This Will Destroy You: "Communal Blood"

Instrumental-rock quartet This Will Destroy You coined a new term to describe the music on its latest album, Tunnel Blanket: "doomgaze." It's remarkably apt — the sort of evocative portmanteau that makes music writers everywhere drool — as TWDY's dense, slow-burning, guitar-driven tunes typically skip past melodramatic meandering and head straight for Boris-like levels of sonic density. We asked the band's guitarist, Chris King, to make us a playlist, and the doom-gazer dropped this Shining Void on us.

Shining Void Mix
by This Will Destroy You

"Then came human beings. They wanted to cling but had nothing to cling to."

1. Colleen: "This Place in Time"

Beautiful 18th Century funeral parlour music.

2. Sade: "Jezebel"

Creeper slow jam.

3. Julee Cruise: "Floating"

What it sounds like in heaven.

4. Bohren & der Club of Gore: "Prowler"

Heroin.

5. Kate Bush: "Running up That Hill (A Deal with God)"

Can't go wrong with this one. The hook is too good.

6. Holy Other: "We Over"

Grey, rainy-day song.

7. Aaliyah: "4 Page Letter"

Listen to this on repeat. RIP.

8. Grouper: "Hold the Way"

She really can do no wrong. This song is just so damn sad.

9. Nike7UP: "Naturally Nike7UP Death at Sea Mix"

Play it in the club.

10. Gloria Coates: "String Quartets No. 6 – Meditation"

Ain't no good thing ever dies.

Lymbyc Systym: Shutter Release (Mush)

Brothers Jared and Mike Bell have kept busy since 2007, releasing their heavily layered electro-acoustic jams on two full-length albums, a remix album, a re-released debut EP, and a split EP with This Will Destroy You.

With Shutter Release, the two showcase their continued musical development, laying tape to a new set of densely packed, melodically driven creations that lean on reappearing refrains and crescendos.

The album opens with a circular, cascading beat that gives way to one of the album's most noted additions — a clean-channel electric guitar that presents the first of innumerable melodies to follow. A glockenspiel and synthesizers join, and soon the duo's familiar brand of post-rock is in full effect.

Shutter Release succeeds with the familiar, but it expands Lymbyc Systym's catalog with mellow moments and does well to capture its live energy. Don't sleep on this release.

Mr. Chop: For Pete's Sake (Now-Again)

Coz Littler, also known as the multi-instrumentalist producer Mr. Chop, has begun making a name for himself in the States with an EP on Stones Throw and production work on MF Doom's Born Like This.

Littler can handle most of his albums' instrumentation by himself, but for his newest release, he again calls upon more studio vets for funky, jazzy, effects-fueled renditions of the beats and productions of critically acclaimed producer Pete Rock.

For Pete's Sake stands on its own as a funky good time, but for those familiar with Rock's catalog, it should prove to be doubly enjoyable.

Nile: Those Whom the Gods Detest (Nuclear Blast)

On the heels of a haunting solo album, cultural fusionist and guitarist Karl Sanders leads a new album from Nile, his extreme metal quartet with influence from ancient Egyptian themes and imagery.

A traditional Middle Eastern vocal passage makes a strange (but effective) complement to an otherwise brutal, shredding opener, but much of Those Whom the Gods Detest consists of Nile's relentless guitar fury, blazing double bass, vocal ferocity, and slowly churning chugs.

Beginning with more of Sanders' worldly influence, the title track shortly transforms to a harrowing assault of lightning-fast riffs and blast beats before working to an epic chorus. Ultimately, the track vies for title of the album's best, and it comes to typify the stylistic convergence that has separated Nile for the past 15 years.

Honorable mentions:

Bill Frisell: Good Dog, Happy Man reissue (2xLP + bonus CD, Nonesuch)
The Gift of Gab: Escape 2 Mars (Cornerstone RAS)
Lateef the Truthspeaker: Truth is Love (Dread Piper Sounds)
Nirvana: Bleach deluxe edition (Sub Pop)
Rita J: Artist Workshop (All Natural)

Before their beautiful full-length debut of Love Your Abuser on Mush Records, brothers Michael and Jared Bell made well-crafted, keyboard-driven post-rock for their Carved by Glaciers EP.

The duo's heartening tunes employ piano, synthesizers, organs, xylophones, brass instruments, and much more to provide a gorgeous multi-layered mix, which can be heard again via Carved by Glaciers with last week's re-release on Magic Bullet Records.

Lymbyc Systym also released a split with This Will Destroy You last week, and the duo is busy at work on a new full-length effort. Online editor Scott Morrow caught up with Michael Bell to discuss the band's recording process, translation to live performance, and upcoming album.

With one of you in Brooklyn, NY and one in Austin, TX, what is your process for writing and recording songs? How much room is there for alterations once you begin recording?

For our recent recordings (Field Studies and our upcoming full-length), the writing process and demoing was mostly done through e-mail. We would trade melodic and percussive ideas back and forth using yousendit.com, edit each other's ideas, and then exchange things back again.

Eventually, we got together and recorded at Uniform Recording in Philadelphia, where our engineer friend Jeff Ziegler recorded us mostly on an old analog tape machine and a bit directly into digital software.

There is always room for editing and alterations throughout the recording process. Even stuff we had recorded in analog format was eventually transferred to digital, and we both have mini computer studios at home, so a fair amount of editing and additional recording was completed at home in our respective ghetto studios.

Because you don't have vocals, you're categorized as instrumental. Do you feel that music should be separated into these two categories?

I think that pigeon-holing music in general is rather inane, but then again, people need descriptions to help sort things in their own minds, and maybe categories help people to discover music within what they would consider to be their realms of taste.

Obviously, the term instrumental refers to music without vocals and lyrics, so I have no problem with this term.

How much do you need to alter your material to perform live? How much of each song is sequenced when you perform?

We use a laptop when we perform live, but other than elements inititally created on a computer such as electronic percussion and digitally manipulated textures, not much else is sequenced. We like to hold true to a certain live asthetic.

By that, I mean that all important melodies and of course unadaltered, unmanipulated drums and percussion are all performed live and not sequenced.

In order to do this, the live arrangements of our tunes are ineveitably a bit stripped down from the recorded versions. However, we do a decent job of compensating for this by injecting a certain rambunctious energy into the live show that could not ever really be captured on record.

Many first-time LS concertgoers tend to comment on the fact that they weren't expecting such a powerful and rowdy performance.

With a European tour, the release of the split with This Will Destroy You, and the re-release of Carved by Glaciers early this year, 2009 looks like a productive time. What can we expect from your full-length release that is in the works?

The upcoming full-length maintains the sonic asthetic LS is known for, yet ventures into some newer territory. There are some pieces that are more mellow and folky sounding than some might expect, while others take a direction that is the closest thing we've done to capturing a bit of our live-show energy.

Overall, I think that listerners will enjoy and respect the evolution of our sound, as it is indeed a natural continuation of what we've been hashing out over the last five years or so.

- Scott Morrow

Lymbyc Systym: "Truth Skull"

Lymbyc Systym: www.lymbycsystym.com
Magic Bullet Records: www.magicbulletrecords.com

The Bastard Noise

Borne as a side project from pioneering industrial hardcore outfit Man is the Bastard, this electro-noise trio provides a surprisingly accessible soundtrack to the Armageddon. Crackling, squealing, and howling electronics surround steady bass rhythms and eerie ambience, often while notable guest contributions — in this case, the unmistakable screams of The Locust vocalist Justin Pearson — add to the unsettling doom.

The Bastard Noise: "Tyranny Beyond Earth Epilogue"
The Bastard Noise: \"Tyranny Beyond Earth Epilogue\"

The Low Frequency in Stereo: Futuro (Rune Grammofon)

Norwegian rock quintet The Low Frequency in Stereo create unabashed pop tunes with enough appeal to make even emotionally hardened metal heads tap along. The group's electronic/rock hybrid of fuzzy, tremoloed guitar riffs, dancing organs, grooved-out melodies, and loaded effects draw parallels to plenty of contemporaries, but The Low Frequency in Stereo accomplishes this mixture in a unique fashion.

Lymbyc Systym: Carved by Glaciers [reissue] (Magic Bullet)

Before their beautiful full-length debut of Love Your Abuser on Mush Records, brothers Mike and Jared Bell made well-crafted, keyboard-driven post-rock for their Carved by Glaciers EP. The duo's heartening tunes employ piano, synthesizers, organs, xylophones, brass instruments, and much more to provide a gorgeous multi-layered mix. Coinciding with a separate split release with This Will Destroy You, also on Magic Bullet, Lymbyc Systym now has its debut EP reissued.

Lymbyc Systym: "Carved by Glaciers"
Lymbyc Systym: \"Carved by Glaciers\"

Drew Brown: Tiago La is Losing the Plot [US release] (Lex)

Though Lex Records' website would have one believe that this album doesn't exist, amazon.com begs to differ. Brown's MySpace page has a scant trio of songs, but they exhibit the eclectic singer/songwriter possibilities of this EP.

Quatre Tete: Art of the State (Sickroom)

With two EPs and a full-length album under its belt, this Chicago trio returns with its unadulterated, math-influenced mid-'90s-style rock. Fans of hard-hitting guitar/bass/drums configurations would do well to pick up Art of the State, recorded by engineer Bob Weston.

The album draws a bit of sonic inspiration from Weston's most famous group, Shellac, as well as musical brethren like The Jesus Lizard and Dianogah.

Quatre Tete: "Mouth of the Rattlesnake"
Quatre Tete: \"Mouth of the Rattlesnake\"

Glasgow instrumentalists Mogwai return with an album full of beautiful minor-key epics-including a few seriously heavy tracks like "Batcat," which nicely contrasts "I'm Jim Morrison, I'm Dead," the album's droning, thudding, tinkling opener. Sporting a still-life portrait of a bald eagle's mug on the cover, The Hawk is Howling is one of Mogwai's most diverse releases this decade, possibly since Rock Action or EP+6 2001.

*Read Drew Fortune's lengthy feature on Mogwai in ALARM 33, available soon.

Mogwai: \"The Sun Smells Too Loud\"

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God of Shamisen: Dragon String Attack (Reptile)

If you're into the fusion of metal with traditional Japanese music (and who isn't?), pick up Dragon String Attack by God of Shamisen. Shamisen master and Estradasphere member Kevin Kmetz leads the group with his acrobatic finger work on the fretless Japanese instrument, infusing said sounds with any other genre that feels appropriate (reggae, Gypsy, jam rock, funk). The shredding riffs of guitarist Karl Schnaitter and the detonating beats of fellow Estradasphere cohort Lee Smith also propel the band, which you know will be good given that two of Kmetz's listed influences are ultra-heavy death metallers Cryptopsy and classical legend J.S. Bach.

God of Shamisen: \"The Science Fiction of Ray Bradbury Attack\"

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Lymbyc Systym: Love Your Abuser, Remixed (Mush)

As Lymbyc Systym, brothers Mike and Jared Bell released a beautiful 2007 debut full-length, Love Your Abuser, on Mush Records. The album's heartening tunes used piano, synthesizers, organs, xylophones, brass instruments, and much more to provide a gorgeous multi-layered mix. Now the album gets a remix treatment with clicky electronic beats and thematic revamps by The One AM Radio, The Album Leaf, This Will Destroy You, Daedelus, and others. Magic Bullet Records will also soon release a This Will Destroy You / Lymbyc Systym split 10"/CD as well as re-release Lymbyc Systym's first studio EP, Carved by Glaciers.

Lymbyc Systym: \"Fall Bicycle\" (The Album Leaf Remix)

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Genghis Tron: Board Up the House, Remixes Vol. 1 LP (Temporary Residence)

Normally on the Relapse roster, electro-metal trio Genghis Tron has its crushing sci-fi sounds reworked as part of a five-label LP project that includes 20 mixologists. This first volume has been available for a few months, but now it has its official release, featuring renderings by Steve Moore, Justin K. Broadrick, Rob Crow, and Eluvium.

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Ten Kens: Ten Kens (FatCat)

The debut album from this Toronto-based quartet is an eclectic combination of power pop, folk, and droning, experimental rock.