Battles: Gloss Drop (Warp)

Battles: "Ice Cream" (f. Matias Aguayo)

Shaken up and stripped down, the three members of experimental post-rock outfit Battles spent the better part of the past year reshaping and restructuring a sound that, up until then, included multi-instrumentalist, vocalist, and loop guru Tyondai Braxton.

The new record, Gloss Drop, is a shimmering, fascinating detour from Battles' previous output, soaring with ebullience and sheen. It bounces about on dance-y, frenetic beats and ripples in restorative whirlpools. The music retains Battles' signatory edge and cerebral tone, but the band’s instinctual process has brought about a surprising, new result.

Lively guitar parts and math-rock riffs fuse with overlapping rhythms. Songs like “Futura” incorporate Caribbean percussion, and “Sweetie and Shag,” featuring Kazu Makino of Blonde Redhead, features dazzling melodies over a playful composition. Other guests on the album include DJ Matias Aguayo, Boredoms vocalist Yamantaka Eye, and the one and only Gary Numan. Swirling in color and emotion, Gloss Drop does not sound like the record of a band that was contemplating its own demise while creating it.

- Text by Charlie Swanson. Read the feature story here.

Hail Mary Mallon: Are You Gonna Eat That? (Rhymesayers)

Hail Mary Mallon: "Garfield"

With a name and album title inspired by Typhoid Mary, Hail Mary Mallon is the union of MCs/producers Aesop Rock and Rob Sonic and DJ Big Wiz.  Both rappers are alumni of independent hip-hop label Definitive Jux, and all three have collaborated for years, but Are You Gonna Eat That? is their first release as a trio.

The group experience is new for Aesop Rock, and the album has the air of a relaxed, fun endeavor — something with no expectations.  There's plenty of modern production, with muffled bass lines, heavy snare hits, distant horn samples, spot-on scratching, and distorted vocal samples on tracks such as "Garfield."  But there's also a throwback party vibe on tracks such as "Breakdance Beach," and Aesop and Sonic trade call-and-response lines on many other songs.  Hail Mary Mallon is at its best when the MCs are involved in the same verses, but the group is careful not to overdo the trade-offs.

The album is an invigorating installment in each member's career, and it's another notable super-group to release something on Rhymesayers, which released the newest album by Felt (featuring production, in fact, by Aesop Rock).

Fucked Up: David Comes to Life (Matador)

Fucked Up: "The Other Shoe"

The latest from punk sextet / "social experiment" Fucked Up is another unexpected turn in an unpredictable career — an 18-song, 80-minute post-punk epic that tells a four-part narrative.

Adding to a litany of seven-inches and pair of LPs, David Comes to Life is far and away the band's hardiest release to date.  It's a punk-rock marathon that plays into punk's short attention span but that also demands patience, particularly when piecing together a narrative that shifts perspectives.

Musically, Fucked Up continues to come into its own, albeit with shades of The Who and other beloved practitioners of the rock opera.  The band's triple-guitar attack remains as aggressive and quasi-psychedelic as ever, but the gruff shouts of frontman Damian Abraham here are commonly backed by "real singers" whose softer intonations provide a pleasant contrast.

The album's 18 tracks have a tendency to blend together, but they benefit from their full-throttle delivery.  And though some listeners may have their patience tested by what essentially is a double LP of four-minute rock jams, preexisting fans should have one of their favorite albums of the year.

Týr: The Lay of Thrym (Napalm)

Týr: "Take Your Tyrant"

Based on the tiny Faroe Islands of the North Atlantic, Týr has made a name for itself with an infectious brand of folk/power metal.  The band's metal anthems, which are never short on overpowering melodies and harmonies, usually are a blend of traditional Scandinavian / Northern European folk tunes, with lyrics that touch on Nordic mythology, pagan pride, and heathen heroism.

The band's newest full-length, The Lay of Thrym, uses more Viking mythology as a thematic foundation, but it also expands the lyrical content, using some of its most fist-pumping sing-alongs to decry the remnants of Nazism and urge oppressed peoples to topple their dictators.

The music takes a similar course to the band's past catalog, but its melodic prowess and rhythmic fury are as potent as ever.  If you're not too cool for euphoric riffs and pop refrains, check this out.

Esmerine: La Lechuza (Constellation)

Esmerine: "A Dog River"

Begun in the early 2000s, Esmerine originally existed as the duo of percussionist Bruce Cawdron and cellist Beckie Foon, a pair of contributors to Godspeed! You Black Emperor, The Silver Mt. Zion Memorial Orchestra, and other members of Montreal's Constellation Records family.

The duo's sullen, minimalist chamber creations were built around cello, marimba, and other percussive elements, and though they expanded their range and emotion with other sounds, the band's first album in six years is a rebirth.  La Lechuza marks the addition of harpist Sarah Page and percussionist Andrew Barr (both of The Barr Brothers) as full-time members.  More importantly, however, it stands as a moving tribute to Montreal singer Lhasa de Sela, a mutual friend of all four members who passed away at the age of 37 on New Year's Day of 2010.

Each track on La Lechuza takes a life of its own, alternating between layered Steve Reich-ian repetitions, somber Danny Elfman-esque string arrangements, melodic polyrhythms, and ghostly vocal performances.  Special guests Colin Stetson and Sarah Neufeld (Arcade Fire) make appearances, and the result is the group's most most diverse, most skilled, and most beautiful release yet.

Honorable Mentions

Amorphis: The Beginning of Times (Nuclear Blast)

The Appleseed Cast: Middle States EP (Graveface)

Arch Enemy: Khaos Legions (Century Media)

BB&C (Tim Berne, Jim Black, Nels Cline): The Veil (Cryptogramophone)

Sarah Bernstein: Unearthish (Phase Frame)

Brent Hinds presents… Friend Without a Face: s/t & West End Motel: Don’t Shiver, You’re a Winner (Rocket Science Inc.)

Cults: s/t (Columbia)

The Engineer: Crooked Voices (Black Market Activities)

Ford & Lopatin (formerly Games): Channel Pressure (Software / Mexican Summer)

Infantree: Would Work (Vapor)

Jóhann Jóhannsson: Miner’s Hymns (Fat Cat)

Morbid Angel: Illud Divinum Insanus (Season of Mist)

Dustin O’Halloran: Vorleben (Fat Cat)

Oneida: Absolute II (Jagjaguwar)

The Rhythmagic Orchestra: s/t (Tru Thoughts)

Alina Simone: Make Your Own Danger (Virtual Label)

Sondre Lerche: s/t (Redeye)

Tea Leaf Green: Radio Tragedy (Thirty Tigers)

Tombs: Path of Totality (Relapse)

Trentemøller: LateNightTales compilation (LateNightTales)

Tom Vek: Leisure Seizure (Downtown / CO-OP USA / Island)

Tombs: "Gossamer"

“It’s about control and discipline,” Tombs frontman/guitarist Mike Hill says. The Brooklyn metal three-piece and I are sitting at a picnic table outside Waterloo Records during the South by Southwest Music Conference in Austin, Texas. Hill’s words particularly stand out against the carefree atmosphere of the five-day, live-music festival. Outside a business conference and trade show at the Austin Convention Center, SXSW can easily resemble an independent-music Mardi Gras, with many concertgoers drinking waterfalls of Texas’ Lonestar Beer, seeing as many shows as physics allows, and generally partying their hearts out around the clock.

Tombs is on its first tour since the release of its debut full-length, Winter Hours. The album is a haunting hybrid of metal and hardcore, covered with thick coatings of noise and pristine melody. At Waterloo, the band completed its third set in roughly 24 hours after an overnight drive from Little Rock, Arkansas. Despite the demanding schedule, its members show no sign of fatigue; their commitment to discipline and control has paid off.

“To do what we’re doing at the level we want to be doing it at, you have to have a certain amount of dedication and a certain amount of professionalism and discipline,” Hill says. “There is a very narrow margin of personal conduct that is acceptable.”

He goes on, “I’m talking about being able to go as hard as you can, to know that you’ve really brought something to the table. There is no connotation of financial success or anything other than a level of personal achievement.” Hill is pleasant and conversational, but there is a serious undertone to everything he says, like a revered sensei in a ninja film waxing philosophy to his disciples. “In this substrata of marginal music, it’s easy to get covered over by other people unless you have your act together.”

When it comes to the dos and don'ts of playing in an independent band, Hill certainly knows what he is talking about. Starting in Boston in the early 1990s, he has been a staple in the underground hardcore community, playing in a number of bands and fronting hardcore powerhouse Anodyne for the better part of a decade (1997–2005) before starting the esoteric Versomna. An accomplished producer as well as a musician, Hill has recorded albums by heavy bands such as Isis, Lickgoldensky, and Piebald, and he owns his own label, Black Box Recordings.

Hill started Tombs in 2007. Bassist Carson Daniel James joined a few months later, after original bassist Dominic Seita amicably parted to develop NYC doom quartet A Storm of Light. The trio released a self-titled EP on Black Box / Level Plane before signing to Relapse Records, and drummer Andrew Hernandez joined just after the sessions for Winter Hours were complete, learning the band’s entire set in just nine days prior to a European tour.

Like Hill, James and Hernandez are both rooted in the DIY punk community. Hernandez relays humorous tales of his formative years as a 14-year-old concert promoter from a small town in Massachusetts. He would find bands’ phone numbers on seven-inch records and randomly call them to ask them to play a show or for a place to crash after taking a one-way bus trip to concerts in their cities.
 

“I’m talking about being able to go as hard as you can, to know that you’ve really brought something to the table. There is no connotation of financial success or anything other than a level of personal achievement.”

“I figured that I’d either find a place to stay or I’d sleep on some steps,” Hernandez recalls. “I was at the show; that was all that mattered.” Two of his most successful calls, as it turns out, were to future band-mate Hill during his Anodyne years and to his future label manager, Relapse's Gordon Conrad.

Hill’s sentiment towards control is echoed by his band-mates. “We like a certain amount of self-sacrifice,” Hernandez says. Although they are far from monks, the members of Tombs take pride in staunch dedication to their craft and their willingness to push themselves to the limit with their music. They maintain a rigorous practice schedule, whether writing new material or preparing for a tour.

“It’s learning how to react without thinking,” James explains. “It’s doing what seems obvious, rather than fumbling.” Hill agrees. “In a live setting, anything can happen,” he says. “It’s like when you’re on a special recon mission for military operations: you rely on your training to get you through everything. We rely on practice to get us through the rough spots. Personally, I am using more effects and technology with this band than I have in the past. With that component, a lot of things can go wrong.”

Winter Hours was recorded by Ian Whalen and John Chambers at Etching Tin Studios in Richmond, Virginia. With the financial support afforded by the new label, Hill was able to step away from the control room for the first time in order to concentrate on his songs. “I still wanted to have production influence,” he says, “but as far as engineering goes, it was more important for me to focus on execution of parts and performances.”

Most of Tombs’ songs are developed out of Hill’s ideas, with the other members writing their parts during rehearsals. James observes that, because of the limitations of practicing as a three-piece, the other members often learn about the atmospheric effects that Hill has planned for each track only once the recording process has begun. For his part, Hill says that every sound on the record is deliberate. Nothing is left to chance.

“I spend a lot of my time planning it all out so that when we get to the studio, it’s strictly execution,” he says. “I know a lot of it sounds experimental, but there is really none of that stuff going on.” The overall effect, best articulated on opening number “Gossamer” and “The Divide,” is much like a heavier take on the “Wall of Sound” developed by Phil Spector, a producer whose studio work Hill especially admires.

Lyrically, much of Winter Hours was inspired by a series of nightmares Hill had about the Apocalypse, which, in hindsight, he relates to his dissatisfaction with the Bush administration (though his penchant for reading about conspiracy theories couldn’t have helped much).

“It was kind of subconscious,” he says. “It was bubbling to the surface for a year. Now that I have a little distance, I feel like a lot of it was the Republican presence and George W. Bush. I feel optimistic now that he is out of the office. There was a certain powerlessness and vulnerability that came from that time. Filtering other emotions through that resulted in the bulk of the lyrics on that record. They’re personal ruminations filtered through political observations.”

Though the presidential office has since changed hands, Tombs doesn’t see the mood of its music changing. “There’s always a dark cloud,” James notes. Hill explains, “The music itself is just intensity. There are bands like Michael Gira from Swans who play acoustic music, but it is still the most intense music there is.”

With Winter Hours still fresh on the shelves, Tombs is already working new material, and it has become evident that though the atmosphere may stay the same, the music will differ from anything that the band has done before. “The changing of our drummer will, without a question, propel our music in a new direction, whether we consciously go there or not, which is good,” James says. “It’s a constant flux, without having to be pigeonholed into one thing.”

Tombs is open to new sounds in its music, so long as the inspiration comes from within the band, rather than following trends. “If [a change in sound] is true and you alienate someone, at least you’re keeping yourself happy,” Hill says. Yet in the members’ quest for their own satisfaction, they’ve neglected to realize that they are making music that outsiders can enjoy as well.

The members of Tombs are genuinely surprised at the positive reception that they’ve received from fans, explaining that they have no expectations of others. “It’s one of the main things I apply to most of the aspects of my life,” Hill says. “If you don’t expect anything, that gives you a certain level of freedom.”

Tombs holds itself to different standards altogether. “There is a division, really,” Hill adds. “I demand an incredible amount from myself, but it is all personal achievement. Do I expect anyone to acknowledge what I do? I would say no. When I go out of this world, I want to know that I did my best. I want to go out knowing that I did what I could, regardless if anyone cares. If people want to acknowledge it, that’s great. But I don’t expect that from anybody.”

Still, people are increasingly paying attention, and in its short time as a band, Tombs has found fans in underground metal and punk circles as well as new listeners in some unlikely places. James recalls a recent show in San Antonio opening for British electronic producer Tricky where a new fan approached the group and mused, “You are up there just doing your thing. It doesn’t seem like you’re writing for anyone but yourselves.”

James pauses before remarking, “I guess what it comes down to is that we’re still three guys in a practice space who are friends and live in the same area, playing music that we want to play without thinking outwardly about what other people want to hear.”

The record will be released in a limited-edition run of 250 copies (125 in transparent red and 125 in black). The exclusive, hand-numbered packaging comes from Interrobang Letterpress and features alternative album art by M. Repasch Nieves. If you don't have a record player or can't get your hands on a copy, If Tomorrow The War will be available from all major digital stores.

Tour dates with City Of Ships:

08.07.10 – Burlington, VT Monkey House w. Mose Giganticus
08.08.10 – Allston, MA Great Scott w. Mose Giganticus
08.09.10 – Portland, ME Geno's
08.10.10 – Wallingford, CT Cherry Street Station
08.11.10 – Providence, RI The 201
08.12.10 – TBA NJ
08.13.10 – Philadelphia, PA The Khyber w. Mose Giganticus
08.14.10 – New York, NY The Acheron

Pre-order the album now and get the digital files on August 13 (vinyl will ship on or around September 7).

Crippled Black Phoenix @ Beat Kitchen (Chicago)

Counting Portishead's Geoff Barrow among its many past and present contributors, the United Kingdom's Crippled Black Phoenix creates what have been dubbed "endtime ballads."

The sound is one of dark folk with dirty guitars, ominous effects, diversified vocals, and countless guest electro/acoustic contributions, leaning on the multi-instrumental prowess of Justin Greaves (former drummer of Electric Wizard).  Imagine Mono, the Black Heart Procession, Rachel's, Godspeed! You Black Emperor, and a tiny touch of Isis being swirled together.

Saturday, April 4

Jacob Fred Jazz Odyssey @ House of Blues Back Porch Stage (Chicago)

Combining elements of jazz, groove, rock, classical, and electronic music, Tulsa’s Jacob Fred Jazz Odyssey presents a style of nü-jazz often associated with groups like Norway’s Jaga Jazzist. Yet the group's sound remains highly unique, and now JFJO tours in support of Winterwood, its great new album that can be downloaded for free and that marked the final recording with long-time member Reed Mathis.

Sunday, April 5

Pelican, Tombs @ The Empty Bottle (Chicago)

A month and a half removed from the release of Winter Hours, its brutal new album, Tombs finishes a tour with some dates through the Midwest.  The Brooklyn trio continues touring with Pelican, dirge metallists who hail from Chicago.  Expect a lot of pummeling mid-tempo riffs and half-time breakdowns.

Before recording a new album this spring, Converge will play a handful of shows, mostly during a week in March. Head to Deathwish Inc. for the full list.

Norwegian jazz/Balkan/surf group Farmers Market will perform with the Stravanger Symphony Orchestra for the country's MaiJazz festival in May.

A seventh album from Sunn O))), titled Monoliths & Dimensions, will be released May 18 on Southern Lord. The album includes guest appearances from Eyvind Kang, Julian Priester, Oren Ambarchi, Jessika Kenney, and Dylan Carlson.

Ethnically inspired electro-acoustic arists Balkan Beat Box are issuing a remix album, Nu Made, through JDub Records on April 7.

Tombs has posted its entire Relapse debut, Winter Hours, online to be streamed at www.winterhours.info.

Jazz trumpeter Dave Douglas will release a new album with his Brass Ecstasy group, titled Spirit Moves, later this spring.

The Brooklyn studio of Daptone Records, home of Sharon Jones & The Dap Kings and The Budos Band, was robbed on Monday. A list of stolen or damaged items can be seen here, and if you see this stuff online somewhere, holler at Daptone.

Brutal hardcore group Ed Gein is practicing again after a year and a half of inactivity. The group plans to start writing new material and play some scattered shows.

Long-form UK rock experimentalists Crippled Black Phoenix will tour the US for two weeks at the beginning of April.

Jaguar Love is no longer playing with drummer Jay Clark (former guitarist of Pretty Girls Make Graves). The band currently is a two-piece with a drum machine and will debut this new lineup for an Australian tour.

An Albatross still needs a guitarist to tour this summer! Get in touch if you're talented, friendly, and can travel to Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania.

Tee Pee Records labelmates Earthless and Witch begin a nine-day tour of the Northeastern US and Canada today.

Zu

Combining sludgy alt-metal with complex repeated rhythms and free-jazz freakouts, this experimental Italian trio delivers what could be one of the year's best albums with its latest effort, a debut for Ipecac that focuses on rock much more than its predecessors.

The album’s best songs include “Carbon” and “Soulympics,” the latter of which features Ipecac co-owner Mike Patton busting out ape-shit screeches akin to those from “Cuckoo for Caca” by Faith No More. "Carbon" is built around an infectious 1-2-3-4-5-6 rhythm (with one-note pauses between counts), pounding listeners with its relentless force.

Patton, who also guests on another song, joins Zu as the Zu / Mike Patton Quartet for a pair of shows (San Francisco, Mexico City) in March. If we're lucky, this will plant the seeds for a future full-length collaboration.

Zu: "Ostia"
Zu: \"Ostia\"

William Elliott Whitmore: Animals in the Dark (Anti-)

With his raspy, soulful, trademark voice in tow, minimalist folk banjo player William Elliot Whitmore moves to Anti- with the release of this new full-length.  New-found accents are present, expanding his blues-infused creations with touches of pedal steel, organs, strings, and drums.

"Mutiny" opens Animals in the Dark with a raucous tune of political metaphor.  "Who Stole the Soul" scales it back a notch, and the album continues through peaks and valleys of emotion, hitting its stride in the contemptuous "Old Devils."

Animals in the Dark is, without a doubt, Whitmore's best and most diverse creation to date.  Currently, you can stream the entire album at his MySpace page.

Irepress: Sol Eye Sea I (Translation Loss)

Following its debut full-length in 2007, this melodic math-chug group from Boston takes a decidedly epic turn on its sophomore release.

"Cyette Phiur," the fifth of the album's tracks, accents the band's crushing sound with soothing female guest vocals, bursts of gang vocals, fluttering saxophone, and possible bagpipes or accordion. Distant echoes and reverberated speed picking, a pair of previously established tools, surround the palm muting and clean-channel melodies to create a majestic atmosphere.

Irepress: "Cyette Phiur"
Irepress: \"Cyette Phiur\"

Tombs: Winter Hours (Relapse)

Hailing from Brooklyn, this droning doom-rock trio makes its Relapse debut with Winter Hours. Pummeling mid-tempo riffs package with heavily reverberated harmonies; dissonant ambiance separates the sonic punishment before guitarist Mike Hill bellows his abusing vocals, akin to those of 1990s sludgecore group His Hero is Gone.

Tombs: "Gossamer"
Tombs: \"Gossamer\"

Odd Nosdam: T.I.M.E. Soundtrack (Anticon)

Sample-based instrumental hip-hopper Odd Nosdam presents another blend of beats, melodies, and atmospherics, this time for the soundtrack to skateboard film This is My Element.

Applying each song to a different highlight reel, the tunes take different tones for each skater. Without being particularly sunny, the material refrains from being too down-tempo or dark. The result is a strong complement to the film's acrobatic highlights.

Odd Nosdam: "Fly Mode"
Odd Nosdam: \"Fly Mode\"

Kill That Cat has posted 37 minutes of live footage of Boston hardcore heroes Cave In from 1999, a time when the group was between the incomparable melodic metal of Until Your Heart Stops and the vocal-driven rock of Jupiter.

Burnt by the Sun has begun recording its long-awaited third full-length album, Heart of Darkness. The album will be out late spring or early summer on Relapse, and a demo track can be heard at the band's MySpace page.

The new Cursive album, Mama, I'm Swollen, will be released March 10 from Saddle Creek.

With Surfin' USSR, Balkan/jazz/surf fusionists Farmers Market won the award for best album of the year in the open class of Spellemannprisen, the Norwegian equivalent of the Grammys.

Brooklyn doom-metal outfit Tombs posted a video for "Gossamer" on its MySpace blog. The song is taken from Winter Hours, the band's new album out February 17 on Relapse.

In a recent interview for the Fullerton College (California) paper, drummer Tomas Haake announced that Meshuggah will have a live DVD released sometime this year between late spring and early fall. The band currently is headlining a North American tour.

Elysian Fields plays a New York show this Sunday, February 8 before beginning a month-long European tour.

After free downloadable Halloween albums and an anti-capitalism full-length, idiosyncratic folk rapper Tim Fite is releasing a free downloadable Valentine's Day album, Change of Heart, through his website.

The members of Iraqi metal band Acrassicauda, whose courageous tale is shown in Heavy Metal in Baghdad, have been granted refugee status by the US and can apply for green cards in a year.

Calexico

Jimmy Carl Black, the original drummer of Frank Zappa and The Mothers of Invention, has passed away at the age of 70 after a fight with lung cancer.

All Tomorrow's Parties has announced a new festival, scheduled for May 15-17, 2009 in Minehead. The fest will be curated by The Breeders and tickets are already on sale.

In other ATP news, '90s doom-metal group Sleep will reunite to play the series' next festival in Minehead, taking place earlier in May of 2009.

Interested parties can watch a free streaming video of Calexico's Southwestern folk from a 23-song performance in Amsterdam.

Genre-leaping identical twins and instrumentalists Nels Cline (guitar: Nels Cline Singers, Wilco) and Alex Cline (drums/percussion: The Alex Cline Ensemble, Tim Berne) are each releasing a solo album on Cryptogramophone on February 10, 2009. Follow the link for a sample track from each.

Technically assailing math-metal Relapse artists Dysrythmia have booked shows for February with labelmates Tombs.

Hard-hitting Brooklyn trio Goes Cube will have a limited-edition EP for sale on its upcoming Midwest and East Coast tour dates, some of which are paired with ALARM cover favorites Dub Trio.

Unsigned jam/groove duo Family Order has made all of its excellent upcoming album available for free download.

Funky jazz guitarist Will Bernard has begun a handful of West Coast tour dates with his trio.

Deftones bassist Chi Cheng is hospitalized and in serious condition after being involved in a car accident.