Atlantis: Hymns for Disco

This is an impressive record. k-os is a rapper from Trinidad, who was raised in Toronto. His name stands for “Knowledge of Self.” The songs on this album steer clear of typical commercial hip-hop posturing. There is no talk of guns, gang violence or misogyny. In fact, on "The Rain," he openly reveals his pain over lost love. k-os' honesty and workmanship shine through on every number.

Divorce Songs

With a title like Divorce Songs, I expected the music on this album to represent feelings of separation or disunion, and United States did not disappoint. The Brooklyn post-punk band, which is likened to Fugazi, Cursive and Sonic Youth, presents eight jagged anthems about struggling and surviving in the city.

Hope: and Songs to Sing

Mike Law started Eulcid on a whim in 1996. Although the band wrote the music for their first song in one evening, their first album, The Wind Blew All the Fires Out, took a year to put together and debuted in 2000. Six years, and several different band members later, Eulcid has released another full-length CD. The theme of this album, Hope and Songs to Sing, seemed more about crying out at injustices than about hope, although perhaps crying out in complaint is a first step in that direction. I was not very impressed with the music or singing in the first few songs.

Various Artists – Cochen en Boite

Mislead by the rather alluring title and expecting something on a par with St. Germain’s sleep-inducing tooting, I practically wept with the grief only an avid music fan can know when forth from my stereo spilled the stomach disrupting lyrical expulsion of Jillian Iva breathing, “I'm a love maker, soul shaker, body manipulator,” in a manner not far removed from Cher’s auto tune incident. I persevered through hallucinations of topless grinding, dax wax a go go clichés of all night gay bars, cringing at the cheesy lyric overload.

From the Decker House

From the Decker House is a brief, pop-ish, countryside-style, storytelling album reminiscent of Bob Dylan ramblings, although not nearly as timeless. The band met in Idlewild, CA in 2004, but now records from the opposite end of the country in New York. This album takes its name from the apparently decrepit Decker House estate in the mountains behind Deposit, NY that the band adopted as a home base for the concoction of this album.

Engine EP

Langhorne Slim’s songs are deceptively simple, but if you listen to the words, they are anything but. Each song describes the nuances and complexities of human relationships. He breaks us right into this theme with “English Tea,” where he describes loving the details of someone, but not necessarily wanting to be with her.

What’s Happening in Pernambuco: New Sounds of the Brazilian Northeast

Pernambuco is at the heart of Afro-Brazilian tradition. Mangue Bit, the musical style of this album, weaves electronica with the centuries-old rhythm of maracatú _and the stanza-refrain pattern of _embolada. The name “Mangue Bit” combines the Portuguese word for mangrove with a computer bit. Although the waters are brackish, mangrove swamps are diverse ecosystems, and Mangue Bit reflects this fertility.

Dryland

The intro of Dryland softly walks us into the quiet genius of Chris Pureka. She gracefully takes us through ordinary, heartbreaking, scenarios and conversations, beginning with “These Pages,” in which she perfectly describes a painful encounter with a past lover.

Kicking On

On their website, Gin Palace are described as “a 3 piece: lady singer, no bass guitar, no hi-hats” and Kicking On is their début LP. Emerging not from the dusty deserts of Dakota or from tornado-famous Kansas, but from the indie riddled smog of London, singer Meaghan Wilkie can drive one hell of a rowdy herd.

Milk White Sheets

Milk White Sheets is good music for long mornings sitting in bed watching snow fall. First listening to this album in the evening after a day of work, I had a difficult time relating to the quiet hum that this album resonates. Even with the volume turned high, the unfamiliar lyrics were difficult to decipher while strains of cello, glockenspiel, dulcimer and guitar strings sounded haunting in the dark of the night.

North

Here is one golden child in the blended world of rock, roots and Americana; with his sometimes ranting but passion-filled album North, Tim Emmerick & Cold Front County do it up on their debut.

One Score and Four

The Good Players coalesce around the refined songcraft of one Stephen Nichols, equal parts weak-in-the-knees crooner and twisted studio-as-instrumentalist. Their most recent EP, One Score and Four, channels Jeff Lynne’s aesthetics of orchestral rock excess into the 21st century, absorbing the aleatory dissonance prevalent in contemporary electronic/art music while somehow leaving pretension to us music critics. This is itself an impressive aural feat, but how he and his dirty dozen manifest this meticulous multi-dimensionality live has to be seen to be believed.

Revenge of the Killer Slits EP

The Slits are back! If you are not familiar with this band, the most recent release, _Revenge of the Killer Slits _EP, is a good introduction. For those who relished their punk and dub fusion back in the '70s, this sample of three songs is enough to get you back in the mood. Reggae calls are answered by techno-alternative dance beats in the first track, “Slits Tradition.” The beat is basic and backs up nicely the chanted lyrics and bits of spoken word. The Slits even find room for a couple of quick jazzy riffs.

Outer Space

This 10-song album is the first full-length recording for DC hardcore band, Mass Movement of the Moth. Post-apocalyptic lyrics about civilization crumbling amongst all its technology, this band offers music that is simultaneously melodic and chaotic, beautiful and messy. Layered and complex, this album presents classic hardcore with a dance-y keyboard edge that makes the band seem like they are doing something new with a genre that can get a bit tired.