June 2, 2011

		JUN Sun 12 Mon 13 Tues 14 Wed 15 Thurs 16 Fri 17 Sat 18 SATURDAY, JUNE 18 PUBLIC ASSEMBLY: 70 N. 6th Street, BKLN 21+ w/ID $10 before 1AM, $5 after Advance Tickets Here   NORTHSIDE FESTIVAL SHOWCASE PRESENTED BY OTHER MUSIC & ACADEMY ANNEX Other Music is teaming up with our good friends at Academy Annex for a bit of record store solidarity -- and fun -- at this year's Northside Festival, and on Saturday, June 18, we'll be hosting some of our favorite performers in both rooms of Williamsburg's Public Assembly. It's a pretty awesome and diverse line-up, running the gamut from garage pop to bluesy stoner choogle, to dark electro to cosmic ambientscapes. The full-line-up is listed below and we hope you can join us! 12:30AM Light Asylum (Back Room) 12AM The Babies (Front Room) 11:30PM Innergaze (Back Room) 11PM Janka Nabay (Front Room) 10:30PM ARP (Back Room) 10PM Endless Boogie (Front Room) Front Room DJ Doug Shipton (B-Music/Finders Keepers) Back Room DJ Veronica Vasicka (Minimal Wave)

		FEATURED NEW RELEASES Jozef Van Wissem Invisible Conga People Reatards Spacelines (Curated by Sonic Boom) Woods Theo Parrish Yma Sumac The Vaccines My Morning Jacket The Bob Seger System Staccato du Mal Madlib HSDOM     Roe Enney Mark Lord Dust Augustus Pablo Michi Sarmiento Death Cab for Cutie David Bazan Follow us on Facebook: facebook.com/othermusicnyc Follow us on Twitter: twitter.com/othermusic

		JUN Sun 05 Mon 06 Tues 07 Wed 08 Thurs 09 Fri 10 Sat 11   BATTLES LISTENING PARTY THIS SUNDAY This Sunday, we'll be throwing a listening party for Battles' anticipated new album, Gloss Drop, which comes out Tuesday on Warp Records. It's an awesome record (did you see the video for "Ice Cream" with Matias Aguayo?!) and we'll playing the album from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. in the shop. We'll also have copies for sale during that time so you can score yours a few days early, and drinks and snacks will be served. SUNDAY, JUNE 5 (5 p.m. – 7 p.m.) OTHER MUSIC: 15 East 4th Street NYC

		JUN Sun 05 Mon 06 Tues 07 Wed 08 Thurs 09 Fri 10 Sat 11   Sun 19 Mon 20 Tues 21 Wed 22 Thurs 23 Fri 24 Sat 25 Heresy of the Free Spirit Iceage   UPCOMING IN-STORE PERFORMANCES CULTS: MONDAY, JUNE 6 @ 8 p.m. We're excited to welcome Cults who will be playing live at Other Music on the eve of the release of their much-anticipated debut full-length. We'll have copies of this enigmatic pop duo's new, self-titled album available for purchase that night, so you can be the first on your block to own a copy. Cults' set was great at Other Music and Dig For Fire's Lawn Party at SXSW earlier this year, and you can watch some of the highlights of that performance right here. HERESY OF THE FREE SPIRIT & PAUL METZGER: THURSDAY, JUNE 9 @ 8:30PM Featuring lutenist Jozef Van Wissem and multi-instrumentalists Robbie Lee and Che Chen, Heresy of the Free Spirit plays Van Wissem's arrangements of lute compositions and improvisations that draw on early music, folk traditions, modern composition and noise. Their set will be followed by a performance from Paul Metzger, whose singular brand of solo banjo music is equally influenced by American primitive, Indian raga, and Middle Eastern tonality. ICEAGE: WEDNEDSAY, JUNE 22 @ 8PM These young Copehenhagen punks have already sold out a couple of small-label pressings of their first album, New Brigade, and Brooklyn's What's Your Rupture? is stepping up to the plate to give the record a proper North American release on Tuesday, June 21. The following night, Iceage will be celebrating its release playing a set of their exhilarating post-punk/hardcore at Other Music. OTHER MUSIC: 15 East 4th Street, NYC Free Admission | Limited Capacity

		JUN Sun 29 Mon 30 Tues 31 Wed 01 Thurs 02 Fri 03 Sat 04   Sun 05 Mon 06 Tues 07 Wed 08 Thurs 09 Fri 10 Sat 11 Photo by Marc Domage, Courtesy of Théâtre de Gennevilliers   WIN PASSES TO RYOJI IKEDA'S THE TRANSFINITE We've long been fans of Ryoji Ikeda and are pleased to offer five pairs of tickets to our Update readers to his current installation of works and music, selected by the Armory for its third annual visual art commission in the Wade Thompson Drill Hall. Showing now through June 11, Ikeda creates a visual and sonic environment where visitors are submerged in an extreme illustration of projected and synchronized data. His work uses scale, light, shade, volume, shadow, electronic sounds, and rhythm to flood the senses. In choreographing vast amounts of digital information, Ikeda conjures up a transformative environment in which visitors confront data on a scale that defies comprehension, experiencing the infinite. To enter for a pair of passes, email giveaway@othermusic.com and we'll notify the five winners this Friday, June 3. PARK AVENUE ARMORY: 643 Park Avenue (btwn 66 & 67 Street) NYC

		JUN Sun 05 Mon 06 Tues 07 Wed 08 Thurs 09 Fri 10 Sat 11   OKKERVIL RIVER TICKET GIVE-AWAY Having just released I Am Very Far, Okkervil River's most nuanced, collaborative and accomplished set to date, Will Sheff and his band will be performing at New York's Terminal 5 this coming Tuesday, June 7, with Titus Andronicus and Future Islands opening the night. Other Music is giving away two pairs of tickets to this great triple bill and to enter, just email tickets@othermusic.com. We'll notify the two winners this Friday. TUESDAY, JUNE 7 TERMINAL 5: 610 W. 56th Street, NYC

		$17.99 CD   JOZEF VAN WISSEM The Joy That Never Ends (Important) "The Joy That Never Ends" "Concerning the Precise Nature of Truth" On The Joy That Never Ends, Dutch lutenist Jozef Van Wissem delivers a gorgeous 42 minutes of sensual quietude played on a 13-course swan neck baroque lute, coaxing hypnotic, cyclical meditations out of his instrument. Van Wissem has made a career of exploring all possible angles of the repertoire of the lute, and he calls these pieces "palindromic;" it's easy to hear why, as they display an inner rhythm and pulse that ticks and buzzes like a room filled with clockwork, while maintaining luscious melodic tones at the same time. There are even moments where his lute sounds like a prepared piano, its multi-tracked lines intertwining into rich harmonic clouds. Van Wissem does a wonderful job combining the more medieval roots of the instrument's sound with a decidedly modern sensibility, and the results are highly relaxing and utterly intoxicating. He explores desolate blues textures, minimalist polyrhythm, and even a bit of droning metronomy with the help of Jim Jarmusch on electric guitar. It all adds up to one of the most haunting, beautiful records of instrumental mastery you'll hear all year. Fans of everything from Loren Connors, Hauschka, John Fahey, and even some of Earth's quieter moments will find much to love here, but don't let any of those names lead you to draw comparison where it isn't necessary -- Van Wissem's in a class of his own, and he's made a stunner of a record. JOIN US FOR VAN WISSEM'S IN-STORE PERFORMANCE, JUNE 9! [IQ]

		$11.99 12" $3.99 MP3   INVISIBLE CONGA PEOPLE In a Hole (DFA) Preview Songs on Other Music's Download Store Isn't it nice when a follow up release both defies and exceeds expectations? It's been a long while since Invisible Conga People's 2008 Italian's Do It Better 12", and we knew a new record from the NYC duo was gonna be good, but this EP on DFA really nails it. Where those earlier tracks had a uniquely cosmic Italo/Kraut vibe, this one has another atmosphere altogether, while still retaining an overall spirit consistent with their first release -- a spirit that embodies qualities found in Andy Stott's Passed Me By, Pantha Du Prince's This Bliss and the EP's of James Blake, while actually not sounding quite like any of them! Slurred tempos (record is marked 33 but is actually 45), woozy vocals (this time by local guests Willow Gibbons of Bow Ribbons and NY solo artist Andy Comer) with a dimly lit, heavy-yet-buoyant and most importantly special and individualistic vibe throughout. Beyond recommended stuff -- this is one of the essential releases of summer 2011. [SM]

		$13.99 CD $9.99 MP3   REATARDS Teenage Hate / Fuck Elvis Here's the Reatards (Goner) "Out of My Head, Into My Bed" "Memphis Blues" Here we have the Reatards' first album reissued by Goner Records, thirteen years on from its original release. These 39 tracks chronicle how Jimmy Lee Lindsey Jr., a/k/a Jay Reatard, started his music career in his early teens. This expanded reissue contains Teenage Hate and Fuck Elvis Here's the Reatards in their entirety, the latter of which has Greg Cartwright (Oblivians, Reigning Sound, etc.) drumming in an early incarnation of the band. With original liner notes penned by Jay himself, photos, and four-track recordings taken from cassettes that now go on eBay for sums of money that would make Bill Gates wince, it's safe to say the gang down in Memphis have truly outdone themselves. Jay Reatard released work with a warts-and-all attitude, unabashedly laying bare his processes and committing every idea he possibly could to record. Jay's work is so well documented that the tenacity in his songwriting can clearly be traced from final recordings released on Matador, back through Lost Sounds, Angry Angels, Final Solutions and pinpointed to the beginning, the Reatards' Teenage Hate. Hot off the blocks following the head-spinning opener "I'm So Gone" is "Stayce" (some may already be familiar with this track as it is featured on another Reatards album, Bedroom Disasters), and it is striking to hear how much Jay sounded like the Adverts, considering he didn't know about them until after recording Blood Visions almost a decade later. Sure, you can hear a love for the Oblivians and Wipers throughout, as this goes back to Jay not being shy about revealing his methods. Covers of Buddy Holly, the Beatles and Lil' Bunnies on this reissue go further to show what informed the Reatards' sound. For the uninitiated, don't be surprised to hear even rougher, snottier recordings than Jay's still ballistic later work. Amphetamine-driven riffs pummel their way through the tracks apace with vocals that bite, snarl and grunt. Attention-flipping songs about being pissed off, bored and horny are composed with metronomic rhythms and crunchy forthright guitars delivered with a bad attitude that makes you want to go and knock stuff over for no reason -- just listen to "Out of My Head, Into My Bed" to see what I mean! The Reatards made music a more exciting place to lose your mind. These songs help paint a picture of how a kid who used to bang on empty paint buckets in his mum's house grew into a prolific artist. This reissue attests that although Jay is gone, he will never be forgotten. [KP]

		$17.99 CD   VARIOUS ARTISTS Spacelines: Sonic Sounds for Subterraneans (Munster) "Sun Arise" Rolf Harris "Please Stay" The Cryin' Shames The amazing thing about various artists collections compiled by influential musicians: there's always some undiscovered nugget of sound connecting what you know and what they know, a "eureka" moment that opens up their own music to a whole new universe. On Spacelines, Sonic Boom (Spaceman 3, Spectrum) maps out the influences behind his bands, and there are many surprises along the way. The compilation kicks off with a few roots-of-rock entry points via the Staples Singers and Bo Diddley, a sort of primer to ready the listener for the journey ahead into wall-of-noise psychedelic pop, electric rock, soul, blues, garage and freakbeat. Along the way we hear Xaiver Cugat's "Perfidia," a rolling, moody arrangement (most famous for its use in Casablanca) that Sonic Boom describes as "beautiful" and "priceless," and also observes, "If you know 'The Tide Is High' -- you'll be hit by deja-vu." These sorts of quips -- often humorous and always illuminating -- are sprinkled throughout the liners, with words like "respect" and genius" finding their way into the short descriptions repeatedly. As we dig deeper, we come across the didgeridoo vocals and sparse tribal beat of "Sun Arise" by Aussie Rolf Harris (described by Sonic Boom as a "stunning one chord wonder"); the White Noise's "Firebird" ("one of the most enchanting pop songs from that era where it seemed ANYTHING might happen") made even more enchanting by early electronic music pioneer Delia Derbyshire's spacey effects and manipulations; and the Rays' early-'50s jam "Elevator Operator" ("packs so much power, lift and humour into 2 mins 30...they practically invent psyche 30 years too soon"). I could go on with more favorites (Honolulu Mountain Daffodils, John Mayall's Bluesbreakers, Evie Sands, the Red Crayola, Sun Ra, and a few Joe Meek productions), as well as original versions of songs that Spaceman 3 and Spectrum have covered/reworked, but for the sake of brevity...get this comp! There's nothing like being turned on by an influencer's influences, with funny, honest reasons to check them out. [LG]

		$13.99 CD $14.99 LP $9.99 MP3   WOODS Sun and Shade (Woodist) Preview Songs on Other Music's Download Store Sun and Shade is an apt title for the latest record from Woods. As the group grows, we've seen two sides emerge, like yin and yang. There is the sun side: Woods as a rock and roll band, with fuzzy electric guitars and big, stomping drums -- at their sunny peak, the group sounds like Creedence and Neil Young jamming out on top of Sugar Mountain. The shade side is less easily defined, however, and mostly the work of G. Lucas Crane, who garbles and manipulates cassette tapes to produce an eerie, pulsing backdrop to the traditional rock structures of the songs. On this new record, the follow-up to last year's At Echo Lake, Woods strike a near-perfect balance between these two moods. There is no lack of rousing, stomping pop songs, like "Pushing Onlys," "Any Other Day," "Hand It Out," and the easy psychedelic bubble of "To Have in the Home." Jeremy Earl's voice still hangs out high in the upper registers, where it sounds best. The two extended jams on the album, "Out of the Eye" and "Sol y Sombra," unspool naturally, winding up and down to keep up with Crane's fritzed-out cassette tape tumbles. And the softer songs sound just as sweet as ever, as on "White Out;" with its hand percussion foundation and slightly doo-wop vocals, the tune is loose and shaggy enough to slip deep into your brain, and groovy enough to stay there. The same could be said about the album as a whole -- as Woods gets more comfortable with its own identity as a red-eyed rock band, their records grow naturally and flow even better. [MS]

		$10.99 12"   THEO PARRISH Feel Free to Be Who You Need to Be (Sound Signature) One of the most enigmatic tracks from Theo's awesome Sketches full-length (both CD and vinyl were impossible to find only moments after it was released) makes its way onto 12" wax. A slightly more psychedelic than usual vibe pervades the deep yet softly stomping/locomotive "Feel Free to Be Who You Need to Be," coming off quite like a deep and sleazy Cybotron. It also features vaporous vocal chanting (sprinkled with a little extra angel dust), like an uptempo ghost trio version of "A Love Supreme," singing "I won't be you/Don't see what you do/Cause you cannot see/What I can see/I gotta be free/I gotta be me/Worry about me." The A-side is enough to make this essential but the B-side (also from Sketches) is a bonus entitled "360" -- a long, floating track of Rhodes stabs, melodies and chords peppered with analog maraca that really opens up with cloudy synth strings past the ten-minute mark. This one will go out of print quick, so don't sleep -- I gots mine! [SM]

		$17.99 CD   YMA SUMAC Miracles (Omni) "Remember" "Tree of Life" This is not the Voice of the Xtabay you know and love... yet at the same time it could be no other. Yma Sumac's ride from descendant of the last Incan emperor, Atahualpa, to her ascendancy as the queen of the American exotica/space age bachelor pad set came to an end with this 1972 album, which saw her four-octave vocal range sparring with a psychedelic pop/rock combo led by producer/composer Les Baxter, the man responsible for her iconic breakout hit, 1950's Voice of the Xtabay. While that LP saw the duo working in a westernized assimilation of what would have been considered "jungle" music to the average US record buyer, Miracles saw the creative team dabbling at that classic moneymaker of musical primitivism, rock and roll. Fuelled by the recent financial successes (and almost scandalous critical attention) of Chess Records' psychedelic blues albums for Howlin' Wolf and Muddy Waters, Baxter convinced both the heads at London Records and Sumac herself that it was a good time to turn on, tune in, and cash out to some trippy psychedelic grooves -- not only would it potentially reap a higher (and faster) reward than the Black Orpheus-esque Brazilian standards the suits wanted her to sing originally on the album, they also figured they'd rope in the new breed, who probably found Sumac's early records totally square. The sound of Miracles is astonishing right from the get-go; "Remember" gallops out with a knuckleheaded hesher riff/beat combo, with Sumac ululating wildly in pretty much every vocal register at her disposal. Funereal organs sound as the guitar fuzzbusts through the bushes behind Sumac, and after she finally takes a breath, it's solo time. They pull out all the stops -- Hammond B-3, wah-wah guitar, even a damn piano, and the rest of the album follows suit. The closest Sumac gets to a real lyric on the album is a satchel of variations on one very fitting word that pretty much sums up the insanity at work here: "Whoa." The album kills from start to finish; I spent a better part of a decade looking for a vinyl copy until one finally found its way into the shop a few years back. I played it endlessly and still do, and I'm totally thrilled that this CD is finally available, with bonus tracks to boot! As is typical with something this weird and solid, everyone pretty much hated it upon release, probably even more so than the purists hated those Wolf and Mud albums. Sumac herself disowned it, claimed that Baxter stole all of the songwriting credits, and pretty much stopped recording altogether for almost twenty years. That's a damn shame, because had she continued into the '70s and '80s, who knows what heights she may have scaled; there's an obvious precedent here for the weirdo femme vocale personality that Kate Bush masterminded a few years later, and which many a contemporary indie diva with questionable "opera training" all strive to achieve but often come up flat. There's not a bum note in the batch, and the album to this day still shreds pretty wildly. We've been carrying this CD for a few weeks now, and EVERY time I put it on in the shop, we sell out of every copy we have before it's even over. I'm hoping that this time, I can actually get to the end of the damn CD. You know what to do, people. Absolute highest recommendation! [IQ]

		$10.99 CD   THE VACCINES What Did You Expect from the Vaccines? (Columbia) If you've spent any time following this young group's rise in the British weeklies, you most likely got a case of reader's whiplash. Hailed with praise like "the band that will kick-start a new era" yet derided for being from posh backgrounds (often by the same publication), we've found the UK press as fickle and hyperbolic as ever. It's made the anticipation for the Vaccines' debut full-length feel a bit like the bygone pre-Internet era, when music magazine stalwarts like the NME were at the height of their power for making or breaking a band. Fitting then that the Vaccines take a lot of their cues from the C86 days. Of course, this isn't 1986, and rather than seeing a Subway Organisation stamp we find Columbia Records printed on the sleeve; granted that's no real surprise considering indie isn't short for "independent" any more, it's a music genre. I do, however, like buzzing, down-stroked guitars, liberal doses of Phil Spector reverb, and catchy, punky songs about girls and girls that break hearts. And I like the Vaccines. No, they aren't re-writing any rules, but the pogo-inducing, 84-second Jesus and Mary Chain-meets-Ramones blast of "Wreckin' Bar (Ra Ra Ra)," simple three-chord stompers like "If You Wanna" and "Norgaard," and the rapturous slow-build of "Wetsuit" all explain why the press have been wagging their tongues, and more so the scores of fans who can be thanked for peaking the album at #4 on the UK charts. Of course, it takes a memorable singer to bring it all home and Justin Young does just that with a baritone croon that's equal amounts sulk and soar; during tracks like "A Lack of Understanding" and "Post Break-Up Sex" he could accurately be described as one-part Morrissey and one-part Julian Casablancas. In fact, in naming their first album What Did You Expect from the Vaccines?, it's impossible not to recall the Strokes' similarly anticlimactic titled debut, Is This It, both groups wisely trying to deflate the messianic expectations placed upon them. Admittedly, I'm a little too old and a lot too jaded to believe that the Vaccines are going to save rock and roll, much like Arctic Monkeys, Babyshambles/Libertines, the Strokes (the British press loved 'em first!), Oasis... all did, or didn't, before them. But like all of these bands, the Vaccines have caught a lot of ears with their first album, and rightfully so. Now comes the tricky part: kick-starting that new era, or at very least defying expectations with an equally memorable follow-up. [GH]

		$13.99 CD $18.99 LPx2   MY MORNING JACKET Circuital (ATO) "Outta My System" "Ya Wanna Freak Out" My Morning Jacket, the soulful, psych-ful Kentucky "classic" rock band led by Jim James, have always been a hard-rockin' live act who made enjoyable, yet often odd studio albums, that only occasionally caught the fire of their hair-whipping performances. Don't get me wrong, they have put some killer tracks on wax over the course of five records, and I will rarely fault any band, especially one working in a genre as tired as classic rock or alt-country, from pushing at the edges of what defines their sound. But MMJ have often baffled their own fans with the surprising twists and turns that their albums have taken, often segueing from riff-heavy rock hits into creepy keyboard freak-outs and beyond. Nowhere was that more evident than on the group's last record, 2008's divisive Evil Urges. Three years later, the band comes full circle with Circuital, a great new set that still pursues the urges of the previous one, while more successfully folding them into a cohesive sound. We still get the drawn out groove jams, like on the soaring seven-minute title track; we still get keyboard-heavy country soul, like on "Victory Dance," the rhythmic opening number; and James is still a weirdo for sure -- try to get your head around "Holdin on to Black Metal:" "It's a darkness you can't deny, But it don't belong in a grown up mind, Suppose you'll find this place in a youngster's eyes, Coming into life you needn't cry ... You'll find out something is good, Oh black metal you're so misunderstood." Indeed. Yet the songs have a consistent focus and sound that gives the album weight and impact, with several fuzzed rockers, several bluesy ballads, and a handful of funkier numbers all strung together with great riffs, great grooves, and more reliance on James' powerful natural singing voice than on his love of natural reverb. In the end, despite being produced live in the studio with minimal fussing, Circuital still may not possess all the heft of My Morning Jacket in a concert setting. But it comes pretty darn close, and moreover adds nuance and color that might otherwise be obscured by sweat and hair on stage. It's great record, and should please most any fan of this band. [JM]

		$11.99 LP   THE BOB SEGER SYSTEM Noah (Capitol) There comes a time when you just gotta forget what you know about Bob Seger. Forget about the Silver Bullet Band, Night Moves, Chevy truck commercials and "Old Time Rock & Roll." I fully understand the skepticism but in the late '60s and early '70s, Seger and the System made some of the best hard rockin' music of the era. Noah is his second album from 1969 and has been unavailable in any format practically since the day of its release (originals go for up to $100 these days). The abbreviated story is that Seger suffered a nervous breakdown after his first album (the amazing Ramblin' Gamblin' Man), so a fella named Tom Neme was brought in to help out and ended up writing half the songs on Noah. This apparently made him so upset, he completely disowned the LP and considered quitting music altogether. It's a shame because it's a great record, packed with top notch Detroit-style hard rockers ("Innervenus Eyes" and "Death Row" are both killer...making them sound like true contemporaries to the MC5), soul-influenced cuts (the title track sounds, unknowingly, like the Equals!) and one amazing and totally whacked-out percussion freakout called "Cat." For six-plus minutes Seger rambles on about picking up a hippie chick named Cat, and then he grunts for a while, over a backing that sounds like a super-extended intro to "Sympathy for the Devil." Amazing. I swear by the first six of the man's records, and if you're a fan of Detroit rock, I don't see why you wouldn't too as this era of Bob Seger is right up there with MC5, SRC, Rationals, and the Amboy Dukes. [AK]

		$11.99 CD $9.99 MP3   STACCATO DU MAL Sin Destino (Wierd) Preview Songs on Other Music's Download Store A new release on NY's Wierd imprint, that is far, far from the realm of contemporary "casual wave," the new Staccato Du Mal (Ramiro Jeancarlo) is here to help further define what makes genuine, real-deal contemporary analog synth wave. Those familiar with the wonderfully claustrophobic intensity of Jeancarlo's duo project Opus Finis will be satisfied by the dank gray intensity of Sin Destino, and will also be treated to well written songs with alternately punchy and soaring allusions to John Foxx. This powerful darkness mixed with classic synthwave reminds me of early Martial Canterel (a definite compliment in my book) crossed with the overall catchiness of Automelodi (but without that underlying disco/pop element). Sin Destino is another distinct product of a pre-trend veteran (some of Jeancarlo's other collaborative projects include Flesh Graey Display, Zug Im Veins, and with Liz Wendlebo on a 7" release credited to Xeno and Staccato). As I often say, "those in the know, will know!!" Anyone looking for that ineffable quality found on deliciously obscure synthwave, that mix of dark, dank basement atmosphere mixed with transcendent, glistening, icy melodies, will find lots to love here -- recommended! [SM]

		$15.99 CD $9.99 MP3   MADLIB Madlib Medicine Show #9: Channel 85 Presents Nittyville (MMS) "Jus' Follow" "What Can U Tell Me" After a six-month delay, the ninth volume of Madlib Medicine Show finally is released; Channel 85 Presents Nittyville is a full vocal album featuring Detroit rapper Frank Nitty (of the duo Frank-n-Dank). Through the years, Nitty has had guest spots on various productions by J-Dilla and Madlib, so his appearance as part of Madlib's lengthy series seems natural. Madlib is up to his usual tricks, here creating an hour-long journey that plays out like a trip through a TV-land only he could imagine. Half of the tracks are vocal -- bleepy, head-nodding jams -- while the rest of the album is filled with sampledelic interludes taken from various forgotten and obscure sitcoms. Of course there are endless hours of entertainment in the pilfered skits and sounds, but the album soars when Madlib turns off the television and focuses his attention on the other person in room, 'cause when Nitty gets to rap he has a great delivery, fun rhymes, and solid energy. This one falls in line with the other hip-hop focused editions of the series, #1 with Guilty Simpson, and #5: The History of the Loop Digga, as well as the albums he produced for Percee P and MF Doom. It's worth picking up if you've been a fan of Madlib in general, of the series overall, or looking for a good, weird, and easier to digest hip-hop record; this should suit you aging back-packers just fine. [DG]

		HSDOM $7.99 CS Roe Enney $7.99 CS Mark Lord $7.99 CS Dust $7.99 CS   HSDOM Untitled - Cassette (Phaserprone) ROE ENNEY Damnatio Memoriae - Cassette (Phaserprone) MARK LORD Tachyon Firing Squad - Cassette (Phaserprone) DUST Ballet - Cassette (Phaserprone) New York's Phaserprone label has just released a new slew of cassette-only releases for our gentle ears to enjoy -- pro-quality, nicely screened cassettes, with custom hand-printed letterpress j-cards by Jonas Asher (of Grasslung and also one-half of UWowl). First up is a C30 tape from the other half of UWowl, HSDOM, whose Untitled begins with a 14-minute track on Side A that's divided into two parts. "Am Graben" brings to mind the image of picking through the wreckage with a stick, then suddenly hearing a distant voice emanating from a German radio wave broadcast, carried towards you by the cool breeze of a nuclear winter. The second part of side A, "Paradigma Des Werkzeugs," combines an apocalyptic drone, the sound of an overturned filing cabinet-like crash and data blips that morph forward and eventually lock in disparate syncopation, suddenly and assuredly becoming the coldest, most inhuman dub imaginable. The 14-minute track on side B begins with "Machine," a slow, epic Kraut-inspired jam that shows how much music can embody the spirit of German synth, while not just sounding like the current crop of stylistic facsimiles. It eventually simmers down into a quiet evening in a post-apocalyptic concrete jungle, replete with low, buzzing synthesized drone, disembodied transmissions, and metal rubbing on metal. Next is Roe Enney's debut release Damnatio Memoriae, which is crafted from warm and desolate sounding synths, LinnDrum and bass guitar, with vaporous, dubby vocals delivering floating/rambling, rhythmic, basement poetry. Think the pure, naïve, bleak sweetness of Nancy's voice in Jandek's "Nancy Sings," meets the heavy-lidded beat-drawl/post-punk dub of Leslie Winer, offering cryptic soundwords like: "You have a cool grin/slipping so sad on your neck...Progress is motion/calling my partner's name." It's not all ladylike though as things get pretty sinister on tracks like "Moonlit Photograph," where a ritualistic vocal incantation floats ominously above a skittering/knocking drumbeat anchored by a subtle drone. The beautiful j-card on Mark Lord's (also of the duo "Daily Life") Tachyon Firing Squad sports a post-industrial/Road Warrior-style robot cop face reminiscent of Mark Stewart's When the Veneer of Democracy Starts to Fade. It's this subtle hint that prepares the listener for what's to come: stripped-down and nasty solo-industrial-tinged analog tracks made for social unrest. The buried voices/radio transmissions bring a particular taste of paranoia and impending riot. Great stuff here. Like the name implies Dust (previous releases on Arbor, Secret Abuse [split with Rene Hell] and formerly of Copper Glove and Earth Crown) tends toward a looser sound, somewhere between vaporous earth-ambient and pummeling swells (see "Open," with its sparking/gurgling synth squeaks and percussive/concussive bursts sounding like distant explosions in an ocean cave). The underwater excavation theme is continued on "Pass" -- where Pan Sonic is the sound of a vast, bleak icy landscape, Dust is the sound of a deep sea exploration piercing the black depths while being heralded by depth charges along the way. Another defining release from Phaserprone! I imagine the above references will pique the interest of many of you reading this review, but if there's still any doubt: nicely done, so don't hesitate on these! I have to say that Phaserprone is reaching new heights here; there are more disparate reference points that play with song-structure without going fully pop by any means. Nice to hear stuff that combines cerebral experimentalism with a sincere level of emotion. [SM]

		$13.99 CD   AUGUSTUS PABLO Ital Dub (Get on Down) "Road Block" "Gun Trade" The word "ital" (as in vital) is a Rastafarian term for the strict natural vegan diet that most followers of the faith stick to. No meat, no additives, no salt -- it's a diet consisting of fresh organically grown food in its purest form. This classic dub album from '74 could pretty much be considered "ital" for those looking for no-frills, emotionally charged, pretense-free reggae music. By 1974, 21-year-old Horace Swaby, a/k/a Augustus Pablo, had amassed four massive instrumental singles, based around his trademarked ghostly melodica playing, which no one except Pablo was doing at that time. Ital Dub marks the beginning of his historic collaborative partnership with the legendary engineer King Tubby. The sparse riddims were played by the seminal reggae band Inner Circle and produced by Tommy Cowan -- the man who set up Tuff Gong studios for Bob Marley. "Shake Up" is prime Tubby, beating that tape delay Echoplex like it owed him money and flanging those hi-hats 'til they sizzled and popped like pebbles in a meat grinder. There are some excellent dubs of lighters-up anthems "Rebel Music" ("Roadblock"), "Curly Locks" ("Curly Dub") and the Peter Tosh classic "Funeral" ("House Raid"), tailor made for the hot summer ahead. Less than two years later, Pablo and Tubby would release the seminal King Tubby Meets Rockers Uptown, but the blueprint was laid out on this one first. Whether you're a hardcore dub fan or a novice, consider this album truly, truly ITAL! [DH]

		$15.99 CD $9.99 MP3   MICHI SARMIENTO Aqui Los Bravos! The Best of Michi Sarmiento y su Combo Bravo (Soundway) "Cumbai Raja" "Tumbando" Soundway continues its wonderful reassessment of Colombian label Discos Fuentes with this great collection of cumbia soul by saxophonist Michi Sarmiento. This set documents the work of Sarmiento's Combo Bravo band from 1967-'77, where the ensemble combines the popular cumbia, guaguanco, and descargas sounds with the hot flavors of Nuyorican salsa, boogaloo, and soul that were invading the Caribbean coast at the time. The arrangements are stellar, lean, and never overcooked, and Sarmiento shows his considerable talents as a bandleader; the tunes are raw, passionate, and deeply groovy, and every cut is filled to the brim with sweaty, steamy kineticism. Summer's here whether you like it or not, so get your ass on the floor and start moving... here is your soundtrack. [IQ]

		$16.99 CD   DEATH CAB FOR CUTIE Codes and Keys (Atlantic) "Home Is a Fire" "Monday Morning" It's still weird for me, a Pacific Northwest native, to hear about Death Cab for Cutie on an international scale. Ben Gibbard's music, as the cherubic face of both DCFC and the Postal Service, effectively played throughout the entirety of my middle and high school career. But like any intense relationship that left its mark in the margins of notebooks, I still smile when I hear about what Gibbard is up to now, even after we've long since broken up. Making records for the major labels, playing arenas, marrying Hollywood starlets -- I'm glad he's doing well for himself. On Codes and Keys, Death Cab's seventh full-length album, the band further explores the genre that they helped create: the emotive, mathy, progressive indie rock song. The dynamics and the song structures have expanded to fit the size of the venues that they are playing now -- the guitars are tuned to maximum grandeur, the syncopated drums behaving in an orchestral way that shuns the straight thump-thump of traditional rock drumming. There are elements of the lamented Postal Service scattered throughout the record, mostly in the way of electronic squiggles, effected vocals, and some programmed beats. I tell the world I've moved on, and maybe I really have -- but I know that Codes and Keys is DCFC at some kind of personal pinnacle -- raw emotion broadcast globally, from the top of the dog heap. [MS]

		$14.99 CD $9.99 MP3   DAVID BAZAN Strange Negotiations (Barsuk) Preview Songs on Other Music's Download Store With a great new record released in such close proximity to Death Cab for Cutie's latest blockbuster, on their former label no less, it's easy to see David Bazan's career as the inverse of Death Cab for Cutie's rise to arena fame, with a steady fall from indie rock and personal grace. No man sings better songs about Pacific Northwest shame, guilt, shameful guilty pleasure, and redemption than Bazan; this guy has some demons. Even in his Pedro the Lion days, the optimism of a tune like "Big Trucks" was tempered by the overwhelming cynicism of Bazan's world weary howl. Bazan's last record for Barsuk was a more digestible, 35-minute reckoning with his loss of faith -- it featured more playful and sprightly production, the hint of new directions and, maybe, greener pastures for our depressing-as-shit hero. Strange Negotiations is a continuation of that album's struggle. Bazan still doesn't know whom to trust, though he seems to be on better terms with God on this go around (but not so with God's followers). Songs like "People" burn bright with the fiery, punchy indie rock that Bazan perfected with Pedro the Lion -- syncopated drums and crunchy electric guitars abound. But there are also moments on record where Bazan sounds like he's thinking, not fighting. On "Virginia," the instruments are reined in, gently strumming underneath a rather beautiful song about watching a daughter float further and further away from the safety of home. "Virginia" and "Don't Change" are evidence of David Bazan as a great contemporary songwriter. He spins ironic stories, about people we've all met, and sings it like he means it. There are no tricks, no heavy effects, no hype, no bullshit. And that's Bazan at his best. [MS]

		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 [LG] Lisa Garrett [DG] Daniel Givens [GH] Gerald Hammill [DH] Duane Harriott []IQ] Mikey IQ Jones [Ak] Andreas Knutsen [JM] Josh Madell [SM] Scott Mou [KP] Kimberly Powenski [MS] Michael Stasiak THANKS FOR READING - all of us at Other Music

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