This week’s best albums:
– The slow, crackling burn of “Hasidic doom jazz” returns with Pillar Without Mercy, a full-length from Deveykus that shows Dan Blacksberg coaxing the dark side out of his trombone.
– Prolific hip-hop producer Madlib delivers rare cuts from his own squeaky, helium-pitched, blunt-smoking alter-ego, Quasimoto.
– Releasing his 20th (!) album since 2000, peerless guitarist/composer Bill Frisell issues another blend of folksy alt-country, this time inspired by the natural beauty of the California coastline.
Honorable mentions
Austra: Olympia (Domino)
Marco Beltrami: World War Z soundtrack (Warner Bros.)
High on Fire: Spitting Fire Live Vol. 1 & 2 (E1)
Mac Miller: Watching Movies with the Sound Off (Rostrum)
Minsk: With Echoes in the Movement of Stone (Exalt)
Sigur Rós: Kveikur (XL)