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Other Music & Dig For Fire's 2010 SXSW Lawn Party Line-Up
This Week's Free Song Downloads
We'd been anticipating the release of Jack Rose's new album for a while, and sadly, its arrival couldn't be more bittersweet, with the guitar virtuoso passing away late last year at the all-too-young age of 38. Luck in the Valley is the perfect amalgamation of this prolific Pelt-man's talents and interests. Rose and his band (which includes the Black Twig Pickers and players from the Dr. Ragtime and His Pals LP) move through rollicking hoe-downs, bluesy pre-war-influenced Americana (including a few covers of classics by W.C. Handy, Blind Blake, and Dennis Crumpton and Robert Summers), as well as some lengthy, drone-based steel-bending assuring this album a place amongst his best works like Kensington Blues. Free song download of "Spread So Thin," taken from Japanther's new album, Rock 'n' Roll Ice Cream, out on Menlo Park next Tuesday, March 2. Sporting new member Anita Sparrows (formerly of the Soviettes), there's no mistaking the duo turned trio's brand of hooky, no-holds-barred punk rock, only add a new flirtation with girl-group harmonies and a little West Coast surf vibe atop the group's buzzing pop. New Downloads on Other Music Digital
Oneohtrix Point Never might not necessarily be the next household name, but Rifts is a powerful record that is definitely turning some heads and pricking some ears. As readers of The Wire magazine already know, this release nearly topped its revered list as the #2 Best Album of 2009. I can testify that from the moment I first heard OPN on WNYU last year, I was mesmerized -- here were thick textures of staccato analog synth loops, an attentiveness to melody so acute that it bore "hooks" from noise/drone elements, and a measured and restrained pace, despite the sheer amount of notes being run through the delay. With its unmistakable '80s bustle, this music could double as a score for the birth of the Information Age, but its retrospective style does not negate its sophistication, and Rifts signifies great advances in melodic noise, owing in part to the mature, skilled approach of the composer. Oneohtrix Point Never is the solo project of Daniel Lopatin, of Brooklyn drone/loop duo Infinity Window, and at 27 tracks spanning two-and-a-half hours, Rifts is a somewhat intimidating sample of the past three years of his music-making. This bountiful double-disc release includes three OPN full-lengths, as well as a handful of tracks culled from Lopatin's couple dozen cassettes and CD-Rs. I'm thrilled that this collection has arrived on our shelves; previously, Lopatin's records were isolated treasures in our vinyl bins, extremely limited and seemingly never to be seen again. I'm happy to be wrong about that, as Oneohtrix Point Never's varied compositions will make an indelible impression not only on those into German Kraut pioneers such as Klaus Schulze and Manuel Gottsching, but contemporary experimentalists such as Sun Araw, Ducktails, and White Rainbow. On a note that's so un-avant that maybe it's actually avant again, it's also worth mentioning that one of the noise scene's newest experimentalists is actually making closet dance music, and Lopatin could easily, if he wanted, be a cornerstone of 2010's emerging instrumental electro scene, including Teengirl Fantasy, Pictureplane, Chicago's Gatekeeper, Javelin, and surely others who don't even exist yet. Oneohtrix Point Never presents a challenging blend of melody to noise, ambience to beats, and retro to modern. One of the must-have experimental releases of this past year! -Karen Soskin
Other Music alumnus Koen Holtkamp and longtime collaborator Brendon Anderegg recorded Etching in one take, real time, to release as a CD-R for their national tour behind their exquisite Thrill Jockey debut, Choral. (Thrill Jockey would also release Etching not long after as a very limited vinyl pressing.) It's a sublime and intriguing record, near-impossible to decipher exactly what was where and when, with layers of organ, synthesizer and acoustic guitar, processed on the fly, and I am in awe that there are no overdubs here. This kind of pastoral electonica elicits direct comparisons to 1970s German bands like Popol Vuh and Harmonia, but that is just a leaping-off point in Mountains' musical genome. Add in touches of Fennesz and Stars of the Lid and you begin to fill in the holes. Etching feels more sprawling and reaching than the duo's earlier work, living and breathing in the most organic, satisfying way. The first part of Etching is built around acoustic guitar and gently layered until it becomes something much more, while the latter half delivers a wall of light and fuzzy drone, drawn out and shimmering, continuing in more directions at once than might be tracked. -Brian Cassidy
An obscure slice of late-'60s Brazilian psychedelia. Os Brazoes' main claim to fame was being picked by Gal Costa for her backing band when she was making her hugely influential early forays into Tropicalia. Turns out her sidemen had a pretty great album in them as well; they created a similar synthesis of North American rock and roll and local Brazilian forms, with very similar results, as those being explored by Tropicalia ringleaders Os Mutantes and Gilberto Gil (whom they cover here). There's a great version of Jorge Ben's classic "Carolina" included, as well as lots of fuzz guitar, phasing, and studio trickery loading up all the tracks. They never get too far away from the samba, however, and the entire record ends up with a pretty sweet party vibe throughout. -Michael Klausman
Over the last couple of years, Brooklyn sound artist and filmmaker Sarah Lipstate has kept busy. While functioning as the full-time guitarist for electronic noise-pop band Parts & Labor, Lipstate has performed in Glenn Branca's 100-guitar ensemble, and was the only woman in Rhys Chatham's Guitar Army. She has (very) recently joined the ranks of experimental pop outfit Cold Cave, an OM favorite and new Matador Records artist. And as Noveller, Lipstate released her debut LP, Paint on the Shadows, and now, her debut CD, Red Rainbows, on electronic artist Carlos Giffoni's label, No Fun Productions. Scaling down her ever-changing arsenal of instruments to a double-necked guitar and two pedals on this new one, Lipstate creates meditative, beautifully-textured tonal drones and looped rhythms. "Rainbows" kicks the album off in full-on psychedelic swirl, as distorted melody pierces black metal bass drone in an epic bliss-out. The steady plucking and bowing of strings in the haunting, minimal composition "St. Powers" evokes Eno, Growing's Color Wheel, and the soft insistence of Grouper. The fifth and final track, "Bends," is a slowly unfolding, three-part collaboration with Giffoni, anxiously No-Wavey as shimmering guitar loops are disrupted repeatedly by rumbling and bleeding electronics. The whole album has the unique appeal of feeling distinctly present, as though it were a live recording with impeccable studio production -- perhaps because Noveller's compositions always originate in improvisation and are sometimes recorded in a single take, resulting in a suspenseful, exhilarating drone-based record. -Karen Soskin
With their most recent Matador full-length, Columbus' heroes of hiss Times New Viking deliver jangling, overdriven pop cacophony. But instead of sounding crude or hyper-staticky, the tracks on Born Again Revisited shimmer and sizzle with energy; in other words, Adam, Beth and Jared get it right, again. Aesthetics aside, though, at the core of this band's sound are great, unforgettable songs. When 2008's Rip It Off was released, the melodies cemented themselves in your subconscious. Born Again Revisited takes a bit longer to worm its way into your head, but tracks like "No Time, No Hope" and "These Days" showcase trebly hooks like you wouldn't believe. "These Days" is especially great; Beth's simple vocal line rides over the mid-tempo crackle of guitar and drums and organ, and the result is nostalgic, shiver inducing pop magic. Of course, TNV are still more than capable of raucous discord; "I Smell Bubblegum" and "(No) Sympathy" conjure up a tongue-in-cheek brashness that is reminiscent of Swell Maps or early Pavement. And as long as I'm comparing, Times New Viking can readily be likened to fellow Siltbreeze/Matador Ohio act Guided By Voices because, yes, their songs are of the catchiest-possible variety, but they want you to dig for them. The group is also frequently lumped together with their lo/no-fi contemporaries, and, admittedly, they do share a penchant for blown-out amps with bands such as Sic Alps and Psychedelic Horseshit. All in all, though, Times New Viking have successfully cultivated an instantly pleasing, instantly recognizable sound that is all their own, and Born Again Revisited shows it off nicely. -Jacob Kaplan
Don't hate, people -- you know you've gotten down and dirty in a club at least once in your life to the sound of Gary Numan's "Cars." Simply put, Numan's 1979 album The Pleasure Principle (from which "Cars" is taken) is a killer. Few albums before or after have so successfully fused synthetic robotics with deeply human unease of everyday life. This record paved the way for more mainstream acceptance of the burgeoning synthpop, new romantic, and even coldwave scenes, and showed in full neon color how effectively synth technology could be sculpted and programmed into tight pop structures. The album is chock full of hooks, the songs are catchy without sacrificing their integrity or intensity, and the record often rides grooves of taut, agitated tension. There's a reason the track "Films" was included on one of the earliest volumes of Ultimate Breaks & Beats; it's been sampled countless times over and has even been covered by Wu-Tang mastermind RZA. This 30th Anniversary edition(!!) comes with a disc of rare demos, outtakes (including a badass Satie cover!), and B-sides (hi there, "Random," nice to see you), including what is essentially an alternate, more raw version of the album that sounds like a contemporary release on Sacred Bones. Indeed, this record's sacred bones have been picked over by many a current synth fetishist, and this new remaster brings all of its details back in full-blown glory. Give in to the Pleasure. -Mikey IQ Jones |
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We are very excited to announce the line-up for our third annual 
