"Murda on My Mind" (above) is Gary, Indiana's Freddie Gibbs at his most gothic, rapping about street stuff he knows is messing him up psychologically. "Boxframe Cadillac" (below) is about smoking marijuana in a car, which seems to mess him up psychologically in a more positive way than the content of "Murda on My Mind."

In both flicks, the B&W treatment is right on and dramatic blunt smoke not a gimmick. Hats off to the creators. Check the attendant interview.

L-R: Charles Thompson, Kim Deal, David Lovering, Joey Santiago

I pronounce today Joey Santiago Day, in honor of Pixies' guitarist.

A special hush fell whenever Amber Coffman, Angel Deeradorean, and Haley Dekle sang at Neumo's Wendesday night. They're the best of Dirty Projectors' weapons.

Audience wonderment was a major theme of the evening. It indicated the era we're in, where pop music is sophisticating itself, where bands practice hard and aim high, musically and technically. Such is the mind-blowing tradition of Dirty Projectors.

During "Remade Horizon," a stand-out from the Brooklyn band's album that might be the best in all pop music for 2009, "Bitte Orca," the female singing teamwork sounded just like a sequenced loop from a synthesizer. It was a recurring trick, but never felt cheap. The audience cheered for it every time.

The sirens projected cleanly all night and benefited from tasteful arrangements, but besides being tasteful those arrangements were super complicated and required great feats of voice-rhythm.

Head songwriter David Longstreth was wondrous, too, captivating in his starring role for the evening and perhaps his whole career as David Byrne. Moved like him, sang and played like him (conceptually, anyways), got physically animated while performing his awesome, ensemble-cast, polyrhythmic, African-American guitar/voice musical theater like him. He kept walking his lanky frame around the stage, bobbing his head like an ostrich. His Byrne-ish white Stratocaster pealed out riff after quick-fingered, octave-pedaled, bright-sounding riff, each a little lightning strike.

His flurries were seconded and thirded by Coffman on guitar, Deradoorean on keys, Nat Baldwin on bass, and Brian Mcomber on drums. They all peppered their playing with flashes of descending rhythm, a motif in many Dirty Projectors songs, and often played the riffs simultaneously or immediately following another. The music was more democratic than it sounds on record.

For "Stillness is the Move," the group's big hit and 2009's hands-down best R&B song, the memorable, wordless hook—a slowed-down version of the flurry-figure—was half sung by Deradoorean, half by Coffman, back to back. Sounded like one singer. On "No Intention," the guitar hook was played by Longstreth and Coffman at the same time. Sounded like one guitar with a cool effects pedal.

Another note on "Stillness": Coffman sang with no fear of being really loud. Mouth wide open, on one note, she flirted with a scream. It's hard to explain why it was so great, but it was.

Throughout the evening, Dirty Projectors' music was a big deal. A few weeks ago, fellow Brooklyn band Grizzly Bear was similarly super-practiced and compositionally ambitious at The Moore, and performed a similarly impressive set.

Dirty Projectors took it to another level at Neumo's. It was almost too much, the ideas were too good, too many, too integrated. It wasn't one person with some cool moves and a few followers, it was six people outdoing each other all the time. Beauty was all around, but precision impressed most.

Local record label Hardly Art, home to area luminaries The Dutchess and the Duke, Talbot Tagora, and Moondoggies, among others, is offering a great and mostly local sampler for free download. Get it here. Press release and track list after the jump.

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"Ran" is the new song from Foscil, a band made from three-fourths of Seattle's best and brightest, Truckasauras, plus horn/woodwind player Anthony Moore. The song is a quiet storm groove, combining urban sophistication with subdued soulfulness.

It starts off like a Truckasauras tune—deep, slow, sad synths—then various rhythms combine, electronic and from a traditional drum set, and a muted trumpet lifts off with the song's melody. "Ran" is its own style of meditative jazz fusion, sweeping but reined-in.

Foscil plays Saturday, Nov. 21 at The Croc. Its album "Residential" isn't out until December, but luxuriously packaged vinyl is pre-selling via Journal of Popular Noise and pictured above.

More Foscil post-jump.

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When Seattle's Shabazz Palaces first made noise in the local press last June, rapper Ishmael Butler was semi-seriously trying to remain anonymous. There is still mystery surrounding the bohemian/street rap act.

Fill out the contact fields at shabazzpalaces.com and you might get an email back from "Palaceer Lazaro," whoever that is. The site is beautifully designed and so are Shabazz Palaces' two mini-albums—they come with decorative detachable patches—but ask the designers about details and they'll tell you they've been sworn to secrecy. Further adding to the mystique is the fact Shabazz Palaces has not played any public concerts in Seattle, and besides its website and CD packaging, is visually represented only by a very art-school music video that doesn't obviously feature Butler.

In a landmark bit of exposition, Shabazz Palaces performed and was interviewed at KEXP's studio 10/25/09. The music marries mbira and drum machine in perfect harmony, and Ishmael Butler controls the mic like a pro.

The interviewer is Larry Mizell, Jr., the show is Street Sounds, and the setlist is...well, I don't know. It starts with "4 Shadows," then I can't place the next song "N**** W'sappenin," then "Hottabatch," then "a mess, the booth soaks in palacian musk, palaceer in vintage LRG, yes pure NS,uppowndet watermelon lips beat."

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DJ/producer/multi-instrumentalist James Pants releases his second album "Seven Seals" 12/08/09 on Stones Throw Records to be be sold in CD, vinyl, and cassette formats. The excellent cover art is by Matt Rex. Sayeth Pants' promotional materials:

The album was made while reading mystical books and the book of Revelations, and inspired by being in the mood to start a cult. This is the cult's soundtrack.

Pants' first album, "Welcome," was old-school electro crossed with made-it-in-my-garage synth-funk. One of 2008's most underrated releases, it was the world's introduction to Pants' "fresh beat" sound.

The song "Thin Moon" suggests "Seven Seals" might incorporate newish hiphopisms into Pants' now familiar style. The synthesizer brightness is still there, and also the sense of rugged naivete in the song's arrangement and recording, but notice the rappity-rap fingersnaps. Those are new.

..for the Wednesday 11/04 concert at Neumo's.

Flick from the 'Tube

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"Bleach" is Nirvana's toughest set of songs, but as it offends with noise and griminess, it surprises with pop flashes and repetitive relaxation. The choruses seem ripped apart from the verses, jarring but complimentary, and Kurt Cobain (excuse me, Kurdt) had an undeniable way with a simple distorted guitar riff. The 20th anniversary edition comes with a live concert recorded in 1990. Check it out on Sub Pop's site.

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The 10th anniversary edition of "Sadstyle" by S (aka Jenn Ghetto) is out on Aviation Records and features some new (old?) songs. It's a winning slice of lo-fi bedroom pop, truly a release to cut holes in the cuffs of your sweater sleeves to. Check it out at CDBaby.

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Aurora Avenue label Light in the Attic Records is back with another set of Betty Davis reissues, immaculately packaged and fully liner-noted. The gutter-funk of "Is It Love or Desire" (1976) is paired with writings by superior Pop Conference presenter Oliver Wang. And if you think Betty Davis cares whether it's love or desire, think again. Check it out at LITA's site.

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This is it, the rawest of the raw. Of the four Betty Davis reissues put out by Light in the Attic, "Nasty Gal" is the most confrontational, the dirtiest. It's a shocking listen, hearing this woman vomit sex and power all over the place. It was made in 1975 and was never available on CD before now. John Ballon, the guy who wrote the Betty Davis cover story for Wax Poetics, did the liner notes. Check it out at LITA's site.

Sir Elton is sick. Google says it's not serious, and the Seattle concert will be rescheduled.