Drumplay

(www.drumplay.com) Up until now, Drumplay's loose-limbed percussive thrush has been as organic as the conch shells the group likes to play. But on Dayshine to Stars-End, the group begins to subtly experiment with electronics and tape manipulation, adding still more breadth to its panoramic sound. This is world music in Cinemascope.

Dayshine is eccentric and exploratory, with poet Daniel Thompson waxing eloquent about rogue eggplants over limber marimba from Gong great Benoit Moerlen. Songs range from heated hand-drum freakouts ("Rhythms Ride the Rocket") to ominous soundscapes punctuated with bursts of sax that approximate a wounded whale ("Mother"). Through it all, slight electronic touches lend a forbidding edge to an album that shines as brightly as its namesake. -- Jason Bracelin
Drumplay CD release party, with Lingua and KMOB. Saturday, March 20, at the Beachland Ballroom.