Other Music New Release Update
November 14, 2001

In This Week's Update:

"Nigeria '70" comp.
Antipop Consortium EP
Rhythm & Sound
Velvet Crush (2) reissues
Lightning Bolt reissue
Royksopp
Miss Kittin & The Hacker
Dntel
Monolake
Flanger
Strokes singles (2)
Ultra Chicks Vol. 6 comp.
Rae & Christian mix
Coti
The Rip-Off Artist
"Hotel Costes Quatre" comp.

Just In:

Badawi
"Hi-Fidelity Dub Sessions Vol. 3" comp.
Volcano the Bear
Current 93 tour EP
Baby Dee tour EP
Faust BBC Sessions
Radiohead live
Swollen Members

Restocks:

Zero 7 domestic
Avalanches domestic
"Downtown 81" soundtrack


Featured New Releases:

[V/A] "Nigeria 70" (AfroStrut, UK) CD $19.99
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An Afro-funk compilation in which tracks from other Nigerian
artists can make even Fela look dull? Unbelievable! 2 CDs plus one
audio CD documentary make up this package, rounded out by
extensive liner notes. The choicest, rarest Afro-funk from Lagos and
nearby, from the wild psychedelic rock of Ofo The Black Company to
Joni Haastrup's incredible, moody vocal style (RA above), from
classic artists like Sir Victor Uwaifo, Fela (natch), Sunny Ade, and
the Lijadu Sisters to total catalog unknowns: Bongos Ikwue, The
Funkees, Gasper Lawal. A great deal and on my Top 10 list
already. [RE]
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ANTIPOP CONSORTIUM "The Ends Against the Middle" (Warp) CD EP/12" $7.99/$7.99
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New EP from the Consortium -- short, but 16 minutes, but packed
full of styles: hardly one song is anything like the next, 7 total.
This group really has an equality that many don't. Even the
production duties are split three ways, with M. Sayid making
large, raggedly epic works, Priest's more detailed, Beans
creatively drawing in disco/electro sounds. It's great to hear not
just the three voices, but three different aesthetics in the
service of something so collectively incisive. [RE]
CD //perl-bin/OM/CD_Add_To_Cart.cgi?sku=80106191542&refer_url=email
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RHYTHM & SOUND "s/t" (Basic Channel, Germany) CD $15.99
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Dub music is like a long echo delay, looping through time.
Regenerating every few years, sometimes so quiet that only a
disciple could hear, sometimes shatteringly loud, dub unpicks
music in the commercial sphere. Dub spreads out a song or a groove
over a vast landscape of peaks and deep trenches, extends hooks
and beats to a vanishing point, creates new maps: sound sculpture,
sacred sites, balm and shock for the mind, body, and spirit. Mark
Ernestus & Moritz von Oswald harness this adeptly. Early
adventures on black wax as Chain Reaction and Maurizio only hinted
at their adoration for '70s Jamaican music. Operating out of the
tiny Hard Wax record store in Berlin, these two artists understood
that dub is the secret hiding behind every dance record since the
marvelous days of disco. Though The Clash, The Slits, and Mark
Stewart understood dub, you might say their U.S. equivalents (and
heirs) missed the last train out of Babylon. The ten Rhythm &
Sound 12" singles were released over a four-year period, the most
recent arriving not even a month ago. They are the most
shattering, important dance records of the last half of the 20th
century, coveted by house DJs, the dubwise, and experimental
electronic music enthusiasts. I don't mean that lightly. The
trembling beauty of  'Mango Drive' (based on an obscure single
on the Bullwackie's label) is nearly impossible to describe. The
bassline plunges a thousand feet into a fearsome echo chamber,
and the shredded synth chords are attenuated, then left adrift in
the thin, icy air which is always blowing outside each track. The
minor-key chord changes lend a melancholic strain to the ten
tracks here, which you should have in your CD player by week's
end. [TH]
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VELVET CRUSH "In the Presence of Greatness" (Action Musik) CD $13.99
VELVET CRUSH "A Single Odessey" (Action Musik) CD $13.99
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One of the best fuzzed-out pop albums of the '90s is finally back
in print. Velvet Crush's 1991 debut "In the Presence of Greatness"
is a stone-cold classic of blue-eyed soul, as great as anything
from Teenage Fanclub. The bands were pals, and Fanclub's Norman
Blake was responsible for bringing Velvet Crush to the ears of
Creation Records founder Alan McGee. (Creation released the album
in the UK.) "Presence" has no filler whatsoever, 10 stunners
produced and recorded by Matthew Sweet on an old 8-track, with a
sound that makes many a step forward in recording technology seem
like a step backwards. Sweet also plays totally hot and creative
lead guitar throughout, bringing to mind pyrotechnics luminaries
such as Robert Quine and Richard Lloyd. Yet Sweet's contribution,
as important as it is, is really just gravy.  Paul Chastain, Ric
Menck and Jeffery Underhill wrote such fantastic songs and
performed them so passionately that they could not help but make
a timeless album. It sounds as great now as it did the first time I
heard it (the day it came out!), and I'm sure it will sound just
as great ten years from now. This reissue adds three bonus tracks
including covers of the Modern Lovers' 'She Cracked' and Teenage
Fanclub's  'Everything Flows'. These bonus tracks are also
included on "A Single Odessey" (yes, that's the Zombies' famous
misspelling). Much of "Odessey" is as essential as "In the
Presence of Greatness". The first four singles show that the band
had an excess of incredible material. Students of classic pop,
they often played covers in their live sets. They generously
recorded many of them, but only on the singles, which have since
become quite rare. This compilation includes a Byrdsy trilogy
consisting of Gene Clark's 'Elevator Operator', Roger
McGuinn's 'Mr. Spaceman', and Gram Parson's 'One Hundred Years
From Now.' Much of the mid '90s material was lovingly produced
(and guitar-played) by Mitch Easter, who picked up where Matthew
Sweet left off. One final note: Ric Menck is one of the best rock
drummers ever, right up there with Ringo, Levon, Hubley: you name
one, Menck's equal. [CO]
"In the Presence of Greatness"
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"A Single Odessey"
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LIGHTNING BOLT "s/t" (Load) CD $11.99
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Back in 1997, if you had mentioned to Lightning Bolt that spreads
on their work would appear in classy magazines like The Wire and
Nest, Brian Gibson and Brian Chippendale would probably have had
no idea what you were talking about. When the band recorded their
self-titled first album four years ago, nobody outside of a 20-
mile radius of Providence, RI had ever heard of them, and critical
acclaim/press attention was hardly part of the equation. But a lot
has changed since then. Last year, with their official HQ, that
epicenter of artistic activity known as Fort Thunder, on the brink
of destruction at the hands of an almost comically dubious strip
mall development team, Lightning Bolt stumbled into the spotlight.
By now, the unique brand of insane jams immortalized on
their "Ride the Skies" CD/LP has captivated a devoted new audience
and sealed the band's place in the history of obscure rock. Their
long out-of-print debut captures the improvisational roots of the
band's irrepressable sense of abandon and freedom. One of the
bonus tracks even features Chippendale freestyling through his
patented mask-mic! Although the hyper-paced drum rattle so crucial
to the Lightning Bolt sound is not fully developed yet, it's clear
that the duo were well on their way to claiming their title of the
loudest, fastest band on Earth. A full-blown sonic assault is
unleashed on the auditory senses of all who venture near. Yet the
primary emotion expressed by their music is not anger, but awe;
the frenzied pounding and screeching is relentless, like grabbing
onto some wild animal and staring at it in a ridiculous trance--
note the multiple references to "the zone" in the song titles. For
those who think that incredibly loud music is for the drunk, the
art school drop-outs, and the stupid, be prepared to humble
yourself in the presence of a band that doesn't know the meaning
of the word pretense. "Lightning Bolt" is the first chapter in a
Cinderella story of deranged optimism. [SB]
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ROYKSOPP "Melody A.M." (Wall of Sound, UK) CD $22.99
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A fascinating record that wants the same audience as trip-hop, but
goes about reaching that goal sideways. The album is a carousel of
placed overtones, bundled with vocals sometimes (guests include
fellow Norwegians Erlend Oye [from Kings of Convenience] and
Anneli Drecker). The duo of Svein Berge and Torbjorn Brundtland
make popular easy listening music, but music that invigorates: a
stylishly executed, coolly confident assemblage that's quite down-
to-earth. They have moments like Saint Etienne in that there's a
certain strain of soulful romanticized pop here, travelling and
infectious, but more abstract; they even include one track of
cracked electro. "Melody A.M." has a piggyback patchwork of
sources (including Peter Thomas and Bacharach), solidly welded.
These guys should produce Sade's next album -- that's a high
compliment. [RE]
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MISS KITTIN & THE HACKER "First Album" (Int'l DJ Gigolo, Germany) CD $15.99
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The Berlin DJ, flaneur, and lounge lizard Miss Kittin moves in all
the right circles, club-hopping her life away in an endless spiral
of hedonism which somehow never involves a day job. Grenoble's
electro wizard The Hacker has been releasing belting tracks for
the past four years, the best known of which is his Duran Duran
homage, the "Girls on Film" EP. The two are a perfect match and
it's no surprise that this is the most hotly anticipated DJ Gigolo
album this year. The wonderful 'Frank Sinatra', from their first
EP, sees Miss Kittin singing about "sniffing in the VIP area,
talking about trendy furniture / Every night with my famous
friends / we have sex in limousines". But her tone is completely
affectless, which is what makes this album so ingenious. Like
Kittin's romp with Felix Da Housecat, her lyrics not only parody
the emptiness of Euro club life, but also satirize the musical
genres that celebrate that way of life. The Hacker has never
sounded better. His lean, dry, synth chords are defrosted to room
temperature and thus radiate a kind of warmth that acts as a
perfect counterpoint to the emotionless vocals of Kittin. '1982'
and 'Stock Exchange' are perhaps the most perfect pop moments
here, with a killer hook and vocals that make oblique reference to
synth-pop pioneers Visage. There's a strain of nostalgia running
through the 14 songs here, almost despite the artists' best
intentions. It's as if the excesses of the '80s made cyborgs of
Kittin & The Hacker, and they're struggling to return to the
present moment. In doing so, they've made an electro masterpiece
which retains DJ Hell's retro-futurist vision, realized almost a
little too perfectly. [TH]
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DNTEL "Life is Full of Possibilities" (Plug Research) CD $15.99
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Yet another pastoral techno offering for those cold wintry nights
inside. Yet this record is a bit different than others in this
rapidly-growing sub-genre of electronic music. Boasting guest
vocals from Mia Doi Todd, Brian McMahan (Slint), Rachel Haden and
others, DNTEL uses vocals as a textural tool within the songs.
You'll hear time-stretched vocal distortions, manipulated acoustic
guitar, and accordion combined with the pretty keyboard washes and
clicky beats: the combination providing an icy tension that feels
like a sudden gust of cold air to the face. I've waited for a
while for someone to explore the dichotomy between organic and
electronic extremes in a sophisticated way; that eventuality is
here and it's worth the wait. If you've appreciated the melancholy
of Boards of Canada, Lali Puna and the like, but want a little
bitter mixed with the sweet, check this out. One of the best
electronic albums I've heard this year. [DH]
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MONOLAKE "Cinemascope" (Imbalance, Germany) CD $15.99
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It would not be in the least bit inappropriate to say that
"Cinemascope" is Robert Henke's finest accomplishment to
date. Certainly, "Hong Kong" is a close second, but this record
sees him exploring terra incognita, keeping a low-slung groove
beneath your feet (though one gets the sensation that he need
only push one button and pull the rug out from under you).
'Bicom' utilizes Mac voices, uttering phrases and sentences that
are virtually indecipherable, while a warm, rounded kick-drum rolls
around in the mix, and gurgling, sinking metal pellets travel by
you in surreal slo-mo. Henke explicitly stated that this record
was not the soundtrack to a movie never made, the usual cliche one
hears about music with this atmospheric density, but rather that
it possesses its own visual dimension. And though this may sound
like a rather bold claim, it is borne out in the narrative
structure of the tracks: 'Bicom', 'Remoteable', and 'Cut' and
their explicitly visual elements form a cinematic triptych.
On 'Ionized' and the nearly bouncing 'Remoteable', Henke moves
closer to the dancefloor, with a sharpened, then softened kick.
Overall, the cinematic conceit works well not because Henke
intended it, but because the scopic regimes he had in mind are
built into the custom software he created to make his music. This
is music tuned to near-perfection, and it retains a human warmth
that is impossible to resist. [TH]
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FLANGER "Outer Space/Inner Space" (Ninja Tune, Canada) CD/2xLP  $14.99/$15.99
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Probably the most serious record that Atom Heart (Uwe Schmidt)'s
been involved with yet. Flanger are the duo of Schmidt and Bernd
(Burnt) Friedman, and this, their third CD, takes on an
unprecedented graciousness, in that it's nearly a tribute to the
excellent jazz fusion work of Marc Moulin or the simpler side of
early Herbie Hancock. Of course, they don't abandon impishness
entirely, and stop every so often to sprinkle goof lint on the
proceedings (like the track in which the percussion [live], starts
hiccuping digitally near the end). With a swarm of guest musicians
from Chile, Denmark and Germany, Atom & Friedman are the
producers, the conductors, shaping the groovy jazz and turning it
into squiggles, balling it up in wads sometimes. I love the dumb
Photoshop cover where they've placed Atom and Friedman's faces
into spacesuit masks -- Atom with mustache, Friedman looking
conspicuously worried. [RE]
CD //perl-bin/OM/CD_Add_To_Cart.cgi?sku=62597810612&refer_url=email
LP //perl-bin/OM/CD_Add_To_Cart.cgi?sku=502139224318&refer_url=email

STROKES "Last Nite Pt. 1" (Rough Trade, UK) CD single $9.99
STROKES "Last Nite Pt. 2" (Rough Trade, UK) CD single $9.99
Can't get enough of the Strokes? The world's hottest new band
have just released two new British singles featuring their bona fide
smash, 'Last Night.' The first one includes the album version of
their hit as well as 'When It Started,' the song the group
replaced 'New York City Cops' with following September's tragic
World Trade Center attack. (Up until now, this track was only
available on the U.S. pressing of "Is This It.") The second
single, "The Village Sessions," is ltd. edition and includes new
versions of 'Last Nite,' 'Take It Or Leave It' and 'Trying Your
Luck,' all recorded live at Village Studio for KCRW in Los
Angeles. Super cool artwork too! [GH]
"Last Nite Pt. 1"
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"Last Nite Pt. 2"
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[V/A] "Ultra Chicks Vol. 6: Vous Dansez Mademoiselle" (Ultra Chicks) CD $13.99
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Sixth volume in the enduringly popular series of (mostly) lesser-
known female French pop stars from the 1960s. Includes tracks from
France Gall, Chantal Kelly, Annie Phillips, Maryrene, Liz Brady,
Caterine Cassell, Cleo, Dani, and Sandy Shaw among many others.
24 songs in all.
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[V/A] "Another Late Night: Rae & Christian" (Kinetic/Reprise) CD  $15.99
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In the heated battle for chic shop DJ, Rae & Christian have thrown
down the Fendi handbag of mixes. Their "Late Night" is not nearly
as eclectic as Fila Brazilia's [Beta Band, Marvin Gaye, Eno] nor
as daring as Howie B's [Undisputed Truth, Mos Def, Gong!] but
R&C's "Another Late Night" is clearly where the fire's at. The
Manchester duo carves a familiar groove of euro-chic, scuffled
swing and latinized drumkit funk appropriate for sample sales
around the world. In the mix: cuts found in Vienna and Copenhagen,
DJ Babu with the Last Emperor, labels like Soma and Nuphonic,
and the opening break cut from the Urban Revolutions compilation.
Required listening for any fans of Mr. Scruff, the Wall Of Sound
crew and the Pharcyde, or whoever programs the music at H&M.
[DD]
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COTI "Metamemoria" (Vibrant, Germany) CD $15.99
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This Greek artist places a high value on, well, subtlety. It's an
admirable trait, and makes his music nearly unclassifiable,
nestled between the rhythmic, atmospheric antique musique concrete
of Pierre Schaefer, ambient music (cf: anyone), glimmering
electronica (Delay, et al). He works field recordings deep into
his electronic music, using street scenery as a structural base,
an element that supports like the concrete underlayment on a
freeway. It's a deep record, but isn't without some funky
loveliness (see the second RA track above) in which he can fashion
a complex groove that's reminiscent of a German town-square clock
carillion/automata gone awry. Extry guests Blaine Reininger and
Fluxion. I don't expect anyone to grasp this album in one listen --
I'm on my third time through it and there are still more
techniques and juxtapositions to discover. [RE]
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THE RIP-OFF ARTIST "Pump" (Mille Plateaux, Germany) CD $15.99
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M. Haines is the Rip-Off Artist. His first album was on Stock,
Hausen and Walkman's label Hot Air, this could be as well. It's
got that SH&W irreverence. Haines himself is a chronic liar. Okay,
chronic bio-doctorer--he releases new bios all the time and each
has a story taller than the last. Yet these stories do inform
their respective albums. This one refers to his experiences
working on an offshore oil-drilling rig. The isolation and
constant mechanical presence inspired this album, one that draws
on the sensuality of this kind of machinery (drilling, pumping,
plunging, sucking)...Haines uses lots of slurpy noises (chopped to
bits, of course, Cologne-style), with some bleepy bubbly thick
blurps and even something that sounds like he's fucking with
R2D2's head (and no, not other parts!). Indexed into 69 tiny
tracks, it's a continuous mix of miniatures, where it seems like
every time he changes something in the mix he gives a new index
point. [RE]
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[V/A] "Hotel Costes Quatre: Mixed by Stephane Pompougnac" (Pschent, France) CD $19.99
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Ah, the Hotel Costes, the place where clubbers check in when
they need to chill out. This collection, the fourth in the series,
is again mixed by Stephane Pompougnac -- the resident DJ
who's downtempo take on European house has become an
international sensation. This volume includes tracks from
Thunderball, Scott Grooves, Doctor Rockit, Shantel, Pompougnac
himself, and the red-hot Gotan Project among many others. [TC]
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Just In:

BADAWI "Soldier of Midian" (Roir) CD $13.99
New from Raz Mesinai. Full review next week.
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[V/A] "Hi-Fidelity Dub Sessions Vol. 3" (Guidance) CD $15.99
The third volume in a compilation series in which the artists
involved are inspired by rustic dub. Full review next week.
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VOLCANO THE BEAR "Five Hundred Boy Piano" (Durtro, UK) CD $16.99
Does title refer to "5,000 Fingers of Dr. T"? Find out next week.
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CURRENT 93 "Some Soft Black Stars Seen Over London" (Durtro, UK) CD EP $12.99
7 tracks, 26 minutes. All material from the "Soft Black Stars"
album recorded this year at the Bloomsbury Theatre in London.
Antony (of 'and the Johnsons') guests.
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BABY DEE "Look What the Wind Blew In" (Durtro, UK) CD EP $8.99
Four songs, 15 minutes; originally to be for sale only at the
(sigh, cancelled) NYC September-planned shows. Now available to
anyone instead, though quite limited.
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FAUST "BBC Sessions" (Recommended, UK) CD $15.99
The one CD in the Faust box that wasn't available individually. 20
minutes live on the John Peel show from 1973, plus 30 minutes
culled from "The Last LP" and "Munic and Elsewhere."
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RADIOHEAD "I Might Be Wrong" (Capitol) CD $13.99
A live album, but with tracks culled from a number of different
concerts, rather than just one. Excellent, diverse sound, with the
songs markedly different from the studio versions. 8 songs, mostly
from "Kid A" and "Amnesiac".
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SWOLLEN MEMBERS "Bad Dreams" (Battle Axe) CD/LP $15.99/$15.99
New album from this duo; includes DJ Babu on a few trax. Tight
rhymes.
CD //perl-bin/OM/CD_Add_To_Cart.cgi?sku=80086710092&refer_url=email
LP //perl-bin/OM/CD_Add_To_Cart.cgi?sku=80086710091&refer_url=email

Restocks:

ZERO 7 "Simple Things" (Palm Pictures) CD $11.99
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Here is the debut full-length that is making the likes of Gilles
Peterson, Ross Allen, every British glossy and newsprint music
rag, and the rest of the world foam at the mouth. Zero 7 are
touted as the "British Air", with lush orchestral arrangements,
downtempo beats, more soulful vocals, and a certain fondness for
obscure psychedelic Italian soundtracks and David Axelrod. This
brilliant LP propels these Brits into a league with Air, Kruder
and Dorfmeister, and Thievery Corporation. Make 2001 "the year of
downtempo." Don't just believe me, listen for yourself. Essential!
[JS]
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AVALANCHES "Since I Left You" (Sire) CD $11.99
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Avalanches are six musicians -- including two turntablists, one of
whom is Dexter Fabay (DJ Dexter, who took second place at last
years DMC world competition). "Since I Left You" has the heavy,
powerful atmosphere of some of the best hip-hop producers
(Outkast, Timbaland), lifted by a creative use of samples and pop
rivaling Cornelius and Fantastic Plastic Machine. They are a cut-
and-paste group, yet not a seam shows. They use early '70s soul
and pop samples (even the Osmonds and Barry Manilow), stripped of
cheese. "Since I Left You" is a continuous mix (also tracked as
songs): music that is playful that refers to music of the past but
works it into something really modern, music that makes your
apartment a discotheque the instant you put it on. Now at a quite
reasonable domestic price. As of November 14, still my album of
the year.... [RE]
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[V/A] "Downtown 81 Soundtrack" (Virgin, France) CD $13.99
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NYC in 1981 was the locus of some major musical changes and shifts
-- with new genres rolling out seemingly monthly, they got all mixed
up with existing styles and the music of the city became something
exciting, unpredictable. It was a time when punk swiped from hip-
hop and vice versa, when new wave and disco were heard on the same
dancefloor and no one thought it odd. Latin music trickled down
from the north end of the island, ska came across not one but two
seas, and no-wave had a second birthday party. The movie "Downtown
81" followed Jean-Michel Basquiat around the city in a (somewhat)
invented scenario that paralleled his own life, into clubs where
Japan's Plastics, Kid Creole, and James White played. [RE]
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This week's contributors:
Sandra Barrett [SB], Tom Capodanno [TC], David Day [DD], Robin
Edgerton [RE], Gerald Hammill [GH], Duane Harriott [DH], Tim
Haslett [TH], Chris O'Rourke [CO], Jeremy Sponder [JS].


The Big Picture:

To see a complete list of Other Music new releases for the
week ending November 13, 2001, use this link as a shortcut:
//13november2001.html

To see a list of new releases from previous weeks:
//newreleases.html

To see new release updates from previous weeks:
//updates.html

To order any of the items you see on these pages simply click
the links following each review or visit our Web site at
/

Phone orders are accepted at (212) 477-8150 (ext. #2, mailorder).

For general inquiries or other information, please email
"sales@othermusic.com". Do not reply to this message.

Thanks for reading.
-all of us at Other Music

Other Music NYC
15 E. 4th Street
New York, NY 10003
212.477.8150

Other Music Harvard Square
90 Winthrop Street
Cambridge, MA 02138
617.491.4419
cambridge@othermusic.com