Other Music's Top 30 New Releases & Reissues of 2012

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	December 15, 2012


			OTHER MUSIC'S BEST OF 2012: NEW RELEASES & REISSUES Because 2012 may go down in music history for producing such a great crop of new albums, Other Music had to run a top 30 instead of our usual 25. Or maybe the year will be remembered for something else, but we couldn't narrow our list down any further, so 30 it is -- plus the first two awesome albums on our new Other imprint, and 30 stellar reissues. There is no science to our picks, it's just a bunch of record nerds sitting around, talking about all the great new music we heard this year that has stuck with us. If you shop at Other and know the staff here, you know we have wildly varied tastes and passions, but great music always worms its way to the top, and while we might not all personally love everything you will see listed below, we can agree it represents the best and most forward-thinking music out there this year, and it all has the Other Music stamp of approval. HOLIDAY MAIL ORDER To make your holiday shopping easier this year, we are offering gift-wrapping for an additional charge of $3.50 -- you'll see that option at check out. Other Music will guarantee that any order placed by December 20 will reach its destination by Christmas. We can also accommodate orders placed after December 20. You'll notice that you can now select expedited shipping options like Express Mail, Next Day Air or 2nd Day Air at check out. For any questions or concerns, just email orders@othermusic.com, or call our mail order department: 212-477-8150, ext. #2 (Monday-Friday, Noon-7 p.m. EST). GIFT CERTIFICATES We also offer Other Music Gift Certificates which can be redeemed for purchases made both in the store and off of our CD/LP website. You can buy a gift certificate in person at the shop (just ask the register clerk), or on-line here, where you have a choice of various increments between $15 and $200. (Or email orders@othermusic.com if you would like an amount not listed as an option.) Happy Holidays!! -All of us at Other Music


	$18.99 CD $26.99 LPx2 $9.99 MP3		ANDY STOTT Luxury Problems (Modern Love) "Numb" "Luxury Problems" UK producer Andy Stott turned heads last year with two stunning albums of dark, brutal, sluggish beatscapes that emphasized texture and pure bass weight, creating tracks that enveloped the listener like a mudslide avalanche. But he really hit his stride in 2012 with Luxury Problems, which found Stott taking the sound mapped on those two releases, and quite literally fleshing it out by adding the warmth and sensuality of the human voice to his palette. He is joined on many of these tracks by singer Alison Skidmore (his former piano teacher), and it's a stunning collaboration, with Stott cutting her syllables into glottal rhythmic fragments, looping her breaths and sighs into wordlessly erotic pillow talk, and then letting her lyrics spiral upward in hypnotic mantras that hint at a blend of R&B and opera, as if Aaliyah and Maria Callas joined bodies to enact the works of Anaïs Nin. Effortlessly balancing brute force with blatant sensuality, Stott's attention to detail is more brilliant than ever here, with lots of other vocal textures wafting in and out of these tracks from other sources, and a diversity in his rhythmic arsenal that flirts with a bit of jungle/hardcore break science, and even a bit of funk on the title cut, which is arguably his finest work to date. Groundbreaking, heady, yet very listenable, Luxury Problems is not only a high-water mark in electronic music, but for music as a whole in 2012.


	$14.99 CD $18.99 LP $9.99 MP3		FRKWYS VOL. 9: SUN ARAW & M. GEDDES GENGRAS MEETS THE CONGOS Icon Give Thank (RVNG Intl.) "Food Clothing and Shelter" "Sunshine" The New York-based RVNG label continued to deliver great cutting-edge music this year, and their diverse FRKWYS series of visual, musical and cross-generational collaborations dropped a bomb on us. Vol. 9 found Cameron "Sun Araw" Stallones leading a small Los Angeles-based contingent to an area outside of Kingston, Jamaica called St. Catherine to work with legendary vocal group the Congos. With sonic sketches that originated in LA in hand, the adventurers immersed themselves in the Rastafarian culture, religion and lifestyle practiced by the former squatters of Lee "Scratch" Perry's Black Ark, whose 1977 masterpiece Heart of the Congos is one of reggae's most iconic albums. The resulting collaboration is a dreamlike musical experience fusing Nyabinghi drums and Rasta chants with organic and electronic backing, and never once does it come off like just another indie-dub outing -- it's just so much more, and with the forward-thinking dub production and angelic, spiritual harmonies, the group collectively creates a sonic rainbow that rises, falls and shimmers with a multi-colored vibrancy, as textures and sounds thump and reverberate, pounding the foundation. Throughout the hour-long journey, the music grows deeper until the vocals practically morph into a swirling and trancelike evocation, making for a completely immersive and transformative experience.


	$15.99 CD $21.99 LP $9.99 MP3		ACTRESS R.I.P. (Honest Jon's) "R.I.P." "Holy Water" Amongst the likes of deep-in-leftfield electronic producers such as Burial or Zomby, Actress creates music that is rooted in British rave culture, yet he's the dark knight, the guy standing next to the speaker, hoodie on, observing and absorbing his surroundings, taking it all in and picking it apart. Actress' third full-length is a subtle and delicate departure from Darren Cunningham's previous work, which ran house and disco through a filtered tunnel-vision cycle, morphing the bleeps of Detroit techno with the low-end wobbles of UK bass. He has always used algorithms and microtones in his work, you could say it's his skill, and for R.I.P., he applies that skill in new ways, creating an organic and emotive journey that strips back sounds to their core elements. Usually devoid of rhythmic thumps or big beats, these pieces blend into one another nicely in a series of open sonic swirls, sparkling patterns, and fizzy bubbles referencing gamelan and African trance music, classical string and piano compositions, and manipulated deconstructions, feeling at times close to Aphex Twin, Flying Lotus, or even the Caretaker. Here, Cunningham creates the 'sense' of dance music, without falling into the typical kick-snare-cymbal combo, developing sounds that mirror organic instruments, and welcoming the next phase in Afro-futurism.


	$14.99 CD		KENDRICK LAMAR Good Kid, m.A.A.d. City (Interscope) "Swimming Pools (Drank)" "Sherane a.k.a. Master Splinter's Daughter" The second album by California rapper Kendrick Lamar made big waves across the music world, and upon first listen, it was easy to understand why. Lamar brings a vivid imagination, a sharp wit and intelligence, not to mention a leftfield weirdness that appeals to everyone from hardcore hip-hop heads to indie rock wallflowers, experimental beat enthusiasts, and even the "realness" credibility police. His lyrics are engrossing, detailing the conflicts of gang loyalty and criminal behavior with the desire to rise above it all and move forward with life, and it's all anchored by a dense web of production that trades heavily in the taut, slippery G-funk roots of his mentor Dr. Dre, but updates it with nods to the more off-kilter sensibilities of the cloud rap scene and the pop minimalism of Pharrell. It's a powerful album that consistently surprises with its multilayered complexity, yet simultaneously has a straightforward punch that becomes addictive once it sinks its teeth into you.


	Temporarily Out of Stock		DAUGHN GIBSON All Hell (White Denim) "Bad Guys" "Lookin' Back On '99" Daughn Gibson was one of 2012's early web buzzes, coming out of rural Pennsylvania with a sound that could read as far-fetched or too theoretical, but in reality being powerful and often stunning music. Gibson combines the stark soundscapes and harsh song-stories of late-period Scott Walker with his personal twin obsessions with country music and modern dark ambient electronic production, and the results are wholly original and engaging. His songs, sung in a dynamic, crooning baritone, tell deeply American tales of small-town losers, neon-lit truck stops and tired, spent dreams. The production is careful and spare, occasionally lurching into a subtle, skittering beat, as on the chilling "Tiffany Lou," but more often Gibson spins his music from the deep atmosphere, with a few well-chosen acoustic samples and the quiet whir of machines. Like a wholly American James Blake, this is boundary crossing pop music of the highest order. (LP back in stock, Thursday, December 20th.)


	$9.99 MP3 CD & LP Temporarily Out of Stock		PYE CORNER AUDIO Sleep Games (Ghost Box) "The Black Mill Video Tape" "The Mirror Ball Cracked" Those familiar with Martin Jenkins' blunted, fog-and-brimstone-scented take on warped, synth-heavy G-funk will know what they're in for here, yet this is Pye Corner Audio's most concise and focused work to date. His expert blend of Giorgio Moroder and John Carpenter analogue pulsations pump and throb with a sensuality heretofore unexplored on Ghost Box, fusing the otherworldly darkness and pastoral esoterica so embraced by the label with the sweat, heat, and shiver of a darkened dance floor. Bear in mind, though, that those sweats are cold, the heat is feverish, and the shivers are hallucinatory; Jenkins' keyboard melodies warble and flutter like spectral dancing flames, and his productions are soaked in atmospheres that are as thick as those of Andy Stott, but where Stott's productions are caked in mud and a thick bass sludge, Jenkins opts more toward the ethereal.


	$16.99 CDx2 $21.99 CDx2+DVD $17.99 MP3		SWANS Seer (Young God) "The Seer Returns" "The Apostate" In a word: WOW. The twelfth studio album by Swans comes forth as a stunning, brutal epic that combines elements of all the band's work from before, but pushes their sound forward into a product that could only have taken thirty years of living to the extreme to craft. The pummeling rhythmic hypnotism, complex instrumental interplay, and ragged yet commanding vocals that are Swans' trademarks are all here, all clothed in stunning arrangements (including strings, woodwinds, accordion and horns) that blanket these songs in black drones, spaghetti western ragas, and dirty, lumbering grooves. Comprised of two CDs clocking in at two hours of listening, it's not an album that you can casually eavesdrop upon. That's not to say it's impenetrable, though; on the contrary, these are some of Michael Gira's most uplifting songs, playing like a rallying call to arms for those who want to listen, and demanding the attention and respect of those who might attempt to play deaf toward it.


	$10.99 CD $16.99 LP		PEAKING LIGHTS Lucifer (Mexican Summer) "Beautiful Son" "Midnight (in the Valley of Shadows)" An album timed with the birth of Indra Dunis and Aaron Coyes' son in mind, this was the closest thing we'd heard to love pressed to wax in quite a while. Bookended by what sound like lovely improvisations -- think Cluster circa Zuckerzeit -- "Moonrise" opens the album bubbling with quiet but determined effervescence, while the next track, "Beautiful Son," with its benevolent air of familial love, brings to mind John Lennon's "Beautiful Boy," though Peaking Lights' incarnation comes off like Antena as produced Andrew Weatherall, with a guitar solo from J. Spaceman to boot. Elsewhere, "Live Love" begins like classic Chicago-era acid before morphing like sea foam into a distinct kind of Balearic sunrise anthem, and at other points we are treated to the sound of Peaking Lights at the Hacienda. That the astute listener can detect clear inspirations (Weatherall, JA dub, pastoral kosmsiche, post-punk näiveté, Balearic drift, early house and techno, new age) doesn't detract from the result. It's the combination of their influences and, it must be said, their songs that creates an exhilarating and timeless-feeling syncretism. Lucifer is the sound of a group who've made a dynamic evolution beyond hypnagogia into one of the most vibrant bands in the world right now.


	Rock and Roll Night Club $8.99 CD $10.99 LP+MP3 $9.99 MP3 Mac DeMarco 2 $11.99 CD $13.99 LP		MAC DEMARCO Rock and Roll Nightclub (Captured Tracks) "Rock and Roll Night Club" "One More Tear to Cry" MAC DEMARCO 2 (Captured Tracks) "Cooking Up Something Good" "Annie" This young Montreal native released a pair of records this year that showed a depth of talent and a wealth of personality that made him one of our most-listened to artists of 2012. Beginning with his Rock and Roll Night Club EP in the spring, Mac Demarco did more than write a few hooky pop songs -- which he surely did -- but rather he created a whole universe for the listener, with his own druggy lo-fi glam-cowboy persona at the center. Nestled in the hiss of his home recording, it's a world of alleys lit by garish neon, downtown streets dotted with fast girls, smeared lipstick... glorious, glamorous sleaze. And we were hooked. For his first actual full-length, released in the fall and oddly titled 2, he toned down the exaggerated imagery, and while not quite as glamorous as the character he constructed for his debut EP, the album did not disappoint in the slightest. It's a collection of songs that seem to get closer to the real soul of the artist, suggestive of the kind of boyish simplicity Jonathan Richman would approve of, with DeMarco's true laidback vocal tones supported by sweet, simple intertwining '50s pop guitar hooks, and a set of rather personal anecdotes from the heart.


	$15.99 CD $21.99 LPx2		SHED The Killer (50 Weapons) "Silent Witness" "Phototype" Oh, forget it, this record just slayzzz!! Shed's production skills and continued focus marrying the outer edge of dubstep with the true spirit of Detroit techno (for a modern world) has always impressed, but while this German producer's records usually end up sounding either deep minimal, hard minimal or dubstep, with The Killer, the tracks sit squarely in between techno and dubstep, becoming something else altogether. The sound is extremely stripped down yet MASSIVE -- both precisely manicured and absolutely room filling. There is also a throbbing, earthy industrial element to the proceedings in that Berghain/Regis way, and the sheer scope and success-rate of this record is just mind-boggling. A genre-destroying top album of the year here.


	$14.99 LP $9.99 MP3		MATTHEW E. WHITE Big Inner (Hometapes) "One of These Days" "Will You Love Me" Despite some high-profile gigs as an arranger for artists like the Mountain Goats and Bon Iver, Matthew E. White's stellar Big Inner came seemingly from out of nowhere and floored us with its sly, subtle, understated beauty and loping, stoned funk grooves. Much has been said in the press about his outspoken love of Randy Newman, but there's much more going on here; White ably and skillfully blends breathtaking string and horn arrangements, restrained guitar and piano melodies, robust gospel choruses, and hypnotic New Orleans funk straight out of the Toussaint family, and ties them all together with his softly murmured croon, gently purring lyrics like a sarcastic cat who's soaked up too much secondhand weed smoke. The final product plays like a funky Southern soul take on the sound perfected by Jim O'Rourke on his classic Eureka album, and it's obvious that White is a similarly diverse and eclectic collusionist who delights in subtle references to his loves throughout the record's arrangements, paying tribute to a wide array of soulful '70s sounds from around the globe, while forging his own distinct, modern path. It's one hell of a vision, and it cements the feeling that White is a talent to watch.


	Ty Segall - Twins $13.99 CD Ty Segall - Slaughterhouse CD & LP Temporarily Out of Stock $9.99 MP3 Ty Segall & White Fence - Hair $13.99 CD White Fence - Family Perfume Vol. 1-2 $13.99 CD $21.99 LPx2 $9.99 MP3 Volume 1 $9.99 MP3 Volume 2		TY SEGALL Twins (Drag City) "Would You Be My Love" "Love Fuzz" TY SEGALL BAND Slaughterhouse (In the Red) Preview Songs on Other Music's Download Store TY SEGALL & WHITE FENCE Hair (Drag City) "I Am Not a Game" "(I Can't) Get Around You" WHITE FENCE Family Perfume Vol. 1-2 (Woodsist) "Upstart Girls" "Breathe Again" Nobody bases their year-end picks on how much music an artist released, only how good it was, but if there was an award for quantity, Ty Segall would have it hands down in 2012. Ty Segall. The Ty Segall Band. Ty Segall and White Fence. It seemed like every few months there was a new Segall-related project on our doorstep! And the amazing thing is, they were all great, and 2012 saw the San Francisco psych-rocker headlining huge shows and basically owning rock & roll. If you listen to one Ty Segal album from 2012, perhaps it should be Twins, his most recent "solo" outing for Drag City, juxtaposing his buzzing guitars with sweet falsetto vocals, offering spaced-out, fuzz-filled numbers that are hooky and infectious without losing their raw immediacy. But the Ty Segall Band's Slaughterhouse was a rock & roll animal, recorded with his touring musicians, mixing a few covers with a set of amped-up originals and truly capturing the thrill of this group on stage. Of course, you can't forget Hair, Segall's album-long collaboration with his buddy Tim Presley a/k/a White Fence. It's a true partnership, as they trade off lead vocals, trade instruments, trade guitar solos, and it's clear that they traded ideas and inspirations here as well, pushing each other in exciting new directions. Segall has the swagger, Presley has the eerie atmosphere, and feeding off each other in the studio they both transcend their own ruts and niches, and clearly had a blast doing it. Then again, you might want to just go for Presley's own recent White Fence album; originally released as two LPs and then collected on one CD by Woodsist, Family Perfume is a sprawling tramp across California's pop landscapes. Recorded on a Tascam four-track and overdubbed onto what we assumed was an audiocassette of Jack Kerouac's Big Sur, on top off all that Segall, Tim Presley gave us 28 songs of sunburned electric psychedelia that conjured hazy images of Joshua Tree, the Pacific Coast Highway, Death Valley, and riots on the Sunset Strip.


	$21.99 CDx2		SHACKLETON The Drawbar Organ EPs / Music for the Quiet Hour (Woe to the Septic Heart!) "Music for the Quiet Hour Part 4" "(For the) Love of Weeping" Maverick UK producer and OM favorite Shackleton delivered what is arguably his best work yet in this stunning, self-released double-CD set. The collection's first disc, The Drawbar Organ EPs, compiles all of the tracks from a recent 12" series, showing the purest, most focused refinement of his trademark sound to date, filled with clattering hand drums, whirring and buzzing industrial flourishes, and a heavy melodic element seldom explored on prior releases. These Eastern-tinted melodies are all played on the drawbar organ of the title and a small arsenal of gamelan-like tuned percussion, and his discovery of the organ in particular is a minor revelation; it in turn leads him to beef up yet streamline his arrangements, with each track boasting a swagger and confidence his previous releases never really touched. But it may be the set's second disc that really impressed. Music for the Quiet Hour is a single, hour-long piece indexed into five suites which finds Shackleton exploring a much darker, more ambient direction that is, quite simply, astounding. All of his trademarks are here, but it's as though he has taken those key DNA strands and stretched them like Silly Putty, leaving wide-open spaces and then filling them with new ingredients. There's a much heavier vocal presence, the drones are thicker, and as the piece progresses, he begins to add a heavier African influence into the mix, with layers of thumb piano and the percolation of talking drums providing a simultaneously rhythmic and melodic depth. This is Shackleton's masterpiece.


	$14.99 CD		FRANK OCEAN Channel Orange (Universal) "Sweet Life" "Thinkin' Bout You" Singer-songwriter Frank Ocean's Channel Orange was an album that seemed almost impossible to avoid this year; he made waves before the record's release due to a candid statement about his sexuality that could have been seen as a brash PR move if the subsequent album hadn't been such a solid and engrossing listen. He boldly steps to the plate with a complex set of rock-solid soul that sees him nod in the direction of influential, idiosyncratic auteurs like Prince, R. Kelly, and even Erykah Badu, as well as his ties to the Odd Future hip-hop collective. There's very little grandstanding or braggadocio to be found here; this is instead, much like Kendrick Lamar's good kid, m.A.A.d. city, a record detailing a young man's emotional and spiritual conflicts in contemporary urban society and the desires and temptations that come to be offered in it. Ocean put a great deal of promise and love into this album; that so much of the diverse record buying community agreed and showed their love in return was an achievement unto itself.


	$15.99 CD $21.99 LPx2 $9.99 MP3		KELAN PHILIP COHRAN & THE HYPNOTIC BRASS ENSEMBLE Kelan Philip Cohran & the Hypnotic Brass Ensemble (Honest Jon's) "Cuernavaca" "Apsara" Phil Cohran celebrated his 85th birthday this year with this amazing album collaboration with one of the many artists he has inspired -- in this case, the Hypnotic Brass Ensemble, featuring eight of his own sons. Cohran has been on the cutting edge of jazz since the 1950s, and his work with artists like Miles Davis and Sun Ra helped radically expand the definition of what that music could be. His sons started Hypnotic Brass Ensemble to continue pushing that sound forward, and they were signed to Honest Jon's on the strength of their own music, not their pedigree, but until now father and sons never recorded an album together. It is a whole record of elder Cohran's music played by and with his talented offspring, a brass-heavy exploration of the funky and grounded, referencing African sounds, hip-hop, and above all jazz spirituality. The hour-long journey moves with an easy pace, built on nearly ever brass instrument in the book, along with lots of shakers and percussive accents, Cohran's great kalimba playing, and a bellowing sousaphone holding down the bass. This is a fantastic listening experience, and a special moment in music history; rarely does a great musician not only raise, nurture and cultivate a legacy, but also gets the opportunity to share the studio with them.


	$15.99 CD		CARTER TUTTI VOID Transverse (Mute) "V3" "V2" We don't usually get the privilege of hearing groundbreaking producers make fresh and on-point tracks 30-plus years after they helped create entire genres of music (Chris Carter and Cosey Fanni Tutti basically invented industrial and acid house during their tenure in Throbbing Gristle and Chris & Cosey). Well, with Carter Tutti Void's Transverse we get to hear the dynamic duo (aided by Factory Floor's Void) impress our pants off one more time! To put it plainly, these tracks display a deep, dark and stark analog techno sound that is done right. The music is shockingly similar to the earliest EBM/techno hybrid masterpieces released by Traversable Wormhole (include Emptyset, Pom Pom and recent Blackest Ever Black style Regis too), but with a more subdued sound that is at times imbued with that trademark ethno-opium-orgy vibe that Chris and Cosey always managed to weave into things. The other crazy thing is to hear these ultra-deep, gray, streamlined humming and pummeling industrial warehouse techno tracks (with just the right amount of treated vocals and guitar-sourced noise) come to a close and be met with applause... holy mackerel, this stuff is all LIVE?! You'd never know it without the clapping and whistling at the end. Great stuff.


	$13.99 CD $16.99 LP $9.99 MP3 Expanded Edition		JULIA HOLTER Ekstasis (RVNG Intl.) "Our Sorrows" "Goddess Eyes I" Julia Holter came onto our radar last year, with an evolving sound that touched on disparate influences from the worlds of electronica, avant-pop, modern composition, and more. At times her earlier recordings could bring to mind Arthur Russell's iconic World of Echo, yet also suggested the underlying sense of pop's formalism that defined Laurie Anderson's groundbreaking work, and while a handful of her songs hinted at pop, they were something else. In 2012 Ms. Holter fulfilled her promise with Ekstasis, a shimmering synth-pop album that can be enjoyed for its textures and melodies or else for its underlying aesthetics, evoking the aforementioned along with wide-ranging influences from the Beach Boys to Kraftwerk and beyond. But aside from such name checks and invoking of previous artists, Ekstasis levitates over such boundaries into a rarefied air. For the adventurous listener out there, this album promises riches and new layers even after multiple listens, and Holter is greeting 2013 as one of the more interesting young artists around.


	$13.99 CD $15.99 LP $9.99 MP3		THE MEN Open Your Heart (Sacred Bones) "Candy" "Turn It Around" The Men are a punk band, but these dudes are of the open-minded variety, and their record collections and passions are deep and varied. Without a doubt they made one of the best rock albums we heard all year, and their intense live show took the world by storm in 2012. There are elements of punk here (obviously), the Stooges, Sonic Youth, country, Spacemen 3, Husker Du, psych, and bombastic radio rock (and a few really ripping guitar solos), but it's distilled into something quite original as opposed to aping their heroes. And with four talented songwriters each coming into their own, this record has more than a few actual "singles." Most importantly though, lend this album to your little brother or sister because Open Your Heart is the kind of inspirational rock & roll record that will make kids want to start bands for years to come.


	$13.99 CD $14.99 LP		MELODY'S ECHO CHAMBER Melody's Echo Chamber (Fat Possum) "Crystallized" "You Won't Be Missing That Part of Me" Paris-based psychedelic chanteuse Melody Prochet worked with Tame Impala's Kevin Parker on her solo debut, and if you fell for Tame Impala's Lonerism LP this year, Parker has sprinkled this album with the same pixie-dust. Prochet's vintage pop sounds have the necessary retro-futuristic roughness and fade that they require, keeping the tunes intact but making the textures more blurred and swirled at the edges. Her vocals, sung in both French and English, often evoke the wide-eyed wonder of Trish Keenan circa Broadcast's early singles, but Prochet has a delivery that's charmingly innocent and seemingly naive, yet with classical training that gives her full command of her powers. The album's massive, fuzzy, blown-out low end lends the songs a warm, woolen cushion upon which they weave together elements of prime shoegaze/dreampop guitars, not to mention a bit of the warped synth tones and subtle baroque flourishes of acts like Boards of Canada, Plone, and the Ghost Box crew. It succeeds because it feels nicely familiar yet still fresh, and Prochet's sweet, soothing melodies elevate the proceedings well above mere pastiche, and more directly into higher-tier pop artistry. It's one of the year's best debuts, and not to be missed.


	$18.99 CD		JESSIE WARE Devotion (Island) "Wildest Moments" "Night Light" Easily one of the most exciting pop artists of 2012, UK-based singer Jessie Ware first gained attention via guest spots on tracks by up-and-coming producers SBTRKT, Sampha and Joker. Her voice, smooth and slinky yet deep and powerful, showed a young talent to watch, and with Devotion, she delivered on that promise full-force with one of the best, most consistent debut albums of recent memory. Ware blends the jazzy, quiet-storm soul of influential acts like Sade, Loose Ends and Soul II Soul, but mixes the sound palette up with equal parts throwback '80s electro-funk and a keen ear for contemporary UK bass production. Nearly every cut here is a gem, filled with sharp hooks, stunning vocals, and a crisp, catchy, electronic minimalist take on soul and R&B that should appeal both to indie types that jam to the likes of the xx, How to Dress Well and the Weeknd, as well as those who dig more mainstream sounds like Rihanna, Beyonce and Whitney.

$9.99 MP3

CD & LP Out of Print

SILENT SERVANT
Negative Fascination
(Hospital)

Preview Songs on Other Music's Download Store

Juan Mendez was a member of the influential Sandwell District collective, who were a driving force in tying together the strands of early post-punk, industrial, and gritty techno. Those sounds had been a formative influence on the first wave of Chicago and Detroit house producers as well, but Mendez and his peers fully embraced the dirt, grit, and darkness of the more outré corners of the industrial scene, not to mention the primitive rhythmic propulsion and punk-like force of the beats. Mendez's latest record as Silent Servant is one of the best dispatches from this universe we've heard this past year, a fully realized, hard-hitting, yet lovingly crafted and nuanced production that rivals the finest releases from the Blackest Ever Black stable of artists (particularly Raime), the brutalist techno of Regis, and recent releases by Vatican Shadow. The album also does a fine job in updating the DIY punk electronics of forefathers like Cabaret Voltaire, Throbbing Gristle, and Front 242, injecting a fresh bag of blood into a corpse that was admittedly beginning to fester a bit. Those who like a bit of the do-it-yourself, hands-on approach to electronic music that many of today's Ableton-happy trackpad clickers are missing, not to mention those who simply like their beats as dirty and destroyed as possible, need this. The album is unfortunately out of print, but still available as a download.


	$14.99 CD $14.99 LP $9.99 MP3		GRASS WIDOW Internal Logic (HLR) Preview Songs on Other Music's Download Store Grass Widow could be best described as a cosmic cocktail of the Raincoats' harmonic vocals, Marine Girls' lo-fi pop innocence, and Stereolab's surrealism topped with a dollop of sugary sweetness to boot. While this San Francisco-based all-femme trio has been releasing solid records since 2009, Internal Logic was a breakthrough for the band, brimming with musical growth and confidence. The mix of shared female melodies seems to float above angular waves of guitar, bass, and sharp, steady drums, combining a DIY vibe with an otherworldly aura of mystery. Call it indie, post-punk, DIY, it makes no difference, this is just great music.


	$17.99 CDx2		JOHN TALABOT fIN - Special Edition (Permanent Vacation) "Last Land" "Oro Y Sangre" Barcelona-based producer John Talabot came out with a debut full-length earlier this year that was so good, it's already been re-released in an expanded edition with a bonus disc featuring B-sides, outtakes, and excellent remixes by the likes of Bullion, Kenton Slash Demon, and Pachanga Boys. Feeling like an intersection of techno and electronic indie pop, the album bears sonic connections to favorites like Pantha Du Prince, Panda Bear, El Guincho, Nicolas Jarr and Delorean. Seductive and tropical, Talabot's rhythms are steady, meticulous and purposeful, maintaining the experience of dancing in an open and green field, as opposed to the usual dry and dark atmosphere that seems to be a trend of late. Full of slow-motion house, Balearic beats, fuzzy disco touches, all with an indie pop sheen, this has been in rotation at the shop throughout the year and fIN continues to provide a warm and deep, open and refreshing space to get lost in.


	$11.99 CD $12.99 LP		DEEP TIME Deep Time (Hardly Art) "Clouds" "Gold Rush" On their great self-titled album, Deep Time clearly draw on post-punk, but while that is pretty much standard bio fare for any decent indie band these days, the Austin duo approach that hallowed era in underground music without the same sort of crippling reverence that spoils most attempts. While Jennifer Moore's taut guitar, angular keyboards and rough-hewn, emotional yelp, in conjunction with Adam Jones' off-center and brilliant rhythms, will undoubtedly remind you of classic-era girl music like Delta 5, Young Marble Giants, Kleenex/LiLiPUT, etc., Deep Time have such a strong and individual voice, and such little patience for the forced trappings of the genre revivalists, that their record stands on its own. These songs are small, skittering things, shifting tempos and directions on a dime, yet their logic and reason is irrefutable, centered on Moore's sweetly melodic and hauntingly melancholy vocals, but elevated by the amazing interplay between these two musicians, who seem so completely locked in on a plane that sits just beyond the reach of traditional musical thinking. This is a beautifully paced and flawlessly constructed album, and one of our real surprises in 2012.


	$14.99 CD $22.99 LPx2 $9.99 MP3		FLYING LOTUS Until the Quiet Comes (Warp) "See Thru to U" "Putty Boy Strut" One of the most anticipated releases of 2012, and it did not disappoint, Until the Quiet Comes is a bit of a collage of Flying Lotus' previous work, yet all the elements are brought into sharper focus, in a more expansive galaxy. Like many of his contemporaries (and endless imitators), FlyLo sculpts microtones of percussion, samples and synth chords that reference dance music, yet become something more open and more wonky. What was once called trip-hop and/or acid jazz would apply in describing the music of Flying Lotus 2012; his is a casual, drug assisted, jazz-lineage-embracing sound that he often refers to as "Pattern & Grid World" music. If 2010's Cosmogramma felt wide open, like the birth of a new sonic solar system with shooting stars and black holes, UTQC is a microsystem, a close-knit world of swirling clusters, revolving planets, new moons, darting comets, and zero gravity atmosphere. Steven Ellison has grown from a one-man bedroom producer to a director utilizing a core group of players to help his sound deepen, grow, and breathe, and on this record he really began to flex his imagination to dream of and articulate music like no one else around.


	$17.99 CD $25.99 LPx2 $9.99 MP3		COOLY G Playin' Me (Hyperdub) "He Said I Said" "Landscapes" (Feat. Sinbad) Merrisa Campbell (a/k/a Cooly G) is the hidden missile on the Hyperdub roster, and her debut full-length, Playin' Me, hit the mark spot on. Cooly G's sound can best be described as R&B-infused digi-dub, enhanced with funky, bassy minimal house and broken dubstep. Her cuts swing, sway, bounce and chat you up like a Ciara song, yet they have a deeper, richer, warmer and moodier outcome. Tight and taut rhythm tracks are sparsely filled with just the right amount of emotion and sensuality -- from her singing synths to her singing voice. Across the album it becomes apparent that she really understands R&B's coolness, but Cooly G isn't strictly trying to make an R&B or house song; she creates tracks that clearly and assertively fuse the two in a way that feels completely unforced and quite natural. If you've been at least intrigued by the slew of female electronic artist stepping into the light, such as Maria Minerva, LA Vampires, Fay, Laurel Halo, and even Nite Jewel to some extent, then check Cooly G, as she shifts the focus from an indie/experimental artist flirting with soul and beats to a solid dance producer who knows how to effectively use her voice.


	$13.99 CD $15.99 LP $9.99 MP3		WYMOND MILES Under the Pale Moon (Sacred Bones) "Strange Desire" "You and I Are of the Night" Back in February, Fresh & Onlys' guitarist Wymond Miles surprised us with the beguiling Earth Has Doors EP, an introspective solo set of autumnal, almost gothy, lo-fi psych-folk that bore little resemblance to the sunny garage-pop of his main gig. Then came the full-length, and while it wasn't as mystical or dirgey as the EP, he did seem to be channeling the brooding end of the '80s Anglo-pop spectrum, sans the make-up or mope. Born out of the recent death of a good friend and the loss of a few family members, Under the Pale Moon parallels Miles' coming to grips with tragedy and the subsequent newfound urgency for life that often follows grief. With a voice that conjures David Bowie and Daniel Ash in equal measure, a more off-the-cuff DIY Love and Rockets would be an apt starting point for description, crossed with Painted World-era Television Personalities, and for a more current reference, a little Ariel Pink. Under the Pale Moon is wonderfully nostalgic and reflective while avoiding the dreaded trap of uninspired imitation -- in other words, a great timeless record.


	$14.99 CD $9.99 MP3		TRAXMAN Da Mind of Traxman (Planet Mu) Preview Songs on Other Music's Download Store Planet Mu has been digging into Chicago-born footwork of late, and 2012 saw the label embrace one of that scene's longest-invested producers, Cornelius "Traxman" Ferguson, who released what might be considered the first classic album of the genre. Ferguson has had a hands-on influence in the development of the sound and style since the '90s -- from ghetto-house to juke to footwork -- he's got the résumé and Da Mind of Traxman delivers. With a strong and solid skill set and deep knowledge of crate digging, Traxman creates a dizzying and energetic listen that merges footwork's start-stop and triple-time signatures with the feel of a hip-hop beat juggler, or a free-spirited jazz drummer. His tracks have a swing that is really rooted in jazz, even when he's flipping Kraftwerk's "The Robots" (downloadable bonus track) or Prince's intro monologue from "Let's Go Crazy." What stands out most is the diversity of the samples; where most of his peers rely heavily on a cappella cuts of contemporary hip-hop/R&B, Traxman often and effectively uses soul, funk, and jazz as well as techno and house, all filtered through a stern urban framework by his frenetic sonic cut-ups. Throughout the productions here is the sense of great timing, freedom, looseness, and soul that comes with maturity -- if you're adventurous and want to have at least one footwork album in your catalogue, this would be the one.


	$14.99 CD $24.99 LPx2 $9.99 MP3		VESSEL Order of Noise (Tri Angle) Preview Songs on Other Music's Download Store Like the work of Ital/Mi Ami or Hype Williams, this Bristol-based producer reminded us that elements (sounds, machines, and tempos) usually associated with house and techno were also the backbone of cold wave, industrial, avant-garde, and goth. On Order of Noise, the vibe is a bit less spooky than on some of our other favorite Tri Angle releases, more groovy, yet still existing on the darker side of the moon, but it's all covered in a shroud of muslin. By only working with a few elements in each piece, the record easily, simply, and nicely moves from groove to spook and back, yet keeps you engaged throughout. This may be too raw for the button-down techno crowd, but there are similarities between Vessel and artists on Modern Love or Blackest Ever Black, exploring deconstruction and minimalism, while still being danceable. Order of Noise is still in heavy rotation at the shop one of the better dance-not-dance releases of 2012.


	$15.99 CD $9.99 MP3		HISS GOLDEN MESSENGER Poor Moon (Tompkins Square) Preview Songs on Other Music's Download Store This album was originally released on vinyl in 2011, but Tompkins Square put it in much wider circulation this past spring. That label is best known for their collections of vintage gospel and country 78s and their explorations of acoustic guitar music, but Hiss Golden Messenger is a living breathing band, and a great one at that. Poor Moon is the sound of M.C. Taylor, joined by his long-time co-writer and arranger Scott Hirsch, corralling a mighty and potentially messy herd of, in the words of Tony Joe White, "elements and things" -- musical and textual; popular and folkloric; sacred and secular and pretty well goddamned -- into a folk-rock masterpiece that reveals itself both in short bursts and over long arcs, realized both minutely and effortlessly. There is no need to name-drop a list of influences, as this is a genre that is somewhere around a half-century old at this point; let's say instead that HGM write great, moving songs, and play them with real empathy and passion.


	$11.99 CD $13.99 LP+MP3 $8.99 MP3 $11.99 CD $13.99 LP+MP3 $8.99 MP3		SHINTARO SAKAMOTO How to Live with a Phantom (Other Music Recording Co) "In a Phantom Mood" "Dancing with Pain" NUDE BEACH II (Other Music Recording Co) "Walkin' Down My Street" "Some Kinda Love" This year we launched the Other Music Recording Co. label, releasing a great debut single from Ex Cops (album out 1/22) and full-lengths from Shintaro Sakamoto and Nude Beach, both of which would have certainly made their way onto our Top 30 list above had they not featured our logo on the record sleeves. The otherworldly folk-pop of Sakamoto's How to Live with a Phantom was one of those rare albums that instantly connected with the entire OM staff when we first brought the record in as an import; it was (and still is) on constant rotation on the shop stereo, and we couldn't keep it on our shelves. For 20 years Sakamoto fronted Tokyo's late, great psych-rock phenomenon Yura Yura Teikoku, yet his first solo album finds him embarking in a new direction, exploring the sounds of '70s radio pop from around the globe, combining American folk-rock and the evocative Japanese pop music that was influenced by it, while simultaneously referencing French pop, Afro-funk, tropicalia and the lighter side of psychedelia. If any record could so perfectly sum up the wide taste of the shop and our new label, it is this one; needless to say we were thrilled to have the opportunity to release How to Live with a Phantom to the rest of the world. Like Sakamoto, Nude Beach originally self-released II, and we have been hooked on this great rock & roll album since they consigned some copies at the store in the spring of 2012. Though very much a part of the Brooklyn DIY scene, the band's connection is more in spirit than in sound; Nude Beach is as beer-soaked and raw as any group around, but they never could quite shake the classic sounds of Petty and Springsteen that sound-tracked their Long Island youth, and if you thumb through the band members' record collections you'll find battered vinyl from the Replacements, the Jam, Big Star and Elvis Costello sitting alongside the hardcore and indie LPs and 7"s that brought them together in the first place. It all comes through their music -- scrappy, high-octane power-pop that's nothing less than infectious. We fell in love with rock & roll all over again and Nude Beach's II became the second album we released in 2012.


	$14.99 CD $9.99 MP3		DONNIE & JOE EMERSON Dreamin' Wild (Light in the Attic) "Good Time" "Baby" It's hard to imagine a more endearing rock & roll tale; two winsome young brothers spend endless hours writing pop hits on their family's rural Washington farm after their father builds them a fully-functioning home studio stocked with all the gear they can dream of. The siblings diligently record and self-release an entire album, Dreamin' Wild, and few seem to notice or care, until a handful of contemporary DIY pop savants (like Ariel Pink, for example) begin to champion the record. Donnie and Joe Emerson cobbled together influences that were, by the end of the 1970s, falling off the radar: AM-dialed pop, light-as-a-feather soul, hazy Stax-like rock/funk strut. Indeed, the Emersons may have been subconsciously -- perhaps naively -- nostalgic for sounds that dominated teen culture some five to six years prior to the recording of their opus. As Light in the Attic Records' reissue of this LP illustrates, Donnie and Joe's naïveté belied a genuine knack for songwriting and craft that resulted in a charming and timeless album, and we couldn't stop listening. The folks at Light in the Attic spared no expense in the quality here -- they even filmed a short documentary teaser about the Bros. Emerson -- so if you're even remotely interested in unheralded pop/kitchen-sink gems, you'd be remiss to pass this one up. Number 1 with a bullet!


	$19.99 CD $24.99 LPx2		VARIOUS ARTISTS Personal Space: Electronic Soul 1974-84 (Chocolate Industries) "Disco from a Space Show" Guitar Red "If You Give a Dance" Cotillion All seventeen of these rare, DIY private-press black electronic soul nuggets from the 1970s and '80s compiled on Personal Space create a much-needed exploration of the African-American electronic outsider world that existed far away from the discos, bars, clubs, airwaves, and major labels. Often just an inspired individual with a simple home recording studio, a good idea for a song, and a few bucks to get it pressed on vinyl, these are beautiful, raw, weird and wonderful moments of the black experience in funky experimentation from across the American landscape, all stemming from an era that predates the concept of the soulful bedroom auteur that would become more common in the 1990s and the dawn of the sampling age. Every second of the whole damn thing is worth talking about, so we'll leave it at this: do yourself a favor and buy two copies; you'll no doubt wear one of them out. This was an all around hit amidst the diverse, eclectic tastes of our staff and customers, and the beauty of these songs simply can't be overstated.


	$23.99 CDx3		CAN The Lost Tapes (Mute) "A Swan Is Born" "Waiting for the Streetcar" "Dead Pigeon Suite" Perhaps one of 2012's most eagerly anticipated and most highly revered archival releases, this boxed set of previously unheard works unearthed from the vaults of seminal German rock group Can ably displays their multifaceted approach to songcraft, their innovative production techniques, and their deft usage of editing to create tight yet exploratory cuts from hours-long recording sessions. Spread across three CDs, this set delivers embryonic and alternate versions of songs from Can's essential Tago Mago and Ege Bamyasi albums, additional film music from the same sessions as their Soundtracks record, and a treasure trove of never-before-heard pieces that are honestly every bit as funky, ethereal, and powerful as almost any of their "classic" work. It covers the group's early years with vocalist Malcolm Mooney, onto their next phase with singer Damo Suzuki, and a few cuts from the later years when the group was pared down to the basic quartet, with informative liner notes by band-member Irmin Schmidt, the man responsible for finding, archiving, and editing these tapes into the collection you have here. This is an essential addition to the band's discography, and one that effectively traces their journey from open-minded musicians in a post-hippy culture into the vanguard inspirations they are today.


	$17.99 CDx2		LAURIE SPIEGEL The Expanding Universe (Unseen Worlds) "Patchwork" "Drums" As a scientist at Bell Laboratories in Berkeley Heights, New Jersey, Laurie Spiegel pioneered the application of algorithms and computers in electronic music, and helped create the first affordable, consumer music-making software programs. For her, the technological universe is the same ever-expanding playground that she titled her record after -- there are only improvements to be made. She strikes many moods across the nine tracks that make up the original 1980 LP, here supplemented by a treasure trove of extra material spread across two CDs that equals and at times even betters the original record, and what Spiegel says is true: this album rewards concentrated study. What is most striking is the physicality of the sounds constructed, yet her compositions are never frantic and the changes are never abrupt; notes and themes glide into existence and glide out, blooming, dripping, and pulsating with a natural, organic touch and a sensuality that much so-called "academic" electronic music so often forgoes. It's one of the best examples of a reissue produced with the care and curatorial attention that an album of its importance truly deserves.


	$25.99 CDx3 $24.99 MP3		THE CLEANERS FROM VENUS Volume One CD Box Set (Captured Tracks) "Swinging London" "Winter in the Country" A godsend to fans who wore out their original cassettes ages ago, and an invitation to the many who are as yet uninitiated to the wonders of songwriter Martin Newell, this volume of collected works by UK psych-pop stalwarts Cleaners From Venus features their first three albums, previously only available on cassette, in one convenient three-CD package (or three individual LPs). After trying his hand as a British glam-rocker in the '70s, Newell immersed himself in the underground tape culture of the post-punk era, and prolifically released half a dozen albums from 1981 to 1986, utilizing an array of six- and twelve-string guitars, bass and a clattering mixture of live drums, percussion and analog drum machines. Newell is cut from the same cloth as musicians like Billy Childish and the TVP's Dan Treacy, and these early Cleaners albums are treasure troves of well-crafted, immediate-yet-skewed pop songs and joyful noise that showcases their first new wave of creativity, not to mention the prescient influences that can still be heard today in artists like Ariel Pink, Andy Partridge, John Maus, and R. Stevie Moore.


	$16.99 CD $9.99 MP3		X-O-DUS English Black Boys (LTM) Preview Songs on Other Music's Download Store X-O-Dus were a Manchester band that specialized in reggae that steered clear of Rastafarian dogmas, instead singing of the hardships of British Babylon living. Factory Records issued their sole 12" with master producer Dennis "Blackbeard" Bovell at the helm, and the record's stark, post-punk Peter Saville sleeve made it look more like a Joy Division release rather than a soulful roots reggae dispatch melding cutting, realist lyrics with a sharp, hard-edged refinement of spliffed-out loping menace. That 20-minute 12" is an unheralded classic of the era, and the fine folks at LTM bring together the EP's two tracks with another seven cuts from 1980 studio sessions that were meant to form the band's debut LP on Factory, which had never been released until this year, and finds X-O-Dus evolving their heavy sound with a bit of jazzy guitar and a little bit of lovers rock soul. The CD concludes with some 1992 white label bangers recorded by the band's drummer Leddy, 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 reveals that X-O-Dus could have easily ranked up there amongst the heavy hitters of UK reggae like Matumbi and Steel Pulse, no longer leaving them as simply a footnote in the histories of British reggae and Factory's sordid tale.


	$19.99 CD $31.99 LP		DON CHERRY Organic Music Society (Caprice) "Terry's Tune" "Relativity Suite Part 1" Organic Music Society is perhaps the rarest, and easily one of the best albums ever recorded by American trumpeter, composer and improviser Don Cherry. Released in 1973 on the small Swedish Caprice label, this double LP combined a breathtaking mix of international folk musics from Brazil, India and Turkey, jazz modes from South Africa, and nods to American minimalist composition, featuring performances by Cherry, Terry Riley, Nana Vasconcelos, and Bengt Berger amongst a plethora of additional players. Much of Organic Music Society was recorded in one of Buckminster Fuller's geodesic domes, and the whole project overflows with a deep psychedelic spiritualism that's part hippy commune and part Krautrock cult; it's a record very much of its time, yet which remains a timeless, valuable document of one of jazz music's most joyful, unafraid minds going the distance and exploring new terrain with enthusiasm and love. It's nothing short of breathtaking.


	Sensations' Fix $14.99 CDx2 $26.99 LPx2 $9.99 MP3 Franco Falsini $19.99 LP		SENSATIONS' FIX Music Is Painting in the Air (RVNG Intl) "Barnhause Effect" "Fix Cold Nose Story" FRANCO FALSINI Cold Nose (Spectrum Spools) RVNG's sprawling collection of unheard music and new mixes from Sensations' Fix, a Florence, Italy-based progressive group led by composer Franco Falsini, mostly falls on the spacey side of the prog spectrum, and in a blind taste test one might even assume that many of these tracks emanated from Krautrock's kosmische realm. Like German cosmic travelers Tangerine Dream, Cluster and Ash Ra Tempel, S.F.'s music was as diverse as their collective imagination, whether working in traditional song-forms, narcoleptic bliss-outs, harmony-laden psych-folk, or creating numerous synth-fueled ambient soundscapes. Spectrum Spools' vinyl reissue of Falsini's Cold Nose album represents his first step into solo territory. Purportedly a film soundtrack, Falsini deploys guitar and synth across three extended cuts that in a way find some strange common ground between Fripp and Eno's No Pussyfooting and Bobby Beausoleil's Lucifer Rising soundtrack. Cold Nose is at once open-ended and exploratory, yet with an underlying darkness as well. This is some serious head music for sure... you're in for one hell of a journey.


	$15.99 LP $9.99 MP3		LIVES OF ANGELS Elevator to Eden (Dark Entries) Preview Songs on Other Music's Download Store Lives of Angels were the married duo of Gerald and Catherine O'Connell, who made this album on a four-track back in the early-'80s. The duo's sound was simple and economic -- Fender Telecaster, Roland drum machines, and synths, anchored by Gerald's lead vocals and Catherine's backup harmonies. Elevator to Eden has all the immediacy of the four-track experience, without sacrificing any depth, channeling the intimacy of classic early New Order, the rainy-day catchiness of the Go-Betweens, the chiming melodies of Felt, and the unpolished pop genius of the best of the Flying Nun label. This is an obscure gem that offers a fresh take on things we know and love, and as increasingly difficult as it is to find this sort of un-mined vintage inspiration these days, it's the perfect mix of sincerity, style and triumph, a soulful combination of joy and melancholy, held together with urgency, charm, and skill.


	$82.99 LPx6+CDX3 Box		CODEINE When I See the Sun - Box Set (Numero) "Pickup Song" "Realize" This summer, Numero Group lovingly reissued the (almost) complete works of the pioneering "slowcore" band Codeine, whose early-'90s albums on Sub Pop presaged much-loved groups like Low, Slint and Red House Painters in getting indie rock to take a deep breath and just slow down for a minute. Their music was glacially paced, but in no way relaxed; they were all about tension and release. These reissues, each paired with a second LP of singles, demos, live cuts and Peel Sessions, as well as bonus CD versions of everything collected on the vinyl, are as stunning today as they were upon their initial release, displaying a strange fragile beauty that remains unrivaled by the many groups they'd go on to influence and inspire.


	$12.99 CD $14.99 LP $9.99 MP3		TRONICS Love Backed by Force (What's Your Rupture?) "Love Backed by Force" "They're Talking About Us" Zarjaz, the man behind Tronics, began playing music as a young teenager in the fringes of West London, on the cusp of the vibrant punk and post-punk scenes, and despite a cult of rabid fans and the occasional gushing press moment, his "career in music," if you can call it that, has largely been cloaked in anonymity. 1981's Love Backed by Force, Tronics' third album and arguably their most immediate release, offers up discordant melodies, candied guitars and minimal rhythms made up of bongos, tambourines and handclaps. These tracks weave folk, pop and electronic elements with rock guitars, nursery rhyme melodies, and witty lyrics delivered deadpan in a stylized homage to the Droogs from A Clockwork Orange. The album's winking, intellectual absurdity and no-fear genre-bending influenced a legion of UK indie bands who came after, from the Smiths on down to the K Records catalogue and beyond.


	$15.99 CD $27.99 LPx2		FRANCIS BEBEY African Electronic Music 1975-1982 (Born Bad) "Divorce Pygmée" "La Condition Masculine" Francis Bebey is a long-standing favorite here; a writer, artist and musician from Cameroon, his work blended roots in African folklore with an unabashed embrace of modernity. His albums began as guitar-based song poems, but soon utilized thumb pianos and synthesizers. Original copies of his records now fetch steep prices on the collector's circuit, but thankfully Born Bad delivered this tasty two-LP compilation of some of his finest songs with steep usage of synth and drum machine technology culled from recordings made between 1975 and 1982. This music is astonishing and otherworldly, yet simultaneously charming and homegrown. Bebey's songs come off like Young Marble Giants in the African savannah, simple on the surface but with intricate polyrhythmic and harmonic interplay, all infused with a bit of minimal synth-wave thrown in, while his lyrics detail everything from simple love songs to sharp sociopolitical commentary about the battle of the sexes and anti-apartheid sentiments. It had been a long time since we'd seen any of his work readily available here at Other Music, and this was a most welcome addition to our shelves.


	$19.99 CD		DAN PENN The Fame Recordings (Ace) "Come on Over" "Take a Good Look" Dan Penn is a name you may not know, but if you are a fan of southern soul, particularly of the Muscle Shoals variety, you've certainly heard his songs. Penn began his career as an in-house songwriter at Fame Studios, and along with collaborators like Spooner Oldham, he wrote many of the hits that came out of Muscle Shoals in the early-'60s -- cuts like "Do Right Woman," "I'm Your Puppet," and "You Left the Water Running." Fame issued a handful of Penn's own vocal recordings as singles back in the day, but his real success was as a songwriter rather than a performer. Ace Records have continued their excavation of the Fame catalog with this incredible look at the original song demos and late-night sessions that Penn cut with the label's house band, adding scores of unheard recordings to his repertoire. With original versions of well-known hits and a number of obscurities too, this is front to back a stunning, enlightening listen.


	EPs 1981-1991 $24.99 CDx2 Isn't Anything $21.99 CD Loveless $24.99 CD		MY BLOODY VALENTINE EPs 1988-1991 (Sony Music) MY BLOODY VALENTINE Isn't Anything - Remastered Special Edition (Sony Music) MY BLOODY VALENTINE Loveless - Remastered Special Edition (Sony Music) My Bloody Valentine remain one of the most canonized, highly revered bands in contemporary rock and pop music with an eye on the periphery, and both 1988's Isn't Anything and 1991's Loveless are undisputed classics of the era -- rock albums filled with innovations whose repercussions are still commonly heard in independent music today. They are records which, in the digital era, have been represented by thin-sounding early compact disc technology, and these remasters are indeed wonderful to hear, as they restore the rich dynamism and sonic detail that made this music so revolutionary. The crown jewel in this set of remasters, to our ears at least, is easily the compilation of EP tracks, singles, and rarities recorded between Isn't Anything and Loveless. This collection ably shows the development and growth of the band over the course of the four years between the making of their two landmark albums, and contains what is arguably My Bloody Valentine's most focused, catchy, and innovative music. Despite years of false starts, broken promises, missed opportunities, and cultish devotion, it feels great to hear these again with the oomph, the awe, and the beauty that the original vinyl holds after all this time of flimsy misrepresentation on record store shelves.


	$9.99 MP3 LP Out of Print		DAVID LYNCH & ALAN R. SPLET Eraserhead OST (Sacred Bones) Preview Songs on Other Music's Download Store This deluxe reissue of the soundtrack to hugely influential director and multimedia artist David Lynch's first full-length feature, Eraserhead, is a stunning tribute not only to the man's unique, dark vision, but also to that of his longtime sound designer Alan Splet. Music and sound design have always played central roles in establishing the distinct atmospheres of Lynch's environmental portraits, but this record in particular is a stunning, gorgeous, dystopic world of industrial noise, beautiful dronescapes, and haunted organ melodies. There is no traditional score per se -- they simply removed all parts of dialogue from the film's sound reel, edited down the audio vérité into manageable sidelong "suites," and left it at that. The sounds documented in turn create an environment that's meant to be fully lived in and immersed into. Sacred Bones really pulled out all the stops here, the soundtrack wonderfully remastered, including the infamous "In Heaven (Lady in the Radiator Song)." The real delight for hardcore fans and completists, though, is the addition of a previously unheard song titled "Pete's Boogie," co-written by Peter Ivers, who also authored and performed the music for "In Heaven." The gorgeous LP edition, which included a large booklet, art prints and a 7", went out of print after a few pressings and is now sold out, but the soundtrack still lives on in download form for those who might have missed.


	$15.99 CD		LESLIE WINER Leslie Winer &c. (Wormhole) "Remote Viewing" "Dream 1" This comprehensive compilation highlights sterling examples of this writer/musician/poet/former model's razor-sharp blend of dub-infused downtown avant-soul, fusing together the likes of the Last Poets, Annette Peacock, Captain Beefheart and Public Image Limited. Leslie Winer &c brings together about half of her lone cult album, Witch, mostly via previously unheard mixes, along with equally powerful material recorded both before and after, ranging from her earliest experiments in the late 1980s, through her two unreleased 1990s Witch follow-ups, into the 2000s. The music here is anchored in deep grooves, fractured loops, sensual textures, and most importantly, Winer's razor-sharp lyricism, balancing softly sung looped passages with her inimitable nicotine-stained spoken vocals, uttered in raw cadences that juxtapose world-weary wisdom with hallucinogenic stream-of-consciousness poetry striking comment on the politics of sex, war, commerce and community. It is a release that was long overdue, and which paints a wide portrait of an artist who creates simply because she knows that she must. More people than ever should be hearing Leslie Winer's voice thanks to this excellent collection.


	$17.99 CDx2		THE DURUTTI COLUMN Short Stories for Pauline (LTM) "College" "Journeys by Vespa" Short Stories for Pauline is a stunning archival release of what was meant to be the fifth album by the Durutti Column (coming after the rare Portuguese-only release, Amigos Em Portugal), comprised of sessions recorded in 1983 but shelved until this year. It's mind boggling as to why this stuff sat in the vaults for so long, because damn, this is some of Vini Reilly's most beautiful music. Save for a handful of cuts issued throughout the '80s on assorted compilations from the Factory Benelux and Les Disques Du Crepuscule imprints, much of the Short Stories material had never been heard until a few months ago. This two-CD set rectifies that, featuring the full album in its original intended sequence, along with a gorgeous 1981 live concert performance recorded in Brussels with just Reilly and longtime Durutti drummer Bruce Mitchell. The music on Short Stories actually serves as a transition between the sparseness of early Durutti albums like LC and the more fleshed-out, lush environments he'd begin to explore after Without Mercy. It's a gorgeous piece of work that further cements Vini Reilly's reputation as one of the shining lights of not only the Factory stable, but of the entire post-punk generation on the whole.


	$21.99 CD $17.99 CD $22.99 LPx2 $9.99 MP3 $12.99 CD The Upsetter $16.99 DVD		LEE 'SCRATCH' PERRY Disco Devil: The Jamaican Discomixes (Trojan) "Disco Devil" Lee Perry & the Full Experience "Neckodeemus" The Congos LEE PERRY & THE SUFFERERS The Sound Doctor: Black Ark Singles and Dub Plates 1972-1978 (Pressure Sounds) "Army of Love" Junior Byles "Sound Doctor" Bobby Floyd CANDY MCKENZIE Lee 'Scratch' Perry Presents Candy McKenzie (Trojan) "Disco Fits" "Sky at Night" LEE 'SRATCH' PERRY The Upsetter DVD (MVD) It was a good year for fans of reggae auteur Lee 'Scratch' Perry, as 2012 delivered three stellar collections of Perry-produced material and an enlightening documentary on the enigmatic figure. Leading the charge was the jaw-dropping Disco Devil compilation, which features two CDs of mostly 1977-era discomixes made during his Black Ark peak, produced to utilize and exploit to the fullest the enhanced dynamic range and extended runtime brought via the newly established 12" single format. It includes rare extended cuts by heavyweights like the Congos, Junior Murvin, Max Romeo, Watty Burnett, and Perry himself, in mixes that bring together vocal versions, DJ toasts, and freaky dub mixes all into one long head-trip and is one of the most essential collections of Perry's genius ever compiled. The Pressure Sounds compilation, Sound Doctor, was no slouch either, collecting an earlier batch of Black Ark-era singles. It all comes off like a Caribbean Motown hit factory, with spirited, soulful vocal numbers and their accompanying dub flipsides showing a side of Black Ark's story that has seldom seen a focused attention like this. This anthology of the studio's infancy is wonderful, filled with deep soul, heavy grooves, and the beginnings of the wild Selassie-in-space mixology he'd come to perfect by the time of the Disco Devil set. We were also thrilled to hear this unreleased full-length by singer Candy McKenzie, who'd made a name for herself doing backing vocals for the likes of Keith Hudson, Aswad, and Bob Marley, and was also a member of the Full Experience, a vocal trio who'd done work on numerous other Black Ark classics. This album was recorded at the Black Ark by Perry in 1977 for the Trojan label, but was rejected and shelved until recently. Her lone solo offering is a deep platter of reggae soul, and not even Perry's wildest impulses could deter McKenzie's powerful voice, which rings loudly and clearly throughout these ten killer cuts, recorded in the same year that brought forth classics like Heart of the Congos and Police and Thieves. This album easily sits on the same top-shelf as those iconic records, shining yet another shade on Perry's banner year. As if that weren't enough, we were also treated to the release of The Upsetter, a 90-minute documentary on the life, legend and myth surrounding Lee 'Scratch' Perry. Made over the course of seven years and featuring extensive interview footage with Perry himself, along with an incredible trove of archival footage from various sources, this film charts the course of his life and career, covering just about every important aspect of note, including the Studio One days, his mentoring of Bob Marley & the Wailers, and on to Perry's most lauded time helming his own Black Ark studios. Narrated by actor Benicio Del Toro, the film doesn't shy away from the many myths and legends of Perry's alleged descent into madness and distrust, which in turn led him to burn down his own studio after recording the landmark Heart of the Congos album. Perry himself proves to be a lucid, intelligent and hilarious interview subject; he doesn't miss a trick and it's great to hear him acknowledge and talk about his role in the public eye as reggae's clown prince. File this next to Rockers and The Harder They Come as essential reggae cinema.


	$19.99 LP		REV. CHARLIE JACKSON Lord, You're So Good: Live Recordings Vol. 2 (50 Miles of Elbow Room) This second volume of Rev. Charlie Jackson's live-in-the-raw church service recordings brings forth more fiery examples of his infamous electric guitar-driven gospel sermons, filled with smoking, percussive six-string pyrotechnics, passionate vocal performances, and loads of call-and-response work with the crowds and congregations. All of this was recorded live, direct to tape, aside from a lone studio recording thought to be lost, but salvaged and anthologized here. If you enjoyed the magic brought forth on Volume 1, which sat high atop our 2011 Best Of chart, you'll find much to love here, as these cuts equal and possibly even top the ecstatic wonder brought forth on that collection. This is some of the most wild, intense gospel and blues you're likely to hear before shuffling off this mortal coil.


	$19.99 CD		MICHAEL NYMAN BAND Michael Nyman (MN Records) "In Re Don Giovanni" "Bird List Song" This long-promised reissue of the first album by the Michael Nyman Band, which remained criminally out of print since its initial release on Piano Records in 1981, combines elements of baroque classical canons, eastern European folk tradition, and the highly rhythmic pulsations of minimalist composition, with the unbridled early rock & roll style of Jerry Lee Lewis, its uplifting and pulsating rhythmic bounce giving him inspiration in pieces which have become staples in his repertoire still to this day. Produced by David Cunningham, best known for his work with This Heat and his own Flying Lizards project, and featuring performances by master European musicians Peter Brotzmann, Evan Parker and Alexander Balanescu, the album combines the refined charm of classical music with the exploratory nature and "anything goes" spirit of the post-punk movement. This is a defining document of British experimental music, combining strong rhythmic sensibilities with lovely melodies, blending avant-garde touches with a clear-cut listenablility.


	$15.99 CD $9.99 MP3		PORTER RICKS Biokinetics (Type) "Nautical Nuba" "Port of Call" Type Records celebrated its landmark 100th release with a long-needed reissue of an equally landmark album. Porter Ricks was the electronic duo of Thomas Köner and Andy Mellwig; they expanded upon the minimal techno being trailblazed by the likes of Moritz Von Oswald and the Basic Channel crew, but mutating the smoky dub atmospheres of Basic Channel into a lush, enveloping aquatic atmosphere that was hugely groundbreaking. This record sounds like watery dub lost in the Bermuda Triangle, with oozing fluid textures enveloping rugged techno beats pulsating like a jellyfish's electricity, delivering one of the most effortless organic and mechanical combinations; it's a masterpiece that has oft been imitated but never duplicated. Electronic music rarely gets as good as this.


	$13.99 CD $9.99 MP3		SLEEP Dopesmoker - Remastered + Bonus Track (Southern Lord) Preview Songs on Other Music's Download Store In the time since its original recording and subsequent releases, Sleep's Dopesmoker has gone on to become a legend in the annals of doom metal, one many have tried to equal to no avail. It weds a slothy, droning, resin-caked riff to pounding rhythms, crafting one of the densest and most engrossing metal tracks of all time. Aside from being a marvelous display of endurance and artistic vision, it alternates between being completely pummeling and strangely hypnotic, as its endless repetitions sound almost like something Steve Reich would have cooked up if he were really into herb and Tommy Iommi. And really, how can you hate a song whose first line provides an apt maxim for stoners everywhere: "Drop out of life with bong in hand." Ultimately, this newest version of the album from Southern Lord sounds a bit better than the old Tee Pee edition, swaps out that version's live track with a different take on the song "Holy Mountain," and finds Arik Roper updating his (already great) artwork for a third time, coming up with the best cover of any version of this album. It makes for what is the long-awaited definitive edition of this mythic slice of heaviosity.


	$21.99 LP CD Temporarily Out of Stock		MICHAEL CHAPMAN Rainmaker - Remastered w/Bonus Tracks (Light in the Attic) "It Didn't Work Out" "On My Way Again" Light in the Attic followed up their reissue of Michael Chapman's Fully Qualified Survivor with a lovely edition of his excellent debut LP, Rainmaker, originally issued in 1969. While being a longstanding favorite here at Other Music, the album has gotten even better with age as the realization of what a singular presence Chapman has been over the last four decades has fully sunk in. In some ways, Rainmaker is thought to be even more immediately accessible than Fully Qualified; it's not quite as heavy and brooding, and his folk roots are more palpable here than on its successor, not to mention that it includes what could to be his most absolutely perfect song, the jewel-like "Goodbye to Monday Night." Chapman shows a brilliance at marrying driving and acoustically dense numbers with inimitable and deeply laconic vocals that seem to have very little antecedent in British folk music. A true original, this record is every bit as essential an album as any by Bert Jansch, Nick Drake, Roy Harper, John Martyn, et al.


	$15.99 CD		ALEX CHILTON Free Again: The 1970 Sessions (Omnivore) "Come on Honey" "The EMI Song (Smile for Me)" In 1970, Alex Chilton was fresh from his dispiriting stint in the Box Tops, but had not yet found his way to the band that would become Big Star. That year, he spent some time in Ardent Studios with producer (and Ardent founder) John Fry and engineer Terry Manning, recording a batch of his own songs, and a few choice covers, in search of a new direction for his powerful musical ambitions. The recordings were never officially released until the mid-'90s, and soon fell out of print, but thankfully they were rereleased this year by fledgling label Omnivore on CD and, for the first time, on vinyl. The material is a must for fans of Chilton, a chronological as well as stylistic mid-point between the blue-eyed soul of the Box Tops and the more pristine pop he went on to perfect in Big Star. In the end, though being a collection of unreleased demos, from an artist as essential as Chilton it's a joy from start to finish, and the Omnivore CD version adds six new tracks to the original release. This is must-hear music by one of rock's most beloved cult figures.


	$16.99 CDx2		VARIOUS ARTISTS The Best of Perception & Today Records (BBE) "Dance Girl" Fatback Brother Bill Curtis "Looking for a Brand New Game" The Eight Minutes The NYC-based Perception and Today imprints were launched by Terry Frazier and Boo Phillips in 1969, and in their five-year existence the labels would put out a wide range of funk, soul, jazz, spoken-word poetry as well as pop albums -- the one thread running through their catalog being the founders' impeccable ear for quality. Famed NYC producer DJ Spinna helped curate this fine overview of some of the highlights, and there ain't a dud on this two-disc collection. Frazier and Phillips had a leftfield eclectic bent, yet their roster featured releases from iconic artists including Bobby Rydell, Dizzy Gillespie, and Astrud Gilberto; they also introduced the world to NYC funk legends Fatback Band and famed disco producer Patrick Adams. There are also some great tracks from little-known funk-rock groups like Bartel and the Patrick Adams-produced band Black Ivory. Hip-hop fans will recognize many of these grooves which have been sampled for hits by Wu-Tang Clan, the Beatnuts, P.M. Dawn and Kanye, but these tunes definitely stand tall on their own. Crate-diggers, DJs, and producers across the globe have mined this material for inspiration for well over a decade or two, and for those not in that loop, this collection was way overdue.


	$16.99 CD $9.99 MP3 $15.99 CD $9.99 MP3		LEE HAZLEWOOD The LHI Years: Singles Nudes & Backsides 1968-71 (Light in the Attic) "The Bed" "Victims of the Night" LEE HAZLEWOOD A House Safe for Tigers (Light in the Attic) "Souls Island" "Lars Gunnar and Me" Light in the Attic inaugurated what is to be an in-depth reissue program of maverick American songwriter/producer/provocateur Lee Hazlewood's LHI record label with this excellent compilation. While a few cuts are sourced from classic albums that will be reissued in 2013, around two-thirds of the set is drawn from rare single-only releases, not to mention the previously unheard "I Just Learned to Run," a fantastic mellow groover from 1969 that rides gently tense strings above a seesawing back porch country-blues beat. Altogether, it makes for one hell of an intro to what looks to be one of Light in the Attic's crowning achievements as a label, and is easily one of the best reissues of 2012. It's a great place for neophytes to begin what will prove to be a long journey down a twisted road, and it's filled with enough to satisfy all but the most fervent, fanatical collectors. Light in the Attic followed the compilation with what is probably Hazlewood's most rare and coveted album, 1975's A House Safe for Tigers; it also happens to be one of his best records. Tigers was the soundtrack to a television film directed by Torbjörn Axelman during Hazlewood's time in Sweden, and it's an even greater tribute to his adopted home than the equally stellar Cowboy in Sweden. Yet where that album took Lee's American dreams and smoked them through a psychedelic hookah the size of Oklahoma, Tigers is very much a European affair; it is perhaps the one album of Hazlewood's that features almost none of his Wild West raconteur mannerisms, and is instead immersed in avant-European classical textures and sharp funk grooves. It's absolutely astonishing to hear him working in a mode that is closer to Scott Walker's first four solo albums than anything from Lee's Reprise period, and while everything on Tigers is applied with a tender, perfectionist touch, it feels as casual and off-the-cuff as anything else he had done before.


	$11.99 CD $25.99 LPx2		RODRIGUEZ Searching for Sugarman OST (Light in the Attic) "Street Boy" "Sugar Man" This is the soundtrack to the wonderful documentary about two South African fans' pursuit of their long-lost musical hero, the political singer/songwriter Sixto Rodriguez, who released a pair of stellar LPs in America in the early 1970s. Those albums bombed at home, but eventually went platinum as bootlegs in South Africa, and thanks to this touching, heartfelt documentary, he is finally reaching a widespread audience that somehow eluded him the first time around, bringing him across the globe not just via arthouse cinemas, but nationally broadcast television as well. We've long been champions of this man's discography, but Searching for Sugar Man is a great collection of all the best tracks from his two albums, plus a few never-before-released gems, and the impact that this film and its soundtrack had in bringing new faces not only to his music, but also to our shop, cannot be overstated. While many of you might already own Cold Fact, from '70, and some of you also have the following year's Coming from Reality, this is a great vinyl package and probably, track for track, the best introduction to Rodriguez's powerful music you're going to find.


	$15.99 CD $17.99 LP $9.99 MP3		CULTS PERCUSSION ENSEMBLE Cults Percussion Ensemble (Trunk) "Baia" "Autun Carillon" This is a beautiful album documenting the recordings of an all-girl youth percussion ensemble from Aberdeen, Scotland, perhaps most noteworthy for being the recorded debut of the esteemed (deaf) percussionist Dame Evelyn Glennie. Recorded in 1979 by music teacher Ron Forbes, who had assembled the group three years prior, they were enough of a sensation to tour Europe and play at England's esteemed Proms concerts, and the music documented here is an upbeat, enchanting blend of exotica, bachelor pad jazz, and a bit of the detached otherworldliness of library music and Moondog's heavily percussive chamber music. The recordings have a light ethereality that gives the album a dreamlike environment, and the diverse usage of texture and timbre throughout is played with a balance of precision and excitement. It all adds up to one of the year's most unique yet deeply listenable and beautiful experimental recordings.


	$18.99 CD		THE FIVE STAIRSTEPS The Complete Curtis Mayfield Years (Outta Sight) "The Girl I Love" "Change of Pace" The Five Stairsteps are Chicago's first family of sibling soul, who charted singles nationally for several years before the other family from Gary, Indiana crashed onto the scene. They were initially taken under the wing of Curtis Mayfield, under whose songwriting and production guidance they released two albums and a handful of singles, all of which are rounded up in this wonderful set. Of special note is the entirety of 1968's Love's Happening album, an absolute classic filled with memorable tracks. The Burke family has made many great contributions to the worlds of soul, R&B, and via sampling, even hip-hop, and this is a perfect introduction to their brilliance.


	$19.99 LP		ROBERTO CACCIAPAGLIA The Ann Steel Album (Half Machine) In 1979, Italian avant-garde composer Roberto Cacciapaglia wrote and produced an album of electronic art-pop for aspiring American model Ann Steel, and released the LP under her name on the Durium label in Italy, France, and other European territories. The record is, quite simply, astonishing; its songs are instantly catchy and hummable, its rhythms very upbeat and dancefloor friendly, and its lyrics overflow with sly, winking nods to everyone from Andy Warhol and Sigmund Freud to Marshall McLuhan and the Hilton hotel empire. Steel's voice combines an untrained girl-next-door charm with a stunning range of unorthodox pop emotion, evoking a housewife with dreams of operatic grandeur, singing to herself alone as she cleans her home. The album was made during a rare time in modern culture where the beginnings of portable, digital innovations and personal computer technologies in everyday household life created a sense of simultaneous confusion and confidence in citizens, where all of the promises but none of the detachment and terror were in view. The songs are filled with ad sloganeering, psychological morsels from Jung and Freud, and the shiniest plastic optimism covering a dark, biting wit.


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