This cinematic musical travelogue equally embraces the high energy of pop/rock, the complex structures of chamber music, and the improvisational qualities of jazz. With inspirations as varied as The Decemberists, John Coltrane, Hungarian gypsy fiddle music, Eric Satie, and Japanese pop/jazz composer Akiko Yano, Animals & Cannibals showcases an expanded vision for the world chamber music genre, incorporating styles from Eastern European folk and Latin dance music to American blues and avant cabaret. These rich studio arrangements include myriad instruments not yet heard in 3 Leg Torso’s music (tuba, French horn, piano, Weissenborn) and carry listeners on a sculpted sonic adventure that reveals a landscape both beautiful and unexpected.

This deeply personal record by the most recent member of The New Pornographers is bound to be one of 2010’s most innovative releases. Are You My Mother? is a beguiling album that—because of the wisdom and experience communicated by Kathryn Calder’s voice— gives the illusion of being written by someone in the twilight of their years, while at the same time expressing the excitement and wonder of a young woman who is just finding her own voice.

Longtime collaborators Laura Watling, Ed Mazzucco, Tim Morris, and Dwayne Palasek began working together in the 1990s as The Autocollants. In 2006 they teamed up with Matthew Bice (who incidentally runs Shelflife Records with Mazzucco) to form Tears Run Rings. Their diaphanous debut EP, A Question and an Answer, was self-released in the spring of 2007, and a long player entitled Always Sometimes Seldom Never emerged on Clairecords one year later. The band’s second album, Distance, arrives in August 2010.

BLACK SLEEP OF K
OUR SLOW DECAY
SSO-Small Stone Records
Allegro Price: $11.98

Formed in 2008 in Denver, Black Sleep of Kali started when guitarist\vocalist Taylor Williams moved to Denver from Salt Lake City. In March 2010, the band headed to Salt Lake to record with Andy Paterson. Eight songs were recorded in a blur of five long, hard, frustrating days, but the band emerged confident with its Small Stone debut. The album, titled Our Slow Decay, is full of huge riffs, catchy vocals, and furious drumming that is sure to leave its mark on the doom/metal genre.

Bill Baird (Sunset) created these rich ambient works using primarily analog keyboards, piano, and other acoustic instruments, as well as a variety of guest performers. The album was created directly following a period of intense focus and frustration recording a major label album for Capitol Records. Dedicated to 2” 24-track tape as quickly and as unfussily as possible, the album nevertheless comes across as an intensely focused and rewarding exercise in ambient music. The snapshot quality of the recordings carries an undeniable immediacy, and the qualityintensive recording process adds a natural depth not felt in the run-of-the-mill laptop-derived ambience.

Live In Vienna is the eighth full-length album by German electronic music outfit Cluster, and their first and only album with Joshi Farnbauer. It is the first of three live albums recorded by the group. Live In Vienna was the only Cluster release never reissued on CD, and this new reissue includes archival material as well as newly mastered audio and new artwork created by Cluster member Dieter Mobius.