Weekly Music News Roundup

Serengeti and Polyphonic sign to Anticon; Isis, Tera Melos, and The Dead Kenny Gs announce tour dates; a release date is announced for the Bygones album; Ben Folds goes a cappella; Bastard Noise releases a five-disc CD set.  This and more in the roundup…

Ten Albums to Anticipate This Spring

As the weather stops being oppressive in the Northern Hemisphere, a number of potentially great albums from countless genres are on the way.  Here’s a list of ten that have us excited, including efforts from Isis, MF Doom, Coalesce, Prefuse 73, Mr. Lif, and more.

ALARM’s Top 10 Albums of 2008

Our list of favorites from last year includes devastating dub metal, organ-fueled psychedelic grind, a re-released classic-rock gem from nearly four decades ago, an international assemblage of punk-infused field recordings, and an Indian/surf/metal take on John Zorn‘s Masada material.

Weekly Music News Roundup

Details emerge about new albums from Isis, Tortoise, Akron/Family, and Stinking Lizaveta; Zu announces some dates for a world tour (a pair of which are with Mike Patton); Dark Meat will go on tour with its 17 members; the Scion Rock Fest hosts a spate of crushing metal bands in Atlanta on February 28.

Keep readin’…

18 Albums on our Radar in 2009

This year promises to be a great one for music. Isis, The Bad Plus, Mastodon, Dan Deacon, Coalesce, Jerseyband, Converge, and at least three Mike Patton creations (Mondo Cane, Fantômas, Crudo) are slated to release new albums.

Get the ETA on these and other anticipated albums after the jump.

Zu: Modern Genius or Noisy Rubbish?

We’ve had a bit of that debate in the office of late, with online editor Scott Morrow weighing in on the side of genius. For those unfamiliar, Zu is an experimental Italian trio that combines sludgy alt-metal with complex rhythms and free-jazz freakouts.

Video: “Chop Socky” by Tipsy

Built around the lounge-heavy mixture of cut-and-paste artist Dave Gardner, Tipsy has a new live lineup that recreates the quirky film noir / spy thriller / Hawaiian electronica of its albums. The group’s new album, Buzzz, is another engaging stylistic union that doubles as perfect background music.

Weekly Music News Roundup

Fantômas
Fantômas

Fantômas plays The Director’s Cut in its entirety, Jon Brion posts an instrumental tune, Tim Fite releases a free Halloween EP, MySpace posts the Ben Folds Five performance of The Unauthorized Biography of Reinhold Messner, and much more…

The Top 10 Record Label Names

Lord knows that there are thousands of record labels in the world. So how does one go about separating itself from the rest (other than through awesome music)? That would be with a good name. Thankfully, these labels all have great music as well.

Interview: Dub Trio


Long car rides, too much gas-station coffee, and being surrounded by incompetent drivers on the California interstate have made the members of Dub Trio a little restless this afternoon, but the good-natured band from Brooklyn is taking it in stride.

Crooner Jeffery Osbourne’s 1982 R&B hit “On the Wings of Love” plays over satellite radio, a device, the band agrees, that has infinitely improved road trips. “Oh my god, yeah—it’s a beautiful thing!” guitarist DP Holmes exclaims.

The band is at the tail end of its West Coast tour with Helmet. Next week it’s back east to take off again with fellow New Yorkers and friends Gogol Bordello. Relentless touring is the life of an up-and-coming, hard-working band.