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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.