February 2, 2011

		FEATURED NEW RELEASES Demdike Stare Pakistan Folk & Pop Instrumentals (LP) Charles Bradley The Dirtbombs Brand New Wayo (Various LP) Grouper / Roy Montgomery (Split) Bossa Nova (Various) Pop Ambient 2011 (Various) Shinki Chen Lia Ices Metal Mountains (LP) Seefel Vagrants Magical Power Mako John Vanderslice     Melvin Davis C'est Chic! (Various Artists) ALSO AVAILABLE Warpaint Robert Pollard The Go! Team The Get Up Kids Follow us on Facebook: facebook.com/othermusicnyc Follow us on Twitter: twitter.com/othermusic

		FEB Sun 06 Mon 07 Tues 08 Wed 09 Thurs 10 Fri 11 Sat 12   WIN TICKETS TO GANG OF FOUR No introduction is really needed for this one. Having just released the excellent Content, Gang of Four's first brand new album in fifteen years, this legendary post-punk band are playing New York City's Webster Hall next Tuesday, February 8th, and we're giving away two pairs of tickets! To enter, email contest@othermusic.com and we'll notify the winner this Friday. TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 8 WEBSTER HALL: 125 East 11th Street, NYC

		FEB Sun 06 Mon 07 Tues 08 Wed 09 Thurs 10 Fri 11 Sat 12   Sun 13 Mon 14 Tues 15 Wed 16 Thurs 17 Fri 18 Sat 19   WIN PASSES TO THE AVANT MUSIC FESTIVAL Other Music is giving away a pair passes to the five-day run of the second annual Avant Music Festival. Curated by Randy Gibson and Megan Schubert, this year's festival focuses on evolution as its guiding theme, from the evolution of a single work (Gibson's Apparitions of the Four Pillars) to the literal exploration in Georges Aperghis' Sextuor: L'Origine des espèces and everything in between, including pieces from composers John Cage, Reiko Füting, and Nils Vigeland, as interpreted by some of the most talented young musicians in New York. It's an excellent roster of performances and events -- you can view a full listing here -- and the winner's pair of passes will be good for all of the nights! To enter, email tickets@othermusic.com. We'll notify the winner this Friday, February 4. FEBRUARY 11-19 (all performances start at 8PM) THE WILD PROJECT: 195 East 3rd Street, NYC $12 pre-sale tickets available here | $15 dollars at the door

		Many of our customers have been enjoying the ease of texting their orders with their mobile phone. To take advantage of this option with the items listed below, go to subports.com where you can create your free Subports account. Afterwards, just text the corresponding subcode listed underneath each item to 767825.

		$26.99 CDx3   DEMDIKE STARE Tryptych (Modern Love) "Forest of Evil (Dusk)" "Bardo Thodol" Last year, UK electronic conjurers Demdike Stare released three limited edition, vinyl-only records which formed a trilogy of hauntingly rich, thematically dark soundworlds. With their music touching upon dub, deep ambient drones, sampled plunderphonia, classic techno and psychedelic Krautrock, and their visual and thematic content referencing Ouija boards, witchcraft, runes and pagan symbolism, not to mention an overall love of horror films, low-tech sci-fi, and British folklore, it wasn't too long before they joined artists like Broadcast and the Ghost Box label roster as prime examples of the hauntology genre. Those three albums, Forest of Evil, Liberation Through Hearing, and Voices of Dust, are now collected into this gorgeous and stunning triple-CD package entitled Triptych, with each of the discs augmented and even improved upon by what totals out to be around 40 minutes of bonus material, playing like a director's cut of the original trilogy. Coming in at two-and-a-half hours altogether, the records aren't necessarily meant to be listened to in one sitting, but rather as small seances of their own. Demdike Stare's deep, sub-bass fogs, spectral flickers of Middle Eastern melodies, clanging, bump-in-the-night beats, and overall hypnotic but unsettling ambiences make for one of the year's most rewarding, rich, and exciting releases. Imagine a bubbling cauldron combining Basic Channel, Philip Jeck, Muslimgauze, the sort of British jazz and library music currently lauded by the Trunk label, and a bit of the international psychedelia championed by the Finders Keepers label (for whom one of Demdike's members currently works) all mixed together into a terrifying musical beast that draws you into the shadows and feasts upon your sensory organs once you've gone too far into the abyss. Forest of Evil features three 10-minute-plus suites, and these library-music-inspired ceremonies open up the portals through which the rest of their universe can travel. Liberation Through Hearing ushers in more dubstep sub-bass and beat texture, then suddenly mutates it for dark, arid drones. Voices of Dust is a perfect combination of all that's come before it, taking the rich soundscapes of Popul Vuh's soundtrack work and picking its skeleton dry, and then playing some heavy voodoo ritual music with its bones. No one does this stuff better, I kid you not. Anyone with any interest in records by the likes of Salem, Forest Swords, Balam Acab, or any of the aforementioned artists should do themselves a favor and check this out. Most highly recommended, play it loudly in the darkest room in your house... you'll never be the same again. [IQ] Order CD by Texting "omcddemdiketriptych" to 767825

		$28.99 LPx2   VARIOUS ARTISTS Pakistan Folk and Pop Instrumentals (Sublime Frequencies) Recently, Sublime Frequencies has been doing astounding excavations from previously unknown psychedelic hotspots like Saigon and Indonesia. With this lavish two-LP set from the mountainous lands of Pakistan, the window into such pop music was small indeed. This set explores the grooves made between Zulfikar Ali Bhutto's rise to power (overthrowing a dictatorship) in 1969 and a military coup d'etat that unseated Bhutto and created a state governed by Sharia law in 1977. Add to it the fact that most Pakistani pop/rock music was devoted to film scores (see Finders Keepers' great Sound of Wonder compilation of tracks from Lahore's Lollywood) and the field seems rather small. Of course, Sublime Frequencies continues their ability to finds nuggets, no matter the terrain. Fans of surf instrumentals, twanging guitars, snake-charming electric organs, and the like, will find plenty to groove on here, be it the Panthers' "Malkaus" or the fine blending of worlds on the Aay Jays' "Lal Qalandar Lal" (their lone single!). Famous film composer Nisar Bazmi has two cuts from his rare instrumental album appear. Throughout, hand percussion mixes with rock backbeats, electric sitar tangles with its six-stringed cousin, and the always-fascinating mixture of western psychedelia and eastern sensibility rises to the fore. [AB]

		$14.99 CD $16.99 LP $9.99 MP3   CHARLES BRADLEY No Time for Dreaming (Dunham / Daptone) Preview Songs on Other Music's Download Store You can hear the long, roundabout path 62-year-old Charles Bradley took to the release of his stunning debut album, No Time for Dreaming (which came out last week on Daptone subsidiary Dunham Records), in every note. Born in Brooklyn, Bradley has been making music, and moreover making a hardscrabble living any way he could in every corner of the country, since his teen years. But back in his hometown, he fell in with the Daptone Records scene a few years ago when Gabe Roth stumbled across Bradley doing his James Brown routine under the stage name of Black Velvet in a Bed-Stuy bar. Through Roth he eventually met future Budos Band mainman Thomas Brenneck, who encouraged Bradley to start writing his own tunes, and several years on produced this pitch-perfect soul masterpiece, with the Menahan Street Band backing up the gravel-voiced burgeoning star. Bradley's voice evokes Otis Redding and Wilson Pickett, a raspy, painfully soulful drawl that is swimming in raw emotion and pathos, and he has penned a batch of songs that do honor to his emotive instrument, musing on love, loss, and the hard, bad world he came up in. Except for the bouncing title track and a couple of other mid-tempo swingers, the record is a slow burn, mostly laid-back bluesy shuffles, built on percolating bass and whip-smart snare and hi-hat patterns, bubbling conga, chicken-scratch guitar, swirling organ, and punching, swooning horns that are always so cool and restrained, allowing Bradley to make the most of his perfect timing and deep well of emotion. Bottom line, it's hard to sing this music if you haven't lived it; I'm actually a pretty big fan of guys like Aloe Blacc and Mayer Hawthorne, but they could never stand nose to nose with Charles Bradley -- he is the real deal. Fans of Sharon Jones or any of the aforementioned should catch this bus now; it is about to leave the station. [JM] Order CD by Texting "omcdcharlesno" to 767825 Order LP by Texting "omlpcharlesno" to 767825

		$12.99 CD $19.99 LPX3+MP3 $9.99 MP3   THE DIRTBOMBS Party Store (In the Red) Preview Songs on Other Music's Download Store Even before the release of their last album (2008's incredible We Have You Surrounded), I had heard loose talk about the Dirtbombs planning to release a record made up solely of early Detroit techno covers. I immediately tucked that away in the "Looks Bad on Paper" file. Given, the Dirtbombs are one of, if not the best band still standing from the staples of Detroit's garage rock scene, a scene that over the years has seen way more casualties and hype machine dust than sustainably talented groups. This is in no small part attributed to bandleader Mick Collins' sci-fi dork in a leather jacket personality, and how his quirky mental landscape works its way into everything he's touched since his beginnings in the ineffable trash-brat superhero band the Gories. But come on, the Dirtbombs' sound is composed of two unhinged drummers, sloppy bass, relentless fuzz baritone guitar and Collins' own garage-sale guitar skronk and bellowing rock and roll vocals. Is a garage punk outfit gonna deliver anything all that strong on the metered 808 grooves of early Derrick May, Cybotron and Kevin Saunderson? Seemed dubious at best, gimmicky at worst. Time passed, and before I knew it, I was listening to an early leak of Collins and crew reworking 12" classic "Sharivari" by the obscure Detroit act A Number of Names. This techno covers record by the best garage band in the land was really happening, and it sounded pretty great! I was thinking it was time to move Party Store into the "So-Crazy-It-Just-Might-Work" file. The nine tracks here are as faithful to the original versions as possible from a band like the Dirtbombs. While on-point production and restrained drumming give the rhythms a genuinely robotic feel, creative guitar processing fills in for the synth tweaks and programmed flourishes of the originals. "Cosmic Cars" transforms from post-apocalyptic computer music into grunge snarl. Their take on Inner City's house classic "Good Life" sounds troubled and broken even while singing about the good times. Much like the originals, it's hard to hide the Detroit bleakness, whether you're using broken fuzz pedals or drum machines. While the 22-minute freak-out of "Bug in the Bassbin" (originally a more improvised moment by Carl Craig's Innerzone Orchestra) may be a bit much for some listeners, its inclusion is essential to what makes Party Store great; it's an honest and considered tribute, by Detroit music geeks for Detroit music geeks. Rather than fall into some ham-fisted genre-switching gimmick, it's a sincerely crafted album, and it plays through with all the turns and dynamics of any solid full-length collection. You forget you're listening to a covers album and it seems more like some weird amalgamation of the Stooges Fun House and Kraftwerk's Autobahn. Add in, just for good measure, the minute-and-a-half cover of "Tear Da Club Up" by Detroit's long-running booty champion DJ Assault, and we're all the way into the "Oh Hell Yes" file. [FT] Order CD by Texting "omcddirtbombsparty" to 767825

		$19.99 LPx2   VARIOUS ARTIST Brand New Wayo (Comb & Razor) Oh man, this is so, so nice. The new Comb & Razor label's inaugural release is one heavy, heavy mother; Brand New Wayo delivers fifteen slices of Nigerian boogie, disco, and jazz-funk over four sides of vinyl. This stuff nicely diverges from the usual Afrobeat/highlife sound everyone knows to be Nigeria's coolest musical export, with a glittery, more glitzy dancefloor sound which reflects the more optimistic vibe in Nigeria's entertainment industry of the time. The period covered here, 1979-1983, saw the nation's oil industry reach full bloom, with its citizens also celebrating a democratic government after 23 years of military dictatorship. You'll find none of the hard, militant funk of Fela's Africa 70 on this set; rather, you'll groove to the slinky, sexy sounds of Kris Okotie's "Show Me Your Backside," the serious Ayers-like boogie of Amas's wicked "Slow Down," and the great handclap Casio bounce of Joe Moks's "Boys and Girls." Fans of the whole slew of Mutant Disco/Larry Levan/tropical disco collections that have made the rounds over the years will find MUCH to love here; these tracks are killers and out of everything on this set, I'd only heard one song before. The vibes vary from string disco grooves of the Studio 54/Salsoul variety to peppier TK-style bangers and some wicked proto-electro monsters. The grooves are solid, the glitterball kitsch factor is pretty much kept in check in favor of honest to goodness party rocking in regards to the track selection, and there are great liners giving details on each cut, including sleeves for the crate diggers. This is all killer, no filler, and is of absolute highest recommendation to you disco/rare soul/Afro DJs and fanatics. 2011's first Afro-Jam! Let's party! [IQ] Order LP by Texting "omlpvariousbrand" to 767825

		$16.99 CD $9.99 MP3   GROUPER | ROY MONTGOMERY Split (IOG) Preview Songs on Other Music's Download Store Beginning his career with New Zealand's seminal Pin Group, then with Dadamah, and across a series of melodic yet free and drone-based solo works, Roy Montgomery established himself as an innovative and versatile guitarist, his sound invoking the ethereal as well as the nearly violent, brimming with emotional intensity. It's supremely fitting then that Montgomery is paired on this split with Grouper, the alias of Portland, Oregon native Liz Harris, who has in the past five years supplied a series of releases, including 2008's breakthrough Dragging a Dead Deer up a Hill, that evoke equally enthralling emotionally ambient narratives. Enveloping her guitar, electric piano, and voice in a wash of found sound, tape hiss, and reverb, Harris constructs a subaqueous world in which subsist utterly gorgeous, wistful songs. The two sides of this split make for a very complete sounding record, establishing consistent environmental immersion; the pieces, as though created in the hypothermic depths, act as remote readings of traditional folk forms, affected for individual invention. Montgomery, spreading out his discordant raga over the entire A-side, riffing on a theme by Sandy Bull for just over 18 minutes, plays out the "Fantasia" in an almost classical sense. His melodies move easily, establishing slower passages that give rise to intense peaks, at which point the rhythm darts unpredictably, Montgomery's right hand strumming wildly. Grouper's side of the record creates what feels like a complete cyclical narrative of sound, beginning and ending in a hush of field recording, all the while showcasing four of the most concise and alluring songs Harris has penned to date. The layered jangle of her guitar is absent and in its place a plodding electric piano, striking round warbling notes in space. Emerging from the night-hush, voices intone a slow simple falling melody to imbue "Hollow Press" with a truly deep melancholy, while the Wurlitzer humming and whirring patiently in "Vessel" makes for a hymn-like lament. Stark and reverent, multi-tracked voices move along with the resonant tremors of the piano, creating a simple, austere space. Sharp, stunning music. [JCa] Order CD by Texting "omcdgrouperroy" to 767825

		$21.99 CDx2   VARIOUS ARTISTS Bossa Nova (Soul Jazz) "O Sapo" João Gilberto "E De Lei" Elizete Cardoso Soul Jazz offers up another one of their high-quality retrospectives, this time focusing on the Brazilian bossa nova movement which became not only a homegrown phenomenon but an international craze, infiltrating homes across the globe thanks to folks like Stan Getz's collaborations with Joao Gilberto and Tom Jobim. This two-CD set steers clear of the cool, bachelor-pad stylings of the sound, and focuses its attention more on the roots of the genre's modernist reimaginings of rustic samba and carnival folk musics, up to its early explosion into the cultural force it became. The track selection is flawless, with nearly every important major songwriter and singer represented, often with cuts that dig a tad deeper than the usual Greatest Bossa Hits fare. Also included -- and possibly worth the price of admission alone -- is a great 75-page digest overflowing with cultural history, artist bio information, and best of all, stunning photos of Brazil in the 1960s which help illuminate why bossa became such a worldwide phenomenon -- one look at the cool, relaxed, stylish decors of Rio, Bahia, and Ipanema and you're wondering why you don't book a trip on a time machine to soak up a bit of sun and saudade yourself. This is essential, revolutionary listening. [IQ] Order CD by Texting "omcdvariousbossa" to 767825

		$15.99 CD $12.99 MP3   VARIOUS ARTISTS Pop Ambient 2011 (Kompakt) Preview Songs on Other Music's Download Store Kompakt always times the release of a new edition of their Pop Ambient series to arrive during the dead of winter, offering perfectly reflective sounds for short days and window gazing out at the barren, cold (and in today's case, slushy) streets below. While 2011's installment does follow the overall trajectory of previous volumes, with Kompakt staples like Jurgen Paape, Mikkel Metal and Triola, as well as a few soon-to-be label staples, offering their own interpretations of ambient music, there are some deviations from earlier editions -- notably a more prominent influence of modern classical composition throughout and a few uncommonly dark moments. The duo of Carsten Nicolai (a/k/a Alva Noto) and Einstürzende Neubauten's Blixa Bargeld make this immediately apparent, opening the comp with "Bernsteinzimmer" from their lauded Mimikry full-length as ANBB. Here, the mournful strings and deep, growling machine textures form an ominous sonic bed for Bargeld's exotic lament. The equally cinematic track that follows, Marsen Jules' "Once in a Moment," nicely steers the listener out of the darkness and into a daydream, with processed minimalist piano passages augmenting bright, sustained bursts of synthesized orchestra swells. Other Pop Ambient 2011 standouts include "Rückverzauberung 1" by Kompakt label head Wolfgang Voigt, whose instantly recognizable nebulous GAS-harmonies are as emotive and meditative as ever, while in contrast, Crato's "30.6.1881" is as hellish as it is quiet, playing out like a film score to a horror movie. Elsewhere, the seven-and-a-half minute "Beginner's Waltz" from Bhutan Tiger Rescue (the duo of Ewan Pearson and October) blossoms into another album highlight, as a lulling synthesizer passage repeats itself over sleigh bells and a cloud of airy tones and light, crackling dissonance. Thomas Fehlmann's reworking of Mahler's "Symphony #1," however, ends Pop Ambient 2011 with eight of its most breathtaking minutes. Horns and strings are layered and processed into long, phased tones as electronic whirs, pulses and other digital fragments of orchestration gently flicker from speaker to speaker; even without a choir, the track mirrors the similar deep yearning emotions of Gavin Bryar's watershed "Sinking of the Titanic." Ambient, yes, but coupled with the pomposity of Mahler, Discreet Music this is not. [GH] Order CD by Texting "omcdpopambient2011" to 767825

		$17.99 CD   SHINKI CHEN Shinki Chen (Pnoenix) "Requiem of Confusion" "Gloomy Reflections" By the time of this 1971 opus, the legendary Japanese guitar guru Shinki Chen had already logged many hours in service of the riff. His first official band, Powerhouse, only played covers, tackling big Western hits, but they had a wonderful tendency to record long, drawn-out versions, making them even more bombastic. His next project, Foodbrain, was a strictly improvisational affair and their one LP is a real doozy. So it makes sense that his first solo record would take from both as there are many rock moves but they are offset by an air of unpredictability befitting of both sides of his lineage. The "Shinki Chen & His Friends" listing in the liner notes is important because while a lot of artists, or at least record labels, will try to pass off any jam session caught on tape as a magic moment, the stuff here really has an aura of inspiration to it with everyone contributing in major ways. The "Friends" here would also go on to be a part of some of the best Japanese rock moments of the early-'70s in Strawberry Path (George Yanagi) and Love Live Life +1 (Hiro Yanagida). From here Shinki Chen would forever cement his status in rock with the fantastic Speed, Glue and Shinki. Getting into the Japanese rock scene can be a daunting undertaking, but I can think of few better entry points than this record right here. Go for it. [DMa] Order CD by Texting "omcdshinkichen" to 767825

		$12.99 CD $15.99 LP+MP3 $9.99 MP3   LIA ICES Grown Unknown (Jagjaguwar) "Daphne" "Grown Unknown" Brooklyn songbird Lia Ices' sophomore effort, Grown Unknown, has a deceptively icy veneer. The entirety of the record is spare, hushed and haunted, and the paces are cautious and patient to the point of being almost plodding; Ices' glistening and ambidextrous vocals glide over still piano or softy-arranged organ sounds, strings linger and dissolve. Initially, all these elements point to a familiarly cold and distant sad-bastard indie-rock album to remind us that we're well into the winter, but even a few songs in, a deeper, more complex statement starts to come into view. Arrangements are jagged without being overt or attention grabbing, and sharp turns in instrumentation pop up, drawing more focus to all the space in the songs, ultimately bringing the listener's ear back to Ices' singing. The title track begins with only multi-tracked handclaps, a dry and menacing backdrop for the vocals, quickly dropping out into plucked guitar and staccato strings. It's the voice that's really the focal point of Grown Unknown, and the best example of what makes this record so interesting and so hard-to-place. Not quite lush, though not without its lush moments, not nostalgic as much as it is narcotic, the sounds weave together with the vocals in a way that doesn't yield immediately understandable results. Comparisons to Kate Bush, Joanna Newsom, Cat Power and the like are inevitable, but don't really do justice to what Ices is accomplishing here. Even a vocal cameo by Bon Iver's immediately recognizable main man Justin Vernon on "Daphne" doesn't come off as indie-rock currency in the same way it did on say, Kanye's record. This gorgeous, quietly powerful collection of songs has more to say than can be digested in a single play or sound-clip. Like the best, most lasting records, it grows and unfolds with every repeat listen, and breaking through the cold shell becomes less the point than feeling the curious, strange beauty of these songs. [FT] Order CD by Texting "omcdliagrown" to 767825 Order LP by Texting "omlpliagrown" to 767825

		$19.99 LP $9.99 MP3   METAL MOUNTAINS Golden Trees (Amish) Preview Songs on Other Music's Download Store Lo and behold, someone created the perfect record for burrowing away in your winter lair, hibernating until the halcyon call of spring shakes you from your slumber. The album title conjures autumnal visions, but Barren Trees might have been a more appropriate title, as this feels very much like a winter record. Such is the spartan, controlled beauty at work here, conjuring visions of spindly bare branches and snow-dusted mountain pines, away from the din of civilization, a delicate silence, and the steam from your breath the only thing moving. Metal Mountains is the symbiosis of Helen Rush, Pat Gubler (PG Six), and Samara Lubelski (Hall of Fame), all of whom have served time in psych-folk legends Tower Recordings, as well as releasing solo work of their own. Despite all three members' prior forays flying further afield into more folk-rolk or avant/experimental tributaries, the vibe here is meditative and harmonious. No one hogs the ball, and the result is a truly stunning ensemble performance, with guitars, violin, and Helen Rush's clarion vocal delivery coalescing together in forms that recall everything from '70s British psych-folk to the '90s Louisville art-rockers the Sonora Pine (whom Lubelski also played with). A comely slow-burner that quietly insinuates itself into the corners of your mind. Hole up in your hollow, throw this slab on the hi-fi, and mellow down easy in your moonboots, guilt-free. [JTr] Order LP by Texting "omlpmetalgolden" to 767825

		$14.99 CD $19.99 LP $9.99 MP3   SEEFEEL Seefeel (Warp) Preview Songs on Other Music's Download Store It's been about fifteen years since this British band's last full-length, and while the worlds of both experimental electronica and shoegaze pop -- the worlds Seefeel long straddled, with their groundbreaking early- and mid-'90s releases -- have seen myriad changes, Seefeel's music is in roughly the same place. And that's a good thing. Sarah Peacock's shimmery, near-wordless vocals ebb and flow within broad swaths of Mark Clifford's guitar and disjointed electronics, and joined by a new rhythm section (Shigeru Ishihara on bass and former Boredoms drummer E-da Kazuhisa), they craft a slightly more percussive, dubby version of the sound they pioneered. The group's strong point may have been their commercial downfall, as they are neither a pop band, nor an experimental outfit, but few of our readers are looking for cookie-cutter music choices. The melodies and moods here are melancholy, but sweetly hypnotic and welcoming. The overall production is always slightly off-kilter and disorienting, however, and it is that dichotomy that gives Seefeel their heart. A lovely return to form for one of the seminal Warp artists (originally in the first wave of Too Pure bands -- that dates them for sure). [JM] Order CD by Texting "omcdseefeel" to 767825 Order LP by Texting "omlpseefeel" to 767825

		$14.99 CD $9.99 MP3   VAGRANTS I Can't Make a Friend (Light in the Attic) "Oh Those Eyes" "I Can't Make a Friend" Mostly, and perhaps only, known in '60s garage circles for their scorching punker "I Can't Make a Friend," New York's Vagrants never made much of a splash during their brief time. It's a common and unfair fate but Light in the Attic is here to rectify the situation. The liner notes talk of Joey Ramone and Billy Joel watching the band as youngsters, and being hugely influenced, and Vanilla Fudge copped their entire act, and turned it into cash, if the lore is to be believed. And why not, I Can't Make a Friend 1965-1968 is a solid document of a lost yet great garage band, and it's easy to see why they ruled the scene in NY at the time ("and they looked better than anyone else," according to Joey). Twelve songs is all that's been preserved but every single one is a winner. From the early garage rock crunchers and blue-eyed soul to the later psychedelic pop stuff, the Vagrants prove to be incredibly versatile and imaginative. If only we'd get to hear the 20-minute version of the Rolling Stones' "Satisfaction" they used to close out their sets with. Great package overall, with a richly illustrated and informative booklet with liner notes by Ugly Things' Mike Stax and a chat with Joey Ramone from the mid-'90s. [AK] Order CD by Texting "omcdvagrantsi" to 767825

		$17.99 CD   MAGICAL POWER MAKO Super Record (Phoenix) "Andromeda" "Silk Road" By the time of his second LP, 1975's transcendent Super Record, Magical Power Mako was already well versed in bedroom psychedelic masterpieces. In addition to his debut album from a couple of years earlier, one of the most unique and wonderful records of the era, he had also recorded hours of music which wouldn't see release for another 25 years or so, but is still some of the most blasted brain fry available. This LP, his official follow up to his self-titled debut is just as essential if not better. Overall it is a less eclectic, more focused affair than his first album and Mako uses that to his advantage crafting a record that is best heard as a complete piece, with a wonderful, unhurried pacing, a healthy does of repetition and lots and lots of fuzz guitar. For anyone who has ever admitted to staring at one spot on the wall for too long, Super Record takes you there right away. [DMa] Order CD by Texting "omcdmagicalsuper" to 767825

		$12.99 CD $15.99 LP+MP3 $9.99 MP3   JOHN VANDERSLICE White Wilderness (Dead Oceans) Preview Songs on Other Music's Download Store John Vanderslice's thought-provoking lyrics, like his meticulous, many-layered productions, are as intriguing as they are elusive, painting pictures rather than telling linear stories. But after a couple of dark, foreboding albums on Barsuk, his move to Dead Oceans with 2009's Romanian Names was a return to the lush, playful pop of his earliest recordings, and one of the best records of his career. White Wilderness, his beautiful new full-length, marks another shift for Vanderslice, as he stepped away from his own Tiny Telephone studio where he has self-produced all of his other works, and instead enlisted producer John Congleton, with orchestral arrangements by Minna Choi, recorded in Berkeley, California with the Magik*Magik Orchestra. By letting Choi and the Magik*Magik shoulder most of the weight of the instrumentals and arrangements, Vanderslice is able to concentrate on his most overlooked strength: his voice. Throughout White Wilderness, Vanderslice effortlessly slips from rural drawl to stately croon, riding the eclectic mix of orchestral instrumentation -- vibraphones, strings, and horns fill out the more classical elements, giving the album an early-'60s pop-crooner vibe at times, while pedal steel and piano lend the whole record the grace and charm of Nashville pageantry. "Convict Lake" possesses the bounce of a goofy Burt Bacharach number, complete with trilling flutes and sprightly strings, but Vanderslice's voice and the Magik*Magik's restraint keep the song from leaping into the melodramatic. The title track glows sweet and mournful, with help from a tremolo-driven vibraphone flourish and lilting strings. By the time that the hymnal-like "20K" closes out the album, only the hardest of hearts can remain disaffected and guarded against this simple, disarming, and fiercely beautiful album. [MS] Order CD by Texting "omcdjohnwhite" to 767825 Order LP by Texting "omlpjohnwhite" to 767825

		$16.99 CD   MELVIN DAVIS Detroit Soul Ambassador (Vampi Soul) "Playboy (Don’t You Play in School)" "Chains of Love" This jack-of-all-grooves is another one of those unsung music heroes who never became a household name, yet his influence is undisputed as one of the architects of Detroit soul. Since 1961, Melvin Davis has written, produced, performed, arranged and/or played on records released by all of the important Motor City-based labels, including Motown. His resume includes everything from drumming on "Tears of a Clown" to singing lead on the 8th Days hit "You've Got to Crawl (Before You Walk)." This collection concentrates on the early part of Davis' career and highlights the rare sides he cut for tiny yet legendary local labels like Jackpot, Fortune and Ke Ke Records. Self-penned tracks like "Playboy (Don't You Play in School)," "I Don't Want You" and Early Love" are awesome examples of the raw, uptempo, bluesy rockers that influenced future Detroit greasers to form bands like the Gories, Dirtbombs and the Detroit Cobras. Davis' voice is quite a versatile tool as well; he could wail and shimmy-scream like Little Richard on one cut ("This Ain't the Way") and then croon like Sam Cooke or Little Willie John on another ("It's No News"). His music has been beloved for years in the UK's northern soul scene, and many of those rare, classic cuts are here, including a previously unreleased version of Davis' monstrous "Chains of Love," a song written for and performed by J. J. Barnes. Overall, this is a solid collection of stellar Motor City soul and the meticulously researched liner notes tell the additional story of Detroit's fertile, self-sufficient, local scene of the 1960s that, in spite of the city's woes, is still as resilient as ever. [DH] Order CD by Texting "omcdmelvindetroit" to 767825

		$19.99 CD   VARIOUS ARTISTS C'est Chic! French Girl Singers of the 1960s (Ace) "C'est La Mode" Annie Philippe "Non, A Tous Les Garcons" Michele Torr As the resident Francophile here at Other Music, I've listened to countless compilations of 1960s ye-ye pop -- the saveur du jour that combined bouncy pop (often filled with "yeah yeah" chants, hence the somewhat derogatory name) with Anglo/American girl-group and psychedelic beat sounds, most often sung by young faces fresh into adulthood (or in some cases, not even there yet). Much like the '60s girl-group, psych-pop, or Northern soul scenes, there was a lot of great music that fell through the cracks due to the high number of labels and artists trying to make a name in the game, and the reissue market is constantly spewing out records compiling what they claim to be the best obscurities, or rehashing the same tired hits or obvious key tracks. Ace Records enters the ye-ye comp scene with a refreshing entry that thankfully and impressively manages to offer up important songs in ye-ye history, but combines them with overlooked gems by many important heavyweights like France Gall, Francoise Hardy, Brigitte Bardot, Petula Clark, Annie Philippe, and Sheila. They ably mix key songs like Anna Karina's "Roller Girl," Philippe's "C'est La Mode," and Gall's "Laisse Tomber Les Filles" with excellent obscurities like Michelle Torr's brilliant "Non, A Tous Les Garcons" (one of Serge Gainsbourg's best songs of the ye-ye era), Liz Brady's spy-theme flavored "Il Suffit D'un Jour," and Jacqeline Taieb's ode to teenage boredom, "Ce Soir Je M'en Vais." As is typical of Ace Records' high level of quality, this set is all killer, no filler, and works equally well as a nice entryway into the ye-ye world, and a great comp for seasoned diehards like myself. To top it off, the booklet's stuffed to the gills with info about each girl, along with period photos and record sleeve repros. It seldom gets better than this, but Ace claim that this is just the first in what I hope to be an ongoing series. Voici un excellent début! [IQ] Order CD by Texting "omcdvariouscest" to 767825

		$9.99 CD $9.99 12" $9.99 MP3   WARPAINT Exquisite Corpse (Rough Trade) Preview Songs on Other Music's Download Store Rough Trade follows up its October release of Warpaint's The Fool with a reissue of the L.A. band's 2009 debut, Exquisite Corpse. Where The Fool pulled all of the group's exquisite strands -- Emily Kokal's breathy, wavering voice, the hypnotically Krautrock-inspired bass lines, and the succinctly syncopated drum parts from Stella Mozgawa -- together into a taut, tense unit, Exquisite Corpse takes bigger breaths, with elongated psychedelic jams and hyper-treated vocals. Every element unspools ferociously, each song reaching its pinnacle in due course. Warpaint is expert at buildup achieved through repetition, as on the opener "Stars," which starts slow and cycles through a few different rhythm mutations before exploding. Listening to closer "Krimson" reveals just how much Joy Division's anxious bass lines and machine-like precision helped influence the band that would eventually release The Fool. Order CD by Texting "omcdwarpaintexquisite" to 767825 Order LP by Texting "omlpwarpaintexquisite" to 767825

		$14.99 CD $16.99 LP $9.99 MP3   ROBERT POLLARD Space City Kicks (Guided by Voices) Preview Songs on Other Music's Download Store Space City Kicks is Robert Pollard's first record of the year (he usually turns in three or four), and it will be a hard one to top. There's chugging guitar rock ("Mr. Fantastic Must Die," "Sex She Said"), achingly pretty melodies ("I Wanna Be Your Man in the Moon," "One More Touch"), and total shitty four-track weirdness ("Picture the Sun"). This one actually makes a fitting companion to last year's awesome Elephant Jokes -- overblown in just the right places, and lovely enough to find its place in your heart. Order CD by Texting "omcdrobertspace" to 767825 Order LP by Texting "omlprobertspace" to 767825

		$13.99 CD $9.99 MP3   THE GO! TEAM Rolling Blackouts (Memphis Industries) Preview Songs on Other Music's Download Store It's been about four years since we last heard from the Go! Team but the Brighton, UK six-piece's MO is still going strong: infectious, wide-eyed sampledelic stompers inspired by playground funk, classic Saturday morning kids cartoon themes and bubble-gum pop. If ever there was a soundtrack for indie rockers to do the Double Dutch to, the Go! Team have made it (again), and even let Deerhoof's Satomi Matsuzaki and Best Coast's Bethany Cosentino get in on the fun, with some guest spots. Order CD by Texting "omcdgorolling" to 767825

		$13.99 CD $16.99 LP+MP3 180 Gram   GET UP KIDS There Are Rules (Quality Hill) The Get Up Kids could easily have just done a reunion tour, playing Something to Write Home About in its entirety, but instead they've chosen to release a new record and reunite for real. With Bob Weston on the boards again, these dudes have made a tougher, more synth-heavy version of their ever-shifting sound, and tracks like "Pararelevant" and "Rememorable" bash ahead recklessly. They're back, and for a band that has changed colors with every album, the first rule is -- NO RULES. Order CD by Texting "omcdgetthere" to 767825 Order LP by Texting "omlpgetthere" to 767825

		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 [JCa] Jesse Carsten [GH] Gerald Hammill [DH] Duane Harriott [[IQ] Mikey IQ Jones [AK] Andreas Knutsen [JM] Josh Madell [DMa] Dave Martin [MS] Michael Stasiak [FT] Fred Thomas [JTr] Jon Treneff THANKS FOR READING - all of us at Other Music

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