new arrivals: tom waits, coldplay & more

Well, if you’ve been saving your pennies for that mythical rainy day, ladies & germs, THAT DAY HAS ARRIVED. No matter what your pleasure, there’s certain to be something within today’s mammoth haul that suits you. Why does it seem like I’m saying that with extra confidence? Because today also sees the New Arrivals debut of Dave Sumner — aka Jonah Powell — who will be combing through the stacks at the same time I do, grabbing the jazz titles of note for a section we’re (for the time being, anyway) dubbing Jonah’s Jazz Picks. Sound good? Sounds good to me. Let’s do this.

Tom Waits, Bad As Me: First fully-new Tom Waits studio record since 2004′s Real Gone and man oh man is it a good one. It’s kind of a compendium of everything Tom has ever done right during the last half of his career, but it still feels fresh and inspired and absolutely essential. Also, I’m just gonna put this out there, I feel like he’s channeling ODB on the title track. Seriously. Maybe not intentionally, but the similarities are striking. Or, if not striking, apparent only to me. Do I even need to say it? HIGHLY RECOMMENDED. And if you wanna dive even deeper into the world of Tom, we’re proud to offer 14 of his classic albums for just $4.99. $4.99! Dive into that sale here, and Here’s Sam Adams with a more articulate take on the new record:

Arriving seven years after Real Gone, Bad As Me busts out of the gate with the churning horns of “Chicago.” But with the lagging tabla beat of the next track, “Raised Right Men,” Waits steps on the brakes, and he more or less keeps his foot down for the rest of the album. The word “relaxed” is nowhere in Waits’s lexicon, but there’s an unhurried ease to songs like “Talking at the Same Time” and “Back in the Crowd.” Waits sings away from the beat, as if even his rhythm section can’t set his pace. “Last Leaf” confronts mortality with fleeting defiance, and “New Year’s Eve” is a mandolin-tinged waltz, not a time signature that gets much play in his repertoire.

Coldplay, Mylo Xyloto: Sorry, dudes, but I like this band. I know. I know. But repeatedly calling a band “bland” kind of becomes bland in itself after a while, you know? Plus, the hooks on this one are day-glo and the first proper song on it finds them doing their best Arcade Fire impersonation, and there are at least five or six other songs here worth their weight in Crayola. So, you know, my diminishing cred be damned, I’m going to go ahead and give this a RECOMMENDED and let Wayne Robins elaborate:

Their fifth studio album, Mylo Xyloto (made-up words despite online MacGuffins as to meaning) makes good use of the tension between wanderlust and safety. “Hurts Like Heaven” drops the “soft” from Coldplay’s soft-rock wheelhouse, and kicks hard, a rush of blood through the keyboards with some of the roaming impulse of Arcade Fire’s anthems. “Charlie Brown” with lines such as “took a car downtown where the lost boys meet,” leaves little doubt that Chris Martin means it when he says he had been looking to Bruce Springsteen’s Darkness on the Edge of Town for inspiration.

The Bats, Free All the Monsters: It’s a new record from The Bats!! Thirty years into their career, these leading lights of the Kiwipop scene sound as bright and effervescent as ever, furthering their legacy with another batch of flawless, melodic pop songs. Guitars wreath hushed vocals like fog around a streetlight, and the songs ease from verse to chorus with a kind of relaxed assurance. God, this band is still so outstanding. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED

El Rego, s/t: The second afrofunk reissue from the always-great Daptone focuses on this unjustly overlooked superstar. Andy Beta has more:

Put together by our generation’s finest African excavator, Frank “Voodoo Funk” Grossner, this crucial, if belated, El Rego retrospective turns the age-old Singles vs. Albums debate on its ear: El Rego released the majority of his music on the addictive, if disposable, 45 medium, which left him out of all discussion of Important African Artists until all of those three-minute blasts could be found. It was well worth the wait: check the JB-worthy call-and-response against the crisp funk of “Hessa”; the breakneck pacing (and wild “yow”ing) of “Djobime”; the tangy percussion of “Do Do Baya.” He drops revolutionary desert blues on “Viva le Renouveau” and then gets even slower and slinkier on closer “Ke Amon-Gbetchea,” commanding our attention with a whisper, not a scream.

Justice, Audio, Video, Disco: Frenchmen finally return to see if America is ready to dance with them again. I think the jury may be out. Reports on this one have been mixed, but Barry Walters has found enough here to love. He writes:

Although Augé and de Rosnay talked a good game about Audio being the daytime pastoral alternative to the nocturnal urbanity of †, the results are more Laserium-friendly than ever: Check those spiraling guitars exploding in harmony on “Canon” as they pay tribute to “Strawberry Letter 23,” the Shuggie Otis psychedelic soul jam popularized by the Brothers Johnson. Like their rep-starting Simian remix “We Are Your Friends,” Audio is the musical equivalent of a buddy’s drunken arm around your shoulder — awkward, maybe even a little overbearing, but unexpectedly comforting.

Deer Tick, Divine Providence: Latest from the Ticksters, who have retired their all-Nirvana cover act Deervana in favor of their excellent original material. I think they should continue to alternate Deer Tick tours with tours in which they take on the guises of other bands. May I humbly suggest: Cheap Tick? No? I should just shut up and let Lindsay Zoladz do the rest?

Their fourth release, Divine Providence, finds them streamlining these influences into a straight-up, kick-in-the-teeth rock sound. “Funny World” stomps like “Suffragette City” with a little more dirt under the fingernails, while the Replacements would undoubtedly raise a glass (or 10) to the rowdy beer-punk anthem “Let’s All Go to the Bar.” But Divine Providence also shows off McCauley’s range in moments of sobering reflection (“Chevy Express,” “Electric”). “Goodbye, time/ You ain’t on my side,” he croaks on the Stones-nodding “Main Street,” sounding characteristically wizened beyond his years.

Oh-Ok, The Complete: Full recordings from overlooked ’80s Athens band featuring Lynda Stipe, whose brother’s band just broke up and ruined my month. This is great — off-kilter pop not unlike a more polished Raincoats or Dolly Mixture. Obtuse guitars and affectless alto vocals earn this a RECOMMENDED

Various Artists, Bambara Mystic Soul (The Raw Sound of Burkina Faso 1974-1979): FANTASTIC compilation that documents the Burkinabé scene of the ’70s. You can really hear the rock influence in these tracks — skipping highlife and sweaty Afrobeat gets laced up with psych organs and thumping backbeats. To quote the Analog Africa site, “The raw sound of Burkina Faso combined Afro-Funk, traditional Islamic rhythms and subtle Afro-Latin sounds brought over by visiting Cuban ensembles.” This one gets the expected HIGHLY RECOMMENDED

Paul Simon, Songwriter: All these years after he started, Paul Simon is finally getting his due from all the people who blindly wrote him off (ie: pretty much just me). I don’t know what it is, but I’m going through a real Paul Simon phase lately. This compilation is for people like me, who are just now waking up to his music, or for the non-numbskulls who always knew of his greatness and are just looking to have all his hits in one place.

Robyn Hitchcock, Chronology: The Very Best of Robyn Hitchcock: Career-spanning hits collection from Hitch profiles just what a fantastic and idiosyncratic songwriter he is. If you’re somehow still unfamiliar: Hitchcock has a charmingly wry delivery and an unerring ear for cockeyed melodies, capable of both sarcasm and sentiment, sometimes within the space of the same breath. This one is HIGHLY RECOMMENDED. Karen Schoemer agrees:

This digital-only 29-year retrospective, spanning the Soft Boys’ buzzy new-wave psychedelia through the more rueful folk-rock of his recent solo albums, doesn’t feel the least bit truncated or cheap. Magnificently curated by Hitchcock himself, it eschews the outer limits of his bizarre imagination in favor of songs that turn that most conventional of pop topics inside-out. Hitchcock has never exactly been an innovator — from the early-Beatles Rickenbacker chime of “Madonna of the Wasps” through the tweaked ’70s Memphis strut of “Full Moon in My Soul,” he proves himself time and again as one of indie’s most fetishistic plunderers of the past.

Wax Idols, No Future: HoZac debut from one of my favorite new bands combines reverb-soaked guitars with far-off vocals and irresistible pop hooks. Barry Walters has more:

Like fellow Oakland band Hunx and His Punx, Wax Idols belong to a next-wave of pop punk that has little to do with Warped Tours, Hot Topic, Broadway musicals, etc. Former Punx guitarist and current Wax Idol multi-instrumentalist Hether Fortune aka Heather Fedewa draws darkly from a tradition of aestheticized yet accessible blare that evokes ’90s Brit-poppers Elastica as well as Wire, the ’70s art-punk originators who inspired Elastica and whose “Sand in My Joints” gets reverently covered here.

Mumford & Sons, Live from Shepherd’s Bush Empire: This band is not really my thing. Here they are not really being my thing live.

The Beets, Let the Poison Out: I really love these guys. Goofy band from Jackson Heights, Queens, specialize in making a kind of kindergarten pop music — lots of loose strumming, earnest, belted-out vocals and an undeniable ear for hooks. Past records were swaddled in reverb, but this one finds the Bats cleaned up and letting their beautiful imperfections show. RECOMMENDED

Statik Selektah, Population Control: A whole host of impressive guest spots on this LP from producer Statik Selektah, including Action Bronson, Bun B, Styles P, Saigon and many more. Statik mostly avoids the nakedly nostalgic productions of many of his peers, instead opting for tough beats that occasionally drop in snippets of classic soul, but mostly sound contemporary.

Peggy Sue, Acrobats: Pretty excellent, slow-moving music that interlaces guitar and weird, witchy vocals for, as Laura put it, a more ominous version of Warpaint. This is truly bewitching stuff: violins creak like old floorboards and the vocals sound like they’re foretelling something awful. RECOMMENDED

Spectrals, Bad Penny: New outing on the great Slumberland label, Spectrals are basically Louis Jones, a 21-year-old newcomer who specializes in cockeyed British pop music.

Yo-Yo Ma, Stuart Duncan, Edgar Meyer & Chris Thile, The Goat Rodeo Sessions: Yo-Yo Ma recruits another batch of all-stars — among them Nickel Creek’s mandolin player extraordinaire Chris Thile for some distinctly Americana-derived music. Fiddles dart and dash, violins weep and mandolins skip and prance, making this one for your more elegant square dances. You know, the kind where they serve tea and finger sandwiches.

A Classic Education, Call it Blazing: I have been waiting for this record to come out for a year now. Hurtling tempos, jangly guitars and high school vocals make this a no-brainer for fans of Comet Gain or Cloud Nothings. Matthew Fritch says:

Singer Jonathan Clancy — who’s Canadian-born, and capable of delivering English lyrics without a hint of an Italian accent or the slightly askew verbiage that often results from non-native speakers — is a ringer for the Shins’ James Mercer, but that band’s ’60s-pop jangle has been switched out for stormy post-punk guitars and reverb. For the most part, Call It Blazing alternates its tempos: Following every mellowed-out moment (the vintage organ on “Place A Bet On You” is better than Xanax) is a proper pick-me-up (“Baby It’s Fine” clatters its drumsticks just in time to counteract opening dirge “Work It Out”).

DNTL, Life is Full of Possibilities (Reissue): Reissue of debut album from one half of the Postal Service is weirder and more experimental, more fuzz than solid song, and still fascinating to listen to so many years on. Most of it sounds like disembodies voices, floating in the ether. It’s RECOMMENDED.

Jedi Mind Tricks, Violence Begets Violence: Long-running militant hip-hop group still manages to be genuinely scary. JMT have a genuinely uncompromising attitude (a nun gets stabbed in the first song here, right before a boast about listening to only black metal). This is pretty oppressive, as you’ve come to expect — harsh and sometimes hectoring rhymes over apocalyptic beats.

Junius, Reports From the Threshhold of Death: This band’s last record was a dark-rock masterpiece, a concept album about a catastrophe theorist that used its backdrop to explore life’s catastrophes in general. The mood hasn’t lightened any of the follow-up: as the title implies, Threshhold is obsessed with the grave — and what’s beyond, chaining dark prophecies and visions to the group’s patented blend of imposing rock. Fans of Deftones who haven’t yet discovered this band: don’t wait any longer.

Kelly Clarkson, Stronger: Another pop star I have absolutely no issues with. Like a lot of people, I harbor a whole lot of affection for “Since U Been Gone,” but I’ve liked KC’s career since then — she’s a gutsy singer and seems to be following her own muse, veering from bright pop to kinda bleak, churning pop. This one is sleeker than the last few. Maura Johnston has more:

In keeping with Clarkson’s career — and the ethos of Idol — her fifth album takes its inspirations from all over the pop map. While Dr. Luke and Max Martin, who shepherded “Gone” and the lead single from Clarkson’s previous album All I Ever Wanted, aren’t present, the producers in the mix give Stronger a texture that shows how the genre of “pop” can be a jumping-off point, and not an endgame. “You Love Me” is muscular guitar-pop with gorgeous new-wave flourishes blossoming on its pre-chorus; “Dark Side” has a delicate lullaby threaded throughout.

Snowgoons, Reef The Lost Cauze: Your Favorite MCs: I love this German production duo because all of their beats are so huge. Seriously: every note sounds vital and urgent in an OH MY GOD! kind of way — as if every second matters, so why not fill it with a million musical exclamation points? Philly rapper Reef mostly justifies the drama, and gets help from a handful of guests. I’m going to go ahead and say this one’s RECOMMENDED

Kathryn Calder, Bright & Vivid: Latest from New Pornographers vocalist took me totally by surprised. I was expecting willowy guitar pop, but instead what we’ve got here is some toothy, snarling synth-based songs not too far off from, say St. Vincent. RECOMMENDED

Hurricane Bells, Tides and Tales: New one from Brooklyn group is full of bright, twinklings songs that dawdle rather than hurtle, leaving plenty of room for Steve Schiltz’s lean, sonorous voice.

Various Artists, The Bridge School Concerts 25th Anniversary Edition: Boasting performances from the last quarter-century (!) of benefit performances organized by Neil Young, this comp opens with Springsteen doing “Born in the USA” in its original, dark, anti-anthem, Nebraska-esque form before moving on to selections from Sonic Youth and R.E.M., to name two bands who broke up over the course of the last month and caused me immeasurable heartbreak. Speaking of heartbreak, there’s also an unplugged Metallica song on here. (Actually, that one’s not so bad.)

Mr. Gnome, Madness in Miniature: Some coyly curling music from a band with a goofy name. The emphasis here is on Nicole Barille’s little-girl vocals, which are demure and deliciously strange, giving their airy pop an air of menace.

The Barreracudas, Nocturnal Missions: Pretty excellent serving of punky power-pop with raging guitars and sugar-spun choruses. Like if Cheap Trick was signed to HoZac. Austin L. Ray concurs:

Adrian Barrera and his crew — four-fifths of which, including Barrera, also perform as Gentleman Jesse’s “Men” — stop short of naming a song “Classic Power Pop,” you still get the idea. The lyrics are simple, the hooks relentless and the whole thing feels like one giant party, with red Solo cups now and regrets in the morning.

The Spits, V: Trash-punk band on In the Red records seem to whittle more elements away from their songs with each minute; beat-up drums, scuzzy guitars and tough-guy vocals make for one of the strangest punk records in recent months.

Mark Sultan, Whatever I Want and Whenever I Want It: Double shot of both punk and ragged power-pop from member of King Khan & the BBQ show mines the same territory as the previous two releases, falling somewhere in between full commitment to melody and half-hearted suggestions of it.

Above Ground, Gone Aiwa: The trashiest sounding record I have heard in a long time (and that’s saying something), this new one from the great Siltbreeze label specializes in half-assed drumming, plinking keyboards and deadpan spoken vocals that kind of recall Mark E. Smith. Sounds like a band playing drunk at a house party in a basement at 2am with the lights off. Weirdly perfect for Halloween, actually. If you have an appreciation for music that is proudly imperfect like I do, this one’s for you.

Christina Vantzou, No 1: Really lovely, moving, soundtracky ambient music that sounds like mist settling across a forest in early morning. It’s beautiful stuff.

The Appleseed Cast, Low Level Owl, Vols 1 & 2: Both volumes of the Cast’s Low Level Owl project balance undeniably bright eyed and tuneful proto-emo with passages of stark ambiance and hushed tones.

Human Switchboard, Who’s Landing in My Hangar: Early American indie band gets anthologized – their songs are ramshackle and charming, and Kurt Cobain dubbed their song “Refrigerator Door” “The ‘Stairway to Heaven’ of punk,” meaning, I guess, it’s what dorks play in music stores when they’re trying to figure out which guitar to buy. The music here is mostly wobbly and post-punk derived, with a nervousness that’s palpable. RECOMMENDED

Gaby Lita, Ekonda Saccade Vol. 1, 1969 – 1974: Absolutely outstanding compilation of highlife and palmwine from this superstar of the ’60s Kinshasha scene. You’ve got coiled guitars, jubilant vocals and percolating rhythms, making this one a must-own and HIGHLY RECOMMENDED

Frank Alpine, s/t: Those already initiated into the world of Wierd Records know what to expect here. Those that aren’t — what are you waiting for? This is bleak minimalist synth stuff, the perfect soundtrack for your Haunted House next weekend. Provided your Haunted House has some kind of weird ’80s Berlin theme going on.

Various Artists, Tweest and Shout: Compilation of precocious indie bands, none of whom I’ve ever heard before, but who run the gamut from ’60s-inspired pop to weirder, more dissonant and outre stuff. Worth a sample.

The Frogs, Made-Up Songs #6 & 8: Not for the faint of heart. The Frogs probably should have been on our Shocking Albums list, to be honest with you. These guys stirred up all kinds of hell when they were kicking around the indie scene years ago. You can spend some time Googling to find out, or just sample the first song from this compilation of some of the homemade tapes they created early in their career, in which you’ll find lyrics that are still eye-poppingly controversial (I originally typed them out, then saw what they looked like written out, and wised up).

Death in June, NADA Plus!: Reissue of seminal 1984 cassette from dark folk group Death in June is rounded out with rarities and still is as strange and unsettling as you might remember. Dark, culty baritone vocals moan strange melodies over acoustic strums, and the albums flow is interrupted by what sound like field recordings from some kind of sick ritual.

Russian Circles, Empros: More instrumental madness from the Circles, with lots of high-arcing guitars, sudden breakdowns and the kind of weeping lyricism you’ve come to expect from bands who loiter around the post-rock side of things.

Saviour Machine, Demo: 20th Anniversary Reissue: Home recording of apocalyptic art metal group gets cleaned up and reissued, for some reason. I like these guys, but unless you’re a diehard fan — a species I’m going to guess does not exist — you’re going to want the finished versions of these songs.

Dark Captain, Dead Legs & Alibis: Nice, moody, evocative indie puts a premium on atmosphere, letting whispererd vocals flutter amongst acoustic guitars, gentle pianos and wind chimes.

Scott Weiland, The Most Wonderful Time of the Year: Scott Weiland Christmas Album. I repeat: Scott Weiland Christmas Album.

–>Jonah’s Jazz Picks
1982, Pintura: ECM musicians put out an oddly melodic album of avant-garde tunes. The trio, composed of harmonium (Sigbjorn Apeland), drums (Oyvind Skarbo), and Hardinger fiddle (Nils Oklund) conveys a surprisingly whimsical take on Very Serious Music. Sort of a chamber jazz trio interpreting old folk tunes. I expect some people to say this isn’t jazz. I also expect some people to place this album on their top ten of the year. Released on the Hubro label, newly formed to focus on the Norwegian jazz and improvised music scene.

Kapla Trio, Crossing: Well, this piano trio album might be a hidden gem. Piano with a subtle flair for the dramatic, drums that don’t confuse frantic with loud, and a bass player that throws in some bowing just to remind us that it’s okay to be melancholic from time to time. Would you like to know more about them? Hey, so would I, but a couple quick google searches didn’t give me much to fill in the details in the short time before filing this article. I’ll shoot out some emails and add what I learn to the comments section below.

Russ Lossing Trio, Oracle: A rare release of a hatOLOGY label album on emusic. For those who don’t know, Hat Hut / hatOlOGY is an avant-garde lovers paradise. On this trio outing, Russ Lossing (piano) employs minimalism and bursts of dissonance as the primary expression of experimentalism. Masa Kamaguchi (bass) and Billy Mintz (drums) expertly fill out the trio. Not a bad place to go if you’re looking to explore the avant-garde territory of jazz.

Chelo Segui, From Now On. Wanting to develop a jazz album in the spirit of new tango, Chelo has given us an album that sounds unlike most anything that has come through emusic lately. Much how Guillermo Klein provides his own personal voice to Latin jazz, Chelo builds on the rhythms and harmonies of his Argentinean roots and delivers an intriguing album deserving of attention. I love when I’m browsing through jazz new releases and get rooted in place by an unexpected stroke of music talent. Quartet of Segui on alto & soprano sax, accompanied by piano, bass, and drums. Outstanding.

The Four Bags, Forth: This quartet tackles a bunch of schizophrenic compositions and, somehow, create an album of strange pretty tunes. The first track on this album is titled “Wayne Shorter’s Tune With All Different Notes,” which, to my ears, accurately reflects the sound and intent of this album. Ensemble instruments include bass clarinet, trombone, accordion, and guitar This is either the kind of album I fall in love with or rue the day I took it home with me from the bar. Fans of John Lurie’s Lounge Lizards should find something to like here, as would fans of Tom Waits looking to experiment with some jazz and jazz fans who have been having the time of their life picking through the Clean Feed label’s excellent output these past couple years.

Just a four song EP, but I thought I’d briefly put the spotlight on The Vicky Tilson Quartet, Tales From a Forgotten City: Vicky Tilson is a classically trained oboist and pianist who became afflicted with a jazz addiction and turned to a career as a bassist leading her own ensemble. Straight-ahead modern jazz, but with plenty of personal nuance to keep it from becoming “just another jazz album.” Builds on the promise of last year’s debut release of Picture from Jitske. According to Vicky’s notes, the title refers, in part to her on-and-off love affair with London, of how one can concurrently wish to leave a place and still grow nostalgic for a home that once was. Or something like that. It’s a good album; give it a listen.

Much like having a planned day off to lounge around but too much energy to do anything other but go out and play in the rain, the European Union Quartet’s The Dark Peak gives the impression of an album full of purposefully introspective tunes foiled by the ensemble’s abounding happiness on recording day. Sax, guitar, double bass, and drums. Worth mentioning that for listeners who have difficulty accepting guitar in a jazz environment, definitely give this album a listen; guitar meets the ear half-way on this one.

Empirical, Elements of Truth: I absolutely love when an ensemble builds intricate compositions around seemingly simple melodies. To have that melody to grasp onto while exploring the varied elements that comprise the rest of the song isn’t something to be undervalued. This ensemble of alto sax, vibes (and glockenspiel), drums, and double bass presents some strong improvisational skill, displaying complexity without laying it on too thick, and making for a very enjoyable album. Empirical won Best Jazz Act in the 2010 MOBO Awards; Elements of Truth proves that they didn’t let if affect their musical drive.

David S. Ware, Organica (Solo Saxophones Vol. 2): Recorded live at Chicago’s Umbrella Music Festival, David Ware gives a performance of solo tenor and sopranino saxophones. I recognize that an album that consisting of solo sax compositions isn’t going to appeal to a wide cross-section of jazz listeners, but David Ware is pretty much a jazz legend, and anytime he puts out a new album, it deserves mention. If you’d like to hear David on a studio album with his working quartet, hop on over and give Planetary Unknown a listen, released in June of this year.

And briefly, a quick shout-out for Marcel Saegesser’s album The Last Place (Left). It really shouldn’t be categorized under jazz, but this electronica-drone featuring bass violin and accordion was just too cool not to mention.

–>Singles & EPs
Big Deal, Chair: Pretty excellent sounding record from duo on Mute records sets boy/girl vocals over a taut electric guitar strum for a final product that is alternately moving and arresting. Also contains a lovely, surprisingly downcast cover of Big Star’s “Thirteen.”

White Denim, Takes Place in Your Work Space: New EP from the boys in blue has the requisite helping of cockeyed pop, oddly mellow and measured, heavy on the atmosphere and the retiring melodies.

Pandr Eyes, Eyes on You: Uh, so I really like this? Imagine Beyonce fronting some indie-synth band and you’re on to what’s happening here. The vocals combine the best aspects of contemporary R&B and the music is adventurous and edgy. Guess what, Pandr Eyes? You get a RECOMMENDED. Thank me later.

Hookworms, Hookworms: Pretty excellent-sounding kraut-psych from this UK band has the chugging motorik tempos you’ve come to expect, but gives it a heavy dusting of acid fuzz. RECOMMENDED

Dengue Fever, Live in Los Angeles: Four songs from a recent live show by the great Cambodian rock band finds them nimble and adroit – a live force to be reckoned with.

Kathleen Edwards, “Wapusk”: I seriously do not approve of what’s happened to Kathleen Edwards since she started dating Bon Iver. This is quiet and pastoral and whispery. This is not “The Cheapest Key.”

Imogen Heap, “Neglected Space”: Imogen Heap is the new Laurie Anderson? This is a strange, murky, mostly ambient single. Not what I expected.

–> Joe’s Metal Box
Black Tusk, Set the Dial: White-hot new outing from Georgia metal band is going to hit the sweet spot of every Kylesa and Baroness fan in the crowd. Hardcore-inspired riffing, pulverizing rhythms and bug-eyed vocals make this a hard rock stunner. RECOMMENDED

Death, Individual Thought Patterns (Reissue): Fifth album from pioneering death metal act grinds like a drill press into warm flesh. The group finds plenty of room for some startlingly melodic guitar solos while still keeping the body count high. Needless to say, for metal fans, this one is HIGHLY RECOMMENDED

ASG, Low Country: The artwork here looks a whole lot to me like the work of Baroness’s John Baizley (not sure, though), and the music takes that band’s knack for divebombing riffs and saddles it with some defiantly melodic vocals. Like NWOBHM meets Mastodon.

Kvelertak, s/t: OK, this I know is John Baizley artwork. Blistering Norwegian band goes for a kind of blackened thrash metal, swapping truly pummeling passages with some surprsing melodicism (The guitar break in “Blodtørst” is masterful). An angrier Skeletonwitch. RECOMMENDED

Miasmal, Miasmal: Brutal, slow and chugging, this is the sound of sinking into a tarpit. So much fury, so many slicing riffs and so much pure tonnage!