The best way to listen to Peer Amid, the latest album from Swedish noise-makers the Skull Defekts, is to simultaneously stare at the album cover. The image is a road map for a record that begins with a sustained mystic Eastern chant, awakening a lumbering bass line that explodes into a chorus of Steve-Albini-esque guitar noise. The rest of Peer Amid follows a similar pattern, creating a dense song cycle of industrial destruction with former Lungfish singer Daniel Higgs at the center. Higgs’ presence on Peer Amid, his first collaboration with the Defekts, will likely draw many new listeners, but aside from a few shared sections of a Venn diagram, don’t expect many similarities between this album and anything produced by Higgs’ former band.
     Each song is built around a propulsive and repeating rhythm that seamlessly morphs between songs for an effect that’s less punk and more hypnotically psychedelic. Jarring guitars and multi-layered tribal drumming are built on top of prominent bass-lines, with suites of distortion buttressing all the rhythmic chaos.

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Nicole Atkins leaves a big impression. Her powerful lung capacity, her barreling backbeat, her blustery presence, none of these indicates a shrinking violet. On her second solo full-length, Mondo Amore, Atkins veers towards elaborate arrangements and layered instrumentation to showcase her Roy Orbison-meets- Carole King delivery. This is a mainstream step away from the torch singing of her previous album, Neptune City. Atkins may have taken this step to bring more attention to her striking vocal prowess — and she can certainly pull it off — but it is the smoldering burn of Neptune City that sets Atkins apart. The smoke of Neptune only occasionally seeps out, on the billowing “Hotel Plaster”, which shifts easily into the gravelly crunches of “You Come To Me”. On the flip side, Atkins’ vigorous belting out of the trite lyrics to “This Is For Love” makes them sound novel while in contrast, “The Tower” is all bluster with no substance. Instead of playing it safe, which is what Atkins does on the majority of Mondo Amore, she should focus on one instrument: her undeniable voice.

Buy this at iTunes. After the jump, check out the video for “Vultures”.
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Hunting for rambunctious music that honors the bygone big-band era can quickly transform into a wild goose chase. This is not the case for DC-area collective Chopteeth. As a twelve-piece Afrobeat band combining nationalities and genres, Chopteeth captures its vivacious performances at local landmark venues such as the Black Cat, 9:30 Club, and the Rock & Roll Hotel on Chopteeth Live. To a generation hooked on Vampire Weekend’s brand of Afropop and the Fela Kuti revival, this is more than a live recording. “Didjeridoo” kick-starts the celebration as a rollicking tribute to Duke Ellington; “Gagne Perdu” is a tropical whirlwind of keys and a brassy breeze. The runaway rhythm and catchy chanting on Ghanaian track “Eyi Su Ngaangaa” is a swift call to the dancefloor. Whether the influence derives from Congo or Senegal, Fela Kuti himself, or the band members’ own experiences in fields such as ethnomusicology or playing in other area bands, the layers beneath each track signals a meticulous attention to detail and an intense devotion to funk. In a city with a celebrated funk scene and distinct go-go tradition, Chopteeth’s brand of Afrofunk is the pulse of the city.

Buy this at iTunes. After the jump, check out a performance of “Eyi Su Ngaangaa”.
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“I’m your prostitute/You gonna get some”, sings Lykke Li on the provocative single, “Get Some”. Gone are the fractured rhythms and coy coo that pervaded Li’s 2008 debut Youth Novels. In their place, we encounter more confident, almost brazen, vocals, tribal beats, and a Spector-esque wall of sound, courtesy of Bjorn Yttling (of Peter, Bjorn, and John), who serves as producer on Wounded Rhymes. The meek singing on earlier hits, such as “Little Bit”, has given way to anthemic girl-group harmonies of “Sadness Is a Blessing” and opener “Youth Knows No Pain” — whose title could even be construed as a rebuff of Youth Novels. Add in the grinding guitars and eerie organs of “Rich Kids Blues” and we may have found a successor to PJ Harvey as the next generation’s resident siren, serving up an irresistible mix of sultry and scary sounds. With Wounded Rhymes, the Swedish singer sheds the nymph-like aura of her debut with a sophomore set that showcases a maturing artist with an ever-developing style that may only get better with age.

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Buy this at iTunes. After the jump, check out the new video for “I Follow Rivers”. And be sure to read our interview with Li from a few years ago here.
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On February 26, A.R. Rahman could make history. On that night, he could be the first Indian-born composer to win four Oscars, having been nominated for Best Original Score and Best Original Song (”If I Rise”, featuring Dido) for the film 127 Hours. Then again, such boundary-breaking does not seem to faze this veteran, who’s worked on over 110 films and who already made history with his two Academy Awards for Danny Boyle’s Slumdog Millionaire in 2008. Also directed by Boyle, 127 Hours depicts the harrowing fight for survival of mountain-climber Aron Ralston (played by James Franco). The film follows Ralston for the titular five days, after his arm was trapped by a boulder and he resorts to unthinkable measures to free himself. Dialogue is minimal in 127 Hours, meaning music holds a more significant role in driving this otherwise one-man show. Rahman spoke to us from his home in Chennai about such challenges, not to mention his charitable work, for which he recently earned the Crystal Award from the World Economic Forum.

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Sweden’s morphing group Radio Dept. has been sporadically releasing material for the past ten years. Passive Aggressive: Singles 2002-2010 collects this cool people’s band’s releases over the last decade. A cratedigger’s dream, featuring both A- and B-sides, Passive Aggressive shines a light on the group’s evolution — or lack thereof. The earlier recordings are similar in their moody, almost aggressive, shoe-gazing nature. On “Freddie And The Trojan Horse”, however, light guitar plucks take the place of the jagged fuzz the style is known for, and lively piano takes center stage, passifying the sound. The four numbers included from Radio Dept.’s 2010 full-length, Clinging To A Scheme, feature a stronger hold on melody than the muddy ones leading to this release.

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Buy this at iTunes. After the jump, check out the video for “Never Follow Suit”.
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With our eyes turned toward Egypt, Stephan Said implores us to lend our ears as well. The Arab-American artist, who boasts acclaim for his anti-war songs, teed up a rock-infused version of the Egyptian civil rights anthem “Aheb Aisht Al Huriya” (“I Love the Life of Freedom”). Originally penned in the 1930s by Mohamed Abdel Wahab, the historic song fits the decades-old situation coming to a head in Egypt. In the simple accompanying video, Said holds a notebook with the English translation of the earnest lyrics for the camera. The activist introduces the song as a beacon for non-violent advocates “to build the international movement for a more just society.” Intended for release on the forthcoming album, difrent (out in September), Said unveiled the song early for maximum potency.

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Serendipity swept up producer Michael Christie, better known as Telepath, and carried him to far-flung destinations to capture celebratory scenes. Searching for and collaborating with international artists — some of whom he has never met — brought new experiences and tones to his music. The well-seasoned producer supplies traces of Western staples, but lets his guests color the songs any which way. From urban cool to sultry Marrakesh to Bollywood’s rapturous ballyhoo, Christie and his cast populate a sonic landscape spanning emotions and experiences. Crush shares the talents of the legendary, including Pervez Khan’s excellent sitar playing and vocals on “Dust”. Combining electronic effects and Western instruments to sounds typically associated with Eastern cultures is not a new approach; however, Christie’s distinctive mark imaginatively steers the album. A typical record from Telepath would be instrumental, but Christie flexed his creative muscles to pen vocals, which serve as a “lifeline”, he says, for audiences. In resistance to wandering astray, Crush suggests a producer at the top of his game.

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Having none other than Kyp Malone as a “mentor” as well as plans to put out an album with Aaron Dessner of the National, it would be easy to discuss Sharon Van Etten preponderantly in terms of her famous (by indie-rock standards) friends. But with the Brooklyn folk songstress having just hit the Bowery Ballroom, where she was joined by another notable ally, the Antlers’ Peter Silberman, Van Etten’s time to shine under the spotlight has arrived. The Bowery show kicked off her first headlining tour across the nation, in support of her second album, Epic, which was released late last year and marked one of our favorite records of 2010. Largely unadorned with nothing more than some guitar strums and piano plunks, Van Etten’s singing marks the doubtless focal point of Epic. Even the pedal-steel-guitar twangs on “Save Yourself” and the atmospheric noise swirling in the background of “Don’t Do It” — as alternately delightful and haunting as they are — cannot compete with the aching yet assured voice that permeates this sadly brief seven-song set.

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There is a British rock star living inside Masayuki Nakano and Michiyuki Kawashima of Boom Boom Satellites. The Japanese duo — who are superstars in their home country — let this alter ego take full effect on their best-of album Over And Over. Boom Boom Satellites combine crunching electronics with melodic rock riffs to put a spin on the traditional four-piece ensemble with their powerhouse of two. Most of the material on Over And Over has not previously been released stateside, including explosive album opener, “Kick It Out” from the full-length, ON. Oasis is channeled on “Let It All Come Down” where vocalist Kawashima lets forth the full strength of Liam Gallagher’s nasal twang in his delivery. On “Moment I Count”, The Prodigy is emulated without apology, complete with snarling lyrics and static-laden sound-clashes. Alternatively, “On The Painted Desert” is a moody orchestral piece that draws heavily on the psychedelic aspects of Primal Scream’s Screamadelica. Much of what is heard on Over And Over has found its way onto an anime screen — and that is the most appropriate space for these manga characters come to life.

Buy this at iTunes. After the jump, check out the video for “Kick It Out”.
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