CD reviews

Greymachine

Disconnected (Hydra Head)

Check his track record: From formative years in the first lineup of grindcore originators Napalm Death to attaining status as an industrial icon in Godflesh, not to mention the gorgeous dirge of his most recent project, Jesu, Justin Broadrick knows his way around a frightening tune. But on Disconnected—a collaboration with Isis frontman and Hydra Head Records founder Aaron Turner, alongside miscreant buddies Dave Cochrane and Diarmuid Dalton—he plunges straight into a pitch-black abyss with some of the most lethal, suffocating cuts in recent memory. “Vultures Descend” sounds like a robot army carpet-bombing a large city (ever see T2: Judgment Day?) by way of subatomic bass tones in the year 2050, and things only get more vicious and nihilistic from there. Not only a top contender for best heavy album of the year, but also a great way to scare the shit out of your friends.

Nisennenmondai

Destination Tokyo (Smalltown Supersound)

The Japanese are excellent at crafting tributes to their influences while still managing to reinvigorate what made them so great in the process. Accordingly, all-female three-piece Nisennenmondai thump and screech their way through five lengthy, minimal instrumentals like some dream combination of Neu!, Liquid Liquid, The Pop Group and This Heat. To certain people, this will result in annoyance of the highest order—discordant guitars are insistently plucked away, with avant-disco drumbeats and repetitive bass notes leading the charge, never devolving into all-out cacophony but gradually mutating into a different beast with each passing half-second. Destination Tokyo is challenging and enjoyable in a way that most albums of its kind aren’t—despite showcasing no familiar song structures whatsoever, there’s a playful, melodic undercurrent at work that will have you humming the deceptively simple mantras of “Mirrorball” and “Disco” for days.

Sic Alps

A Long Way Around to a Shortcut 2LP (Drag City)

The problem with some of today’s underground bands is that their releases tend to be so limited that only the most devoted fans can hit the PayPal button quickly enough to lay claim to them. That’s precisely what makes this compilation of out-of-print singles by burnout-pop duo Sic Alps worthwhile—it’s technically a reissue of a reissue (the CD version came out in mid-’08), but the majority of us have never heard any of it before. Since we’ve been trying to sort out the release schedule, these San Francisco freaks have been holed up in the basement, drinking green Nyquil by the bottle, jammin’ to warped Seeds albums and waiting for the rest of us to finally get a clue. Consider us schooled: Dudes get wigged-out on everything from Stones-y murk (“Message from the Law”) to overlapping Motor City grooves (“Speeds”) and covers of tracks by Strapping Fieldhands, Throbbing Gristle and The Zipps. They even recently added young garage ripper Ty Segall to the fold, even more proof that they recognized cool before we did.

tUnE-yArDs

BiRd-BrAiNs (4AD)

For those who think the latest DIY craze is limited to young, lonely males feeding their grievances onto four-track tape recorders, Merrill Garbus’ tUnE-yArDs project is a welcome surprise. Recorded entirely on digital shareware (no holier-than-thou analog purism here) and filled with clipped found-sound samples, not only does BiRd-BrAiNs display more ingenuity than Garbus’ peers, but it also shows the emergence of an extraordinarily talented female vocalist. Splitting the difference between Billie Holiday’s high-pitched, versatile wail, Nina Simone’s huskier tones and the coy, modern rock ’n’ roll feminism of PJ Harvey, Garbus’ range hits on an entire spectrum of emotions without seeming to focus upon anything in particular. More than anything, this album sounds like the next level, in the vein of London’s forward-thinking Micachu & The Shapes, who were also recent tourmates. Hopefully more than a blinding flash in the pan, Garbus and her ever-present ukulele have secured a place in pop’s future if she ever decides to expand beyond the bedroom.

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