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Joy Orbison & Boddika- “Mercy”

“Mercy” is a collaborative track from two of contemporary underground electronic music’s most creative producers, Joy Orbison and Boddika. It’s not the first time they’ve put a track together, and I’m hoping it won’t be the last after getting exposed to the mutated bass and choppy vocal cuts on this track.

The groove on this thing is absolutely nasty, and it’s made nastier by this incessant and odd bassline. The sound resembles that of smacking a PVC pipe with a bat, or doing something strange with a long sting of piano wire.

The sounds are really something else, and the rhythms are always in a state of flux as well. This track is loaded with top-notch textures and detail. Grab “Mercy” and the other track on this single, “Froth,” here.

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PALLBEARER- SORROW AND EXTINCTION

Pallbearer- “An Offering of Grief”


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Pallbearer is one of doom metal’s newest faces, and was recently turned onto them by NPR Music. You can actually stream the band’s debut studio album, Sorrow and Extinction, right here.

Though I continually catch flak for enjoying metal–from both fans and haters of the genre–it’s a drug I just can’t quit. Sorry, y’all. I’m passionate about the stuff, so you can imagine how distraught I was to find that my favorite albums of 2011 list was almost devoid of anything from the world of doom metal. After a short falling out with metal, artists like Earth and Electric Wizard rekindled my love for heavy riffs and uncompromising volumes. Maybe testosterone played a factor as well.

The music of Pallbearer appeals to way more than a primal, male rage, though. Pallbearer’s music has enough saturated low-end frequencies to shake the Earth’s core, and the drumming emphasizes the heavy grooves these songs offer. However, I’m sure the track streaming above, “An Offering of Grief,” has characteristics that would appeal to most music fans.

Pallbearer’s guitars lay copious amounts of melody and harmony against their sludgy, monstrous riffs. The vocals are sung in a clean and dramatic style that actually reminds me of Jethro Tull’s Ian Anderson. The chord progression makes the song feel pretty triumphant as well.

You can find Pallbearer’s debut album, Extinction and Sorrow, on Profound Lore. It’s out today. Check the cover art below:

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The Men- “Ex-Dreams”

Last year, New York’s the Men dropped an album of some pretty solid rock songs. I didn’t love it, though, and I suppose it all boiled down to have disjointed the album felt. While I appreciated the styles of underground rock that were being shown off on the tracks–everything from doom metal to post-hardcore–it was hard enjoying all of them as a complete piece.

Despite the slight disappointment, I’m still looking forward to the band’s next album, Open Your Heart, which is set to drop on Sacred Bones March 6th. The label has seen fit to drop the track “Ex-Dreams” in promotion of the album, and I’m digging what I’m hearing.

While this track doesn’t guarantee the next Men album will be stylistically consistent, it does bring some Fugazi-esque guitar chords and a grunge-y slacker attitude to the table.

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Scuba- Personality

A stream of the third Scuba album, Personality. The album is dropping this week via Hotflush, and strikes me as being much less ambient and spacious than the project’s last album, Triangulation. And that’s fine with me, because the rhythms on this album are pretty driving and engaging.

SHLOHMO- VACATION

Nicolas Jaar Remixes Shlohmo

Here’s electronic music producer Nicolas Jaar‘s take on the Shlohmo track “Rained the Whole Time,” which comes off the Vacation EP I reviewed recently. Grab the EP now on Friends of Friends.

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Milo- Milo Takes Baths

I warned you about the forthcoming Milo mixtape, and now it’s here. Milo Takes Baths is one track after another of witty rhymes, obscure references, and instrumentals produced by beatmusic artist Baths. Download or stream the release above, and check a video for the mixtape track “the Confrontation At Khazad-Dûm” here.

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Fine Before You Came- “Dublino”

Fine Before You Came is in Italian rock outfit, taking influences from the worlds of emo and post-hardcore to create its energetic and passionate songs. The group’s latest LP, Ormai, is out now via La Tempesta. Stream one of its tracks, “Dublino” above.

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One track, 26 Rappers

26 rappers on one 22-minute track. Sounds insane, and it is, but Mishka curated it like it was nothin’. They tagged it with the title “Hyperbolic Chamber Music,” too. The song’s got a smooth instrumental that calls out to the g-funk beats the West Coast was pushin’ in the 90s–even Kool A.D. spits over the track with a Snoop Dogg-inspired flow.

Download or stream the track above, and check out the MCs in order of appearance hee: MondreM.A.N., Squadda B, TRPLBLK, Chavis Chandler, Kool A.D., Big Baby Gandhi, Key Nyata, Isaiah Toothtaker, Joeybagadoughnutz, Dizzy D, Supa, Snaxx, Left Leberra, Don D, Rod Fuego, 9Gs, Zachg, Lakutis, Fat Tony, Lofty305, Lowercase, Himself the Majestic, Shady Blaze, Keyboard Kid, Antwon, Western Tink, and Chippy Nonstop.

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The Caretaker- Extra Patience (After Sebald)

A new, free mini-album from one of ambient music’s most interesting producers right now, the Caretaker. It seems to be a collection of odds and ends from the project’s latest collection of songs, Patience (After Sebald), but still makes for an interesting listen.

Patience was originally released as a soundtrack to the Grant Gee film of the same name, but the release has received some pretty warm reviews as a stand-alone piece. What’s more interesting is the Caretaker is being specific about the source material for this new collection of songs, stating on Bandcamp that the treated music in these tracks comes from Franz Schubert’s “Winterreise.”

Grab a free download of this collection of songs while they last right here.

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xxyyxx- “TIED2U”

I’m not single. I actually haven’t been single for around three years now. Still, this new beat from xxyyxx still brings out those “forever alone” feelings everybody’s had at one point or another.

A beautiful and pitch-shifted vocal sample loops against a beat that’s interesting for a couple reasons. For one, the rhythmic parts its built of all seem to be playing at completely different volumes. The light, clicking hi-hats serve as a background texture, while the bass kicks are large and hard-hitting.

A great listen made from simple edits and sounds. A show that overdoing it is overdone.