January 22, 2009

		Pre-order $13.99 CD w/Ticket   PHOSPHORESCENT PRE-ORDER & TICKET GIVEAWAY Phosphorescent have put together a haunting new record of Willie Nelson cover songs for their forthcoming release (out February 3rd on Dead Oceans). To celebrate, they'll be performing the album in its entirety in a few select cities, including Brooklyn on February 28th at the beautiful new Gowanus venue, the Bell House. Other Music is pleased to offer one ticket to this special performance to the first 25 customers who purchase the CD from us. SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 28 THE BELLHOUSE: 149 7th Street (between 2nd & 3rd Avenues) Brooklyn

		FEATURED NEW RELEASES Animal Collective J. Tillman Antony & the Johnsons Group Bombino (Sublime Frequencies LP) Six Organs of Admittance Happy End Matt & Kim Wicked Witch Intrusion Ronnie McNeir No Bunny Psychic Ills Loren Connors & Jim O'Rourke Adam Payne A.C. Newman Bon Iver Lukid Studio 1 Swervedriver   Royal Trux (LP reissues) KTL Thom Yorke Andrew Bird Pari Zangeneh ALSO AVAILABLE Colossal Yes Robert Pollard Robert Henke Titus Andronicus ON VINYL Chico Magnetic Band BACK IN PRINT Telescopes

		JAN Sun 18 Mon 19 Tues 20 Wed 21 Thurs 22 Fri 23 Sat 24   OTHER MUSIC IN-STORE PERFORMANCE THOMAS FUNCTION: Friday, January 23 @ 8:30 PM We're pretty excited about this upcoming performance from Thomas Function, who create some of the catchiest garage punk that the South has ever offered! OTHER MUSIC: 15 East 4th Street NYC Free Admission / Limited Capacity

		JAN Sun 18 Mon 19 Tues 20 Wed 21 Thurs 22 Fri 23 Sat 24   M83 TICKET GIVE AWAY This Saturday, January 24, M83 comes to town for a special double bill at Irving Plaza, first presenting an opening set of their ambient music followed by a second set in support of the recent Saturday = Youth album. Other Music has one pair of tickets up for grabs to this excellent event. To enter, email tickets@othermusic.com. We'll be picking the lucky winner on Friday, January 23rd. SATURDAY, JANUARY 24 IRVING PLAZA: 17 Irving Place NYC

		JAN Sun 25 Mon 26 Tues 27 Wed 28 Thurs 29 Fri 30 Sat 31   WIN TICKETS TO NIGHTMARES ON WAX Nightmares on Wax will be making a swing through NYC in support of their excellent Thought So... album, and Other Music is happy to offer two pairs of tickets to the best party in town next Tuesday, Jan 27 at the Bowery Ballroom. To enter, email giveaway@othermusic.com. We'll notify the two winners on Friday, January 23. TUESDAY, JANUARY 27 BOWERY BALLROOM: 6 Delancey Street NYC

		$13.99 CD $9.99 MP3 PRE-ORDER $21.99 LPx2   ANIMAL COLLECTIVE Merriweather Post Pavilion (Domino) "My Girls" "Summertime Clothes" Amid all the stories of leaks, counter leaks and other such hipster espionage, it's sometimes easy to lose interest in a record altogether. Hell, Deerhunter had to write a whole new album to make up for it, so what do Animal Collective do? Well, they do nothing and to be quite honest, with an album this good they're quite justified in resting on their laurels. I must say now, the Collective have never totally convinced me in the past -- while others were foaming at the mouth extolling the virtues of Feels and Strawberry Jam, I only really pricked up an ear on hearing Panda Bear's frankly majestic Person Pitch. Riding on a promise of "freaky", "psychedelic" near-folk, the band have, however, slowly stumbled through stereotypes and lazy genre placement to arrive on a sound that is very much their own. The last couple of records (more if you include Panda's solo excursions) have seen the Collective take a firm grip of Brian Wilson-patented saccharine pop, but where those releases still seemed to have another boot lodged somewhere in an experimental wasteland, Merriweather Post Pavillion is where the band's skewed pop vision assuredly takes center stage. The folk leanings of their past are now left to the music historians and Animal Collective reframe themselves as some kind of post-electro act leaving the carcass of the neo-folk scene to their less talented hangers on. This is the record MGMT wished they could make -- all slinky electronic hooks and enough charisma to keep Kirsten Dunst in tow, but with a lo-fi experimental haze giving you the feeling that you really haven't heard this before. "'My Girls" fights through a Guido-techno arpeggio to reveal the most accessible track the band have ever laid claim to -- somewhere in-between Panda Bear's "Bros" and early (pre sell-out) Human League. It might sound hard to believe but there are enough ideas in here and enough grandeur to keep the Brooklyn copyists on their toes for years to come. Through a deep knowledge of music and a genuine love of their craft, this oft-misunderstood band of lads has finally done what they set out to do. They might upset purists with their shiny new electronic direction but when they're doing it this well, who really needs instruments anyway? I have a feeling we're in for a great '09... [JT] PLEASE NOTE: The double LP version is currently being repressed but should be in stock within the next two weeks.

		$14.99 CD $9.99 MP3   J. TILLMAN Vacilando Territory Blues (Western Vinyl) "Firstborn" "New Imperial Grand Blue" Vacilando Territory Blues is apparently J.Tillman's fifth album, but this is the first we've heard of him and we'll no doubt be seeking out the other four post-haste. He's recently joined Fleet Foxes as a drummer and vocal harmonist, so his profile is likely to rise here in the near future. Like his new bandmates, Tillman's sound is certainly steeped in any number of late-sixties and early-seventies singer-songwriter and country-folk influences, but at no time does he come off as being slavishly indebted to them. Apart from a couple of "Tonight's the Night" type slow burners, Tillman's mainly trafficking in very hushed and exceedingly well-crafted songs of the sort we used to hear from Iron and Wine, till he made his big AOR leap. It's really tough to make this sort of thing memorable, but like Bon Iver and Vetiver, two other acts whose work this album reminds me of a bit, Tillman has a firm grasp and understanding of the kinds of dynamics needed to make a song stick in your craw. And it also helps that he really knows how to sing; I'm telling you this album is going to have folks positively swooning. A very beautiful piece of work that could easily inspire the same sort of devotion people have been feeling for For Emma this past year. [MK]

		$12.99 CD $9.99 MP3   ANTONY & THE JOHNSONS The Crying Light (Secretly Canadian) "Epilepsy Is Dancing" "Kiss My Name" It took us a minute to shift gears from the high-octane disco revelry of Hercules and Love Affair (which Antony lent his pipes to with unparalleled diva success) back into the intense, dramatic poesy that Antony Hegarty regularly conjures with his own group. Sure, we miss such bodily pleasures, but The Crying Light, Antony's first effort since winning the Mercury Prize for I Am a Bird Now, evokes something more intangible, poignant, and bittersweet. Unfettered by beats or glintz (and quite honestly, for all of the brilliance of Bird, too often we had to hear Antony hemmed in by his famous guests), his voice swoops up higher than ever here. Matters of spiritual import, the decay of flesh, the tumult of light and dark, all are here in all their manifest glory. A swooning, aching, heart-rending effort once again from one of the finest singers of our generation. [AB]

		$24.99 LP   GROUP BOMBINO Guitars from Agadez Vol. 2 (Sublime Frequencies) "This is the music of rebellion," asserts Hisham Mayet in the liner notes of Sublime Frequencies' latest gatefold-sleeved vinyl pressing. With only 1500 LPs to go around, you may want to purchase now and finish this review later, though this pressing is up 500 copies from the last installment of Guitars from Agadez (which featured Niger's Group Inerane), the series spotlighting desert blues musicians that followers of Tinariwen or Abdulla Oumbadogou will want to check out. The combination of traditional Tuareg folk music, western pop, and unhinged psychedelic guitar on this new LP makes for some of the most refreshing sounds we've heard of late. Group Bombino is fronted by Agadez's newest guitar hero, Omara Mochtar (a/k/a Bombino), who plays both acoustic and electric, straddling the traditional sound of his youth with the electric sensibilities of today. In fact, Side A highlights "dry guitar," which displays Bombino's skill at the acoustic while Side B is fully plugged in, assaulting and distorted. Members of Group Bombino include artists from Group Inerane, as the musicians in Agadez share resources with each other, including equipment, players, songs, and a deep political conviction. United in their uprising against the government of Niger (which sells uranium to foreign companies for undisclosed sums of money while a majority of its citizens live in poverty), the music of the Tuareg in Agadez thrives on the righteous battle for equal distribution of wealth which keeps the songs fresh and vital in their resistance. As far as I'm concerned, this LP is as essential as they come. [BCa]

		$16.99 CDx2 $21.99 LPx3   SIX ORGANS OF ADMITTANCE RTZ (Drag City) "Resurrection" "Redefinition of Being" Album length is a complicated issue -- long records of late have become an advance marker of poor editing. A seventy-four-minute opus is more or less code for "too many skits and misjudged collaborations" so the prospect of a double-CD monster could easily send shivers down the spine of many a reviewer. There is a magical getout clause though, the anthology release -- the kind of release that has diehard fans fidgeting in their office chairs with promises of "rare", more or less unheard material and other such treasures. Sit this up against a name like Six Organs of Admittance and you're onto a winner, and coming as a 2CD or 3LP (yes!) set, RTZ really is a special kind of anthology release. Ben Chasny has been rather prolific over the years with countless albums on his small band of trusty labels, but next to his seminal full-length works there have been plenty of other oddities; splits, limited vinyl, CD-Rs, you name it, he's done it. Like the man's unsurpassable live sets, he manages to blend the near-pop of his Drag City output with an ear to the avant-garde, to the raga and to the drone. There are seven pieces on display here with most of them topping the ten-minute mark and a few nearing twenty minutes. These are the works that always cemented my love for Chasny, the times when he could truly experiment with the form without having to think about whether a track would be right (or not) for an album project. Uncluttered by these thoughts his work is focused and uncompromisingly abstract -- we move from vocal chants into glorious fretwork, through drones and in and out of near-tribal percussive stomps. We chance upon thick, cloudy organ jams, buzzing psychedelia and the kind of forest folk music more readily associated with the Fonal label, but somehow it all just about makes sense. Usually I would feel free to berate a release of this nature for being disjointed, but Chasny has a connecting thread through his works which makes for a deliciously coherent, if challenging listening experience. Take it from me -- you'll want to set yourself a couple of hours out of the day and listen to RTZ from beginning to end; spiritual doesn't even come close. [JT]

		$17.99 CD   HAPPY END Happy End (Erebus) Happy End were one of the most influential Japanese bands of the rock & roll era, often noted to be one of (if not THE) first band to write and perform all original material in Japanese. All of their members went on to have successful careers with both solo projects and other bands -- guitarists/vocalists Eiichi Ohtaki and Shigeru Suzuki went on to release excellent successful solo albums, drummer Takashi Matsumoto became one of Japan's most successful lyricists, and most famous outside of Japan, bassist/vocalist Haruomi Hosono went on to an incredible solo career, as well as founding another one of Japan's most famous and influential groups in the west, Yellow Magic Orchestra. But here we have a reissue of where it all began, Happy End's self-titled first album. The vibe is heavy, melancholic folk-rock with similarities to American groups like Little Feat and Buffalo Springfield, and even a bit of the British folk/rock sound of the early Island Records stable. Many songs ride subtle grooves while the guitars burn white-hot overtop of Hosono and Matsumoto's nimble bounce. Hosono is the true anchor here; the basslines are often the source of most of the true melodic content, leaving Ohtaki and Suzuki to rip it up with their guitar work. All four members contribute songs, and all but Matsumoto sing lead vocals, giving the album a wide breadth of influence and an eclectic yet consistent thematic voice. If you've been left in the cold by much of the hyperbolic, psychedelic drooling and diminishing returns left by the likes of the Japrocksampler book, and if you're searching for something a little deeper, look no further -- this album is serious business. Beautiful, longing, catchy, and most of all, quality sounds by four of Japan's greatest musicians and songwriters. Let's hope Erebus Records continues the trend and reissues the rest of Happy End's catalog; their other two albums are equally fantastic and deserve to be heard by a wider audience. Highest recommendation!! [IQ]

		$11.99 CD   MATT & KIM Grand (Fader) "Daylight" "I Wanna" It was a scorching Brooklyn afternoon in the summer of 2007, and about ten kids and I were glued to the couch of the Silent Barn, no one saying a word. That morning, we had arrived at a parking lot above an auto parts store where we were gonna help Brooklyn d.i.y. promoter Todd P set up a huge Matt & Kim show that night -- but instead of an empty room, to our surprise, we found a fully-functioning sweatshop with a sea of sewing machines going strong. It was a couple hours before doors were supposed to open, and we'd called everyone we knew who had a loft or basement or backyard, but couldn't find a replacement spot. All of a sudden, we got a call from Todd telling us to mobilize with our PVC buckets of clamp lamps and cables and other gear spilling out, and hustle down to 261 Moore Street. We arrived in Bushwick at a huge warehouse full of doors and heavy machinery and spent the next two hours frantically stacking these huge planks, consolidating debris into a huge heap, and piecing together a stage on top of a huge worktable. After about twelve hours of summer sweat and aching muscles, Matt & Kim scrambled on top of this table and started bangin' out their songs for eight hundred thrashing kids. The remarkable thing is, I think any of those kids would've given just as much to make a Matt & Kim show happen for them and their friends. Needless to say, we're unbelievably psyched to finally have Grand in our grubby hands -- it's been over two years since Matt Johnson and Kim Schifino released any new songs, but who can fault 'em? The punk-pop duo have been relentlessly touring the globe 366 days a year since 2006, and they've really made an impression -- I met a baby in Pittsburgh who can barely talk, but knows all the words to their song "Verbs Before Nouns." But instead of letting this road-weariness get to our happy-go-lucky heroes, Matt & Kim have spun homesickness into some of the catchiest songs on Grand. "I'll Take Us Home" is a simple, beaten-out tune of longing for their hometown friends, sleeping all weekend in their own bed instead of Matt's old van, and New York as a whole, but the two triumphantly look forward, vowing "Here we stand in the end." The two former Pratt students will never forget where they came from (they even self-recorded Grand in Matt's childhood bedroom) and plenty of their good-time infectiousness -- with Matt's keyboard hooks twinkling brighter than ever and a wallet strapped to Kim's snare for extra punch -- pops out of these ten new songs. There's even an instrumental number, "Cinders," named after the Williamsburg art space where Kim shows work. The real standout shocker, however, is the middle track "Lessons Learned," which starts out with Kim singing for the first truly audible time ever -- a heart-stopping moment -- and she has a killer voice! Schifino flat-out nails a Shop Assistants-style intro with rapid-fire drumming and a lackadaisically-sung, reverb-y melody. Even though Matt & Kim humbly started out back in 2004, Grand proves that they're still a necessary breath of fresh air. These kids are positive, sincere, and way into the idea that you don't have to be "too cool for school" to be cool. We may not all be as ripped as Kim, or flexible enough to hop on top of a huge stack of amps in one bound like Matt, but the duo makes us feel like we all have something in common and we're together on this one -- it's no coincidence that they decided to release Grand on Inauguration Day. Go out and grab your good time! [KS]

		$19.99 CD   WICKED WITCH Chaos 1978-86 (Em) "Fancy Dancer" "Vera's Back" The greatest reissue label of our times presents this thoroughly bizarre and unceremoniously jammin' collection of material by Washington, DC's Richard Simms. That's him on the cover, resplendent in black leather and spikes. Chaos presents ultra-rare sides by Simms released as Wicked Witch as well as a full ensemble, Paradigm, in the first-ever collection of his material, a hazy, insistent, bale of man vs. machine funk/disco/late nite drug wander. Focused to different criteria than you'd normally measure funk, this is future music, restrained by technology but not ambition, that links up Ariel Pink's Haunted Graffiti to Ronald Shannon Jackson and the Decoding Society, radio static facing the truth of the mothership floating overhead. Completely out there in ways you haven't been able to fathom until now. [DM]

		$15.99 CD   INTRUSION The Seduction of Silence (Echospace) "Montego Bay" "A Night to Remember" The world of post-Basic Channel dubwise techno is a wide reaching mess of artists and copyists and is fraught with disaster for newcomers, but one label we've learned to rely on is Echospace. The Echospace duo of Steve Hitchell and Rod Modell released their defining work only eighteen months ago with the stunning full-length, The Coldest Season, and The Seduction of Silence (a solo album from Hitchell) is possibly the closest we've come to this life-affirming work since. This is deep stuff, with low pulsing basslines, grainy, metallic echoes and those signature swinging beats; but this is more than just an exercise in repetition. Basic Channel might have kicked off the genre all those years ago but Hitchell has allowed himself to move on from this, lavishing in the kind of rich melodic textures Mark Ernestus and Moritz Von Oswald mostly ignored. Indeed, some of the tracks on this album reach almost euphoric heights -- "Angel" is punctuated by the familiar tones of Tikiman or the near-trance perfection of "A Night to Remember." These are moments when the genre is ever so slightly nudged into a different realm, crossing into the sublime ambience of Eno or even Gas but retaining the compelling rhythmic throb that makes Echospace so appealing. Like The Coldest Season before it, The Seduction of Silence is an album for the connoisseur, an album lover's album, something that can be truly savored from beginning to end. It is a great shame that good quality electronic music is so difficult to procure these days but this is nearly eighty minutes of bliss that you can rely on. [JT]

		$12.99 CD   RONNIE MCNEIR Ronnie McNeir (Dusty Groove) "Extra, Extra" "Young Girl" Once again Dusty Groove earns its moniker, digging up another underappreciated soul gem that got lost in the shuffle. The self-titled debut from this Detroit prodigy has been a prize in my collection for years. At the time of its '72 release, McNeir was a 22-year-old singing and keyboard sensation, and already a 15-year performing veteran, as well as the musical director for the great Kim Weston (who apparently helped land him his first deal). McNeir produced, arranged and wrote a great deal of this record himself, and what resulted was an extraordinary piece of laidback R&B, highlighted by his keyboard playing and rich, soulful crooning. Most likely inspired by the work of Donnie Hathaway, Marvin Gaye and Barry White, this is a loose concept album about love lost and regained, with spoken word intros and dialogues (provided by Weston and McNeir) loosely tying the suite of songs together. Though this record would probably belong in the "mellow soul" section, there is a nice range of songs on display here. The rhythm box funk of "Keep Your Hands off My Lady" and the wah-wah cinematic soul of "Extra, Extra" are nice up-tempo tunes, but the ballads are definitely the highlights. "In Summertime," "Tears in My Heart" and "Young Girl" are prime examples of that classic early-'70s sound, punctuated by the stellar background female vocals provided by Hodges, James & Smith (whose stellar catalogue is in dire need of getting properly reissued --hint, hint Dusty Groove). This is the only record that the young McNeir would record for RCA, but he did manage to put out two excellent records for Motown in the late '70s before abandoning his solo career and starting a new one as a highly-regarded session player and engineer, as well as a rotating touring member of the Four Tops. If you're a fan of Shuggie, the aforementioned Donnie, Marvin, Barry, satin sheets, sensual seduction or slow jams, then this is your kinda poison. [DH]

		$13.99 CD   NOBUNNY Love Visions (1-2-3-4 Go!) "I Know I Know" "Don't Know Don't Care" Love Visions was 2008's secret handshake analogue to Jay Reatard's impressive run of singles over the past few years, and hits all the notes that Jay didn't -- bratty, unvarnished garage punk (remember, it can always sound worse!) that didn't forget the snot and the uncontrollable urges which initially brought about rock 'n' roll. You'd need a microscope to score a copy of the original pressing, so it's great to have Love Visions available for a slightly wider audience. Channeling the Ramones, the Undertones, the Incredible Kidda Band, and dozens of other miniscule glammers and punkers of the '70s, our man in costume blasts through 12 rude, insanely catchy anthems, fidelity be damned. By far the best record you'll hear by a guy in a bunny mask this year. Promise. [DM]

		$14.99 CD $9.99 MP3   PSYCHIC ILLS Mirror Eye (The Social Registry) "Meta" "I Take You As My Wife Again" Those wondering just what Brooklyn's Psychic Ills might get into after 2006's Dins need not look much further than beyond the cover of their newest, Mirror Eye. There's a blurry shot of a tambourine, a handful of crystals on the inlay, and a quote from Zen master Alan Watts. But wait! They haven't turned into hippies, honest! Instead, the quartet has turned their gaze from their record shelves (think Spaceman 3, Suicide, Sonic Youth, etc.) of previous dusky excursions towards something drawn inward. If anything, the new album resounds with intense reflection, organic improvisation, minimalistic ritual and an exploration of undiluted psychedelic sound at its most potent. It's a bold move for the band, but one they pull off with aplomb. A heavy-hitter for the third eye. [AB]

		$14.99 CD   LOREN CONNORS & JIM O'ROURKE Two Nice Catholic Boys (Family Vinyeard) "Maybe Paris" "Most Definitely Not Koln" Two Nice Catholic Boys is the striking culmination of a collaboration between two of the avant-garde's most well-loved sons. Loren Connors is an artist who has spent most of his life being largely unknown and Jim O'Rourke probably wishes sometimes that he was largely unknown; but nobody can deny their resounding influence on modern music. Over the years O'Rourke has spread his work across a plethora of genres, from classic rock to uncompromising experimentalism, and he has served to amaze in much of what he has turned his hand to. Connors, on the other hand, has spent years honing and perfecting a sound that is undeniably his own. There is a tone and a spirit that can only belong to Loren Connors, and his well-received anthologies have proved this point beautifully. This album then was difficult to predict -- how would two very distinctive sounds work when pitted against each other? Well, Connors allows himself to explore the noisier end of his oeuvre, with the record moving into far more psychedelic territory than one might think from a usually very measured, softly picked player. The two sound at times like they are battling through a dense cloud of distortion that slowly splits to reveal passages of immense beauty and restraint. The loud-quiet-loud technique is effective, giving balance to a distinctly unwieldy bashing of talent and allows both artists to shine in their respective singular styles. Two Nice Catholic Boys is a thunderous yet melancholy experience and a testament to the skill and dedication of two lynchpins of modern guitar music. Need I say more? [JT]

		$13.99 CD   ADAM PAYNE Organ (Holy Mountain) "The One After Eyes" "Never See You Anymore" Admittedly, Organ was far from what I was expecting, but after a few listens and a few head-scratching WTF's, my final verdict: "This is really good and I am probably going to play this album many times before I pinpoint exactly why I like it." Associating Adam Payne with his Residual Echoes moniker had me anticipating some Six Organs- or Comets on Fire-esque guitar rock, but this was a mistake. I had overlooked Residual Echoes' Firsts EP, which clearly marked the trajectory for Payne to step away from his nom de plume and, under his own name, release a college rock album that triumphantly marries Husker Du to the Only Ones. I do not mean for "college rock" to sound pejorative, but rather emphatically place Organ in the same alt rock arena as Wowee Zowee, Double Nickels on the Dime, or Dinosaur. Organ musically sums up Payne's surroundings in Southern California, at first with songs ranging from sunshiny pop to psychedelic pilgrimages into the heart of West Coast stalwarts like Love and the Grateful Dead. The pop songs are triumphant, jubilant sing-a-longs with Mascis-worthy guitar solos, piano melodies, and blatant hooks with toe tapping beats. However, before it turns into a full-fledged pop album, halfway through the record the epic "In Hell" transforms the mood into something darker, more melancholy and despondent, recalling LA's fertile yet unnerving pop culture underground, embracing a hodge-podge of punk, noise, and psych with intentional disregard for labels or scenes. Payne has managed to single-handedly make a record that walks a challenging line between weightiness and levity, ultimately creating one of the most satisfying rock albums to start the New Year. [BCa]

		$12.99 CD $15.99 LP   A.C. NEWMAN Get Guilty (Matador) "Prophets" "Young Atlantis" Carl Newman's solo releases under the A.C. Newman moniker have much in common with his work with the New Pornographers, for whom he is the main songwriter and driving force, and this latest album is consistently amongst his best work of recent memory. Newman favors dense power-pop, full of hooks, harmonies, rich orchestrations and obtuse lyrics, and Get Guilty has it all in spades. Newman's music is unselfconsciously retro, using modern multi-tracking to recreate the live pop orchestrations of the late '60s and early '70s, crafting ebullient pop hits from constantly shifting textures and instrumentations. If he keeps churning these out, we'll keep buying them, and there are hours of guilty pleasures on Get Guilty. [JM]

		$8.99 CD-EP $9.99 LP $3.99 MP3   BON IVER Blood Bank EP (Jagjaguwar) "Blood Bank" "Babys" Justin Vernon's (a/k/a Bon Iver) debut album, For Emma, Forever Ago, was one of last year's most critically acclaimed records, and here at Other Music it was both a staff favorite and a best seller. Many are no doubt anticipating its follow-up; in the meantime Vernon offers us this sweet four-song morsel to hold us over for a while. EP opener "Blood Bank" sounds like it could have been recorded in the same log cabin as the For Emma sessions, and though it may have a morbid setting, its subject is anything but: how to tell someone that you love them. The title track is followed by two instrumental flourishes, and then the mini-album closes out with the chilling a cappella "Woods," which finds Vernon working a chorus of computer processed vocals into a haunting climax. [TL]

		$17.99 CD   LUKID Foma (Werkdiscs) "Slow Hand Slap" "Raise High the Roof Beam" "Wonky" seems to be the genre on everyone's lips at the moment. Popularized by the omnipresent Steven Ellison (a/k/a Flying Lotus), it is what electronic music has been stop-starting and attempting for years now -- the post hip-hop hybrid. In 2008 it came of age, losing the Prefuse 73/Machine Drum nerd-chic and replacing it with a Dilla-lite funk sheen and an eccentricity which was hard not to fall for. Sure, Dilla might be spinning in his grave, but artists such as Rustie, Hudson Mohawke and Samiyam are pushing the genre just that little bit forward, blending a love of Slum Village productions with chiptunes, dubstep and crunk, and ending up with something all of their own. Lukid's Luke Blair was there before most, and his debut album, Onandon, was a shocking statement of post-Dilla machine funk. The Dabrye comparisons were maybe justified but Blair had pre-empted a burgeoning genre, and we have waited since to hear where he was going to take it. Of course, it would be too easy to out-wonk himself on this sophomore effort, so what does he do? Well, something completely different, of course. Blair may be very young but he's clearly got an encyclopedic musical knowledge as he traipses through ambient, jazz, minimalist hip-hop and twisted electronica on Foma. I would be loath to even bump this into the same spot on the shelf as Fly-Lo or his eager followers -- there's something just that little bit more horizontal about Foma and an openness to experimentation which is fresh and alluring. It's almost as if Blair is dying to try his hand at anything; there's jazz ("Laughin"), dubstep ("Chord"), electronica ("Foma"), and even hints of acid (the incredible "Slow Hand Slap"). We would seem then to be having a much needed progression in this fledgling scene and instead of retreading old ground, Luke Blair has shown us that there's more to wonky than a copy of Fantastic Volume 2 and an MPC. With Foma, he has given us a hugely enjoyable collection with more than a swing and a bassline, and what more can we ask of him than that? [JT]

		$15.99 CD   STUDIO 1 Studio 1 (Studio 1 / Profan) "Blue" "Silver" Wolfgang Voigt is probably better known around these parts as the man behind some of the finest ambient music of the 20th century -- Gas. Newcomers to his work might not be aware, though, that apart from Gas, Voigt was incredibly prolific and whilst co-running Cologne's influential Kompakt label, the man was also busy throwing releases out left, right and center under hundreds of different monikers. The finest of these were the legendary Studio 1 records -- a set of color-coded 12"s released in the mid '90s to huge international acclaim. This was techno, but not the techno we had come across before -- Voigt used the techno idiom to facilitate an exploration of stripped down musical forms from dub to speed garage and beyond, and he succeeded. The tracks were distilled and reduced to a level almost unparalleled in the genre (even by his contemporaries, Basic Channel), leaving just the cycling pulse of a drum machine and a bass line to accompany it -- but that's all he needed. There is no gloss here, and the sentimental schmaltz of what would later pollute the scene was thankfully absent. Instead we have simply the bare minimum, leaving Voigt's expertise exposed for all to witness. "Blue," for example, takes the framework of speed garage (echoing stabs and swung 808 house beats) and transforms it into something almost sinister. The Germanic re-interpretation of the Chicago mode gives the track a distinctly odd resonance and even now, some fifteen years later, it still sounds shockingly fresh. Elsewhere, on "Orange" Voigt allows a throbbing proto-dubstep bassline to form the backbone of the track, slowly building distorted tape-worn chords on top to create a clean, propulsive foil to the comparative ambience of Ernestus and Von Oswald. Studio 1 isn't going to make any new converts to the cause, but this is uncompromising German techno of the highest order, without any of the gloss and overproduction that pollutes the genre these days. Anyone who has had their interests piqued in recent years by Ricardo Villalobos, Marcel Dettmann or Shed need to grab this without delay -- it's not aged a bit. [JT]

		$15.99 CD $15.99 CD   SWERVEDRIVER Raise - Remastered w/ Bonus Tracks (Second Motion) "Raise" "Son of Mustang Ford" SWERVEDRIVER Mezcal Head - Remastered w/ Bonus Tracks (Second Motion) "Blowin' Cool" "Never Lose That Feeling" This seminal early-'90s, Oxford-based quartet shoulda been huge. Over the course of their initial eight-year history, they released four incredible albums that never really got them more than a loyal cult following, but their discography continues to stun first time listeners, and they pushed the shoegaze genre in thrilling new directions. Swervedriver's sound is hard to put into words, but Other Music's own Scott Mou pretty much nailed it a few years back in his review of the band's Best of collection: "Swervedriver had the riffs of MBV's "You Made Me Realise" and "Feed Me with Your Kiss," only mixed with British Dinosaur Jr. song structures (not the jangly or remotely Neil Young-influenced) and Thurston-styled post-beat poet/rock hesher lyrics. Not Britpop, not shoegaze, and not classic rock." The band's 1990 debut, Raise fully lives up to Scott's description. Like shoegaze fueled on whiskey and amphetamines, there's a propulsive drive to the music (matched only at the time by the Wedding Present and Ride), while their secret weapon, vocalist/guitarist Adam Franklin, comes across like J. Mascis with better diction and singing lessons. It was Franklin's voice sitting deep in the center of all that guitar buzz that gave them their signature sound. In my opinion, tracks like "Rave Down," "Son of Mustang Ford" and "Sandblasted" are some of the most interesting examples of the shoegaze genre. Their follow-up, Mezcal Head, was recorded after the rhythm section abruptly quit, leaving Franklin, guitarist Jimmy Hartridge, and newly recruited drummer Jez Hindmarsh to hammer it out in the studio alone. They rose to the challenge, however, incorporating bits of Krautrock's modal experimentation, warped psychedelia and heavy rock, and arguably produced the band's finest album. Tracks like "Duel," "Blowin' Cool" and "Last Train to Satansville" are the closest that shoegaze ever got to hard rock. Although Swervedriver never got the crossover success they deserved, their influence on bands like Interpol, Radiohead, Mahogany and M83 speaks volumes about the validity and relevance of their catalog today. Both of these remastered editions sound great and they generously contain some choice b-sides as well. I can't recommend these enough, my friends. [DH]

		Royal Trux $16.99 LP Twin Infinitives $20.99 LPx2   ROYAL TRUX Royal Trux (Drag City) ROYAL TRUX Twin Infinitives (Drag City) Monumental reissues of important records to these times or any other, the first two Royal Trux albums are once again available on vinyl thanks to Drag City! Never repressed out of its first self-released edition (on Royal Records), and available on CD in a sequencing that played a whole side per track, Royal Trux is the first album by the duo of Neil Hagerty (then still a member of Pussy Galore) and the gamine Jennifer Herrema, and a better man than I once called it "the best drug record of all time." Test that theory out however you like; if you haven't heard this, or the positively Joycean follow-up Twin Infinitives, then you don't know Royal Trux. Beyond-monged pop riffs meet headlong with crunchy, distorted waves of confusion and inhuman sounds on the debut. You'll recognize the voices and some of the melodies will sound familiar, but not much else will -- this was a band on a very different path than the chooglin' rock they'd produce throughout the '90s. And as far-gone as that one gets, nothing will adequately prepare you for Twin Infinitives, an engaging and utterly impenetrable wall of stunned, slurred downslide. Nothing else sounds like this record, and rightfully so; its four sides progress without meter, and with an internal structure that may have only made sense to its participants. Nevertheless, it's a massive, endlessly creative effort, suspended in mid-air (or quicksand), that holds a singular place in the world of underground music, and its legendary status can once again be appreciated for the format in which it was originally conceived. Anyone into the "weird punk" of Blank Dogs and the like will have their skull opened by this pair. [DM]

		$17.99 CD $9.99 MP3   KTL 4 (Editions Mego) "Paraug" "Wicked Way" I've always been a staunch supporter of KTL. Maybe it was just the concept that piqued my interest; electronic noise veteran Peter Rehberg (a/k/a Pita) pitted against the droning might of Sunn O)))'s Steven O'Malley seemed like a pairing that simply couldn't go wrong, and indeed it hasn't. The duo reached their pinnacle for me on the black-ambient masterpiece, II, which excelled in its unrelenting, thick, droning atmospheres. Long wavering bass tones and the occasional howl of ghoulish electronics set this apart from the masses of young bands desperate to cash in on Sunn O)))'s success; it was, however, only clear what the band was missing when I heard IV. You see, this fourth chapter in KTL's evolution is where they have really shaken the shackles of the "doom" moniker; the metal elements that underpinned the duo's previous works are crushed almost beyond recognition and we are left with an album that is in many ways more Pita than Sunn O))), and to my mind that's no bad thing. This isn't the Pita we used to know though -- this is darker, more abrasive and crushingly well composed. O'Malley's tumultuous waves of distorted axe-abuse are punctuated by the kind of pongs and ear-splitting hiccups that can only emerge from the Macbook of a Mego artist. Rehberg twists and turns the sounds that define the metal idiom (guitar, bass, drums) and emerges with a credible electronic alternative: something robotic, something Germanic and something incredibly alluring. The best example of this is "Paratrooper" which, over its twenty-minute duration, transforms from purist metal into a throbbing post-Pan Sonic electronic beast. The low end O'Malley rumbles and barely discernable riffs slowly give way to more and more of Rehberg's oscillations until only frozen, high-pitched wails remain. Easily the finest moment in the duo's already formidable catalog, IV should be savored and enjoyed before the winter months crack into spring. Self-pity works better when accompanied by a fitting soundtrack -- you bring the pain meds. [JT]

		$13.99 CD   THOM YORKE Eraser Rmx (XL / Beggars Japan) "And It Rained All Night (Burial Remix)" "Skip Divided (Modeselektor Remix)" Despite the fact that Radiohead never really did much for me, I was surprised to immediately embrace Thom Yorke's solo full-length; it was the perfect blend of Britpop, electronica and bedroom aesthetics that kept my headphones buzzing last winter. Now comes the official collection of remixes from The Eraser, all packaged together for the non-vinyl buying public. Remixing is a tricky profession, the producer often expected to take a song that's not so great to begin with and twist it into a big room floor-filler. But here Yorke's handpicked list of names work with excellent source material, each producer putting their signature on their respective track while maintaining the integrity of the original. It's not so much about making things better (which some cuts are) but rather, sonically enhanced. Christian Vogel, the Field, Four Tet and Surgeon lend a nice techno sheen to the mellow man's intimate songs, while the Bug, Various Production, Modeselektor and the great Burial beef up the originals by toughening up the beats and bass, all having fun chopping and reprocessing Yorke's vocals. A nice marriage between a good songwriter and inventive producers, and even those of you who usually don't like Yorke's moans and groans will want to check this out. All in all, this is a great release for any fans of Yorke as well as anyone who likes some songs with their electronic doodling. [DG]

		$14.99 CD $28.99 CDx2 Deluxe Edition   ANDREW BIRD Noble Beast (Fat Possum) "Oh No" "Natural Disaster" Andrew Bird seems to be everywhere these days, from a glowing article in the New York Times Magazine, countless music blogs, NPR features and more, but Bird has actually been around for quite a while -- even during that mid-'90s swing revival contributing to a couple Squirrel Nut Zippers albums. But don't feel alone if you think he came out of nowhere; nowhere is almost accurate. Bird retreated to a family cabin in rural Illinois to regroup and focus on his solo and instrumental work a few years back, and he emerged refocused and energized. His latest is Noble Beast, an atmospheric, verbose, and lovely follow-up to Armchair Apocrypha, featuring Bird performing on a rich cacophony of instruments, creating an orchestra of sound all by his lonesome. Bird once referred to himself as a pop scientist, which is a helpful description to someone unfamiliar with his work. Dissecting his lyrics is akin to learning the Periodic Table -- strenuous, time consuming, and practically futile. He constructs an album by finding the melodies first and then stringing together random words (or making them up) to fit the tune. Bird admitted to this while writing about the album's progress on his Times Measure to Measure blog posts. He also went into detail about agonizing over which archaic word to use in the opener "Oh No," writing that it's about "crippling self-repression and the envy of childhood expressions of fear and sorrow," but I'm sure he's open to different interpretations. Apparently, the song germinated while listening to a baby howl on a flight back to Chicago, which may be the most inventive and sane response to being in that situation I have ever heard. Then he wrote lyrics from the kid's imagination. (Check out the Times Web site to listen to three different versions of the song to hear how it evolved.) "Masterswarm" is only one of the epic songs on Beast; here he starts off sounding like Jose Gonzalez but ends up coming across like a salsa-infused Rufus Wainwright (without the dripping irony). Bird's roots as a Renaissance Fair performer can be heard on "Effigy," with its hints of traditional Irish jig music. But don't let that disturb you; it's a great song. The chorus of one of the strongest tracks, "Not a Robot, but a Ghost" is a clue on how to solve the mysteries inherent in his songwriting: "I cracked the codes, you end the war." I kind of did feel like a POW while writing this review -- a little trying, but fun...All I can say is I bet this guy is amazing at Scrabble. As if a couple of seven-minute songs isn't enough, the deluxe edition includes a bonus instrumental album, Useless Creatures. [TL]

		$24.99 CD   PARI ZANGENEH The Series of Music for Young Adults (Ks) An utterly breathtaking and rare reissue from Teheran, The Series of Music for Young Adults is a psych-folk gem from 1976. Pari Zangeneh commands a tremendous soprano, and uses it to preserve some wonderful traditional Iranian folk songs alongside original compositions in this album of modern orchestration and interpretation. With organs, flutes, strings, and choruses backing her, the album meanders along in the juxtaposition between modernity and folk tradition that fueled countless "psychedelic" recordings between the sixties and seventies. Beautiful songs and arrangements, but the star here is Zangreneh. Her voice is distinct, soft yet edgy, and gripping in its reserved power. An album too good to be so rare, this reissue is imported from Spanish imprint Ks and limited to 500 CDs with LP replica paper sleeves. [BCa]

		$13.99 CD $13.99 LP $9.99 MP3   COLOSSAL YES Charlemagne's Big Thaw (Ba-Da-Bing!) "The Fraudulent Singer" "Marble Moments" Comet's On Fire's Utrillo Kushner has delivered his second full-length as Colossal Yes. Trippy, indeed, but nothing like C.O.F's wailing psychedelia. Colossal Yes is sprawling piano-rock, a stoned take on Alex Chilton jamming with Elton John. Remarkably, it's pretty great!

		$17.99 CD $24.99 LP   ROBERT HENKE Atom / Document (Imbalance Computer Music) "_flicker" Robert Henke of Monolake developed these pieces in conjunction with visual artist Christopher Bauder, specifically to interact with an instillation of illuminated helium balloons that the artist built to respond to sound. But the music stands beautifully on its own, and not just as abstract ambient "sound-art", but as a diverse and moving selection from one of the genre's most interesting producers.

		$14.99 CD $15.99 LP   ROBERT POLLARD Crawling Distance (Guided by Voices) "The Butler Stands for All of Us" Robert Pollard's solo work has been consistently enjoyable, (but consistently spotty since GBV officially disbanded), giving the prolific bard another outlet for his seemingly tossed-off pop gems, but often ending up sounding a bit TOO tossed-off. Crawling Distance does not mark some radical new direction for Pollard, but it is a more refined, and more diverse album than he has delivered in some time, and is a great addition to the cannon for any of his longtime fans.

		$13.99 CD $13.99 LP   TITUS ANDRONICUS Airing of Grievances (XL) "Arms Against a Tropy" "No Future Part II" XL picks up this Troubleman Unlimited release from last spring, the debut album from New Jersey juniors Titus Andronicus. Tightly wound but heartfelt punk rock that combines a couple of Jersey staples, emo and Springsteen, in a sweaty new package.

		$31.99 LP   CHICO MAGNETIC BAND Chico Magnetic Band (No Smoke) "Cross Town Traffic" Vinyl edition of a record Other Music has carried several times in the past, now cleaned up and re-sequenced with bonus tracks from later singles. Chico and co. were shaggy, drugged-out French students who were busy shattering the boundaries of hard rock and psychedelic expression with rule-breaking glee. Odd, loud, totally rippin', the sound of revolt. Fairly different and modern, even by current standards, this 1970 release is repressed in an edition of 600 copies. Get it before it's gone. [DM]

		$14.99 CD   TELESCOPES Untitled Second (Bomp!) "You Set My Soul" "High on Fire" Amidst Spacemen 3's emergence into pop prominence and Jesus and Mary Chain's success, and wavering in an airy and multicolored sonic panorama whose tour de forces included Screamedelica (and included visionaries My Bloody Valentine), were the wondrous Telescopes. As a rather elusive appendage to the Creation family, the Telescopes materialized in this imaginative era with their dazzling and adventurous noise-maelstroms. They were unafraid to experiment and discern the moods and emotions manifested from an innate within, where no doubt the experiential inspirations drew. And the psychical extractions were epic, swirling, multi-hued palettes of cools and warms, yawning into acid-drenched whirrs poised towards a tonal black hole -- just then to be embraced by the warmth of Joanna Doran's presence, with enough mesmerizing sugar-fuzz to linger and drown into an ocean of red. This is the second album recorded between '91 and '92, a rather soft and placid fruition with further ventures into psych-y dream pop. (Reissue includes bonus tracks.) [MT]

		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 [AB] Adrian Burkholder [BCa] Brian Cassidy [DG] Daniel Givens [DH] Duane Harriott [IQ] Mikey IQ Jones [MK] Michael Klausman [TL] Tanya Leet [JM] Josh Madell [DM] Doug Mosurock [KS] Karen Soskin [MT] Mahssa Taghinia [JT] John Twells THANKS FOR READING - all of us at Other Music

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