October 19, 2006  
       
   
 
 


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PRE-ORDER DELUXE EDITION OF PAVEMENT'S WOWEE ZOWEE
Wow Out! Pre-order Pavement's Wowee Zowee: Sordid Sentinels Edition and receive a super limited 7", a poster with original artwork by Steve Keene, and access to download a rare, live set from the band. Visit our Web site's News Section for complete information.



OTHER MUSIC EBAY AUCTION
A smaller eBay auction this week but no shortage of great titles. Other Music is auctioning off an International Artists 12-LP box set (featuring albums by 13th Floor Elevators, Red Krayola, Golden Dawn, Bubble Puppy etc.), rare Tom Waits LPs, a couple of issues of Sordide Sentimental, and more. Click here view the full listing.

 
   
       
   

 

 

     
 

FEATURED NEW RELEASES
Mahogany
Bert Jansch
Yoshio Machida
Folke Rabe
Peter, Bjorn & John
White Mice
Sisters Love
Squarepusher
Charter Oak
Hu Vibrational
Gilberto Gil
The Wipers
Ike Reiko
Kuwabara Yukiko
Taguchi Kumi
Tani Naomi

 


Kindermusik: Improvised Music by Babies
Badly Drawn Boy

ALSO AVAILABLE
Revl9n (Just In!!)
Derek Bailey & Cyro Baptista
Imitation Electric Piano
Fat Jon & Styrofoam
Thunderball
Kid Koala
Goldfrapp
Jeremy Enigk
The Klaxons

COMPLETE LIST OF THIS WEEK'S NEW ARRIVALS

 
         
   
   
   
   
   
       
   
 
 



 

WIN PASSES FOR A SHOWING OF AGUIRRE, THE WRATH OF GOD
Other Music is giving away four pairs of passes good for any of the upcoming showings of Aguirre, The Wrath of God (in a new 35mm print) at the Film Forum. Released in 1972, this film introduced the world to the legendary director-actor team of Werner Herzog and Klaus Kinski, with an original soundtrack by Popol Vuh. To enter, e-mail giveaway@othermusic.com, and please leave a daytime phone number where you can be reached. The four winners will be notified by noon on Friday, October 20th.

OCTOBER 20 - 25 & OCTOBER 30- 31
Showtimes: 1:30, 3:30, 5:30, 7:30 and 9:30
FILM FORUM: 209 W. Houston Street NYC

 
   
   
 
 
OCT Sun 22 Mon 23 Tues 24 Wed 25 Thurs 26 Fri 27 Sat 28




 

TICKET GIVE-AWAY TO SEE GOTAN PROJECT
Win a pair of tickets to see Gotan Project's upcoming show in NYC at Webster Hall, next Wednesday, October 25th. To enter, send an e-mail to contest@othermusic.com, and please leave a daytime number where you can be reached. The two winners (one pair each) will be notified by noon on Monday, October 23rd.

WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 25th
WEBSTER HALL: 125 E. 11th Street NYC
$30 Tickets Available at Other Music

 
   
   
 
 
OCT Sun 22 Mon 23 Tues 24 Wed 25 Thurs 26 Fri 27 Sat 28



 

WIN TICKETS TO SEE LOVE IS ALL
Sweden's Love Is All will be returning to NYC on October 27th for two shows at the Knitting Factory with caUSE co-MOTION! We've got two pairs of tickets to give away, good for either of that evening's performances. Enter by e-mailing tickets@othermusic.com. Make sure to leave a daytime phone number where you can be reached. The two winners will be notified by noon on Monday, October 23rd.

FRIDAY, OCTOBER 27th (7:30 & 11:30 P.M.)
KNITTING FACTORY: 74 Leonard Street NYC

 
   
   
   
   
   
      
   

 

 

     
 

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MAHOGANY
Connectivity!
(Darla)

"Tesselation, Formerly Plateau One"
"The View from the People Wall"

With ears in the past, an eye on the future, and hindsight a perfect 20/20, Brooklyn's Mahogany steps out with Connectivity!, their second proper album in five years' time. The group plays a bracing, chilly, dream-pop, at once ethereal, motorik, and densely rhythmic -- rolling up shoegaze, light Goth pop, Phil Spector's wall of sound, Krautrock, and Factory-starched post-punk into a clean, pure white snowball, which is then never thrown. Buzzing with strings, electronic pulses, and crystalline guitar lines, then leavened by clear, angelic boy-girl vocals (all captured excellently by members of the band, with help from the Cocteau Twins' Robin Guthrie), Connectivity! weaves a perfectly distributed lattice in which its incipient pop tropes are generously dispersed. A fitting title for the album, the group here demonstrates methods by which they can link all of their influences within their circuitry of omnivorous songwriting style and careful, yet sure-footed arrangement. This is science pop for enlightened minds, lightly, gently, rapidly flashing before you. The two-disc set contains the full album, along with three remixes/re-recordings from those sessions (featuring guest contributions by both Robin and daughter Lucy Belle Guthrie) and three videos. [DM]

 
         
   
   

 

 

     
 

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BERT JANSCH
The Black Swan
(Drag City)

"When the Sun Comes Up"
"The Black Swan"

Bert Jansch is a master of interiors. Guilt. Longing. Despair. Ache. Shame. Time. And most of all, Regret. These are more than just mere themes for Jansch -- they're tools. And it's because of these tools that his solo music, along with his work with Pentangle, has aged far better than most of his contemporaries' "folk" sounds. Jansch's weighty guitar playing and round, gauzy vocal style always seems rooted in some honest personal sea change or moral crisis. Next to Jackson C. Frank (who unfortunately only made one album's worth of tunes), no other folkie mined the personal and made it universal quite like Jansch. Of course, it speaks volumes that the title of his most famous song, "Needle of Death," could almost be an Elliott Smith number. In fact, he was so far ahead of the curve, it's no wonder that four decades plus since his first work, Jansch's still managed to put out one of the best records of the year on one of the most lauded indie labels around, Drag City.

The Black Swan is trademark Bert Jansch. It's dark as f**k -- brooding, rootsy, smart. And even though it features a who's who of the contemporary "freak folk" scene (Devendra, Otto Hauser, Kevin Barker, Noah Georgeson), Beth Orton (who sings lead on a couple tunes) and Jansch's own son Adam playing keyboard on a few cuts, nobody steals the show from the man himself. All these years later, he's still writing more compelling tunes than any logic deems he ought to be. "High Days" may be one of his all time best numbers even, just Jansch, his acoustic, and a wistful, breathtaking melody. And while reminiscing about an old musician friend who's passed away, he remains as erudite and elegant as ever -- "Bring back those high days when we used to hang around / you'd play your guitar, but you never ever finished the song / Didn't matter then / And I guess it doesn't matter now." And it's mostly hits with few misses from there on out. In fact, outside of "Texas Cowboy Blues" -- where he loses himself in Bob Dylan's beard -- Black Swan, like most all of Jansch's work, is utterly jawdroppingly profound in its timelessness. A true legend. [HG]

 
         
   
   

 

 

     
 

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YOSHIO MACHIDA
Naada
(Amorfon)

"Bloom"
"Lotus Pt.3"

In a word, wow! As someone with an immense love of the sounds of the Caribbean steel pan, I've always secretly wanted someone to make a record like this -- solo improvisations on tenor steel pan, double tenor pan, and mid pan. Yoshio Machida's previous records wielded a much more heavily electronic, Max/MSP-processed sound palette (he's also collaborated with Minamo/Fourcolour); here, he closes the computer lid and comes out with a record which equally balances elements of the steel pan's origins in carnival parades with injections of the more "modern" compositional and improvisational edge of the laptop sound school. The performances on Naada are focused and melodic (no harsh klangtones here), the recordings are crystal clear and warmer than seaside sunbeams, and nothing really overstays its welcome -- everything just ebbs and flows so naturally you'd think the pans were playing themselves. Most pieces feature Machida overdubbing small melodic phrases which slowly evolve, giving the sonic illusion of a one-man pan band; one or two others go for a more textural approach, the sound blossoming outward in floralesque patterns. The disc ends with a reprise of opener "Lotus," with Machida going it alone -- no overdubs, no BS -- just one man, a pan, and a vision. Without question, one of my favorite records this year. [IQ]

 
         
   
   
   
   
   
   

 

 

     
 

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FOLKE RABE
What??
(Dexter's Cigar)

"What??"
"Was??"

Let's not beat around the bush here, Swedish avant garde composer Folke Rabe's What?? is without a doubt one of the premier groundbreaking works in its genre. Recorded at a primitive, analog studio and commissioned by Swedish Radio, the 25-minute piece was first unveiled in 1967 as part of a collective performance by Rabe and fellow sound artists Jan Bark and Trad, Gras & Stenar's Bo Anders Persson. What?? is made up of electronically generated tones, yet never in their original form, as each participating tone has been treated to sound richer. It's a record that requires deep listening, as the drones and timbres slowly shift and meander, making for one of the most minimal yet psychedelic and hallucinatory pieces of music ever made. A Jim O'Rourke reissue endeavor, this CD version features an additional 50-minute version which Rabe describes as "another piece of music -- mellower, and the single events of course easier to distinguish." The ultimate in zen music. [AK]

 
         
   
   

 

 

     
 

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PETER, BJORN & JOHN
Writer's Block
(Wichita/V2 Import)

"Young Folks"
"The Chills"

The Swedish pop invasion is old news at this point and frankly, I've lost count of how many new Scandinavian groups have been gracing our shelves as of late. That said, Peter, Bjorn and John are at the top of my list, right next to Love Is All, and I'm actually surprised at how much I like their new album. With each of the three members (we already know their first names) contributing songs, Writer's Block is a stylistically diverse record, not necessarily cohesive but all the better for it. I guess the common denominator here would be classic indie pop, and I can hear lots of influences, from the Soft Boys to Galaxie 500, but there are certainly traces of R&B, '60s, power pop and, of course, a little Velvet Underground. Kicking off with the shoegazey strum-fest of "Objects of My Affection," the album quickly shifts into some skeletal pop via "Young Folks," where whistling is used in place of guitar leads, and the Concretes' former singer Victoria Bergsman trades charmingly pensive verses with Peter. The album then takes a bit of a cerebral pop turn with "Amsterdam," which conjures images of OMD collaborating with the Beatles, complete with more whistling, and instruments like whip and footsteps credited to John. It doesn't let up, as Writer's Block constantly morphs from song to song with very few disappointments -- the harmony-filled "Let's Call It Off" isn't bad but feels like filler when compared to most of the track selection -- and then, three-quarters of the way through we reach another highlight, "The Chills," a surprisingly haunting slice of detached synth-pop. The thing about Writer's Block is that each song has a certain I've-heard-it-before familiarity to it, but still remain fresh to the ears. The more I listen, the more it doesn't get old. [GH]

 
         
   
   

 

 

     
 

White Mice
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WHITE MICE
s/t
(Basic Replay)

"It's a Shame"
"Youths of Today"

Basic Channel's impeccable reissue series hits another high point with their latest release. White Mice (Allan Crichton) got his start as a sound man for Sugar Minott and Jammy's soundsystem in the mid-'80s and later garnered some well-deserved attention performing alongside Tenor Saw. This superb debut came out around the beginning of the digital reggae era and right from the get-go you know this is going to be good. Opening with the blistering "It's a Shame," a wobbly, swollen bass line sits on top of choppy, shuffled drum programming. White Mice rides this rhythm with such precision and a certain je ne sais quoi that it simply makes me want to bounce in my chair. Recorded before the influx of gun talk and slackness, this is pure conscience roots dancehall reggae in the finest tradition. Dubby drum fills and bleepy effects merge with some well-placed horn stabs, only to get chopped and diced in a chunky sonic stew that predates electro and house. For those interested in the dawn of modern digital reggae, I simply can't recommend this enough. I love it! (Instrumental Versions is also available.) [GA]

 
         
   
   
   
   
   
   

 

 

     
 

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THE SISTERS LOVE
Give Me Your Love
(Soul Jazz)

"Give Me Your Love"
"Now Is the Time"

The Sisters Love was an underappreciated yet immensely talented and funky female vocal group from the early-'70s. They never put out an album but they released a slew of sought after 45s between 1967 and '73. One thing that you'll immediately notice here is how raucous and upbeat their singles were. There was an infectious energy to all of these songs and it sounds more like gospel than anything else. Highlights of the collection include their sultry take on the Curtis Mayfield classic "Give Me Your Love," which has lived on as an underground NYC disco classic, championed by such legendary DJs as Danny Krivit, Nicky Siano, and Larry Levan. "Now Is the Time" is a hard, funky call-to-arms that Blaxploitation buffs may remember from the classic film The Mack. These records have gotten scarcer and scarcer over the years, so this is a godsend for all soul music aficionados. If you picked up the Honey Cone reissue, you'll love this. So, so dope! [DH]

 
         
   
   

 

 

     
 

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SQUAREPUSHER
Hello Everything
(Warp)

"Hello Meow"
"Theme from Sprite"

In a nutshell: This is Tom Jenkinson doing an album that has a little bit of everything that he does, but in a present day lighting. In other words, the natural, quasi-acoustic midday sun feel that seeped into the last Boards of Canada release is also apparent here. But all of his signature sounds make an appearance on the record as well -- Jenkinson's '70s-Miles-stylings get a post-rock facelift; even one of the snakey/noodle-jam bass solos has a less sinister guitar tone to it. Some tense drum and bass patterns show up too, but with more melody and an overall blanket of "nice" thrown over it. It can sort of be described as drum and bass being used as texture rather than being an actual drum and bass track, with the melody and arrangement turning it into a full-fledged "song." Also in attendance are the extended, slowly shifting soundtrack songs that zone out and break up the album a bit. Squarepusher can be accused of mellowing out on this one, but in the end he proves that he's still as focused and into the sound he creates as ever. (For a limited time, you can also purchase Hello Everything with a bonus 3-inch CD entitled Vacuum Tracks.) [SM]

 
         
   
   

 

 

     
 

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CHARTER OAK
Your Life That Won't End
(Self-Released)

"Your Life That Won't End"

Though Apestaartje label co-founder Brendon Anderegg is probably better known for his minimal electronic work in Mountains and his solo releases under his surname, last year he pulled out his singer-songwriter card with Falling Air. Of course, when you're dealing with an individual who is used to re-sculpting his guitar and other instruments into gorgeous, electro-acoustic soundscapes, we're not talking typical singer-songwriter fare. Falling Air reminded me of Gastr del Sol tackling the Pentangle songbook after a couple of bong hits. Sound good? Well, it should, and I was surprised that the record didn't receive the attention it deserved; consider it last year's sleeper hit. Well, Anderegg has returned with a full band in tow, their first offering being this gorgeous and extremely limited EP. Recorded by Gary Olson (Ladybug Transistor) and Bill Wells at their Marlborough Farms studio in Brooklyn, Your Life That Won't End is a much more textured affair than Falling Air, the songs being the most direct work that I've heard from Anderegg. Pianist Lucas Jansen, cellist Tianna Kennedy, bassist Rob Hatch-Miller (also a frequent contributor to our updates and a WFMU DJ) and drummer Chris Millstein (Home/Samara Lubelski/Jah Division) lend a dark, dramatic flair to the songs, with intricately layered instrumentation that adds rich, autumn-colored hues to Anderegg's abstract folk. Beautifully packaged and hand-numbered in an edition of only 200, don't miss out on this one. [GH]

 
         
   
   
   
   
   
   

 

 

     
 

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HU VIBRATIONAL
Universal Mother
(Soul Jazz)

"Meta Mbulu"
"In the Field"

Hu Vibrational's latest, Universal Mother, could be described as an organic dance album disguised as a jazz record. At its core are the skilled talents of multi-faceted percussionists Adam Rudolph and Hamid Drake, who are joined by Brahim Fribgane, Joshua Spiegelman, along with a guest appearance from Yusef Lateef (speaking not playing), and the engineering talents of Elvin "Nobody" Estela (Prefuse 73) and producer Carlos Nino (Ammoncontact). It's definitely a bridge between generations, the well-respected Rudolph and Drake both accomplished jazz players and Estela and Nino being at the forefront of Cali's electronic scene. This, however, is not by any means an electronic-acoustic jazz/beat record. Though the rhythms suggest an open ear to what's been happening on the dancefloor and the current downtempo scenes, the liner notes elaborate on the use and power of handmade instruments, utilizing elements from the earth to create pure sound vibrations. Over a dozen traditional and wooden instruments (bamboo flutes, talking drums, gongs, tabla, xylophone, etc.), as well as some altered percussion, work together to create what they call Boonghee music which, simply put, means "dance." Ever gotten down to a classic south Indian record? Then you sort of get the idea. Dance music can be natural, organic, spiritual and pure, and this is a great example of it. Here's a new meaning to the phrase "organic grooves." [DG]

 
         
   
   

 

 

     
 

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GILBERTO GIL
Copacobana Mon Amour
(Universal Brazil)

"Blind Faith"
"Diga a Ela"

Copacabana Mon Amour is a soundtrack album with an interesting history. Gilberto Gil, in his London exile for just under a year in 1970, was commissioned by Brazilian filmmaker Roger Sganzerla to create a score for his latest arthouse feature. Gil promptly went into a London studio and recorded a stream-of-consciousness vocal-guitar-percussion record consisting of six extended tracks. It's not a million miles away from what is now labeled "freak-folk," although it's unsurprisingly far more rhythmically propulsive than most of that genre, and the lyrics are improvised English-Portuguese stoner babble. One copy of the master tape was dispatched to Brazil for use in Sganzerla's film, and subsequently got lost over the ensuing decades. Only extensive sleuth work in the late-'90s finally uncovered another copy in the hands of a British collector, resulting in the first-ever release of this quirky chapter in Gil's storied career. [GC]

 
         
   
   

 

 

     
 

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THE WIPERS
Is This Real
(Jackpot)

The Wipers are perhaps the most unknown yet wildly influential band next to fellow Oregonians Dead Moon. In fact, Greg Sage wanted it that way. His idea was to put out studio albums -- no touring, no press, no nothing -- and when the independent record industry twisted his arm to do otherwise, he twisted back as much as he could. He wanted to keep his music separate from any image and maintain what he believed was the mystique of music: leave it to the individual to interpret, as is. (It's clear that Sage shares the same relentless DIY idealism as Dead Moon's Fred Cole.) The Wipers' un-f**k-with-able debut, Is This Real (which has been unavailable on LP since its initial release), is a godsend to us folks who don't have the dough to shell out for an original copy, which goes for upwards of 60 smackers on eBay. And with good reason. In 1977, before the phrase alternative rock existed, the Wipers were being ostracized by punkers in their hometown for their uncategorizable, agonizing guitar rock, all the while pioneering the sound that would break the Pacific Northwest wide open some 15 years later. This stuff is legendary, go ahead, ask around. That dude who only listens to Gamelan loves the Wipers. The most jaded music industry insider clings to this record because this is IT.

Greg Sage is a gifted guitar player and a master at distortion as well, but just try and escape these melodies. It's like catching a cold...it will be with ya for weeks! You cannot dismiss it as trite when Sage bleats "...what we do when we're always rejected/what we feel when we're always suspected" on "Don't Know What I Am," because when he tears you a new one during the solo, you know he means it. There are moments like that all over this thing. So clear is the image of the cast-out loner, as depicted on "Window Shop for Love," that when Sage shrieks "Look but don't touch," the lyrics come across as nothing less than menacing! This is truly penetrating stuff. Raw, unhinged punk rock, emotional and dark, yet there is hope in this tapestry of alienation. Tracks like "Mystery" and "Let's Go Away" are catchy as hell, the stuff of power pop wet dreams that could easily be likened to the Ramones. (Had Sage heard them yet?) This reissue is a collaboration between Portland's Jackpot Records and Sage's own Zeno Records, re-mastered from his own tapes. Hopefully we can expect the next two records Youth of America and Over the Edge -- both masterpieces -- to follow. For now, if this is your first listen, you can smack your forehead as the wave of realization hits you that one of the finest rock recordings of the last 30 years has made its indelible mark. A punk classic. [NL]

 
         
   
   
   
   
   
   

 

 

     
 

Ike Reiko
$21.99
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Kuwabara Yukiko
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Taguchi Kumi
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Tani Naomi
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IKE REIKO
Kokotsu No Sekai
(Tiliqua)

 

KUWABARA YUKIKO
Kuwabara Yukiko to Anata
(Tiliqua)

 

TAGUCHI KUMI
Tokyo Emmanuelle Fujin - Amai Yoru no Tameiki
(Tiliqua)

 

TANI NAOMI
Modae no Heya
(Tiliqua)

 

Here's a bit of swinging pink violence for you all - four CDs of late-'60s/early-'70s sex-pop by four stars of the Japanese S/M-bondage porn scene. Believe it or not, there was actually a genre term coined for this stuff for a short while: "Iroke Kayoyoku." While most of these records consisted of a sexed-up starlet cooing and breathily reciting erotic prose overtop easy-listening/pops orchestra arrangements, there's actually more of an eclectic, "hands-on" approach with two of these reissues.

Ike Reiko's Kokotsu No Sekai has a bit of a psychedelic ye-ye pop feel, with Ike singing, moaning, and kicking up a fuss over arrangements mixing something of Gainsbourg's Initials BB with the coked-up sleaze of Donna Summer's "Love to Love You Baby," and what has to be the most perverse use of a cuica I've ever heard. To Anata, by Kuwabara Yukiko, takes more of a noirish crime jazz/back-alley tango approach, with Yukiko vocalizing over heavily reverbed, nicotine-stained saxophones and knife-edged accordion runs. The other two records in the bunch are a little more in the lounge/exotica vein. The album by Taguchi Kumi & the Fantastic Mood Orchestra features pops-style covers of the themes from assorted Emmanuelle films, Last Tango in Paris, The Pink Panther, and the Beach Boys' "Wouldn't It Be Nice"(!) with Kumi providing spoken interludes. Tani Naomi's Modae no Heya features the most "traditionally" Japanese sound palette, with Naomi speaking and cooing over shakuhachi and koto arrangements. Nice, but not particularly engaging when you can't understand the words.

All in all, these albums are quite a bit of fun. Subtlety is pretty much kicked to the curb here; these records have "guilty pleasure" written all over them, and would definitely appeal to those who *ahem* enjoy a little tongue in their cheek. All four reissues are extremely limited, so don't hesitate. [IQ]

 
         
   
   

 

 

     
 

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VARIOUS ARTISTS
Kindermusik: Improvised Music by Babies
(Armorfon)

"Steel Pan" Myona Sonobe
"Toy" Aoi Sato

Basically a collection of improvised, unedited tracks from infants, all of whom are only 18-months-old or less! Remember Eye's 3-inch CD with his baby friend? Apparently, he enjoys listening to this one with his afternoon tea. I know you think I'm just supposed to say this, but it's a really fun, engaging and enlightening listen. This collection truly embodies the qualities of Cage's prepared piano pieces, and for all the right reasons too, since this stuff is basically as ego-less as possible -- the joy of anticipating the next sound or move and being WRONG. The random lengths of silence are also wonderful. Of course, images of a 20-pound Thai Elephant Orchestra come to mind, or even a lightly synthesized Derek Bailey. But since the toys and toy instruments are hooked up to a laptop, the sounds have a bit more variety (don't worry the laptop doesn't cheat for them) with random friendly, disembodied chimes and bits of voice, but the record definitely leans on not being too cutesy, even the drum machine tracks have a blissfully gentle feel to them. It's not a pots-and-pans mess that makes you wanna cock your hand back in mock-disciplinary fashion; this is the ultimate in stress-free music. A different kind of "womb-like." [SM]

 
         
   
   

 

 

     
 

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BADLY DRAWN BOY
Born in the U.K.
(Astralwerks)

"Without a Kiss"
"The Time of Times"

I haven't given up on Damon Gough a/k/a Badly Drawn Boy. Maybe I'm the fool, but the perpetually beanie-clad songwriter's debut, The Hour of Bewilderbeast, tapped into the lo-fi hushed zeitgeist so successfully I could forgive our man for his last couple of bloated pop minorpeices. I just don't understand what happened. Bewilderbeast was lush, but never over the top, hand-crafted and heartfelt, brazenly postmodern without sounding cheap and idiotic -- it's the only album I own who's influenced equally by Burt Bacharach and De La Soul that works. And as each new Badly Drawn Boy effort comes and goes (three since then), there's a moment of anticipation as I crack the wrapping, that maybe on this disc Gough might return to his modest, smaller roots.

As the title would imply, Badly Drawn Boy's new one, Born in the U.K., is not that album. However, in a year of records that wear their Springsteen influences tighter than an American Apparel tee, Born sounds shockingly un-Springsteen. Instead, Gough gives us a totally fine collection of exquisitely orchestrated pop jams about being…you got it…born in the U.K. I firmly believe that Gough is one of the best songwriters putting pen to page today, and surely the arrestingly twangy "Without a Kiss" is sublime proof, but his arrangements are consistently too showy. Like an insecure kid desperately trying to prove his cool, Gough doth protest too much. He wrote "Silent Sigh." He's got nothing to prove. Now, if only, someone could tell him that. [HG]

 
         
   
       
   

 

 

     
 

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REVL9N
Revl9n
(Because)

"Hello Baby"

JUST IN! Other Music's favorite electro-punks are back with a proper album. Full of hard-hitting dancefloor burners, with the arty rock 'n' roll aesthetic still intact, Revlon 9, errr... Revl9n, are guaranteed to please fans of the Knife and other such things. We'll run a full review next week.

 
         
   
   

 

 

     
 

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DEREK BAILEY & CYRO BAPTISTA
Derek
(Amulet)

"Ubachuva"

A fitting and firey eulogy to Derek Bailey, who passed last year. Derek is a blistering live set recorded at NYC's Tonic three years ago, and 21 years after their first collaboration, where Bailey is joined by Brazilian virtuoso Cyro Baptista. The two of them strike gold here, with Bailey's freeform guitar genius really coming to life when backed by Baptista's madman percussion.

 
         
   
   

 

 

     
 

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IMITATION ELECTRIC PIANO
Blow It Up, Burn It Down, Kick It 'Til It Bleeds
(Drag City)

"Tension"

Simon Johns (Stereolab) and Andrew Blake team up with Brighton songbird Mary Hampton, who supposedly got the job because her voice was reminiscent of Pentangle's Jacqui McShee, to deliver an album full of breezy blues, gentle folk, and clever Kraut. Recommended.

 
         
   
   

 

 

     
 

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FAT JON & STYROFOAM
The Same Channel
(Morr)

"Upgrade"

Top notch mix of Styrofoam's electropop and Fat Jon's (of Five Deez) rhymes, The Same Channel somehow successfully combines Space Invaders electro and electronic shoegaze soundscapes with hip-hop. Morr Music giving you the best in indietronica as always.

 
         
   
   

 

 

     
 

$14.99
CD

Buy
 

THUNDERBALL
Cinescope
(ESL)

"Strictly Rude Boy"

New from Eighteenth Street Lounge, Thunderball's Cinescope combines multiple eclectic influences, including hip-hop, electro, lounge, Bollywood, jazz, and funk, into one electric stew. Features guest appearances by Afrika Bambaataa, See-I, and Mustafa Akbar.

 
         
   
   

 

 

     
 

$14.99
CD

Buy
 

KID KOALA
Your Mom's Favorite DJ
(Ninja Tune)

"Left Side"

Kid Koala lets his imagination run free once again. Your Mom's Favorite DJ is full of Koala's trademark sampladelia; blues and fuzzed-out guitar samples share space with thrift store record dialogue and everything else imaginable. One of the few DJs with a huge record collection and a sense of humor.

 
         
   
   

 

 

     
 

$12.99
CD

Buy
 

GOLDFRAPP
We Are Glitter
(Mute)

"Slide In" DFA Remix

We Are Glitter compiles remixes of tracks from Goldfrapp's Supernature album, many never commercially available before. Standouts include re-workings by Mum, Ewan Pearson, DFA, and Alan Braxe & Fred Falke.

 
         
   
   

 

 

     
 

$15.99
CD

Buy
 

JEREMY ENIGK
World Waits
(Lewis Hollow)

"World Waits"

Undisputed champion of emo, Jeremy Enigk (formerly of Sunny Day Real Estate and the Fire Theft) took ten years to follow up his solo debut Return of the Frog Queen but it turns out it was well worth the wait. Enigk mixes his trademark yowl with Jeff Buckley-esque ballads and orchestrated uptempo rockers that touch down on everything from Built to Spill to the Beatles. A triumphant return.

 
         
   
   

 

 

     
 

$8.99
CD-EP

Buy
 

KLAXONS
Xan Valleys
(Modular)

"Gravity's Rainbow"

New EP by the Klaxons, who combine thrift store Casio bleeps with garage guitar to create a whole new dance rock/nu-rave sound. Seven tracks in total, including two remixes and a "multimedia track." Pure adrenalin rush.

 
         
   
   
 
   
     
  

 

 

     
  All of this week's new arrivals.

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THIS WEEK'S CONTRIBUTORS

[GA] Geoff Albores
[GC] Greg Caz
[DG] Daniel Givens
[HG] Hartley Goldstein
[GH] Gerald Hammill
[DH] Duane Harriott
[IQ] Mikey IQ Jones
[AK] Andreas Knutsen
[NL] Nicole Lang
[DM] Doug Mosurock
[SM] Scott Mou




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- all of us at Other Music

 
     
  
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