"brown Acid"

Right from the stop-start bass groove that opens "The Emperor," it's immediately clear that Ethiopian Knights is more indebted to funk – not just funky jazz, but the straight-up James Brown/Sly Stone variety – than any previous Donald Byrd project. And, like a true funk band, Byrd and his group work the same driving, polyrhythmic grooves over and over, making rhythm the focal point of the music…

A self-taught guitarist, Hendrix began his musical career backing such R&B greats as Ike and Tina Turner, Sam Cooke, Wilson Pickett and B.B. King. Brought to London from New York by former Animals bassist Chas Chandler, Hendrix quickly established himself as the brightest new star on the burgeoning progressive rock scene of the early '60s…

A New Jersey band that's making all the right noises. A chaotic guitars and drum combo who sound like they recorded this rolling down a hill. Their songs shift from inane free form workouts and surreal silliness to highly complex guitar riffing.

Led by Toronto's subtle-guitar whiz Gordie Johnson, Big Sugar cover a dizzying number of bases on their second effort. The group kicks out the jams for a pair of mutant, acid blues in "Ride Like Hell" and "I'm A Ram," stokes a hypnotic, National Steel groove on "Sugar In My Coffee," wails out a lurching Tex-Mex riff for "AAA Aardvark Hotel," and fascinates with an open-prairie/R&B fusion on "Wild Ox Moan." Impossible to pigeon-hole and freshly uncentered…

Bibio's Stephen Wilkinson had such a major breakthrough with Ambivalence Avenue that anticipation about whether or not he could maintain such a breakneck pace of innovation was palpable. Mind Bokeh - whose title was inspired by the photography term for the way a lens renders out-of-focus points of light - is true to its name and Wilkinson’s hyperactive creativity, but not in obvious ways. Though the title track dapples sparkling electronics over a luminous haze of distant nature samples, the rest of the album isn’t exactly blurry. In fact, its sounds are often surprisingly hard-edged and chilly, especially compared to Ambivalence Avenue’s summery vibe. Yet Wilkinson's meticulous way of layering these crisp, immediate sounds with half-heard atmospheres is fascinating (especially under headphones), suggesting the intertwining of the present with dreams and memories, and the external world with the internal one…