With a hazy and powerful sound, Cleveland duo Mr. Gnome issues a pair of B-sides to its well-received sophomore LP.
A group of Wodaabe and Tuareg people from Niger, Etran Finatawa, explores tribal music as channeled through electric guitar and a blues sensibility, and an acoustic guitarist with a rich, diverse catalog (Ralph Towner) drops a disc of duets with an Italian/Sardinian trumpeter (Paolo Fresu). Read the rest of this entry »
The strangely grooving maelstrom that is Daughters unveils its best album this week — a combination of behemoth low end, gnarly rock riffs, and guitar leads that sound like tornado sirens.
Germany’s Imperium Dekadenz delivers “intelligent black metal” with a set of epic arrangements and acoustic passages. Adventurous art-rock trio Liars issues another bold album that defies convention, and Aloha — “that indie-rock band with the marimba” — expands its sound a bit for another solid outing. Read the rest of this entry »
Shepard Fairey's artwork for Li(f)e by Sage Francis
Shepard Fairey, one of our least favorite pop-culture artists, has created the artwork for the album Li(f)e by Sage Francis, one of our favorite pop-culture artists. Read the rest of this entry »
Delivering what should be one of the year’s best hip-hop albums, rapper B. Dolan teams with Alias for a sociopolitical disc that stays fresh from track to track.
As Mortemia, Norwegian one-man band Morten Veland issues an epic fusion of black metal and classical, with vocals that alternate between growls and grandiose choirs.
And German electro artist Architect drops hard-hitting breakbeats and synthesized industrial with plenty of dance and groove elements. Read the rest of this entry »
Founded in 1971 by Alanna Heiss, P.S.1 was created as an organization devoted to organizing exhibitions in abandoned spaces across New York City. Now located in Long Island City, P.S.1 became affiliated with the Museum of Modern Art in 2000 and now uses its spaces for exhibitions rather than as a collecting institution. Read the rest of this entry »
After a five-year absence, Norway’s Jaga Jazzist releases the symphonic prog rock of One-Armed Bandit, which immediately has become the group’s best album.
Turntablist Rob Swift, formerly of the X-ecutioners, takes a foray into the classical world with The Architect, a dynamic DJ disc; stoner-metal trio High on Fire picks up its pace and crafts an album that isn’t as outstretched.
Malian sensations Ali Farka Touré and Toumani Diabaté present another beautiful set of duets that sees a posthumous release after the passing of Farka Touré in 2006.
Icelandic producer Valgeir Sigurðsson establishes a name for himself as a composer with the gentle, mini-orchestral soundtrack to Dreamland, and Greek black-metal quartet Rotting Christ puts out another striking, original album that fuses its dark style to the ethnic sounds of its ancestors. Read the rest of this entry »
Recent photos by Los Angeles born photographer Richard Misrach are on display through February 20 at the Chelsea gallery, part of PaceWildenstein galleries, in New York. The exhibition features nearly twenty large-scale pigment prints from Misrach’s 2007-2009 series, Untitled.
Electro-doom specialists The Bastard Noise hearken back to their ties to Man is the Bastard this week in a progressive noise-sludge split with The Endless Blockade.
Freeway & Jake One offer a funky, malleable hip-hop disc that leans on Freeway’s fiery delivery; The Souljazz Orchestra twirl through funk, Latin, African, down-tempo jazz, and big-band bits.
Meanwhile, Chicago trio Mako Sica reflects a Native American influence via a brooding combination of jangly guitars, reverberated vociferation, and instrumental dynamics, and the Carolina Chocolate Drops blur new and old while beholden to the traditions of Americana and early African-American folk. Read the rest of this entry »
Through February 20, Ryan Schneider’s Send Me Through will be on display at Priska C. Juschka Fine Art Gallery in New York. Schneider’s work continues investigating the human condition through personal experience using painting. Read the rest of this entry »
Leon Botha is, at 24, the oldest living person with Progeria, a Greek word for rapid aging. His latest exhibition, Who Am I? – Transgressions, is different from what he usually does and can be seen in Cape Town, South Africa at João Ferreira Gallery through February 13.
An iconic poet/musician whose soulful spoken-word style helped give rise to rapping, Gil Scott-Heron presents his second “comeback” album this week — an atmospheric, down-tempo disc of diversity that is produced by XL owner Richard Russell.
Crafting powerful folk abstractions and interwoven, trance-inducing vocal dynamics, Pillars and Tongues issues a new LP and download; metal behemoths Arsis boast more tireless harmonized shredding; dance-pop quintet Hot Chip shines with a diversity of synth sounds; and internationally beloved electronic producers Massive Attack end a seven-year album drought. Read the rest of this entry »
Sage Francis
Sage Francis‘ new album features Brian Deck (Modest Mouse, Iron and Wine), Jim Becker and Tim Rutili (Califone), and songwriting by Jason Lytle (Grandaddy), Chris Walla (Death Cab for Cutie), Tim Fite, and members of Calexico, DeVotchKa, and Sparklehorse.
“We specifically sought out songwriters who had never worked with a rapper,” Francis explains. Read the rest of this entry »
Too cool.
Beginning February 4 visitors to the Brooklyn Arts Council Gallery will be able to see Glitch Generation, a group exhibition of artworks based off of mistakes, intentional or not, in the wiring of our brains.
Norway, Iceland, and Italy: it’s an all-international edition of This Week’s Best Albums.
Having transitioned from acoustic jazz to a prog-jazz-fusion outfit, Shining now delivers a gargantuan rock release, capturing a progressive industrial sound unlike anything else.
Icelandic composer Daníel Bjarnason presents a debut that is sorrowful, forceful, harmonic, and delicate — an album that undoubtedly will make year-end lists in classical circles.
Lastly, Italian cutup artist Økapi pays homage to a potentially fake Krygyz composer with a soothing glitch-lounge effort. Read the rest of this entry »
