EAR/Rational Update Week 39, 2009

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This week's update contains releases by:

Absentees, The * Aliens * Ancestors * April & May * Bereft * Black Devil Disco Club * Bob Carpenter * Boston Spaceships * Christmas Island * Clientele * Clifford T. Ward * Controllers, The * DOA * Dokaka * Easter Monkeys * Emily Rodgers * Ender * Exxasens * Fredrik Ohr * Galina Ustvolskaya * Gaslamp Killer, The * Georges Aperghis * Hanatarash + Evil Moisture * Haters * Joanna Cazden * Kaos * Karl Amadeus Hartmann * Kasumi Trio * Kasumio Trio * Kryptic Minds * Lethe * Lionel Marchetti & Olivier Capparos * Lou Barlow * Love * Lyndon Bartell * Matthew Halsall * Merzbow * Methadrone * Michael Deacon * Michael Hurley * Mincemeat or Tenspeed * Mondrian Oak * Mt. * Muslimgauze * Nick Cave & Warren Ellis * Nmperign * Oneohtrix Point Never * Oren Ambarchi * Peter Broderick * Philippe Petit * Pistol Whip * Quieting Syrup * Semuin * Simone White * Sleep Chamber * Stan Moeller * Talk Normal * Tarotogachi * Th' Inbred * Thee Oh Sees * Tin Huey * Wire, The

[ F E A T U R E D   R E L E A S E S ]

Black Devil Disco Club - Strange New World Of Bernard Fevre CD (Lo Recordings) [LCD78] $13.25
In 1975, before the release of the first BLACK DEVIL DISCO CLUB album, BERNARD FEVRE released an album called The Strange World of Bernard Fevre. Like the first Black Devil album, it was so far ahead of its time that even now, people struggle to believe it was really recorded over 30 years ago. Now Fevre has once again unlocked his magical cabinet and made available new mixes of the original tracks, along with previously unheard compositions. So crisp and inventive are the electronics, so haunting and eternal the melodies, it is as if this music has always existed. Which are new tracks and which come from the same era as the original album, Fevre is in no hurry to reveal. For him, there is a single space-time continuum, and where and when individual events occur is of little importance. If Black Devil is all about creating Afro-infused disco grooves that impel the listener to dance, the music of Bernard Fevre transports one to a place where everything is clearer, sharper--an intense hyper-reality, not unlike states glimpsed during those all-too-fleeting moments of successful drug ingestion, and yet much more powerful and lucid. Musically, there are echoes of now-familiar styles, from the romanticism of Air to the electro pulse of Busta Rhymes, the lush tones of Drexciya, the wayward warp of Aphex Twin, and the delicacy of Kraftwerk. No exports outside North America. LP version to folow.

Ender - Ender CD (ConSouling Sounds) [DRKR001] $19.00
"Ender describe themselves as experimental drone rock - which means their palette is mainly comprised of layered slabs of overdriven guitar........the pair have the capacity not only to construct great caverns of noise but to deftly evoke mood and emotion with sustained tones in harmony and dissonance. The arrangement of pure tone, minus premeditated riffs or the focus of a voice allows a listener to be carried away on its waveforms. The music is corralled into four unnamed parts, perhaps heralding a seasonal life cycle." - Jacob Connor, NZ Musician Magazine Comes in a wonderful digipack

Exxasens - Beyond the Universe CD (ConSouling Sounds) [SOUL0007] $19.00
After Exxasens' debut cdr Polaris sold out at lightspeed it was clear we had to take up to the next level. So, here we are: Beyond the Universe! This debut full album picks up where Polaris left: beautiful unearthly melodies somewhere on the line between post-rock and post-metal. Impossible to pinpoint an exact genre or reference point: Barcelona's Exxasens maintains a unique musical journey. A journey that leads the listener somewhere... Beyond the Universe. Limited to 1000 copies

Fredrik Ohr - Falling through the Earth CD (Aleph Zero) [AlephZ14] $20.46
RELEASE DATE: 11-16-2009
Falling through the Earth is the much awaited debut album from Stockholm based musician and producer Fredrik Ohr. Fredrik has a long background in classical piano and as a song writer, and that is highly evident in the subtle complexity underlying his music. Fredrik's physical and intellectual journeys through Asia and Buddhism are also very well felt in his music. Falling through the Earth offers a wonderful dreamy and fresh combination of North European atmospheres and textures interlaced with Asian influences, all dipped in 70s psychedelic delicate feel. Fredrik's music has special warmth of instrumental and vocal work springing forth from sophisticated layers of electronic sounds, glitches and breaks creating an enchanting combination. Aleph Zero invites you to take part in this wonderful musical journey.

Methadrone - Better Living (Through Chemistry) CD (ConSouling Sounds) [SOUL0006] $19.00
Methadrone has come a long way since its conception as a 2-bassed sludge/drone monolith. Craig Pillard (who has been part of Evoken, Incantation, e.a.) gradually expanded his sound through experiment with acoustic guitars and other vocal collaborations. Better Living (Through Chemistry) is pushing beyond the boundaries of traditional doom music, resulting in well balanced atmospheric pieces of music which make this third full album the apogee of Methadrone's oeuvre this far. On this innovative journey, that bridges the gaps between doom, drone, dark ambient, wave and even neo-folk, Pillard sided with Jason Wallach (The Unquiet Void), Tara Vanflower (Lycia) and Thierry Arnal (fragment.) to present their next step in the evolution of gloomy music.

Mondrian Oak - Through Early Seed CD (ConSouling Sounds) [SOUL0008] $19.00
Mondrian Oak conceived in autumn 2007, and slowely paved the path to launch their debut album Through Early Seed. These Italians shared the stage with a lot of great bands (Zippo, Gerda, Last Minute To Jaffna, Viscera/// e.a.), which most certainly helped them to shape their own voice within the genre: they have crafted a sound which is evocative and psychedelic merely with the classic rock instruments, devoid of excess. With their loud, doomy and gloomy outbursts that alternate with intimistic accoustic parts, their music is situated on the crossroads between postrock and postcore. The maturity and originality they put in the arrangements of the composition makes this a debut album that truly stands out, and predicts a promising future! Limited to 300 copies

Mt. - Teach Your Children How To Think, Not What To Think CDEP (ConSouling Sounds) [SOUL0002] $13.15
It has been a while since we heard new tunes by the band branded by The Silent Ballet as "one of the shining new lights of the UK post-rock scene". The EP contains 4 brand new tracks that push beyond 2006 critically acclaimed Lethologica. During the years of silence the band progressed as songwriters, which is reflected in every track on the Teach Children How To Think, Not What To Think EP. Intelligently layered structures entwined with amazingly crafted melodies leave no room for interpretation: Mt. are back and determined to permanently claim a place in the spotlights. Limited to 1000 copies

Various Artists - Imaginary Friends (Audio Poetry Collected by Nova) CD (Ultimae) [inre037] $17.54
Audio Poetry Collected by Nova. Nova honours the legacy of 2005 Albedo with another outstanding narrative-driven compilation showcasing more intimate yet intriguing fresh sounds. [ Imaginary Friends ] features a melange of styles, different facets of ambient electronica infused with neo-classical moods, acoustic sensibilities, epic melodies and impressionistic textures and tempos for a vibrant and overall warm feel. As always emphasis was put on gathering original and tailor-made compositions from a variety of well-known artists on Ultimae and interesting newcomers such as Murya from Iceland, offthesky from the US, to create a musical palette that shares Nova's own eclectic and unconventional vision. "With Imaginary Friends I've wanted to speak about solitude but not seen as alienation, disillusionment or isolationism. Loneliness somehow involves the release of human spirit and the consequent building of a new paradigm. Personal moments, like to plug in a pair of headphones and go for a walk in a park, sitting in a café watching passers by or when writing a poem. Poetry is not a simple form of art, no matter what language is. It requires some skill, a bit of logic, and lots of heart: it's about intensity, like ambient music." The Imaginary Friends are Field Rotation (Germany), Kevin Andrew (Indiana), Rena Jones & Nalepa (Oregon and California), offthesky (Kentucky), Murya (Iceland), Cell (France), Aes Dana (France), Hol Baumann (France), Asura (France), Solar Fields (Sweden) and James Murray (England). This Audio Poetry mastered by Vincent Villuis comes with 3 parts digipack and 16 pages booklet presenting original pictures from Stefano Terranova, Maya Berthou, Ysabelle Gomez and poems from Nova. Tracklisting :

  1. FIELD ROTATION - Regenzeit II
  2. KEVIN ANDREW - Three Weeks
  3. RENA JONES - Photosynthesis (Nalepa remix)
  4. OFFTHESKY - Gently, Drown the scene
  5. MURYA - Gray Daze
  6. CELL - Out of Breath
  7. AES DANA - Resin
  8. HOL BAUMANN - Handwritten notes
  9. ASURA - Longing for silence
  10. SOLAR FIELDS - Times are good (Sometimes remix)
  11. JAMES MURRAY - Eleven (Decades mix)

Various Artists - Apres le Déluge: Belgian postmusic compilation CD (ConSouling Sounds) [SOUL0005] $8.77
An exciting compilation where the finest young Belgian experimental bands collide. Ranging from post-rock, to post-core, to post- (black) metal. Get yourself familiarised with the sounds of the Belgian underground. Featured bands: The Blanchwood Spacefolk, Eye of Daw, Karoshi, Krati, Mount Venus, Musth, P:407, Salvador, Saturn Trip, Sensual Noise and Zeus Walks The Earth

Various Artists - Serge Modular Users 2009 CD (Resipiscent) [RespSerge] $12.50
RELEASE DATE: 11-01-2009
Nothing rattles windows or sinks stomachs like pure analogue sound synthesis. Here, fourteen fanatics of the Serge Modular synth system contribute their best to a full-length CD on Resipiscent Records. Contributors include: Benge, John DuVal, Hans Grusel, cebec, M/N/M/N, kkonkkrete, and Carlos Giffoni

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Aliens - Luna CD (Birdman) [BMR119] $13.25
Comprised of ex-BETA BAND personnel and armed with a bottomless bag of psychedelically inclined rock and acid-dipped electronics, the Scottish band's freedom of spirit and certainty of intent set them apart from the current crop of guitar-slingers. Inspired by Sergio Leone and Serge Gainsbourg, Brian Eno and Brian Wilson, Larry David and Ol' Dirty Bastard, their songs in the key of Fife reference the past while belonging resolutely to the future. Self-producing the album, the band embraces their freedom from the major record label machine and explores each track with focus and wilful experimentation. Luna is an ambitious, thrilling, and immensely rewarding album, the sound of The Aliens fully realizing their extra-terrestrial musical vision. Its songs unfold into rolling, expansive sonic panoramas. It's a mesmeric, psych-tinged, honeycomb folk-pop masterpiece that runs free. Between them, they have been behind some of the most enthralling British music of the last decade: JOHN MACLEAN and ROBIN JONES were in the Beta Band, and GORDON ANDERSON was a founding Beta Band member who went on to record two albums under the LONE PIGEON moniker. No exports outside North America

Ancestors - Of Sound Mind CD (Tee Pee) [TPE109] $13.50
RELEASE DATE: 10-06-2009
***THE ANCESTORS' Of Sound Mind is a journey through the past into the future; a signpost for a quickly emerging force of musical power and creativity. Where Ancestors showed signs of promise on their debut Neptune With Fire, they have trailblazed new pathways with the 8-part opus Of Sound Mind. They have channeled the freedom of progressive stalwarts King Crimson, the craft and insight of Pink Floyd, and the depth and brooding of Neurosis. Ancestors weave an unorthodox mixture of sonic textures, down-tempo riffs and rhythms, accented with well-crafted melodies and at times full-throttle assaults. The combination delivers a cohesive journey akin to the ambitious undertakings of avant-garde musicians like Eric Dolphy, Peter Brotzmann or Miles Davis. Of Sound Mind is something to be returned to over and over, always offering a new reward. Ancestors, including contributions by notable Los Angeles artists DAVID SCOTT STONE (MELVINS, UNWOUND, SLUG), SERA TIMMS (BLACK MATH HORSEMAN) and cellist RAMIRO ZAPATA, have created an album truly Of Sound Mind; a refreshing and aptly named experience of incredible proportions.

Bereft - Your Messiah Will Fail CD (Bloodlust!) [B!143] $13.00
Your Messiah Will Fail takes a far more confrontational approach than BEREFT's "Tough Man" b/w "Religious Leaders" single, which had a darker, more death-industrial feel to it. Comparable to the high-fidelity assault of the recent Twodeadsluts Onegoodf*** 7-inch and the classic P.E. approach of Slogun-all the while maintaining its own personality and style-Bereft is now a venomous two-piece group, as ANDREW GRANT (aka THE VOMIT ARSONIST) has joined PETER LEE (also the head honcho of the Force of Nature label) to accost listeners with harsh-yet-nuanced electronic sounds and potent vocals that feature prominently in the mix. The songs were written prior to the 2008 US presidential election, about which Lee vented, particularly Barack Obama's exceedingly "star" or "godlike" status. Lee makes a vehement cry against the current two-party political system, and the ever-changing system of support that allows too many politicians to avoid responsibility for their actions.

Boston Spaceships - Zero To 99 CD (GBV Inc) [GBVI07] $13.25
BOSTON SPACESHIPS' Zero to 99 is quintessential ROBERT POLLARD, a record that holds its own alongside widely acknowledged classics like GUIDED BY VOICES' Bee Thousand, Alien Lanes, and Under the Bushes Under the Stars. One gets the sense that Pollard is having the most fun he's had in decades, before he was pulled reluctantly from obscurity and thrust into the limelight with GBV in those heady, post-Nirvana mid-1990s. The Boston Spaceships have not only landed; they're conquering the goddamn planet. Zero to 99 barrels like a freight train delivering track after track of vintage Pollard pop rock, with a band-featuring CHRIS SLUSARENKO (ex-GBV) and JOHN MOEN (DECEMBERISTS)-more than up to the task of helping to fuel the engine. Guests include PETER BUCK (R.E.M.), SAM COOMES (QUASI), TOMMY KEENE, AND SCOTT MCCAUGHEY (MINUS 5). Limited edition LP pressing.

Christmas Island - Blackout Summer CD (In The Red) [ITR170] $12.00
There are actually three CHRISTMAS ISLANDS: one off the coast of Australia, one in the Pacific Ocean (which also goes by the name Kiritimati), and one whose incredible self-titled debut album is on In The Red. Hailing from sunny San Diego, California, Christmas Island plays music that on the surface is happy and poppy. There is a dark undercurrent to their brand of lo-fi pop punk-it is joyous and almost twee while secretly depressed and deeply disturbed. Citing Tronics, Urinals, Television Personalities, The Clean, Versatile Newts, and The Fall as influences, Christmas Island is Beach Boys-style, sunny Southern Californian pop by way of the late-'70s / early-'80s UK DIY scene. LP version to be released 10/20/2009.

Clientele - Bonfires On The Heath CD (Merge) [MRG347] $13.75
RELEASE DATE: 10-06-2009
***Bonfires on the Heath is a return to the CLIENTELE's roots; the dreamlike suburban landscapes first encountered in the early singles, their trippy sense of menace stronger now. Back in London, they've drawn on older traditions of English folk, which exist here side by side with the band's more familiar bossa and pop elements. MEL DRAISLEY's contributions on piano and violin add beautifully to ALASDAIR MACLEAN's timeless, eerie songs. Instantly identifiable, the Clientele sound like no one else, although they are cited as an influence by bands as diverse as Spoon and the Fleet Foxes.

Controllers, The - Another Sunny Day CD (Artifix) [SPR024CD] $12.00
2006 release. "16 tracks of great rockin' punk featuring Johnny Stingray, Kidd Spike, Karla Maddog, and others! The Controllers were one of Los Angeles' first punk bands and they were the first band to discover Brendan Mullen's 'Masque.' They were the first band as well as the last band to play at the original Masque. This CD is a collection of studio demos and an amazing live show that showcase what a truly unique, and often unsung, band the Controllers were. All of these versions are previously unreleased!"

Dokaka - Human Interface CD (Dual Plover) [CDDOKAKHUMA] $13.00
DOKAKA is a DIY human synthesizer: just a man and his voice. No effects, no auto-tune, no edits, no sampling. Not really a true beatboxer (he multitracks his vocals sometimes as many as 20 passes per song) he began vocally mimicking music while humming along to the television as a child and by the age of six was making tapes of his efforts. The bass-player missed a practice session by the band in which Dokaka played drums as a teenager, and he filled in by humming the bassline. The singer was so taken with his vocal ability he encouraged him to record more on his own. His vocal-only interpretations of Led Zeppelin, Slayer, The Rolling Stones, and many others gained cult status when his MP3s went viral (and attracted the attention of Bjoerk, who incorporated his unusual skill into her 2004 Medulla album). Available for the first time outside of Japan, Human Interface includes 17 hours of vocal insanity multi-tracked into 88 muttered micro-tracks.

Emily Rodgers - Bright Day CD (Misra) [MSR054] $12.00
RELEASE DATE: 10-06-2009
***Bright Day, EMILY RODGERS' first proper album (following a self-released EP), is a gorgeous and intense record. If traditional folk music itself recalls rustic woodland scenes tickled with sunlight, then Bright Day is the snow that sits upon the cabin's roof and weighs down the branches. Rodgers breathes a beautiful desolation into her songs. Delicate guitars, sparse piano and languid lap steel are joined by the occasional brushed drum drift foreward, but it's Emily Rodgers' voice that covers every inch of the record, echoing through even the empty spaces. Rodgers seems less akin to the psychedelic pastoral folk of late (perhaps best represented by Joanna Newsom) and even further away from the late 1990's coffeehouse/Lilith Fair crowd, but perhaps closer to the bleak, introspective beauty found in the output of the 4AD label in the 1980's, a place where exquisite voices floated ethereally over pretty yet cryptic lyrics at a somber tempo. Rodgers' voice recalls Hope Sandoval of Mazzy Star, Mark Kozelek of Red House Painters and perhaps Tim Buckley at his most serene.

Galina Ustvolskaya - Complete Works 2CD (Neos) [NEOS10904/5CD] $38.75
Featured works: 12 Preludes (1953); Piano Sonata No. 1 (1947); Piano Sonata No. 2 (1949), Piano Sonata No. 3 (1952); Piano Sonata No. 4 (1957); Piano Sonata No. 5 (1986), Piano Sonata No. 6 (1988). Performed by Sabine Liebner, piano. "A figure who remained true to her cause, and resisted any enticement to be opportunistic, she was to remain silent in the Soviet Union for many a long year. But her spirit was never broken. Galina Ustvolskaya lived and survived in a small, constricting space. To call her music that of 'protest' would be somewhat too facile -- it was simply 'different.' The complete recording of her works by Sabine Liebner demonstrates her individuality and strict stylistic continuity, displaying too a slow progress of radicalization deep within her soul. From simple building blocks of sound she cultivates clear but complex structures; a non-military step of crotchets is changed into the tintinnabulation of bells, which finally crack." Stereo/multichannel hybrid SACD that can be played on any CD player.

Gaslamp Killer, The - All Killer CD (B-Music) [BMS017CD] $15.00
"Late last year, in the Finders Keepers Manchester vaults we celebrated our 20th conquest. It was a dignified affair with a guest list consisting of mods, rockers, proggers, hip-hoppers, teenage vampires, Welsh dragons, fly killers, escaped convicts, Turkish protesters, studio chimpanzees, and Judo experts. But when the party ended, and the guests climbed back into the record sleeves, your humble Angleterrian subjects (Votel, Thomas and Shipton) set straight back to work, underground, digging away to find the next 20 nuggets in a deep grained ongoing quest. And we haven't stopped digging - deeper and deeper without looking up until we've realised that we're stuck in a 40 year old chasm devoid of contemporary pop culture making routine DJ trips into the wilderness, seldom distracted by rare shards of daylight. One such shard of light that regularly bounces around the B-Music mine shaft is beamed all the way from Los Angeles (via a global DJ schedule) and we call him The Gaslamp Killer - while the FK bloodhound digs backwards, GLK sails forwards. Like many of us he was raised by a family of Japanese turntables, loops and edits with the desire to take/break and remake without prejudice or regular food and water - but as part of a culture that's frequently sinking under its own lethargic weight The GLK is pushing the boat out and operating on full steam with a strong paddle and an open ear. With decades of music on his mind and youth on his side The Gaslamp Killer's endless supply of elbow grease puts him in good company. Flying Louts, Cherrystones, Prefuse 73, Cut Chemist, Andy Votel, The Heliocentrics, DJ Nobody are all fellow crew members and collaborators and his DJ mixes and sonic gifts for Mary Anne Hobbs, Hit + Run, Obey, Stussy & Dublab.com prove why labels like Stones Throw and Warp are salivating over drops of this man's blood. Finders Keepers didn't need to send GLK a bumper package of our entire discography, he'd already bought it and made continuous cross-continental phone calls to the UK to let us know how fresh he thought they sounded. We think that even though most FK records are almost 40 years old they sound more forward thinking than most of the music that'll be made next year and in the context of Will's new All Killer Finders Keepers mixtape we think you'll agree. GLK might be the youngest artist in the FK family but he's certainly not the greenest and in a world where if we do happen to converse with someone without having to consult a travelers phrase book its very unlikely that they'll be under the age of 60 then he's certainly the most gregarious sonic interpreter for the B-Music outernational modus operandi. Scrambled, sampled, angle-poised and untangled, All Killer hears GLK at his best - given envious carte blanche on our vast musical palette featuring tracks that have previously been savored and championed by the likes of Madlib, Oh-No, Artic Monkeys, Percy P, Erykah Badu, Jarvis Cocker, Koushek, Future Sound Of London and Morrissey amongst others!"

Georges Aperghis - Works For Piano CD (Neos) [NEOS10912CD] $20.25
Featured works: A Tombeau Ouvert (1997, complete version); Les Secrets élémentaires (1998), Printmusic (2001); Pièce pour jeunes pianistes (2004), Simata for prepared piano (1969). Performed by Nicolas Hodges, piano. "A naked and honest piano sound was cultivated relatively late by Aperghis -- the results are highly concentrated as might be expected. Nicholas Hodges has concerned himself with these works since 1997: he places emphasis on clarity, sharply-defined lines and the brilliance of timbres. He manages somehow to metamorphose grace into rapid motion and back again. He creates a plasticity of rhythm and harmony, allowing these to somersault over each other or to trickle ever onwards as in the subtle Pièce pour jeunes pianistes. As a bonus track we present Simata, rendered new with a ring modulator: it hovers between an aggressive techno sound and a kind of romanticism dissolved in acid." Stereo/multichannel hybrid SACD that can be played on any CD player.

Hanatarash + Evil Moisture - Fatanarchy On Airtube CD (Harbinger Sound) [HAS033] $13.00
BACK IN PRINT!!! The long-awaited collaboration record by YAMATSUKA EYE (BOREDOMS, etc.) and ANDY BLAKE (EVIL MOISTURE). Performed, mixed and designed between 1994 and 2004, this is as weird and confusing as it gets. Including jaw-dropping takes on "Eye of the Tiger" and The Exploited's "Sex and Violence.

Karl Amadeus Hartmann - Complete Works with String Quartet 3CD (Cybele Records) [CYBELE001CD] $57.75
"Karl Amadeus Hartmann (1905-1963) inaugurates our Artists in Conversation Edition. Sincerity, courage, consistency, and intensity were traits that marked Hartmann's life and work. During the war, he buried the manuscripts of his compositions far underground, he had his son Richard safely stowed away with his grandparents and, from the earliest days of the Nazi régime, he began his inner emigration, withdrawing into himself and into his work room. From this earliest phase of his inner emigration date, among other works, the first string quartet, the first symphony and the symphonic poem Miserae. Hartmann was an exceptional phenomenon. He was unique in how his beliefs in justice, humanity and artistic truthfulness became more pronounced as he aged, or to paraphrase Oscar Wilde: Who thinks not of his ways, thinks not at all. In the course of our work on this project, our interest in Karl Amadeus Hartmann the man grew and grew. We followed leads and discovered voice recordings, most of which have never been released on disc. These recordings illuminate, from various perspectives, Karl Amadeus Hartmann as an incorruptible and extraordinary artist and, as a result, allow a many-hued, multi-dimensional image of this 'whitest of all German musicians' to emerge." Stereo/multichannel hybrid SACDs that can be played on any CD player.

Kasumi Trio - Oh! Gimme You CD (Beta-Lactam Ring) [10630] $13.75
Available in a full color book bound gatefold sleeve in an edition of 600 copies. A new project featuring members of LSD March and tenniscoats join forces to create an avant-garde-psych-contry-folk album! Folk-psych folks will be psyched about this bizarre collaborative excursion. A gloriously subdued affair, largely comprised of simple guitar arrangements, stripped-down percussion and soft singing (male and female) punctuated by bouts of power tools and gated feedback. The somber psychedeliosis is embedded in a loose atmosphere of echo and electronics recalling the beautiful ambiguity of Deux Filles; or Joao Gilberto if he fell off a Durutti Column into a vat of mescaline. Duulicious! With such a fried gamma-blues bringing up the rear, days could get lost while being reborn in this slithery tonal placenta. Tenniscoats: Tenniscoats are a group from from Tokyo, Japan featuring Saya and Takashi Ueno, often helped by other musicians and non-musicians. They, in turn, have performed in, or collaborated with a large number of underground bands and musicians like Maher Shalal Hash Baz (with Tori and Reiko Kudo), Cacoy (with DJ Klock of Clockwise Records), Puka Puka Brians and other artists on Tenniscoats very own Majikick label. Both Saya and Ueno also perform and release solo works. LSD March: LSD March is a Japanese psychedelic rock group, based in the city of Himeji, Japan. It is led by singer and guitarist Shinsuke Michishita. The group is named after a track by krautrock group Guru Guru.

Kasumio Trio - Oh! Gimme Yo CD (Beta-Lactam Ring) [MT221] $13.25
RELEASE DATE: 10-06-2009
***A new project featuring members of LSD MARCH and TENNISCOATS. Folk-psych folks will be psyched about this bizarre collaborative excursion. A gloriously subdued affair, largely comprised of simple guitar arrangements, stripped-down percussion and soft singing (male and female) punctuated by bouts of power tools and gated feedback. The somber psychedeliosis is embedded in a loose atmosphere of echo and electronics recalling the beautiful ambiguity of Deux Filles; or Joao Gilberto if he fell off a Durutti Column into a vat of mescaline. Duulicious!

Kryptic Minds - One Of Us CD (Swamp 81) [SWAMP001CD] $12.75
"Back in May of 2009, Blackdown posted an in-depth interview with Kryptic Minds and Loefah, breaking down how Loefah started his Swamp81 label. They spoke at length about the parallels between DnB and dubstep, especially from a label-sound point. 'What I want to push with Swamp 81 is the gap that isn't really being represented anymore. The roller, the halfstep... spacious.' What Loefah heard in those first few Kryptic Minds beats is edgy, rolling, stripped back spacious dubstep that was spectacularly well made and also had its own identity -- emotive, organic in places, very junglist in spirit -- unlike the vast number of producers who tried to clone his sound in 2006, and failed. The first fruits of the partnership are Kryptic Mind's One of Us, a deadly 12" that encapsulates producers who understand the difference between edgy and too angry; that restraint often has more impact than chaotic release. This deft understanding of the tensions and contradictions buried within dubstep, and how you use them is played out yet further on their new album, 'I'm thinking Wax Doctor, Doc Scott, Goldie-- that kind of thing. It's that transitional phase between Reinforced and Headz that is in my heart,' explains Loefah. 'That's what I'd like to do with Swamp. And I don't want it to be labelled as 'the halfstep label.' I want it to have that kind of tunnel vision Metalheadz had in 1996, that kind of 'we're going this way. I'm not watching what you're doing, I'm not watching what you're doing-- I'm going straight ahead.' In that spirit, Kryptic Minds' One of Us zooms in on edgy 140bpm halfstep, forcing the listener into a headspace where perfectly placed details come into vivid focus, like the hyper-real intensity of night adrenalin. Everything is tautly coiled, as if priming the listener for a flight-or-fight reflex. The tension is barely unleashed throughout the album. 'To me the album -- and this may be really gushy,' enthuses Loefah, 'it's like a night out. Leaving the house or wherever you are, going through the night and the last track is morning. The sun's come up and it's time for bed.'"

Lethe - Catastrophe Point #5 CD (Intransitive) [INT034CD] $13.50
"Catastrophe Point #5 is the latest in Kuwayama Kiyoharu's signature series of compositions that explore the charged, mysterious atmosphere of disused industrial sites. For this album, Lethe turns his attention to an abandoned warehouse by a pier in his hometown of Nagoya, Japan, using objects discovered in situ to perform a ritual of sonic ressurection. He brings a dead space back to life, giving it a voice and allowing it to speak. Metal chains, sheet metal, broken machinery, and factory debris are bowed, struck, and dragged across the concrete floors of the massive hall, reverberating and responding as Kuwayama and his microphones scuttle across the desolate terrain. Growling cello and unstable horns underscore the torrents of percussive clatter. Catastrophe Point #5 is a haunting album of volatile, malevolent ambience. For fans of Christoph Heemann, Surface of the Earth, The New Blockaders, Z'ev, or Organum."

Lionel Marchetti & Olivier Capparos - Equus CD (Pogus) [POGUS21052] $11.25
33 minute CD. "Equus is a collaborative work of musique concrĨte recorded in 2001-02 on a commission from the INA GRM. It is truly a delight for Pogus to add this title to our catalog. As Capparos notes: 'Equus guides us through human memory and history. It may sound a bit strange that sound & music would appear as a 'vehicle,' or as we had cast a lead into a labyrinth. This brings us to the question of whether we are alive or not; traveling the path throughout these soundings would drive us down and up our consciousness and our listening, not to mention that we are dead or alive.' Olivier Capparos is an instrumental and electro-acoustic composer whose work encompasses philosophy and literature as well as music. Many of his compositions are focused on voice and its interpretation through loudspeakers. Capparos was composer in residence at the INA GRM in Paris (2001), the Studio National des Arts Contemporains du Fresnoy (2002­3), and at the Argos Center in Bruxelles (2004). He has composed and conducted works for chamber orchestra, voice (soprano), violin, and piano, and has co-produced many other recordings and radio broadcasts with Lionel Marchetti throughout their long association. Lionel Marchetti was born in France in 1967. His interest in music resides in the qualities of sound. He started to experiment by himself and later discovered the rich French corpus of musique concrĨte through Xavier Garcia. He is one of a handful of artists who in the mid-to-late 1990s took electro-acoustic music out of academic studios and into the free improvisation ring. A scholar who worked at the CFMI (Lyon) and INA GRM studios and published a book on acousmatic composer Michel Chion, Marchetti developed a set-up of microphones and loudspeakers he uses on stage along with tape recorders, prepared CDs, motors and radios. He often refers to his instruments as an electro-acoustic contraption."

Lou Barlow - Goodnight Unknown CD (Merge) [MRG332] $13.25
In the four years since his career-redefining, mostly acoustic record Emoh, LOU BARLOW has reunited with DINOSAUR Jr. and reissued three of SEBADOH's classic albums. But as the brilliant new Goodnight Unknown illustrates, he's hardly living in the past. Borrowing the live-band energy of Dinosaur Jr. and the stylistic reach of Sebadoh, Barlow has built on Emoh's full production and written a set of immediate, melodic pop songs that Lou describes as, "a cross between my later work with Folk Implosion and my earlier work with Sebadoh...to my ears, anyway."

Matthew Halsall - Colour Yes CD (Gondwana) [GOND003CD] $14.00
This is the second full-length album from UK trumpeter/composer/arranger/DJ/Gondwana label-head Matthew Halsall on Gondwana. His debut album Sending My Love (GOND 001CD) planted him firmly on the UK jazz map, and earned him praise across the board. Solid airplay from BBC Radio 1's Gilles Peterson (the album figured in his top 40 albums of 2008), Stuart Maconie (BBC 6 Music), Tom Robinson (BBC 6 Music) and Mike Chadwick (Jazz FM) amongst others, culminated in a Maida Vale session for 6 Music. His debut offered a welcome return to form for UK jazz, and his second offering sees the committed performer and restless musician delivering six brand-new compositions. This time around, Matthew recruited the talents of Nat Birchall (sax), Adam Fairhall (piano), Gavin Barras (bass), Gaz Hughes (drums), Marek Dorcik (drums) and Rachael Gladwin (harp), delivering yet another consistent and brilliant release. The effortless swing of the title track really defines what it is about Halsall's vision of jazz that gives him the upper hand; this is timeless music, it owes nothing to the past -- sure, there are comparison points, but all lead to music which is indeed already classic. An undeniable clarity is present throughout, themes are balanced and already sounding fully road-tested. "Together" is a transcendental modal ballad which fuels the spirit of Stan Tracey's "Starless And Bible Black" and Neil Ardley's "Shades Of Blue" as performed by Don Rendell and Ian Carr's Quintet. Utterly beautiful. "Mudita" is the jazz-dance feature that will be a hit with the Sleepwalker and Soil & Pimp crowd; the spacial rhythm section plays like Bill Evan's classic trios, where the space between the notes almost means as much as the notes themselves. This not only shows a great respect for the past masters of modal exploration, but makes a bold step forward to re-establish British jazz as vital music as much in 2009 as it was in the mid-1960s. The addition of Rachael Gladwin's harp brings a sense of liquidity to the band, take it as read that Dorothy Ashby and Alice Coltrane are honored forebears. By the album's close, the authoritative drive of this band truly seems to have transmitted themselves to a whole new astral plane.

Merzbow - 13 Japanese Birds Pt. 10 CD (Important Records) [IMPREC270CD] $13.00
"Merzbow's 13 Japanese Birds is a 13 month series of releases inspired by Olivier Messaien's Catalogue D'Oiseaux. Beginning in January 2009 one volume of 13 Japanese Birds will be released each month. The 13th and final volume will be released January 2010. Each volume will be a one time pressing of 1,000 copies. Available from Important Records is a deluxe hand made numbered bamboo box to hold the 13 CD collection. Cover art by Jenny Akita. Author, activist, painter and sound artist Masami Akita had been at the foreground of experimental music for over 25 years. Inspired by psychedelic rock, free jazz, early electronic composition as well the physical arts, especially Kurt Schwitters' Merzbau, Masami Akita has created a musical language all his own."

Mincemeat or Tenspeed - Strange Gods CD (Zum Audio) [ZUM028] $10.00
"No synthesizers, samplers, sequencers, drum machines, computers, musical instruments." Right in the liner notes for Strange Gods, Philadelphia's DAVID HAMMS has turned his methodology into an ideological stance. Using solely effects pedals and a mixer, Harms started MINCEMEAT OR TENSPEED as a recording project that became a live entity in 2006. An initial attempt to learn guitar lead to a deeper interest in effects pedals to the point that the instrument was shunted altogether. The sound of the pedals themselves took precedence and Harms began making rhythmic and melodic adjustments out of a feedback circuit. Labor-intensive trial and error lead to a compositional approach that some mistake for pure improvisation. Strange Gods is an evolution of sorts, letting the tones ride out more than previous efforts, a continuation of a process begun with records like the All Critters 12-inch (Deathbomb Arc), or this year's double CDR Manifest Wizard.

Muslimgauze - Mazar-i-sharif CD (Soleilmoon) [01110] $10.75
RELEASE DATE: 11-02-2009
'"Mazar-i-Sharif" is to polite society what a dozen angry Rotweillers are to a cafe full of poodles: An explosion. The diamond collars scatter across the tiles and the fur turns red as the perfectly clipped poodle-butts are torn apart by a pack of rabid Jerry Springer Spaniels. Your politically correct end-of-the-century tea party is officially OVER, and anyone thinking Muslimgauze is about to make a calculated move to new age radio should call a taxi right now because the missiles are already in the air.

From the intense noise-and-rhythm barrage to the shocking cover image of a young boy with amputated arms, there is no part of this compact disc that will not offend someone. Yes, of course there are groovy Middle Eastern beats, and music loops are top notch as usual, and the true die-hard fans of Muslimgauze will not be disappointed, but we expect that there will be fewer of them after they hear this record.

Muslimgauze - Alms For Iraq CD (Soleilmoon) [05325] $12.00
RELEASE DATE: 11-02-2009
Bryn Jones, AKA Muslimgauze, recorded this album in December 1995, just three years before his early and unexpected death at the age of 38. The master tape he submitted ran over 77 minutes, which meant two minutes had to be edited out to make this 75 minute CD. Todd Chatalas at Northwestern Inc. did such a masterful editing job you can't tell anything's missing. In the last years of his life Bryn acquired as much of the latest technology for his home studio as he could lay his hands on, and the advances and developments in his music reflected his growing proficiency with his new equipment. "Alms for Iraq" therefore has many of the hallmark sounds of the late-era Muslimgauze recordings already released, with abrupt starts and stops, swooping transitions and layer upon layer of samples and rhythms. There are nevertheless still plenty of surprises. Ever the groundbreaker, Bryn never recorded the same album twice. The packaging for this CD is a 6-panel 5.5-by-8 inch tall folder, with a cover photograph by Susilo Hadi, licensed from Getty Images for a cool $690.00. It shows a pair of feet poised above a pair of flip-flops bearing the words "ISRAEL" and "USA" printed on the soles. The inside panels include a number of pictures, some with strong or disturbing content, collected from various websites dedicated to publicizing the conflicts in Iraq and Palestine.

Nick Cave & Warren Ellis - White Lunar 2CD (Mute Usa) [MUTE9419CD] $15.25
"Nick Cave and Warren Ellis have been playing together for more than 15 years, with The Bad Seeds, Grinderman and The Dirty Three. More recently, they've been collaborating on soundtracks for films such as The Proposition (2005) and The Assassination Of Jesse James By The Coward Robert Ford (2007) as well as Gisli orn Gardarsson's acrobatic theatrical productions of Woyzeck (2005) and Metamorphosis (2006). White Lunar is a selection of pieces taken from some of the motion pictures and documentaries for which Cave and Ellis have composed and recorded music. Includes music from the motion picture The Road based on the book by Cormac MacCarthy (No Country For Old Men) and starring Viggo Mortensen."

Nmperign - Ommatidia CD (Intransitive) [INT035CD] $13.50
"nmperign are one of the most celebrated and influential bands in contemporary improvised music. Yet surprisingly, more than a decade after their debut, Greg Kelley (trumpet) and Bhob Rainey (soprano sax) have never recorded a studio album as an unaccompanied duo... until now! The music is spare and peerlessly inventive as always, but the mood remains light and joyful, with a subtle undercurrent of absurd humor. While improvised music can sometimes seem airless and precious, Ommatidia opens the window on a sunny afternoon... the album's gusts of breath, percussive splatter, and controlled explosions form six succinct pieces that feel alive and vital, while still speaking in nmperign's utterly unique sonic language. A perfect way in for newcomers and a revelation for long-time fans, Ommatidia is the essential nmperign. Previous nmperign albums have employed guest musicians -- notably close collaborator and tape loop saboteur Jason Lescalleet, but also luminaries such as Gunter Mueller, Axel Doerner, Andrea Neumann, and Burkhard Beins -- and subversive or dodgy recording techniques; their 2xLP on Siwa was recorded entirely to micro-cassette and cassette walkman, while an early CD on Selektion was edited from live mini-disc recordings. Intransitive is proud to present the nmperign album that fans have been waiting for the core duo, beautifully recorded in an actual studio with excellent microphones. When not making nmperign music, Greg Kelley performs with the aggressively psychedelic noise unit Heathen Shame (along with Wayne Rogers & Kate Village of Major Stars), minimalist chamber group The Undr Quartet, and raucous rock band Life Partners. Rainey regularly tours with folk/pop duo Damon & Naomi and leads The BSC, an eight-piece electro-acoustic improvising ensemble. They live in Boston and New Orleans, respectively."

Oneohtrix Point Never - Rifts2xCD CD (No Fun Productions) [NFP56] $16.00
RELEASE DATE: 11-17-2009
Oneohtrix Point Never's 'Rifts' trilogy comprises Daniel Lopatin's first three full length records - Betrayed in the Octagon, Zones Without People, and Russian Mind. The Rifts trilogy travels from the outside-in, beginning with the dark space sonatas of Octagon, down through the mechanized vistas of Zones and completing itself with the haunting electronic animus of Russian Mind. This journey is underscored with a natural growth which sees Lopatin developing his unabashed worship of the analog poly-synth as a free standing musical apparatus towards a fully realized OPN world of sound; at once incorporating synth prog, modern noise, early techno, drone, minimalism and computer music. With Rifts it is possible to zoom out on the OPN project and recognize Lopatin as both an auteur and alchemist; achieving a signature sound while drawing on a buried history of electronic music. The double disc includes all 3 albums in its entirety (originally released on limited edition vinyl only) as well as selections from rare and out of print cassette and CD-R releases, with recordings spanning as far back as 2003. Fully re-mastered for digital audio by James Plotkin, art by Tom Scholefield.

Oren Ambarchi - Intermission 2000-2008 CD (Touch) [TONE040CD] $14.00
Intermission brings together a range of material Australian sound artist Oren Ambarchi has contributed to compilations and limited-edition vinyl releases between the years 2000 and 2008. Highlights include two live recordings -- an early, fragile solo guitar recording taken from a radio broadcast in 2000 and "A Final Kiss On Poisoned Cheeks," his powerful 12" recorded live in Vancouver in 2007 and originally released on Table Of The Elements. Additional tracks include "Iron Waves,"an exclusive track in collaboration with vocalist Paul Duncan and "Intimidator," featuring Australian pianist/composer Anthony Pateras, originally released on Southern Lord. These are special anomalies in the Ambarchi canon, but nonetheless feature the hallmarks of his unique sound-world, all underpinned by his trademark deep guitar tones and meticulous attention to detail. All tracks are newly remastered, many of which are available on CD for the first time. Oren Ambarchi's works are hesitant and tense extended songforms located in the cracks between several schools: modern electronics and processing; laminal improvisation and minimalism; hushed, pensive songwriting; the deceptive simplicity and temporal suspensions of composers such as Morton Feldman and Alvin Lucier; and the physicality of rock music, slowed down and stripped back to its bare bones, abstracted and replaced with pure signal. From the late '90s, his experiments in guitar abstraction and extended technique have led to a more personal and unique sound-world, incorporating a broader palette of instruments and sensibilities. On releases such as Grapes From The Estate (TO 061CD) and In The Pendulum's Embrace, Ambarchi has employed glass harmonica, strings, bells, piano, drums and percussion, creating fragile textures as light as air which tenuously co-exist with the deep, wall-shaking bass tones derived from his guitar. Ambarchi works with simple constructs and parameters; exploring one idea over an extended duration and patiently teasing every nuance and implication from each texture; the phenomena of sum and difference tones; carefully-tended arrangements that unravel gently; unprepossessing melodies that slowly work their way through various permutations; resulting in an otherworldly, cumulative impact of patiently-unfolding compositions.

Peter Broderick - Home (Special Edition) 2CD (Bella Union) [1677744] $27.25
2009 special edition includes a bonus CD with nine additional tracks. 2008 sophomore release, the follow-up to his highly acclaimed debut album Float. For this album, Broderick has, if anything, created an even more fully-realized collection of tracks, building on the soundscapes and vignettes of his debut to create fully-fledged songs somewhere between the worlds of traditional singer/songwriting and magical found sounds. Album opener 'Games' sets out the agenda perfectly with impressive, layered vocal harmonies and a Sunday afternoon guitar strum that's momentarily joined at the very last minute by some intangible yet evocative field recordings that take you outside the confines of tradition. The album closes with a reprise/version of 'Games', this time round opting for a more abstract canvas that brings things to a contemplative, suitably cathartic close. Expect big things from this chap. Notify Me When In Stock Email: Notes: (For your own use, included in our email to you) Notify Me If Price Drops Email: Price To Drop Below: Current Price: $20.99 Notify Price: Notes: (For your own use, included in our email to you) Notify Us About Incorrect Data Subject: Corrected Data: Portions of Content Provided by © 2009 Macrovision Corporation. is a registered Trademark of Macrovision Corporation. Helpful Links Ho

Philippe Petit - Henry: The Iron Man CD (Beta-Lactam Ring) [10629] $13.75
First ed. of 400 copies in a full color book bound gatefold case. One lost lemonish night sleepwalking on a lost country road I dreamt that Shinya Tsukamoto was working on a blurred remake of "Eraserhead", and I was to soundtrack the grotesque mutation of Henry into an "Iron Man". I decided to manipulate and take advantage of the vinyl material to fondle crackles and released noises, to process textures and their resonances into vertiginous travellings of sound ; conjuring up flashes of disturbing black & white grainy sounds, behind-the-scenes close-ups, rapid nightmarish stop-motion effects.

Quieting Syrup - Songs About A Sick Boy CD (Lovitt) [LOV59] $11.25
STEPHEN HOWARD has, in recent years, cut his teeth as a team player, offering up his considerable talents playing bass with indie darlings DENALI and Capitol Records "droppies" AMBULETTE, and playing baritone guitar as a member of the self-proclaimed slowest band in Chicago, PINEBENDER. With the completion of QUIETING SYRUP, Howard steps out of the shadows with a solo record that is as harrowing as it is beautiful. A total of twelve songs written over a period of 12 years, it focuses almost exclusively on his health battles and subsequent emotional fallout following the ebb-and-flow cycles of affection, addiction, and ailment. It also acts as a collection of love songs put to paper during Howard's continued recovery after a lifelong struggle with various illness. The record is filled to the brim with a quiet desperation, written from Howard's hospital bed but reflectively sung from his thrift store couch

Semuin - Circles and Elephants CD (Ahornfelder) [AH15-2] $16.00
RELEASE DATE: 11-16-2009
The first album by Semuin (Jochen Briesen) "Province" was released in 2005 on the Portland/Oregon based label Audio Dregs. The record was critically acclaimed and loved by fellow musicians: The WIRE spoke of delicate musical structures and strong passions. And Greg Davis simply wrote in the press info "It's a really f***ing great record. I love it." After this well received debut, Ahornfelder is proud to announce the second full-length album by Semuin: "Circles and Elephants".

In contrast to the debut the new record is not merely focused on the organic mixture of acoustic intruments, field recordings and digital manipulations of the material. "Circles and Elephants" is more concentrated on composing interesting and sometimes experimental pop music with the use of midi-instruments. The results of Jochen Briesen's midi-experiments have nothing to do with Gameboy-Aesthetics or midi-pop-songs like the music of Max Tundra. The mostly instrumental music rather reminds one of Frank Zappa's Synclavier compositions or some of the electronic tracks by Nobukazu Takemura or -- with respect to some melody-lines -- Igor Stravinsky. Especially the first track, which is even named after a Stravinsky miniature-piece "Greeting Prelude" shows a rich and wonderful melodic interplay of midi-oboe, -clarinet, - strings, and electronics.

The sounds on the album reach from very "real" sounding midi-instruments, e.g. midi-wind instruments, -drum-sets, -vibraphone, etc. to more trashy sounding elements, like a midi-choir or a midi-electric-guitar-solo. This tension and the mixture with "natural" sounds of field recordings, hand claps, human voice or whistling, etc. creates an intense and unusual sound experience. Some instrumens sound impersonal and digitalized others sound natural at first sight but after a while you realize that you do hear a clarinet but you never hear anybody breathe. And as soon as you realized that you are confronted with field recordings of kids and animals. The same sort of diversity can be found with regard to the musical structures on the album. You can hear polyphone settings of melodies over straight drum beats with rhythmical complexities hidden in detail, rhythmical free developments captured in close circles which are variable enough to bundle the listeners attention, or very loose musical forms of noise and field recordings. The careful and sensitive combination of all these very rich and unique record that grows each time you listen to it.

Simone White - Yakiimo CD (Honest Jon's Records) [HJR044CD] $14.00
Yakiimo is Simone White's second and most accomplished album released by Honest Jon's. Part memoir and part American chronicle, this record is a sublime mixture of simple, Americana-steeped arrangements and White's own genre-defying combination of rawness and the gorgeous, intimate fragility of her voice. Mark Nevers produced this record with the same organic perfection he brought to her previous album, I Am The Man. But here, Simone White's songwriting has matured, and this collection of acoustic gems is even more exquisitely evocative. With both intelligence and wit, "A Girl You Never Met" explores the mind of a woman tired of life and at the brink of death. The aching string arrangement and breathy instrumentation fuse perfectly, to stunning effect. One of the album's signature pieces, "Victoria Anne," mixes gritty childhood memories with a transcendent humanity and affectionate love. Most of the songs are White's own compositions, but she includes a few by her friends, songwriting duo Frank Bango and Ricy Vesecky. "Candy Bar Killer" is a precious and deranged pop masterpiece, which Simone White's voice and heart-breaking guitar capture effortlessly. "Yakiimo" invokes the power of memory and the intoxication of myth -- an American dream of a different kind. These crystallized vignettes hang together so vividly and so eccentrically, you might think you've stumbled across a box of carefully-preserved curios in your grandmother's attic or an American photo album of snapshots from a dreamier time. And it's beautifully packaged too -- a curio in its own right, housed in a gatefold sleeve with a fully-illustrated 24-page booklet of lyrics.

Sleep Chamber - Soundtrax CD (Inner X) [10631] $13.75
Finally the long awaited "SOUNDTRAX" release by SLEEPCHAMBER awakes. The material ranges over the time period of 1989 to 2007. It fills in the missing link crossover periods left unreleased and overlooked. The material iz quite unique. "Sanatorium" iz remixed and edited down to 20 minutes from a video soundtrak ov 1989 that stands on its own. "Succubi Sister" iz an unreleased track from the "SIAMESE SUCCUBI" sessions. It features Laura Graff on spoken words (to whom this release iz "in loving memory ov"). Another "Succubi" track iz "Psychosexual" - left off because Zewizz felt there were already too many instrumentals on "SIAMESE SUCCUBI". "No Air No Way" iz featured remixed and unedited, much better than the earlier release. "Blackmask (Hex 23)" iz a keyboard piece done by Zewizz in 2000. It stands outside the usual SLEEPCHAMBER style. It's quite eerie. "Archangel" iz a track rejected from the movie "The Prophecy" reasons unknown. Other tracks are from rekordings ov the 2001 era - planned release on Musica Maxima Magnetica Italian label. All unreleased.

The "SOUNDTRAX" CD iz the first release on Inner-X in a special series ov serious releases. You will want to own an original and collect this series proudly. SLEEPCHAMBER refuses to cater to the masses. Az you probably already know... THEY ARE TRULY THE ULTIMATE MINORITY

Talk Normal - Sugarland CD (Rare Book Room) [rbr004-2] $12.75
RELEASE DATE: 10-27-2009
Vinyl comes with mp3 download code. Since their lightning-strike first appearance, Talk Normal's sound has stormed upward & outward, referencing nothing but relating to almost everything, a jarringly songful gale of rhythm & noise supporting pleas & plaints, signal-calls & marching orders. Each Talk Normal show builds on past ones: up-to-the- moment updates of ideas previously stated, new phrasings of old upheavals delivered with increasing focus & joy. Darkness & light; fury, silence, space & sound.

Thee Oh Sees - Dog Poison CD (Captured Tracks) [CT027] $11.00
Captured Tracks is proud to put out a full-length record by the prolific OH SEES, and boy, is this one a monster. More layered and textural than previous Oh Sees releases while keeping all the typical JOHN DWYER punch, oomph and weirdness. Ten fantastic new songs packaged with a terrifying pencil-drawn sleeve. Captured Tracks' second LP release, and the label couldn't be more pleased with it

Various Artists - Kosmos CD (Neos) [NEOS20802CD] $20.00
Featured works: George Crumb (1929): Celestial Mechanics (Makrokosmos IV), Cosmic Dances for amplified piano four hands (1979); Gyorgy Kurtag (1926): Játékok for piano four hands (1973 - ); Karlheinz Stockhausen (1928-2007): Tierkreis - 12 Melodien der Sternzeichen for two pianos (1975-1976): Steinbock - Capricorn, Widder-Aries, Waage - Libra & Krebs - Cancer; Peter Eotvos (1944): Kosmos, Version for two pianos (1961/1999); Bela Bartok (1881-1945): Seven Pieces for Two Pianos (Nos. 1-7) from Mikrokosmos (1939). Performed by GrauSchumacher Piano Duo. "Andreas Grau and Götz Schumacher reach out towards the stars. The central idea of their latest recital is a hiemal and glistening vision of a young Péter Eötvös on how the cosmos comes into existence and decays. It is a journey through musical worlds. A sense of longing is inculcated and, as if from the depths of the universe, we observe the dance and song studies from the Mikrokosmos by Bela Bartok. Sounds produced by musical clocks in Tierkreis by Karlheinz Stockhausen are placed alongside flower pictures and constellations from Játékok (Games) by Gyorgy Kurtag. The final and most extensive sphere is the Makrokosmos IV (Celestial Mechanics) by George Crumb. These 'cosmic dances' strengthen with their foreign trimbres the fundamental sound of distance, stillness and loneliness."

Wire, The - #309 November 2009 Magazine (The Wire) [WIRE309] $8.75
"On the cover of this month's issue: Julian Cope. Features: Henry Threadgill, Cornelius Cardew, Peter Walker, Invisible Jukebox: Jim Jarmusch, Mordant Music, OOIOO."

[ D V D ]

DOA - Men Of Action - 30th Anniversary Dvd DVD (Sudden Death) [MVDV4893] $15.25
punks and the progenitors of hardcore punk have produced an extraordinary DVD that covers the band's 30 year career. An incredible collection of songs and punk/activist stories. The anniversary DVD also includes as a bonus, D.O.A.'s critically acclaimed new album Northern Avenger, produced by the legendary BOB ROCK. There is also 12-page booklet that includes rare photos. The DVD itself consists of twenty-six songs, ten that the band produced storyline videos for and sixteen that are live productions. There are two ways to view the DVD: "Chaos Program" features the music videos only, while "Anarchy Program" features JOE "SHITHEAD" KEITHLEY Canada's godfather of punk, telling the story of D.O.A. and punk in general as the videos play.

Easter Monkeys - Splendor Of Sorrow DVD+CD (Smog Veil) [SV075CD] $21.50
"It's generally accepted amongst the Cleveland cognoscenti that Easter Monkeys were the best rock 'n' roll band calling the city home in the early to mid 1980s. Rock 'n' roll in the sense of the Ghoulardi-inspired hybrid that Cleveland is known for. The band was fronted by ex-Kneecappers Chris Yarmock, bassist Charlie Ditto, with Jim Jones (Pere Ubu, Home and Garden, Mirrors) amazingly creepy guitar work and Linda Hudson's basement beat. This release collects up the band's lone LP, comp tracks, unreleased stuff and a DVD of a 1982 gig."

Pistol Whip - Terminal DVD+CD (Smog Veil) [SV084CD] $21.50
"Pistol Whip was the first ever punk band from Erie, PA, and their lone 7-inch on Endangered Species, released in 1977, is a scorcher and a prized collectible. This release contains the original 7-inch, plus the 1978 demo. The DVD contains wild 8mm footage from back in the day plus interviews, photos, and more!"

[ H I S T O R I C A L ]

Absentees, The - Illegal Listening Device: 1979-2000 CD (Artifix) [SPR016CD] $12.00
2002 release. "37 tracks of madness from this 'Killed By Death' band. In 1981, The Absentees released only 200 copies of their legendary Tryin' To Mess With Me single which is now one of the most sought after early California punk singles of all time! This CD is the first to compile all their official releases, demos, and a bonus live track! CD comes with a 12 page booklet loaded with band history and lyrics! Demented lyrics with crazed vocals from a very pissed Rocco Roll and crew. These guys are like a missing link between late 70's punk and the early hardcore of the 80's. Fast, snotty, and out for revenge! 13 of the songs are from their early period from 1979-1981, and the rest are from rare reunion demos and limited releases. (Tracks 1,2 were recorded in 1980, tracks 3-12 were recorded in 1981, tracks 13-18 were recorded in 1999, tracks 19-36 were recorded in 2000, and track 37 was recorded live on 2-3-79)."

April & May - Best CD (Riverman Music) [BTR026CD] $16.00
Originally released as K-APPLE781 by Universal Records in 1973, Riverman reissues this stellar Korean psych-pop masterpiece by the duo April & May, (Lee Soo Man and Kim Jung Ho), now remastered in a 24-bit remaster. The Korean Everly Brothers/Simon & Garfunkel on acid. Amazing harmonies, killer bass lines, string arrangements, spaced-out organs, guitar jangle and fuzz and hippified acoustic psych-folk embellished by traditional instrumentation sits next to totally swinging yé-yé pop, as if the '60s hit Korea a few years later. Housed in a miniature replica gatefold sleeve, including photos and liner notes in Korean.

Bob Carpenter - Silent Passage CD (Riverman Music) [BTR022CD] $16.00
This is well-known Canadian singer-songwriter Bob Carpenter's first and only solo album, Silent Passage, now remastered in a 24-bit remaster. It was produced by Brian Ahern and recorded between 1971 and 1974. With background vocals supplied by Anne Murray and Emmylou Harris, this is a little-known masterpiece. Apparently 25,000 copies were pressed but never left the warehouse due to legal problems, and didn't get much attention until 1984 when Holger Peterson obtained rights to release the album on Stony Plain. Comes in a handsome paper sleeve that precisely reproduces the original LP sleeve in miniature form.

Clifford T. Ward - Path Through The Forest - The Secret World... 2CD (Wooden Hill) [WH028CD] $21.50
...Of Clifford T Ward 1964-71. "When 'Singing Schoolteacher' Clifford T. Ward finally made a commercial breakthrough in the early 1970s, it brought to an end nearly a decade of toil within the soft white underbelly of the British pop scene. Path Through The Forest: The Secret World of Clifford T. Ward 1964-71 assembles his early work for the first time, featuring his scarce 1960s psych-pop singles as leader of The Secrets and a breathtaking treasure trove of locally-recorded demos and works-in-progress recordings, including two versions of a song that is now revered as a genuine British psychedelic pop classic, 'Path Through The Forest.' A prodigious collection of beguiling ballads and melodic, hook-laden pop songs, Path Through The Forest reveals that, some years before the winsome singer-songwriter glories of 'Gaye' and Home Thoughts, aspiring pop star Cliff Ward was already a highly significant talent."

Haters - In The Shade Of Fire CD (Hanson) [CDHATERINT] $13.00
Originally released on LP by Silent Records in 1986, minus two tracks (for length), In The Shade of Fire can now be heard how it was originally intended for the first time. The harsh sound works of THE HATERS bring to mind the idea of process: ideologies behind something being destroyed or manipulated; the amplified and sometimes distorted sounds of the processes representing a document of acts carried out upon the objects, machines, or otherwise. The Haters intend listeners to experience the process of the audio lines as they were primarily constructed in the recording area. In the Shade of Fire, remastered by WARN DEFEVER from the original master reels, reflects their strong textural aesthetic through object manipulation and recording that defines GX JUPITTER-LARSEN's place in the world of harsh noise.

Joanna Cazden - The Greatest Illusion CD (Riverman Music) [BTR029CD] $16.00
This is the first-ever reissue of Joanna Cazden's The Greatest Illusion, originally released in 1976 -- a masterpiece of obscure West Coast womyn-folk, remastered in a 24-bit remaster. Topics range from thoughts about sexual experimentation with women, coming off acid trips, anti-war revolution, and love affairs with messianic men, all sung with strident, coffee-house bravado. "Interesting, obscure debut LP that might be described as a somewhat bummed-out post-trip Carole King in a pro-feel singer-songwriter style that combines spaced out, sincere hippie lyrics to create an unusual, personal statement. Strong melodies and inventive arrangements make this album reminiscent of the great cerebral femme acid tracks on the Sally Eaton LP Farewell American Tour." --Patrick Lundborg, The Acid Archives. Album closes with a particularly spine-chilling a cappella bhajan, sung by a chorus of female voices. Above-average and a must to check out for 1970s femme-vox fiends. Includes three bonus tracks, and comes in a handsome paper sleeve that precisely reproduces the original LP sleeve in miniature form. Also includes lyrics, a poster-card insert and detailed liner notes by the artist herself.

Kaos - Komplete Kaos CD (Artifix) [SPR019CD] $12.00
2003 release. "All tracks recorded in 1980! None of these recordings have ever been released before! Some of these songs, the band themselves had not heard in over 20 years! 1-2: Practice demos April 1980. 3-12: Live at Lombardi Studio (4-track), spring 1980 13: Audio dub from 'New Wave Theater' performance, fall 1980. 14-15: Studio demo produced by Eddie Singleton, summer 1980. 16-17: Audio dub from practice video, April 1980. 18-19: Stingray solo demo 1990. (track 19 was a Controllers song that they never recorded). 20: KPFK radio show hosted by Ronn Spencer, April 1980 21: New Wave Theater Quicktime video of KAOS performance from fall 1980."

Love - Love Lost CD (Sundazed) [SC11207CD] $17.25
"Arthur Lee's seminal work as leader of the '60s band Love is treasured by discerning rock fans around the world. Lee's status as one of his era's preeminent musical cult heroes has grown immensely in recent years, leading to generations of new fans rediscovering the artist's remarkable catalog. Unfortunately, Lee and the band's body of available recordings is relatively small, making Sundazed Music's release of a previously-unheard full-length vintage Arthur Lee and Love album a major musical event. Love Lost was recorded in 1971, during a brief, little-known period during which Love was signed to Columbia Records. Lee and the then-current Love lineup -- bassist Frank Fayad, guitarist Craig Tarwater and drummer Don Poncher -- recorded an album's worth of new material for the label. But after the band left the company, the recordings sat unreleased and unheard until now. The material on Love Lost -- comprised of the unreleased Columbia sessions, plus five unreleased acoustic demos from the same period -- captures Love in a transitional phase, charting the next step in Lee's idiosyncratic musical trajectory, following the lush garage-psychedelia of the classics Da Capo and Forever Changes, and the bluesier direction of the hard-rocking False Start and Out Here. Many of the songs included on Love Lost would resurface, often in radically different form, on subsequent Love releases, and on Lee's fabled solo album Vindicator. But the original versions included on Love Lost boast a playful looseness that's absent from most of Lee's later work, as well as a raw, edgy urgency that underlines his credentials as an early progenitor of punk-rock attitude. Love Lost also features three songs -- 'For a Day,' 'Trippin' & Slippin'' and 'C.F.I. Instrumental' -- that have not previously been released, in any form. With a treasure trove of vintage Love music that has never before been heard by fans, Love Lost is a major addition to Arthur Lee and Love's body of work, and its release is a major event for Lee's fervent fan base."

Lyndon Bartell - I Feel A Strange Excitement In The Air CD (Riverman Music) [BTR031CD] $16.00
This is the first-ever CD reissue of this excellent, mellow, obscure 1978 Minnesota private-press Xtian folk album, originally released on Eagle Records, now remastered in a 24-bit remaster. Lyndon Bartell's I Feel A Strange Excitement In The Air features nice pedal steel & acoustic guitars, acoustic piano, accordion & mandolin, all nicely arranged. Bartell mixes country, folk, acoustic ballads and Xian concerns to impressive results. Comes in a handsome paper sleeve that precisely reproduces the original LP sleeve in miniature form. Includes liner notes by the artist, as well as lyrics.

Michael Deacon - Runnin' In The Meadow CD (Riverman Music) [BTR032CD] $16.00
This is the first-ever CD reissue of this 1975 folky singer-songwriter obscurity, now remastered in a 24-bit remaster and including 4 bonus tracks. Michael Deacon's Runnin' In The Meadow is a little light rock, a little blues, a little pop, and a little jazz -- a "bread and butter" mix of some of the freshest songs you're likely to hear in a long time, particularly "Yahoo!" -- a title song that defies description. It moves, it lifts, it raises your spirit like no other popular song has ever done. All tracks have a unique vocal quality, musical tightness, and lyrical lilt -- like a more Jesus-infused, AM radio-leveled Devendra Banhart, but way more spacy and left-field. Pure '70s American singer-songwriter mellow/weird grooviness. Packaged in a handsome mini-reproduction paper sleeve, with lyrics, liner notes, and quotes from the artist himself.

Michael Hurley - Ida Con Snock CD (Gnomonsong) [GONG13] $12.00
MICHAEL HURLEY is one of the last remaining ramblin' American folk troubadours. Hobo-ing around the country, making music since the days Bob Dylan first set foot in New York City's Gaslight club, Hurley recorded his first album for Moses Ash's legendary Folkways label in 1964 and continued to release albums for both Warner Brothers and Rounder. His mid-'70s Have Moicy album was among the top ten for the decade selected by Rolling Stone magazine. While many of his contemporaries are long past their prime (or deceased), Hurley's muse is still intact. Hurley's songwriting talent hasn't gone unnoticed by a new generation of musicians. In recent years, he was invited to tour with alt-country heroes Son Volt and Lucinda Williams. He's also shared bills with Smog and Palace Brothers, played with the Giant Sand rhythm section, and has of course appeared with (and been covered by) Vetiver and appeared on their records. His songs have also been covered by indie stars Cat Power and Yo La Tengo, among others. So, the matter at hand, a new album of recordings sung and played by Hurley, backed by IDA, appropriately titled Ida Con Snock: SNOCK himself marvels at this 21st studio album, recorded at Levon Helms' studio in Woodstock, NY. Ida's less-is-more finesse shines on these rich recordings, melding perfectly with Hurley's playing and singing. Many of these songs are already well familiar to Hurley's devotees. There are seven originals and five loving covers of '50s rock 'n' roll, C&W, and vintage folk, each tune capturing Hurley and band at peak performance levels. Playing West Coast dates with JOLIE HOLLAND, 10/01 - 10/07. LP version to be released 10/20/2009

Stan Moeller - Thin Ties CD (Riverman Music) [BTR024CD] $16.00
This is the first-ever CD reissue of mellow U.S. singer-songwriter Stan Moeller's 1980 solo release Thin Ties, now remastered in a 24-bit remaster. Thin Ties showcases the wonderfully smooth, warbling, easy-going voice of Stan Moeller. This clever, honest musical oddity should have special appeal for acoustic fans who enjoy folk music in its many guises, past and present. Lyrics most often address longing and doomed love affairs against the background of some simply masterful and gently sparkling acoustic guitar-playing. A light West Coast vibe in nice minor keys and some jazzy, ramblin' electric guitar accompaniment. Moeller would later go on to perform folk as a duo with his wife T.S. Baker, opening for Donovan, Roger McGuinn, Leo Kottke, Richie Havens, and many more. Moeller is currently a successful landscape painter. Comes in a handsome paper sleeve that precisely reproduces the original LP sleeve in miniature form. Includes an insert with lyrics and photos.

Tarotogachi - Alone Together CD (Riverman Music) [BTR028CD] $16.00
Originally released in 1984 by Dae Seong Records, now remastered in a 24-bit remaster. Totally obscure Korean record full of truly spacy, sensitive A.M. balladry and acoustic finger-plucking with moments of greasy guitar shredding, jazz-piano, melodica and synth licks. Extremely pretty male and female vocal harmonies bolster the overall grand emotional arc of this record, which could be the tear-filled soundtrack to some sort of bizarre, candy-colored-cloud dream you've just had. There are some hidden ghostly folk gems and Floydian flourishes on here, too. The Korean Off Course (Japan) on acid. Back and inside cover features photos of the band having tea and looking somber/sleepy/completely stoned. Housed in a miniature-replica paper sleeve with liner notes in Korean.

Th' Inbred - Legacy Of Fertility CD (Alternative Tentacles) [VIRUS399] $12.00
One of the more obscure 1980s American hardcore acts, though one of West Virginia's best-known musical exports, TH' INBRED released two LPs between 1985 and 1988 and toured the US three times. A politically pointed punk act influenced by the Dead Kennedys, Minutemen, Crass, and Black Flag, their thrashy attack morphed into jazz-influenced hardcore by the end. Critical of the straight edge youth crew mentality and MTV, the topicality of this band is outlived by its sarcastic wit. Singer ART RECO's rubbery, cartoonish vocals give way to gravelly barking over the course of this collection, and the music exhibits a wider intsrumental range than straightforward thrash. The percussion variety and space-jazzed guitar sustain pre-dates Primus' wonkiness. Drummer BILLY ATWELL also played in THE RHYTHM PIGS and released a solo album, Ferret in a China Shop, in 1988. The CD includes both the band's LPs- A Family Affair and Kissin' Cousins-their Reproduction 7-inch EP, and bonus unreleased songs. The material was produced by PAUL MAHERN of THE ZERO BOYS.

Tin Huey - Before Obscurity: The Bushflow Tapes CD (Smog Veil) [SV083CD] $12.00
"Spawning in one way or another both the Waitresses and The Black Keys should count for something. If not, than this release should put Tin Huey in its place as a progenitor of the quirky Akron sound later expounded by both Devo and The Bizzaros alike. This release collects up the bands earliest recordings, spanning the years 1974-1979. For fans, as Robert Christgau describes in the liner notes, of fancy key changes, gut-swooping tempo shifts, elaborate arrangements, and meters you figure out on a calculator. Artwork by Derf."

Various Artists - Gastonia Gallop: Cotton Mill Songs & Hillbilly Blues CD (Old Hat) [OLD1007CD] $16.50
"Gastonia Gallop is a vivid portrait of music heard in the mill villages of Gaston County, North Carolina during the years 1927-1931. Amid an emerging world of factory whistles, clattering machines, and low-wage labor, local textile workers created a vibrant new music that provided the foundation for today's country music. Included are protest songs, ragtime tunes, Tin Pan Alley songs, minstrel pieces, ballads and blues by masters of the guitar, banjo, harmonica, and mandolin. Here are 24 tracks, expertly remastered and accompanied by a 24-page full-color booklet with detailed history, rare photographs, and full discography. 'The massive brick hulks of many of the old textile mills now stand silent, boarded up and abandoned, but echoes of the distinctive hillbilly music that millhands in Gaston County and all across the Piedmont South forged on radio and records during the 1920s and 1930s continue to reverberate throughout the United States and, indeed, the world.' -- Patrick Huber, author, Linthead Stomp, The Creation of Country Music in the Piedmont South"

This week's VINYL update contains releases by:

2000 and One * A Work In Progress * Adrian Younge * Amort * Andrea Oliva * Aretha Franklin * Atlas Sound * Bags, The * Benedict Arnold and the Traitors * Bert Jansch * Blue Mitchell * Blue Sabbath Black Cheer/Penetration Camp * Bob Dylan * Boys Noize * Brigitte Fontaine & Khan * Candido * Cheyenne's Comin' * Christian Naujoks * Click Box vs. Run Stop Restore * Cliff Jordan * Cloaks * Cluekid * Coach Fingers * Dan Melchior * Danuel Tate * Distance * Dre Skull * Ekaj * Elizabeth Cotton * Excision & Datsik * Fergus & Geronimo * Fred Mcdowell * G-Man aka Gomes * German Measles * Gesellschaft zur Emanzipation des Samples * Glitterbug * Hank Mobley * Harry Partch * Heads * Inca Ore * Italoboyz * Jackie McLean * James Knight & The Butlers * Jana Hunter * Jeff Mills * John Coltrane * Joseph Spence * Kabale und Liebe * Kenny Dorham * Kowton * Larry Levan * Lee Curtiss * Lee Morgan * Love * Machine, The * Marc Romboy vs. Smokin Jo * Matta Llama * Max Roach * Mazzy Star * Michael Hurley * Mick Softley * Moderat * Modern Lovers * Naphta/El-B * Peter Downsbrough * Playdoe * Q&A * Quantec * Rafael Anton Irisarri * Rhino 39/Black Randy and the Metrosquad * Robedoor * Sarandon/The Membranes * Savas Pascalidis * Seasons (Pre-Din) * Shearing Pinx * Shirley Collins * Simone White * Skream * Stellar Om Source * Blood, Sweat & Tears * Talk Normal * Th' Inbred * Thee Undertakers * Thorr's Hammer * Unknown * Wayne Shorter * Young Marble Giants * Yura Yura Teikoku

2000 and One - Heritage Remixes Part 2 12 inch (100% Pure) [PURE0542EP] $11.50
Part 2 in a remix 12" package of 2000 And One's Heritage album (PURE 006CD). Early plays by Dubfire, Paco Osuna, Richie Hawtin, Bart Skils, etc. Storming remix anthems of "Wan Poku Moro" and "Honey Bush" by Onur Ä-zer and Tobi Neumann. All strong and all pumpin' in a traditional 100% Pure fashion.

2000 and One - Heritage Remixes Part 3 12 inch (100% Pure) [PURE0543EP] $11.50
Part 3 in a remix 12" package of 2000 And One's Heritage album (PURE 006CD). Anton Pieete and Butch remix "Spanish Fly."

A Work In Progress - Untitled 12 inch (Yore Records) [YORE018EP] $11.50
Yore Records presents A Work In Progress -- Detroit's Priceless One assisted by house legend Chez Damier. Inspired by Chicago house and Detroit techno with a hint of New York, this 12" features two old-school club jams that rock for 8 club-ready minutes apiece. "Let Me Do Yore" starts off tribal and then adds triangle and shakers to its percussive groove before shuttling off into the stratosphere. "Moment Of Truth" features congas, claps, hi-hats and a kick drum that deepens the vibe.

Adrian Younge - Black Dynamite (Original Motion Picture Score) LP (Wax Poetics) [WPR007LP] $19.00
"Multi-instrumentalist Adrian Younge makes his debut on Wax Poetics Records with his original score to the Michael Jai White comedy Black Dynamite. Inspired by the great blaxploitation soundtracks of the 1970s, Younge commands the Rhodes electric piano, Hammond organ, Hohner Clavinet, harpsichord, synthesizer, vibraphone, guitar, bass, flute, sax, cello, and drums, crafting with a singular vision. Whether it's the witty vocal of 'Jimmy's Apartment' or the lowdown bass line of 'Rafelli Chase,' the entire album is deeply authentic."

Amort - Winter Tales LP (Kreation) [KR32] $14.00
A despairing and hauntingly beautiful mix of Nortt vs. Corrupted. Features selections from the band's cassettes, plus the track "Desert Of Ice," which exclusive to this release. Ambient black doom. Limited pressing of 500 copies.

Andrea Oliva - Arosa/Off The Moment 12 inch (Be As One) [BAO021EP] $11.50
Andrea Oliva strikes back on Be As One, this time with an EP on his own and two tracks of bumping, ass-shaking house music. "Arosa" and "Off The Moment" promise to keep legs moving on the floor with their uplifting vibe and sexy, jazzy grooves. Another valuable release from a label that needs no introduction and an artist that's steadily confirming his artistic reputation as someone to keep an eye on.

Atlas Sound - I'll Be Your Mirror 7 inch (Audraglint) [AG119] $6.75
One of two 7-inches BRADFORD COX and Audraglint released as merch for his 2008 ATLAS SOUND tour. Includes the songs "I'll Be Your Mirror" and "Unicorn Rainbow Odyssey." Pressed on orange vinyl and packaged in color coordinated sleeves fabric sleeves. Limited quantity available.

Atlas Sound - Requiem For All The Lonely Teenagers With Passed Out Moms 7 inch (Audraglint) [AG118] $6.75
One of two 7-inches BRADFORD COX and Audraglint released as merch for his 2008 ATLAS SOUND tour. Includes the songs "Requiem For All The Lonely Teenagers With Passed Out Moms" and "Cobwebs." Pressed on pink vinyl and packaged in color coordinated sleeves fabric sleeves. Limited quantity available.

Bags, The - Survive 7 inch (Artifix) [SPR021EP] $5.75
"Authorized re-release of the original Dangerhouse single!"

Blue Sabbath Black Cheer/Penetration Camp - Split LP (Drug Front Productions) [LPBLUEPENE] $12.25
A split LP from the horror that is Bleak Village (Seattle): Side A features two BSBC tracks recorded in 2006. Side B features PENETRATION CAMP's demented despair. Packaged in a black LP jacket, glued on color front, screen-printed back with two inserts, and hand stamped labels. Edition of 313 copies pressed on black vinyl. The tracks play at 33rpm & 45rpm respectively

Boys Noize - Power 2xLP (Boysnoize Records) [BNR037LP] $19.00
2LP version (CD is released by Last Gang Records in the U.S.). One of the future's brightest electronic musicians, Berlin's Alex Ridha aka Boys Noize presents his second full-length album, Power. Ridha is, alongside peers Erol Alkan and Justice, part of a new mongrel breed of techno/electronica artist with a maverick bent and solid vision, beaming a myriad of influences from the past through a prism to create something fresh, new and exciting. Ridha has also become a sought-after producer of note, having worked with Kelis, Black Eyed Peas and Gonzales and officially remixing for the likes of Depeche Mode, Snoop Dogg, Late Of The Pier, and Royksopp. He has also mixed highly-regarded DJ compilations such as Bugged Out! and I Love Techno 2008 (MM 034CD). Instead of following the commercial path after the unexpected success of Oi Oi Oi, Boys Noize passed on any big feature names, eschewed the great pop approach, and avoided feeding trends. Power starts where Oi Oi Oi ended and shows the freshest of electronica and techno music. "Gax" features synths that flange forever, next to dark, robotic, chanting vocal samples, bolstered by an addictive, recurring synth pattern; "Drummer" is all rave-y bass-drum thud and swish, with squelching patterns rubber-balling and rising ever upwards; "Starter" is pummeling, stuttering drum machine, pitted against grinding guitar samples and crystalline plinks; and "Trooper" features steady, hard tribal drum patterns and a foreboding clarion call against A.I. vocal samples, like some sort of score to a cyborg apocalypse, and so on. Ridiculously danceable, futuristic, forward-thinking techno that announces the dawn of a new age.

Boys Noize - Jeffer Remixes 12 inch (Boysnoize Records) [BNR038EP] $11.50
Two killer remixes of "Jeffer" off of Boys Noize's second full-length album, Power. Modeselektor's mix sounds like the good old days of Audion when he was not so minimal. It is a full-on techno mix but is equally playable for house or new rave DJs as well. It extends genre boundaries and presents a sound that will appeal to everybody. On the flip, you get Para One's banging epic version that features a killer breakdown and new melodies.

Brigitte Fontaine & Khan - Fine Mouche Remixes 12 inch (I'm Single) [IMS007EP] $11.50
After the great success of "Fine Mouche Piano-Tango" by French chanson legend Brigitte Fontaine and Turkish belly dancer Khan (featuring the talented pianist Boris Bergmann), I'm Single presents a bunch of hyper-hip remixes. dOP presents one of their greatest swinging house jacks so far. Tobii delivers a stunning, psychedelic deep-house anthem that will be part of your 2009 post-summer-vacation-trauma. Let the leaves turn red and the disco ball shine!

Christian Naujoks - East End Boys 12 inch (Dial) [DIAL047EP] $11.50
Part 1 of a 12" trilogy of releases by Christian Naujoks on Dial. Adoring the sound of pitched-down, pre-recorded strings dressed in deep, dub-styled echoes, "East End Boys" is a song dedicated to the raw and powerful sublimity of physical sound. On the B-side, Lawrence remixes his favorite Christian Naujoks tune, "Bloom." Both tracks also available here in instrumental versions.

Click Box vs. Run Stop Restore - Helen In The Keller 12 inch (Minus) [MINUS080EP] $10.75
As a production team, Run Stop Restore has been a pragmatic group with Marc Houle, Troy Pierce and Magda pursuing their own hectic schedules of production and performance. Recently, the three members have taken the opportunity to meet in the same studio to combine their unique ideas. Their Items and Things imprint - a label set up as an output for new projects, collaborations and ideas with a distinctly left of centre attitude is primarily run by wireless communication. After a pair of compilation EPs, the first act to receive a dedicated release was Click Box - the brainchild of Marco Silva and Pedro Turra whose tough, retro sound, non-conformist arrangements and skilful sound design fitted perfectly to the I&T ethos. The relationship has obviously grown at speed, culminating in this two track Minus release recorded during a five day session in Sao Paulo, Brazil. With all five artists jamming together on a host of analog synths and a low slung bass guitar contribution from Marc Houle. The collaboration produces two cylindrical grooves that work like a thermos flask - signifying the presence of heat without radiating it. There's a smouldering intensity contained by a cool outer casing that give the tracks a very particular attitude, with certain key instruments being recorded and used unsequenced, without edits or quantization that raise the curtain on side A. Any track entitled Helen in the Keller needs to be approached with a certain amount of caution and the glassy shards of warping live bass guitar together with Troy's raw claustrophobic vocal musings create a dark tone as the lunatic fringe takes over. The track is essentially split into two halves, with the second introducing a low, oscillating Juno-60 style bass riff that merges with the hi-hat driven rhythm section to enhance the tracks danceability. From there on, all the elements gel perfectly creating a track that manages to harness the energy of a live performance with some instruments being recorded in one shot.

Cloaks - Junk/R.F.I.D. 12 inch (3BY3) [3BY3003EP] $10.75
The mighty Cloaks return with their third offering so far on wax and the second deviant emission drawn from their groundbreaking album Versus Grain (3BY3 002CD). Generously cut at Transition with ample bass pressure, this band marks a development we should have seen coming -- where Ministry fans finally learn some moves and the urban music posse get into some serious shredding.

Cluekid - Original Tearout/Shatner Chop! 12 inch (Subsonik) [SUBZ006EP] $10.75
Cluekid's debut 12" for the Subsonik label features two new cuts, brimming with freshly-baked dubstep styles and revealing a deep love for the foundation of classic jungle. "Original Tearout" comes correct with heavenly rave synth pads and pitched-up vocal chops, like a lost original junglist anthem -- for fans of early Juice Box-era Gerald and M-Beat. "Shatner Chop!" is freshly-minted, gangsta-stylin' dubstep -- already big with Caspa and all dub constabulary.

Coach Fingers - One Jack Shy Of A Cycle LP (Black Dirt) [BD005LP] $19.75
"There is a fine line between illumination and obscuration when one is attempting to interpret the meaning of a song cycle. Is the narrator singing from experience or is there an embodiment of characters, real or imagined, happening? When listening to the new record by Coach Fingers from beginning to end, a story is not necessarily being told in a straight narrative form, but perhaps taking a cue from a literary background, One Jack Shy of a Cycle can be perceived as a metafiction in song form. Who is the fool with the unsteady hands? What poor soul has found his demise at the barrel end of Jack's rifle? Along what shoreline is the tortured couple from 'Things Get Stranger' travelling? Why is a bullfrog singing about happiness and doubt? Who is having such trouble sleeping on Side 2, and why? Are there literally turkeys falling out of the trees as the dawn breaks to end the record? Recurring themes of failed relationships, misunderstandings, anxiety and passing are woven throughout this rock and roll record as easily as they would be in a collection of short stories. Like images flickering through a shadow play screen, Coach Fingers has drawn upon the talents of the community of musicians surrounding Black Dirt Studio, to project the visage of a band upon the collection of tales captured on these sides. And in the process has conjured the aural equivalent of metempsychosis, passing life stories through song into the grooves of vinyl."

Dan Melchior - This Is Not The Medway Sound LP (Smart Guy) [SMART012] $12.00
CLOSET FIND LAST COPIES AVAILABLE!!! Another prime cut of soulful blues action from the incomparable DAN MELCHIOR and his trusty sidekick BRUNO MEYRICK-JONES. Ten smoke-upon-smoke tracks of the good and righteous, testified with Melchior's distinctive holler. Limited edition pressing of 400 copies, so don't doze off.

Danuel Tate - Doesn't Like You Back 12 inch (Wagon Repair) [WAG055EP] $11.50
Cobblestone Jazz founding member Danuel Tate is back on the solo tip with the Doesn't Like You Back EP, and this time, he's bringing it harder. Although some familiar elements from his first EP can be found in the horns and synths that form the beds for the quirky vocoder, this release is more direct. This 12" reflects the moment on the dancefloor when you realize the woman next to you is way out of your league.

Distance - Clockwork/One Blood, One Source 12 inch (Tectonic) [TEC033EP] $10.75
Tectonic presents a one-sided slate from the legendary DJ Distance. Leading in with a 16-bar intro, "Clockwork" tears through at the drop, unleashing a barrage of brutal bass and carefully-ordered but chaotic drum programming. The rhythm fits the Tectonic style -- unique, heavy, and rolling. The second track takes a Bristol dubstep classic and gives it to an original South London dubstep master to relick the parts. Distance reworks "One Blood, One Source" featuring Rudey Lee (Smith & Mighty).

Dre Skull - I Want You (Bok Bok VIP Dub) 12 inch (Unknown Label) [BOKBOK001EP] $1.00
"One of the most exciting record comes from London's Bok Bok, offering up two refixes of Crazy Cousins 'Bongo Jam' and Dre Skull's 'I Want You.' The cliche 'One to watch' was made for this fella, from his potent mixtapes mashing grime, house, garage and UK Bass, to his forthcoming tracks for Dress 2

Ekaj - Other Worlds 12 inch (Scum) [SUBSCUM003EP] $11.00
"S.C.U.M.'s 3rd installment is a fresh one. If you never heard of Ekaj before then get to know. Ekaj aka Jake Rooney hails from Manchester and this style isn't one for the fainted hearted. Brutal machine-esque sounds combined with heavy junglistic breaks and interstellar production give this young man the sound people have been craving for. For his vinyl debut he rattles up a storming 12"in the form of 'Other Worlds' & 'Tetsu.'"

Excision & Datsik - Swagga 12 inch (Ex7) [EX7002EP] $10.25
"Vinyl copies of EX7001, Excision - Yin Yang, sold out in a matter of weeks, while the digital release has been sitting pretty at the top of the Beatport dubstep chart ever since it was dropped. Now, following on from their immense first 12", EX7 is back with an even more impressive pair of dance floor killers. EX7002 has been getting plenty of attention from all comers, with dubstep, breaks and even drum & bass DJs all clamouring to get their hands on it. The A side, 'Swagga,' was a feature in Excision's DJ sets on his recent UK tour as sweaty crowds of teenagers rushed the decks shouting 'Play Swagga!' in anticipation of its filthy bassline combinations (we kid you not, we feared for our lives). Not only that, but 'Swagga' is the only non-Rusko track that Rusko's been battering on all his recent radio mixes; for proof just check out his recent Breezeblock mix for BBC Radio 1. Teaming up with fellow Canadian, Datsik, once again on the flip, Excision creates another mechanoid-influenced stomper that hails the beginning of Armageddon. Monster bass and super-hard beats are what 'Invaderz' is all about, another piece of heavy artillery for Excision & Datsik's sonic armoury."

Fergus & Geronimo - Harder Than It's Ever Been 7 inch (Woodsist) [WOODSIST027EP] $5.75
"Fergus & Geronimo are Jason Kelly and Andrew Savage. You might know them from Wax Museums and Teenage Cool Kids respectively. What started as a recording project between friends has manifested into another extraordinary addition to the Denton, TX roster of current bands. Upon first listen, one can instantly recognize these two lads are intimately familiar with their influences. Never mind the psychedelia, this is straight pop, no bullshit. Debut vinyl release."

Fred Mcdowell - Fred McDowell LP (Mississippi Records) [MR047LP] $12.75
"Reissue of the Arhoolie LP originally titled Fred McDowell - Volume 2. A beautiful set by the Mississippi blues legend. One of Fred's best. Intense Delta blues."

G-Man aka Gomes - Don't Be Afraid/Night Of The Death 12 inch (Subsonik) [SUBZ005EP] $10.75
Amsterdam's G-Man offers two heavyweight floor-fillers brimming with old-skool flava. "Don't Be Afraid" smacks you upside the head with a filter tweakin' fuzzed-out bass that screams to be played at maximum volume, its unrelenting vibe making it a real heavy-hitter. "Night Of The Death" has a more spaced-out production, with an equally phat bass line, trawling its way though the back streets at 5 a.m. in a smoked-out haze. Plays from N-Type, Tes La Rok and Walsh.

German Measles - Wild 12 inch (Captured Tracks) [CT030] $12.00
Out of control, drugged up, f***ed up madness from Brooklyn's premiere party freaks. Almost the polar opposite of this spring's cassette release-these songs are confident, insane and beautifully recorded by GARY OLSON. Some sort of funky mix of The Soup Dragons, Black Randy, Protex and The Fall had they recorded for Bhudda. All the subtlety of Sonny Bono trying to barge his way into a restaurant while wearing a fur vest. Features two-fourths of the legendary CAUSE CO-MOTION!

Gesellschaft zur Emanzipation des Samples - Circulations 7 inch (Faitiche) [FAITICHE002EP] $7.25
The mysterious Gesellschaft Zur Emanzipation Des Samples (trans. "Society for the Emancipation of Samples") presents tracks from Circulations on 7" vinyl in a limited edition of 300 copies only. These recordings present samplings of music in public space which choreographs a recording situation and, at the same time, the utopia of a space unfettered by copyright. In some cases, the public aspect is palpable, in others, it is hardly noticeable, depending on the degree of processing. Includes one previously-unreleased track.

Glitterbug - Dim Flares 12 inch (C.Sides) [CSIDES005EP] $11.50
Glitterbug's Dim Flares is a dream-like and intense EP that touches on deep, emotional techno with a utopian 4/4 perspective. "So Much More" releases its melancholic/euphoric mood slowly, turning itself into a hand-raising screamer. "Deadpan" is a dark, score-like ambient miniature, "Daubed Beams" feels like what mid-'90s Detroit techno released on Warp would have sounded like, and "Be Content" is a warm track with a deep drive, warped pads, a dark bass-line, airy percussion and unforgettable arpeggios.

Heads - Tilburg 2xLP (Rooster) [ROOSTER013] $23.75
Limited edition double vinyl bootleg of the Live In Tilburg mail order only CD issued by the band via their website, and rightly given album of the month status on Julian Cope's Head Heritage site. In 2008 THE HEADS were convinced to undertake their first tour of more than three dates in over 7 years, by going on a seven-date jaunt in the UK and Europe with fellow travelers the Wooden Shjips. As ever the Heads taped most of the performances, and in Tilburg, they got an audience tape, desk tape, and stage tape, so, with the aid of the mighty Latch they put together this here "Bootleg". A perfect snapshot of the Heads in full flight, as heavy and as dense as they can get, yet soaring far off into the vapors with their inimitable psych noise blastings. Much ignored in the UK for the past decade or so, the Heads might well be getting a wave of recognition right now, and this is a very good way to immerse oneself into the world of the Heads. Limited edition of 500 copies. UK import.

Inca Ore - Silver Sea Surf School LP (Not Not Fun) [NNF175LP] $15.25
"New LP, 8 songs. Tidepool-colored vinyl, color insert."

Italoboyz - Bla Bla Bla Album Sampler 12 inch (Mothership) [MSHIP022EP] $11.50
The 3rd EP of tracks from Italoboyz' full-length Bla Bla Bla on Mothership. Those of you familiar with Italoboyz' music will be aware of its roots in the fusion of organic with electronic sounds and the collision of genres as varied as jazz, opera and folk with what we traditionally know as house and techno. "Techno Tower" and "Chinese" are a real testament to the Italoboyz' musical roots and will surely turn some bodies on the dancefloor.

James Knight & The Butlers - Black Knight LP (Cat Records) [CAT711LP] $10.25
Exact repro reissue from Florida legend James Knight, originally birthed from the heart of the swamp sometime in the '70s. This is raw, Southern ghetto funk, with Knight's feverish guitar backed by the band's tight horn playing. Includes the cover of Aretha Franklin's "Save Me," featured on Soul Jazz's Miami Sound compilation.

Jana Hunter - Carrion 12 inch (Woodsist) [WOODSIST007EP] $10.25
"Half of the six songs on Jana Hunter's Carrion are unreleased hangers-on from the writing sessions that produced her most recent full-length, There's No Home, while the other half are alternate renditions of works that appeared on that release. But this is no mere grab bag of remnants; it's a real tight product, all around. 'Paint A Babe' is a throw-back to Hunter's earlier material, written and recorded simultaneously on a borrowed four-track recorder. A real sad, longing song. 'A Goblin, A Goblin' took a little more time to create: this strong, sturdy number, replete with violins and creepy harmony, tells the tale of an indignant outcast. 'You Will Take It and Like It,' turns one central, pretty and proud guitar part over and over and over, with others mirroring it, leeching from it, grabbing on like little parasitic danglers. The original version of 'There's No Home' is here, the track that spawned an entire record title, followed by 'Sleep' (titled, as it was originally, 'Ooh Uuh'), from the recording that ended up on a lullaby compilation. Concluding Carrion is an acoustic re-presentation of the country-minded 'Oracle,' stripped down to one guitar, one melody, and one harmony, as it was originally conceived in its creation as homage."

Jeff Mills - The Drummer Pt. 2 12 inch (Axis) [PM023EP] $8.75
"Featuring homage to: A1. Dongre (Mukul) A2. Esconedo (Pete) A3. Singh (Talvin) B1. Yamato (Japanese Traditional Drummers) B2. Allen (Tony) B3. Coyazo (Blas) 'There is very little chance I'll be able to acknowledge every great Drummer, but I'll try. Here are 6 more Masters for the second installation of the Drummer series (PM-023 The Drummer Part 2). A project like this has little meaning if we have no reference of how extraordinary and skillful each one of these highly gifted artists are. Take your time and explore the rare footages of each.' - Jeff Mills"

Kabale und Liebe - Hotpants/Una Y Nada 12 inch (100% Pure) [PURE052EP] $11.50
After two great releases, Miami Nice and Child's Play on Amsterdam's 100% Pure Records, here is another fine 12" from Kabale Und Liebe. "Hotpants" says it all -- get ready to see them on the dancefloor wearing those things and shaking it: this is a bottom-groover for the headstrong. "Una y Nada" is a phat groove like only Kabale Und Liebe does it.

Kowton - Stasis (G Mix)/Countryman 12 inch (Keysound Recordings) [LDN013EP] $10.75
Joe Kowton aka Narcossist presents big bee-line dub-garage made for parties. "Stasis" runs on a deep 33 cut, throwing a dummy punch of dubbed keys and topped with a crackling vocal, a free swing, and fully-funked bounce. "Countryman" features a trodding steppers-motif, the groove intensifying with the dread vocal, its fabric assailed by more crispy bits as the dub builds and the full sub-pressure reveals itself. A soundbwoy classic for a distant future. Big with Ben UFO, Oneman, Brackles and Shortstuff.

Larry Levan - The Final Nights Of Paradise/Disk 5 Of 5 12 inch (Garage) [ZUKI620EP] $10.25
"Vinyl edition of the final night at the Paradise Garage, featuring the live finale from legendary DJ Larry Levan. Apparently this is the fourth installment in a series of five total releases to feature 12" vinyl recordings of the continuous mix. Far from a hidden gem of historical obscurity, Final Night of Paradise documents the celebratory end-all party commemorating 10 years at the Garage and featuring a steady regiment of classics established & championed by Levan over his storied career there. There's nothing extremely edgy or obscure about the mix; if anything it testifies to the straightforward intuitiveness & communicative receptivity of Levan's energy and verifies a time when songs could speak for themselves if handled & guided with meticulous care by the vanguard of artistic communal expression. But really more than anything this piece serves as an objective marker for an event that's been told & retold so many times to so many who could not be there for one reason or another. Instead of listening to the stories, which are invaluable in their own way, we can look toward this piece as a concrete reassurance. True, this 12" can't possibly capture the prolific nature those times, and anyone saying so would be foolish. Still there's something uncanny about hearing it all in action, in the real & unadulterated form of 'fact,' satisfying the absurd but good natured obsession of those infatuated with dance music lore while at the same time providing an existing account in the real." Silkscreened Keith Haring art on cover.

Lee Curtiss - The Black Door 12 inch (Spectral Sound) [SPC079EP] $11.50
Detroit's Lee Curtiss presents The Black Door EP. "Black Door Beauty" starts with a touch of Chicago futurism, spinning congas, staccato vocal samples, and a swift dusting of hi-hats into a house anthem with psychedelic undertones. Dyed Soundorom's remix minimizes the sub-bass thump and plays up the track's oddball trappings with creaking hinges, neurotic synthesizers, and a chorus of tittering laughter. "Smoking Mirrors" features clouds of melting organ tones and busy polyrhythms as a sturdy bass-line cuts through the haze.

Machine, The - Fuse - Ä,me & Dixon Remixes 12 inch (Innervisions) [IV023EP] $13.25
The Machine is Radioslave's new moniker under which he will release his next album in early 2010 on his Rekids label. "Fuse" is a pre-released track from this album in two remixes, one by Ä,me, one by Dixon.

Marc Romboy vs. Smokin Jo - What Is This? 12 inch (Dirt Crew) [DIRT037EP] $11.50
Marc Romboy teams up with Smokin Jo to deliver this marvelous two-tracker. "What Is This?" is a strong tech-house gem with a slowly building, pumping groove and a great sax sample. Solid stuff! There is also a much deeper and musically more diverse Lee Jones remix -- an excellent re-interpretation.

Matta Llama - The Witch Channel LP (Black Dirt) [BD003LP] $19.75
"Sometimes, throughout the process of creating a record, it is easy to forget how much magic is involved. When one is surrounded by wires, microphones, dials, tubes, screens, and stomp boxes there can be a decided lack of mystery. These are the earliest Black Dirt recordings, originally captured a mere few days after our humble doors were opened. As a matter of fact, everyone involved approached the experience as a sort of favor -- you'll be our guinea pig and we'll do our damn best to get a good document out of it. Matta Llama dug in for a session and did what they do so well... wordlessly picking up their instruments -- and at certain points, each other's -- and opening up that secret door that allows access to a timeless wellspring of past and future sounds. After the band had improvised more than an album's worth of music, something seemed off on playback. Another session was scheduled and a different approach was taken. Oddly, the results were the same. We placed the recordings on a shelf and high fived each other before they rode off on their way back to the big, dark city. And there the recordings sat. But a funny thing happened a few years later after we received our Alchemist's robe in the mail. We went back to them and realized that whatever was leaden about the sounds Matta Llama had laid down so many months before was purely a result of a young studio -- and novice engineer! - and once some of those problems were corrected, a blazing, golden, psychedelic beacon shot out of the speakers. The band was immediately contacted and at an impromptu meeting many things were discussed. Seeds grown to trees, lead to gold, and finally the idea of this record. Now, so many years later, this record glows with magic. It is hard to believe that there were any of the mundane trappings of a studio involved at all. It is a swirling, mysterious, and dark record and the document of the birth of Black Dirt and we're proud to present The Witch Channel to you."

Moderat - Seamonkey 12 inch (Bpitch Control) [BPC202EP] $11.50
Moderat presents remixes of one of the more abstract tracks off their exceptional self-titled album. The Untold remix departs from the norm with a cheeky hook, a tough-as-nails, hammering intro, and an over-driven, monster kick. Noise and melody fragments stick tight to the auditory nerve, and the legs are forced into ecstatic motion. Surgeon's remix features a straight-bouncing beat, enriched with strange, metal percussion. Meanwhile, the claustrophobic spaces and dark melodic fragments of the album version remain intact.

Naphta/El-B - Fully Loaded/Soundclash 1 (Ghost Relick) 12 inch (Ruff Revival) [RR002EP] $10.75
Ruff Revival matches up Naphta, all tooled-up in retro-futuristic 1992 jungle-style, with a totally sick '09 bass-style Ghost re-lick from the original don, El-B. "Fully Loaded" restores muscular memories of Jet Star B-sides, Shut Up And Dance, Production House, Ibiza, Potential BadBoy, Genaside II, G Double E, etc. El-B's tune throws an extra strategic dummy punch of early '80s synth and tight vocals -- a minute of distraction amongst all the bass kicks and sirens.

Peter Downsbrough - And That LP (Sub Rosa) [SR293LP] $14.00
Music: Benjamin Franklin & Xavier Garcia-Bardon. Elements assembled by Peter Downsbrough. The work of visual artist, photographer and film artist Peter Downsbrough has had a major impact on the perception of art. In the early-'60s, Downsbrough interrupted his studies in architecture at the University of Cincinnati and Cooper Union in New York in order to work as a sculptor. A decade after his first exhibition in New York (1962), the artist gained international recognition, and has been exhibiting regularly in the United States and Europe since 1972. The varied work of the artist -- ranging from sculpture and books to photography, video, and film -- maintains a complex relationship with architecture and typography, while also drawing on the achievements of the early avant-garde (Bauhaus, De Stijl) and minimal art. In terms of form, the work of Downsbrough is highly rigorous and exhibits a powerful geometric sense, restricting itself primarily to the use of line, plane, negative space (cutting away), and delimitation. In addition to his spatial manipulations, the artist also has a keen interest in place, as is evidenced in his cartographical works and city photographs. The music that Downsbrough commissioned for the final edit of this recording, a mix of ambient electric guitar, sweet electro, street field recordings, treatments and voices, was composed and recorded in 2007 by Xavier Garcia-Bardon and Benjamin Franklin (a modus operandi they first experimented with in the Brussels improv collective Buffle). As is often the case with Downsbrough, the final piece seems to be emerging from a world put between parentheses -- music that could last forever, where fragments seem to be missing (just like in his typographical work). It's those missing bits we ceaselessly try to find in this music without beginning or end. This work is only available on vinyl and is housed in a gatefold sleeve.

Playdoe - Freeze Step 12 inch (Rwina) [RWINA003EP] $11.00
"The ever cult label Rwina hits up the new season with a release schedule that will blow your mind away! First up is the South African formation, Playdoe. Now this isn't just some run on da mill stuff, their tracks 'Front Seat' and 'Freeze Step' are a combination of neo-hiphop/breaks/booty/electro and everything in between to form a sandwich of sheer quality. And if that isn't enough, you should check out how Starkey blesses this release with a remix on the A side. Starkey infuses the ever so addictive Stark-vibe with a G'ed out sound that'll bring some ghetto in da club."

Q&A - Tumbling Cubes 12 inch (DFA) [DFA2213] $7.50
Q&A (previously known as EXPANDING HEAD BAND) are QUINN LUKE and ALEXIS GEORGOPOULOS, who were introduced by CHRIS VELTRI, owner of legendary record shop Groove Merchants in San Francisco. Veltri and Luke had made a pair of plunderphonic disco 12-inches under the name COPPA. Georgopoulos was a founder of the group TUSSLE and asked if Coppa would do a Tussle remix. This led to Luke acting as producer on the Tussle album Telescope Mind. The group has already gained an esteemed short-list of admirers, among them Todd Terje, Sal Principato (Liquid Liquid), and Bill Brewster (DJ and author of leftfield disco classic Last Night A DJ Saved My Life). "Tumbling Cubes" is a svelte piece of Detroit-inspired electro, a lean charge where Mr. Fingers meets Telex and Carl Craig at the Hacienda. The B-side "Trap Door," is a taut piece of flabby dirty disco, a dark cavern of sinister cool that comes off like a Padded Cell edit of Patrick Adams remixed by Andrew Weatherall.

Quantec - Cauldron Subsidence 2xLP (Echocord) [ECHO040LP] $17.25
2LP version. This is the second album by the much-hyped German dub youngster Sven Schienhammer aka Quantec on Echocord. This album contains older tracks from the year 2001 and some of his newer works from 2009. This album is not entirely the typical Quantec sound; this is brooding dub-techno, laced with the remnants of dubstep. "Absolute Level" combines a rolling crash cymbal with a trippy Detroit-ish melody (a la Kenny Larkin). The classic strings throughout "Satisfied" ripple with a rolling broken beat and strains of vocals throughout, shedding new light on the classic Chain Reaction sound of yesterday. A true accomplishment from one of today's most accomplished electronic dub producers.

Rafael Anton Irisarri - Daydreaming LP (Miasmah) [MIA004LP] $17.25
Originally released on CD by the Miasmah label in 2007, now available on vinyl. Championed by the likes of David Sylvian and Thom Yorke, Daydreaming is the stunning debut album from Seattle's Rafael Anton Irisarri. Released to great critical acclaim, Daydreaming is a collection of piano-led instrumental compositions of astonishing beauty. This sounds like a record written for piano, but it also incorporates an array of modern sound sources in its production. As the drifting synthesizers lap around the feet of a majestic piano part in the album's opening track "Waking Expression," it is startlingly clear that there is more to Irisarri than mere stereotyping. Rather, this is a carefully-constructed soundtrack to your most intriguing dreams, the dreams you might remember for a split second before losing everything, only to have images creep up on you some time later. Those of you left spellbound by Deaf Center's haunting and beautiful Pale Ravine album will be pleased to know that Daydreaming continues in the tradition of murky, theatrical and deeply imaginative music. Lines of comparison can be drawn between Irisarri's compositional approach and the work of artists as varied as Machinefabriek, Peter Broderick and Mogwai. This is rich, visual music showing a dark, melancholic side to American life and captured perfectly by an artist unafraid to bear his soul to the world. Daydreaming offers another chance to discover a highlight release from the Miasmah label's earlier days.

Robedoor - Raiders LP (Not Not Fun) [NNF167LP] $13.50
"New full-length album in the new trio formation. Mastered by James Plotkin."

Sarandon/The Membranes - Spike Milligan's Tape Recorder 7 inch (Slumberland) [SL109] $4.50
Contemporary English post-punk band SARANDON covers a 1980s MEMBRANES tune on the A-side, while the flip features the original 1984 Membranes recording. Slumberland Records presents Spike Milligan's Tape Recorder to those who want to feel the history then and the history now. Keep beating the pulp from the pop-rock schlock hog. This single supports and is supported by the publication of Death to Trad Rock by THE MEMBRANES' JOHN ROBB: 900 pages that cover nearly 50 bands in that defiant, discordant DIY underground of bands, fanzines, and venues that sustained a remarkable and highly original scene of bands-perhaps the last stand of DIY culture in the UK.

Savas Pascalidis - C 12 inch (Figure SPC) [FIGSPCC] $11.50
"A true home for playful experimentation and a place for real fun to be had, Figure SPC proudly raises its hat to the latest dose of musical mindplay on offer. After the sensational trip that was his Vapors 12" on Len Faki's Figure label, the inimitable Savas Pascalidis returns with four unique club burners that are guaranteed hotter than the sun! 'Positive Force' throws us right into the party, introducing the bold, gutsy vibe of the EP with this sinister synthethiser jam. Using only a handful of elements to tell the tale, an addictive bassline and a psycho-disco groove throw energy all over the place in this reckless monster. But of course that was only the warm up for the mighty 'Let's Rough' that follows on the A2! Tripping, awesome analogue drums and a formidable bass end push this storming big-room-ready cut through all of its rebellious ups and downs."

Seasons (Pre-Din) - Your Eyes The Stars And Your Hands The Sea LP (Type) [TYPE061LP] $17.25
This is the debut full-length release for the UK's Seasons (Pre-din) for Type. You might not be familiar with the work of Seasons (Pre-din), but the shadowy Northerner has been honing his craft for some time now, covertly issuing a slew of stunning albums while the world ticked on. He cut his teeth performing and collaborating with Richard Skelton and Xela, but over the last couple of years has busied himself prepping a range of hand-made releases on his own label. Often gone in a matter of hours, these lovingly-crafted curios caught the attention of astute listeners worldwide and now Type is pleased to present the first widely-available album from Seasons (Pre-din). Your Eyes The Stars And Your Hands The Sea is a collection of tracks crafted from hours of field recordings and instrumental takes. Using a small hand-held recorder and a collection of stringed instruments, Seasons set about using "spaces" -- recording sounds in different areas to create a certain sound or mood. These rooms, fields and abandoned buildings form the backbone of the sound and give a curious cinematic quality to the record. You can almost place yourself in each space, and while it isn't always obvious beneath the chatter and manipulated radio static, there are always skeletons of real life just around the corner. It is eventually the artist's humanity that sets these compositions apart from those of his peers; rather than simply dry recordings, they are merely starting points for layering and sculpting. The result is thick, detailed pieces which, while subtle, pack a clout more readily associated with the contemporary noise scene. Restrained and totally enveloping, this is an album which resides somewhere in the undergrowth, emerging slowly before drifting gently out to sea. Turn down the lights, lower the needle and let it pull you away. You might not want to come back.

Shearing Pinx - Weaponry Pt. 1 LP (Divorce) [D31] $14.50
Divorce was so pleased with how SHEARING PINX delivered on the Haruspex 7-inch last year that they decided to up the ante considerably and release a double LP in two parts. In return the Pinx have gone all in with the new material. Weaponry Pt. 1 is a mountain that will remain visible in the sea of astounding, bizarre releases Shearing Pinx have been pouring for the last half decade. It is made clear from the first moments of the opening track; the Vancouver trio has been committed here to tape while in rare form. This LP sets up a classic, demento-tuned twin guitar battle where a nonchalant vocal delivery squares off against the drum set's muscular fake jazz-jizz-isms. William S. Burroughs used a shotgun to create paintings. Shearing Pinx use musical instruments to wound and maim. Tunes for the unglued. Artwork by RICK WHITE of ERIC'S TRIP and ELEVATOR. Edition of 600 copies. For fans of Harry Pussy, No New York, Sonny Sharrock.

Simone White - Yakiimo LP (Honest Jon's Records) [HJR044LP] $16.00
Yakiimo is Simone White's second and most accomplished album released by Honest Jon's. Part memoir and part American chronicle, this record is a sublime mixture of simple, Americana-steeped arrangements and White's own genre-defying combination of rawness and the gorgeous, intimate fragility of her voice. Mark Nevers produced this record with the same organic perfection he brought to her previous album, I Am The Man. But here, Simone White's songwriting has matured, and this collection of acoustic gems is even more exquisitely evocative. With both intelligence and wit, "A Girl You Never Met" explores the mind of a woman tired of life and at the brink of death. The aching string arrangement and breathy instrumentation fuse perfectly, to stunning effect. One of the album's signature pieces, "Victoria Anne," mixes gritty childhood memories with a transcendent humanity and affectionate love. Most of the songs are White's own compositions, but she includes a few by her friends, songwriting duo Frank Bango and Ricy Vesecky. "Candy Bar Killer" is a precious and deranged pop masterpiece, which Simone White's voice and heart-breaking guitar capture effortlessly. "Yakiimo" invokes the power of memory and the intoxication of myth -- an American dream of a different kind. These crystallized vignettes hang together so vividly and so eccentrically, you might think you've stumbled across a box of carefully-preserved curios in your grandmother's attic or an American photo album of snapshots from a dreamier time. And it's beautifully packaged too -- a curio in its own right, housed in a gatefold sleeve with a fully-illustrated 24-page booklet of lyrics.

Skream - Just Being Me/Mudera 12 inch (Southside Dubstars) [SSDUB021EP] $11.00
"Southside Dubstars come out of nowhere once again with a fresh batch of tunes from some heavyweight artists, Skream makes his return with the relatively unheard 'Just Being Me' which is a melodic, funky yet melancholic number reminiscent of earlier works like the legendary 'Dutch Flowers.' 'Mudera' turns up the heat a little, as you'd expect from the title it's the Skream wobble in full effect, muderation on this one, screwface business, big tuuuuuune! Act quickly to ensure you get a copy."

Stellar Om Source - Rise In Planes LP (Black Dirt) [BD007LP] $19.75
"Every record has 2 sides. There is an inherent duality to the format. Sometimes the sounds contained therein can expand beyond the average experience of sides A and B. Rise in Planes is one such record. It is both a collage of songs and a monolithic mantra of collapsing notes. A meditation on the realignment of atypical musical conjugations, such as meter and melody, and a time specific experiment on the effects that such change might have on the listener's state of mind both during and after the needle snakes its way through the grooves. While there is a distinct difference between the ascension of each side, there is also a permanence of timbre, whether alone, folded upon itself or accompanied, that conjures a sense of enchantment. One moment aggressive, the next soothing, meditative throughout, while also flouting the misshapen identity of Western dream music. Both the document of an electroacoustic magician and an improvisatory illusionist, Rise in Planes subverts futurism and past spontaneous composition in one slab of an etched polymer compound carved out to vibrate the air around you into binary thoughts."

Talk Normal - Sugarland LP (Rare Book Room) [rbr005-1] $14.50
RELEASE DATE: 10-27-2009
Vinyl comes with mp3 download code. Since their lightning-strike first appearance, Talk Normal's sound has stormed upward & outward, referencing nothing but relating to almost everything, a jarringly songful gale of rhythm & noise supporting pleas & plaints, signal-calls & marching orders. Each Talk Normal show builds on past ones: up-to-the- moment updates of ideas previously stated, new phrasings of old upheavals delivered with increasing focus & joy. Darkness & light; fury, silence, space & sound. F.S. Blumm & David Grubbs - Back To The Plants ^7 inch [AH17-1:d] Ahornfelder $14.25 Release Date: 11/16/2009 'Back To The Plants' ( music for "drawings" ) is based on an improvisation between David Grubbs (Electric Guitar) and F.S.Blumm (Classical Guitar ) done on the 2nd of July 2008 inside Peter Coffin's sculpture "Untitled (Greenhouse)" at the CAAC, Sevilla. The Recording has later been enriched by material that F.S.Blumm found on his hard-drive. You will hear Ulrich Wangenheim on Bass-Clarinet ( Part Three), Jan Thoben on Drums ( Part One), Marcel Tļrkowsky on Bass ( Part Four). 'Back To The Plants' was finished in January 2009.

Th' Inbred - A Family Affair (legacy Of Fertility Vol. 1) LP (Alternative Tentacles) [VIRUS401] $12.00
The vinyl is split into two separate releases--the first contains the Reproduction EP and A Family Affair, the second has Kissin' Cousins and the bonus songs. Each LP is limited to 1,000 copies on colored vinyl.

Th' Inbred - Kissin' Cousins (legacy Of Fertility Vol. 2) LP (Alternative Tentacles) [VIRUS402] $12.00
The vinyl is split into two separate releases--the first contains the Reproduction EP and A Family Affair, the second has Kissin' Cousins and the bonus songs. Each LP is limited to 1,000 copies on colored vinyl.

Unknown - Kingston Town Remix 12 inch (Moonshine) [MS001EP] $11.00
"Moonshine Recordings finally drops their first vinyl release. Melting dubstep with reggae and hiphop vibez. Made by one of the most wanted dubstep producers in the US."

Various Artists - Hyperdub 5.1 12 inch (Hyperdub) [HDB023EP] $12.25
"A series of five 12-inch EPs featuring a selection of new tunes ... leading up to the release of 5. 5.1 EP contains three previously unreleased tracks: A1. Kode9 & The Spaceape ft. ChaCha - 'Time Patrol' B1. Black Chow - 'Purple Smoke' B2. Flying Lotus - 'Disco Balls.'"

Various Artists - Hyperdub 5.2 12 inch (Hyperdub) [HDB024EP] $12.25
"5.2 EP contains three previously unreleased tracks: A1. Joker & Ginz - 'Stash' B1. Zomby - 'Tarantula' B2. Samiyam - 'Roller Skates.'"

Various Artists - Remote Areas Part 1 12 inch (Remote Area) [REMOTE0211EP] $11.50
Remote Area, the internationally-renowned imprint of Dutch techno icon 2000 and One, will be hosting its own night at the Amsterdam Dance Event. During this so-called "Remote Areas," the label will present what Amsterdam is really about, showcasing diverse artists. This is part 1 of Remote Area's first-ever label compilation, with exclusive tracks from producers Kabale und Liebe, Lauhaus and Makcim & Managemend. High-quality tech-house from within. Supported by Richie Hawtin, Sven Väth, Laurent Garnier, Ricardo Villalobos, Luciano, etc.

Various Artists - Remote Areas Part 2 12 inch (Remote Area) [REMOTE0212EP] $11.50
This is part 2 of Remote Area's first-ever label compilation, with exclusive tracks from Sandy Huner, 2000 And One, Quazar, and DJ Madskillz & Randy Vicious. Amsterdam has officially arrived. Supported by Richie Hawtin, Sven Väth, Laurent Garnier, Roger Sanchez, Karotte, Ricardo Villalobos, Luciano, etc.

Yura Yura Teikoku - Dekinai / Sweet Surrender 12 inch (Death From Abroad) [DFA0117] $8.50
The latest from popular underground Japanese psychedelic band YURA YURA TEIKOKU. Four remixes/alternate versions of two tracks from their brand new Hollow Me album. East Coast dates with Yo La Tengo this fall. No exports to Japan

[ H I S T O R I C A L ]

Aretha Franklin - Sparkle LP (Atlantic) [SD18176LP] $11.00
Exact repro reissue -- manufactured by Rhino, licensed from Atlantic -- of the soundtrack to Sam O'Steen's 1976 cult film Sparkle. Composed and produced by Curtis Mayfield, Aretha Franklin sings in place of the singers in the film, a 1950s period piece about a Harlem girl-group (based on The Supremes) and their rise to stardom. This is peak-period, post-Super Fly Mayfield and Franklin's versions are widely considered superior to the movie's.

Benedict Arnold and the Traitors - Kill The Hostages 7 inch (Artifix) [SPR023EP] $5.75
"Benedict Arnold and the Traitors were a unique band that blended political and social issues into punk as they saw it. They released the highly offensive Kill The Hostages single at the height of the hostage crisis between the U.S. and Iran and caught a lot of negative press for it. They existed on what they saw as the fringe of the scenester punk scene and tried their best to annoy and offend everyone. The band started in 1980 and lasted until 1983 when they changed their musical direction and became the Antinomians for a brief stint before changing once again into The Hundredth Monkey. During their brief run, they managed to release one 7" single and one 7" EP of quirky aggro punk. Benedict Arnold and the Traitors released Kill the Hostages in 1980 on Putrid Records, the band's own label."

Bert Jansch - L.A. Turnaround LP (Drag City) [DC413LP] $16.50
"Drag City is 'chuffed' to announce the limited-edition vinyl repressings of the three albums Bert Jansch recorded for The Famous Charisma Label in the 1970s: L.A. Turnaround, Santa Barbara Honeymoon and A Rare Conundrum, all of which have been out of print for decades and are among the most sought-after Jansch albums among fans and collectors. For these new releases, Bert Jansch handpicked the bonus material, much of which is previously unreleased. In some cases this material has been unheard by anyone in thirty years, including Bert himself. Bert Jansch was signed to Charisma by label boss Tony Stratton Smith in 1973, the year that Pentangle decided to go their separate ways. L.A. Turnaround appeared in September 1974 to great acclaim, hailed in the press as 'not far off from being the perfect album.' It was produced by former Monkee Mike Nesmith at Stratton Smith's house in the country in Crowbridge, Sussex, and in Los Angeles, and features not only Nesmith on guitar but also pedal steel guitar maestro Red Rhodes, then in Nesmith's group. Rhodes' presence gives the album a unique sound enhancing Bert Jansch's own songwriting and performance skills with his haunting steel guitar. Other tracks on the album were completed by a group including Klaus Voorman on bass and, on certain songs, slide guitarist Jesse Ed Davis and fiddle player Byron Berline, giving this album an authentic L.A. '70s vibe, despite its UK origins."

Blood, Sweat & Tears - Child Is Father To The Man LP (Sundazed) [SC5278LP] $18.50
"Although they would go on to become one of the most commercially successful acts of the 1970s, most observers agree that Blood, Sweat & Tears' 1968 debut effort Child Is Father to the Man remains the ambitious ensemble's finest and most enduring musical statement. The band's only album under the leadership of legendary singer/keyboardist Al Kooper, Child Is Father to the Man stands with such late-'60s art-pop landmarks as the Zombies' Odessey and Oracle and Love's Forever Changes in capturing the period's seemingly limitless creative possibilities. Child Is Father to the Man is a brilliant reflection of the desire of Kooper -- a former member of the seminal Blues Project and a key collaborator in Bob Dylan's early electric work -- to use an expanded instrumental lineup to explore a broader range of sounds, styles and compositional approaches. Towards that end, he launched Blood, Sweat & Tears, recruiting a stellar assortment of players from the worlds of rock and jazz, including ex-Blues Project guitarist Steve Katz, former Buffalo Springfield/Mothers of Invention bassist Jim Fielder, jazz drummer Bobby Colomby and noted jazz horn players Randy Brecker, Dick Halligan, Fred Lipsius and Jerry Weiss. The resulting album (produced by fabled studio genius John Simon) was a seamlessly eclectic psychedelic-rock-jazz-classical fusion, with such diverse tracks as Kooper's gritty compositions 'I Can't Quit Her' and 'I Love You More Than You'll Ever Know,' as well as his playfully arty 'House in the Country' and 'The Modern Adventures of Plato, Diogenes and Freud,' along with stirring readings of Tim Buckley's 'Morning Glory,' Harry Nilsson's 'Without Her' and Randy Newman's 'Just One Smile.' Kooper's expansive musical vision may have been a bit too far ahead of its time. Although it was a favorite of early FM album-rock DJs, Child Is Father to the Man barely scraped the Billboard Top 50 and failed to produce a hit single. However, in the years since, the album has been widely recognized for its expressiveness and originality, and embraced by successive generations of listeners. For instance, it received a prominent placement in Rolling Stone's 2003 ranking of the 500 greatest albums of all time. Now, Child Is Father to the Man is back in its original vinyl format with Sundazed's definitive new LP edition. With meticulously reproduced original cover art, this vintage musical landmark has been remastered from the original analog master tapes and is pressed on high-quality, high-definition vinyl."

Blue Mitchell - The Thing To Do LP (Blue Note) [BN4178LP] $11.00
Exact repro reissue of one of the truly legendary Blue Note sessions, originally released in 1964. Featuring Blue Mitchell (trumpet), Junior Cook (tenor sax), Chick Corea (piano -- his second recorded appearance and debut for Blue Note), Gene Taylor (bass), and Aloysius Foster (drums). "This Blue Mitchell date is a classic, particularly the opening 'Fungii Mama,' which is really catchy. The trumpeter's quintet of the period (which includes tenor saxophonist Junior Cook, the young pianist Chick Corea, bassist Gene Taylor, and drummer Al Foster) also performs two Jimmy Heath tunes and a song apiece by Joe Henderson ('Step Lightly') and Corea. The record is prime Blue Note hard bop, containing inventive tunes, meaningful solos, and an enthusiastic but tight feel. Highly recommended." -- All Music Guide

Bob Dylan - Self Portrait 2xLP (Sundazed) [SC5122LP] $31.50
"'One of the most controversial albums in Bob Dylan's remarkable catalog, the 1970 double-LP Self Portrait continues to exercise a considerable fascination amongst Dylan devotees. Released on the heels of the artist's game-changing Nashville Skyline, Self Portrait offered a quirky assortment of studio and live tracks, encompassing Dylan originals as well as covers of familiar pop and folk numbers, recorded with an all-star musical cast. At the time of its original release, the sprawling, unconventional Self Portrait generated an immense amount of discussion and disagreement amongst Dylan's admirers. The ongoing controversy surrounding the album has been fueled over the years by Dylan himself. At various times, Dylan has defended Self Portrait as a heartfelt artistic statement, dismissed it as a joke and described it as a concerted effort to escape the pressures of his unwanted status as the voice of a generation. Whatever the artist's actual intentions, Self Portrait retains a unique niche in the hearts of Dylan devotees, and is often cited as an early landmark in the birth of alternative country. Self Portrait's highlights include the Dylan originals 'Wigwam,' later featured in the Wes Anderson film The Royal Tenenbaums; 'Living the Blues,' subsequently covered by artists ranging from Leon Redbone to Antony Hegarty; and 'The Mighty Quinn (Quinn the Eskimo),' which Manfred Mann had turned into a British Invasion hit in 1968. The latter song is one of a quartet of live tracks drawn from Dylan's legendary performance with The Band at the historic Isle of Wight festival, along with memorable versions of the Dylan standards 'Like a Rolling Stone,' 'Minstrel Boy' and 'She Belongs to Me.' Also featured are Dylan's readings of a variety of outside material, ranging from his iconic interpretation of the rural folk song 'Copper Kettle' to his distinctive takes on such familiar tunes as Paul Simon's 'The Boxer,' Gordon Lightfoot's 'Early Mornin' Rain' and the vintage Everly Brothers hits 'Let It Be Me' and 'Take a Message to Mary.' Sundazed has restored this one-of-a-kind release to its original double-LP format. Mastered from the original analog master tapes, the album is pressed on high-quality, high-definition vinyl, with meticulously reproduced original gatefold cover art."

Candido - Beautiful LP (Blue Note) [BST84357LP] $11.00
Exact repro reissue of Candido's Blue Note debut, a rare groove essential, originally released in 1970. Candido plays conga & bongos with Bernie Glow (trumpet), Pat Russo (trumpet), Joe Grimm (saxes & flute), Alan Raph (trombone & bass trombone), Frank Anderson (piano & organ), Dave Spinozza (guitar), Richard Davis (fender bass), Gerald Jemmott (fender bass) and Herbie Lovelle (drums). Magnetic, hypnotic, dance-oriented funk from the "Man With A Thousand Fingers."

Cheyenne's Comin' - Cheyenne's Comin' LP (Shadybrook Records) [SB33002LP] $11.00
Exact repro reissue, originally released in 1976. Flash-in-the-pan Native American soulstress Cheyenne Fowler is joined by an assorted cast of funk/soul fusion unknowns and produced by Gene Russell (of Black Jazz Records fame). "We cover a little jazz, rock, a little rhythm and blues, funky soul, Latin jazz, call it what you like." Includes the single "Come Back To Me" and some classy high school yearbook-style photos of all the handsome players on the back cover.

Cliff Jordan - Cliff Jordan LP (Blue Note) [BN1565LP] $11.00
Exact repro reissue of Clifford Jordan's second solo album for Blue Note, originally released in 1959. Featuring Lee Morgan (trumpet), Curtis Fuller (trombone), John Jenkins (alto sax), Cliff Jordan (tenor sax), Ray Bryant (piano), Paul Chambers (bass) and Art Taylor (drums). "Cliff has a strong, virile tone that is similar in essence to Sonny Rollins (a mighty influence on so many of today's young tenor men) but he is by no means an ersatz Rollins. His conception is personal, fresh and exciting and he will, no doubt, rank high..."

Elizabeth Cotton - When I'm Gone LP (Folkways) [FW03537] $17.25
This is the third volume of work for Folkways by one of the most important acoustic guitarists of the 20th Century, originally released in 1965. Produced by musician ALICE GERRARD and recorded by folklorist/musician MIKE SEEGER, When I'm Gone is the perfect introduction to the queen of folk-blues. An absolute classic lovingly reissued in a perfect replica of the original Folkways jacket and including a reproduction of the original information booklet.

Hank Mobley - A Slice Of The Top LP (Blue Note) [LT995LP] $11.00
Exact repro reissue featuring Hank Mobley (tenor sax), James Spaulding (alto sax), Lee Morgan (trumpet), Kiane Zawadi (euphonium), Howard Johnson (tuba), McCoy Tyner (piano), Reggie Workman (bass) and Billy Higgins (drums). "This is one of tenor saxophonist Hank Mobley's more intriguing sessions, for the talented composer had an opportunity to have four of his originals, plus the standard 'There's a Lull in My Life,' performed by an octet in the cool-toned style of Miles Davis's 'Birth of the Cool' nonet, arranged by Duke Pearson. Although recorded in 1966, this date was not released until 1979. Mobley, who continued to evolve into a more advanced player throughout the 1960s, fits right in with such adventurous players as altoist James Spaulding, trumpeter Lee Morgan (with whom Mobley recorded frequently), pianist McCoy Tyner, bassist Reggie Workman and drummer Billy Higgins. The inclusion of Kiane Zawadi on euphonium and Howard Johnson on tuba adds a lot of color to this memorable outing." -- All Music Guide

Harry Partch - Delusion Of The Fury 2xLP (Columbia) [P749311HLP] $24.25
Gatefold 180 gram vinyl reissue, originally released in 1971. "In this long-awaited masterwork, Harry Partch rises above all attempts at descriptive containment and becomes quite simply heroic. Delusions Of The Fury, proceeding from tragedy to comedy, is nothing less than the full, ritualistic expression, in vocal instrumental and corporeal terms, of the reconciliation by the living both with death and with life. It is a total Partch statement, incorporating voices, mime, his celebrated instruments, dance, lighting and staging, all working to express this philosophical concept. Delusion Of The Fury, as is to be expected, is not cast in the common dramatic/musical mold." -- Eugene Paul

Jackie McLean - A Fickle Sonance LP (Blue Note) [ST84089LP] $11.00
Exact repro reissue, originally released in 1961. "Alto saxophonist Jackie McLean was one of the few jazz players to come up through bebop and incorporate free jazz into his style. Even though A Fickle Sonance preceded McLean's intense 1962 album Let Freedom Ring, the playing remained in a swinging blues-oriented style, showing no hint of the direction his music was about to take. The sidemen on the date (Tommy Turrentine [trumpet], Sonny Clark [piano], and Butch Warren [bass]) prove to be an invigorating combination of musicians, however not as involved in the burgeoning free music as drummer Billy Higgins. At the time of these sessions, Higgins had already played with Ornette Coleman, providing a link to the avant-garde, but nevertheless his playing follows the hard bop pace of the others. McLean provides two original compositions, 'Subdued' and the title track, while Clark, Turrentine, and Warren fill the remaining tracks." -- All Music Guide

John Coltrane - Coltrane's Sound LP (Atlantic) [SD1419LP] $11.00
Exact repro reissue, originally released in 1966. Featuring McCoy Tyner (piano), Steve Davis (bass) and Elvin Jones (drums), captured here are the most extraordinary moments of Coltrane's Atlantic period, recorded in 1960 but not released until 1966. "What John Coltrane has 'gotten in' on this album, into the music that is, strikes me as an accurate cross-section of his musical capabilities. He is heard on a lovely ballad, 'The Night Has A Thousand Eyes' as though to refute those who claim he will not play ballads (his hard-edged approach to the ballad is intriguing); he is heard in numerous examples of the jet speed runs and explosions of notes contrasted to and intertwined with the similar eruptions from Elvin Jones' drums ('sometimes he's too much for me!' John has said of Elvin); he is heard in reflective moments, in intense moments and in lyric moments. In fact, almost all the facets of Coltrane are displayed here, including his ventures into the language of the soprano saxophone." -- Ralph J. Gleason

Joseph Spence - Bahaman Guitarist LP (Mississippi Records) [MR046LP] $14.00
"Reissue of the Arhoolie LP recorded in 1971. Joseph Spence was a highly original guitarist and vocalist from the Bahamas. His music is hard to describe - extreme guitar runs with joyful vocalese rambled along with it. This album includes hits such as 'Out On The Rolling Sea' and 'Sloop John B.' One of our favorite LPs of all time. Silk screened cover glued over a hand manufactured Folkways style cover."

Kenny Dorham - Trompeta Toccata LP (Blue Note) [BN4181LP] $11.00
Exact repro reissue, originally released in 1964. "It seems strange and somewhat tragic that this was trumpeter Kenny Dorham's last full album as a leader for he was only 40 at the time and still in his prime. Dorham contributed three of the four selections to the session (Joe Henderson's catchy 'Mamacita' also receives its debut), and his very underrated abilities as a writer, trumpeter, and talent scout are very much in evidence. This modern hard bop quintet set with Henderson on tenor, pianist Tommy Flanagan, bassist Richard Davis, and drummer Albert 'Tootie' Heath served as a strong (if premature) ending to Dorham's impressive career as a solo artist." -- All Music Guide

Lee Morgan - The Cooker LP (Blue Note) [BN1578LP] $11.00
Exact repro reissue, originally released in 1957. Featuring Lee Morgan (trumpet), Pepper Adams (baritone sax), Bobby Timmons (piano), Paul Chambers (bass) and "Philly" Joe Jones (drums). "The trumpeter, then just 19, teams up with baritonist Pepper Adams, pianist Bobby Timmons, bassist Paul Chambers and drummer Philly Joe Jones for a particularly strong set that is highlighted by a lengthy and fiery 'Night in Tunisia,' 'Lover Man' and a rapid rendition of 'Just One of Those Things.' Morgan plays remarkably well for his age (already ranking just below Dizzy Gillespie and Miles Davis), making this an essential acquisition." -- All Music Guide

Love - Love Lost 2xLP (Sundazed) [SC5281LP] $32.00
"Arthur Lee's seminal work as leader of the '60s band Love is treasured by discerning rock fans around the world. Lee's status as one of his era's preeminent musical cult heroes has grown immensely in recent years, leading to generations of new fans rediscovering the artist's remarkable catalog. Unfortunately, Lee and the band's body of available recordings is relatively small, making Sundazed Music's release of a previously-unheard full-length vintage Arthur Lee and Love album a major musical event. Love Lost was recorded in 1971, during a brief, little-known period during which Love was signed to Columbia Records. Lee and the then-current Love lineup -- bassist Frank Fayad, guitarist Craig Tarwater and drummer Don Poncher -- recorded an album's worth of new material for the label. But after the band left the company, the recordings sat unreleased and unheard until now. The material on Love Lost -- comprised of the unreleased Columbia sessions, plus five unreleased acoustic demos from the same period -- captures Love in a transitional phase, charting the next step in Lee's idiosyncratic musical trajectory, following the lush garage-psychedelia of the classics Da Capo and Forever Changes, and the bluesier direction of the hard-rocking False Start and Out Here. Many of the songs included on Love Lost would resurface, often in radically different form, on subsequent Love releases, and on Lee's fabled solo album Vindicator. But the original versions included on Love Lost boast a playful looseness that's absent from most of Lee's later work, as well as a raw, edgy urgency that underlines his credentials as an early progenitor of punk-rock attitude. Love Lost also features three songs -- 'For a Day,' 'Trippin' & Slippin'' and 'C.F.I. Instrumental' -- that have not previously been released, in any form. With a treasure trove of vintage Love music that has never before been heard by fans, Love Lost is a major addition to Arthur Lee and Love's body of work, and its release is a major event for Lee's fervent fan base."

Max Roach - Percussion Bitter Sweet LP (Universal) [IMP008HLP] $14.00
Gatefold 180 gram vinyl reissue, licensed through Universal. Originally released in 1961. "Percussion Bitter Sweet was done over a series of dates in August 1961 and featured Max with his regular band. Trumpeter and virtuoso player, Booker Little was only two months away from his untimely passing at 23 from uremia (a kidney ailment), and he is inspired on this date as are tenor saxophonist Clifford Jordan, trombonist Julian Priester, and especially multi-instrumentalist Eric Dolphy. Mal Waldron is on piano with the excellent Art Davis on bass and the band is augmented by several percussionists on some tracks, including the legendary 'Patato' Valdes. There are two passionate vocals by Abbey Lincoln added to the mix. All the compositions and arrangements are by Mr. Roach." -- Vancouver Jazz

Mazzy Star - She Hangs Brightly LP (Plain Recordings) [PLAIN117LP] $16.50
"Mazzy Star, essentially the duo of David Roback (Rain Parade) and Hope Sandoval, formed in 1989 out of the ashes of Opal, Roback's previous band with former Dream Syndicate member Kendra Smith. She Hangs Brightly, their debut album was originally released on Rough Trade in 1990. A dreamy, psychedelic affair every bit as good as their sophomore breakout LP."

Michael Hurley - Parsnip Snips LP (Mississippi Records) [MR044LP] $12.75
"Originally released in 1997 in Germany in a press size of 500. These original copies were seized by the government shortly after the record's release. Only 150 or so were sold before the seizing, but since then copies have leaked out of whatever dank German bureaucratic basement they were relegated to. Still, a very hard record to find for years, now back in print. Our current reissue was re-mastered from the original tapes and has superior sound quality to the original. Culled from Michael's unreleased output between his First songs LP from 1964 and Armchair Boogie in 1972. All tracks feature just Michael and guitar. Absolutely beautiful folk music by the singular Snock - in our opinion, one of the greatest singer/songwriters of all time."

Mick Softley - Songs For Swinging Survivors LP (Vinyl Lovers) [900779] $21.75
One of the most collectible British folk albums of the 1960s, MICK SOFTLEY was a true folksinger in the vein of Bob Dylan, as he so deftly proved by his first album Songs For Swinging Survivors, released in 1965. A huge influence on the more famous Donovan, Softley's beautiful voice and guitar playing is captured here in all its glory. Impeccable versions of Billie Holiday's "Strange Fruit" and Woody Guthrie's "Plains Of The Buffalo" complete Softley's gem, an absolute must for folk afficianados and a nice surprise for the newcomers.

Modern Lovers - Modern Lovers LP (4 Men With Beards) [4M523] $16.00
Originally released on the Beserkley label in 1976 (though most of the material was recorded in 1973), The Modern Lovers is a universally accepted proto-punk classic. It's an album that bridges the gap between The Velvet Underground, a band whom leader JONATHAN RICHMAN was obsessed with, and the first wave of punk rock. While also displaying the goofy wit that would later be Richman's signature, The Modern Lovers is equal parts geeky, emotional, angst driven, life affirming, and, from start to finish, absolutely brilliant.

Rhino 39/Black Randy and the Metrosquad - Night In Watts/I Wanna Be A Nark 7 inch (Artifix) [SPR027EP] $5.75
Rhino 39 - Night In Watts: Original out-take recorded and mixed in 1979 from Dangerhouse EP session. Black Randy and the Metrosquad - I Wanna Be A Nark: Original Dangerhouse recording from 1978 Idi Amin EP session. Alternate/unissued take mixed August 2007.

Shirley Collins - False True Lovers LP (Vinyl Lovers) [900762] $21.75
One of the key voices in British folk, False True Lovers was SHIRLEY COLLINS' debut album, recorded in 1959 for Smithsonian Folkways when Collins (who had just spent time collecting field recordings with the legendary Alan Lomax all around the American South) was just 23. This album, a collection of a cappella British and Irish folk songs helped paved the way for the British folk revival of the 1960s, when Collins, by this time married to Ashley Hutchings, helped introduce bands like Pentangle, Fairport Convention and Steeleye Span to more traditional fare. A masterpiece of the genre!

Thee Undertakers - L.A. Muerte 7 inch (Artifix) [SPR022EP] $5.75
"Thee Undertakers, from East Los Angeles, first started practicing during mid-1977. They decided early on not to go for the 'leather or New Wave look' and would instead wear black suits on stage to emulate their namesake. By 1978 they found Art, who became their singer. In 1979, the band hooked up with Willie Heron, from Los Illegals, who helped the band get on many bills at the Vex and other East L.A. clubs that would host punk shows. The band played heavily during 1979 through 1982 and played at clubs like the Vex, Starwood, Hong Kong Cafe, and the Whiskey to name a few. The band opened for many bands including D.O.A., Alleycats, Plugz, Gears, Flesheaters, Suburban Lawns, and others. Thee Undertakers recorded their first demo in 1980 and returned to the studio in 1981 to record what was to be their first LP. The band was going to have their LP released through Tito Larriva's Fatima Records label (who released Plugz LP and The Brat EP), but after a falling out between Tito and the band, the record never materialized and sat in the can for twenty years. Artifix Records release contains previously unreleased vintage material from this amazing band. Our EP features live tracks recorded at the Hong Kong Cafe in 1980, and some studio demos that made up their last recordings from 1982."

Thorr's Hammer - Dommedagsnatt LP (Southern Lord) [SUNN1] $16.75
NOW AVAILABLE ON VINYL!!! In 1988 STEPHEN O'MALLEY (BURNING WITCH, SUNN 0))), KHANATE, LOTUS EATER) and GREG ANDERSON (SUNN 0))), GOATSNAKE) hooked up with Scandinavian doom goddess RUNHILD GAMMELSAETER and formed THORR'S HAMMER, a brutal, nihilistic doom metal band that would not only spawn hundreds of other equally brutal acts but also the Southern Lord Record Label itself. An that's some ancient shit, brah.

Various Artists - Black Dynamite (Motion Picture Soundtrack) LP (Wax Poetics) [WPR008LP] $19.00
"Music supervisor David Hollander handpicked each track and cue from the vast reservoir of 1970s British library music, originally created for film and television. Maestros Alan Hawkshaw, Brian Bennett, and Johnny Pearson lay down exquisite and precise funk, but the bulk of the material comes from Alan Tew's celebrated Drama Suite series (as heard on The Hanged Man and The People's Court). Wax Poetics Records presents an authentic package with original artwork by Maceo Leatherwood."

Wayne Shorter - Speak No Evil LP (Blue Note) [BN4194LP] $11.00
Exact repro reissue, originally released in 1964. "On his third date for Blue Note within a year, Wayne Shorter changed the bands that played on both Night Dreamer and Juju and came up with not only another winner, but also managed to give critics and jazz fans a different look at him as a saxophonist. Because of his previous associations with McCoy Tyner, Elvin Jones, and Reggie Workman on those recordings, Shorter had been unfairly branded with the 'just-another-Coltrane-disciple' tag, despite his highly original and unusual compositions. Here, with only Jones remaining and his bandmates from the Miles Davis Quintet, Herbie Hancock and Ron Carter on board (with Freddie Hubbard filling out the horn section), Shorter at last came into his own and caused a major reappraisal of his earlier work. The odd harmonic frameworks used to erect 'Fee-Fi-Fo-Fum,' with its balladic structure augmented with a bluesy regimen of hard bop and open-toned modalism, create the illusion of a much larger band managing all that timbral space. Likewise on the title track, with its post-bop-oriented melodic line strewn across a wide chromatic palette of minors and Hancock's piano pushing through a contrapuntal set of semi-quavers, the avant-garde meets the hard bop of the '50s head on and everybody wins. The loping lyric of the horns and Hancock's vamping in the middle section during Shorter's solo reveals a broad sense of humor in the saxophonist's linguistics and a deep, more regimented sense of time and thematic coloration. The set ends with the beautiful 'Wild Flower,' a lilting ballad with angular accents by Hancock who takes the lyric and inverts it, finding a chromatic counterpoint that segues into the front line instead of playing in opposition. The swing is gentle but pronounced and full of Shorter's singular lyricism as a saxophonist as well as a composer." -- All Music Guide

Young Marble Giants - Live At The Hurrah LP (Get Back) [GET702] $21.75
Although the YOUNG MARBLE GIANTS, a trio formed in Cardiff, Wales in 1979, are forever emblazoned on the mind and hearts of every post-punk rocker since their classic debut Colossal Youth was released on Rough Trade in 1980, they sadly were only around long enough to record that one seminal album. This full length live LP is therefore, a welcome event for all YMG fans around the globe. Recorded at NYC's Hurrah Club during their one legendary US tour in 1980, it captures that moment in time when the YMG ruled the independent charts. Their only full-length live recording is now available for the first time ever on vinyl.