The Other Music Update

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	March 5, 2009


	FEATURED NEW RELEASES Arthur Russell Belbury Poly Ofege Nite Jewel (Good Evening on CD) Elder Utah Smith Round Black Ghosts Vol. 2 (Various) Gui Boratto Neko Case Leonard Cohen Svarte Greiner		BJ Nilsen & Stillyuppsteypa El Barrio Latin Disco (Various) ALSO AVAILABLE Chris Brokaw (Super Limited LP) Boston Spaceships VINYL PRESSING David Byrne & Brian Eno

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Nite Jewel

UPCOMING OTHER MUSIC IN-STORE PERFORMANCES
NITE JEWEL: MONDAY, MARCH 9th @ 8PM
We're thrilled that Ramona Gonzalez, a/k/a Nite Jewel, will be stopping by Other Music to woo us in person with her utterly charming, narcotic bedroom disco jams.

BISHOP ALLEN: TUESDAY, MARCH 10th @ 8PM
A record release party celebrating Bishop Allen's great new full-length, Grrr..., which comes out the same day as their in-store performance.

Other Music: 15 East 4th Street NYC
Free Admission / Limited Capacity

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WIN TICKETS TO LES SAVY FAV
We are excited to offer two pairs of tickets for an all-too-rare hometown show from Brooklyn's own Les Savy Fav, Friday, March 13 at the Brooklyn Masonic Temple in Fort Greene. The bill also includes Francis & the Lights and Sean Bones, and is 18 and up. Email tickets@othermusic.com to enter to win a pair. We'll notify the two winners on Monday, March 9th. Good luck!!

FRIDAY, MARCH 13
BROOKLYN MASONIC TEMPLE: 317 Clermont Ave (at Lafayette Ave.) Fort Greene, Brooklyn
Tickets $18 / Ages 18+
Click Here to Download Flyer


	$14.99 CD $19.99 LP		ARTHUR RUSSELL The Sleeping Bag Sessions (Traffic) "School Bell / Tree House" Indian Ocean "Go Bang!" Dinosaur L (Walter Gibbons Mix) I'm ecstatic to be writing this one up, as I never thought I'd see these available again. The Sleeping Bag Sessions collects lesser-known tracks (often one-time collaborations) written, performed, mixed, and/or produced by Arthur Russell under assorted pseudonyms, all originally released on 12" singles between 1980-86 on the Sleeping Bag record label he ran for a period with Will Socolov. A great deal of these cuts are unknown even to many Arthur fanatics because his name was often nowhere to be found in the credits, so let's give a basic rundown of what you've got here. Bonzo Goes to Washington (here in two mixes) was a one-off collaboration with Talking Heads keyboardist/guitarist Jerry Harrison for which they cut up the voice of Ronald Reagan making an off-color joke about Russia -- "We begin bombing in 5 Minutes." They take his voice and throw it into a tight, staccato pop-lock electro groove tailor-made for breakdance routines. Felix was a second collab with original disco DJ pioneer Nicky Siano; after their monster track "Kiss Me Again" as Dinosaur, they reunited for two songs with a more low-key vibe. "Tiger Stripes" and "You Can't Hold Me Down" take the same template and offer variations on a theme, as drum machines and congas percolate under wonky synth lines, chicken-scratch guitars, and Martin Denny faux-jungle animal noises while a disco dame coos about her partner's tiger strips showing. It's pure fun and one of my favorite Arthur songs. One of the real highlights here are the two mixes of Clandestine's "Radio Rhythm (S-I-G-N-A-L-S-M-A-R-T)," a collab with Ned Sublette, guitarist/Cuban music scholar/author of Willie Nelson hit "Cowboys Are Frequently Secretly Fond of Each Other." For this one we get the pair in electro mode again, with heavy synth and drum machine action as Sublette essentially raps like a truckstop cowboy about shortwave and CB radios -- as insane as it sounds, in typical fashion, it ends up being one of the best cuts here. (The original 12" has long been a regular DJ staple of mine. Ned Sublette rules, and you all should check his scene out. Seriously.) Sounds of JHS 126 Brooklyn were, I assume, a group of BK school kids who recorded this one-off 12" and vanished. It's a shame, because Arthur's Killer Whale mix of "Chill Pill" is a tight, trippy hip-hop track that puts a different spin on Russell's scene and broadens his scope a bit more; hearing kids do early rap is almost a never-fail scenario for me and this has been a fave for a long time. Next up are the two most well known cuts in some unheard mixes. Indian Ocean was Arthur on vocals and cello, trombonist Peter Zummo, and percussionist Mustafa Ahmed; their "Schoolbell/Tree House" is probably my all time Arthur jam, and this collection FINALLY includes Part Two, a wilder, shorter take on the tune with one of Arthur's goofiest, funniest lyrics (every time I hear him croon "I'm 100, and I'm still going to school/I'm 1,000, and I still am going to school" I can't help but smile). There's also an edit (never actually released on the 12") of the Walter Gibbons mix of the same cut. Okay, now for the real crown jewel in this collection. This one's for all of the super nerds in the audience -- the long rumored, mythic Walter Gibbons remix of Dinosaur L's "Go Bang." I nearly lost it when I saw this listed on the back sleeve, assumed it to be a typo of some sort, and had to jump right to it. I'd heard a third generation or worse bootleg of this mix years ago from an old disco DJ friend who was in the know, and damn -- it's Gibbons' mix all right. Thirteen minutes of frenzied, aggressive magic during which Walter chops and strips the hell out of one of Arthur's most beloved grooves, this "Go Bang" probably WAS too wild then, but it's here and it's golden. He gives it similar treatment to his mix of Bettye Lavette's "Doin' the Best That I Can" or something from his amazing Salsoul Disco Madness LP (another must-hear for Arthur disco fanatics -- do that homework!), deconstructing the tune through nearly all of its parts, and stitching them back together into a disjointed Frankenstein's monster, with more dub space in the mix and a harder, nearly industrial-sounding rhythm. Holy s**t. This thing is a treasure-trove, people. Many people slag some of these lighthearted cuts and claim they aren't as powerful as his other work, but honestly, at this point I think every fan's got a clear enough picture of his ever-shifting modus operandi, and should consider this one of the final foundation pieces to the puzzle that was Arthur. Straight up, you ain't a fan if you don't have this stuff. Totally Essential Arthur. 'Nuff said. [IQ]


	$17.99 CD $9.99 MP3		BELBURY POLY From an Ancient Star (Ghost Box) Preview Songs on Other Music's Download Store Like early Factory and 4AD records, and more recent releases from labels like Finland's Fonal, there's a mystical quality to the music (and artwork aesthetic) of any album bearing a Ghost Box stamp. Founded five years ago by graphic designer Julian House and Jim Jupp, the UK-based imprint specializes in what has become known as "hauntology," its small roster of artists is creating visceral pop-sounds inspired by old educational film scores, psychedelia, musique concrete, and early electronic music, a la the BBC Radiophonic Workshop. In lesser hands such endeavors would more than likely be cartoon-like appropriations of the real thing. That's not the case here, though; from the Focus Group's loose fusions of jazz, folk and psych-pop, to the Advisory Board's eerie blend of chilly, analog synthscapes and Cold War-era public service recordings, each Ghost Box release transports you into a surreal world of their own making. Jupp's Belbury Poly is the perfect amalgamation of everything that the label is about, his latest being a diverse journey through early Moog music, synthesized prog rock and what sounds to be incidental songs for '70s children's television programs. During "The Hidden Door," motorik, Kraut-inspired arpeggiations pulse underneath mysterious hammered-dulcimer melodies, the song coming across like a collaboration between Goblin and Tangerine Dream. In contrast, "A Year and a Day" is reminiscent of the psychedelic-futurism of Alain Goraguer, with wah-guitars accenting the analog synthesizers, while "Seed Ships" hovers in Vangelis' Blade Runner territory. Not everything is as dark as one might expect, however. The spacey title-track and the vocoder-filled "Remember Tomorrow" both glide on a dance beat, flirting with cosmic disco, while "A Great Day Out" playfully blends the groovy Moog whimsy of Jean-Jacques Perrey with samples of children singing before making an unexpected detour into futuristic, dubbed-out reggae. All these descriptions are mere reference points, however, as From an Ancient Star is not easily summed up in a paragraph; and one doesn't need to be a fan of any of the aforementioned artists to be lured in by Belbury Poly's magical sounds. [GH]


	$10.99 CD $12.99 LP		OFEGE Try and Love (Academy LPs) "It's Not Easy" "Nobody Fails" Those of you who browse OM's racks on a semi-regular basis have most likely walked past the International section to see a CD or LP on display with a sign next to it reading "Afro Jam of the Week!" It's a clear and easy way to address the wonderful overflow of incredible African music reissues spilling out these days, and it's also a direct line to my enthusiasm for them. This reissue by Nigerian high-schoolers Ofege very well takes the cake for the "Afro Jam of the Month" award -- tight, funky, with light psych touches and some killer guitar work by Berkley Jones of Nigerian heavyweights Blo. What really gets me, though, are Melvin Ukachi's vocals; there's a soulful longing in his pubescent voice that would come off as overwrought by a singer with more bellowing, baritone pipes (often a trait of many an Afrobeat vocalist). On these tracks, he's jamming it like Chrissy Zebby Tembo's sensitive younger brother, with the rest of the band providing sweet harmonies in the distance, best exemplified on "It's Not Easy" -- one of the highlights on a record filled with them. Simply put, this record is a monster, and if you've been digging albums like the Zebby Tembo, Peace, or Nigeria Special reissues, you NEED this in your collection. I said it before and I'll say it again: Afro Jam of the Month!! [IQ]


	$17.99 CD $11.99 LP		NITE JEWEL Good Evening (Human Ear) "Let's Go (The Two of Us Together)" "Suburbia" Finally on CD, bedroom disco princess Nite Jewel's (a/k/a Ramona Gonzalez) Good Evening includes songs featured on her self-released My CD and her Italians Do It Better 12-inch, plus three new tunes and a cover of Roxy Music's "Lover" to round it all out. All the tracks are remixed and remastered by Jay Rajeck to bring out the vocals, beats and bass. What results is more club-friendly but it doesn't lose any of the atmosphere, which we had described in an earlier review as, "Calling Out of Context-era Arthur Russell eating opium with a black rubber-bangled Madonna and Mark Hollis, all huddled in the corner while the 4-track tape is rolling." New tracks like "Universal Mind," with choral/aria background vocals, nail the ethereal, breakup, '80s radio vibe. "Chimera" features a sweet marching-in-place beat and she really hits the Kate Bush notes in a nice way, particularly on the "EEEee's." This time around, I also noticed that "Weak for Me" has an infectious (DeBarge) "Rhythm of the Night"-thing running through it, that is if it were submerged in warm cough syrup. Again, that's a compliment! What can we say, we're still lovin' what she's doin'. Without trying, Nite Jewel pretty much nails what seems to be a trend these days: marrying pop with an underground sound, BUT, without sounding like a pandering, watered-down sell-out!! Oh, snap! [SM]


	$19.95 BK w/CD $9.99 MP3		ELDER UTAH SMITH I Got Two Wings (CaseQuarter) "Two Wings" Elder Utah Smith "Memphis Flu" Elder Curry Man alive, every year there's an old-timely collection or two that you just gotta get, and let me tell you this stellar package documenting the life and milieu of traveling evangelist for the Church of God in Christ Elder Utah Smith is just such an essential object. Music historian Lynn Abbott has spent twenty years gathering information and anecdotes about this fascinating individual, and he's written a highly engrossing and entertaining little book to accompany the man's extant recordings, along with those of a few of his contemporaries. Elder Utah Smith was one of the first so-called "guitar evangelists" to pick up an electric guitar and harness its ecstatic tone in service of the lord. By all accounts he was a flamboyant entertainer and inveterate funny man, clad in gigantic paper wings, with a hundred-and-fifty-foot cord plugged into his guitar so he could stalk the aisles of the tent revivals he staged all around the country. He was known as a joker, but he was deadly serious about his faith and was widely respected for his ability to heal with the laying of hands. He didn't record much, but what he did is incredible and the first 45 seconds of this disc alone oughta knock you out, such imaginative shredding has rarely been heard! This is a spirited and transcendent collection that also features killer cuts from Arizona Dranes, Sister Rosetta Tharpe, Sister Sarah James, and others. [MK] Download customers please note: mp3 version is Music Only


	$17.99 CD		VARIOUS ARTISTS Round Black Ghosts 2 (~scape) "Den of Drumz" Kode 9 vs. Badawi "Bleach" Scuba I guess it makes sense that Scape would end up pushing the dubstep movement forward. Back in the opening years of the new millennium, the label showed the electronica-loving masses that they didn't have to be afraid of the humble bassline, so it seems almost inevitable that they would end up exploring the dubstep genre somewhere down the line. Their German heritage, however, is what makes their choices interesting, and what sets these compilations apart from the tedious throng of boring mixes that overpopulate the shelves right now. Choosing to focus on the Berlin-influenced variants in the genre (the sound pioneered by 2562, Martyn and Peverelist), the label has given the compilation a ready and apt focus and a platform for people to discover this electronic-heavy almost dancefloor-primed splinter of the dubstep movement. The basslines are still present and correct but the low production values of some earlier dubstep are refined in favor of crisp, rolling electronic beats and lovingly EQ-ed synth pads. Kicking the record off is genre classic "Circling" from Peverelist & Appleblim, and while this might have been played half to death now it's a good sign of the kind of caliber Scape have commanded from the artists involved. Elsewhere dubstep pioneer Zed Bias drops one of his finest cuts in a long time with the dark and heavy "The Cauldron," a track that perfectly blends the flickering neon of London nightlife with the cold machine-noise of central Europe. Dutch producer and scene legend Martyn pops up with his now well-known "Vancouver" and shows why there's so much buzz around his name at the moment. With the tempered atmosphere of a young DJ Shadow (yes, I went there), he manages to add a gloomy cinematic element to what is basically a woozy house track, giving us some of the most original sounds we've heard in the genre so far. Californian hip-hop deconstructionist and 'wonky' stalwart Flying Lotus drops in with a remix of Martyn's equally essential "Natural Selection" and shows that even the Americans can get in on the act at this point, holding his own perfectly well around dubstep gods Kode9 and Ramadanman. Kode9's 'funky' variant "Den of Drums" is another dancefloor masterpiece that shows the genre isn't just for hooded teenagers nodding their heads under a cloud of yellow smoke. If you buy one dubstep compilation this year, this would be a safe bet -- sure a lot of the tracks have been around on wax for a while, but that doesn't impact upon their ear-pummeling goodness. Awesome. [JT]


	$15.99 CD		GUI BORATTO Take My Breath Away (Kompakt) "Take My Breath Away" "Les Enfants" With Chromophobia, Brazilian producer and Kompakt mainstay Gui Boratto pioneered the genre I like to call 'posh trance.' He wasn't the first to do it, but he definitely upped the ante, and since that record crept up on the world of po-faced minimal techno, the scene has changed and seems just that little bit more open to lavishing their tunes with harmonies and arpeggios. Kompakt certainly have made this sound something of a signature, and now it's the turn of the man himself to drop the 'difficult' follow-up with Take My Breath Away. It's no slouch either, instantly kicking off with the title track which does everything he is known for: simple ascending synth lines, pulsing basses and a slick 4/4 kick keeping everything dancefloor friendly. At times, however, I get the feeling that Boratto is moving further and further from the techno idiom as he injects his tunes with the kind of good-feeling synth worship we might expect from Ulrich Schnauss or even M83. I'm not saying that Take My Breath Away is a fully fledged nu-gaze record, but there's certainly a comparison to be made and a shared love of the saccharine which is impossible to ignore. This is, I suppose, as close to pop music as minimal techno can get, and the closer Boratto drifts the further he moves from the dancefloor fodder he is best known for. Take My Breath Away feels more like an album for shaking your hips while reclining on your sofa than shifting your sneakers in the local club, but that's not necessarily a bad thing. Maybe Kompakt is slowly and surely growing out of minimal techno altogether. [JT]


	$16.99 CD		NEKO CASE Middle Cyclone (Anti-) "Magpie to the Morning" "This Tornado Loves You" Neko Case has come a long way over the course of 12 years and six solo albums, from an early "alt-country" joy rider with a phenomenal voice and great taste in cover songs to an original and talented songwriter (and singer) with widespread critical and popular acclaim. Case's songwriting voice has grown out of her passion for classic country music, often playing on her famous wild-girl persona to spin tales of heartbreak and hell-raising with beautiful, deeply poetic imagery, and though her songs tend to shy away from simplistic verse/chorus/verse/chorus/bridge/chorus forms, she writes classics, no doubt. Her new full-length, Middle Cyclone, now out on Anti-, seems poised to nudge Case towards new heights of success, with some of the best songwriting and production of her career, and her powerhouse, emotional voice in excellent form. The lyrics focus on forces of nature, of which Case herself is undeniably one, and most of the songs are clearly autobiographical whether they are meteorological or zoological. From leadoff "This Tornado Loves You," where Case takes the role of a brutalizing storm who will destroy trailer parks and leave babies motherless and "carve your name across three counties" to win her true love, and through countless references to animals and animal instinct, the record nonetheless comes off as intimate and intensely personal. On "People Got a Lotta Nerve," Case tries in vain to justify another broken heart in her wake by proclaiming, over a hypnotic Byrds-ian guitar riff, "I'm a man eater, but still you're surprised when I eat you," and to reason with her whimpering ex with this brutal simile: "You know they call them killer whales, but you seemed surprised when it pinned you down to the bottom of the tank where you can't turn around, it took half your leg and both your lungs, and I craved, I ate hearts of sharks, I know you knew." She seems exasperated, saddened, frustrated and guilty too. Supported by her usual rag-tag crew of regulars and guests that include Paul Rigby, Tom V. Ray, Jon Rauhouse, M.Ward, Joey and John of Calexico, Kelley Hogan, Howe Gelb, and Garth Hudson (of The Band), the group sounds relaxed and assured, staying out of Case's way -- I imagine you had better, if you know what's good for you -- but giving her heartfelt and quirky songs just the right support and embellishment. A lovely and haunting album from a rare, true artist of pop music. [JM]


	$12.99 CD		LEONARD COHEN Live Songs (Columbia Import) "Tonight Will Be Fine" "Passing Through" There's been a lot of justifiable brouhaha over Leonard Cohen's return to the stage in these parts recently, so we figured it would be a good moment to point out the man's rather unjustly neglected live album of 1973, Live Songs, which even at this late date is still only available as an import! Apart from a nearly somnambulant take on "Bird on the Wire," it's nearly devoid of his obvious hits, which isn't to say that the songs are in any way of lesser quality. In fact, the whole record feels like a series of hidden gems, and as such I find I come back to it more often than any of his better-known records. I've been listening to Leonard Cohen for a long time now, and I'll admit that when I was first hipped to this record I was at a stage where I was exhausted by the whole idea of the man, his delivery, and all those familiar songs of his I'd heard hundreds of times before. What a surprise and revelation then to hear the two greatest cuts on this album for the first time, "Passing Through" and "Please don't Pass Me By," so strident and jocular even, performed like he's some kind of hootenanny philosopher king. And both tunes are thoroughly uplifting, words that don't immediately come to mind when thinking of Leonard Cohen. This is easily one of my all-time favorite live records, and we've even been known to play it twice in a row at the shop, something that truly happens rarely. Special mention should also be given to the guitarist on this album, Ron Cornelius, who made a gorgeous downer of a record in the early 70s that's more than ripe for reissue, labels take note. [MK]


	$15.99 CD $19.99 LP $9.99 MP3		SVARTE GREINER Kappe (Type) Preview Songs on Other Music's Download Store Though he got his start as half of the thoroughly exquisite Deaf Center, Norwegian Erik Skovdin's solo recordings under the name Svarte Greiner have really established him as a name to watch in contemporary drone-based electronic music. More than just resting on those deceptively simple drones, however, Skovdin's work demonstrates a dark understanding of dynamics, with a sense of creeping, ominous dread permeating almost everything he touches. Picking up right where the great Knive left off a couple years back, Kappe conjures four lengthy tracks from the blackness, each one a refinement of the ideas Skovdin has been pursuing throughout the whole of the Svarte Greiner project. Contrasting sharply with most of his contemporaries, there's little to no warmth in any of Kappe's recordings. Engrossing though they may be, these four pieces come from frigid places, with buzzing swells of tone that wouldn't sound out of place on a (reasonably well-produced) black metal record. Album opener "Tunnel of Love" plies spare crackles and rattles with scrapes and hisses that grow into a torrent of sound, evoking what it might sound like to be caught in a thrashing storm in the middle of the night. From there, Skovdin shows a little restraint, as he works the same elements into "Mystery Man" and its tormented undulations, while "Candle Light Dinner Actress" introduces some spare electric guitar and heavily processed saxophone into the song's grim spatial negotiations. Definitely pulling from metal as much as he is contemporary experimental electronics and drone-based music, Skovdin's latest as Svarte Greiner is a real treat for those of you who tend to avoid the sunny side of life. [MC]


	$17.99 CD		BJ NILSEN / STILLUPPSTEYPA Man from Deep River (Editions Mego) Track 1 Track 3 Editions Mego are having an unbeatable run of releases at the moment and this latest from Scandinavian explorers BJ Nilsen and Stillyuppsteypa is another stunning disc to add to the canon. Swedish drone-lord Nilsen joins Icelandic pranksters Stillyuppsteypa for the fourth time here and they have put together probably their finest collaboration to date. It's too easy to lump this kind of gloomy ambience in together but Man from Deep River succeeds in genuinely standing out from the crowd with its peculiar field recordings and woozy selection of dark drones. Apparently the three extended tracks were informed by an old tape from the mid '70s which I'd like to think was recorded somewhere in the jungle, maybe as part of some daring exploration into uncharted territory. The disc kicks off with an almost untouched gamelan recording that disintegrates slowly into a terrifyingly cold drone. It is almost dark ambient, but the field recordings add a genuine air of displaced terror, not so much from the deep annals of a church basement as from a helicopter somewhere in the Caribbean. As such, we get a sense of being framed as the lost traveler, wandering through unseen lands being trailed by hostile natives. Eventually we drift into the final piece, a compelling half-hour of fizzing, fiery manipulation with disorientating bubbles of synthetic sound drifting above a bed of crackling embers. Genuinely unsettling and always compelling, those of you enthralled by the more experimental end of the ambient spectrum will no doubt love getting lost in Deep River. [JT]


	$15.99 CD		VARIOUS ARTISTS El Barrio: Latin Disco (Emusica) "Good Times" Charanga "Salsa" Louie Ramirez Fania gives us an incredible collection of disco-flavored Latin funk selections from their extensive library. New York City in the '70s was the epicenter of the international club scene and disco was all the rage, so it wasn't that much of a stretch for boogaloo and salsa artists to combine the infectious rhythms of the times with their music. Dance steps like the "Latin Hustle" came directly out of that scene, and about a third of this compilation is dedicated to mid-tempo, salsa-tinged hustle tunes like "Dance, Dance, Dance" by Orquesta Novel, and Charanga 76's cover of Chic's "Good Times." Highlights also include the classic "Waterbed" by LTG Exchange, and the psychedelic disco of "Mambo Rock" by Seguida, and household names like Tito Puente and Joe Bataan are represented here as well. Fans of Dimitri from Paris, Patrick Adams and raw, soulful, East Coast disco, take note. [DH]


	$21.99 LP		CHRIS BROKAW Gracias, Ghost of the Future (Capitan) We scored a handful of this ultra-limited (100 copies, LP-only) all-new instrumental album from one of the finest guitarists around. Chris Brokaw is best known for his guitar work in Come, and with Thurston Moore's recent "solo" band, where he replaced J. Mascis, if that's any indication of his skills. He also drums in the New Year (and Codeine, back in the day), but his solo guitar recordings, particularly on instrumental stuff like this, are simply stunning, heartfelt and deeply melancholy, but impossible to categorize.


	$14.99 CD $16.99 LP		BOSTON SPACESHIPS Planets Are Blasted (Guided by Voices) Another loose, trebly pop confection from Guided By Voices' Robert Pollard and his latest "band," the Boston Spaceships. Even at 25 minutes, many of the tracks seem to be a bit tossed-off, but of course that's the idea, and with light string arrangements and some pretty big hooks, the fans won't complain.


	$19.99 LP $15.99 CD		DAVID BYRNE & BRIAN ENO Everything That Happens Will Happen Today (Todomundo) "I Feel My Stuff" "Strange Overtones" Now available on vinyl. Brian Eno and David Byrne rekindle a longstanding creative partnership with this, their first new collaboration in years and one of 2008's best pop records. Eno handles the musical arrangements and Byrne's responsible for the lyrics and vocals (as well as a bit of guitar), and boy oh boy, is it a winner. The boys claim the overarching theme here ended up becoming a modern interpretation of gospel/devotional music with a bit of folk overtones; they aren't too far off the mark in their description, as Byrne's vocals are consistently uplifting and assured in tone, even tender at times. He's never sounded better and more at ease, and the result is quite beautiful considering the screwed-up turmoil our world is enduring these days. Eno's arrangements are some of his strongest in ages, and without question a step up from his rather lacking recent forays into songcraft. These two have managed to constantly refuel their creative flow over the years because they seem to understand one another's strengths and how to let those strengths shine through. It's also great to hear them move in new directions rather than attempt to rehash the wheels they've reinvented more than once in their careers already. This is the sound of two masters loosening up and simply having fun making music together, and as a result it's a highlight of both of their respective (and respected) discographies. One of the most beautiful records of 2008, and without a doubt one of my Top Ten records of the year. [IQ]


	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 [MC] Michael Crumsho [GH] Gerald Hammill [DH] Duane Harriott [IQ] Mikey IQ Jones [MK] Michael Klausman [JM] Josh Madell [SM] Scott Mou [JT] John Twells THANKS FOR READING - all of us at Other Music

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