The 11th album from sludge- and post-metal pioneer Neurosis — to be released on Oct. 30 — promises to be “both torturous and transcendent.” Trick or treat indeed.
Jerseyband: Forever Hammer EP (8/16/12)
“Not Hammer”
When we last heard from “lungcore” septet Jerseyband, the NYC ensemble had self-released Beast Wedding, a monster of mutated metal that conjoined Meshuggah-like “djent” with unwieldy horn-formed power chords. (Read more here.) Now the unheralded group is back to launch hammers into space with Forever Hammer, a four-track EP that reveals yet another side.
After missing 2011 due to Hurricane Irene, the Afropunk Festival is back with a bang, including the recent announcement of TV on the Radio as a headliner.
Despite downsizing from a trio to a two-piece, Menomena is back with its full arsenal of pop quirkiness. And to celebrate, the band is debuting Dark Side of the Moms in Portland on August 24 — its new album, Moms, set to a Pink Floyd laser show.
Jerseyband: Forever Hammer EP (8/16/12)
“Not Hammer”
Some brave souls have tried to mix metal and jazz, but you’ve never heard anything quite like “lungcore” septet Jerseyband: four horns, guitar, bass, drums, and all fury.
Though much of the band’s recent material has been more like math metal, constructed with a front-line of horns forming unwieldy power chords, “Not Hammer” is one of the skronkiest, jazziest tunes that the band has unleashed. Download it for free here in advance of the group’s Forever Hammer EP, which is out next week.
Los Straitjackets: Jet Set (Yep Roc, 8/7/12)
“Space Mosquito”
Los Straitjackets: “Space Mosquito”
Every team gets a shot in the arm from the return of its leader, and the same must hold true for instrumental surf-rock quartet Los Straitjackets. Buoyed by the return of guitarist Danny Amis from a battle with multiple myeloma — a plasma-cell cancer that manifests in bone marrow — the ‘Jackets are back, luchador masks in hand (er…on face).
Maybe it was the joy of catching At the Drive-In, where we saw actual people in band T-shirts at a music festival, but of this year’s action in Grant Park, Sunday most felt like the festival’s original incarnation (still spliced with a raging dance party, of course).
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A Place to Bury Strangers: Worship (Dead Oceans, 6/26/12)
“You are the One”
A Place to Bury Strangers: “You are the One”
All Oliver Ackermann ever wanted was to make music. The Virginia-born, RISD-educated, Brooklyn-based guitarist has spent the past 35 years forcing his way toward that goal. The result: Death by Audio, the Williamsburg recording space / venue / effects-pedal company that houses the songwriter and assorted friends as well as his noise-rock band, A Place to Bury Strangers.
Guano Padano: 2 (Ipecac, 8/7/12)
“Gran Bazaar”
With the intercontinental mix of Italian trio Guano Padano, one could take the easy way out, calling it the bastard child of Ennio Morricone, Dick Dale, and Calexico. The truth is something more muddied, something broader yet less mashed up.
Led by guitarist Alessandro Stefana, 2 steeps in the traditions of Italian-western cinema — specifically, the Italian sonic interpretation of Americana — and applies surf rock and 1950s and ’60s rock ’n’ roll to the music of America’s south and southwest. Bits of gypsy, jazz, and oriental styles also dot the landscape, as each song is a journey to a new land.
“Punk-jazz” saxophonist Skerik has channeled, seemingly in equal parts, Fela Kuti and Steve Reich for his newest project, Bandalabra. Catch the group across the northern USA this September.