The Claypool Lennon Delirium: Melody of Entropy

The Claypool Lennon Delirium have unveiled Melody of Entropy, another track from their upcoming third album - a concept one - The Great Parrot-Ox and The Golden Egg of Empathy, due for release on May 1st via ATO Records. Les Claypool and Sean Lennon share a love weird tales, so it makes sense that came up with a world wherein technocracy is eclipsed by paperclips. The album comes with 24-page comic book created with director and drawing maestro Rich Ragsdale, who also made the video.

The Great Parrot-Ox and the Golden Egg of Empathy, is a cautionary tale of what could be in store for humanity if we continue to favor machines over men. It is a tale of a technocracy eclipsed by paperclips; a young man destined to unravel the fabric of his father’s folly, and a sacred feathered Goddess (played by WILLOW), who holds the egg-shaped key to their future.

Jean Noir: Canyon Prince EP

photo: Veronica Black

Santa Barbara based Jonny Black named himself Jean Noir for a bunch of lo-fi, synth driven baroque pop songs. His Canyon Prince EP is quite a change of pace for a man who was a member of punk bands Them Terribles and Dead Country. Now that he has to rely on percolating percussive elements as the foundation for lush melodies.

Singing about family issues and longing for a freewheeling California that never really existed, Black's reinvention as a self-styled balladeer turned out rather well. The former punker is ageing gracefully.

Opus Kink: The Head Tree (ft. The New Eves)

Brighton based sextet Opus Kink's signature mix of punk and jazz gets an extra shine when they are joined by folk punk band The New EvesThe Head Tree, a song about Alice Molland, the last woman to be tried and hanged as a witch in 1685. For some reason a bit of disco sneaked in, maybe as a nod to the crowd who loved things like this back in the day and turned into a party. The video was made by Kyle McCarthy & Reuben Davies Lindley.

Black Swan Network: "The Early Music Vol. 1" in June; stream "The Shell"

Athens based singer-songwriter and Elephant 6 co-founder Will Cullen Hart kept himself busy when The Olivia Tremor Control hit pause for a while in 1999 and the laucnh of Circulatory System in the next year. He wrote a bunch of intimate songs, some of them mere sketches for his Black Swan Network and some of those recordings made it onto the HHBTM Records 7" singles club.

Geiger von Müller: Neocubist Blues

Most of the tracks on London based acoustic slide guitarist Geiger von Müller's new album Neocubist Blues are short, really short, as if he wanted to show that you can stumble upon an idea and you have to push "record" pretty damn quickly before it's gone again. There are three more parts of his long running Toys In Ghettos excursions and Origins has reached its sixth episode. The blues is all over this collection, with forays into folk, plus an unexpected tribute to Beethoven's Für Elise in Europa.

When he does stretches out, like he does with the rumbling New Revisit and percussion driven Heavy Lite Darkness, Von Müller tests the boundaries of his self-inflicted limitations: it's just him, a guitar and a slide, but can he conjure up whole sun-beaten worlds, places where loners feel comfortable. This is music with teeth and thorns, with a few smooth patches thrown in to offer some respite.