V/A: The Man with the Iron Fists soundtrack (Soul Temple, 10/23/12)
Assembled by rapper/director RZA, the soundtrack for The Man with the Iron Fists aurally delivers on the eyeball-punching promises of his over-the top grindhouse martial-arts movie.
From blues-driven opener “The Baddest Man Alive,” which sees RZA reunite with collaborators The Black Keys, this collection of largely new tracks works as a cohesive album while being eclectic enough to function as accompaniment for a film.
Indian Handcrafts: Civil Disobedience for Losers (Sargent House, 10/30/12)
“Red Action”
Indian Handcrafts: “Red Action”
If one is company, two is an all-out riot. That’s the reigning message championed by this newest effort from Indian Handcrafts, the Ontario-based duo of Brandyn James Aikins (drums) and Daniel Brandon Allen (guitar).
With a title and album cover evocative of Ridley Scott’s 1982 dystopian classic Blade Runner, Wires Under Tension’s second album, Replicant, wears its neon-soaked aesthetic proudly.
John Scarpati: Cramp, Slash & Burn: When Punk and Glam Were Twins (6/22/12)
As a photographer, John Scarpati is well known for his work on album covers, each a dynamic and living piece of art. During the 1980s in Los Angeles, he was the music photographer, an anthropologist of the Sunset Strip, his lens documenting the fashion, sounds, and faces in the era of outrageous musical fashion. Now Scarpati has collected those images in a book, Cramp, Slash & Burn: When Punk and Glam Were Twins.
Jherek Bischoff: Composed (Brassland, 6/5/12)
Jherek Bischoff’s solo album Composed (which we called “immaculately arranged orchestral pop”) was recorded by layering and cutting together single musicians recorded in their living rooms, over his own previously recorded parts. After a successful Kickstarter campaign, however, Bischoff was able to organize a concert at New York’s Merkin Hall with a full backing orchestra.
Pig Destroyer: Book Burner (Relapse, 10/23/12)
“The Diplomat”
After five years of relative inertia, Pig Destroyer — flaring up like an incurable Amazonian virus — is back on the books with Book Burner, a 19-track installation of furious, “misanthropic” grindcore that is as violent as it is relentless. Recorded at guitarist Scott Hull’s Visceral Sound Studios, the album hearkens back to Prowler in the Yard with a raw, live sound that waylays studio artifice for aggression.
P.O.S: We Don’t Even Live Here (Rhymesayers, 10/23/12)
“Fuck Your Stuff”
Though fans may be satiated by a new Doomtree album and a bevy of side projects, it’s been three-and-a-half years since any solo output from Stefon Alexander, a.k.a. P.O.S, the punk-spirited rapper/producer and cofounder of the aforementioned hip-hop collective.
Godspeed You! Black Emperor: Allelujah! Don’t Bend! Ascend! (Constellation)
It’s been more than a decade since Godspeed You! Black Emperor has released an album. But now, with Allelujah! Don’t Bend! Ascend!, the masters of celestial crescendo have returned to the fold as though they never missed a beat.
Pinback: Information Retrieved (Temporary Residence, 10/16/12)
“His Phase”
Rob Crow is one of those prolific (albeit underrated) songwriters who can dabble in any genre at any given time. Keeping busy with his many projects (including his solo singer/songwriter material as well as his heavy-metal outfit Goblin Cock), Crow is perhaps best known for his work with indie outfit Pinback.