Doomtree: No Kings (Doomtree)

Doomtree: "The Grand Experiment"

Moving from a high-school clique to a crew and record label was a natural transition for the Minneapolis-based Doomtree collective. Over just a few years, the unlikely “family” unit went from trading beats at Hopkins High to producing albums, organizing tours, and throwing the annual Doomtree Blowout, all with a small but mighty lineup.

The label’s foundation was built on the wings of impassioned, down-to-earth MCs P.O.S and Sims, hybrid rapper/songstress Dessa, multifaceted instrumentalist Paper Tiger, and nostalgic storyteller Cecil Otter, but the seven-member collective soon demonstrated its cohesiveness as a group. No Kings is Doomtree’s third studio album, and though it maintains a playful demeanor, it’s the most diverse and mature of the three.

From track to track, the different flavors and personalities of each member come through in their own ways. "Bolt Cutter," the album's second single, features four MCs (including both rhymes and vocal melodies by Dessa) and a spate of production values, shifting from a minimalist tom beat and bass line to electro-hop synths to piano and acoustic-guitar melodies — before it all layers together and adds a deep electronic groove. But no matter its style, the production is on point.

No Kings also celebrates the start of Doomtree’s second decade together. More importantly, it maintains the balance that makes such a large collaboration work, both as a group and as a business.

- Text by Portia Medina and Scott Morrow.

Calexico: Road Atlas 1998–2011 limited-edition vinyl box set and Selections from Road Atlas 1998–2011 CD (Quarterstick)

Calexico: "Griptape"

In their 15 years as a band, Calexico’s Joey Burns and John Convertino have built their music around being on the road. It’s as evident in their thematic lyrics as it is in their sound — which, though it’s been described as Southwestern or “desert noir,” really can’t be pinned to one region. The two have drawn musical influences from around the globe because that’s exactly where they’ve been.

With Road Atlas, Calexico compiles eight of its off-the-map recordings from the past 13 years, including live sets and self-released tour albums. Selections from Road Atlas is its mini-edition, combining those live cuts, exclusively available tracks, and film-score vignettes.

Latin American influences exist throughout, especially in the musical snippets from the documentary Circo and several other tunes with Mariachi-tinged guitars. But there's also plenty of the band's balladry ("Griptape") to go with lap-steel guitar swells ("All the Pretty Horses"), Italian Western motifs ("Glowing Heart of the World"), and jazzy post-rock ("Cachaça").

In a sense, the band has mapped out the detours in its history, taking listeners to places where few have been.

- Text by Meaghann Korbel and Lauren Zens.

Dimlite: Grimm Reality (Now-Again / Stones Throw)

Dimlite: "New Better Pain"

Despite drawing some similarities to outside-the-box producers such as Flying Lotus, Daedelus, and Hudson Mohawke, Dimlite falls into an altogether different category of electronic producer. The man behind the beats, melodies, and overall strangeness is Swiss musician Dimitri Grimm, also known as Misel Quitno and one half of The Slapped Eyeballers, who has made a habit of producing indescribable (and sample-free) blends of hip hop, kraut rock, funk, and electronic pastiche.

Grimm Reality, Grimm's third full-length as Dimlite, combines some of the trademarks of his alter-egos, fusing some of the minimalist loops and worldly timbres to bass and beats. Whirring electronics, simple bass licks, and sputtering beats contrast with Soul Train funk and grooves, which then are paired with spiraling lasers or wonky rhythms behind psychedelic reverb. Though it sounds like a mess, most songs have a harmonious (if confusing) appeal.

Vocals emerge intermittently on nearly every track in the form of bizarre utterances, and in most instances, these cuts of laughter and speaking are distorted in pitch or tempo. Although the spacey electronics exist throughout the album’s entirety, traditional sounds appear on and off, including a piano, viola, and heavier use of bass guitar. What comes next from Mr. Grimm is anybody's guess.

- Text by Lauren Zens.

Honorable Mentions

Beaten by Them: People Start Listening EP

Boris: New Album (Sargent House)

Kate Bush: 50 Words for Snow (Anti-)

Coalesce: Give Them Rope 2xCD reissue (Relapse / No Sleep)

Chris Cornell: Songbook (Universal)

Pyramids / Horseback: A Throne Without a King (Hydra Head)

Lateef the Truthspeaker: FireWire (Quannum, 11/8/11)

Lateef the Truthspeaker: "Testimony"

In 1992, a collective of up-and-coming hip-hop artists at UC Davis — future big names DJ Shadow, Gift of Gab and Chief Xcel of Blackalicious, Lateef the Truthspeaker, and Lyrics Born — started up an underground record label called Solesides Records. Seven years later, the label transformed into Quannum Projects, and with the change came a host of esteemed releases that made it an independent hip-hop powerhouse alongside labels such as Definitive Jux, Rhymesayers, Stones Throw, and Anticon.

In addition to its commitment to quality hip hop, Quannum upholds values of ethnic diversity, artistic freedom, and do-it-yourself perseverance, sticking to its roots as a fully independent label throughout hip-hop's pivotal evolution from burgeoning statement to mainstream farce. In advance of the label's 20th anniversary, ALARM caught up with Lateef to chat about underground hip hop, his debut solo LP, and "selling out."

What is your definition of hip hop? Do you think that the rise of mainstream rap diluted the art and culture of hip hop from decades ago?

To me, hip hop is a lens through which you see the world. I think that because the history of hip hop is not really something that is taught or passed on, different generations have different colored lenses. I don't know if hip hop has been diluted as much as it has simply changed.

Unfortunately, a lot of that change has been dictated to the culture from those outside the culture. When pop culture values become the dominant voice of a counter-culture, the counter-culture becomes a pop culture. That's kinda what's happened to hip hop. As the genre became popular, the things that sold were the things that reflected popular culture values more than the values of hip hop. The stuff that sold more was viewed as more successful and (in the eyes of pop-culture values) "bigger." The values of hip-hop culture were quickly trashed as being invalid.

One example is the notion of "selling out." At one time, the concept was taboo to the point of rhetoric in hip hop. These days, it's a key point in most marketing plans. People actually consider themselves lucky if they can sell out. It's kind of the point for a lot of artists now, the reason they are even in hip hop to begin with.

In a lot of ways, hip hop has been commodified in a way that reduces it to a sales pitch. I mean, a lot of bubble-gum-pop singing acts are tagged as "hip hop" because they wear cargo pants. Crazy but true. It's just another way that the culture is exploited by those that have no respect or real appreciation for the music or culture. They don't really care, and nobody’s going after them, so why would they stop?

Still, I think there are a considerable number of artists – old and new – that are still making great music, even in a challenging and rapidly changing musical environment. In some ways, those that are making music in what is increasingly becoming a market wasteland are doing it for purer, more passionate reasons than ever.

That was probably a much longer answer than you were looking for…

How does the underground hip-hop scene in the Bay Area differ from elsewhere?

It is just crazy diverse, and it is fiercely independent in a way that encourages individual, unique expression. There are representations of every hip-hop sub-genre in the Bay, and most know several artists in completely different genres well. As a result, you get these crazy-interesting hybrids, or projects that defy logic beautifully.

How have the successes of Quannum's artists affected the trajectory of the label?

I think it's given the label a lot of credibility, as well as kept the label a very healthy place for featuring and nurturing new talent. Artist development is unheard of nowadays, but it's par for the course at Quannum. We like good music, and we enjoy giving good projects a platform to be successful.

Solesides / Quannum often is called a family. What are the artist/label relationships like there?

I think it depends on the artist. In general, I think that Quannum is very fair and honest about what it can and cannot do as a label. It's one of the reasons that QP is still around while so many others have gone under. We have always preached that the label is a resource, and that projects must be artist-driven. I think that has made a lot of artists that have come into the fold blossom into good, well-rounded and -grounded artists. We really try to debunk the label-as-a-parent myth and empower the artist. I think the fact that the owners are artists themselves make this message resonate that much more.

How do the KPM remixes reflect your love of crate-digging and library music? What else can you tell us about Quannum's 20th-anniversary releases?

Love of the history of music and reinterpreting that history through our own lens is in many ways the essence of hip hop. That is what we are doing with the KPM stuff, and it is really an awesome opportunity to showcase our talents.

I don't want to give away too much too soon, but with my solo record, The Gift of Gab's solo record coming soon, DJ Shadow's album having just been released, the KPM remix series, additional new artist releases, and new stuff from Latyrx and Blackalicious as well as touring including all sorts of crew combinations, I think it should be a great year — maybe one of the best to date for QP music lovers.

Lateef, how does FireWire, your debut solo LP, portray you differently than on previous releases?

I think it is a little more personal. I really tried to make sure I allowed people to have a window through which to see me. I didn't just try to display skill ad nauseum, but instead really tried to hit an emotionally resonating vibration, something that listeners could connect to and use in their lives. Hopefully, I succeeded.

What has Quannum learned about running a record label over the past two decades?

It's not all roses. Honesty is the best policy. Treat others fairly. Know when to hold 'em — and other various clichés.

Seriously, the bottom line: keep putting out great music. It's important to produce quality art that you believe in. Be smart about it, but follow your heart. Aaaannnd there's the cliché again…but I mean it!

What more would you like to achieve with Quannum? What's in store for 2012 and beyond?

World domination. Occupy everything. Outside of that: continue to put out great music.

Mayer Hawthorne: How Do You Do? (Universal Republic, 10/11/11)

Mayer Hawthorne: "A Long Time"

As the soul revival sound goes, Mayer Hawthorne is in a league of singers who strike the proper balance between old school and new school. Yes, the singer’s act takes greatest influence from the early Northern soul era, but there’s more to Hawthorne’s music than a game of name-that-classic-45.

In exception to the Impressions EP and the New Holidays cover on his 2009 debut, A Strange Arrangement, Hawthorne’s music is wholly original. He shows his appreciation for the throwback song-craft by mirroring its fundamentals: carefully placed horn sections, sweet harmonies, tight group-vocal backing melodies, and exceptionally smooth and polished arrangements.

For his sophomore effort, Hawthorne reaches deeper into the late-'60s, early-'70s reference bag to make a no-frills record packed with tolerantly addictive soul hooks. How Do You Do? covers a lot of ground and shows some new sides to Hawthorne’s musical palette with cleaner and more robust production and instrument arrangements. Whether or not his jump to Universal Republic from Stones Throw has anything to do with it is arguable, but Hawthorne finds a way to use time-honored soul maxims to forge an individual sound.

Much of Hawthorne’s success should be given to his vocal calling card, a playful Stylistics-esque falsetto that can turn into an easygoing tenor when needed. Like many kids who grew up in and around Detroit, Hawthorne spent time growing up listening to soul and it shows. Lead-off single “A Long Time,” with its deep soul strut, stands as an ode to the current state of affairs in the Motor City. Rolling out a narrative that follows the rise of Henry Ford and Berry Gordy, Hawthorne evokes the glory days when horse power and soul ruled Detroit. It’s an inspiring number, once listeners get to the heart of it, played to a catchy dance groove that channels the funk R&B of Steely Dan and Hall and Oates.

Heavy kick and rhythm snaps help to set Hawthorne apart from his contemporaries, giving his doo-wops a modern break beat feel. Before he was making soul music, Hawthorne was DJing and producing in Detroit’s hip-hop scene as DJ Haircut, and he brings the same compact beat-sequencing feel to his music. This is apparent from the get-go with album opener “Get To Know You,” a delicate blend of contemporary R&B rhythms with the frank sensuousness of a Love Unlimited Orchestra track, from its deep, slow-jam bass groove to Hawthorne’s Isaac Hayes-style spoken-word intro.

He can run a gamut of soul expressions through a variety of tempos and emotions, locking into a snappy Motown groove on “You Called Me,” showing off his neo-soul side on “Can’t Stop,” and nailing a beautiful tension in the elegant soul ballad “You’re Not Ready.” Keeping the record's production warm and dry, yet less reverb-drenched than his debut, it seems that Hawthorne has a better understanding of the variety of sounds being channeled.

His lyrics, too, are stronger and more vindictive than ever. It's refreshing to hear a blunt love-jaded song like "The Walk," delivered in a prim gentleman's kind of soul. It's wry to say the least, and you can hear Hawthorne testing the expectations that now come with the all-too-familiar soul-revival niche. Over 12 tracks, How Do You Do? clicks together in all the right places, as a collection of songs that showcase Hawthorne’s witticisms and refined raw edge, and as a follow-up that builds on an already impressive pop-soul approach.

Nick Waterhouse: "Is That Clear"

Despite what your ears and eyes are telling you, the seven-inch single Is That Clear, from San Francisco-based rock-'n'-roll artist Nick Waterhouse, is brand new. Fully committed to the horn-rimmed and fuzzed-out retro aesthetic, Waterhouse is a mere 25 years old, and somehow not the long-lost progeny of Buddy Holly.

Though it's tempting to lump him into the recent crop of soul revival led by artists like Mayer Hawthorne and Jamie Lidell, Waterhouse isn't interested in coating a vintage sound with the modern sheen of synths and vocoders. Recorded in analog and sporting hand-letter-pressed labels, his self-produced debut, Some Place, was released on his own label (Pres) with a backing band known as The Turn-Keys.

Now, as he readies a full-length for Innovative Leisure, Waterhouse drops Is This Clear, a horn-heavy two-track throwback that clocks in at just five minutes. Throw it on the record player and dust off that rusty Mashed Potato of yours.

The Stepkids: "Shadows on Behalf"

Operating out of the venerable Stones Throw camp, The Stepkids is a psychedelic neo-soul trio composed of longtime industry musicians who cut their teeth recording and performing with the likes of Lauryn Hill and Alicia Keys. The Connecticut-based group's new release, Shadows on Behalf / La La, is out today on limited-edition, translucent vinyl.

The Stepkids' music is diverse as its members' respective résumés, combining elements of classic soul, funk, and even world music. And it's a true DIY production; the three members (bassist and keyboardist Dan Edinberg, guitarist Jeff Gitelman, and drummer Tim Walsh) handle all of the production, engineering, and recording duties themselves.

Listen to the A-side, "Shadows on Behalf," above, and pick up the record (limited to 1,000) from Stones Throw's online shop.

J Rocc: Some Cold Rock Stuf (Stones Throw, 3/8/11)

J Rocc: "Play This (Also)"

One of the most important figures in DJing and turntablism over the past two decades, J Rocc is finally releasing his debut effort of original cuts titled Some Cold Rock Stuf.  Original in all senses of the word, J Rocc has amazed audiences from Los Angeles to Tokyo with a distinct style that began by co-founding the landmark DJ crew the Beat Junkies in the early '90s with Melo-D and Rhettmatic.

Along with fellow beat junkie Babu, and the likes of Mix Master Mike and Q-Bert of the Invisible Skratch Piklz, J Rocc was a part of the pioneering scene that brought respect back to the DJ, establishing the turntable as instrument while forging a new path towards instrumental hip hop.

The DJs from that scene went on to be the rhythmic backbone for some of our favorite hip-hop acts, and J Rocc is no exception.  He has become Stones Throw’s resident turntablist with a number of mixtapes reaching legendary status in the underground hip-hop scene.  In addition to being the long-time DJ for Madlib and the late J Dilla, who all three form Jaylib, the California-based DJ has toured the world, sharing the stage with everyone from MC Supernatural to Talib Kweli and Mos Def’s Blackstar.

But Some Cold Rock Stuf is really nothing like what J Rocc has done in the past. Listeners will not be hearing a mixtape of any sort, nor will they get the technical scratching and beat juggling of the DJ record.  Instead, J Rocc does original production work a la DJ Shadow/Cut Chemist, delivering a largely instrumental record of self-contained tracks, a funky collection that shows reverence for the break beat, jazz, soul, disco, and hip hop.

The album kicks off in classic DJ-battle style with “Rocchead’s Delight,” with J Rocc cycling through hip-hop samples, slicing them up in a way so you’ll forever remember his name.  Though this juggling is something of J Rocc’s calling card, he keeps it to a fair minimum, only slightly peppering tracks with technique and launching into the smoky down-tempo song “Don’t Sell Your Dream (Tonight).”

The record takes its turn at a lot of different tempos and feels, spaced out in excellent pace from J Rocc’s intuitive understanding of the break.  Stand-out piece “Malcom Was Here (Part 1+2)” showcases free-jazz-saxophone sound bites and samples that come together organically with ride-heavy jazz rhythms.  Though Part 1 makes a smooth transition into part 2, J Rocc makes a complete 180-degree turn into a bass-heavy hip-hop beat.  Tracks like “Stop Trying” and “Thru The Tulips” tap into the same deep groove with classic boom-bap feels, given slight face-lifts with sets of auxiliary percussion and simple soul-brass samples.

As the record progresses and picks up speed, J Rocc parlays up-tempo break beats with choice samples from all kinds of groove spectrums.  The lengthy track “Party” is equipped with classic “party” atmospherics like bells, whistles, and sirens.  Yet J Rocc flawlessly blends India-inspired snippets and infectious Latin-tinged horn lines within the track’s thumping, disco-flavored rhythm section.  “Play This (Also),” which fleshes out the bonus beats on the Play This Too 12” EP that was released late last year, follows the same mantra.  The track’s furious drum beat scuttles through reverb-tinged atmospherics, from ‘60s Parisian vocals with horns to match to dirty electric-funk-guitar riff-raffing.

A long time coming, this triple-LP / double-disc debut doesn’t stop with Some Cold Rock Stuf.   Each package contains a mystery record/disc with more material from J Rocc.  With three mystery discs in rotation and only one per album, it gives fans extra incentive, especially those long-time crate diggers.  Raw turntablist funkiness from the original beat junkie, Some Cold Rock Stuf is a grand debut of 20-plus years of master crafting.

Rikki Ililonga & Music-O-Tunya: Dark Sunrise (Now-Again, 11/23/10)

Musi-O-Tunya: "Dark Sunrise"

Gritty garage-rock grooves from mid-'70s Zambia comprise Now-Again Records' latest release, Dark Sunrise, the double-disc (or three-LP box set), 31-track chronicle of Zambian “Zam Rock” godfather Rizketo Makyua “Rikki” Ililonga and his groundbreaking band Musi-O-Tunya.

The anthology fits Now-Again’s current obsession with Zambia’s 1970s music scene, whose landmark bands WITCH and Amanaz have seen record reissues from the specialized global funk label. But after one listen to the killer rock grooves from Dark Sunrise, with its furious fusion of US/UK/African rhythmic dynamics, fuzzed-out electric guitars, and hypnotic brass sections, audiences will come to understand why the obsession is exceptionally reasonable, if not completely necessary.

The anthology spans three crucial years chronicling Musi-O-Tunya’s debut album, Wings of Africa, which is known to be Zambia’s first-ever psychedelic rock release. Also containing rare 7” singles (only available on the CD package) from the band, the comp goes on to follow Ililonga’s prolific solo career in its beginning stages, with a focus on two albums:  Zambia and Sunshine Love.

By the mid-1970s, the Republic of Zambia was much like its neighbors; liberation was met with new challenges concerning one-party rule, and the economy was largely dependent on foreign skill sets. The country fell on hard times as an already high poverty rate was made worse after the price of copper, Zambia’s principal export, suffered a worldwide decline. The dire backdrop set the scene for Zambia to develop a kind of music that gravitated towards the harder and darker side of funk and rock.

The genre of “Zam Rock” takes influence from the some 70,000 Europeans who called Zambia home at the time of independence in 1964. In addition, Zambia’s national radio station proved to be highly influential on Zambian musicians; most of its content was Western records that were most likely American and British imports.

Musi-O-Tunya’s combined aesthetic of rock and traditional African rhythms led to the coinage of the “Zam Rock” label. Wings of Africa marked the first pop music independently released in Zambia.  It was also quite an experimental time in Ililonga’s career, making the band’s early recordings run a wide range of rhythms and moods.

The anthology actually works somewhat retroactively, beginning with the last recording that Ililonga did with the band, “Tsegulani,” followed by Wings of Africa in its entirety, and ending with some raw, rare singles from the band's first recording sessions in Kenya in 1973. In these early stages, Musi-O-Tunya’s musical vision sought to take rock and soul’s signature 4/4 backdrop and replace it with African rhythmic flourishes. Tracks like “Mpondolo” borrow Congolese rhythms — with their fusion of Afro-Cuban congas and bongos — and overlay everything with fuzzy electric guitar. In many ways, "Mpondolo" is a track that is more African than anything else: it has a sweet, driving melody, it’s extremely repetitive, and it contains an intrinsic Afrobeat feel.

Especially from those early recordings, we see Ililonga’s experimental solo career in the making. “Jekete Yamankowa Pt. 1” sounds extremely adventurous for the time period — a defiant garage-rock offering with a Zambian call-and-response twist. Early recordings like “Mpulua” and “Smoke” are filled with beautiful moments of inventive fusions, anthemic in scope, and inspirational in melodic delivery and vocal dynamics.

“Dark Sunrise,” however, best foreshadows the music that Ililonga would go on to make during his solo career. It’s easily the heaviest Musi-O-Tunya track on the anthology, with a growling guitar riff that transforms into an extended, psychedelic Jimi Hendrix-esque blues solo. Even the alto saxophone sounds smoky.

For his solo material, Ililonga unleashes melancholic, brooding, and introspective versions of Western genres. “Sheebeen Queen” and “The Queen Blues” take an American-style folk stance in the vein of Bob Dylan. The dark, brooding personality of “Stop Dreaming, Mr. D” can be heard as the African equivalent to Dylan’s “Ballad of a Thin Man.” Mr. D and Mr. Jones are essentially the same protagonist, dealing with conventions of identity and reality.  “Lovely Woman” and the highly sexualized track “The Hole” take on driving bass lines and fuzzy guitar rhythms, channeling the funky, raw energy of James Brown.

There are also songs that are so surprising in influence that they make you wonder how a sound could not only reach Zambia but also catch Ililonga’s ear.  “Sunshine Love” sounds like Lou Reed had a hand in its creation. With its folk-inflected guitar riff and nonchalant vocal performance, it might as well be a  lost Velvet Underground single. Then there are tracks like “The Nature of Man” and “Se Keel Me Queek” that recall quirky, progressive pop, much like David Bowie.

From the Ililonga perspective, Dark Sunrise is a fascinating snapshot of Zambia’s 1970s music scene. A project overseen by Stones Throw general manager Eothen Alapatt in conjunction with Ililonga himself, the anthology is one of the most accomplished undertakings from Now-Again. Not only is this a much-deserved testament to the level of musicianship in Zambia, but Dark Sunrise gives listeners a first glimpse of the global sound in Africa.  Ililonga was a musician way ahead of his time, and it’s almost unbelievable to think how long it took his music to reach the masses.

Download the podcast for This Week’s Best Albums: November 23, 2010 and subscribe to This Week’s Best Albums for free with iTunes.

Stream the podcast for This Week's Best Albums: November 23, 2010.

Killing Joke: Absolute Dissent (Universal)

Killing Joke: "In Excelsis"

Over the past 30 years, England's Killing Joke has helped shape the industrial-rock and post-punk landscapes.  The band's trademark sound was formed in no small part by keyboardist Jaz Coleman's raspy singing and massive growls — as well as his slight orchestral flourishes — and the muscular riffs of guitarist Geordie Walker.

Absolute Dissent is the band’s first new album in four years, but remarkably, it's Killing Joke's first with its original lineup since 1982.  The album is another great mix of heavy riffs, synth-rock influences, and epic choruses, and at least in terms of songwriting and production quality, it has to rank near the top of the band's catalog.

The music doesn’t incorporate some of the disparate elements of albums past, and it doesn’t have as many dance-rock moments or the unpolished charm that some of the older albums do.  But it’s a solid mix of rock aggression and sing-along accessibility – and more importantly, it’s more protest music, with themes about omnipresent surveillance, microchipped populations, shadowy international powerbrokers, and never-ending wars.  Like the band’s 2003 self-titled album, it’s another powerful return to form.

The deluxe edition includes a collection of Killing Joke songs previously covered by bands such as Metallica, Nine Inch Nails, Helmet, Fear Factory, and Foo Fighters.

Gangrene: Gutter Water (Decon)

Gangrene: "Chain Swinging"

Gangrene is the new hip-hop duo of The Alchemist and Oh No, each an esteemed producer-slash-rapper. The Alchemist has produced for Dilated Peoples, Nas, Eminem, and many other huge names, and Oh No, the younger brother of Madlib, has released a handful of great albums for Stones Throw.

Gutter Water is their first collaboration.  It calls upon a number of friends and guest MCs too, including Raekwon, Evidence, Planet Asia, and others, but the album is much more than a bunch of great guest spots.  The material has ample rawness, with hard-hitting beats and rhymes, but there’s an underlying sophistication, whether from string, piano, and flute samples or from quick references to conspiracy theories.

The album does suffer from a lot of self-aggrandizement and a little tough-guy syndrome, and a few lines are crass for the sake of being crass.  Overall, though, it’s not particularly offensive, and it’s an exciting new project.

Fred Frith: Eye to Ear 3 (Tzadik)

At first glance, the catalog of guitarist/composer Fred Frith is seemingly endless.  Many know the genre-hopping experimentalist from his collaborations with John Zorn, including the avant-jazz-punk Naked City outfit, but his recorded output goes back more than 35 years.

Eye to Ear III is Frith's third and newest collection of film music, and it’s nearly as eclectic as his regular catalog.  The music covers a lot of ground over what mainly are two- to four-minute rock instrumentals, with big roles played by the violins of Ada Gosling and Carla Kihlstedt.

Later on the disc, in the "Water Music" suite,  an Indian bansuri and a Chinese guzheng provide an Eastern inflection.  A few ambient tracks are built around distant guitar tones and simple keyboard lines, and others present a sort of quirky jazz rock.  There’s even a spell of Italian western in the song “Once Upon a Time in Anatolia,” a tribute to Ennio Morricone.

In all, it's another eclectic and beautiful album by one of music's most daring guitarists.

Agalloch: Marrow of the Spirit (Profound Lore)

Agalloch: "The Watcher's Monolith"

Portland's Agalloch has already spent 15 years as a band, drawing praise for its infusion of neofolk, post-rock, and dark atmospherics into its black-metal base.

Though the band's lengthy EPs make up for the gaps in long-playing releases, Marrow of the Spirit is only the band's fourth official full-length, and it presents the most epic song durations of the band’s career.

With the exception of the intro track, every song is more than nine-and-a-half minutes.  “Black Lake Nidstang” sprawls over 17 minutes, and it uses a slightly Spanish-sounding acoustic guitar line as well as glockenspiel, other atmospherics, and delayed/dueling clean-channel guitars.  There's a grand 10-minute outro track, with a slight classical influence and string backdrop, and it's proof of the band's continued maturation.

If you love moody black metal but tire of constant screams and blast beats, pick this up.

Brandt Brauer Frick: You Make Me Real (!K7)

Brandt Brauer Frick: "Bop"

Only using organic instruments, the members of Brandt Brauer Frick, a German avant-garde acoustic dance trio, create an incomparable take on techno that's filtered through a classical lens.  With any number of layers in a given song, the music is based on textures, as every instrument becomes part of the overlapping rhythms.

You Make Me Real, the trio's debut full-length, exudes the influence of minimalist composers like John Cage and Steve Reich – including a bit of “prepared piano,” which Cage made famous – but undoubtedly, it wants you to dance.  In addition to the piano, there is a small army of instruments making this happen, including pizzicato strings, bass clarinet, tuba, timpani, and other percussive objects, and each builds in a mess of polyrhythms that always keeps a steady dance beat.

The group’s video for “Bop” gives an interesting glimpse of the process, visualizing every looped layer as they’re introduced.  Going forward, the group will tour as a 10-piece ensemble to accurately replicate the album, and that figures to be just as engaging.

Honorable Mentions

Broughton's Rules: Bounty Hunter 1853 (Relapse)

Giant Sand: Blurry Blue Mountain (Fire)

Killing the Dream: Lucky Me (Deathwish)

Southern Culture on the Skids: The Kudzu Ranch

William Tyler: Behold the Spirit (Tomkins Square)

V/A: Revelation 150: Past Present, Breaking Out the Classics (Revelation) [50% of profits go to Human Rights Watch]

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

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

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

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

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

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

Powerglove: "This is Halloween"

Victoire: Cathedral City (New Amsterdam)

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

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

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

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

Victoire: "Cathedral City"

Aloe Blacc: Good Things (Stones Throw)

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

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

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

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

Aloe Blacc: "You Make Me Smile"

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

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

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

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

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

Greg Ward's Fitted Shards: "Step Forward"

Honorable Mentions

Jason Adasiewicz: Sun Rooms (Delmark)

Rahim AlHaj: Little Earth (UR Music)

Bad Religion: The Dissent of Man (Epitaph)

Ben Folds & Nick Hornby: Lonely Avenue (Nonesuch)

Black Anvil: Triumvirate (Relapse)

Enslaved: Axioma Ethica Odini (Indie Recordings)

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

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

Alan Moore: Unearthing (Lex)

Rudresh Mahanthappa & Bunky Green: Apex (Pi)

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

Unearthly Trance: V (Relapse)

Pete Yorn: s/t (Vagrant)

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

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

Omar Rodriguez Lopez: "Family War Funding"

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

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

Kevin Hufnagel: "Tres"

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

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

P.O.S.: "Drumroll"

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

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

Zu: "Ostia"

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

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

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

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

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

16: "Throw in the Towel"

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

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

Umlaut: "Kitty Puppy"

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

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

Jono El Grande: "Oslo Coty Suite"

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

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

Kylesa: "Scapegoat"

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

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

Doom: "Cellz"

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