Various

For the Desert Sessions, linchpin Josh Homme (Kyuss, Queens of the Stone Age) gathers groups of musicians in the desert of Joshua Tree, in what Dean Ween describes as "real tight quarters, it [looks] like an old Ween studio — just the basic gear that you need to get by and make a record.” Originally of interest only to desert and stoner rock obsessives, the first eight volumes of the Desert Sessions featured a shifting crew of collaborators who’d worked together on various genre projects. If anyone had suggested that PJ Harvey might appear on a Desert Sessions ten-inch, most fan boys would have responded with a simple "pff, right.” Half a dozen years on, the Queens of the Stone Age have a top 20 record, and as a result the Dessert Sessions have a much broader audience. And, whadda you know, PJ Harvey’s adding a touch of class to the whole affair. Joining PJ is Dean Ween, Twiggy Ramirez (Marilyn Manson), Josh Freese (Vandals, A Perfect Circle), and a cast of thousands. This edition includes fewer jams, concentrating on a contrasting mix of beautifully skewed pop songs, grinding rockers, and ethereal dirges. The addition of PJ’s haunting vocals completely transforms the Desert Sessions vibe as Dean raves "getting the female voice on the mic it’s really cool, it made it different than every other thing I’ve ever done. Plus, she can just sing circles around anybody I’ve ever met.” Add those vocals to ridiculously hooky, angular, rockin’, dark, moody, pretty, slinky, dissonant, poppy, weird tunes and you got musical gold, baby. And, that yields an incredible disc with lip-biting, scrunched-up, sex-face inducing grooves.