In what is likely a statement of the painfully obvious, Jeff Wichmann said that his new album A?hhhhh!!!!! is "something that, as far as I can tell, no one's ever created before, which is a koto/trumpet album with a lot of electronic blips and bleeps."

And that's not all. "I wanted to create an experimental rock album using the koto and the trumpet, as opposed to recording a koto album" of traditional compositions, Wichmann said in a recent phone interview. "Most koto players just do that. I found that limiting ... ."

Wichmann, a former Quad Citian (and former Reader employee) now based in Chicago, will be headlining the official release show for A?hhhhh!!!!! at Rozz-Tox on October 26, and it's almost certain to be a unique experience. The trumpeter and koto player will be joined by guitarist Jeff Kmieciak (a bandmate in Tenki, which plans to release its final album next year) and, on at least one song, Konrad (the Quad Cities electronic-music artist whose remix of the title track is included on the new record).

The first thing to stress about Hello Quad Cities - Volume 1 is that as compilations go, it's strong from front to back and varied without feeling scattershot. The challenging format tends to result in well-intentioned hodgepodges of second-rate leftovers, but the tracks here - from 12 area bands - are all exclusive, and most were written specifically for the compilation. More importantly, while you might not find all of them to your liking, there isn't a weak link.

The second thing to emphasize is that if you're curious about the project, you shouldn't dawdle. The release is available only on vinyl, and a mere 350 copies were pressed. (Each album includes a download code, but there will be no separate digital or CD release.) And they'll only be sold at a pair of record-release shows, by the featured bands, and at Ragged Records.

The Facebook biography of the Chicago-based trio Cains & Abels is four words: "honest rock and roll."

That might sound glib, vague, evasive, or even a dig at other bands - and it is. But a truer explanation is that singer/songwriter/bassist David Sampson means it, and to expand on the idea would simply take too long. When I asked him a general question about the genesis of "Money" - from the band's gorgeously, patiently articulated My Life Is Easy album - he talked for more than four minutes.

He touched on how his fictional songs seemed to bring their specific sadnesses into his life, and how he decided - almost as a joke - to write happy songs to conjure a different vibe.

"One of the main troubles in my life is money," he said. He discussed how hip-hop artists rap about what they aspire to, and "if it works out, ... they've made it happen by talking about it. ... So I decided at one point that I should try to write some songs about how awesome it is to be wealthy, or at least comfortable financially."

He then deflated what had seemed a hopeful tale. "I ended up writing a song addressing money as a lover that spurned me," he said. "It didn't actually come out the way I intended it to."

Even Sampson's fantasies are weighed down by truth; he couldn't complete a tongue-in-cheek exercise in wish fulfillment.

Less than a minute into In Tall Buildings' 2010 self-titled debut is a moment that hints at Erik Hall's cut-and-paste method. New vocal lines burst abruptly from beneath the previous ones, as if overeagerly jumping their cue. But the music is so carefully constructed that it's obvious this was a choice rather than a mistake, and the effect in an otherwise patient and gentle song is the understanding of a clear vision behind the music.

The album was crafted over four years, Hall said in a phone interview this week promoting his February 15 performance at Rozz-Tox. "I didn't push it at all," he said. "I didn't work on it unless something came to me, unless I had an idea that I knew I wanted to apply to the music that I was already working on. So it was very gradual."

While the album's gestation period was long by music-industry standards, Hall's composing and recording approaches were particularly unusual. He started out with a backbone - a chord progression or rhythmic pattern - and recorded it for the final product. "That's it," he said. "It's not like a demo. ... Sometimes I have to sit and live with that for a good while before I figure out where the vocals are going to come from, what the song is going to be about, and what else sonically it needs." He added with a laugh: "That can take anywhere from a week to a year."