohibitively expensive. When global-warming effects hit, it’s mostly in places like Somalia or Bangladesh or Polynesia. We are completely removed from the impact we have on the rest of the world. I mean, a little curiosity on behalf of the population would help, but beyond that, people should consider the fact that wages in America have gone down, while mega-corporations have consolidated the wealth and just hoarded it.

It's difficult for me to understand why people don’t understand this better. I think that America should become more protectionist and punish corporations that send jobs overseas, so that it is cheaper to hire Americans. I’m not one of these people that says to end capitalism, but people should familiarize themselves with social movements of the past, and how the struggle we find ourselves in today is the same that workers have faced throughout history. And by studying history, we can learn how to stand up for ourselves and take our lives back. Actually, I kind of stole some of these ideas from the End:Civ documentary. They could watch that here, or they could listen to Democracy Now every day when they're washing dishes / cooking, like I do.

Sole & The Skyrider Band: Hello, Cruel World (Fake Four)

Sole & The Skyrider Band: "Hello, Cruel World"

As one of the co-founders of the Anticon rap collective, Tim Holland (better known as Sole) has spent his career pushing the boundaries of alternative hip hop. His own rap career has been no less unconventional, and after joining forces with the band Skyrider to record his last two albums, he parted with Anticon and went further afield.

Hello, Cruel World is his third album with The Skyrider Band and first on Fake Four, and it’s another reinvention. Sole’s rapid-fire rhymes remain enlightened and outside the box, but his delivery is slowed a bit and surrounded by pop-infused and often vocoded vocal choruses. There’s a strange, dramatic mixture of synthesizers, club-friendly styles, stuttering beats, and orchestral flourishes.

The title track nearly conjures a witch-house vibe, only with strings weaving in and out, and after “We Will Not Be Moved” begins with a haunting mixture of piano, acoustic guitar, and strings, it drops one of the album’s strongest themes via a shot at Western indifference: “We will not be moved / comfortable with apathy and mediocrity / the truth is too depressing for me / integrity is too deep / leave me to my lonesome / text me on my phone, son.”

Serengeti: Family and Friends (Anticon)

Serengeti: "Ha-Ha" (f. Otouto)

Chicago rapper Serengeti has built a small but rabid following thanks to an unorthodox “indie” style and a tireless work ethic. His 2009 album with frequent collaborator and producer Polyphonic, named Terradactyl, helped introduce him to a wider audience thanks to its release by the Anticon collective, and now his newest solo album, Family and Friends, should help garner more deserved attention thanks to its big-name producers.

Half of Serengeti’s appeal is how well he mixes with other musicians and other styles, and this album — produced by Yoni Wolf of Why? and Owen Ashworth of Casiotone for the Painfully Alone — is no exception. The music is a quirky confluence of organic and electronic sounds and beats, but the real stars — as usual — are Serengeti’s disparate narratives and unpredictable rhymes.

Josh Ottum: Watch TV (Tapete)

Josh Ottum: "Fool in the Night"

Just the second album from Seattle-based singer-songwriter Josh Ottum, Watch TV is a sonically diverse pop gem. Though it was recorded bit by bit from 2007 to 2010, Ottum was able to tie all of the loose ends together and deliver a cohesive, experimental indie-pop record, mixing cheese-ball hooks with interesting left turns and euphonic diversity.

There are elements of pared-down power pop from the likes of Matthew Sweet and Brendan Benson (see “Work on a Feeling” and “My First Love”) as well as softer, more intimate singer-songwriter moments (“Too Sure to See” and “Not Built For Two”). The album’s real success, however, lies in Ottum’s seamless integration of classic pop instruments (guitar, bass, drums, etc.) and digital experimentation.

When the album finishes, you’ve forgotten the individual diversity within each song and are left with a complete satisfaction in having heard a highly focused and interesting record play so well.

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

Prurient: Bermuda Drain (Hydra Head)

Prurient: "Many Jewels Surround the Crown"

Better known as Prurient, Ian Dominick Fernow is a hyper-productive noise artist who has released an avalanche of records, cassettes, and CDs on underground labels. Bermuda Drain is his first release for Hydra Head, and it marks something of a "pop" direction.

Though older releases have included synth melodies, Bermuda Drain is downright accessible with "normal" song structures and durations. The synth melodies are front and center — possibly a result of Fernow's addition to Cold Cave — and they're catchy. There are even elements of digital hardcore and seeming reference points from Goblin or soundtracks such as those for Blade Runner, Terminator, etc.

Bermuda Drain still is noisy, weird, and creepy, however, as spoken-word passages and gut-wrenching screams are placed atop a dark, cinematic, and synth-based backdrop. The lyricism is the strangest (and often most disturbing) element, as evidenced by the main line, which is calmly spoken and later screamed, from "Palm Tree Corpse": "If I could, I would take a tree branch and ram it inside you — but it's already been done."

Honorable Mentions

Babe Rainbow: Endless Path EP (Warp)

Crone: Endless Midnight (Translation Loss)

Crystal Antlers: Two-Way Mirror

Dying Fetus: History Repeats… (Relapse)

Eternal Tapestry & Sun Araw: Night Gallery (Thrill Jockey)

Hail! Hornet: Disperse the Curse (Relapse)

How to Dress Well: Just Once EP (Yours Truly / Love Letters Ink)

Theophilus London: Timez Are Weird These Days (Warner Bros.)

Pictureplane: Thee Physical (Lovepump United)

Portugal. the Man: In the Mountain, in the Cloud (Atlantic)

Rodrigo y Gabriela: Live in France (ATO)

Angelo Spencer: World Garage (K)

Wiley: 100% Publishing (Big Dada)

Sole & The Skyrider Band: Hello Cruel World (Fake Four Inc., 7/19/11)

Anticon co-founder Tim Holland, a.k.a. Sole, is set to release his third album with the The Skyrider Band, Hello, Cruel World, on July 19. It's Holland's first full-length since parting ways with Anticon and striking out on his own. He's far from unaccompanied on the new record, though; guests include Xiu Xiu, Lil B, Pictureplane, Sage Francis, Ceschi, Isaiah Toothtaker, and more.

In the video for the title track, "Hello Cruel World," Sole waxes melancholic, coming to terms with temporality and decay, with a posse of grazing cows at his back. Its a simple, mostly monochromatic journey past snow-capped mountains and waterfalls. The Skyrider Band's dramatic synth-driven instrumentation and strings over the singsong chorus give Sole's vocals room to breathe while maintaining a rich ambience throughout.

Independent rhymer Sole just completed his first video, and ALARM has the exclusive premiere. Rapping over Clipse's recent Popeye's promo / radio hit "Popular Demand," Sole, a.k.a. Tim Holland, goes off on the Tea Party, race baiting and other hot-button issues. The video concludes in darkness, with Evangelist J.B. Best (Anticon's Pedestrian) poetically preaching on the shooting of Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords.

The track, "White Rage," is another installment in Sole's gradual release of the free mixtape Nuclear Winter Vol. 2. The Nuclear Winter series is, according to Holland, an "experiment with 'rap as journalism,'" where he takes current topics, hijacks radio rap beats and "release(s) them immediately while the fire is still hot." Check out "Generation Hot," his global warming / bird die-off remix of Wiz Khalifa's Steelers anthem "Black and Yellow" right here.

Keep your eyes peeled for a new album from Sole and the Skyrider Band in May.

Sole (a.k.a. Tim Holland) took a few minutes out of his busy tour schedule to pen a piece on the greatest myths in Western civilization. On the list, just in time for the holidays, is a new perspective on the story and significance of Santa Claus.

Five Western Myths
by Tim Holland, a.k.a. Sole

1. Santa Claus

The modern Santa gets his roots from Sinter Klaas, the Dutch father of Christmas. Sinter Klass, with the help of his '"Zwarte Pieten," a.k.a. enslaved "black devils," brought gifts to children. He moved his residence to the North Pole, where he seemingly swapped out the Moors for Inuits. Today this myth lies at the center of our entire economy and arguably our way of life.

My biggest problem with Santa is that it teaches children that something comes out of nothing, and it gives them an early and tangible affirmation of the supernatural. Even during periods of relative prosperity, it's not uncommon for an American parent to take a second job around the holidays simply to perpetuate this myth. Maybe history laughs last, as yesterday's “Moors” are replaced the world over by today’s work force.

2. The Epic of Gilgamesh

The first epic poem ever written, there is something about the crudeness of the poetry, its repetition, and style that really floors me. This is where much of "Genesis" in the old testament draws its roots, most notably the tale of "The Great Deluge." In the Sumerian version, the "gods" decided to wipe out mankind simply because we were making too much noise, not because the city was corrupted and perverse.

The Epic of Gilgamesh is a story of a tyrant king created by the gods who seeks the leaf of immortality to be more like them. Although the leaf was stolen by a snake, Gilgamesh ironically attained immortality through the stone tablets that preserved this myth for 10,000 years. It is well known that Iraq/Babylon/Sumer is "the cradle of civilization," and this bizarrely written story speaks to the roots and motifs that pervade our "civilization."

3. Behold A Pale Horse by William Cooper

This is another story that has captured the imagination of conspiracy theorists, rappers, Tea Party members, and free thinkers alike. There are very powerful ideas in this book about how society is constructed. It explains how people are dumbed down, how information is organized, and how the world would be ruled. The basic premise of this “myth” is that secret societies control the world (on behalf of aliens), which wouldn’t be so annoying if so many people didn’t favor ready-made catch-all answers over researching history.

These stories were used for different ends by different groups in different times, but the result is always the same: “Do nothing; watch YouTube videos; you’re helpless.” I hate this myth the most, because it takes facts, twists them, and misleads the less educated. In the '80s, it was William Cooper. These ideas were then adapted by Alex Jones and are today being reworked by Glenn Beck on Fox News. Karl Marx said, “All that is solid melts into air”; in America, the reverse is also true.

4. The Matrix

Forget about the second and third Matrix movies. The original Matrix was inspired by the ideas of Jean Baudrillard, a French philosopher inspired by OG situationist Guy Debord. Baudrillard believed that “man had ceased to be man and the world had ended when the spectacle took over.” The basic idea here is that the "spectacle" has its own agenda; it is an abstraction of power, finance, and media that grinds the Earth and its inhabitants down as raw resource. We are here as spectators — numbers in a giant machine that is controlled by little more than market forces.

Like in The Matrix, the modern worker is completely alienated from his labor and his reality. Thanks to modern technology and social networking, mankind manages to bypass both physical and geographical limitations. Technically, our bodies are not hooked up to giant fields that harvest us for energy to feed the machine, but we might as well be.

5. Revelations

America is a Christian nation, and even reformed Christians hold on to a lot of Christian beliefs. One of the most pervasive is Armageddon. Atheists hedge bets on societal collapse. Evangelicals don’t mind carbon emissions as long as Christ makes it back in time to rescue the pious. New-Agers wait for Atlantis to rise or 2012, when Jon Cusack will save a handful of whites. In reality, Revelations was about the fall of the Roman Empire, and it still is.

The co-founder of Anticon recently left the label to record and release music completely independently. Recent releases include a free mixtape (Nuclear Winter) and The Pyre, a a 72-page illustrated poem with an accompanying full-length "audiobook/album" — the result of a collaboration with artist Ravi Zupa. Look for a guest column by Tim Holland, a.k.a. Sole, on AlarmPress.com in the near future.

Hackensaw Boys, Trampled By Turtles @ Schuba's (Chicago)

A pair of bona-fide bluegrass bands invade Chicago for a Thursday-night extravaganza.  Both groups mix rapid-fire riffs with aspects of Americana, engaging in multi-layered vocal harmonies.  The Hackensaw Boys in particular are known to include 5-6 vocalists at any given point.

Boston Celtics vs. Chicago Bulls, Game 3

ALARM founder/editor Chris Force, a native of the Boston area, will be torn between his original B-ball love and his adopted home.  As he proclaimed via text message during Game 1, "Dude.  This is some King Solomon shit."

Online editor Scott Morrow will be firmly in the Bulls' corner.  Music editor Jamie Ludwig will be listening to loud rock records somewhere.

Friday, April 24

Coalesce @ Reggie's Rock Club (Chicago)

Leveling listeners with unadulterated force, this Kansas hardcore quartet has gone 10 years between full-length albums.  The wait (and recent reunion) has been well worth it, however, as the band's upcoming album mixes the trademark Coalesce sonic assault with acoustic interludes, vocal harmonies, a blues riff or two, and a number of other new elements.

The album, titled Ox, will be out on June 9 via Relapse.  If attendees are lucky, the band will have some early copies in tow.

Saturday, April 25

Sole @ Abbey Pub (Chicago)

Known as a frequent collaborator with the Anticon crew, indie rapper Sole branched out in 2007 with two new releases — one as Mansbestfriend, an instrumental collection, and one as Sole & The Skyrider Band, a dub/rock-infused live setup with electronic musician and drummer SkyRider.

It's uncertain as to what the future holds for Sole, but in the meantime, he hits our town as part of a solo jaunt with Awol One and Ceschi Ramos for the Outsiders Tour.

Sunday, April 26

Old Town School jazz guitarists @ Old Town School of Folk Music (Chicago)

Uniting four guitarists who specialize in bop, Brazilian fusion, Gypsy jazz and more, this Lincoln Square venue hosts Paulinho Garcia, Tony do Rosario, Alfonso Ponticelli and Mike Allemana, all faculty members, for this special one-time performance.