The Other Music Update

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	April 12, 2012

RECORD STORE DAY: SATURDAY, APRIL 21
Record Store Day is back again and that means tons of limited, exclusive vinyl (and a few CD) releases will be available at Other Music (and other participating RSD stores) for one day only (see the full list of RSD releases here -- no guarantee of actual quantity and availability at OM) as well as lots of other giveaways, special promotions and more. Record Store Day has become our biggest day of the year, it's always a lot of fun, and we hope you can join us. We will be releasing the full details of our RSD 2012 event schedule next week, and we have a nice roster of DJs shaping up, including Four Tet, Black Dice, and Ex Cops (whose debut 7" on our new Other label will be available for purchase exclusively at OM on RSD) -- stay tuned, and we'll see you on Record Store Day!


	FEATURED NEW RELEASES Trembling Bells & Bonnie 'Prince' Billy Maayan Nidam Soul Cal (Various Artists) Alabama Shakes M. Ward La Sera Moe Tucker Saigon Rock & Soul (Now on CD) Addison Groove Vatican Shadow LP Boy Friend Half String Des Jeunes Gens Modernes (Various)		Disco Jamms (Various) X-O-Dus The Relatives LP The Everymen Cassette Mr. Joe's Jambalaya & Loaded Down with the Blues (Various) Follow us on Facebook: facebook.com/othermusicnyc Follow us on Twitter: twitter.com/othermusic

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		LE POISSON ROUGE TICKET GIVE-AWAY: GAVIN BRYARS "SINKING OF THE TITANIC" & LAMBCHOP The West Village's Le Poisson Rouge is a premier destination for some of the city's most eclectic and adventurous performances, this ticket give away being a perfect example (not to mention the other LPR contests below). This Sunday, April 15, marks the hundredth anniversary of the Titanic's sinking. That evening, Ensemble LPR along with members of the Wordless Music Orchestra will be performing Gavin Bryar's ambient elegy, The Sinking of the Titanic, at 7:00 p.m. and 10:00 p.m. We're giving away one pair of passes to each show, just email enter@othermusic.com and list the time that you'd like to enter for. Then, on Thursday, April 19, "Nashville's most fucked-up country band" Lambchop will be performing in support of their great new album, Mr. M, with Charlie Horse opening the night. We've got a pair of tickets to this concert as well, which you can enter for by emailing giveaway@othermusic.com. LE POISSON ROUGE: 158 Bleecker St. NYC

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		WIN TICKETS TO THE MUSIC OF CAN: AN EVENING OF UNRELEASED MUSIC AND DISCUSSION Mute Records is offering our Update subscribers five pairs of passes to this very special evening dedicated to this legendary band. With an upcoming 3-CD box set featuring unreleased studio and live recordings from Can slated for release in June, keyboardist and group founder Irmin Schmidt and British composer Jono Podmore (a/k/a KUMO, a frequent collaborator with Schmidt) will be on hand for a listening party and discussion of this unreleased material. To enter to win a pair of tickets, email contest@othermusic.com. We'll notify the five winners on Friday. LE POISSON ROUGE: 158 Bleecker St. NYC

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		UNSOUND FESTIVAL TICKET GIVE AWAY The third annual Unsound Festival New York will be taking place in various venues across the city next week, between April 18th and the 22nd. This year's groundbreaking line up is as diverse as it is spectacular (you can view the full schedule here), and the festival is offering a pair of tickets to one of these two nights below (one winner per show) at Le Poisson Rouge, featuring many Other Music favorites. To enter, email tickets@othermusic.com, and make sure to list which show you're hoping to attend. THURSDAY, APRIL 19 (11:00 P.M.) Singularity: Actress, Hype Williams, Next Life FRIDAY, APRIL 20 (6:00 P.M.) True Horizons: pole, Sun Araw Band, Inner Tuber (Mark McGuire of Emeralds & Spencer Clarke of Skaters) LE POISSON ROUGE: 158 Bleecker St. NYC


	$15.99 CD $17.99 LP		TREMBLING BELLS & BONNIE 'PRINCE' BILLY Marble Downs (Honest Jon's) "Ain't Nothing Wrong with a Little Longing" "I Can Tell You're Leaving" Perhaps my favorite track on this new full-length collaboration between the amazing Scottish Brit-folk outfit Trembling Bells and Will Oldham's Bonnie 'Prince' Billie persona is their guitar-heavy, speaker-rattling version of "Riding," originally from Oldham's 1993 Palace Brothers' debut; maybe I'm just nostalgic for the old days, when, lo those many years ago, Oldham's uncomfortable southern gothic country-folk-rock sounded so groundbreaking, so fresh and so positively unsettling. Oldham has continued to surprise me in the two decades that have followed, and he has released a massive pile of great songs, and worked with many great collaborators, but this pairing is surely an inspired one, and "Riding" exemplifies why. The original track, with lyrics that read like twisted traditional back-woods folk more than the indie-rock it really was, is a perfect fit for Trembling Bells, whose own music draws on ancient British and Scottish folk traditions, with a similarly raw, raucous approach, and Lavinia Blackwall's powerful, primal singing is a great match for Oldham's here. But the magic is in how the band reinvents the tune, a folk-rock group covering a country-folk song as a metallic barn burner, exemplifying why these two artists are such a great fit, and why this album, at its best moments, soars; these are traditionalists who don't give a lick about tradition, they just want to make powerful, real, emotional music. Billy and Blackwall both sing their hearts out, and their voices play off each other with power and grace, and the band, led by the wonderfully loose drummer Alex Neilson, eggs them ever higher and higher, with guitars, piano, organs and brass swirling all around. Fans of either artist should give this a listen for sure, and I'm betting you will be inspired. [JM]


	$17.99 CD $21.99 LPx2		MAAYAN NIDAM Nightlong (Powershovel) We've carried this album for a while now, but I never quite understood how it managed to slip through the cracks without a review in the Update. Every time I play it on the store's stereo we sell copies, and I've been featuring it on my personal "staff picks" shelf in the shop for the past few weeks trying to give the record a bit of attention. Its place on that shelf is almost always empty, and as such, I felt it's time to give it a bit of a wider nod. I casually knew of Maayan Nidam via her records as Miss Fitz, but her solo debut, released at the tail end of 2009 under her own name, really blew me away. On Nightlong, she takes recordings made in Cuba of local Havana nightlife -- Latin jazz groups, bolero vocalists, and some excellent instrumentalists -- cuts them up, and reshapes them for Berlin dance floors. Her rich, warm loops blend with sharp, subtle machinery and ample amounts of negative space, making for a sound akin to OM fave Nicolas Jaar's breakout Space Is Only Noise. Imagine Jaar in a dark, sweaty Cuban nightclub after a few stiff drinks, and you'll get the idea of the magic conjured here -- only this woman did it first, and in my opinion, she does it better. She flawlessly blends field recordings, live instrumentation, and software into a humid landscape that is given ample breathing room; her tracks are subtle and spacious, but they really kick. If you flipped for Jaar's work, but perhaps wanted a bit more kineticism (I include myself in this group), check this out post-haste. I can honestly say without exaggeration that Nightlong is one of my favorite electronic albums of the past few years -- its subtleties sneak up on you, but once you catch its groove, there's no letting go. Nidam is a talent to watch; she's released a few 12"s for Perlon and Wolf + Lamb (another Jaar connection if you need one) recently, which are also highly recommended, but start here, and thank me later. What else can I say about this gem? It's fantastic, you'd be wise to buy it, and next time you're in the shop, let me know how much you dig it. I'm psyched to be spreading the love. [IQ]


	$21.99 CD+BK $31.99 LPx2+BK		VARIOUS ARTISTS Soul Cal (Now-Again) "You Can Be a Star" Luther Davis "Love Is" Leon Mitchison "I have a theory. The greatest minds of a generation are normally drawn to the most advanced media of its time; it allows for the greatest amount of expression because, through the technology available, you can reach more people than any other media. For my generation, music was that medium." -- John Roode, Keyboardist UPC All Stars (2002) Noted archivist of all things funky and obscure, Eothen "Egon" Alopatt helms another compilation of little-heard funk masterpieces. This time around, Alapatt & Co. collect some great cuts previously reissued on Peanut Butter Wolf and Egon's underappreciated vinyl-only imprint, Soul-Cal. The label specialized in reissuing private-pressed funk that reflected the burgeoning sounds and influences that young musicians were soaking in during the '70s, and the tracks featured on this disc are what I would probably define as proto-disco in nature; each band represented was entrenched in the current musical landscape, and looking to the musical possibilities on the horizon. By 1968, one could say that the hard funk of James Brown and the psychedelic guitar of Hendrix effectively wiped the slate clean so to speak, and paved the way for the first wave of "fusion" bands like Chambers Brothers, Sly & the Family Stone, War, and Blood, Sweat & Tears, radically altering the textures of soul, funk and what one would consider "black" music. By 1971, a weird, all-white jazz-funk-rock band led by four lead trumpeters (Chase) and a murky, four-sided collection of tape-edited improv (Miles' Bitches Brew) were sitting atop the R&B album charts alongside Kool & the Gang, EWF, the Temptations and the Jackson 5. By 1976, you can hear the streamlined version of this influence in the platinum grooves of Chic and in the mellow yacht rock of the Doobie Bros and Steely Dan. This spirit of soulful mixing and matching, coupled with extreme musical virtuosity, carried on for a good six years, until the boys in the Bronx took that mix-n-match concept a step further with two turntables, and you know the rest. This collection of music is a mirror of that period of topsy-turvy progress, an undeniably rich era, and this set celebrates the unsung private press heroes who never got their due. The highlights are plenty, but tunes like the righteous "Wake Up" by Cincinnati's Essence (featuring a young LA Reid and Babyface), the nasty Boston-based breakbeat jazz-funk of Stan Davis' Ghetto Mysticism, and the uplifting brass-fueled scorcher of "Don't Get Discouraged" by Omaha's UPC All Stars is all of "WTF is this?" quality. As a bonus, Egon has compiled a book featuring interviews, photos and session annotations, allowing the players, producers and label owners to tell their own extraordinary stories. Incredible stuff!! [DH]


	$10.99 CD $14.99 LP+MP3+45		ALABAMA SHAKES Boys & Girls (ATO) "I Ain't the Same" "Rise to the Sun" It's easy to fall for the Alabama Shakes, based on both their soulful, melancholy Muscle Shoals-influenced blues-rock sound and their inspiring back story. A quartet of low-key high school buddies, led by the goofily endearing Brittany Howard (who looks like a librarian and sings like Janis Joplin), with an anti-fashion sound (and look for that matter) and a remote Alabama hometown, the Shakes were plucked from obscurity based solely on the power of their music -- now when does that happen these days? The young group has gone from playing covers in local dive bars to headlining theaters in the course of a few months, and when they rolled through SXSW a couple of weeks back, it was as conquering heroes rather than aspiring buzz band, and this was several weeks before their debut album even dropped. On the other hand, it would be easy to hate them for the same reasons; I mean, really, could the kids be that good? The answer to that question is probably a bit more nuanced than the hype or the backlash ever could be, and in the end, Alabama Shakes' debut full-length is a good record, but not a great one, by a good band who it's easy to root for being great, and who just might be -- some day. Recorded before all the hype and hoopla, Boys & Girls is a slow-paced groover of an album that leaves one lasting impression -- boy, that girl can sing. Howard has a natural, easygoing but rough-edged delivery, a slight 'Bama drawl and a lonely set of songs that let her whisper and belt out her heartache. The band's sound is classic all the way, with twin guitars, some nice honky-tonk piano, and a solid rhythm section, and they are all quite good, but perhaps the best thing I can say about the musicians is that they leave plenty of room for Howard to take center stage. Most of the fire here comes from Howard, not her band -- but with a singer this good, with this much presence and soul, that is enough to make things burn plenty hot. Alabama Shakes are a band who have caused a sensation by the very fact that they seem to be an opposing force to all of the flavor-of-the-minute madness that drives so much music consumption these days, and in the spirit of that noble force, I'd like to avoid picking apart their every impulse. They will spend the next year on the road, and when they make their next record they will be a very different group, and it will likely be made in a very different way, with a great producer and a well-earned confidence in their own prowess. Hopefully along the way they will not lose what makes them so special now, because that is very real, as is Boys & Girls -- real, passionate, and well worth a listen. [JM]


	$14.99 CD $19.99 LP+MP3 $9.99 MP3		M. WARD A Wasteland Companion (Merge) "Primitive Girl" "The First Time I Ran Away" M. Ward's decade-(or-so)-long ascent has been a slow and steady one, the singer/songwriter often hiding behind dark shades and a baseball cap, seemingly as introverted as the intimacy of his early recordings suggested. Perhaps it was this unpretentious mystery that made him the perfect foil for the dulcet-voiced indie starlet Zooey Deschanel in the Grammy nominated duo She & Him, and things haven't quite been the same for Mr. Ward ever since. Juggling a busy few years on the road with S&H, not to mention Monsters of Folk (a super group of sorts that he co-founded with Bright Eyes' Conor Oberst and Jim James from My Morning Jacket), Ward had to fit in the writing and recording of his seventh solo album during any free moment of downtime -- A Wasteland Companion coming together in eight different studios around the US and Bristol, UK, with a large rotating cast of 18 musicians that includes longtime friend and early supporter Howe Gelb of Giant Sand (piano), Bright Eyes' Mike Mogis (organ), John Parrish (percussion), Sonic Youth's Steve Shelley (percussion), Dr. Dog's Tobey Leaman (bass), Devotchka's Tom Hagerman (strings), Oakley Hall's Rachel Cox (vocals) and, of course, Deschanel. From the close-miked recording of the Alex Chilton-dedicated opener "Clean Slate" and the hushed folk of "There's a Key," both of which could have found an easy home Ward's 2000 debut, Duet for Guitars #2, to the big rollicking sound of the piano-driven "Primitive Girl," A Wasteland Companion sees Ward traveling across a dusty road of Americana. Once again filtering country, '50s/'60s pop, Tin Pan Alley, gospel and blues through his singular faded-photograph vision, the record is surprisingly diverse in sound and scope. Ward's songwriting and lyrics hold it all together, though, always balancing light and darkness, often within one tune, a la "Me and My Shadow," a surreal, haunting romp that's buoyed by Deschanel's bright harmonies; she also handles the bubblegum refrains of the rocking "Sweetheart," the newest addition to Ward's canon of Daniel Johnston covers, which is followed by a fun rockabilly take on the standard, "I Get Ideas" -- also famously covered by Louis Armstrong, Peggy Lee, and Desi Arnaz Jr. The most striking moments of A Wasteland Companion, however, are its quietist; "The First Time I Ran Away" is hair-raising in its heartfelt beauty, as Ward's scruffy, soulful croon floats in a warm sea of gentle strums, slide guitar and oohs and ahhs, and like a lover's dream, is as fragile as it is vivid. [GH] FREE SONG DOWNLOAD of M. Ward's "Primitive Girl" available for a limited time off of Other Music Digital!


	$11.99 CD $12.99 LP+MP3		LA SERA Sees the Light (Hardly Art) "I'm Alone" "Break My Heart" Somewhere between recording her debut solo album and creating the follow up, Sees the Light, one gets the impression that Vivian Girls' bassist Katy Goodman went through a pretty significant break-up. The track titles of La Sera's new one hint at this concept, with names such as "Love That's Gone," "Break My Heart," and "I'm Alone," but it sounds like she's keeping her cool, and instead breezing through her emotions with a personal diary of a record; there are no ugly feelings aired here. But Goodman is not shy about sharing her story with the world (and in fact it sounds like perhaps she did the dumping), and neither is she shy about her vocal abilities, recording them with an upfront crispness, rather than smothering her singing with reverb (Vivian Girls style) as she did on the first La Sera LP. The opener "Love That's Gone" gently breaks the news to the unfortunate boy whose heart she's shattering over mellow West Coast beach-pop guitar strums, leading into the catchy fuzz-pop single track "Please Be My Third Eye," more of a love song than a lost-love song. Throughout, this record hardly is a downer, with Katy's honeyed vocals carrying it along, especially on tracks like the sugary sweet Calypso jam "Real Boy" which is a beach holiday all in itself. The music is simple and straightforward, ranging between distortion and jangle throughout the record, and eventually wrapping up with the acoustic heartbreak of "Don't Stay," insisting that the romance really is done, but taking equal part in the blame. Sometimes the best inspiration comes from a sad place, and this record finds like Katy Goodman's La Sera moniker is really coming into its own. [ACo]


	$26.99 CDx2 $42.99 LPx3		MOE TUCKER I Feel So Far Away: Anthology 1974-1988 (Sundazed) "Bo Diddley" "Andy" "I'm Waiting for the Man" Here's a long overdue treat from Sundazed: a career-spanning compilation of the songs of Moe Tucker, the mighty and minimal drummer for the Velvet Underground. On the first three VU records, Tucker developed a gut-instinct playing style that complemented Lou Reed's avant-bonehead rock and roll. You can hear her influence in the hordes of bands that followed the Velvets' "less-is-more" approach: the Jesus and Mary Chain, the White Stripes, the Modern Lovers, Shop Assistants...the list could literally go on for pages. Outside of her percussive abilities, she is mostly remembered for her charming, disarmingly sweet vocal performance on the VU song "After Hours" (from the third self-titled album). Post-Velvets, Tucker translated her primal drum impulses to her guitar playing and songwriting. The material collected across these two discs covers 25 years: there are spiky, bristling punkers, inspired by her tour of Europe with Half-Japanese ("Fired Up" and "That's B.A.D."); there's the searing, angry autobiography of her time working at a Wal-Mart distribution center ("Spam Again" and "Hey Mersh!"); there are stomping, unhinged covers of classics ("Bo Diddley," "Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow," a brilliant version of Chuck Berry's "Around and Around"); and cover versions of Lou Reed tunes that feel fresh and vital with Tucker's high, clear yelp on vocal detail (an amazing version of "Pale Blue Eyes," a scorching "Heroin"). Plenty of famous friends flesh out Tucker's punchy guitar work, like Reed himself, Sterling Morrison, Jonathan Richman, most of Sonic Youth, a good deal of Half Japanese, and Daniel Johnston -- the presence of whom should give the listener an idea of how Tucker's quirky personality and musicianship has trickled down since the late 1960s. This is a great portrait of an American rock and roll icon! [MS]


	$15.99 CD		VARIOUS ARTISTS Saigon Rock & Soul: Vietnamese Classic Tracks 1968-1974 (Sublime Frequencies) "Con Tim Va Nuoc Mat" Bich Loan and CBC Band "Toc Mai Soi Van Soi Dai" Thanh Mai I was just about fed up with Sublime Frequencies' Vietnamese and Thai excursions, primarily because of the high kitsch factor (blame my damaged Western ears), but then along came 2010's Saigon Rock & Soul LP to knock me on my ass. The vinyl edition may be long gone but it's finally back in print in CD format! The first track is an incredible garage-fuzz blaster by the CBC Band (who fled the war and relocated to Houston, where apparently they still perform and run their own nightclub!) which seriously wouldn't sound out of place on a volume of Back from the Grave and it doesn't let up from then on: killer garage with rock lots of overdriven fuzz and crazy out of place guitar solos, rough-edged tight JB's-style grooves, and off-kilter pop with high-pitched echoey vocals. Imagine Santana, Blue Cheer, Hendrix, and King Records funk run through some sort of unique Vietnamese filter, and there's not a novelty track in sight. Outside of the Group Doueh and Group Inerane, this is the best Sublime Frequencies release to date. [AK]


	$15.99 CD $21.99 LPx2		ADDISON GROOVE Transistor Rhythm (50 Weapons) "Rudeboy" "Skylight" Tony Williams established himself in the bass music scene creating headstrong dubstep under his Headhunter guise, but it's his latest alter ego that'll probably leave the biggest impact. As Addison Groove, Williams has been one of the key UK producers to fully embrace Chicago footwork's stylistic blueprint, and over the last two years he's been tightening and refining his bass-heavy house hybrid. Needless to say, the expectations have been high for this full-length and the release of Transistor Rhythm on Modeselektor's 50 Weapons label does find Williams using footwork's loopy and stuttering approach to a groove as a starting point, but slowing down the tempo a bit while still maintaining the sense of frenzied energy that's associated with the genre. With the onslaught of music coming from the UK that's embraced and absorbed the footwork phenomena, Addison Groove's tracks differ by being aimed squarely at the dance floor as opposed to a more academic and intellectual deconstruction. By also utilizing his knowledge of bass music -- incorporating elements of hip-hop, electro, and ghetto-house into his sonic mixture -- Williams proves to be more focused on making your legs and ass move more than making you think. That said, Transistor Rhythm possesses complex arrangements of beats and sounds. A mostly instrumental record, it's party music filled with tasty programming (his sound of choice seems to be classic Roland drum machines) and even a guest appearance from fellow bass-head Mark Pritchard (Africa Hitech, Jedi Knights), who lends some production skills to "Dance of the Women," which feels like an outtake from the Shangaan Shake remix album. Williams dips, swings, and bounces his way across 50 minutes of Transistor Rhythm, utilizing a fresh and exciting fusion of many contemporary styles, and by the album's end has established a feel and sound of his own. While it's not a flawless record (the chopped and endlessly looped, raunchy vocals from Spank Rock during the second and third tracks feel to me a bit unnecessary), it's still one of the best footwork endorsements the UK has exported that's not on Planet Mu -- and it's about time. If you liked Machinedrum's Room(s), Africa Hi-Tech's 93 Millions Miles, always kinda liked Diplo, or are just looking for that secret weapon for your next dance party, then Transistor Rhythm is for you. [DG]


	$21.99 LP $9.99 MP3		VATICAN SHADOW Kneel Before Religious Icons (Type) Preview Songs on Other Music's Download Store There's been a sharp rise in interest lately toward the darker and noisier ends of the techno/beat spectrum -- artists like Demdike Stare and Andy Stott and labels like Sandwell District and Blackest Ever Black have been heavily tossed around with good reason, and we've seen a fair number of folks previously known for their involvement in experimental noise music turning toward techno, dance, and the power of drums for inspiration. After excellent recent long players by Pete Swanson and Cut Hands, among others, you can add Dominick Fernow's recent project Vatican Shadow to that list. On Kneel Before Religious Icons, Fernow, also of Prurient and Cold Cave, immerses himself in stark, rhythmic ritual music that nods to everything from the urban gamelan of 23 Skidoo to the cold-wave science of John Carpenter and John Bender and the industrial electronic body music of early Ministry and DAF. There's a heavy militaristic lean with the project's imagery and titling echoing Orwell and the cyberpunk of Neuromancer and even The Terminator, and if you've been digging the recent Black Rain reissue, you'll want to check this out ASAP, as it continues the bloodline with deft skill. The beats are relentless, caked under dirty synth texture and tape fog, creating camouflaged layers of latticework that pulsate and throb, resulting in pure aural hypnosis. It's definitely not for everyone, and it's less haunted (though equally haunting) and more kinetically direct than the Modern Love camp, but those who have tapped into that wavelength will find much to love here. Three cheers to Type for giving this cassette release the vinyl pressing it deserved, and be on the lookout for a forthcoming 12" on Blackest Ever Black that features none other than Regis stepping up for some remix detail. This is some serious shit... strap yourself in and enjoy the ride. [IQ]


	$12.99 CD $15.99 LP+MP3		BOY FRIEND Egyptian Wrinkle (Hell Yes) "Bad Dreams" "Egyptian Wrinkle" After splitting from the Austin-based band Sleep Over in 2010, lifelong friends Christa Palazzolo and Sarah Brown formed Boy Friend, and now they've hit us with an ethereal 10-song suite of lovelorn heartbreak. The stark, cavernous drum machines and ghostly female vocals will call to mind the above-the-clouds sounds of the Cocteaus, Durutti Column, et al., but the lyrical bent is all adolescent teen heartbreak. With a numb, faux-detached vocal delivery shrouded by keyboard atmospherics, there's a nice authenticity and a melodramatic bent of the album. This band's output has been linked to the sugary electronic pop frost of Neon Indian, Washed Out and the like, but the bitter overrides the sweet on Egyptian Wrinkle, and it's all the better for it. [DH]


	$11.99 CD $22.99 LPx2+Mp3 $9.99 MP3		HALF STRING Maps for Sleep (Captured Tracks) "Evergreen" "Brief As Photographs" Captured Tracks' Shoegaze Archives have unearthed some wonderful lost gems from around the world, and their fifth installment in the series is no exception. Half String hailed from the hot deserts of Arizona; this group of friends connected over their love for obscure post-punk and British shoegaze records -- a passion likely not shared by many contemporaries in their hometown of Tempe back in the early-'90s when the group formed. Thus it became clear that the pals should collaborate through a band of their own, and during their six-year run they released a few EPs and played a major influence on the local music scene, as well as hosting shoegaze festivals with fellow 'desert jangle' bands. The double LP includes a collection of their EPs as well as a few live tracks of gigs, home recordings, and demos. The three opening songs "Eclipse," "Maps for Sleep," and "Arc-Fold" come from the first 7" before the band decided to take on a second guitarist ("Oval" is a great example of resulting sound expansion into multi-layered sophisticated pop). The live tracks give an insight of how astounding it must've been to see Half String play at a gritty basement venue or a bedroom practice -- they truly succeeded at taking various musical inspirations and creating their own sound that became unique to a particular place and time. This is essential listening for any Slowdive or Ride fan. The limited edition 2XLP comes in gorgeous hand assembled packaging, clear vinyl too! [ACo]


	$19.99 LP $21.99 CDx2		DES JEUNES GENS MODERNES Des Jeunes Gens Modernes: Post-punk, Cold Wave and Culture Novo en France 1978-1983 (Bad Born Records) Attention minimal synth-wave surfers: you want this! Born Bad Records reissues the seminal compilation Des Jeunes Gens Modernes (The Young Modern Men) on vinyl, which offers up twelve tracks by seminal bands in the French post-punk scene. This collection was originally released in 2008 as a collaboration with Agnes B to coincide with an exhibition of the same name, and at the time, it was one of the only documents of a sound and scene that was remembered only by a handful individuals across the globe, before "minimal wave" became a buzzword used to move reissues of new wave cut-out bin obscurities. If you've read this far, you've probably at least heard of this collection, and while it may not offer up deep, obscure cuts along the lines of some of the recent slew of minimal synth reissues, these songs are hugely relevant, and most importantly, they still kick serious ass. There's a heavy synth contingent, but the focus here is more on the blending of art-damaged fragmentation and futurist experimentation with a sharp pop ear, and in that regard, this collection succeeds wildly. Jagged, spindly guitars ripped from surf records glide atop pulsating machine rhythms, as beds of synthesizers both warm and cold blanket vocals that often sound like the final dispatches from overzealous youths who will stop at nothing to get their message out. There's a heavy contingent of female-fronted acts, and honestly, they're the toughest cookies here; many of the male-fronted tracks are the ones that show the biggest influence of bubblegum pop on their sleeves, and that gender role reversal makes a distinct impact. Quite a few of these artists have seen reissues that are also now unavailable, like Lizzy Mercier Descloux (one of my all-time favorite performers), Kas Product, Ruth, Metal Boys, and Charles De Goal; others, like Mathematiques Modernes, Ice, and Henriette Coulouvrat, have been compiled here and there but have yet to see reissues of their own. This is pretty much essential listening to any fan of the cold wave/minimal synth scene, and it's an illuminating document of the extremely fertile post-punk landscape that was emerging from French-speaking Europe at the turn of the eighties. As if that weren't enough, there is also a 2CD edition of the collection that expands the tracklist to a whopping forty songs, with a much wider representation of nearly every permutation of the sound -- nearly every key French-wave band you'd want included has a track on the double-disc edition. What else can I say, people? You know what comes next: Highest Recommendation! [IQ]


	$17.99 CDx2 $23.99 LPx2		VARIOUS ARTISTS Johnny D Presents: Disco Jamms (BBE) "Ride on the Rhythm" Mahogany "Spank" Jimmy 'Bo' Horne House music staple Henry Street Music's label head Johnny "D" DeMairo brings us the first installment of Disco Jamms. This mix CD seamlessly brings together tracks from a few different styles of late-'70s and early-'80s dance music, several being notable for their proto house vibes, some even having an influence on hip-hop. But the real unifying theme amongst these songs is that they have destroyed many a New York dance floor, and in the right hands, still do to this day. Take the disco anthem "Spank" by Jimmy "Bo" Horne, for instance; the original still works, but the wonderfully wonky and hard to find instrumental version that appears on this comp is simply amazing. You can hear the beginnings of house music in that relentless hi-hat. Songs like "Spank" are balanced out with straight boogie like Mahogany's "Ride on the Rhythm," featuring the beautiful vocal of Bernice Watkins and just enough slap bass to not get me upset. The essence of this mix and a lot of great house music is perfectly exemplified in the last two tracks: Klein & M.B.O.'s Italo monster "Dirty Talk" into the uplifting "We're on the Right Track" by Ultra High Frequency. The combination of the former's 4/4 drum machines and synth syncopation with the conviction and honesty of "We're on the Right Track" has been the blueprint of some of the best house music ever made, and represents more than a transition in this context. Johnny D understands that what makes a good DJ is the delicate balance of songs, styles and moods, and he puts it on proper display here with not just another disco compilation, but something obviously very special to him. You can tell when you hear it. [MCa]


	$16.99 CD $9.99 MP3		X-O-DUS English Black Boys (LTM) "See Them A'Come" "Take It from Me" Not many people know this, but there was actually a reggae release issued by Factory Records during their early years. X-O-Dus were a Manchester band who specialized in a highly political style of reggae that steered clear of religious Rastafarian dogmas; their songs dealt with the hardships of living in British Babylon, melding cutting, realist lyrics with a sharp, hard-edged refinement of spliffed-out loping menace. The group recorded their sole 12" with master producer Dennis "Blackbeard" Bovell, known for his work with the Slits, the Pop Group, and his own excellent reggae band Matumbi. English Black Boys was laid to tape in one day, but in typical Factory fashion, it took ten months to mix, and another four months for art direction. The record's stark, post-punk Peter Saville sleeve made it look more like a Joy Division or A Certain Ration release than a soulful roots reggae dispatch, but that 12", featuring only two songs yet clocking in at nearly twenty minutes, is an unheralded classic of the era. Thank the fine folks at LTM once again for restoring its glory to the masses, bringing together the EP's two tracks with another seven tracks found from 1980 studio sessions that were meant to form the band's debut LP on Factory, which sadly have never been released until now! These tracks are simply wicked, seeing X-O-Dus evolve their heavy sound with a bit of jazzy guitar licks and even a little lovers rock soul thrown into the mix. The CD concludes with some 1992 white label bangers recorded by the band's drummer Leddy as Subsonique + Rico, which shows how they were able to hold their own with Manchester's underground club culture, and would have been able to fit the Factory ethos even then, with a bit of rave-inspired ragga soul. This whole package is, quite simply, one of the best reissues I've heard all year -- that 12" is one of my favorite Factory releases, with Bovell's dark dub mixology giving these tunes an added bite, showing that X-O-Dus could have easily ranked right up there amongst the heavy hitters of UK reggae like Matumbi and Steel Pulse. The unreleased album tracks, though, have been kicking my ass; they're so soulful, lightly psychedelic, and massively catchy. This CD will hopefully help to relegate X-O-Dus out of footnote status; for now, it's holding a firm place near the top of my list of best reissues of the year in any genre. Reggae heads, Factory completists, and anyone who wants some good, solid, soulful tunes to jam this summer need this in their collection. This is the definition of a highest recommendation, but please -- Mr. James Nice, LTM mastermind, I beg you, now that you're pressing wax... issue this collection on vinyl!! [IQ]


	$17.99 LP		THE RELATIVES The Relatives (No Label) We are very excited to have a precious few copies of the self-titled debut LP from New York's the Relatives. The neo-folk outfit recorded the album in 2010; since then, the principal songwriters and composers Ian Davis and Gabriel Gall have helped launch Mason Jar Music, a creative production team that places artists in intimate, unorthodox settings and captures the performance (they were responsible for the concert with Feist last October that took place in the crypt of the Church of the Intercession on 155th Street). Intimate and unorthodox describe this record perfectly. The core of the record is comprised of joyfully forlorn folk songs, which delicately blend the three main voices -- Davis, Gall, and singer Katie Vogel -- into gorgeous close harmony. Skipping around the edges of that trio are a myriad of dazzlingly arranged instruments, such as bassoons, banjos, French horns, saxophones, clarinets, violins, violas and cellos. The result is carefully constructed cacophony, a tribute to Americana music of all varieties. The Relatives salute Tin Pan Alley ("Soldier's Desert"), swampy bayou jazz ("New Orleans"), and gospel music ("Shepherd and the Sheep" and the fragile, powerful "Busted Lip"). The arrangements are wistful and cinematic, sometimes nodding toward Morricone (as on "Soldier's Desert) or Rota ("Holiday Song"). The Relatives will tickle the ears of anybody who fell for Grizzly Bear's vocal interplay, Beirut's uplifting energy, or Neutral Milk Hotel's soulful hollering. [MS]


	$5.99 CS		THE EVERYMEN Seconds As an English Language: Live from Asbury Park (Baldy Longhair) The mystery behind these enigmatic, beer-loving Jersey punks has slowly unraveled with every missive (they're at least listing their real names on the J-card here) -- now if they could only play on a night that I could catch them. Yeah, I'm old and so are their influences, which only makes the fact that I've been wearing out this cassette in my tape player all the more appropriate. A pretty raw, live recording -- I don't even think this is a board mix -- of an Everymen show at some dive in Asbury Park just days after Hurricane Irene pounded the Jersey Shore, Seconds As an English Language finds the band delivering a no-frills, 13-song set of rock-n-roll that owes a nice debt to the best era of the Replacements, Husker-Du, and, of course, the Boss, right down to the saxophone solos. The group tears through originals like "Zeppole Ben" complete with a wailing sax and new female singer taking the choruses, and a drunken punked-up version of their "Ballad of Sarin" (here called "Ballad of Barnaby Barstool"), as well as throwing in a woozy cover of Bobby Vinton's "I Love How You Love Me" and Reigning Sound's "As Long," turning Cartwright and Co.'s twangy jangle into a garage-glam rave-up. Seriously guys, can we get a full-length together? If you book yourselves some studio time, I'll be happy to trek it out to Jersey with a case of Bud. [GH]


	$16.99 CDx2		VARIOUS ARTISTS Mr. Joe's Jambalaya & Loaded Down with the Blues (Charly / Snapper) This is the second installment of the Charly label's recent updating of seminal reissues from their early years. Charly Records founder Jean-Luc Young hit pay dirt once again with this pair of reissues he originally put together in '87 and '88; both of these releases focused on the rich catalogue of Joe Banashak's New Orleans-based R&B stable of labels which consisted of Minit, Instant, Alon and 7-B. Banashak was an East Coast-bred record promotions man who settled in the south in the early-'60s hoping to tap into the rich regional Southern soul sound emanating of New Orleans. The legendary Allen Toussaint served as his in-house producer, and he was responsible for bringing legends such as Irma Thomas, Aaron Neville, Ernie K-Doe and Eddie Bo to Banashak's offices. The Toussaint string of hits started here and this collection contains some of his most brilliant songwriting and piano work ever. Included are some of Toussaint's handpicked faves of this era, like the lovely "Ruler of My Heart" by Irma Thomas, the funky backbreaker "Lover and a Friend" by Eddie Bo and Inez Cheatham, and the Toussaint-led band the Stokes' "Whipped Cream," an instrumental groove that was a huge hit for Herb Alpert & Tijuana Brass a few years later. It's another historic collection that served as an introduction for many people to the early genius of Toussaint and his band of cohorts. For those who were blown away by the Southern Soul Shake set from a few weeks back, this double-CD is an excellent addition if you're still craving that vintage Crescent City sound. Great to see this back in print! [DH]


	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 [MCa] Matt Cash [ACo] Anastasia Cohen [DG] Daniel Givens [GH] Gerald Hammill [DH] Duane Harriott [IQ] Mikey IQ Jones [AK] Andreas Knutsen [JM] Josh Madell [MS] Michael Stasiak THANKS FOR READING - all of us at Other Music

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