What the CL Music Team is spinning this fine Monday to rocket launch us into the work week… To check out last previous entries, click here.

Joel – Book of Black Earth, The Cold Testament (2011)
I almost get unreasonably excited when I find a new-to-me metal band that doesn't turn me off within 30 seconds. I can't stand most of the drone stuff many music blogs tend to gush over these days. A while back, Stereogum streamed the new album by Seattle's Book Of Black Earth. I heard pummeling percussion and layered guttural vocals a la Behemoth (when that band was REALLY good) with a bit of blackened grit and blistering guitar-work featuring the occasional Maiden-esque dual harmonies. I imagine recruiting Swe-death legend Dan Swano (Edge of Sanity) to mix probably helps invoke my interest as the guitars often grind with that early-90's Stockholm sound pervasive in Entombed, Dismember, and so many other now-legendary bands. "Road Dogs From Hell" brings a thrash/punk approach similar to The Crown at that band's best, and is probably a solid entry point into the rest of the set, which tends to explore beyond that track's three-minute mark.

Leilani – tUnE yArDs, W H O K I L L (2011)
I love it when music surprises me, and the new tUnE yArDs tickles my awe-dazzle bone. The music is delightfully quirked-out psychedelic art pop/avant Afro poptronica as crafted by New England native Merrill Garbus, tUnE yArDs her solo project. Garbus creates percussive-intensive and propulsive drum loops, throws in ukulele, electric bass, glitter-washed sonics and the occasional blast of drunk-n-high horns, and as a final important touch, sets her crazy high vocals against it all, her multi-layered outbursts ranging from repetitive nonsensical utterances and song-specific exclamations (like the "BANG BANG BANG, oh!" of "Gangsta") to bird-like coos and cat-in-heat cries, to her fall-back wildly passionate wails. Garbus delivers lyrics in crushed together streams-of-consciousness, and throws out lines like "The worst thing about living a lie is wondering just when they'll find out" (from "My Country," a riff on the patriotic tune that diverges completely out into left field). Reminds me of Dirty Projectors, with less rock and more blissful electro-pop moments, and this album is turning out to be one of my favorites this year. Check out the video for "Bizness" after the jump.

This article appears in Jun 23-29, 2011.

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