Hella: Tripper (Sargent House)

Hella: "Headless"

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

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

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

Jacob Fred Jazz Odyssey: "Black Wall Street"

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

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

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

- Text by Kyle Gilkeson.

Tinariwen: Tassili (Anti-)

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

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

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

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

Vieo Abiungo: "Drowsy Salted Morning"

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

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

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

- Text by Kyle Gilkeson.

YAWN: Open Season (FeelTrip/Englophile)

YAWN: "Acid"

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

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

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

Others & Honorable Mentions

Alias: Fever Dream (Anticon)

Balaclava: Crimes of Faith (Southern Lord)

Beirut: The Rip Tide (Pompeii)

Blood Orange: Coast Grooves (Domino)

Butch Walker & The Black Widows: Spade (Dangerbird)

Century: Red Giant (Prosthetic)

End of Level Boss: Eklectric (Exile on Mainstream)

Michael Gordon: Timber (Cantaloupe)

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

The Nocturnes: Aokigahara

Jamie Saft: Borscht Belt Studies (Tzadik)

Thundercat: The Golden Age of Apocalypse (Brainfeeder)

Though the band's numbers can swell to upwards of 10 musicians, a more-than-capable quintet took to the stage in Chicago. Clad in traditional Malian tunics and turbans, the band worked the crowd into a fervor with equal parts uptempo, guitar-driven rock and plaintive African blues.

Mr. Gnome: Tastes Like Magic EP (El Marko)

Following a well-received sophomore LP late in 2009 — recorded at Josh Homme's studio — dynamic Cleveland duo Mr. Gnome are issuing an addendum of sorts, a pair of B-sides from the same recording session.

The band's main instrumentation is just guitar and drums, but it attains a much fuller sound with keyboards, electronics, and the ghostly vocal presence of Nicole Barille that has elicited comparisons to Karen O.

The result is both hazy and powerful, and the band's success owes much to that dynamic. "Three Red Birds," the EP's "single," is a creepy example of Mr. Gnome at the heavier end of its spectrum, as the tune takes a simple but potent riff and plays with its surroundings.

Mr. Gnome: "Three Red Birds"
Mr. Gnome: \"Three Red Birds\"

Etran Finatawa: Tarkat Tajje / Let's Go! (Riverboat)

A group of Wodaabe and Tuareg people from Niger, Etran Finatawa is an exploration of tribal music as channeled through electric guitar and a blues sensibility.

The group draws distinct comparisons to Tinariwen, a band of Tuareg musicians whose origin is from northern Mali. And though the two have a kindred bond as well as origins from bordering nations, Etran Finatawa displays the colorful vocalizations and dress of its Wodaabe members, whose collaboration with the Tuareg members is something unique.

The band's instrumentation features a clean-channel guitar, the crux of the Ichumar style, and guitarist Alhousseini Mohamed Anivolla cites regional influences such as Ali Farka Touré and international influences such as Jimi Hendrix. The latter proves to be more of an inspiration than a direct sonic model, but nevertheless, Tarkat Tajje is a mesmerizing album that is helping to further the modernization of tribal African music.

Etran Finatawa: "Aitimani" (excerpt)
Etran Finatawa: \"Aitimani\" (excerpt)

Ralph Towner & Paolo Fresu: Chiaroscuro (ECM)

Acoustic guitar is a staple of classical and folk music and an assortment of Latin and South American styles, but it's something of a rarity in jazz. Ralph Towner has experience in many of these genres, utilizing both nylon- and steel-string guitars (6 and 12 strings) to create a catalog of rich diversity.

However, his instrument of choice is most interesting in his jazz forays, and that holds true on this disc of duets with Italian/Sardinian trumpeter Paolo Fresu. The interplay between the two is careful and effective, and the album's one cover — a piece by Bill Evans and Miles Davis — is representive of the duo's influences and ability.

Honorable Mentions

Dan Weiss Trio: Timshel (Sunnyside)

Flobots: Survival Story (Republic)

Sayyadina: The Great Northern Revisited (Relapse)

V/A: The Rough Guide to Arabic Lounge (World Music Network)

Big-name scheduled performers include Tinariwen, the Budos Band, Ximena Sarinana, and more.

If you'll be in or around Miami in April, sign up for our e-mail newsletter below for a chance to win one of two festival passes for the Heineken TransAtlantic Festival.

With your festival pass, you will get to see ALL 4 TICKETED EVENTS of the festival. These include:

Friday, 4/17 @ 7 pm: Aterciopelados (Colombia) and Curmin (Brazil), North Beach Bandshell

Saturday, 4/18 @ 7 pm: Ximena Sarinana (Mexico), Florida debut of opener Rachel Goodrich (Miami), North Beach Bandshell

Friday, 4/24 @ 7 pm: Budos Band (New York City), opener Javier Garcia (Miami), North Beach Bandshell; free after-show party with DJ Da Lua (Brazil) at Boteco, 916 NE 79th Street

Saturday, 4/25 @ 7 pm: CuCu Diamantes (New York City) and Tinariwen (Mali) North Beach Bandshell
Free after-show party with DJ Da Lua (Brazil) at Boteco, 916 NE 79th Street.

Two winners will be drawn at random. The contest is open to US residents only. Good luck!

**This contest is now closed. Thanks for your participation, and congrats to the winners.**

Heineken TransAtlantic Festival / Rhythm Foundation: www.rhythmfoundation.com

One entry per person. Contests are only open to ALARM newsletter subscribers. By entering your e-mail address you are signing up for our exclusive e-mail newsletter. You can always unsubscribe if you don’t like it, and you’ll still be eligible to win any contest you entered.

On March 18, Malian guitar fusionists Tinariwen begin a 10-show tour of the UK with British electro-folk artist Tunng.

Prefuse 73 has a new album, Everything She Touched Turned Ampexian, that will be out April 14 on Warp.  Prefuse also has a new project with Zach Hill called Diamond Watch Wrists.  The duo's album will be out on May 4, also on Warp.

Melodic punk outfit Lifetime will have Hello Bastards and Jersey's Best Dancers reissued by No Idea Records. The albums were originally released on Jade Tree.

The third album from African/rock standouts Extra Golden, titled Thank You Very Quickly, will be out on March 10 via Thrill Jockey. After a European tour in early March, the band spends much of April touring the East Coast and Midwest.

Black Moth Super Rainbow has uploaded a video for "Happy Melted City" from its Drippers EP. Watch the video here.

Instrumental doom rockers Pelican have signed to Southern Lord Recordings. The band currently is recording an EP that will be its first release on its new label.

Party-time dance duo Woodhands has released a new digital EP of remixes of "Dancer" from its Heart Attack album. Paper Bag Records has also posted a Woodhands cover of Eddy Grant's "Electric Avenue."

NPR has posted its interview with experimental jazz guitarist Mary Halvorson (Mary Halvorson Trio, Trevor Dunn's Trio-Convulsant). The New York musician speaks about her debut solo album, Dragon's Head, released last year on Firehouse 12 Records.

The US Department of Justice is reviewing the just-completed merger of Ticket Master and Live Nation.

1. Books to Give for the 2008 Holiday Season

Covering politics, comic books, nude self-portraits, futuristic architecture, and humorous basketball profiles, ALARM lists five awesome books as gift ideas for your musically, artistically, or culturally interesting friends.

2. Commentaries on the Golden Path: The Allure of Belonging to America

Columnist Andrew Williams analyzes his love of American creations and how they often conflict with his sociopolitical ideology.

3. DIY Venue Spotlight: The Dayton Dirt Collective

ALARM's ongoing series exploring the best grassroots, non-traditional music venues profiles The Dayton Dirt Collective, a punk/experimental establishment situated near a local porn shop and church-supply outlet.

4. Lollapalooza 2008, Day 1: A Diverse Collection of Garbage

With pie chart in hand, publisher/editor Chris Force breaks down the whack hip hop, corny music for alt-jocks, sleepy singer/songwriters and more from Day 1 of last year's Lollapalooza.

5. Q&A: East Coast Avengers Discuss War Obsessions, 9/11, and Fox News

Following national notoriety for the release of "Kill Bill O'Reilly," politically outspoken hip-hop trio East Coast Avengers spoke with ALARM online editor Scott Morrow just before the historic 2008 election.

6. Q&A: God of Shamisen's Shredding Cultural Collisions

Led by Tsugaru-shamisen master Kevin Kmetz, Santa Cruz's God of Shamisen creates cultural collisions in the form of shredding, Japanese-infused progressive metal.

7. Q&A: Grails Guitarist Discusses Creating Album Art for Doomsdayer's Holiday

Fusing Indian music, 1970s film noir, and psychedelic sounds into heavy acoustic and electric rock, Grails is a wonderful anomaly. Publisher/editor Chris Force recently spoke with guitarist Alex Hall, who created the artwork for the group's new album.

8. Tim Fite: Tears of a Clown

Genre-defying folk rapper Tim Fite discusses the making of his most recent creation, Fair Ain't Fair, an album of violent regrets recorded during one of the lowest emotional points in his life.

9. Tinariwen: Malian Rebel Rock and Roll

Members of the nomadic Tuareg ethnic group, Tinariwen sings of independence from the Malian government. And despite a lengthy international touring schedule, the group's songs still tell the stories of its home — bleak tales of survival and cautious hope, desperation, and escapism.

10. The Top 10 Cover Songs by The Bad Plus

Hard-hitting jazz trio The Bad Plus knows how to pen pieces of proprietary gold. But its three members are also known for their genre-leaping renditions of rock songs, propelled by the chops of pianist Ethan Iverson, bassist Reid Anderson, and drummer David King.

11. The Top 10 Parts of The Shape of Punk to Come

Just prior to an acrimonious breakup, Swedish hardcore group Refused released its magnum opus, The Shape of Punk to Come: A Chimerical Bombination in 12 Bursts. It was as much an assault on capitalist philosophy as it was a striking stylistic evolution, and it did its best to advance hardcore in the way that its titular influence, Ornette Coleman's The Shape of Jazz to Come, did with jazz.

12. The Top 10 Songs by Faith No More

Faith No More didn't revolutionize the rock landscape, but for much of its tenure, its members created some of the genre's best mainstream songs while courting radio success. Along the way, Mike Patton and crew peppered other styles into their expanding repertoire, wedging lounge sounds, incoherent squeals, and even an angelic choir into songs that ran alongside pummeling rock tunes.

Five light-skinned African men shuffle gently on a stage devoid of decoration — with only amps and microphones — their physical appearance alone making a dramatic statement. Each holds an electric or acoustic guitar, electric bass, or a hand drum. Though Tinariwen’s music is hypnotic, transcendental, and groove-oriented, they appear stoic and self-controlled.

Audience members stand in sharp contrast to the band; they’re dancing like it’s last call.

Halfway through the set, Bob Martin, the Lensic’s general manager, orders the house lights on. The aisle dancers are violating the city’s fire code, he says, and the show would end early if everyone did not return to their seats.

“It doesn’t matter what the band wants,” Martin curses. “This is my space.” Some boo. Others sit down. The band appears passive and indifferent, though none of them speak English and likely don’t know why this large, red-faced man is shouting at the audience.

Concert resumed, Tinariwen plays with a renewed fervor, inciting the audience to stand up and shake its collective ass. Songs begin similarly: with an electric guitar melody, muted and distortionless. The band joins in, playing syncopated countermelodies and basslines that are commanding but unobtrusive. A guitarist calls out a line; the others respond in unison.

The songs build on a single groove or riff, recalling old blues artists who found innumerable ways to reinvent twelve-bar chord progressions and Bo Diddley beats. When Elvis borrowed liberally from bluesmen in the 1950s, he sparked a musical tradition that links the Beatles and Led Zeppelin and the Rolling Stones. But Elvis was from the wealthiest country on Earth. Tinariwen is from an impoverished place that many of us couldn’t find on a map.

The name Tinariwen translates as “empty places.” Indeed, the band’s sound, image, history and ethnicity are all tied to one of the remotest regions of the world, northern Mali. This unforgiving chunk of the central Sahara was a French colony until the 1960s, when Mali and neighboring Niger gained independence.

Tuaregs, nomadic camel herders who have roamed the Sahara for centuries, were unwittingly caught in this power move. They’ve been suffering the consequences of it ever since. The newly formed Malian and Nigerien governments wanted the nomads to settle down and integrate into society. Some did. Others refused. Battles and destitution ensued.

Guitarist/vocalist Ibrahim Ag Alhabib, whose father was killed by Malian fighters, fought for Tuareg independence in the 1970s and ‘80s. He co-founded Tinariwen in 1982 at a Tuareg military training camp, practicing guitar between military exercises. He listened to northern African pop stars, but also to such disparate groups as Euro-dance group Boney M and American country singer Kenny Rogers. Rebel leaders used Tinariwen’s first albums, recorded on cassette tapes and passed around by fans, as anti-governmental war propaganda.

As Tinariwen’s reputation grew, the Tuaregs made progress. Rebels in Mali signed a peace accord and ceremonially set their weapons afire in Timbuktu in ‘96. Five years later, Tinariwen recorded their first CD, The Radio Tisdas Sessions (never mind that the band was by now nearly 20 years old), and toured Europe. Westerners took notice.

Last year, Tinariwen opened for the Rolling Stones; last April, Robert Plant invited them onstage to play “Whole Lotta Love.” Tinariwen played the Montreux Jazz Festival alongside Carlos Santana. Bonnie Raitt adores them. I first learned about Tinariwen while reading an article whose lofty subheadline asked, “Is Tinariwen the greatest band on Earth?”

National Geographic is filming Tinariwen’s performance in Santa Fe tonight. The show ends with nearly everyone on the bottom floor of this performance hall off their chairs and dancing, to Hell with the fire marshal and venue management.

The group blasts into a chugging anthem that sounds remarkably like an Africanized version of “The Devil Went Down to Georgia.” The audience resembles a fevered Pentecostal congregation, whose members lose themselves and surrender helplessly to the rhythm. Tinariwen rocks beneath their robes and turbans.

Moving through the crowd after the show, I overhear a woman in the front row say to a sweaty aisle dancer, young enough to be her son, “You know, you assholes really ruined that concert.”

“That’s rock ‘n’ roll, baby,” the kid snaps, barely missing a beat.

Audience members push toward the merchandise table in the lobby, making passage almost impossible. The band’s tour manager, Bastien Gsell, is selling T-shirts and CDs as fast as his hands will move. If Tinariwen’s three albums (The Radio Tisdas Sessions, Amassakoul, and Aman Iman) had each cost $50 tonight, they’d still sell out. The fans here border on fanatical.

Past the maze of backstage hallways, downstairs, in an overlit dressing room fit for a troupe of ballerinas, quietly sits acoustic guitarist / singer Abdallah Alhousseyni. Round-faced and moustached, he is exhausted but accommodating.

Next to him sits Valerie-Milenka Repnau, a sturdy, blonde Los Angeles resident who drove fourteen hours to be here tonight. Behind them, other band members change from their robes into slacks and buttondown shirts — Western clothes. They carry backpacks. This does not seem incongruous to Alhousseyni, though it’s odd to see his bandmates morph into something different. Offstage, they look like Americans.

Is Tinariwen’s whole desert-warrior aesthetic just an act?

Alhousseyni thinks and pauses. “From the beginning, we weren’t a traditional group,” he finally says in French, with Repnau translating. That much is certain.

Their press materials boast that Tinariwen is the first Tuareg band to ever employ electric guitars. Tinariwen is a small army of six-string players; traditional Tuareg music doesn’t even involve guitars. There’s no name for the genre the band fits in. They call it, simply, “guitar music.” It’s become more popular recently, with other groups like Toumast riding a surge of attention devoted to west African blues that was arguably sparked by Ali Farka Toure in the mid-’90s.

“They’re celebrities,” says Dr. Susan Rasmussen, an anthropologist who’s studied the Tuareg for 25 years and has met Tinariwen in their hometown of Kidal, Mali. “They’ve served an interesting role, as unofficial ambassadors between the government and the rebels,” she adds. “[But] they also serve as an inspiration to the local youth. Because of all the problems in Mali, a lot of the youth are unemployed. Tinariwen serves as a role model.”

The band’s themes reflect the shift in emphasis. Early on, frontman Alhabib’s songs directly spoke of war and famine, pointing fingers at the government. The songs on Aman Iman (World Village) are more positive, speaking to general themes of peace and education.

Lyrics aside, the guitars behind them have grown more aggressive and hard-edged. On a dressing room counter next to Alhousseyni, Repnau rummages through her purse looking for a business card. She pulls out a CD: Nirvana, Nevermind. She let the band hear it for the first time yesterday.

No doubt, the shifts in Tinariwen’s music reflect their ever-expanding tour schedule and exposure to different styles. Since their first international tour eight years ago, Tinariwen has perhaps traveled more than most Americans. Yet their songs still tell the stories of their home — bleak tales of survival and cautious hope, desperation and escapism.

On “Tenere Dafeo Nikchan” (“I’m in a Desert with a Wood Fire”), frontman Ag Alhabib intones, “My heart oppressed and tight / And I feel the thirst of my soul / Then I hear some music / Sounds, the wind / Some music which takes me far, far away”. On “Arawan,” another song from their 2004 release Amassakoul, Alhousseyni sings, “Nobody cares about / The people of the desert who are suffering from thirst.”

And the struggle continues. The day after Tinariwen’s Santa Fe gig, two journalists, Moussa Kaka and Ibrahim Manzo Diallo, were jailed for reporting about the Tuareg resistance in Niger. The Nigerien government had been tapping Kaka’s phone conversations for months, and is now seeking life imprisonment.

This will likely increase hostilities between the two sides, which renewed military campaigns against each other in mid-2007. Niger claims the rebels are trafficking drugs and arms. The rebels say the government is trying to squeeze them out of profits made from uranium, which is found throughout the Tuaregs’ homeland.

The Bush Administration has supported the Malian and Nigerian governments, claiming they’re vital in assisting with the war on terror. Mali’s army spokesman has branded the Tuareg rebels as terrorists. US Special Forces have been in the region. This leaves Tinariwen in the awkward position of traveling through a country that has sided with their enemy.

So I ask Alhousseyni: what’s Tinariwen doing to support the rebellion?

He looks directly at my notebook while answering, and responds after a few seconds of uncomfortable silence. “We play a lot of free shows back home.”

That’s rock ‘n’ roll, baby.

Bad Brains: Build a Nation

With the Beastie Boys’ Adam Yauch on board as producer, these DC hardcore legends returned to the studio, for the first time in over a decade, to recapture their successful punk and reggae blend.

Reminiscent of their seminal early ‘80s records, Build A Nation opens with “Give Thanks and Praises,” which moves back and forth between head-banging and frantic hardcore riffs. “Jah People Make the World Go Round” keeps true to the original hardcore format (which they helped create) with fast verses — made more intimidating with Yauch’s bass-line production — and breakdown choruses. Several relaxed reggae tracks give the album a unique pacing.
Megaforce: www.megaforcerecords.com

Big Business: Here Come the Waterworks

After completing (A) Senile Animal with their other band, the Melvins, and finishing an exhaustive touring schedule including double sets every night, this Los Angeles duo released one of the year’s earliest masterpieces.

Taking cues from Queen, singer/bassist Jared Warren and drummer Coady Willis created a hard-rock epic. The journey begins with the tremendous “Just as the Day Was Dawning,” ends with the sludgey instrumental “Another Beautiful Day in the Pacific Northwest,” and pummels listeners with swampy, energetic bass riffs and explosive drum beats every step of the way.

Produced by Phil Ek (Band of Horses, Built to Spill), Here Come the Waterworks is a heavy hitter.
Hydra Head: www.hydrahead.com

Brother Ali: The Undisputed Truth

A powerfully crafted album, The Undisputed Truth is the year’s best hip-hop release. There were other solid efforts (I’ll Sleep When You’re Dead by El-P) and a plethora of great singles, but The Undisputed Truth deals with, in great balance, the three elements of angst-fueled music: righteous and rebellious lyrics, the inducement of fist pumping, hand throwing, and head banging, and enormous egos that carefully bob from insecure to forcefully inflated.

The album opens with a thumping beat on “Watcha Got,” and the opening lyrics “I came in the door, 1984” are likely to become this generation’s “bring the motherfucking ruckus” as rapped on Wu-Tang Clan’s “Bring Da Ruckus.”
Rhymesayers: www.rhymesayers.com

Exploding Star Orchestra: We Are All from Somewhere Else

The inaugural Exploding Star Orchestra album is the brainchild of Rob Mazurek, a tireless composer/cornetist/collaborator and the man behind Thrill Jockey’s Chicago Underground collective. With a stellar ensemble, his work on We Are All from Somewhere Else is a dense, serpentine concoction of cross-metered jazz.

Looping rhythms, typically played by upright bass, vibraphone, and brass or woodwind instruments, set the foundation for runs and improvisations by Mazurek and the other players on trombone, saxophone, flute, clarinet, and piano. At times, the album is evocative of composer Leonard Bernstein’s work. Its compounded melodies and droning roots make We Are All from Somewhere Else one of the year’s finest albums.
Thrill Jockey: www.thrilljockey.com

Grinderman: s/t

A side project for Nick Cave and Bad Seeds members Warren Ellis, Martyn Casey, and Jim Sclavunos found the foursome embracing rock ’n’ roll at its rawest, resulting in an album akin to The Stooges or Cave’s The Birthday Party without being merely a revival act.

Whether crooning or screaming, even at age fifty, the sound of Cave’s voice is enough to inspire listeners to do naughty things with the one they love, or at least the one they lust. The snarling “No Pussy Blues,” with Ellis’ wild psychedelic guitar fills, is infectious and unforgettable.

Fun and intelligent rockers such as “Honey Bee (Let’s Fly to Mars)” and “Depth Charge Ethel” are balanced by the more subdued “Man in the Moon” and silky “Electric Alice.” Hopefully, the success of Grinderman’s debut will lead to a follow-up in the not-so-distant future.
Anti: www.anti.com