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Hilary Hahn & Hauschka, Silfra

2012 | Label: DG

Cross-genre collaborations are inherently risky. For every peanut-butter-and-chocolate innovation, there are a dozen sardines-and-chutney mismatches. That classical violinist Hahn would improvise with a composer (Hauschka) who favors prepared piano and electronics was not an obvious fit. But the result is a considered studio product that still sounds spontaneous.

They stick close to classical norms on a few tracks – notably, "Krakow," where Hahn plays bits of melody over Hauschka's chord progression on an untreated piano. More often, they make music of alternately clashing or meshing textures, complementary gestures where, occasionally, listeners can't be sure which instrument's making which sound. While this is largely due to Hauschka's mechanical and electronic alterations to his piano sound, Hahn also deploys a wider variety of… more »

P.S. I Love You, Death Dreams

2012 | Label: Paper Bag Records / The Orchard

The Kingston, Ontario, duo P.S. I Love You sound versed less in musical theory than chaos theory. They major in a strain of volatile, dense noise-pop that sounds constantly on the verge of falling in on itself, and Death Dreams, their second full-length, finds them determinedly upping the freneticism. Drummer Benjamin Nelson appears to take his musical cue from Animal from the Muppets but the band's fulcrum is Paul Saulnier, who layers fuzzy thrash guitar, erratic organ blurts and semi-feral vocals into one reverb-laden noise-ball and fires it out of a canon with the volume knob cranked.

Augmenting the all-consuming air of fertile chaos is the fact that Saulnier is a wilfully obscurantist vocalist, hiccupping and swallowing his words until they… more »

Cold Specks, I Predict A Graceful Expulsion

2012 | Label: MUTE

"Cross your heart and remember me, the good father and the bad seed," London-based songstress Al Spx sings on the opening track of her debut, I Predict A Graceful Expulsion. A sea away from her Toronto, Canada, home, it's difficult to believe that Spx — who refuses to use her real name out of respect for her God-fearing, disapproving family — is writing from a place of anything less than gut-wrenching sincerity.

Slung somewhere between Bill Callahan's folk nihilism and Flannery O'Connor's down and dirty spirituality, I Predict A Graceful Expulsion is an extended dalliance with darkness. As though weaving a gospel for the unbelieving, Spx fills her "doom soul" with tales of fractured families, weary travels, and what feels like… more »

Saint Vitus, Lillie: F-65

2012 | Label: Season of Mist / The Orchard

Saint Vitus were creating droning, deafening symphonies of gloom in the early '80s, long before bands like Cathedral, Sleep and Down started turning the cannabis-flavored whiff of Black Sabbath into soundtracks for their own bong-enlightened adventures. And Vitus faced adversity from the moment they released their self-titled record in 1984 on SST, a label dominated by hardcore, post-punk and alternative bands. Singers came and went, including the indomitable Scott "Wino" Weinrich (ex-Obsessed, Shrinebuilder), who fronted Vitus through its best material while holding down crappy day jobs and debilitating addictions.

It's hard to believe 17 years have passed since the D.C.-based doom metal veterans released their last album, Die Healing, and a full 22 since Wino was at the helm on V.… more »

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eMerging Artists

By J. Edward Keyes, Editor-in-Chief

At eMusic, we take pride in being the place you hear about artists first. Whether it's through our eMusic Selects program - which brought you the first releases by Best Coast, Crystal Stilts, Strand of… more »

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