Squarepusher: Just a Souvenir (Warp)

Under the alias Squarepusher, beastly bassist/programmer Tom Jenkinson has traversed dozens of genres, with racing melodies that cover jazzy IDM, classical guitar, funk, and drum & bass. Just a Souvenir follows the resurgent Squarepusher trend to make his releases as diverse as possible from song to song, tearing through the above genres with melody and discord.

The album starts with some of its weakest material, but after four or five songs, it masterfully plays with genre convergence. Just a Souvenir is a must-own album for fans and newbies alike.

Zakarya: The True Story Concerning Martin Behaim (Tzadik)

French four-piece Zakarya continues its unique musical mixture - klezmer-core - that filters Jewish accordion melodies through an off-kilter math-rock base. This, the group’s fourth album for Tzadik, is an imaginary film score about the life of Martin Behaim, a famous 15^th-century Portuguese geographer.

O’death: Broken Hymns, Limbs, and Skin (Kemado)

Americana / alt-country five-piece O’death bubbled to the surface of indie exposure in 2007 after the re-release of Head Home, its second album, on Ernest Jenning Record Co.

Now, in an effort to capture its raucous live, O’death has released Broken Hymns, Limbs, and Skin, which covers vast expanses of musical ground-from the droning Pentecostal chants of “Grey Sun” to the plodding, anthemic chorus of “Mountain Shifts” and the syncopated breakdown on “Vacant Moan” that will have you head banging to what you thought was bluegrass.

Akimbo: Jersey Shores (Neurot)

Seattle three-piece hardcore outfit Akimbo returns with Jersey Shores, a concept record based of a real-life horror story. The album’s theme is one of unprovoked shark attacks that occurred along the New Jersey coastline in the summer of 1916, and the brutal, epic music burned on the disc matches the mood.

Akimbo: “Great White Bull”

Huntsville: Eco, Arches & Eras [2CD] (Rune Grammofon)

An experimental trio from Norway, Huntsville uses tabla, pedal steel guitar, banjo, and traditional rock instruments to prepare moody, melodic music that knows no stylistic boundaries. Using sound textures that are combined in unconventional ways, this double-disc release is half studio recording and half live album, the latter including expert guests in the form of guitarist Nels Cline and drummer Glenn Kotche from Wilco.

John Zorn: Filmworks XXI: Belle de Nature / The New Rijksmuseum (Tzadik)

Consummate compositional experimentalist John Zorn is keeping busy, releasing his third Filmworks soundtrack of the year. This release contains a pair of contrasting scores - one for French sadomasochist erotica and one for a documentary on the overhaul of the Rijksmuseum, a national museum in Amsterdam. Zorn’s label, Tzadik, promotes this release as one that ranges “from baroque minimalism to a sensual fusion of harp, guitar, and bass.”

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Posted to Music News, Music Reviews on Tuesday, October 28th, 2008 by Scott Morrow.

Tags: Akimbo, Huntsville, John Zorn, Kemado, Neurot, O'death, Rune Grammofon, Squarepusher, Tzadik, Warp, Zakarya