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From the outset, ,Unsound" was not going to be like any other Mission of Burma album. As expected, the material is raw, primal and aggressive. They still have a signature knack for twisting even the most ferocious noise into complex structures. There are, of course, those killer hooks scattered throughout, but just not quite where you would expect. Yet with all three lead members resolutely making the decision to deliberately stretch their boundaries even further, they stepped out of their comfort zone to create their most rewarding, bewildering and multifaceted long-player yet. ,Unsound" is Mission of Burma"s 5th studio album, continuing their remarkable legacy. It seems redundant now to even call it a comeback because they"re a dynamic, current band. Originally together just four years, from 1979-83, Mission of Burma reformed in 2002 for a handful of shows.which let to more concerts, then more, and eventually the release of 2004"s "ONoffON", their first new recording in over twenty years. But no one expected them to just keep putting out records, let alone records that were every bit as vital and influential as their seminal early recordings. Their first album ,Vs" is down in the annals of time as being one of the most important post-punk records ever. Their subsequent recordings: "ONoffON", "The Obliterati", "The Sound, The Speed, The Light", and now, "Unsound", continue to grow in scope, depth and accomplishment with every step. On "Unsound" we see Mission of Burma messing with their comfort zone by recording in their Boston rehearsal space which doubles as a recording studio: Analog Divide. As usual, Roger Miller (guitar, vocals), Clint Conley (bass, vocals) and Peter Prescott (drums, vocals) share the songwriting credits with their distinct styles. All of them tried their hand at other instruments and sounds, allowing them to take risks with their creativity and giving them a more fluid line-up. Of course, regular fourth member Bob Weston (of Shellac) was on hand to provide the tape loops and production duties. As part of the manifesto to stretch musical boundaries, Roger wrote two of his songs ("Opener" and "ADD in Unison") on the bass rather than guitar. Another ("Dust Devil") was based on an acoustic guitar improvisation. Both Clint and Peter also tweaked their writing just enough to make them feel it was actually worthwhile making another record. They also decided to use trumpet on the record, so Bob pulled out his trumpet playing skills to oblige. Peter Prescott describes the experience: "We are a four headed hydra trying to create unity without canceling or censoring each head. So we juggle melody, groove, noise, depression, disruption, ecstasy. tension, release. I guess it"s thrilling for us to walk that musical tightrope." Clint Conley describes being in the studio: "There were certain technological advances, as well, that might have been unthinkable just a few short years ago, in a distant time and century. During the mix at Woolly Mammoth, Peter occasionally opted for a virtual presence. From time to time a hologram of his head would appear, hovering in a darkened corner, issuing directives and encouragement. Not to say there weren"t occasional glitches in the system. For a few days the hologram seemed locked in a mystifying loop, calling for more cymbals, regardless of whether the band were working on a mix or ordering Vietnamese food." The results are spectacularly successful. With ,Unsound", Mission of Burma has achieved its goal of making something utterly unique and stretching the realms of musical possibility. Mission of Burma"s curiosity and creativity remain undiminished. The graph just keeps rising.the boundaries breaking.and the ears ringing. Style: Independent

Wymond's previous EP "Earth Has Doors" was about intangible and esoteric concepts; the music drifted beautifully in somewhat of an oceanic, boundless state. For the album it was very important for him to make the songs be felt somatically. In his own words, "I wanted it to hit the body, I wanted it carnal." Whereas the EP had been a drawn out labor of love he worked on and then shelved for several years, most songs on "Under the Pale Moon" developed quickly last winter. He describes them as being effortless to write, short songs with stripped down arrangements; recorded straight away as soon as they came to him. Feeling very raw and alive, he wrote the basic structure for most of the record within a few weeks. He had the chords and melody for album standout "Singing The Ending" when last year began to take a cathartic turn. In a short span of time his closest friend was killed and he lost some family members. Without much time to deal with grief, he immediately had to tour Europe with Record Label: Sacred Bones Style: Independent

Record Label: Siluh Records Style: Independent

After exploring their creative impulses through strings, horns, pianos, and varied folk influences, Mi and L'au have decided to venture into a newer, more electric environment on their newest record. If Beauty is a Crime doesn't feature a single guitar. In fact, you won't find a traditional instrument anywhere on it. The simple, stripped-down sound for which they've become so well known is transformed on their latest album, shaped unexpectedly by circuits, programs, and mechanical processes. "The bet," Mira says, "was to make an album with a computer and new software... From now on we will study machines, meaning keyboards, drum machines, and computers in general." But, along with Mira and Laurent's redefined approach, something familiar found its way into their music. While making the album, both musicians noticed the spectre of familiar melodies and rhythms haunting their work; the inspiration wasn't from a specific song or melodic line, but from a mood or an idea buried somewhere i Record Label: Important Style: Independent

mewithoutyou returns with their 5th studio album, Ten Stories. Helmed by producer Daniel Smith (Sufian Stevens) and mixed by Brad Wood (Smashing Pumkins), Ten Stories is an allegorical collection of songs that, at first listen, follows a winding narrative about a circus train crash in 19th century Montana. Long time fans will know that although we are introduced to a talking elephant, fox and tiger there is always more then meets the eye Record Label: Pine Street Style: Independent

Record Label: Pias Uk/Metric Style: Independent

Metallic Taste Of Blood is an instrumental album brought about by the collective nous of Eraldo Bernocchi (Winter Garden w. Budd and Guthrie, Obake with Pupilllo, Pandi and Fornasari) on guitars, pianist Jamie Saft (of New Zion Trio, Zorn's electric Masada, Cuong Vu, Marc Ribot and others), bass-player Colin Edwin (of Porcupine Tree and Ex-Wise heads) and Balazs Pandi (of Venetian Snares, Bong Ra, Obake, Merzbow and Otto Von Schirach).Manifestly undefinable, MTOB collects very diverse strands and genres of music (from metal, dub, avant-jazz and progressive rock primarily) and fuses them into instrumental compositions that tightly straddle what on paper are opposites (thus truly representing RareNoiseRecords' ethos). Loud and gentle, distorted and clean, boiling and cold, sweet and salty, as per its own name.Yet perfect balance is reached, when distorted guitars sound clean and soothing, Record Label: Rarenoise Style: Independent

Johannesburg's Spoek Mathambo (real name: Nthato Mokgata) first hotwired our world with a series of collaborative projects-Sweat X, Playdoe-that placed his smart, dirty vocals on top of electro-rap bangers that activated dance floors across the globe. Things went darker and deeper with his 2010 debut album, "Mshini Wam", a record which took Spoek's love affair with South African culture and his coined "township tech" as a starting point. As always, he pulled those influences in a direction all his own (incl. a pitched-down wobble-house cover of Joy Division's "She's Lost Control"). With the arrival of his second album, "Father Creeper", Spoek Mathambo makes the Afro-futurists look old school. Each song arrangement is a statement in and of itself. Rock moments swerve electronic. The crisp, changing rhythms of Mathambo's live drummer go cyborg with drum machine beats. Guitar lines snake and ripple across the album, ranging from summery highlife melodies to amped-up rock riffs. Soulfully Style: Independent

Record Label: Armellodie Style: Independent

Style: Independent

This is the second full-length from San Francisco's Magic Trick. In the beginning it was just Tim Cohen alone in his San Francisco bedroom studio, swatting songs out of the ether during the spare hours between tours with his other project, weirdo-pop juggernauts, The Fresh & Onlys. "Ruler Of The Night" features members of The Fresh & Onlys and Aislers Set. Cohen recruited a handful of friends -- including James Kim (Kelley Stoltz's band), Alicia Vanden Heuvel (Aislers Set), and Noelle Cahill. Working on a first-thought-best-thought basis allows for a certain kind of freedom. Cohen forces a private world into existence through the sheer volume of his creative output. But it's a strangely comfortable place - where tuneful strands of '70s folk rock and familiar chords are embellished with dream-logic narratives that draw you in, even if their true meaning hovers just outside of easy comprehension Record Label: Hardly Art Style: Independent

Mad Gregs Relatives is a document of collective life change. Over three years, each song underwent a maturation, mirroring the individual and collective growth of the band through the album's genesis. Though complex, the album is grounded in the candid emotionality and bedrock analog sound of 70's soft rock Record Label: Fake Four Inc. Style: Independent

Record Label: Magigmangomusic Style: Independent

HEAT is the fourth full length release from Lucy Michelle and the Velvet Lapelles. Recorded at Vacation Island Recording Studios in Brooklyn with acclaimed producer/engineer Matt Boynton (MGMT, Beirut, Bat for Lashes), the new record is comprised of all original material written predominantly by Lucy Michelle during the bone-chilling Minnesota winter of 2010. Many of the songs center around the feeling of being trapped and isolated while yearning to be somewhere else; physically or psychologically. HEAT showcases the artistic growth and sonic evolution of the band's sound which translates into a magnificent record laced with scorching lyricism, hauntingly beautiful melodies and gorgeous harmonies that create an expansive, yet highly focused and cohesive body of work Record Label: Video Grandma Style: Independent

Style: Independent

This is the second album from Lotus Plaza, the solo nom de plume of Lockett Pundt, better known as the guitarist in Deerhunter. Pundt has penned a number of the best songs on the last two Deerhunter albums, and his first album, The Floodlight Collective was a tour de force of guitar pop smarts. He has the uncanny ability to build soaring, melodic gems from simple musical phrases; a möbius strip of a guitar line and repeating clipped drum roll in "Strangers"; a tribal drum beat holding down the foundation on "Out of Touch"; two acoustic guitar chords and a slight bit of snare as the basis for "Dusty Rhodes"; a series of slowly descending piano chord scales on "Jet Out of the Tundra". There is a wide variety of songs and moods here, from unabashed rockers such as "White Galactic One" and "Monoliths", acoustic laced introspection on "Dusty Rhodes" and "Black Buzz", to the lysergic electronics of "Remember Our Days". "Spooky Action at a Distance" is a wide angle view of what should be the Style: Independent

"They make music that no one else can." - Gerard Way (My Chemical Romance) "Creative and explosive." - Jared Leto (30 Seconds To Mars) "Epic rock dynamics with a slurred punk edge." - Kerrang. Incl. Making-of, excl. Demo track and photo gallery Record Label: Graphite Style: Independent

Record Label: Mls Records Style: Independent

Lockerbie was formed early in 2008 by all current members, Davíd ArnarSigurdsson (piano), Tórdur Páll Pálsson (vocals and guitar), RúnarSteinn Rúnarsson (drums) and Gudmundur Hólm Kárason (bass). Having known each other since childhood, Davíd, Rúnar and Gudmundur had been playing together for several years when they met Tórdur (Doddi) incollege. The band began practising and composing and in it's earlydays gained a small fame in central Reykjavík playing several gigs with For a Minor Reflection. Lockerbie recorded some demos, Snjóljónand Laut for example and sent the Snjóljón demo to a song competition that was held by the Iceland National Radio and Studio Syrland, one of the most recognized recording studio in Iceland. Snjóljón won the competition and Lockerbie were invited to Studio Syrland to record the song along with few of Iceland's best producers. It was in Studio Syrland where the band met Hördur Ellert, their current manager, who immediately saw some potential in the band and Record Label: Kapitдn Platte Style: Independent

Record Label: Sounds Of Subterrania Style: Independent