FEATURED NEW RELEASES
Bonnie 'Prince' Billy
Khan Jamal Creative Arts Ensemble
Darkel (JB Dunckel of Air)
The Whitest Boy Alive (Erlend Øye)
White Magic
Blops (Box Set)
Masayuki Takayanagi & New Direction Unit
John Cale
Sandy Bull
Hako Yamasaki
Guther
Fourcolour
Ariesta Birawa
Takka Takka
The Legends
Hidden Cameras
Luc Ferrari

Vibe Central
Bubonic Plague
Super Creep
Harry Partch DVD
Kousokuya
DJ Shadow
Free
Pete Rock
Relay
¡Forward Russia!
Alice Smith

VINYL PRESSING
Excepter


COMPLETE LIST OF THIS WEEK'S NEW ARRIVALS

BONNIE 'PRINCE' BILLY
The Letting Go
(Drag City)

"Wai"

"Cursed Sleep"

Have you seen the video on YouTube promoting Bonnie 'Prince' Billy's new album, The Letting Go? It features BPB stalking Neil Hamburger around a motel, singing songs from the album into a portable boom box mic until Neil eventually does old Will in. I am taking this to mean that even Mr. Oldham himself is realizing his output, although never disappointing, is becoming perhaps a bit too, uh…prolific. The new record does manage some departure from previous material in that there are orchestral arrangements care of Bjork's recent collaborator Valgier Sigurdsson, (the album was recorded in Iceland), and most of the singing is complemented harmonically by Faun Fables' Dawn McCarthy. Like the majority of recent works from Billy, The Letting Go is achingly sad and lyrically despondent, focusing on the inability to love or be loved or stay loved. Ms. McCarthy's vocals are a very well suited contrast to the Bonnie Prince's trademark steady and emotional folk croon. Though staying within his formula, these songs are never uninteresting, especially the closer "Untitled," which may be one his most striking compositions in some time in terms of emotional evocation. The Letting Go is a welcome addition for fans of this quirky yet solid singer/songwriter of melancholic twang. [NL]

KHAN JAMAL CREATIVE ARTS ENSEMBLE
Drumdance to the Motherland
(Eremite)

"Cosmic Echoes"

"Breath of Life"

Jesus. Forget what you know. Every now and then, a record comes along that sneaks up on you and punches you in the back in the head so hard, it sends you reeling for days. This is one of them. Recorded live in 1972, this holy grail private press album by vibraphonist Khan Jamal probably qualifies as a "jazz" record, but not as this world knows it, as it sounds like it was recorded in a spaceship, an echo chamber, and a cave all at once, which makes it virtually impossible to put a timestamp on. The dubbed-out percussion intro of "Cosmic Echoes" sounds like Sun Ra overseeing an Aggrovators session, yet strangely contemporary, and it only gets more inspired and unfathomable from there. The extended free jazz shocks (complete with recording engineer's mystery effects!) and cosmic black psychedelia dreamed up by this underground Philly collective explores outsider worlds that Actuel never knew existed, and emits a kind of smoke ESP-Disk never had a whiff of. Drumdance to the Motherland will render a majority of your record collection somewhat useless, but you're going to want to take that gamble. Utterly unique and essential document from way left of center. [AK]

DARKEL
Darkel
(Astralwerks)

"Be My Friend"

"Earth"

I love Air, but they always take so damn long between albums. Their next record isn't slated to come out until early next year, three years after their last full-length, Talkie Walkie. In the meantime, Jean-Benoit Dunckel, one half of the French duo, has released his first solo album under the name of Darkel, and let me tell you, it almost feels like the real deal. Like Air, there's no shortage of dreamy, retro-futuristic soundscapes, but there seems to be more of a human element present, with traditional rock instruments often taking precedence over the synthesizers. Dunckel's melancholic melodies are also more immediate, with nods to '60s and '70s pop standing front and center. Fueled by a "Tubular Bells"-sounding keyboard, the spooky opening "Be My Friend" could have been an outtake from 10,000 Hz Legend. But the album picks up the pace with "At the End of the Sky," a whimsical psychedelic number with a melody and slide guitar lead that are no doubt inspired by George Harrison; or the saccharine shuffle of "My Own Sun," which reminds me of Marc Bolan singing to the Kinks' "Dedicated Follower of Fashion." Dunckel takes a couple of stabs at spacey glam with "Beautiful Woman," a playful but nonetheless catchy T. Rex-inspired stomper, as well as the throwaway bubblegum punk of "TV Destroy," and dubby, future funk with "Earth," its layers of synthesizer strings harkening back to Moon Safari. Overall, this feels less conceptual than your typical Air album, but Dunckel does offer a diverse selection of tracks which prove to be more than just a stop gap release. If you're an Air fan, don't hesitate in picking this one up. [GH]

THE WHITEST BOY ALIVE
Dreams
(Bubbles)

"Inflation"

"Golden Cage"

The whitest boy alive!? No. More like the renaissance man of indie rock. In 2006, it's safe to say that Norway's favorite lanky musician dude with the too-large, ironically worn unironically vintage glass frames, Erlend Øye, has pulled off the difficult task of well…not being one thing or another. The guy does it all. Everything. Along with clocking in hours as Jens Lekman's wingman, Øye's put out an irresistible album of electronica freaked pop songs (2003's Unrest), along with two dazzling hushed folk records with Kings of Convenience that I'm sure get lots of love in Ian Schreager hotel lobbies as well as in my home stereo (if you don't own the duo's 2004 album, Riot on Empty Street, you are missing one of the sweetest and most accessibly brilliant record of the last five years), and somehow the guy even found time to release a DJ Kicks mix of ultra-tasteful micro-house and even a Cornelius track too.

Thing is, Øye's never really played with a band before, and the Whitest Boy Alive's debut, Dreams, is his brazen exit from the digital music ghetto into the land of "influenced by Modest Mouse and Spoon." Sure, the pop nuggets on Dreams, apparently all started as robotic dance songs -- but by the time tape was rolling these jams somehow became loose, and jangly, stripped down and raw -- like something Thrill Jockey might've put out in the early-'90s, only happier. Cause really, Erlend's coo remains as endearingly innocent as ever, and you can just totally see him shimmying his way around the studio delivering school's out proclamations like, "I'm caught in the motion and I just don't want to stop." He is the whitest boy alive after all. [HG]

WHITE MAGIC
Katie Cruel
(Drag City)

"Katie Cruel"

Sure, years of record buying has taught me to loathe the phrase "heavily anticipated" like the alarm clock on Monday mornings, but I seriously cannot wait for the new White Magic full-length. It's taken these guys and girls long enough to deliver some new sounds -- over two years since their debut EP, Through the Sun Door, saw me getting all b-side on cats, proclaiming it as the real freak folk record of the year in spite of the fact that the likes of Devendra and Joanna Newsom dropped classics that year as well. All seriousness aside, this is just to say that anticipation is legitimately high for the nightmarishly titled, Dat Rosa Mel Apibus, (sounds very CocoRosie to me, but w'ever). The sparse first single, "Katie Cruel" (which happens to be a Karen Dalton cover) and its piano-laced counterpart, "Hold Your Hand in the Dark," on the flip both come on like husky punches to the gut. Which is just to say they sound like trademark White Magic. A place where subtle math rock rhythms, renaissance hooks, and the haunted heft of Mira Billotte's bedraggled alto meet. As if I couldn't get any more excited. [HG]

BLOPS
Blops - Box Set
(Shadoks)

"Manchufela"

"Pisandose la Cola"

The recorded legacy of the Blops, one of Chile's finest bands, finally available on CD!!! I've been waiting for this one ever since that super expensive three LP box set came out a while back and made my top ten of the year, so it's great to have it at a slightly more reasonable price and available to more people. Born in the same cultural milieu as Congreso and Congregacion, Los Blops came together as a band in 1970 and recorded three brilliant albums before the dissolution of democracy in Chile in 1973. Like Congreso, they were as heavily influenced by American and British rock and roll as they were by South American Nueva Cancion, practicing and learning songs at legendary Chilean folk-singer Violetta Parra's house by day and tripping to Jimi Hendrix records at night. The members lived communally, seeking a new order to their lives as they constantly worked at honing their craft. The first two albums are my favorites, each equally brilliant folk/rock masterpieces that are exhilaratingly full of life and joy, and yet still often tinged with a palpable sense of sorrow. Strikingly full of purpose, they recorded each in under twelve hours, no doubt with a conviction that what they were doing was new and utterly important. All three records simply brim with gorgeous and original songs. Easily one of the best reissues of the year. [MK]

MASAYUKI TAKAYANAGI & NEW DIRECTION UNIT
Eclipse
(Iskra)

"First Session 1"

"Second Session"

My enthusiasm for free jazz documents has been tempered over the years, but there's an electric thrill that accompanies almost any reappearance of those hallowed documents cut by Japan's guitarist godfather, Masayuki "Jojo" Takayanagi. Still of the jazz tradition enough so as to evoke cool players (be it Lee Konitz or Jim Hall), it's not his ability to swing or chill that gets the noise contingency's dander up though, but rather his status as Japan's Sonny Sharrock, Derek Bailey, Ray Russell, and Rudolph Grey all rolled into one. The documents capturing Jojo with Karou Abe live in the '70s are gnarly and caustic indeed, but my favorite recordings are of him with his group, New Direction Unit.

Eclipse is one of the most revered (though they all are, from Axis to Free Form Suite), captured on March 14, 1975. Recorded right after Takayanagi's proposed set for ESP-Disk, April Is the Cruelest Month, as ESP went under, legend has it that the pressing of Eclipse was reduced to a mere hundred copies or so. Let's just say that it's not sitting in a dollar bin. No need to put off buying that new car now, as this mini-LP reproduction holds all the lava. As is often the case with Jojo's "mass projections" (a free-form sort of group heave), it builds slow, the players picking their spots, working towards a climax that boggles the ears. By the time of side two's "Second Session," the group is in a lather that is simply beyond words. They burn incandescent for over 25 minutes that soars beyond belief. Fans of free jazz and Brotzmann, fans of Double Leopards and Wolf Eyes will find plenty of white-hot plasma here. [AB]

JOHN CALE
Paris 1919
(Rhino UK)

"Paris 1919"

"Burned Out Affair"

Out of Cale's budding solo career, it didn't get any better than Paris 1919, and with the jump from Reprise to Island on the horizon, he seemed to know better than to try and top or repeat it. If you already have a copy, this re-mastered edition contains, as bonus tracks, one outtake (the acoustic blues of "Burned Out Affair" and the entire album reassembled from alternate takes and demos, that will shed new light. If you don't have this record, now you have no excuse. If you enjoy the first four Eno solo records, here's the blueprint. If you're into literate pop a la the Decemberists or Belle & Sebastian, prepare to be blown away by earlier, superior, untouchable product. Some of the most striking lyrical imagery ever committed to pop is contained within its cream-white parlour; an incomparable merging of gentle yet assured songs, orch-pop, dub (yes, dub), country, blues, glammish rock, and pensive drone, and moreover, the sensibilities to merge all of these styles into a seamless, offhandedly academic bundle, and to create an album that improves with each listen, with songs that seem to grow more meaningful off of one another. There may be no better sequence of songs than "Macbeth" into the title track and then into "Graham Greene." One of the best albums of the '70s, bar none; probably the best record you'll buy all year. You owe it to yourself to introduce (or reintroduce) Paris 1919 into your life. [DM]

SANDY BULL
Still Valentine's Day, 1969: Live at The Matix San Francisco
(Water)

"Electric Blend 1"

"Manha de Carnival"

Now here's a record that legitimately deserves adjectives like "smoky," and "druggy," and "narcoleptic," and even though I've just started writing this blurb, I'm sure I'll use at least one of these words again in the ensuing paragraphs. Try not to roll your eyes if the phrase "kaleidoscope drones" pops up as well. It's that kind of record -- an album of two smoky and enigmatic, mindfucked live performances from Vanguard's thinking man, Sandy Bull. But is it folk music!? Guitar primitive? Instrumental jamming? Another J Spaceman joint!? What is this music?

Still Valentine's Day, 1969: Live at The Matix San Francisco is, as one stoner would say to another, some "next level shit." Along with the electric guitar, Sandy Bull plays the oud and I swear at some moments he's literally playing the amplifiers too -- which is probably true, considering Sandy tells his audience that he "recently lost all his equipment," and is playing on all new gear he'd gotten just that day. I'm also guessing Bull was bombed out of his mind for these performances -- he was known for being a notorious substance abuser, and I'll be damned if he doesn't sound a little…um…drowsy here. Plus, as is noted in the title, it all took place on Valentine's Day. Far out. I can't think of a more unsentimental place to take your lover -- let's go hear this notoriously erratic genius mutter to himself, while making the most gorgeously, genre-defying, twisted downer shit ever. We'll try not to kill ourselves. That said, thank god somebody taped this stuff, because it makes the best early morning "I shouldn't have had that last Mojito" music ever. A gloriously narcoleptic (told ya), lo-fi, and flat-out beautiful trip -- heaving, melodic drones, arhythmical netherworld raga virtuosity, and one unforgettable night of music haunting the liminal spaces of baby booming lovebirds in the San Francisco area. Now only if someone had taped the conversations in the car rides home. (Re)issue of the year? [HG]

HAKO YAMASAKI
Tsunawatari
(Elec)

Japanese folksinger Hako Yamasaki was only eighteen or nineteen when she released her sophomore album, Tsunawatari, in 1975. Graced with a pathos-laden voice, she was able to summon almost unfathomable levels of desolation for a person of such tender years. Eschewing any sort of sunny breeziness a la Sachiko Kanenobu, her early albums are practically exercises in forlornness, a point which her record company was quick to drive home by commissioning brooding photographic portraits in muted tones of Yamasaki standing silently alone on rain soaked streets, while her long, jet black hair framed the reticent and troubled looks on her face. They couldn't have captured the feel of her albums any better. The tempo is resolutely slow; songs begin with a whisper and slowly expand until Yamasaki's powerful lungs climax in a soul-shattering howl, with the restrained arrangements expertly framing the eventual intensity of her delivery. Exquisitely moody. [MK]

GUTHER
Sundet
(Morr Music)

"Statements"

"Afraid"

Julia Guther and Berend Intelmann return with their sophomore release as Guther. While they have, with charming success, refined their hazy pop sound, many of the basic elements remain: minimal, repetitive groves, layered keyboards and dreamy guitars, lovely and mysterious vocals. Guther practice a particularly Morr Music-esque blend of shoegazing pop that nestles, if not embraces, modern electronica, both retro and futuristic, and Sundet is a fine album well worth the wait. [JM]

FOURCOLOUR
Letter of Sounds
(12k)

"Rowboat" Featuring Piana

"Fountain"

Fourcolor's debut, Water Mirror (on Apestaartje) was largely drone-based, while the follow-up, Air Curtain, hinted at a more rhythmic direction, and on Letter of Sounds, the prolific Keiichi Sugimoto (Minamo, Filfla) explores even more structured territories. The album, his second release on 12k, is more upfront and song oriented, with plenty of plenty of sliced and diced subtle beats, but never losing the warm and melodic qualities of his previous works (check the massive dreamy scape of the last song, "Frame"). Opener "02" is the closest Sugimoto has come to writing a proper pop song, with its precise beats and processed guitar hooks, and the stunning "Rowboat" features gorgeous ethereal vocals by Naoko Sasaki (aka Piana). Minimal and methodically calculated, yet utterly beautiful and accessible, electronic music by one of the best of the genre, this comes highly recommended. [AK]

ARIESTA BIRAWA
Vol. 1 Indonesia 1973
(Shadoks)

"Si Ompong"

"Didunia Yang Lain"

Totally jamming Indonesian band rescued from hopeless obscurity by the Shadoks label. If you're looking for some kind of Subliminal Frequencies styled ethno-psych madness you may want to look elsewhere, as their approach more closely resembles the song oriented aspect of groups like Traffic Sound or Juan de la Cruz. You can hear a ton of influences: West Coast psychedelia, Latin jams via Santana, and the toughness of mid-'60s American garage rock. Which probably makes it all sound more pedestrian than it really is, because there does seem to be a certain strangeness to the entire proceeding that is nearly impossible to put your finger on. [MK]

TAKKA TAKKA
We Feel Safer at Night
(Self-Released)

"Coco on the Corner"

"Sofia"

You know how Clap Your Hands Say Yeah has the totally trainspottable influences but, gosh darnit, you can't really hold it against them cause they do it with such open-armed, just clever enough skill to pull it off? Well, say hello to Takka Takka. No, they don't sound like Clap Your Hands, but they are definitely brothers in arms, and I guess in more ways than one since they are actually joining them on their next tour. Where C.Y.H.S.Y. has that soaring, Tele-Velvet-Heads vibe, Takka Takka has a completely catchy, neo-indie version of Velvet Underground-meets-Jonathan Richman self-knowledge, with that nothing-is-gonna-get-me-down-ultimately vibe of Broken Social Scene. (And like V.U. and Modern Lovers, there is a definite NY/post-college bend to the lyrics.) Check out "We Feel Safer at Night", "Coco on the Corner", "Joshua and the Professor" and "She Works in Banking." A self-assured/self-aware and humble collection of songs here. [SM]

THE LEGENDS
Facts & Figures
(Labrador)

"Closer"

"Disco Sucks"

We already knew that the Legends' main man John Angergard (who also fronts the Acid House Kings) likes to keep his fans guessing. The recent domestic issue of Public Radio marked a pretty big stylistic departure from the Legends' previous album, Up Against the Legends, replacing most of the sunny '60s pop influences and fuzzy Jesus and Mary Chain-styled guitars with somewhat bleaker mood, a la early-Cure and Felt. So popping the the Swedish songwriter's latest Legends offering into my CD changer, I had already assumed that Facts and Figures would not be a retread. Still, I wasn't expecting a bouncy electro-beat and a vocodered lead vocal to come bounding out of my stereo speakers. Talk about a night and day difference from both Up Against and Public Radio. From start to finish, Facts and Figures is a true blue electro-pop album. Unlike the Junior Boys' recent release, which has more of a spacious, minimal electronic approach in the arrangements, Angergard goes for the new wave jugular, using lush layers of synthesizer pads and washes of reverb. And forget about Public Radio's moodiness, Facts and Figures is much sweeter, taking melodic cues from '80s hit makers like OMD, Visage, Camouflage and even When in Rome. Had this been released four or so years ago, I am certain that Fischerspooner and Soviet fans would have been clamoring for this album, but even then, Angergard's endless wellspring of catchy, irony-free melodies would have separated the Legends from the electroclash pack. (For a limited time, this pressing comes with a bonus tour documentary DVD.) [GH]