Dethklok: Dethalbum III (Williams Street, 10/16/12)
“I Ejaculate Fire”
It shreds? Check. It pummels? Check. It has a song called “I Ejaculate Fire”? Checkity check check.
Music
Fund this: Stones Throw documentary gets Kickstarted
When Peanut Butter Wolf started Stones Throw Records in 1996, his friend and rap partner Charizma had just been killed. What started as a cathartic way to release the music they recorded together soon grew into something much larger, a record label releasing an eclectic range of music, with artists as diverse as Madlib, Mayer Hawthorne, and Omar Rodriguez Lopez on their rolls.
Review: Matmos’s The Ganzfeld EP
Matmos: The Ganzfeld EP (Thrill Jockey, 10/16/12)
“Very Large Green Triangles”
Matmos: “Very Large Green Triangles”
You’re in a chair, wearing headphones, with white noise hissing fuzzily at you from either side. Ping-pong balls have been scissored in half and set over your eyes, with a purplish light beaming at you from just inches away. You can’t see. You are told that the experiment will last 30 minutes. It may not work.
Teenyboppers get vicious in El-P’s video for “Stay Down”
El-P: Cancer for Cure (Fat Possum, 5/22/12)
Hip-hop producer/MC El-P and his amoral, coked-out squirrel sidekick Mr. Killums are back. And they’re not as popular this time around.
MP3 Premiere: Family’s “Daddy Wronglegs”
Brooklyn metal quartet Family is dropping a debut of Unsane-style beastliness mixed with classic-, straight-ahead, southern-, and post-rock elements. “Daddy Wronglegs” is propelled by a groove and a lurch — not to mention some nifty fret work.
MP3 Premiere: Wax Fang’s “White Kane”
With its new EP, Wax Fang offers four pop-rock tunes that draw from decade-spanning influences. Today’s premiere has a bit of a retro flavor mixed with post-punk simplicity — capped by a one-word vocal hook and a rock-‘n’-roll solo.
Venezuelan sludge-metal quartet Cultura Tres confronts American imperialism in “El Sur de la Fe”
Cultura Tres: El Mal del Bien (Devouter, 3/5/11)
Bearing at least a passing resemblance to the crushing sludge of Sepultura and its brethren, Venezuela’s Cultura Tres works from the root of a proven musical commodity. But with harmonized high-string riffs, a few wailing psych-rock leads, and an ability to go quiet and eerie or soft and atmospheric, the “doom suramericano” quartet is very much its own band.
Review: Ty Segall’s Twins
Ty Segall: Twins (Drag City, 10/9/12)
“The Hill”
On last year’s Goodbye Bread, garage-rock singer-songwriter Ty Segall displayed a newfound sense of maturity — most notably on “Comfortable Home (A True Story),” in which he announced the rather adult decision to invest in some real estate. Now the San Francisco wunderkind prematurely grapples with his own mortality on his newest solo release. “Took 22 years to die / 22 years to lose to my mind,” he laments amid the grinding guitars of “Ghost,” imagining himself as a specter who haunts the California coast. It’s heavy stuff — musically and lyrically — especially from a guy who used to sing about girlfriends and Coca-Cola.
Review: Converge’s All We Love We Leave Behind
Converge: All We Love We Leave Behind (Epitaph, 10/9/12)
“Aimless Arrow”
The eighth full-length album from Converge is every bit the frenetic, neck-snapping metalcore monster that two decades of precedent could have promised. Yet even when sticking to some of its shortest, most explosive hardcore throw-downs, the Salem-based quartet maintains a dedication to craft and perfection.
The soundtrack to alien killing: Massive Attack producer unveils Halo 4 OST
Massive Attack producer and co-writer Neil Davidge has debuted a single from the upcoming Halo 4 soundtrack, which accompanies one of the season’s most anticipated video games.