As we’ve told you about 846 times, Soundgarden’s 2012 album, King Animal, really is quite good. Photographer Drew Reynolds shares shots of the band’s two-night stop in Chicago this week.
Elephant Stone: Elephant Stone (Hidden Pony, 2/5/13)
“Masters of War”
Elephant Stone – Masters of War
Founded by bassist and sitar performer Rishi Dhir, Elephant Stone is a magic-eye poster brought to life. The band is releasing a self-titled record on February 5 and then setting out on tour with The Black Angels, and now we’re getting a taste of another track from the album after NPR premiered “Heavy Moon” earlier this month.
Chrome Canyon: Elemental Themes (Stones Throw, 10/9/12)
Chrome Canyon visualizes a future that didn’t quite arrive. Morgan Z’s songs are wordless stories, synthesized literature for the 21st Century, with the technicolor hope of Tron and the rain-soaked desperation of Blade Runner.
How to Destroy Angels: Welcome Oblivion (Columbia, 3/5/13)
Post-industrial collective How to Destroy Angels has put out two EPs of haunting, glitchy pop, made our 2012 end-of-year lists, and generally proved that despite the hiatus of Nine Inch Nails, Trent Reznor remains a creative force.
In March of this year, we’ll finally get a proper full-length from the band, which also includes Atticus Ross, Mariqueen Maandig, and Rob Sheridan.
North Carolina’s Gray Young provides ethereal riffs, ghostly vocals, and kinetic energy in the excellent “Canopy Reflected” from upcoming album Bonfire.
Aesop Rock: Skelethon (Rhymesayers, 7/10/12)
“Zero Dark Thirty”
Aesop Rock: “Zero Dark Thirty”
Rap, understandably, always has placed an emphasis on lyrics, but most rappers are content to find the cleverest way to proclaim their sexual prowess and/or ability to rap well and call it a day. Rapper Aesop Rock (born Ian Bavitz), a veteran of now-defunct label Definitive Jux, doesn’t aim so low, shoving allusions, metaphors, and symbols into a motley band of verbosity that’s unmatched in hip hop. This is rap on hard mode. Don’t expect to understand everything he says on first listen (or tenth), a fact that’s earned him both praise and contempt. Case in point: one of the biggest selling points of a 2005 EP was a fat book of his collected lyrics. He returned this past July on Rhymesayers with Skelethon.