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.

Sigur Rós: Inní double live album and film (XL Recordings)

Sigur Rós: "Festival"

Sigur Rós is a top Icelandic export, just behind Björk and haddock. For 15 years, the ambient post-rock quartet has slowly collected millions of fans, and today those fans can acquire the latest addition to the band’s repertoire. Inní is a three-disc recording of a 2008 performance at Alexandra Palace in London. Available in all the formats we’ve come to expect, Inní comes digitally, in CD/DVD format, on three clear vinyl LPs, or in a “deluxe” edition that offers artifacts from the show, a short film, photographs, and other swag.

Unique to this release is the focus on the band’s live performance. Sigur Rós’ music, more than some, has been used as a means, whether for meditation or for marketing. But here we’re left to ponder what we’ve come to associate, through the band's Heima documentary, with Iceland’s lunar landscapes, wrecked infrastructure, and sweater-clad villagers; through the Ba Ba Ti Ki Di Do EP, with the surreal contours of the human form; or through the Sigur Rós-laden Abre los Ojos remake, with the personal pulp of Cameron Crowe. With Inní, everything is stripped away. We’re reminded that these are songs, immaculately arranged and hammered out on a stage in London by four festooned gentlemen.

Director Vincent Morisset’s film style is in stark contrast to Heima. The black-and-white video has the grain of 1960s documentaries, and the jerky dance of the handhelds is hypnotic. It seems to place the band in the past and up on a pedestal. Amid past rumors of the group’s cessation, Inní seems definitive in a very final sense. But with the news of a new "introverted" LP planned for spring of 2012, it is perhaps simply the close of the band’s sprawling first few chapters.

- Text by Timothy S. Aames.

Coliseum: Parasites EP (Temporary Residence)

Coliseum: "Waiting (Too Late)"

With its 2010 album, House With a Curse, hardcore-punk trio Coliseum moved from Relapse to Temporary Residence and slightly — only slightly, mind you — loosened its grip on listeners' throats. Its sound remained dirty, gruff, and gnarled, but a shift toward moderate tempos (plus a few post-hardcore accoutrements) signaled a more deliberate (if not kinder or gentler) Coliseum.

Now guitarist / vocalist / visual artist Ryan Patterson and crew return with Parasites, an eight-song addendum to House With a Curse. Primarily recorded during the same sessions, Parasites is another itsy-bitsy step toward the "post-" end of the hardcore/punk spectrum. The songs remain fundamentally Coliseum, but they're subtly accented — whether from a barely audible female harmony on "The Fiery Eye" or a glistening, metallic guitar distortion on "Ghost of God."

Of course, there's still tracks like "The Big Baby," which is 1:43 of overdriven punk fury that draws shades of Amphetamine Reptile-era Helmet. And even though that song is almost secretly supplemented with sleigh bells and timpani by Burning Airlines front-man and producer extraordinaire J. Robbins, don't be fooled: Coliseum still goes for the jugular.

- Text by Scott Morrow.

Steve Hauschildt: Tragedy & Geometry (Kranky)

Steve Hauschildt: "Batteries May Drain"

- Text by Lauren Zens.

Tycho: Dive (Ghostly International)

Tycho: "Hours"

- Text by Lauren Zens.

Honorable Mentions

Blackout Beach: Fuck Death (Dead Oceans)

Los Campesinos!: Hello Sadness (Arts & Crafts)

The Dø: Both Ways Open Jaws (Six Degrees)

Esoteric: Paragon of Dissoance (Season of Mist)

Goldmund: All Will Prosper (Western Vinyl)

Mary Halvorson & Jessica Pavone: Departure of Reason (Thirsty Ear)

Odonis Odonis: Hollandaze (FatCat)

Pterodactyl: Spills Out (Jagjaguwar)

Nathan Salsburg: Affirmed (No Quarter)

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Rob Crow: "Sophistructure"

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

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

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

- Text by Timothy S. Aames.

Freestyle Fellowship: The Promise (Decon)

Freestyle Fellowship: “Step 2 the Side”

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

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

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

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

Electro Quarterstaff: Aykroyd (Willowtip)

Electro Quarterstaff: "Waltz of the Swedish Meatballs"

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

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

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

Sandro Perri: Impossible Spaces (Constellation)

Sandro Perri: "Love and Light"

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

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

- Text by Lauren Zens.

Sahy Uhns: An Intolerant Disdain of Underlings (Proximal)

Sahy Uhns: "Anticipation of the Night"

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

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

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

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

Honorable Mentions

Class Actress: Rapprocher (Carpark)

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

Guantlet Hair: s/t (Dead Oceans)

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

Jonti: Twirligig (Stones Throw)

Kuedo: Severant (Planet Mu)

M83: Hurry Up, We’re Dreaming! (Mute)

Moholy-Nagy: Like Mirage (Temporary Residence)

Puscifer: Conditions of My Parole

Trayer: Afterlife an Abandoned Theme Park (Porter)

Grails: "I Led Three Lives"

The newest album from Portland, Oregon-based instrumental-rock band Grails, Deep Politics, got a nod in a recent installment of This Week's Best Albums. Mixing cinematic compositions with worldly sounds and a little '60s psychedelia, it encapsulates, perhaps better than any of its other releases, what Grails is capable of as a band.

For its guest playlist, Grails made 11 picks based on a new, tongue-in-cheek method of determining a song's quality.

The 11 Best Songs for OD-ing
by Grails

Emil Amos: At a shitty party some years ago, a man was heard to have said in a drunken defense of the Eagles, "More people have shot up and died to this band than will ever hear ours!"

That man was me. After this rip in the logical fabric of the universe was torn, a new yardstick was introduced to the high-record-collector culture around the concept of "Can you OD to it, though?" And then the inevitable schools of thought naturally followed: "Is it a harsh track to OD to, or more mellow/inviting?"

See what you can get out of these, enjoy yourself, and don't die!

Tangerine Dream: "Ricochet"

David Bowie: "Warsawa"

Gordon Lightfoot: "Sundown"

Lard Free: "Synthetic Seasons"

Wings: "The Note You Never Wrote"

Wolf Eyes: "Burn Your House Down"

Shinki Chen: "Corpse"

Pharaoh Overlord: "Mystery Shopper"

Skip Spence: "Grey/Afro"

Vangelis: "Le Singe Blue"

Robert Fripp: "Bringing Down the Light"

A Lull: Confetti (Mush)

A Lull: "Weapons for War"

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

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

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

Young Widows: "In and Out of Lightness"

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

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

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

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

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

Atmosphere: The Family Sign (Rhymesayers)

Atmosphere: "Just for Show"

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

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

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

Hauschka: Salon des Amateurs (FatCat)

Hauschka: "Radar"

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

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

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

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

Garage á Trois: "Shooting Breaks"

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

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

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

Fredrik: Flora (The Kora)

Fredrik: "Rites of Spring"

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

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

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

Honorable Mentions

Autechre: EPs 1991 – 2002 (Warp)

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

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

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

Figurines: s/t (The Control Group)

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

Indian: Guiltless (Relapse)

Kreidler: Tank (Bureau B)

Femi Kuti: Africa for Africa (Knitting Factory)

Last Chance to Reason: Level 2 (Prosthetic)

Little Scream: The Golden Record (Secretly Canadian)

Low: C’mon (Sub Pop)

Agnes Obel: Philharmonics (PIAS)

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

Panda Bear: Tomboy (Paw Tracks)

Red Fang: Murder the Mountains (Relapse)

Alexander Tucker: Dorwytch (Thrill Jockey)

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

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

Zomes: Earth Grid (Thrill Jockey)

Young Widows: "In and Out of Lightness"

More than ever, Louisville's Young Widows is teaching listeners to appreciate the quietness in post-punk.

Consider, for contrast, the slobbering borderline silliness of Pissed Jeans, or any other band that draws on a ton of distortion. At first listen, Young Widows might seem to have something missing. The vocals lead the songs but aren't panicked or even immediately catchy. The guitars often walk an eerie line between clean and dissonant. The rhythm section — though hardly crude, if you're paying attention — often favors a ceremonial plod.

In between, there's a roomy silence, occasionally breached with a wandering guitar echo or backing vocal. But soon it stops feeling incomplete. That lurking silence, and the unresolved feeling that it creates, becomes the hook.

This was certainly in the mix on the band's 2008 release, Old Wounds. On the new In and Out of Youth and Lightness, Young Widows draws more tension and slow-onset unease from the open (but by no means peaceful or settled) space that's built into its songs. Appropriately, the best track on the album is called "The Muted Man." It's a portrait of self-repression and self-defeat. Evan Patterson's vocal delivery sometimes dodges the urgency of what he's saying, but the lyrics on this song suit his style perfectly: "Seal up the cracks in my voice, and swallow the pity like rain." It's moving in spite of itself.

Don't expect that kind of immediate impact throughout. This music isn't lacking or avoiding anything but instead embraces the fullness of uncertainty. Opening track "Young Rivers" and closer "In and Out of Youth" set the tone. The first shows you how big and foreboding the open space could be, as the band works its way into a chorus full of exhaustion and dread. "Youth" runs at a similar pace for seven minutes and leaves you to ponder the phrase, "These wild dreams are done."

Young Widows holds back a little less on a few of the album's tracks, getting downright lighthearted for "Miss Tambourine Wrist" and flailing angrily against the silence with the twisty, chromatic guitar work of "White Golden Rings." Still, you'd hardly put on this record just to rock out.

In and Out succeeds without giving listeners much to hold onto, not even the screechy jaggedness of noise rock or the hungry frustration that defines a lot of heavy music. In many ways, it's a tough record to get to know. There's something festering in there, and rarely does the band tackle it head on. It's a methodical approach — not avoidance, which only amplifies the feeling of unrest. From the weird twang and Black Heart Procession vibes of "Right in the End" to the enveloping "Lean on the Ghost," this album creates moments that beam your own confused, frightened humanity back at you.

Grails: Deep Politics (Temporary Residence)

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 last album, Doomsdayer's Holiday, offered a stark contrast to its predecessors with increased heaviness, but its newest offering, Deep Politics, offers a better cross-section of the band as a whole.

It’s 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. With 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)

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.  During that period, the band replaced a drummer and expanded from a trio to a quartet and delivered its most recent full-length album, Receivers, an album of "collage art" that was created with the help of fan-submitted found sounds.

Since then, the band has scaled back to a trio built around the fuzzed guitar, bass, and keyboard hooks of Dan Friel and B.J. Warshaw.  The three — including the tight rock rhythms of drummer Joe Wong — spent two years working on new material and amassed more than 40 songs, 12 of which were selected for its newest album, Constant Future.

Featuring some of the band's sturdiest songs yet, Constant Future is direct, potent, and catchy.  Behind Friel and Warshaw's echoing, harmonized vocals are dirty, thick grooves that power the overlaid electronic freak-outs.  These humming eccentricities continue to give the band an extra dimension, but it's the continued improvement in Friel and Warshaw's sing-along vocals that makes Constant Future a real success.

The Human Abstract: Digital Veil (E1)

With its first two albums for Hopeless Records, The Human Abstract presented a variety of metalcore that left critics wanting — with vocals that might have made them cringe.  But after a move to E1, the addition of vocalist Travis Richter, and the return of co-founder / guitarist / pianist A.J. Minette, the quintet has made a noteworthy transformation to something heavier and more brutal yet more dynamic and melodic.

The opening track of the group's third full-length, just two minutes long, is an epic pronouncement of the band's new direction, with a classical-guitar lead-in that builds to a wailing blast of mid-tempo harmonies.  From there, the material works into rapid guitar scaling, double-kick triplets, and feral growling with moments of soaring (though melodramatic) vocals, piano interludes, and powerful breakdowns.

Yet for as much as the melodramatic moments may make some wince, the underlying musicianship — both in technical prowess and song-craft — is enough to look the other way.  While infusing classical melodies into progressive/tech/death metal, Digital Veil brims with killer riffs and dynamics, reflecting the band's great balance.

Vijay Iyer with Prasanna & Nitin Mitta: Tirtha (ACT Music + Vision)

Vijay Iyer with Prasanna & Nitin Mitta: "Duality"

Pianist Vijay Iyer is best known for his nimble jazz creations, and though most of his work is in that canon, his career has stretched into orchestral commissions, an ongoing project with experimental MC Mike Ladd, and random collaborations in the hip-hop/electronic world with Dead Prez, DJ Spooky, Karsh Kale, Das Racist, and many others.

His latest project, Tirtha, is a trio with world-fusion guitarist Prasanna and tabla master Nitin Mitta.  The group's debut material most easily is recognized as jazz — often meandering into the free, discordant variety — but it just as frequently redirects its collective energy into elements of progressive fusion, North and South Indian classical, and piano-driven bebop.

Prasanna's guitar is most malleable, usually responsible for shifting between Indian and jazz styles but also reflecting other cultures, such as the seemingly African intonation on "Falsehood."  The biggest detraction might be the seldom-changing timbre of the tabla, but that too is an important element in bridging hemispheres.

Honorable Mentions

Agnostic Front: My Life, My Way (Nuclear Blast)

Ahleuchatistas: Location Location (Open Letter)

Augury: Concealed reissue (Sonic Unyon)

A Hawk and a Hacksaw: Cervantine (Langspielplatte / LM3 / Dupli-cation)

Jib Kidder: Library Catalog Music Series Vol. 11: Music for Hypnotized Minds (Asthmatic Kitty)

Juv: s/t (Miasmah)

REKS: R.E.K.S. (Showoff)

Ryat: Avant Gold & Avant Gold Remixed

Saille: Irreversible Decay (code666)

The Sway Machinery: The House of Friendly Ghosts, Volume 1 (JDub Records)

Kurt Vile: Smoke Ring for My Halo (Matador)

Wye Oak: Civilian (Merge)

[Have you pledged yet? Don't forget to visit the Kickstarter page for Chromatic: The Crossroads of Color and Music, our next book that profiles independent musicians and artists who explore color in unorthodox ways.]

Maserati: "We Got the System to Fight the System" (The Pyramid of the Sun, Temporary Residence, 11/9/10)

This week's contest comes courtesy of Brooklyn's Temporary Residence, which is giving away CD copies of The Books' The Way Out and Maserati's Pyramid of the Sun to one random winner.

The Way Out is The Books' fourth album and features more of the duo's signature cut-and-paste audio collages, rife with subtle, oddball humor and bizarre cultural fragments. Check out a full review of the album and the band's meticulously crafted live show in a recent ALARM online exclusive.

Pyramid of the Sun combines spacey dance rock with old synth sounds and elements of campy 1970s horror scores — thanks to contributions by Steve Moore of Zombi. Along with The Way Out, it's one of ALARM's 100 Unheralded Albums of 2010.

So there you have it: two great albums, one winner. To enter to win, complete the form below.

Update: Contest has ended.