Music

Atoms for Peace

Review: Atoms for Peace’s Amok looks forward, not back

Atoms for Peace: AmokAtoms for Peace: Amok (XL, 2/26/13)

“Judge, Jury, and Executioner”

Atoms for Peace: “Judge, Jury, and Executioner”

You know the story by now: A few years ago, Radiohead front-man Thom Yorke started a band to help him perform songs from his 2006 solo effort, The Eraser, live. One thing led to another, and now he’s made the band into a full-fledged project that includes longtime producer/visionary Nigel Godrich and Red Hot Chili Peppers bassist Flea, as well as Joey Waronker and percussionist Mauro Refosco. Needless to say, there’s been a lot of buzz surrounding this one.

Jaga Jazzist & Britten Sinfonia

Watch a spectacular rendition of Jaga Jazzist’s “One-Armed Bandit” with a chamber ensemble

Jaga Jazzist: Live with Britten SinfoniaJaga Jazzist: Live with Britten Sinfonia (Ninja Tune, 5/14/13)

In September of 2012, Norwegian jazz-rock crossover outfit Jaga Jazzist recorded a special performance with the UK chamber ensemble Britten Sinfonia. Now the band is releasing a live recording of the event, titled Live with Britten Sinfonia, on May 14 in the US via Ninja Tune.

Watch a spectacular rendition of “One-Armed Bandit” below, with its multi-layered repetitions leading into cascading melodies and beautiful chase sequences. Pre-order the album here, and prepare to get out of your seat.

Kaki King

Interview: Kaki King’s virtuosic return

Kaki King: GlowKaki King: Glow (Velour, 10/9/12)

“Great Round Burn”

Kaki King: “Great Round Burn”

After an auspicious start as a finger-tapping virtuoso and a transformation to singer-songwriter, guitarist Kaki King has returned to her instrumental roots with Glow, her first vocal-free LP since 2004. It’s much more than a rehash or a collection of melodies; Glow marries the best of her developed songcraft with melodic beauty and multi-layered accents.

The direction may surprise some, seeing as when King last left us, she was lathering her songs in vocal harmonies, catchy choruses, and quirky lyrics. But Glow brings King full circle, back to a method of telling stories with quickly picked melodies, percussive tapping, and calmly strummed chord progressions. What caused this shift? A simple fork in the road.

“I think what helped shape Glow,” King says, “was the sort of ambivalence I was beginning to feel at that time, about if I was going to continue to play guitar for a living.”

Municipal Waste + Vans

Municipal Waste’s good-time thrash-metal parade for Vans

The latest installment in Vans’ “Off the Wall” series comes courtesy of one of our favorite party-time thrash bands, Municipal Waste, and it’s a doozy.

Watch as a marching band gives way to the band’s thrashy good times, complete with werewolf…rabbits?…in Day of Dead paint, a float with a swimming pool turned half-pipe, and giant paper-maché and/or cardboard heads. It’s one of the best shoe commercials you’ll probably ever see.

Ghost BC

Public-access blasphemy: Ghost BC’s video for “Secular Haze”

Ghost BC: InfestissumamGhost BC: Infestissumam (Loma Vista, 4/9/13)*

[*not final cover art]

Swedish occult-metal band Ghost BC (formerly just Ghost) is back this April with its “sophomore psalm,” Infestissumam, and it promises more rollicking tunes set to lyrical themes about everyone’s favorite dark overlord.

The video for “Secular Haze,” the album’s first single, finds the band in its usual high-priest and heavy-cloak garb, jamming its just-barely sinister melodies on a public-access-style set. Catch the band live across America this spring.

Dan Friel

A neon-soaked, window-rattling synth banger in Dan Friel’s “Thumper” video

Dan Friel: Total FolkloreDan Friel: Total Folklore (Thrill Jockey, 2/19/13)

Today sees the release of Dan Friel’s Total Folklore, a soundtrack to the urban environment that’s “halfway between overwhelming noise rock and video-game chiptunes.”

The video for “Thumper,” a melodic yet overblown synth tune that cranks the bass, finds Friel at an electronic workstation, headbanging and hunched over the controls while a big screen delivers trippy neon visuals.