New Releases From Noam Pikelny, Deltron 3030, Basia Bulat Caroline Desilets Basia Bulat nods to Fleetwood Mac and early Joni Mitchell on "Tall Tall Shadow." Justin Camerer Noam Pikelny pays tribute to two bluegrass giants on his latest album. Darren Samuelson The second outing from Deltron 3030 (from left, Kid Koala, Del the Funky Homosapien and Dan Nakamura, a k a Dan the Automator) is a concept album: "Event 2." Robert Lewis/ECM Records From left, the alto saxophonist Tim Berne and Snakeoil (the pianist Matt Mitchell, the clarinetist Oscar Noriega and the drummer Ches Smith) return with "Shadow Man." The future rides a flexible continuum on "Event 2" (Bulk), a dystopian but perky concept album by this alternative hip-hop conglomerate, due out on Tuesday. As on Deltron 3030"s self-titled debut, released in 2000, it's the product of a partnership among the savvy producer Dan the Automator, the fiercely intelligent rapper Del the Funky Homosapien and the ace turntablist Kid Koala - along with an oddball assortment of guests, like Damon Albarn of Gorillaz, Zach de la Rocha of Rage Against the Machine and David Chang of Momofuku. Yes, the chef. Lyrically the album rails against corporate and technological forces, peering back from a distant future in a tone both rueful and goofy. Others on board: the rap parodists Lonely Island and the comedian David Cross. Del the Funky Homosapien hasn't lost his verbose velocity, and his partners retain their gift for brooding airs and funk grandeur. But what felt ahead of its time around the turn of this millennium now scans as classicism, only tweaked to include newer co-conspirators like Emily Wells. Not that there isn't reason to look forward (or back?) to Deltron 3030"s tour with a 16-piece orchestra, which reaches the Brooklyn Bowl on Oct. 9. Tim Berne's Snakeoil When the alto saxophonist and composer Tim Berne has a working band, he works it hard. "Shadow Man," due out on Tuesday on ECM, is his second album with his quartet Snakeoil, featuring Oscar Noriega on clarinets, Matt Mitchell on piano and Ches Smith on drums and percussion. As with the group's 2012 debut, "Snakeoil," it's an impressive showcase for Mr. Berne's precisely gnarled ensemble writing - and for the musicians resourceful and alert enough to make it work. There are also fine, itchy stretches of free improvisation, some involving Mr. Smith on vibraphone. "Socket" begins with a gripping fantasia by Mr. Mitchell and builds to a strategic meltdown by Mr. Noriega. And "OC/DC," which runs almost to 23 minutes, covers so much ground that it feels like a compact summation of Mr. Berne's style. Snakeoil, which plays the Jazz Standard on Oct. 16, is merely his latest vehicle. But he's making certain that it leaves its mark. Matt Mitchell Matt Mitchell, the Snakeoil pianist, just released "Fiction" (Pi), his first album as a leader, also featuring Ches Smith. It's a collection of original études designed to push the limits of ambidexterity and equilibrium, and Mr. Mitchell, whose playing descends as much from contemporary classical music as from avant-garde jazz, plunges headfirst into the effort. Some pieces, like "Dadaist Flu," tumble forth with convulsive control; others seem almost random in their machinations. But the percussive rustle of Mr. Smith, who places his emphasis carefully from one moment to the next, highlights the premeditation behind these knotty miniatures. Mr. Mitchell brought a perverse singularity of focus to their conception, but it took real-time interplay to give them a fleshed-out sense of purpose. Noam Pikelny "Noam Pikelny Plays Kenny Baker Plays Bill Monroe" is the ingenious new album by Mr. Pikelny, a 32-year-old banjo virtuoso, out on Compass Records on Tuesday. It's a track-by-track remake of "Plays Bill Monroe," the 1976 album by the fiddler Kenny Baker, a longtime member of Bill Monroe's pacesetting bluegrass band. And as on that album, this one has an all-star crew: Stuart Duncan on fiddle, Ronnie McCoury on mandolin, Bryan Sutton on guitar and Mike Bub on bass. But Mr. Pikelny sharpened the challenge, adapting Baker's fiddle lines to the banjo with meticulous flair, especially on "Jerusalem Ridge" and "Big Sandy River," cornerstones of the Monroe-and-Baker alliance. He has done similar adaptive work with Punch Brothers, but this framework is an absolute boon for him: at once a token of reverence, a feat of translation and a show of dominion. Basia Bulat Most of the songs on "Tall Tall Shadow" (Secret City), the third album by this singer-songwriter from Ontario, unfold like notes to self, even when they're addressed to a notional "you." These songs bear titles like "From Now On" and "Promise Not to Think About Love," and strike a sound that nods to Fleetwood Mac and the early Joni Mitchell. Ms. Bulat has a voice well suited to interiority, warm and honeyed, though it cuts through the reverberant throb of the music. She produced the album with Tim Kingsbury and Mark Lawson, affiliates of Arcade Fire. At her best she lays bare the distance between intention and action. "I was practicing what I had left to say/But I can't say now," she sings at the start of