June 22, 2011

		FEATURED NEW RELEASES Surgeon Bon Iver Light Asylum Jamal Moss Iceage Ty Segall Jeff & Jane Hudson Doug Shipton Vladislav Delay Quartet Kassem Mosse 7" Sorry Bamba Cambodia Rock Intensified (Various) Larry Jon Wilson These Trails     ALSO AVAILABLE Brian Olive John Tejada Deadbeat The Rosebuds Wax Poetics #47 AVAILABLE ON LP Takehisa Kosugi Rob Orchestre Poly-Rythmo de Cotonou Follow us on Facebook: facebook.com/othermusicnyc Follow us on Twitter: twitter.com/othermusic

		JUN Sun 19 Mon 20 Tues 21 Wed 22 Thurs 23 Fri 24 Sat 25   Sun 26 Mon 27 Tues 28 Wed 29 Thurs 30 Fri 01 Sat 02 John Maus   UPCOMING OTHER MUSIC EVENTS & IN-STORES OTHER MUSIC WEDNESDAYS AT ACE HOTEL RETURN Back by popular demand, members of the Other Music staff will be DJing the gorgeous lobby of NYC's Ace Hotel every Wednesday this summer, through to the end of August. Tonight, Amanda Colbenson is spinning rock, psychedelia and international pop with special guest Doug from Finders Keepers, right up to 2AM. And then next Wednesday, Other Music's Scott Mou will be guesting behind the decks. ACE HOTEL: 20 West 29th Street NYC JOHN MAUS IN-STORE: TUES. JUNE 28 @ 8PM We'll be celebrating the release of John Maus' new full-length We Must Become the Pitiless Censors of Ourselves the evening of its release with an in-store performance at Other Music. Maus' strain of synth-pop is as impassioned as it is blissful, his analog sounds and voice washed-out in a sea of reverb and delay. Here's a little taste for what's in store via this video for "Believer," off of his forthcoming record. OTHER MUSIC: 15 East 4th Street, NYC OTHER MUSIC + EYEBEAM BOOKSTORE Summer is always a great time of year to explore NYC's art galleries, and we imagine that many of our readers may find themselves visiting Chelsea's Eyebeam Art & Technology Center. While you're there, make sure to check out Eyebeam's Bookstore Gallery Wall, where we're presenting selections of vinyl and CDs, curated by Eyebeam Honorary Resident Tahir Hemphill and Other Music's best kept secret, avant-garde electronic music producer/performance artist Daniel Givens (Aesthetics recordings). On display through August 6. EYEBEAM ART & TECHNOLOGY CENTER: 540 W. 21st Street, NYC

		JUN Sun 26 Mon 27 Tues 28 Wed 29 Thurs 30 Fri 01 Sat 02   WIN PASSES TO JOHN MAUS & PURO INSTINCT Speaking of John Maus, on Wednesday, June 29, he will be sharing the bill with California dream-pop young guns Puro Instinct at the Mercury Lounge, along with OM's own Andreas Knutsen DJing between the sets. Enter to win a pair of tickets to this show by emailing: tickets@othermusic.com. We'll notify the winner this Friday. MERCURY LOUNGE: 217 E. Houston Street, NYC

		JUN Sun 19 Mon 20 Tues 21 Wed 22 Thurs 23 Fri 24 Sat 25   DOGFISH ANALOG-A-GO-GO WEEKEND Dogfish Head Craft Brewery and Dogfish Head Brewings & Eats will be throwing their first ever Analog-A-Go-Go weekend on June 24 & 25. There's an awesome line up of artisans on board selling vintage clothing, handcrafted jewelry, sustainably harvested cedar surfboards, beer memorabilia, and lots of vinyl records for music lovers of all types. In fact, if you stop by on Saturday (June 25), you'll recognize a few of our faces, as Other Music will be bringing a nice big selection of LPs for you to dig through. Antigone Rising will also be performing on that day, while Dogfish will keep their off-centered ales flowing and Bethany Blues will have the smoker cooking up some delicious BBQ. $10 tickets are available here, and with that you get a great sampling of cask beers from Dogfish and guest brewers Yards Brewing Co., an Analog-A-Go-Go pint glass, a raffle ticket for a chance to win the Robert Johnson Commemorative Box Set, a visit to the Steampunk Treehouse, and a great selection of vendors to sway, barter and trade from. FRIDAY/SATURDAY, JUNE 24 & 25, 11AM-5PM DOGFISH HEAD CRAFT BREWERY: #6 Cannery Village Center, Milton, DE

		$15.99 CD   SURGEON Breaking the Frame (Dynamic Tension) "Transparent Radiation" "Presence" A short intro of ominous drones announces the stunning new full-length by Surgeon, his first in ten years. Although Anthony Child is known as one of techno's best producers, Breaking the Frame is a true masterpiece that exists beyond genre. Even when he's operating within a half-time feel, as on opener "Dark Matter," it doesn't come across like an attempt to create dubstep. "Transparent Radiation" weaves a 6/8 figure that sounds closer to the more linear moments of Autechre's late-'90s heyday than "techno." Swirling organ phases in and out of the beat in a way that gives a nod to the classic minimalists, but the combination still sounds downright futuristic. There are tough-as-nails techno beats in places, and plenty of 4/4 rhythms to induce head nodding, but Breaking the Frame mostly feels like the work of an artist with a broader agenda who doesn't need to repeat the successes of his past. The beauty of the Birmingham techno scene has always been the open-mindedness of the main players, and their respect for industrial culture and underground luminaries that spans across genres and decades. When re-contextualizing these influences to produce techno, their work has always benefited from the depth this has nurtured -- there's something so right about naming a dark techno track "Those Who Do Not," a Psychic TV reference. Add to that Child's reported fascination with Alice Coltrane being manifested in the brilliant Technicolor of the album's centerpiece, "Presence", in which he creates a hypnotic cloud of activity, as vibrant harp samples dance chaotically around a slow, simple stomp of a beat. The album comes to a close with the ethereal shine of "Not-Two," which reinforces the idea that Breaking the Frame is a spiritual work. I've been looking forward to this record since it was announced months ago, and it's even better than I expected. Simply one of the best albums of 2011 in any genre. [NN]

		$12.99 CD $16.99 LP+MP3 $9.99 MP3   BON IVER Bon Iver (Jagjaguwar) Preview Songs on Other Music's Download Store If ever there was a tough record to follow, an invitation for a major sophomore slump, it is Bon Iver's 2008 debut, For Emma, Forever Ago. That album was both a hugely successful, near iconic release, and also a bit of a mythmaker. Everyone knows the story; broken-hearted, his band in shambles and his health failing, Justin Vernon retreated to an isolated cabin in the woods, and poured his emotion on to record. It's the story of one man's triumph over his own sadness and desolation, and it made Vernon a huge international star -- hell, in his spare time these days he's singing hooks for Kanye West. I'm gonna go out on a limb and say that he is not sitting alone in the woods much lately. In many ways, it must be a different man who made Bon Iver, Vernon's excellent new album, and frankly, it sounds like it; or rather, it sounds like a man reborn, one who has not lost touch with the isolation he came through, but who bathes himself in the light too. "Never gonna break, never gonna break, never gonna break, never gonna break, not for any part in any gamut of the dark," Vernon sings on "Minnesota, WI," and while his voice still aches, it is mixed with tears of joy. Lyrically, Bon Iver is largely an impressionistic album, with song titles that travel the world, visiting small towns and big cities (both real and imagined) spanning the globe, as Vernon and the band have over the past few years, painting pictures of aspiration, disappointment, triumph and tribulation with tiny brush strokes that can be hard to decipher, but easy to understand emotionally. Musically, it lives in stunning high definition, where the debut was scratchy black and white. On stage over the past few years, fans have seen Bon Iver grow from a one-man project with some backing musicians to a fully realized group, as Vernon's songs have been fleshed out and re-imagined. On this new set, it seems like the sounds and the moods are as powerful as the tunes, with lush horn and string orchestration, piano, synthesizer, and various off-kilter electronic flourishes creating swirling landscapes. On paper, the reference points can be surprising, even off-putting, if you are hung up on Vernon as a folk troubadour; his soaring falsetto of course evokes smooth R&B, and there are definite AOR vibes here, from the Bee Gees to Bruce Hornsby (I believe Vernon has copped to that one), or from the current scene, I detect some James Blake too. But few fans who loved For Emma, Forever Ago will be anything less than thrilled, or even surprised by what they hear on the new one; it's not a left turn from the intimate sound that made Bon Iver one of the best-loved indie bands of the last few years, it's really just a fleshing out of that sound, and if the self-title is any indication, this is truly the sound of Bon Iver. [JM]

		$14.99 LP   LIGHT ASYLUM In Tension EP (Mexican Summer) "A Certain Person" "Knights and Week Ends" We just celebrated the proper Mexican Summer release of Light Asylum's In Tension EP at Public Assembly this past Saturday, the duo delivering an unforgettable live performance at the Other Music and Academy Annex Showcase for the Northside Fest. We first carried this four-song EP when it was still a self-released tour-only CD earlier this year, and we couldn't keep it on our shelves. Light Asylum have created quite the blog buzz over the past year with their brand of dark, heavy new wave, and rightfully so -- this is some of the best stuff coming out of Brooklyn right now. Emerging from the school of synthesizer revivalists, Light Asylum set themselves apart from their peers with the sheer sonic intensity and emotion of their delivery. The sound of the 1980s underground is here in full effect, but Light Asylum extract the really meaty sounds of the era -- fat, pounding "Bizarre Love Triangle" drum machine beats, arpeggiated chords that would have pleased John Carpenter or Claudio Simonetti, epic Masters of the Universe-styled synth lines -- all layered one on top of the other resulting in something that's big, full, and intense. And then there's vocalist Shannon Funchess (who has accompanied TV on the Radio, Telepathe, and !!! in the past). Calling to mind the mourning soulfulness of Alison Moyet and the gritty rasp of Grace Jones, Funchess belts out these songs with such power and emotion that her lyrical content is rendered almost inconsequential; unlike so many artists coming out right now of the same ilk, she actually feels something. Funchess isn't aiming for icy stoicism; she wants you to feel these tracks right along with her. While a lot of press centers on Funchess' presence (and understandably so -- she is pretty damn fierce), Bruno Coviello's production aesthetic perfectly complements her vocal delivery. Crafting an almost anthemic sound akin to Depeche Mode's late-'80s output in its soaring hugeness, Coviello accentuates Light Asylum's sound with detailed flourishes that prove him to be one of the more interesting producers of the synth revival. This is definitely a band to keep your eye on, and no doubt we'll be hearing a lot more from them. Highly recommended! [CPa]

		$14.99 CD-R   JAMAL MOSS Sample/Pattern (Self-Released) Jamal Moss a/k/a Hieroglyphic Being a/k/a "Africans with Mainframes" has been making a name for himself crafting heady, acid-tinged outsider techno (for insiders) from the rawest materials -- usually just some drum machines and synths. He manages to sidestep any expectations of brittle, tentative, rinky-dink nerd-techno by delivering overwhelmingly robobeast-like stompers that confound with gritty, off-kilter yet in-the-pocket grooves and constantly shifting machine rhythms. We've had some trouble locating vinyl from his already large discography, but managed to score Sample/Pattern, this recent self-released CD-R album. Get this: it is a ONE TRACK CD-R that runs the entire length of the disc, as long as it possibly can be at 74 min 59 sec. It's a live jam using two low-tech samplers, a BELT-DRIVE turntable, a reel-to-reel and some drum machines. Apparently Moss wanted to capture the sound and feel of re-edit/DJ legends like Ron Hardy by using only the tools available to Hardy during his heyday!!! So it is not only a period-accurate interpretation of early club music production at its rawest, it's also a LIVE ALBUM and a DJ SET all rolled into one... and did I mention that he kinda kills it? It takes a few for it to get started, but by around the ten-minute mark, shit gets rollin'! (Again, please consider the technology at hand!) And then by around the 20-minute mark, you'll really be thanking yourself that you brought this one home, guaranteed! I won't go into a blow-by-blow of all the beats and vocal bits that make their way into this epic journey, but I will say that the sheer jackin' energy, raw shifts and complete dissimilarity from what we accept as a contemporary album or DJ mix (read: it's risky and unpolished in the best way) is precisely what makes this such a fantastic listen. There is much passion to be found here; it's fun, nasty, insane and a whole lot of other adjectives. I would like to formally request a "data disc" version of this album be released, as even with its epic 75-minute length, it really does leave you wanting more! Highly recommended! Get this!!! [SM]

		$12.99 CD $14.99 LP   ICEAGE New Brigade (What's Your Rupture) "White Rune" "Broken Bone" It doesn't happen every day, but every couple of years, someone does something in the context of punk rock that sounds as vital, desperate and important as the best examples of what we know in the genre; the four Danish teens (ages 16 through 18) in Iceage have done just that. Their debut album -- finally widely available thanks to What's Your Rupture? -- is 24 minutes of icy, bracing noise with confident riffs, piercing feedback and a big blast of energy that can only come from youth. Comparisons to Warsaw, the Sods/Sort Sol, Rudimentary Peni, the Lurkers and the Damned are inevitable, so let's just mention them and move on. There is no modern competition for Iceage; they white-knuckled New Brigade as a model for what you'll be doing when you bring this one home and play it again and again, loud. A highlight of 2011, the sound of teen revolution ripping your ears apart. [DM]

		$12.99 CD $17.99 LP   TY SEGALL Goodbye Bread (Drag City) "Goodbye Bread" "The Floor" Listening to Goodbye Bread, the new album from California rocker Ty Segall, reminds me of the first time I heard T. Rex. Specifically, it reminds me of the song "Metal Guru," where the first word from Marc Bolan's pouty lips isn't really a word, so much as a prehistoric wail. That opening salvo, Bolan's "Mau-wow-wow-yeaaaah!" is the jumping off point for Segall's newest and best record to date. Decked out in mid-fi crunch instead of sparkling platform shoes, Segall takes the raw power of glam rock's stomp and marries it to the bite and sneer of grunge. Every drum hit shakes my ears to pieces, every guitar just a little blown out and blissfully loud. But there's more to Goodbye Bread than just straight, hellish volume. On the album's closer, "Fine," Segall channels Syd Barrett with playful, herky-jerky guitar and dancing vocal ticks. "You Make the Sun Fry" sounds like vintage Guided by Voices, with its boozy, nonsensical lyrics and neat little reference to the "peaches on the beaches" (from the Stranglers' tune "Peaches"). And on "My Head Explodes," Segall wrings a good amount of Cobain from his snarling voice during the choruses, in which he sings, you guessed it, "My head explooooooodes!" What I really love about this album is the way that Segall manipulates time. He speeds up and slows down the songs according to his own heartbeat and inclination; often, he completely changes the vibe of a tune from the verse to the chorus. The whole record feels warped, like someone left the master tapes to bake just a little too long in the California sun. Goodbye Bread is easily my favorite rock record of the year so far, and it's a trip well worth taking. [MS]

		$10.99 CD $19.99 LPx2+MP3 $9.99 MP3   JEFF & JANE HUDSON Flesh (Captured Tracks / Dark Entries) Preview Songs on Other Music's Download Store The Dark Entries imprint and their friends over at Captured Tracks bring us one hell of a reissue with Flesh (Expanded), the complete discography of the US minimal synth husband and wife duo Jeff & Jane Hudson, available for the first time in its entirety on vinyl and CD. I, for one, couldn't be more excited; this material is hands down some of the best of the genre from any continent (not to mention an all time personal favorite) and marks a pinnacle achievement for the two labels already known for their stellar releases. Melding analog drum machines, dreary synth lines, detached vocal delivery from both Jeff and Jane, a killer DIY ethos, and tight, artful sonic arrangements, the duo successfully blurred the line between pure synth pop and more guitar-driven post-punk, while retaining a playfulness seldom seen in the realm of arty, dark synth music. The terms "essential," "classic," and "holy grail" are thrown around a lot in this field of reissues (and I'm sure I've been guilty of it a few times myself), but in the case of Flesh (Expanded), I'd add a "stop what you're doing immediately" and big "hell yes!" Originally from Boston and former members of the late-'70s new wave group the Rentals, visual artists Jeff and Jane Hudson moved to NYC at the beginning of the '80s, opened for Suicide and released a single and the World Trade EP on famed label Lust/Unlust Music, home to downtown no wave luminaries DNA, Teenage Jesus & the Jerks, impLOG, and others. Those early recordings from 1981, included here at the end of the CD and on LP-2, find Jeff and Jane at their most stripped down and languid, with simple synth lines buried beneath cheap rhythm boxes and blasé vocals, as on the excellent "P.C.P." or their cover of "The Girl from Ipanema," where syrupy synths and Jane's lazy delivery come off like a big "yeah, so what?" in the most perfect way. As much as I love these early releases, the highlight for me is Jeff and Jane's sole, self-released LP from 1983, Flesh. The best point of reference would be Chris & Cosey's mid-'80s LPs Songs of Love and Lust or Techno-Primitiv, as both husband and wife teams explore the more ghostly and sensual qualities of synthetic pop, maintaining an eerie, claustrophobic sound while keeping things almost open and airy. This dichotomy keeps Flesh, much like the work of Chris & Cosey, both dreamy and dark, beautiful and strange. The tracks on Flesh range in style from spectral lamentations ("Mystery Chant") and pure synth pop ("Pound, Pound" and "Up from Hell"), on to the minimal banger "Los Alamos" and the supremely evil "Operating Instructions" (where Jane disinterestedly recites the instructions to a mechanical "unit" in English, French, and German against a hard, dark industrial rhythm -- so good!). Jeff and Jane take Flesh to a whole new level, though, on "Help Me," quite possibly the most perfect and undeniably gorgeous minimal synth track ever put to tape -- it's a slow, haunting burner, repeating the same elegiac synth line over and over, as spacey flourishes move in and out of the mix until the song fades into the ether; if I had to choose just one track as representative of the entire minimal wave genre, "Help Me" would be it, no question. Obviously, I'm a huge Jeff & Jane Hudson fan, but for as much time as I've spent delving into the crevices of minimal music, few bands have come close to releasing as much solid work as they have. Fans of minimal synth, post-punk, and early electro and industrial are truly going to flip for this reissue. Highest recommendation! [CPa]

		$18.99 CD   DOUG SHIPTON Dedicated Swallower of Fashion (Fat City) Fat City/B-Music's series of DJ mixes by the head honchos at Finders Keepers Records are always a treat, but Doug Shipton's Dedicated Swallower of Fashion may be one of their sweetest DJ treats yet. If you're a fan of the label, you have a pretty clear idea of what you're going to get here -- loads of trippy psychedelic funk, prog-rock drum breaks and synth solos set against gut-busting vocalists in a Sarolta Zalatnay/Janis Joplin/Grace Slick style, and plenty of dizzying stylistic collusions. The selections are heavy on Eastern European, Pakistani, and Asian regions, with chugging riffs, tooting organs in a "96 Tears" style, and some rowdy funk horns added in for good measure. If you've enjoyed the recent Shocking Shaking Days comp on Now-Again, not to mention damn near anything Finders Keepers has offered up in the past, or if you're just looking for some leftfield international breaks to get your head bobbin', we've got the perfect prescription for you right here. There's no track listing, just like the old days, so if anything whets your appetite, you've got to get those fingers dusty to get the goods. These guys put total care and attention into everything they release, and these mixes are no exception; they're 100% fun and 100% funky. Knuckle-down and swallow hard... this shit rocks! [IQ]

		$17.99 CD $9.99 MP3   VLADISLAV DELAY QUARTET Vladislav Delay Quartet (Honest Jon's) Preview Songs on Other Music's Download Store For the last decade, we've reveled in the many versions of dubbed-out abstract electronics that Finnish producer Vladislav Delay always delivers, in his own inimitable way. He's made astonishing microhouse as Luomo and tundrascapes under his own name, and recently, he's been behind the drum kit for the Moritz von Oswald Trio, crafting a more analog version of his singular vision. And quite honestly, we presumed that for his first free improv disc under his own group name, he might carry on along a similar trajectory, mixing beats with electronics and live instrumentation. But from the first blasts of "Minus Degrees, Bare Feet, Tickles," we are in some seriously deep and dark noise. While MvO3 can dig into jazz, disco, electro, dub and techno, VDQ seems intent on bilious industrial noise in and of itself, with no outside distractions. Abetted by Lucio Capece on woodwinds, Derek Shirley on double bass and Pan Sonic mastermind and fellow Finn Mika Vainio on electronics, the four start out on the coldest borders of extreme noise and only push further out from there. There's a bit of dubbed outré jazz on the finely titled "Killing the Water Bed," but for most of the disc, Delay and crew offer up intense, hair-raising sounds that will challenge even the most adventurous of listeners. [AB]

		$10.99 45   KASSEM MOSSE Musical Generics (Mikrodisko) We've been having a hard time keeping in stock anything with the Kassem Mosse name on it. After his amazing standout releases for Laid as well as his own very well-curated Workshop label (the most recent release Workshop #12 is a killer -- we're trying to get more for you guys), we're lucky to get our hands on anything, and when we do it flies off the shelves. So we're happy to report that Other Music has received a small batch of the most recent 7" on Mikrodisko (Mosse's hometown Leipzig label who released his first LP). Featuring two tracks, with one side of the record labeled "7AM," and the flip "7PM," as you might guess "7AM" is über-slow with an uncharacteristically dark disco-leaning feel (self-described as "time lapse disco"), but still syrup-y, melted and heady as expected from Kassem Mosse. It would make a good companion to Invisible Conga People's "In a Hole" as it shares the same synth sound and woozy slo-mo tempo. The flipside, "7PM" is a more upbeat but still smooth ride with a gurgling bass, snappy clap snare and wooden rumba percussion that rolls forward as it slowly adds more minute details (a sunny drone, a more pronounced clap) along the way; it's a slow, steady burner that will kill them softly when dropped at the right moment! Ultra limited and available on this 7" only -- this one will sell out fast! (Preview tracks on YouTube: "7AM" and "7PM.") [SM]

		$13.99 CD $19.99 LPx2 $9.99 MP3   SORRY BAMBA Volume One: 1970-1979 (Thrill Jockey) Preview Songs on Other Music's Download Store Thrill Jockey throws their hat into the African reissue ring with this unexpected yet welcome collection of Sorry Bamba's greatest recordings of the 1970s. A leader in the first wave of Malian post-independence guitar bands, Bamba was well renowned for reincorporating traditional West African rhythmic structures to the pachanga and hybrid Afro-Cuban sounds that dominated the dance clubs of the 1960s. In the '70s, as showcased on this collection, Bamba used his ascending local star power to take a progressive turn and, following the groundwork laid by legendary orchestras such as the Rail Band, began to adapt the traditional songs of his youth into fiery, guitar-led dance jams, with the conscious intent of discovering and propagating music of his land, soul and creative mind. Fans of the '70s West African guitar band sound will find plenty to love here, as Bamba leads his group into gorgeously hypnotic territory with a keen ear toward tradition. One of Bamba's most unique and crowd-pleasing features as a leader were his searing flute lines, weaved with cunning and grace into the lyrical web of his band's relentless energy. Also a stickler for production, Bamba was known for having access to the best studio technology, and that really shines through on these tracks, with the fervid clarity of the guitar sound being especially noteworthy. This collection features some of Bamba's greatest songs, as originally released on a handful of consistently amazing LPs: the Barenreiter LP Orechestre Regional de Mopti, recently reissued by Mississippi; his two solo records on Songhai Records; and his exceedingly rare 1979 self-titled LP on Sonafric. Sorry Bamba was never the most convincing or boisterous frontman, but his casual tenor is the perfect vehicle for his stunningly dense arrangements. A wonderful collection, whose songs are but one more layer of the seemingly endless trove of amazing West African music to be reissued in this boom time of rediscovery. [SG]

		$16.99 CD   VARIOUS ARTISTS Groove Club Vol. 3: Cambodia Rock Intensified! (Lion Productions / Get On Down) "Pros Reang Yeh Yeh" Pan Ron "Nek Na Min Rom (Who Isn't Dancing?)" Hoy Meas & Dara Chom Chan It's impossible not to listen to these wonderfully exotic sounds without feeling an underlying sadness. While the bend and twang of the electric guitars and organs in these songs are magical, it's precisely because of these Western influences -- the beat and free spirit of rock music -- that these artists were murdered during the rule of the Khmer Rouge, many in Pol Pot's killing fields. What always struck me about the guitars in songs by Pan Ron, one of the nation's most popular singers, was the way that they seemed to weep, as if foretelling the awful fate that would soon befall these musicians and singers. Once again plucking songs from some of the better-known and well beloved artists of pre-Khmer Rouge era (this volume featuring Pan Ron, Ros Sereysothea, and Sinn Sisamouth), what differentiates the Groove Club compilations from other retrospectives of the Phnom Penh rock scene is the devotion paid to the original recordings, regardless of fidelity. You see, most Cambodian rock and pop records were destroyed during Pol Pot's rule, and many songs would be all but forgotten if not for cassette tape recordings that were dubbed over and over and secretly passed between hands. As years went by, musicians began augmenting the recordings with drum machines and keyboards to make up for the deteriorating sound quality caused by the countless duplications. The tracks on the Groove Club installments, however, are culled from rare surviving LPs and sans any of these overdubs, bringing to light original recordings like Sereysothea's sweet and lilting "Sra Mouy Keo (Glass of Wine)." The compilation does include some higher fidelity versions of songs that have been circulating on the Internet over the past few years, including my personal favorite, "Who Isn't Dancing?" from Houy Meas & Dara Chom Chan. It's hard to resist these impassioned performances, where Eastern melodies and vocal cadences flirt with Western rhythms and instrumentation. And in hearing so many of these rare and "lost" tracks, it's impossible not feel like you are helping preserve the memory of so many great talents, whose contributions to music were close to being erased from recorded history if not for the loving pursuit of folks like the compilers of this collection. [MS]

		$16.99 CD   LARRY JON WILSON New Beginnings / Let Me Sing My Song to You (Omni) "Ohoopee River Bottomland" "Sheldon Churchyard" We have the country historians over at Omni to thank for this long-awaited Larry Jon Wilson collection. Wilson, who you might remember from the Country Got Soul compilation series from years back, was revered by Mickey Newbury and Townes Van Zandt but sadly never saw much recognition from the record buying public. This CD features the first two, and best, albums he recorded for Monument (New Beginnings and Let Me Sing My Song to You), and contains some of the most scorching country funk and heartfelt soul of the mid-'70s. Equal parts outlaw country storyteller and laidback, road-worn groovesman, he sounds more like Jim Ford's right hand man from the swamplands than anything -- and since you probably know how highly we regard Ford around here, that's no faint praise. Omni's remastering job is smokin' hot and extensive liner notes and photos are the icing on the cake. [AK]

		$13.99 CD $17.99 LP   THESE TRAILS These Trails (Drag City) "El Rey Pescador" "Rusty's House & Los in Space" Here's a little-known relic of acid exoticisms to satisfy those of you with the psychedelic sweet tooth for wyrd-folk, especially on the femme tip. Drag City has finally make available for the masses this privately pressed LP from Hawaii, circa 1973. Truly entrancing fragile songbird lilts possessing magical jejune charm with male/female soft warbles and bewitched intonations. Gorgeous six-string strumming -- of the acoustic, electric, and slide kind -- also mastering a generous articulation of Hawaiian folk, along with a multi-colored dose of Eastern-isms (tabla and sitar) and synth-dither to visually guide you along a uniquely exotic tour of rain-soaked jungles and belching volcanoes, to the silent mesmeric groove of ocean waves. [MT]

		$15.99 CD $17.99 LP   BRIAN OLIVE Two of Everything (Alive) The new one from this former Greenehorne, produced by Dan Auerback of the Black Keys, improves on his solid debut. It's a soulful psych-pop journey that takes some of the garage-y pulse of Olive's former band but adds plenty of T. Rex strut, Dr. John swing, gritty southern funk and sixties jangle, to great effect.

		$15.99 CD $9.99 MP3   JOHN TEJADA Parabolas (Kompakt) Preview Songs on Other Music's Download Store John Tejada finds a new home on Kompakt Records, the LA-based producer's sophisticated productions a great addition to the Cologne-based label, with tech-house tracks like "Farther and Fainter" and "Mechanized World" retaining the Kompakt aesthetic but featuring rich melodic detail that's unmistakably of Tejada's making. Not surprising, though, that Parbolas covers a lot of stylistic ground, from the beatless bliss of "The Dream" to traces of Selected Ambient Works 85-92-era Aphex Twin in cuts like "Subdivided" and "Unstable Condition."

		$15.99 CD   DEADBEAT Drawn and Quartered (BLKRTZ) Deadbeat debuts his own new label with a particularly deep set, a double LP with four side-long dub explorations that push Scott Monteith's meditative productions to new highs (lows?) of moody minimalism. The vibe ranges from ambient dub to ambient techno dub -- but there is plenty of movement, albeit incremental, and by the closing "Fourth Quarter," Deadbeat assuredly guides us to the dancefloor.

		$13.99 CD $18.99 LP+MP3 $9.99 MP3   THE ROSEBUDS Loud Planes Fly Low (Merge) "Go Ahead" "Without a Focus" The Rosebuds' fifth full-length was certainly not an easy album to make. While Kelly Crisp and Ivan Howard's marriage had come to an end the duo had decided to continue their music partnership, and the resulting record is no doubt a very personal one. With production help from the dB's Chris Stamey, Loud Planes Fly Low is highly detailed and nuanced from beginning to end, moving from lush jangling, mid-tempo numbers that shimmer with rich orchestration to stark acoustic-guitar driven brooders to jazzy funky pop reminiscent of Merge labelmate Tracey Thorn and Everything but the Girl. There's certainly catharsis at the heart of these songs, but for the listener, it's absolutely gorgeous. (Free download of "Second Bird of Paradise" is available on Other Music Digital.)

		$9.99 MG   WAX POETICS Issue #47 (Wax Poetics) Another jam-packed edition of Wax Poetics, issue #47's dual cover stories feature '70s powerhouse funkers Earth, Wind & Fire, and legendary soul-jazz pianist Ramsey Lewis, who worked with EW&F on his masterpiece, Sun Goddess. Of course, it doesn't stop there, with essential reads on Bobby Womack, Lamont Dozier (one-third of Motown hitmakers Holland-Dozier-Holland), early soul pioneer Solomon Burke, Dennis Coffey weighing in on 10 records he's worked on, and lots more.

		$22.99 LP 180 Gram   TAKEHISA KOSUGI Catch Wave (Phoenix) "Mano-Dharma '74" "Wave Code #e-1" Japanese composer and violinist Takehisa Kosugi has been responsible for many highly influential works over the years, most notably his work with the Japanese branch of the Fluxus movement, albums and performances by his experimental psychedelic ensemble the Taj Mahal Travellers, and his collaborations with Merce Cunningham. This 1975 album, though, may perhaps be his masterpiece. Catch Wave consists of two side-long explorations, heavy, dense soundworlds created by electronically-processed violin, voice, radio waves, and feedback oscillations controlled and modified by electric fans. There's a photo of the performance setup in the album sleeve, as well as a technical diagram, and it's remarkable just how powerful and straight-up lovely the results are; the oscillating drones shift ever so slightly through phasers, with Kosugi's violin soaring high above like a creature in flight, while the second piece's sound poetry additions add more texture to this near-perfect work of shamanic circuit ritual. It's cosmic, to say the least, and none other than Julian "Fried" Cope himself put this record at #9 in his Japrocksampler book's top 50 albums list a few years back. Krautrock fans, drone bones, and home scientists into the world of early electronic music will all find much to love here. Play this beast as loud as you possibly can, on the best stereo you can find, then sit back and pray to the gods. Epic. [IQ]

		$21.99 LP   ROB Funky Rob Way (Analog Africa) "Funky Rob Way" "Boogie On" Analog Africa's two inaugural releases of their excellent Limited Dance Editions series are now available on vinyl. First up is this collection of mighty, cosmic Moog-saturated Ghanaian funk by Rob Raindorf, a singer and composer who spent time with two of Benin's best dance bands, the Black Santiagos and the infamous Orchestre Poly-Rythmo. Steeped on a heavy diet of Wilson Pickett, James Brown, and Otis Redding, he recorded two albums in the late 1970s of skull-cracking Afro-funk heavy on synth squiggles, blustery horns, and squishy low-end, adding a bit of P-Funk squelch to a mix that borrowed heavy inspiration from "Funky Broadway" (interpolated here as the collection's title track), as well as the growing disco/boogie grooves that were making waves across the world at that time. There's a subtle prog influence as well, not so much in the structure of the tunes but in the exploratory nature of the sound palette, and the use of early synthesizers here is startlingly original, not aping the funk innovations of P-Funkers like Bernie Worrell, but paving a parallel road. Combine that with cracking thickets of polyrhythmic percussion fills and Rob's powerful voice, and you've got one serious Afro-Jam in your hands. You don't hear too many records that ably combine good-foot "on the one" funk with the sort of cosmic Afro-futurism practiced by the likes of Sun Ra, but Rob does it and does it well. If you've ever wondered what Fela would sound like fronting Parliament, or if you just want some solid, squiggly summer funk, look no further. Afro-Jam for sure!!! [IQ]

		$21.99 LP   ORCHESTRE POLY-RYTHMO DE COTONOU The 1st Album (Analog Africa) "Ou C'est Lui, Ou C'est Moi" "La La La La" ...And if that weren't enough, Analog Africa also offer up this Limited Dance Edition of the first album by Benin's Orchestre Poly-Rythmo, who have already been the subject of two stellar compilations on the label. Recorded in Lagos, Nigeria in 1973 for the equivalent of about 500 euros, Poly-Rythmo actually made their debut twice, as the first sessions were met with dissatisfaction due to excessive noise from an organ amp. Those four tracks would prove to be the start of one of Africa's most powerful, innovative, and funky recorded legacies, and this reissue actually includes, for the very first time, two fully remastered cuts from the original aborted sessions, along with two from the album's original proper release. Why they were rejected is beyond me as they absolutely SLAY with killer tunes, tight instrumentation, eerie organ ambiances, and hypnotic Vodoun rhythms. The album as a whole is flawless, with journeys into everything-but-the-kitchen-sink Afrobeat percussion excursions and extended solos, as well as slow-burning, sultry yet visceral grooves. This is essential Afrobeat, up there with Fela's Zombie LP and the recent Ebo Taylor reissue on Strut. Poly-Rythmo had plenty of good music up ahead, but this debut points to great things to come and sets the tone for one of the most satisfying recorded legacies in African music. Buy this without hesitation. [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 [AB] Adrian Burkholder [SG] Simon Gabriel [IQ] Mikey IQ Jones [AK] Andreas Knutsen [JM] Josh Madell [DM] Doug Mosurock [SM] Scott Mou [NN] Ning Nong [CPa] Chris Pappas [MS] Michael Stasiak [MT] Mahssa Taghinia THANKS FOR READING - all of us at Other Music

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