The Other Music Update

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	October 22, 2008

OTHER MUSIC SHIPPING RATE CHANGES
After reevaluating our shipping costs, we have decided to make the transition to USPS for our domestic customers. As for our international customers, we will still be shipping via USPS. The changes in shopping cart system on the website are forthcoming. For the time being, please note that the shipping charges notated in the shopping cart are invalid for both domestic and international customers. Instead, you will be charged a new and, in most cases, lower, shipping price solely based on the weight of your package. For example, 1 CD, which weighs approximately, 4 ounces, will now cost $2.00 to ship domestically and approximately $4.10 internationally. A general reference guide to package weight is available here. You can estimate your shipping cost by using the USPS Postage Calculator. For our domestic customers, in the majority of cases, USPS will be just as quick as UPS on top of being noticeably cheaper. If you prefer UPS, simply email orders@othermusic.com and we will accommodate you.


	FEATURED NEW RELEASES The Present Gang Gang Dance Toivo Tulev Ryojiro Furusawa & Kan Mikami Shed Lee Jones Marcin Czubala Sam Taylor-Wood The Sea and Cake Fela Kuti Afrobeat Nirvana (Various) Highlife Time (Various) Sing Me a Rainbow (Trident Anthology) Frankie Dymon Jr. Alex Archimedes Badkar The Fall		Getatchew Mekurya & the Ex (DVD) The Philip Glass Ensemble The Dead C Of Montreal ALSO AVAILABLE Parts & Labor The Dears AVAILABLE ON VINYL Vivian Girls PRE-ORDERS Pavement (Buy Early, Get Now) Arthur Russell Deerhunter Crystal Stilts caUSE co-MOTION!

OCT

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High Places

Dungen

SPECIAL CMJ SALE + GUEST DJS AT OTHER MUSIC
Don't look now, but CMJ is back in town! The annual indie music convention/festival has again taken over every club in sight, and to celebrate we are having a 10% OFF SALE ON EVERYTHING IN THE STORE AND ON OUR MAIL ORDER SITE* (no downloads, sorry!), from Thursday, October 23rd through Sunday, October, 26th!!! Plus, this Friday and Saturday we invited some of our favorite artists to DJ in the shop, a celebrity soundtrack to your shopping! The schedule is below; we hope you will come by any time this week to take advantage of the sale, to enjoy the music and to say hi to some great bands.

FRIDAY, OCTOBER 24th
12:30-2pm: Mac McCaughan (Portastatic/Superchunk/ Merge Records)
2-3pm: Walter Meego
4-5pm: Crystal Stilts
5-6pm: Sian Alice Group
6-7pm: Mark Ibold (Pavement/Sonic Youth)
7-8pm: High Places

SATURDAY, OCTOBER 25
1-2pm: Georgia Hubley (Yo La Tengo)
2-3pm: Endless Boogie
3-4pm: Dungen
4-5pm: Phosphorescent
5-6pm: caUSE co-MOTION!
6-7pm: Growing
7-8pm: Oneida

*Discounts online will not be reflected in your shopping cart upon checkout, but the 10% discount will be applied when your credit card is charged before shipping. Online discounts only apply to physical items.

** 10% discount does not apply to current pre-orders that we have available.

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Sat 01

WIN TICKETS TO JAY REATARD
Just in case you can't make it out to any of his 5 CMJ shows, Jay Reatard has graciously agreed to play one more area gig this Sunday, October 26 at the always-a-party Santo's Party House. With openers Vivian Girls and Cola Freaks, plus DJ Tim Warren, this is sure to be a raucous night out from start to finish, and we have two pairs of free tickets available for our readers. To enter, email tickets@othermusic.com. We'll notify the two winners this Friday.

SUNDAY, OCTOBER 26
SANTO'S PARTY HOUSE: 100 Lafayette Street, Ground Fl South (btwn Walker & White Streets) NYC

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Sat 01

HOWLIN' RAIN TICKET GIVE AWAY
Our friends from Oakland, psych-rockers Howlin' Rain are touring the world behind their recent Magnificent Fiend album, and they are hooking up with the Black Crowes this Tuesday, October 28 at NYC's Hammerstein Ballroom. A night of soulful rock and roll all around, and we have two pairs of tickets for our readers. To enter, email giveaway@othermusic.com. The two winners will be emailed on Friday.

TUESDAY, OCTOBER 28
HAMMERSTEIN BALLROOM: 311 West 34th Street NYC


	$14.99 CD		THE PRESENT World I See (Loaf) "Heavens on Ice" "World I See" Appearing from the Lo Recordings-affiliated Loaf label, and decorated in some very appealing Non Format design work is the debut album from legendary New York producer Rusty Santos. Whaddya mean you've never heard of him? Chances are you already own his work; Panda Bear's list-topping Person Pitch and Animal Collective's career-high Sung Tongs are among the best of them, but on World I See we get a look into what Santos can produce without the input of an established artist or band. That's not to say he's going this alone, he has a good gang of collaborators joining him for the ride (including ex-Mum lady Kria Brekkan) but this is overwhelmingly Santos' project, sounding like the epitome of the ideas he sank into his best-known productions. The album opens with "Heavens on Ice," a near fourteen-minute epic which grinds Brekkan's vocals into a disarming soup of dense electro-acoustic sound, layering pianos, guitars and echoing percussion into a wall of harmonic sound. This is Person Pitch with knobs on, the pop structures stripped out and a love of Spacemen 3 and Cluster pushed into the foreground. "Symbols on High" maybe takes these ideas furthest, burying synthesized pads in a tumultuous clatter of sheet metal before revealing chiming bells, and before too long the heavily delayed sound of guitars and pianos, but each track is crucial to the album as a whole. It's almost as if Santos has pillaged his wide-reaching record collection, with World I See at times sounding like it could be a well-educated mixtape just as much as an artist album. There are so many ideas blended into the record, so much rubbed into the background with Santos' expert fingertips that it's hard to reveal it all in one listen. This is an album best experienced over a few, select listens and I guarantee it, each spin will show something more unusual than the last. [JT]


	$14.99 CD $14.99 LP $9.99 MP3		GANG GANG DANCE Saint Dymphna (The Social Registry) "Vacuum" "House Jam" Simply put: Gang Gang Dance return with their hotly anticipated follow-up to 2005's almost universally acclaimed God's Money album, and it's a doozy. Much has already been said (thanks to the leak/pre-release of a few of the album's most accessible tracks on MP3) of the group's heavy shift toward a more pop-friendly sheen on Saint Dymphna, but honestly, the album isn't really that much of a departure -- think of it more as a streamlining of their approach, where they trim some of the more heavily experimental fat off of the meat that is their beat. Rhythm dominates this record in many forms, and there are thematic references aplenty, from African guitarist/composer/author Francis Bebey in the album's opener; to one track's simultaneous reference to both an Ethiopian holy river and Scottish dreampop band/Linn drum machine pioneers Blue Nile; to the album's title, a reference to a girl beheaded for refusing to marry her father, a Pagan Irish chief, and who is commonly regarded as the patron saint of those who suffer from and have been victims of mental illness, incest, and epilepsy. Throughout much of the record, the layers of beats tangle and mingle with smooth, hazy synth parts which echo everything from Cocteau Twins to Italo disco -- I've remarked to people that the band's transition in sound here reminds me in some ways of Chromatics or Glass Candy's transition from itchy art-punks to smoothed-out disco-sex mavens ("Italians Do It Better," as their label proclaims). There's definitely a similarity here, though GGD front woman Lizzy Bougatsos's delivery is still as much Danielle Dax as it is Debbie Harry -- just listen to the album's two most talked about tracks, the "Rapture"-esque grime-lite crossover attempt "Princes" (with guest MC Tinchy Stryder) or "House Jam," which in some odd way does evoke vibes of "Holiday"-era Madonna or a Timbaland jam more than it does anything in the band's past, and then compare it to a track like "Desert Storm," in which she shifts from cooing to caterwauling at the drop of a hat. This is a fantastic album filled with daring attempts to move out of what could easily have become a creative ghetto for the band, and while not all of the ideas stick, the successes here certainly outweigh the negatives and show the promise for what may possibly be a very intriguing future for a band who has always proven to be intriguing from its beginnings. Definitely my pick of the week, as well as that of many others. [IQ] "Desert Storm" from Gang Gang Dance's new album is currently available as a free download off of Other Music Digital -- good through this Friday.


	$19.99 CD $9.99 MP3		TOIVO TULEV Songs (Harmonia Mundi) "Nigra Sum" "By Night" For such a tiny country, Estonia sure has a lot of extraordinarily gifted composers; Erki-Sven Tuur, Lepo Sumera, Veljo Tormis, and most famously Arvo Part, just to name a few. Estonia is also home to one of the greatest choral groups currently in existence, the Estonian Philharmonic Chamber Choir, of whom the relatively young composer Toivo Tulev once counted himself a member. Like Arvo Part, Tulev is thoroughly steeped in the music of Gregorian chant, and there is a palpable religious gravity to the pieces on Songs that would certainly place him in the company of the so-called "Mystic Minimalists." He's adapted a variety of texts for use here, including the 'Song of Song's, and a couple of poems by the Spanish mystic St. John of the Cross, and he's managed to strike a fine balance in his settings by being at turns appropriately somber, and spiritually incandescent. If you're like me, and do not possess a religious bone in your body, I think you will still not fail to be moved by what he's accomplished here. The piece is ingeniously arranged, with groups of singers and a small orchestra that includes unusual instruments like the dudek, placed throughout the performance venue, and the engineer has done a superb job of capturing the spatial complexity and ambient effects that result. The singing is just supremely beautiful, and if you're a fan of Tavener, Part, or Gorecki you should absolutely love this recording. [MK]


	$21.99 CD		RYOJIRO FURUSAWA & KAN MIKAMI Buriki / Tin (PSF) "People and People and People" "Hand Autumn Leaves" Another shocking disc from the reliable (reliably wacky) PSF label, this focusing on seventies Japanese-blues legend Kan Mikami, here accompanied by jazz drummer extraordinaire Ryojiro Furusawa, who lends his trademark skitter to Mikami's melancholy tones. I can't say I've bumped into Furusawa before, but according to PSF, Furusawa has lent his stick-skills to plenty of sixties acts including Yosuke Yamashita, Sadao Watanabe and Yuji Imamura, and he certainly sounds at ease next to the God-like Mikami. Furusawa's scattershot rhythms prove the perfect foil for Mikami's doomed wails and the two create an incredible noise together, expunging emotions reserved for late night sessions at the bottom of a bottle of cheap whisky. This is music from an older, more experienced generation, music which comes from the horror of longevity; and from the sounds of it this duo has seen and heard it all. There's love and loss, pain and hatred, and a sense that we shouldn't even try to carry on breathing at the rate the world is fizzling out. But twinned with this (and just to stop you from throwing yourself off of the nearest bridge) is a sense of the inevitable, and as Mikami wordlessly groans over minor chords and a throbbing rhythm, all that's left for us to do is let the bad times roll. With an election coming, it would seem now's as poor a time as ever to remember our worries and give the hell up. A huge, huge recommendation. [JT]


	Shed $15.99 CD Lee Jones $17.99 CD Marcin Czubala $17.99 CD		SHED Shedding the Past (Ostgut) "Another Wedged Chicken" "That Beats Everything" LEE JONES Electronic Frank (Aus) "Theme for Frank" "Roadwork" MARCIN CZUBALA Chronicles of Never (Mobilee) "Spectacles for Humans" "Pravda" Three new, solid records combined here in this review only for the fact that they are all arriving at the shop just in time to save us from the "minimal blahs." I also gotta give a shout-out to Minimum Frank. Also known as Eagle Eyes Frank, he's the guy who comes in every Monday or Thursday and picks out all the new electronic jams that these here jaded eyes have glossed over. Oftentimes the awful cover art is to blame for throwing me off the trail but nevertheless, Frank's un-jaded take on new-tronica has opened my eyes and ears to many albums I woulda otherwise ignored. Frank is cool, a music head with enthusiasm, knowledge and nothing to prove, the guy just likes to share. First up is Shed's full-length, Shedding the Past. Despite the title, this album is not entirely forward-thinking, as it has that human angularity that helped put Detroit on the map. Let's just say he's tweaking the past and making a run for it enough to make his Midwestern US forbearers proud. The beginning of the album has a long-distance clickiness riding over the top that at first seems like a tech-y Villalobos. Fortunately there is much more to it than that, like the recent Headhunter release on Tempa. The album begins to slowly turn inside out through a believable range of masterfully deep, minimal house. Everything from bent-loop techno, lush minimal house, dubstep(?!) and deep techno stompers are explored with all the focus, personality and skill necessary to make a surprisingly cohesive, consistently impressive, standout album. It's one of those good, familiar yet fresh sounding albums. (The mid-album mini-manifesto confirms Shed's inspiration to make exactly that kind of record.) Don't doubt, play this s*t out!! Next is the new Lee Jones full-length, Electronic Frank*. I gotta give even more props to "Eagles Eyes." Why? Because he pulled the single copy of this album (we initially only got one copy) out of the electronica ghetto, with its Fruit Stripe Gum zebra cover art, and was like, "Whoa, this is the dude from...uh...oh yeah, My My!!" This jam has all the playful bounce of My My, with less jazz/house elements, in a more stripped-down way that is somehow still poppy; dynamic, integrated samples that are fun but avoid kitsch, the unmistakable lob and throb/track evolution. This one has the perfect balance of fun, warmth, depth, funk and style. Generic words maybe, but the way they are combined in this album works. Anyone feeling the My My stuff will definitely appreciate where this record is coming from as it is a genuine step forward!! This one was bought by track three when we played it in the shop last weekend! Last up is the new Mobilee full-length from Marcin Czubala! All the hiccup-y, percolatin' minimal bleep-funk we've come to expect from this consistently good label, I can play this crap all day as it has all the melody and un-boring breakdowns that we don't normally get to feel from this kinda stuff. I'm not being backhanded when I say this is acid house for sensitive dudes. The Mobilee label always has that sense of emotive, intimate drama embedded in the funky minimalism. Well done!!! (Second CD in this group to be bought out of the CD player a few tracks in when we sampled it in the shop.) All highly recommended! [SM]


	$5.99 CD-EP		SAM TAYLOR-WOOD I'm in Love with a German Film Star (Kompakt) "I’m In Love With A German Film Star" UK visual artist Sam Taylor-Wood takes on a new medium with this Kompakt released single. Having a long working relationship with the Pet Shop Boys, directing the film for their Somewhere concerts and even singing on their renditions of "Je t'aime... moi non plus," and "Love to Love You Baby," Neil Tennant and Chris Lowe return the favor, producing her single, a cover of the Passions' "I'm in Love with a German Film Star." The first striking thing about Taylor-Wood's version of this classic post-punk song is how the guitars are swapped out with synths, and the simple stark rhythm of the original is replaced with a laptop beat. I've always felt like the point of this song is fantasy -- the Passions' Barbara Gogan's vocals sounded as though she was there in body, but singing with her mind somewhere else. In contrast, Taylor-Wood ups the provocative charm several notches, which is especially apparent at the end of the "PSB Symphonic Mix" and also Gui Borrato's reworking, where she takes a cue from Serge Gainsbourg's muses and Donna Summer sighing and moaning in ecstasy. [KP]


	$14.99 CD $12.99 LP $9.99 MP3		THE SEA AND CAKE Car Alarm (Thrill Jockey) "On a Letter" "Down in the City" Now on their seventh full-length, Chicago mainstays the Sea and Cake are like old friends, reminders of a time when the music scene was just that little bit more, well, simple. Math rock wasn't yet a dangerous turn of phrase, post-rock was something for the bright-eyed teens and Sam Prekop and Archer Prewitt's light-hearted take on the Chicago sound was a breath of fresh air. Car Alarm certainly doesn't try to break the mold in any way, but what it lacks in freshness it makes up for in conviction and sheer skill. There are few bands around who blend the sweetness of the Sea and Cake's songwriting with the technical skill each member offers. Happily though, the band never lapse into the iffy pseudo-jazz that drummer John McEntire is sometimes associated with -- and Car Alarm is a pop record first and foremost. The title track for instance would give indie-pop hipsters Deerhunter a run for their money blending a retro sound with a jagged modern cynicism, and elsewhere "Down in the City" shows that the foursome haven't forgotten their innate ability to blend complex rhythms with glorious chiming guitar melodies. A new Sea And Cake album is always going to excite certain areas of the music scene, but Car Alarm might just have the clout to grab a few young stragglers into the fray. [JT]


	$29.99 CDx2		FELA KUTI Lagos Baby (Vampisoul) "Orise" "Mi o Mo" Let's be clear: If you're a deep Fela fan, you need this. Vampisoul issues a 2CD compilation of Nigerian heavyweight Fela Kuti's earliest recordings as a bandleader with his highlife (read: pre-Afrobeat) group Koola Lobitos. An outstanding selection of 7" 45 RPM singles originally released on the RK, Phillips, and Parlophone labels (Fela's earliest recordings), the first and only Koola Lobitos EMI Nigeria LP, which was partially reissued on Barclay France with four cuts missing (but restored here), and the cream of the crop to my ears: tracks from a 1966 Phillips/Polydor 10" live LP Afro Beat Onstage - Live at the Afro Spot, during which the band is so hot they practically set your player on fire, with Fela screaming, hooting, and hollering like James Brown at the Apollo Theater as the band responds with equal intensity. It's important to note two things here: first, many of these recordings are not in pristine condition -- there are lots of strange hisses, crackles and warbles from the condition of the masters (particularly on the 45s) being improperly stored over the years -- yet in an odd turn of events these imperfections add quite a bit of character similar to those of old Studio One reggae recordings, or even Black Ark-era Lee Perry jams. Second, all of this material HAS been released on CD before, though only in Japan via an expensive 3CD collection on the P-Vine label. That collection WAS imported into the USA and elsewhere as recently as two years ago, so if you own the P-Vine Koola Lobitos set, this is the exact same music, simply put onto two CDs rather than three, and at a (much) lower price than the Japanese set. With that being said, as I mentioned earlier, this rarities collection is ESSENTIAL listening for any fan of Fela or of Nigerian highlife in general. As usual, excellent liner notes and photos galore complete the package. [IQ]


	$17.99 CD		VARIOUS ARTISTS Afrobeat Nirvana - Vampisoul Goes to Africa (Vampisoul) "Belama" Opotopo "Oriri Jerode" Godwin Omobuwa With each and every stellar compilation of modern African rhythms that hits our shelves, the more stunned and inspired we are. In the past couple of years since this music has become more readily available for public consumption, the more we hear its influence in most of the new popular rock bands of today. Whether it's Coldplay touching upon the desert sprawl of Tuareg blues, Vampire Weekend's shimmery highlife guitars or the Afro-funk stutter claps of a Madlib beat, more and more African sounds seems to be seeping into the modern musical landscape. In my opinion, Vampisoul is one of the select few labels indirectly responsible for this small renaissance. Compiled from the original acetates, the music sounds better than some of the original vinyls. If you've heard or purchased the Afro-Disco Beat, Afro-Soul, or Lagos Baby comps (as many of you have), you can attest to the quality of these releases. And if you've missed out, fear not! This collection is a catchall sampler of some of their fave tracks from aforementioned comps, presented in a compact, easily digestible package; big names like Tony Allen, Fela and Victor Olaiya sit alongside lesser-knowns as Opotopo and Godwin Omobuwa. Killer Highlife, Afro-beat, funk, and more are presented here. Like the liner notes proclaim: "If you don't dance to these, you're dead!" [DH]


	$29.99 CDx2 $32.99 LPx2		VARIOUS ARTISTS Highlife Time (Vampisoul) "Jolosho" St. Augustine "Oko" Rex Lawson and His Rivers Men The Vampisoul label issues this outstanding 2CD collection of highlife music from Nigeria & Ghana in the '60s and '70s. Chock full of rarities and seldom anthologized cuts, this collection does a fine job in documenting the sound that dominated the region before Afrobeat took over as THE Nigerian sound. Highlife was near inescapable during this period, and listening to tracks by ET Mensah, Victor Uwaifo, Rex Lawson, et al, it's easy to fall under the spell and figure out why -- the music is funky, melodic, and deeply uplifting. Simply put, it just makes you feel GOOD. Excellent liner notes and photos round out a set that may prove to be essential listening for hardcore Nigerian music fans, yet also proves to be an excellent entry point for neophytes. [IQ]


	$26.99 CDx2		VARIOUS ARTISTS Sing Me a Rainbow - Trident Anthology (Ace) "You Were on My Mind" We Five "Go and Hide" The Sons of Champlin After the stellar San Fran Nuggets box set a few years back, Sing Me a Rainbow comes to offer an even deeper look at the subcategories and counter-counterculture cliques of the late-'60s Bay Area scene. In this case, the magnifying glass is set above Trident Productions, a label and Brill-Building style hit factory run for a very short time by Kingston Trio manager Frank Werber. The label had a smash hit right out of the box with the We Five's folkie bubblegum anthem "You Were on My Mind" (an AM radio fave to this day), but the success story, at least commercially, stopped there. The extended story of the label, family of artists and very unique moment in history is told over the course of this two-disc, 44 track set, with a plethora of relatively unheard cuts that fall somewhere in the grey area between breezy folk rock and the SF acid rock scene that was forming at the time. There's a frantic, rushed energy to a lot of the songs, but not in the way where a lot of song-machine labels sometimes had to rush productions before the fads they were jumping on (and money surrounding those fads) evaporated. Tracks like the Mystery Trend's "Carrots on a String" and the Sons of Champlin's take on the title track feel they had to finish the song before the ideas themselves and the bustling scene around the bands and flower-power characters around SF at the time cycled through and became something else. A fantastic snapshot of a feeling that was moving too fast to ever stick to anything at the time, and a deeper definition of the San Francisco sound. Awesome. [FT]


	$17.99 CD		FRANKIE DYMON JR. Let It Out (Germanofon) "Together Train" No Title In all probability you've never come across this scarce German oddity before, and to be quite honest the first name that jumped out at me on scanning the liner notes was the almost omnipresent Krautrock legend Conny Plank. Here Plank appears on engineering duties, and lends his well-honed skills to an album of incredibly quirky progressive beat poetry led by the enigmatic Frankie Dymon Jr. The identity of Dymon Jr. is almost unimportant in the grand scheme of things, the record is actually led by German veterans Achim Reichel and Frank Dostal, but it is Dymon Jr's image and lyrics that were clearly the marketing force behind the album. For the most part his 'poetry' is lacking slightly, but somehow gives gravity to the always-interesting musical backings from Reichel and Dostal. The tracks pound with a barbarian Bavarian energy; all fuzzed-out lead lines, singing prog rhythms and occasional flourishes of electronic nonchalance. It's a record that practically defines most people's idea of the 'out' sound of 70s prog and is bursting with breaks, creativity and vigor from the low-slung funk rock of "Together Train" to the more arresting experimental bleeps and bleats of album-highlight "Aftermyth." Re-issue hounds and progressive aficionados among you should check without delay, this is a good 'un. [JT]


	$17.99 CD		ALEX Alex / That's the Deal (Germanofon) "Ekmekh" "Lost Muezzin" One benefit of having economically short albums, as they so often did in the 60s and 70s, is that they can be bundled up on one nice modern (ish) compact disc, ready to be consumed by those of us with a rabid desire for all things old and rare. This tasty little double whammy is from German Alex (surnames be damned, that's all he's credited as) but despite his heritage, this is an unexpectedly Anatolian excursion. On his self-titled debut, Alex grabs hold of Can-veterans and Krautrock masterminds Holger Czukay and Jaki Leibezeit to help him out on production duties, but those expecting a Can-style metronomic avant-rock assault are looking in the wrong place. Rather Alex takes in influence from his adopted home of Turkey, setting aside his Germanic musical prowess and the skill of his collaborators and blending it neatly with the Turkish traditional music that surrounds him. We've had a glut of Turkish treats appear from the B-Music camp in the last couple of years, most notably albums from Selda and Ersen, and this would be a good link in terms of sound if not in terms of authenticity. Alex blends the electric or acoustic saz and baglama with his more traditional rock guitar parts and propulsive rhythms, keeping to the Arabic scale, which gives the tracks that all-important Eastern feel. Probably the most obvious and most effective example of this is the fuzzed out opener "Patella Black," but Alex proves he's at ease with the themes, only slipping up towards the album's close as he lapses back into more traditional rock. That's the Deal sees Alex slipping into a comfortable ease with electric instrumentation, and much of the acoustic jangle of his debut is now all but gone, replaced by pounding basses and cascading electric guitars. The Anatolian focus of Alex is also pushed slightly into the background, and becomes more of an influence than a centerpiece only occasionally surfacing, more often than not appearing only in Alex's choice of riffs. We have "Pusherman"-lite moments like "Walk High" sitting next to the jangling pseudo Turk haze of "Cross-Sections," one of the artist's most arresting moments and it all just about holds without ever getting as deep into US country as it threatens to. Ambitious and unashamedly odd, Alex is nothing but original and definitely worth a look for avid Anatolian enthusiasts. [JT]


	$22.99 CD		ARCHIMEDES BADKAR Badrock for Barn I Alla Aldrar (Southside) "Wago Goreze" "Jarnet" "Archimedes Badkar will always remind me of easy times, the joy of discovering something new and making it sound easy to do." -Jim O'Rourke It's astonishing how the small, underground Swedish prog-rock scene of the late sixties and early seventies produced so many amazing albums in such a short amount of time. The German Krautrock scene was bigger but in terms of quality, Trad Gras/Harvester, Samla Mammas Manna and Archimedes Badkar albums hold their own next to any Can, Guru Guru, or Faust release from that same period. For those not familiar with this seven-piece, Archimedes Badkar represent the second wave of Swedish prog-rock. Formed in the early 70s and following in the footsteps of the pioneering works of Trad Gras and Samla, the band was led by percussionist/keyboardist Per Tjernberg. Badrock, however, is probably a lot more influenced by the instrumental works of Soft Machine, Mahavishnu Orchestra, Frank Zappa and Don Cherry than their Swedish counterparts; but like Samla, there's a healthy dose of gypsy folk, North African percussion, Eastern drones and other "world" influences pervading throughout. What also sets this band apart from the others is the incorporation of the circular, minimalist ideas of Terry Riley, La Monte Young and Steve Reich. The centerpiece of the album is the 13-minute "Wago Goreze;" here the band introduces a modal, sax-led interlocking, trancey melody which is offset by textural hand percussion and bells that slowly build into a rickety jazz-funk workout. The second half of the record introduces Cuban rhythms, European acoustic folk ruminations, hard instrumental funk rock, and a mellow take on " A Love Supreme" as well, and it's all tightly arranged, sans the jarring, self-indulgent tendencies of most of their contemporaries. Archimedes Badkar continued to stretch out musically over the course of the next two albums with excellent results and by the time of their final LP, a collaboration with a Tanzanian pop band, they had pretty much abandoned any sort of "rock" element and were a fully realized Afro-jazz band. But this debut has been hailed by many as one of the finest European prog-rock albums of its time. It has a bit of a holy grail-like reputation amongst these circles for its rarity and this is probably the only type of proper reissue that this record has ever seen. [DH]


	$11.99 CD		THE FALL Imperial Wax Solvent (Sanctuary) "50 Year Old Man" "Is This New" With every new Fall record, you'll find the same split decision regarding its quality, then years later you'll see any number of acolytes scrambling like mad to pick up a copy for their own. That will likely be the case with Imperial Wax Solvent, studio album #25 and counting, and one of the most direct and immediately satisfying Fall albums in a while. Coming off of the handsome use of "Blindness" in a car commercial that's been running for over a year or more, and Mark E. Smith's recent dance-pop-squelch triumph with Mouse on Mars as Von Sudenfed, the latest incarnation of the Fall has produced a meaty, modern record, with Smith's lyrics and vocal delivery at its most caustic and cartoon-like in some time. Anchoring the album is 12-minute sprawl "50 Year Old Man," celebrating Smith's advanced age by dousing you with a bucket of vinegar -- the song grinds on relentlessly, pausing for brief banjo interludes and abstract sound bites while cramming big, hard riffs all over the place -- certainly enough material for one EP, jammed into the album to start a fight. Elsewhere you'll find a band coming to terms with a love for synthesizers and dance music, one whose ability to graft those ideas into a punk/rock context is uncanny as always. Smith steps away from vocals almost completely on "I've Been Duped" (his wife, Eleni, handles the leads, albeit nicer than Brix), the band lays into a grimy cover of the Groundhogs' "Strange Town," and everything falls together nicely. They even get the weird song "Alton Towers" out of the way as the leadoff track; the Fall are back, mad as hell, and have no room for loss of momentum. [DM]


	$15.99 DVD		GETATCHEW MEKURYA & THE EX 11 Ethiopunk Songs (Buda Musique) After the rollicking good time that was Moa Anbessa, the Ex's CD collaboration with Ethiopian sax legend Getatchew Mekurya, we now offer up this fine DVD document of live and studio performances by the pairing released by the fine folks at Buda Musique, home of the wonderful Ethiopiques CD series and the second volume (after the pairing of Mahmoud Ahmed & Either/Orchestra) of their Ethiosonic DVD series. 11 Ethiopunk Songs, a film by Stephane Jourdain, follows this unlikely grouping into the studio during the making of the Moa Anbessa CD, as well as during subsequent live performances, including the closing night of the Banlieues Bleues festival in France. As ferocious as the live footage is in the film, for me the true inspiration comes in the behind-the-scenes studio footage -- the Ex speak no Amharic, and Mekurya little English or Dutch, so to see these musicians find a common creative medium with which to communicate their ideas and to do it with such intensity proves to be a beautiful thing to behold. It's a true testament to the real communicative power of music and is not to be missed. [IQ]


	$24.99 CDx4		THE PHILIP GLASS ENSEMBLE Music in Twelve Parts (Orange Mountain) What can I say? This is a totally essential set for anyone even remotely interested in Minimalism, and despite the extraordinary success and range of Philip Glass' career in the years since its inception, it will still probably be the work that will secure his place in history and make it impossible for haters to dismiss. Composed between the years of 1971-74, Music for 12 Parts was the culmination of ideas he'd been developing since the '60s, and it is a work of extraordinary mathematical precision and hallucinatory repetition. Where his later music conjures the clean lines and fine craftsmanship of a luxury automobile, Music for 12 Parts brings to mind the obsessive architecture of a monumental Sol Lewitt sculpture or drawing of interlocking grids and shapes self generating into space. Four discs, a mere twenty-five dollars, you need it. [MK]


	$10.99 CD $9.99 MP3		THE DEAD C Secret Earth (Ba Da Bing!) "Plains" "Mansions" We're in a recession, so maybe it's fitting that the Dead C. has returned to rock-based forms to bring across their anguished languish, full-bore rock deconstruction. The esteemed New Zealand trio hasn't been this on point since 1995's Tusk, and here they give up any semblance of non-traditional (for them) experimentalism -- no electronics pieces, no digital skipping, nothing cerebral other than the throbbing headache these four long, tumultuous tracks could generate. It's great to hear old masters of non-electronic noise going at it in a stance they helped to create, and as always, there's very little around that sounds quite like the Dead C., not-so-elegantly wasted, ragged, struggling panoramas of post-industrial depressives meant to freeze where others would console. Secret Earth recalls the group's glory days, and gives us hope that they're not behind. [DM]


	$14.99 CD $24.99 LPx2 (180 Gram)		OF MONTREAL Skeletal Lamping (Polyvinyl) "Nonpareil of Favor" "Wicked Wisdom" Perhaps aiming to achieve the success they've almost always been promised, Kevin Barnes' of Montreal have sculpted their latest full-length Skeletal Lamping in a clear bid for universal appeal. There's a drama here, a pomp and a sexual vigor previously unheard from the band, and everything comes wrapped in an electrified package primed to hit fans of their erstwhile protégés MGMT and the mom-friendly Scissor Sisters clean in the nose. This probably isn't endearing the album to either previous fans or the sour-faced indie brigade but you have to hand it to Barnes, he knows how to write a quirky pop song, and the intricate symphonic pop hooks he's always been so good at are still here in droves and firing on all cylinders. Just check the saccharine, gender-bending sexual poppery of "For Our Elegant Castle," a song almost tailor made to be dressed in thick spandex. Sure it might not be breaking new ground but neon-colored pop music this tightly honed is pretty hard to come by, and for all its unashamed Bowie-referencing cynicism there's a lot to love about Skeletal Lamping. Trust me, you'll be mouthing along to Barnes' highly charged (and occasionally worrying) lyrics in no time, and that's got to be a good thing, hasn't it? [JT]


	$14.99 CD $14.99 LP $9.99 MP3		PARTS & LABOR Receivers (Jagjaguwar) "Little Ones" The newest release from these Brooklyn-based noisemakers is a tremendous step forward from their earlier outings; each of Receivers' eight tracks is a rich and dynamic production that elevates the band's noodlings to new heights. Parts & Labor have traded in some, though not all, of their frenetic abstract squall in favor of more intentional melodic progression, flirting with "art rock", Krautrock, weirdo folk, Robert Wyatt-esque obliqueness and much more, to wonderful results. A new lineup of the band, and a newfound confidence and originality.


	$14.99 CD		THE DEARS Missiles (Dangerbird) "Money Babies" This is, to a large extent, a different band than appeared on 2006's Gang of Losers LP. Front man Murray Lightburn and wife Natalia Yanchak remain at the core, but not much else. The result is a more abstract, intensely personal album that has less hooky drive (and less overt Smiths influence), more soaring orchestration (harking back to the acclaimed No Cities Left-era of the group), and a sad and sweet introspective tone. Dark, brooding, and richly textured, a la TV on the Radio or Radiohead.


	$10.99 LP $13.99 CD $9.99 MP3		VIVIAN GIRLS Vivian Girls (In the Red) "Wild Eyes" "Where Do You Run To" It's really nice to hear a band like the Vivian Girls getting some props, whether it be on stage opening for Sonic Youth or through the efforts of Euro-advantaged folks overseas who've driven the first pressing of their LP up to around the cost of a barrel of light sweet crude. It's nice because this is a band reaching back to a very specific corner of independent music. It's not that any of us don't want to hear another gypsy-cabaret punk outfit, or vaguely Afro-centric ska band, or a bunch of singing hippies crooning about the end of the world. It's just that the familiar can bring out the best in us, and the familiar that the Girls traffic in calls to mind lost rainy-day classics like Black Tambourine or the Shop Assistants. And in an era of macho striped-tee garage addicts, it's been a line in the sand. That these ladies have waltzed their way onto America's premiere garage punk label In the Red speaks to their uncanny ability to layer loss, remorse, even rage into the prettiest 2-minute pop songs, echoing out to infinity. [DM]


	Pre-order $24.99 CDx2		PAVEMENT Brighten the Corners: Nicene Creedence Edition (Matador) Pre-order Pavement's Brighten the Corners: Nicene Creedence Edition and you will become part of Matador's Buy Early Get Now pre-order promotion! You will receive the following: October 10th: Instant stream of the album October 15th: Bonus track #1 November 4th: Bonus track #2 December 9th: Your record will be shipped along with a vinyl LP containing an unreleased live Pavement show and a free poster!* That's right. A free LP if you Buy Early Get Now. The bonus live LP was recorded during the first Brighten tour and scheduled for release as OLE-324 in July 1998, but was then shelved... until now. Complete info on our mailorder website's News Page. *Please note, due to delays at the vinyl press, the release date is now pushed back to December 9th. The Buy Early Get Now Schedule remains the same, except that release of album, bonus LP and poster have all moved to Dec 9.


	Pre-order Sale $12.99 CD		ARTHUR RUSSELL Love Is Overtaking Me (Audika) Staff and customers are going to be thrilled for this next installment in Audika's series of Arthur Russell releases. The latest CD, Love Is Overtaking Me, is filled with unreleased gems from his vaults, and it collects previously unreleased tracks that explore Russell's singer-songwriter side, as he ventures into folk, pop and country. Shipped to arrive on or near the October 28 release date.


	Pre-order Sale $12.99 CDx2		DEERHUNTER Microcastle (Kranky) Deerhunter's follow-up to last year's Cryptograms is the definition of "highly-anticipated;" so much so, in fact, that the album made an unscheduled early appearance on the web months ago, to the ire of the band and label. What choice did they have, but to record an entire second bonus album for their actual paying fans! Their extended studio time finds Deerhunter making some of their most beautiful, hook-filled music to date. Shipped to arrive on or near the October 28 release date.


	Pre-order Sale $9.99 CD Pre-order Sale $6.99 CD		CRYSTAL STILTS Alight of Night (Slumberland) CAUSE CO-MOTION! It's Time! (Slumberland) We are also proud to offer two albums on the newly resurrected Slumberland label, the debut full-lengths from two of our favorite Brooklyn bands. Crystal Stilts' Alight of Night is one of the finest records of the year, a masterpiece that is filled with minimal post-punk rhythms, C-86 melodies, distorted feedback and jangling guitars, and a distant vocal delivery. And finally, caUSE co-MOTION present us with It's Time!, a singles collection that compiles all four of their seven-inches and their track from the Jowe Head split. A stunning foray into frantic, lo-fi power pop, not a track comes close to the two-minute mark, and that is just perfect with us. Catchy as hell, and one to be played over and over, It's Time! is on sale for only $6.99! There really is no excuse not to add this to your collection! Shipped to arrive on or near the October 28 release date.


	PHONE ORDERS Phone orders are accepted at (212) 477-8150 (ext. #2, mailorder) Mon-Fri, Noon - 7pm EST EMAIL For general inquiries or other information please email sales@othermusic.com. Do not reply to this message. REMOVE This is an automated list. If you would like to be removed for any reason, please visit: digital.othermusic.com/subscribe.php		THIS WEEK'S CONTRIBUTORS [DH] Duane Harriott [IQ] Mikey IQ Jones [MK] Michael Klausman [DM] Doug Mosurock [SM] Scott Mou [KP] Kimberly Powenski [FT] Fred Thomas [JT] John Twells THANKS FOR READING - all of us at Other Music

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