Flying Lotus, "Los Angeles" (Warp)
Hyped on: Missingtoof; Audiversity
Official site
MySpace
Who: Steven Ellison is repping Winnetka, a suburb of L.A.’s San Fernando Valley, and he comes with a pedigree: his great-aunt is jazz legend Alice Coltrane. His thick swatches of bottom-heavy instrumental beats are relentlessly abstract and dense with enough musical knowledge to make both Coltranes proud.
What: “Los Angeles” reflects its titular subject through a blunted haze of harsh juxtapositions. Crush-collision sound collages that invoke early Aphex Twin with hard, metallic rhythms are smoothed over with icy synths and the warm, analog tones Madlib is known for (see “RobertaFlack”). From the jumpy space-jazz of “Comet Course” to the quiet atmospherics of “Auntie’s Lock/Infinitum,” the chaotic sprawl of L.A. is accurately captured in these finely tuned songs.
Made for: Progressive hip-hop heads looking for freaky beats that still have serious bump. Anyone that still treasures Aphex Twin’s “Selected Ambient Works 85-92” and in need of something new; subscribers to U.K. music mag the Wire.
X-Factor: “FlyLo,” as he’s known to fans, is also a party-rocking DJ, with his remixes of Lil Wayne and Kelis bangers making the blogosphere rounds. – STS
Love Psychedelico, "This Is Love Psychedelico" (Hacktone)
Hyped on: You Ain't No Picasso; You Sound Like a Robot; Welikeit.indie
Official site
MySpace
Who: Singer Kumi and guitarist Naoki are big in their native Japan, where they sell out arenas and write theme music for the NHK, Japan’s answer to the BBC. But they were never properly introduced to American audiences until this year, when reissue specialists Hacktone Records put out this compilation of the best tracks from all four of the duo’s albums.
What: Kumi and Naoki specialize in no-frills garage rock, stripped down to raw riffs and sinewy backbeats on tracks like “Standing Bird” and the mesmerizing “Unchained,” which recalls other minimalist boy-girl duos like the Tings Tings and the Kills. But they’re also capable of ‘60s-flavored pop anthems like “Fantastic World,” whose swooning guitar hooks would make George Harrison smile, and “Everybody Needs Somebody,” which is what we wish the latest Dandy Warhols album sounded like.
Made for: J-pop fans, of course, plus any lovers of ‘60s-inspired garage pop and seriously advanced karaoke practitioners (see below).
X-Factor: Before you drive yourself crazy trying to decipher Kumi’s lyrics, you should know that she actually sings in an unintelligible mish-mash of Japanese and English. Sample lyric: “Enzai wa hole in the sky, you dig it/Yumewa dummy kuruenai rock ‘n’ roll.” Trust us—when she sings it, it sounds way sexier. – AH
Cancer Bats, "Hail Destroyer" (Distort)
Hyped on: The Mark Out; i (heart) music
Official site
MySpace
Who: A hard ‘n’ heavy rock band from Toronto that defies easy categorization—much like their fellow countrymen, the not-quite-hardcore F---ed Up, the screamo-but-different Alexisonfire and the sorta-thrash-prog Protest the Hero. The group’s second album, “Hail Destroyer,” recently found mainstream success in England, where metal bible Kerrang gave it a five-star review, a cover story, an album of the year nomination and then declared the group “the shape of punk to come.”
What: “Hail Destroyer” is a kick in the ass, for sure, but the pleasures can be found in the (relative) subtleties. “Harem of Scorpions” has a hardcore tempo and shout-along chorus that’s reminiscent of prime CBGB-era punk, while “Deathsmarch” works off of a slow, thunderous AC/DC groove. Frontman Liam Cormier growls and screams with the best of the genre, but injects enough melody into the mix to give the riff-tastic tracks a real staying power. Add in a hint of Southern rock, and you’ve got…well, every album Metallica has tried (without success) to make since 1996.
Made for: Metal fans who wished Pantera had a brain lurking beneath the killer riffs. Indie geeks who accept the Dillinger Escape Plans and Gallows of the world. Brits.
X-Factor: The band knows its audience; the Bats released their first record on June 6, 2006 (think about it), which they dubbed “the evilest day in history.” – KM
Musee Mecanique, "Hold This Ghost" (Frog Stand)
Hyped on: False 45th; ...and all I got was this t-shirt
MySpace
Who: Musée Mécanique is a penny arcade near Fisherman’s Warf in San Francisco and houses one of the world’s largest collection of antique arcade machines and carney ephemera. Musee Mecanique (spelled less the Frency accents) is a Portland, Ore., group fronted by Micah Rabwin and Sean Ogilvie, two music school dudes with an interest in sweet melodies, old instruments, twang and apparently a museum in San Francisco.
What: “Fits and Starts”—hardly the musical embodiment—begins with a simple acoustic guitar and builds with haunting pedal steel and a lovely piano bridge. Rabwin sings with the wispy confidence and intimacy of Stars’ Torquil Campbell, while Ogilvie and a long list of contributors fill in with toy bells, cello and may layers of keyboards. Opener “Like Home” plays with the idea of old versus new, with a lone drum machine beat and synths bouncing along with hand claps (it doesn’t get more vintage than that).
Made for: Those digging fellow Portlanders the Decemberists. People waiting for Sufjan Stevens to finish his 50 states project. He’s on 48 now, right?
X-Factor: Penny arcade games at S.F.’s Musée Mécanique including Laffing Sal, Carnival and Susie the Can-Can Dancer, which can be described as a true waste of a penny – MR
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