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   December 20, 2012  
       
   

 

 

     
   

HOLIDAY MAIL ORDER
There's still time for your mail order to reach any destination in the United States by the holiday. Purchases made before 5:00 p.m. EST today (Thursday, December 20) will reach its shipping address by Christmas Eve via regular USPS. And if you place your order before 7:00 p.m. EST tomorrow (Friday, December 21), we can still get it to your loved one in time for Christmas using Next Day Air -- you'll see that option alongside other expedited shipping options at check out. We are also offering gift-wrapping for an additional charge of $3.50, which you can select at check out as well. For any questions or concerns, just email orders@othermusic.com, or call our mail order department: 212-477-8150, ext. #2 (Monday-Friday, Noon-7:00 p.m. EST). Please note: our shipping department will be closed on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day.


GIFT CERTIFICATES
We 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


 
         
   
       
   
     
 
 
FEATURED NEW RELEASES
Anna Von Hausswolff
Burial
El Polen
Interpol
Josef K LP
Ike Yard Remix EP 1 LP
Love All Day Cassettes
Tin Man
Tin Man & Cassegrain 12"
Killekill Megahits 12" (Various)
Henri-Pierre Noël
Elbee Bad LPx2
 
UV Race
Half Church
Revl9n LP
The Evens
Nosaj Thing 10"
Smallpeople
Christopher Rau


Follow us on Facebook: facebook.com/othermusicnyc
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DEC Sun 16 Mon 17 Tues 18 Wed 19 Thurs 20 Fri 21 Sat 22


  WIN TICKETS TO PRINCE RAMA
With their new conceptual, genre-bending album Top Ten Hits of the End of the World recently released, Brooklyn-based pop-psych experimentalists Prince Rama are performing, very appropriately, at the 285 Kent Apocalypse Holiday Party this Friday, December 21 along with DICKPIC (Pictureplane + DJ Dog Dick) and Ami Dang. Don't miss out on what just might be the final blowout of civilization as we know it, or at very least what is sure to be an awesome bash even if Armageddon never does come; email giveaway@othermusic.com for your chance to win a pair of tickets.

FRIDAY, DECEMBER 21
285 KENT: 285 Kent Ave. Williamsburg, Brooklyn

     
 
   
   
 
 
DEC Sun 30 Mon 31 Tues 01 Wed 02 Thurs 03 Fri 04 Sat 05


  WIN TICKETS TO SEPALCURE/MACHINEDRUM Machinedrum (a/k/a Travis Stewart) is appearing at Le Poisson Rouge on Sunday, December 30, closing out what's been a prolific year for this great mainstay in the electronic music world. Stewart will be playing double duty that night as Sepalcure -- his duo with Percussion Lab honcho Praveen Sharma (a/k/a Braille) -- is also on the bill, plus the dudes from the awesome Brooklyn Bass blog, all presented by Bandshell. To enter for a pair of tickets, email tickets@othermusic.com.

SUNDAY, DECEMBER 30
LE POISSON ROUGE: 158 Bleecker St. NYC

     
 
   
   
 
 
JAN Sun 30 Mon 31 Tues 01 Wed 02 Thurs 03 Fri 04 Sat 05
  Sun 06 Mon 07 Tues 08 Wed 09 Thurs 10 Fri 11 Sat 12
  Sun 13 Mon 14 Tues 15 Wed 16 Thurs 17 Fri 18 Sat 19
  Sun 20 Mon 21 Tues 22 Wed 23 Thurs 24 Fri 25 Sat 26
  Sun 27 Mon 28 Tues 29 Wed 30 Thurs 31 Fri 01 Sat 02






  OTHER MUSIC NIGHTS AT ACE HOTEL NYC
Other Music returns to the gorgeous lobby of New York's Ace Hotel, with a different staff member DJing every Wednesday night throughout January. Come and grab a cocktail or two with us, and enjoy a wide array of tunes, with Scott Mou kicking off the month. And while you're at the Ace, make sure to check out our new release display located next to the front desk, filled with Other Music's latest favorite albums and reissues. Here's the full schedule:

January 2: Scott Mou
January 9: Amanda Colbenson
January 16: Mikey IQ Jones
January 23: Pam Garavano-Coolbaugh
January 30: Andreas Knutsen

ACE HOTEL: 20 W. 29th St. NYC

     
 
   
       
   

 

 

     
 

$17.99
CD
$26.99 LPx2+MP3

Buy


  ANNA VON HAUSSWOLFF
Ceremony
(Kning Disc)

"Goodbye"
"Sova"

As far as I'm concerned this is a late entry for record of the year, being the sophomore album by Swedish singer/composer Anna Von Hausswolff. Ceremony was released in Sweden late in the summer, but seems to have thoroughly flown under the radar stateside, at least until now I do hope. Von Hausswolff, the daughter of artist/composer C.M. Von Hausswollff, has had the rather ingenious idea of writing a mostly pop-based album for which the lead instrument is a massive church organ. Herself gifted with a huge, beautiful voice, the twenty-three-year-old has crafted a sound as big as her ambition and has marvelously pulled off the amazing feat of making a masterpiece that is at turns intimate, dense, challenging and completely moving. Naturally, considering the lead instrument, Ceremony was recorded in a wonderfully resonant old church with a small ensemble to supplement the organ's space filling tones. Opening with the dirge-like "Epitaph of Theodor," Von Hausswolff cedes center stage to the organ for the first song-and-a-half before vaulting into an almost operatic register midway through "Deathbed." The third track though, "Mountains Crave," is where her pop focus really comes into play, being one of the best singles I've heard all year. It almost comes on like a strange, gothic merger of Zola Jesus and Fleetwood Mac, with thundering drums offsetting the insistent pulse of the organ and AVH's soaring vocals. Just a thrilling song, and it gives you the sense that she could have settled into an easily accessible mode throughout, yet opted to explore a myriad of textures and moods instead. Twanging, reverbed guitar and rolling drums fill space next to the church organ's high and low registers, as AVH sings songs of personal loss and meditation. Ceremony probably reaches its peak with "Funeral for My Future Children" though, another of her soaring, anthemic pop songs where she can belt like no one else since at least Neko Case. Truly challenging in the best possible manner, impeccably recorded, produced, sung, and played, there's very little doubt in my mind that Anna Von Hausswolff is a singular artist of immeasurable talent we'll all be hearing much more about soon. [MK]
 
         
   
   

 

 

     
 

$11.99
CD-EP
$14.99 12"

Buy

  BURIAL
Truant/Rough Sleeper EP
(Hyperdub)

"Truant"
"Rough Sleeper"


Burial is one of my favorite producers, with a stellar catalogue of releases, and here he does it again. His latest 12"/CD contains a pair of epic-feeling, wide-reaching tracks that update his cavernous sound palette signature with slight variations on his winning formula. Lead track "Truant" is a nearly twelve-minute-long journey across the barren streets that he always seems to be traveling. Starting with what could have been an intro to one of the xx's melancholic love songs, the track is soon ripped apart sonically, with Burial introducing static-based sounds that will become a reoccurring theme throughout the EP. The landscape shifts continually, be it a bass dropout, a moment of total silence, or new sonic treats appearing from out of the ether. Burial plays with these elements, bobbing and weaving in and out of tension with groove, silence, ambiance and texture having equal airtime to balance the start-stop/fragmented sense of movement or travel. The flipside, "Rough Sleeper," is an extended-play experience of deconstruction, and clocking in at about fourteen minutes, this one goes headlong into the abyss. Crackling and crumbling textures give way to what is at first a brighter, melodic river of sparkling high-register sounds, and then the walls come tumbling down. Sonic elements almost feel like unused tidbits from his collaborations with Four Tet and Thom Yorke, as bells, chimes and effected vocals are woven into the landscape. And though within these two tracks there are moments that may call to mind other likeminded artists working in the deep depths of dance music -- think Zomby, Andy Stott, Jamie xx, or Actress -- Burial continues to sidestep the obvious, using his established production techniques to create something darkly magical, otherworldly, and breathtaking, maintaining a sense of mystery and longing throughout. Definitely more for the headphones than dancefloor, this is music to keep close and get lost within. [DG]
 
         
   
   

 

 

     
 

$15.99
CD

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  EL POLEN
Fuera De La Ciudad
(Repsychled/Lion Productions)

Late last year we reviewed the debut album by Peru's original and most important psych-folk ensemble of the 1970s. That record, titled Cholo, was originally conceived as the soundtrack of a film of the same name. However, as much as I love that album it is really their second release, Fuera De La Ciudad, where everything comes together in sheer, absolute perfection. Apparently freed of any outside artistic considerations, El Polen recorded Cholo's follow up in 1973 after a spell of living together in a commune outside of Cuzco, with a full tapestry of acoustic instruments including violins, flutes, harps and Andean percussion. This is driving, trance-inducing, folkloric-influenced music of almost incomparable beauty that has been played with a fine-tuned sense of abandon, full of long songs that remain insanely catchy and which you wish would never end. It is hard to overstate how much I love this album, which is easily on par with, if does not surpass, the very best South American folk and psych we have championed over the years, from El Congreso and Congregacion, to Eduardo Mateo and the Blops. Highest recommendation! [MK]
 
         
   
   
   
   
   
   

 

 

     
 

$18.99
CDx2+DVD
$26.99 LPx2+DVD

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$15.99 MP3

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  INTERPOL
Turn on the Bright Lights - 10th Anniversary Edition
(Matador)

Preview Songs on Other Music's Download Store"

Interpol's iconic debut full-length receives a deluxe reissue to commemorate its 10 year anniversary. Turn on the Bright Lights stands as a landmark album of the early 2000s, capturing a unique time and place in New York City, with so many bands rediscovering post-punk, and in the case of Interpol, creating a new classic for that music's canon. The album still sounds essential today, and this edition comes loaded with early demos and Peel Sessions, as well as a DVD featuring live performances and music videos, plus a booklet containing archival photographs. Here's what we said about the record back in 2002:

It seems kind of superfluous to dwell on Joy Division, the Chameleons, or any of their ilk for longer than a split second when speaking of Turn on the Bright Lights. This is just what rock music sounds like when it's made by people who were teenagers in the '80s. Eleven-tracks of sparkling melancholy crafted with driving patterns of drums and rhythm guitar layered snugly under searing dark arches of twanging lead guitar and complex bass structures, not to mention punchy and tight vocal patterns conjuring Ian Curtis at his most incisive. Great debut. [MC]

 
         
   
   

 

 

     
 

$27.99 LP+CD

Buy








  JOSEF K
Sorry for Laughing
(LTM)

Josef K were a Scottish band that sprung from the same scene as fellow travelers Orange Juice and Aztec Camera, but where those groups showed a more sentimental sweetness and a keen pop sensibility, Josef K drove down a darker, moodier road of post-punk guitar music. Their songs displayed a nervous tension and jagged angularity that their peers on the Postcard label often lacked. They were closer in sound and spirit to the Fire Engines, though where that band wore their almost amateurish abilities on their sleeves quite openly, the boys in Josef K were not only a darker hue, sonically, but they were TIGHT. They released a handful of singles during their lifespan and just one full-length album, but that record, The Only Fun in Town, is a quintessential document of the era, up there in my opinion with Joy Division's debut and Gang of Four's Entertainment! as some of the most tightly wound, anxious, minimalist examples of what became defined as 'the post-punk sound.' What most people don't know, however, is that the record that Postcard ended up releasing was Josef K's second attempt at making an album. The first, Sorry for Laughing, remained in the vaults until the LTM label issued it as hefty bonus material included with The Only Fun in Town on a CD that is now sadly out of print.

While The Only Fun is a cloudy, somewhat more thinly recorded album, its brittle, highly trebled textures suited the material quite well. This scrapped debut (which includes a handful of songs which would be rerecorded for The Only Fun as well as tracks that saw release in different versions on singles), however, is surprisingly clearer sounding; Postcard head Alan Horne allegedly scrapped the album (with the band showing agreement and support in the decision), fearing it was "too polished." That's honestly a bit ludicrous, as the bile and manic, wild-eyed mania is here just as strongly as on its successor. These versions have a bit more muscle, though -- more meat, if you will. The bass and drums are higher in the mix, and the guitars are mixed down into more anemic, wiry bursts than the distorted, feedback-laden fog of The Only Fun's sessions. Where that album's atmosphere documented a band bashing out their songs live in a room (well, it sounds that way at least), Sorry for Laughing utilizes minimal overdubs and a little studio frippery from time to time to add the occasional effect or emphasis on a rhythm or riff. As crazy as it may sound to some punk purists, in my opinion this record equals and in some ways betters The Only Fun, and the songs that never saw release elsewhere are all just as valid and strong as those that ended up on The Only Fun. LTM's decision to package both of the albums together on that CD was a wise one, as the albums show the band's strengths in different lights, but until now, Sorry for Laughing remained unavailable on LP save for a handful of old test pressings that managed to escape the furnace at Postcard.

This is the first and only time this scrapped debut will see release on vinyl, remastered from the tapes, and packaged in a gorgeous reproduction of what was meant to be the album's original sleeve. As if that weren't enough, LTM have also included as a generous bonus the group's 1979 demo recordings back when they were still called TV Art. Those demos, previously unreleased in any form until now, are a revelation to hear; the band as TV Art sound more like an odd blend of the Fall, Pere Ubu and Television, with the guitar/bass/drums lineup augmented by a tinny, chiming electric piano. There are early takes on infamous cuts like "Chance Meeting," "Heads Watch" and "Sense of Guilt," but there are also a great deal of songs that would never be resurrected after their transformation into Josef K. This is an intriguing look at the band in their infancy, still figuring out their sound but at the same time retaining that same sense of strength and emotive strain that they'd make a signature in their more infamous incarnation. These demos are definitely more than just a mere curiosity, and having them here is a real treat. Altogether, this makes for one of the best, most vital releases in LTM's catalogue, and provides vinyl hounds with an opportunity to FINALLY be able to spin one of the best, most underrated and infamous "lost" documents of the post-punk era. [IQ]
 
         
   
   

 

 

     
 

$16.99 LP

Buy







  IKE YARD
Remix EP 1 Feat. Regis & Monoton
(Desire / Blackest Ever Black)

The promise of Regis and Konrad Becker a/k/a Monoton (two legendary figures in their own way) remixing classic Ike Yard material was too good to be true in print alone. Yet both achieved stellar results. The Regis remix is confounding in its use of the isolated and highly defined lyrics of "Loss," and projecting it forward. The results are as immense as they are restrained; there are no primal pummeling rhythms here, just a skeletal but massive, snapping framework beat holding the cryptic code-transformed lyrics aloft while the rhythm slowly develops into a beautifully pulsating, rolling mass. It's almost like a modern day version of "Warm Leatherette" that trades in its new wave pogo/flail in exchange for a modern huge throb made especially for a Function 1 sound system! The B-side remix by Monoton takes "NCR" and turns it into a churning, wrestling, analog quasi-techno run-through -- "quasi" only because of its multi-layered, constantly shifting yet ever forward-moving thrust. Things take on an almost biological narrative as the gurgling bass, rising blood pressure drones and flapping mechanism sounds come across as a symphony for vascular systems. This shows Becker moving confidently toward a techno-related structure without sacrificing his skill in varying pattern and keeping things active while also displaying his knack for retaining the tension and dissonance in a way that accentuates the movement of the track. Wonderful stuff here. [SM]
 
         
   
   

 

 

     
 
Panabrite
$6.99
CS+MP3

Buy



Celestino
$6.99
CS+MP3

Buy



Pentros
$6.99
CS+MP3

Buy


  PANABRITE
Blue Grotto Cassette + Download
(Love All Day)

CELESTINO
Lived In Cassette + Download
(Love All Day)

PENTROS
A Night Residue Cassette + Download
(Love All Day)


Three absolutely fantastic new cassette releases centered on varying strands of contemporary ambient music, with a perhaps conceptual debt to the era of weird-but-calming privately released New Age tapes of the late-'70s and early-'80s. Before I get to the music though, I must say that the packaging here has been done exactly right; no cheap dubs with Kinko's copied cover art, these are archival quality chrome cassettes with beautiful, offset printed j-cards that display a level of perfectionism and care sorely lacking in much of the tape scene, and which is more than reflected in the thoughtfulness of the music itself.

First up is Panabrite, the main project of Seattle-based sound artist Norm Chambers, the man rumored to be behind a certain highly revered and popular album of oceanographic themed ambient music from a couple years back. Blue Grotto, "a work heavily inspired by the Mediterranean coast and the majesty in its sun-drenched cliffs," has been composed and performed on a battery of vintage analog synths, and features nine gently percolating and woozily seductive soundscapes that transport the listener with soft washes of melody and hypnotic patterns that mimic the sound of water dripping peacefully in an underwater cave.

Lived In, by Portland, Oregon-based artist Gabriel Celestino Higgins, is a densely meditative work that initially seems concerned with drones, but which upon further investigation slowly reveals layers of submerged harmonies throughout a landscape of curiously degraded sound. Delicately strummed guitar notes supply an almost imperceptible emotional momentum to the music that begins to create an interesting tension within the listener. There's an almost palpable sense of one's self inhabiting a sacred space once removed, as if this is music you're experiencing from just outside of a cloister, or across town from church bells sounding at dawn.

A Night Residue, by Chicago-based producer/musician Pentros, is imbued throughout with the flickering shades of nightfall, having been recorded "in a bedroom studio in the very late evening on the brink of slumber." Thoroughly somnambulant, it magically captures that strange auditory phenomena of midnight where even a landscape that is mostly silent and still nevertheless proffers its own kind of song. Detuned guitars, distant synth melodies, and subtle layers of field recordings seem to miraculously capture the wind and stars as much as it conjures the feeling of sinking further and further into one's mattress.

I honestly cannot recommend these three releases enough, just excellently conceived all around, and the label has very thoughtfully included a download mp3 code for those without a working tape deck these days. [MK]
 
         
   
   

 

 

     
 

$13.99
CD
$22.99 LPx2

Buy







  TIN MAN
Neo Neo Acid
(Absurd)

Tin Man comes through with another truly special album release. Neo Neo Acid is yet another shining example of how he takes a genre and approaches it from a unique angle to come up with something new and fresh. Already known for his much sought-after/out-of-print acid house exercises, this album takes the acid template and stretches it out, literally adding depth, warmth and elongating the tracks without any massive buildups or breakdowns. The magic lies in how he maintains a singular soft/warm psychedelic deepness as he simultaneously manages to keep a track running with uniquely clever, subtle shifts in the beat structure while also maintaining an unbroken, floating rhythmic stream. Definitely not a record designed to clobber one over the head, this is an album that let's your attention drift away only to grab it back with a subtle yet uniquely executed twist. Go, Tin Man-Go!!! [SM]
 
         
   
   

 

 

     
 
Tin Man & Cassegrain
$14.99
12"

Buy




$14.99 12"

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  TIN MAN & CASSEGRAIN
Carnal 12"
(Killekill)

VARIOUS ARTISTS
Killekill Megahits 12"
(Killekill)


Speaking of Tin Man, you'll see his collaboration here with Cassegrain in my top five singles of 2012, with the A-1 track "Carnal" being the master killer of the EP. It's a wonderful mix of a chugging, wobbly bass line (acid, not dubstep), sandpaper hi-hats and a brain-searing earworm of a static warble that pops up incidentally. I heard this on the Berghain sound system last summer and it just destroyed me.

Spurred on by the Tin Man & Cassegrain 12", I delved further into Nico Deuster's Killekill label back catalogue. What I found was a quality group of records that embody a deep, thumpy yet heady sound that is slightly more forceful without losing any of its underground (even slightly psychedelic) feel -- raw but still sleek. I don't see much buzz surrounding Killekill and find myself wondering why. It fits in perfectly with other stuff I'm digging these days but still offers something else I don't find in other labels touted for having an "underground sound." This EP in particular delivers with four great tracks, my two faves being from Snuff Crew and Tin Man & Cassegrain. Get to know this label! [SM]

 
         
   
   

 

 

     
 

$15.99
CD
$24.99 LP

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$9.99 MP3

Buy
  HENRI-PIERRE NOEL
Piano
(Wah Wah 45s)

"Merci Bon Dieu"
"Diskette"

The Wah Wah 45s label offers up a delicious, infectious slice of late-1970s Haitian jazz by pianist Henri-Pierre Noël; Noël's 1979 private press album Piano has long been a rare-groove holy grail for vinyl hounds, and now Wah Wah 45s have remastered the album for both CD and heavyweight vinyl from the original master tapes. The album is a killer fusion of Haitian folkloric and compas styles, melodic jazz riffs in the vein of Herbie Hancock and at times even Vince Guaraldi, and upbeat tunefulness delivered with a percussive energy that throws a little disco-funk into the blend as well. It's predominantly a piano/bass/drums recording, with a bit of percolating clavinet work on top, and its lean, simple economics give the album a bounce and kinetic drive that works equally well on both the dance floor and in the living room. There are some killer breaks on this record, too -- overall, it's a wildly funky tool for DJs and producers, but at the same time possesses a sun-soaked, airy lightness that could probably muster compliments from your more conservative friends and family as well. This is easily one of my favorite reissues to see release this year, and top marks go to Wah Wah for the crystalline remaster and straight reproduction of the original sleeve. Anyone who has ever gotten down with Gilles Peterson's more organic groove collections, recent gems on the Jazzman label, or the excellent Tumbélé! collection on Soundway should check this out -- it will be a beautiful and beloved addition to your library. [IQ]
 
         
   
   

 

 

     
 

$23.99
LPx2

Buy



  ELBEE BAD
The Prince of Dance Music - The True Story of House Music
(Rush Hour)

Oh man, we've been waiting for a retrospective reissue of Elbee Bad ever since hearing "Just Don't Stop the Dance" on Trickski's section of the I Like It comp back in 2005, and finally Rush Hour comes along and issues this full 12-track 2-LP collection. This is full-on Trax-era Chicago house style stuff, but with all the raw looseness of classic artists like Mr. Fingers and Virgo. However, Elbee Bad was originally from New York, where he started as a hip-hop producer, so his tracks were just a tad tougher, plus the musicality was just that much tighter than a lot of his Chicago peers. Add to that the special mix of serious/spiritual loftiness and dark moodiness, plus his dreamy/wise introspective lyrics on choice cuts like "New Age of House," and you have something truly special. Essential music, and another reissue of the year for me. [SM]
 
         
   
   
   
   
   
   

 

 

     
 

$13.99
CD
$14.99 LP +MP3

Buy

$8.99 MP3

Buy





  UV RACE
Racism
(In the Red)

"Life Park"
"Raw Balls"


The third full-length (and second on In the Red) from Australia's UV Race is an easy record to get into -- infectious and immediately likable because it already feels so comfortably familiar. The loud, wiry guitars and Marcus Rechsteiner's coolly detached and oft-snarky vocals are undeniably catchy, all delivered over a thudding, shambolic rhythm section that's deceptively tight even when it seems like the band just might fall apart at any moment. Rechsteiner's first line of opener "Be Yourself" quickly reveals what is to be a familiar theme of Racism: "I don't want to be a part of this." And we never really do find out what he or the band wants be a part of. Throughout the album, UV Race touches on distaste for the nuclear family and unrequited love, but even on those topics the group comes off as non-committal. During Sophie Says," Rechsteiner confesses to his love interest, "I'm not sure how I feel about my emotions over you." Yeah, we've all been there but still, commiserating with a bunch of garage punks has never been this much fun. Fans of fellow Aussies Eddy Current Suppression Ring on back to post-punk icons like the Fall, Wire and Gang of Four will want to check this out. [KB]
 
         
   
   

 

 

     
 

$12.99
CD
$14.99 LP+MP3

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$9.99 MP3

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  HALF CHURCH
Half Church 1980-1986
(Body Double)

Preview Songs on Other Music's Download Store"

Captured Tracks' reissue imprint Body Double Ltd. continues to excavate first-wave California post-punk on their second album release, a UK-influenced obscurity from the Bay Area. As the story goes, Tom Durkan founded Half Church in 1980, after leaving West London for the sake of forming a band in Northern California. In Palo Alto, Durkan met drummer Bob Gaynor, guitarist Rick Tedeschi and bass player Monte Vallier, and Half Church came into existence. The group recorded their first EP, In Turmoil, in London: a collection of five tracks reflecting influences from both Durkan's UK post-punk roots and his bandmates' Bay Area angst. Whilst shouting lyrics of rebellion and corruption, Durkan is backed by funky bass lines, sharp pounding drums, heavy guitars, and occasional synths. At times recalling elements of Gang of Four or Killing Joke, this compilation includes a re-mastered version of 1981's aforementioned In Turmoil EP and five previously unreleased studio recordings. The superb record sleeve was designed by the late singer's son, Shaun Durkan of Weekend. [ACo]


 
         
   
   

 

 

     
 

$21.99
LP

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  REVL9N
Walking Down the Heat
(Revrec)

We reviewed the first album from Stockholm's Revl9n back when Vice magazine couldn't decide whether they loved or hated electroclash. The thing about Revl9n (then called Revlon 9) was that they were equally electronic and rock at the same time, bringing a post-punk thrash to go along with their electronic pop/rock hybrid. They weren't just another electro-hobby-vehicle-for-fame band; instead, they were bringing a love for groups like Liaisons Dangereuse and Gang of Four together without aping either of their sounds. Now fast-forward a decade or so to 2012, and we find the band with a slightly different lineup and a sound that quite naturally evolved right along with the times. This isn't a total abandonment of their past, just an addition of more rock (real drums and a bit more guitar) plus an effective use of electronic elements that veer more towards an analog sound to round it all out. Tracks like "Check It Out and Die" reminds me of Glass Candy gone Munsters via Bauhaus, while "Bijou" is like a glam-punk Echo & the Bunnymen and "Koko" sounds like a Sonic Youth's "Death Valley 69" on airplane glue and cigarettes. [SM]
 
         
   
   

 

 

     
 

$10.99
CD
$11.99 LP+MP3

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  THE EVENS
The Odds
(Dischord)

"Wanted Criminals"
"Competing with the Till"

The Evens, a two-piece formed by Fugazi frontman Ian MacKaye and former Warmers member Amy Farina, are back with their first full-length collaboration since 2006. Well, that is if you don't count the son they produced in 2008. But if The Odds is any indication, parenthood hasn't softened these DC punk scene alums too much. Sure, the sound feels a bit more restrained; there's no screaming or yelling and none of the songs race toward a frenetic climax. Instead, MacKaye and Farina showcase their amazing voices and precise musicianship, driving each track steadily forward towards a more-subtle payoff. It's also a collaboration that, true to the band's name, is equal in every way. Neither member overshadows the other as both baritone guitar and drums fuse together to create a pulsing, deliberate march. Vocal duties are divided right down the middle which gives both MacKaye and Farina the opportunity to demonstrate their impressive range as each effortlessly flows between soft and melodic to soulful and growling. While there's no denying the influence of the bands they came from, as the Evens MacKaye and Farina have created a distinct and consistent sound all their own. [KB]
 
         
   
   

 

 

     
 

$10.99
10"

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$1.11 MP3

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  NOSAJ THING
Eclipse / Blue
(Innovative Leisure)

New 10" limited single of "Eclipse/Blue" from Nosaj Thing featuring guest vocals by Blonde Redhead's Kazu Makino. This is not a simple, straightforward follow-up to his debut album; the main connecting element is the spacey yet placid atmosphere you'd expect from Nosaj Thing, but the gentle downtempo beats are replaced by a more angularly pulsing rhythm (a welcome influence from Actress and Zomby here, but more sweet overall) that still soars, providing the perfect backdrop for Makino's melodies which weave and climb perfectly. The elements are very well meshed here, making this not just your "everyday electronica" with guest vocals. [SM]
 
         
   
   

 

 

     
 

$17.99
CD
$22.99 LPx2

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  SMALLPEOPLE
Salty Days
(Smallville)

My initial reaction to the new album by Hamburg-based Smallpeople was, "Hey, another nice album. It kinda has a similar soft, lofty spiritual house vibe like the Moomin LP." But further listens made me realize what I didn't notice at first: as soft and nice as it is, Salty Days is kinda BUMPIN!! I was distracted by all the Dial/Smallville dreaminess and didn't notice that these tracks have a strangely genuine but modern housey, swingin' thump deep in there! And from that vantage point I began to hear other details like the gorgeously colliding voices in "The Loon's Groove," the melancholic yet soaring Rick Wade-esque strings of "And You & You," and the gently ecstatic vibe and echo-vocals of the title track. This pronounced thump n' personal soul embedded within the dreamy/ethereal house vibe makes it perfect company with my Move D, Kassem Mosse, Workshop and Pepe Bradock records. If you slept on this one, go back and give it a re-listen. Great stuff here! [SM]
 
         
   
   

 

 

     
 

$17.99
CD

Buy
  CHRISTOPHER RAU
Two
(Smalliville)

Really quirky beginnings that pay off in the end on this new full-length from Christopher Rau. The first three songs show a unique sense of humor with strange sampladelic disco loops and some tracks becoming disjointed and even breaking apart. But during "High," the album bumps into a weirdly stoned and tight zone -- a minimalistic booty-clapping electro track featuring a fluttering Kid Cudi "Day "N' Night"-style synth sound and robot vocal. "Weird Alps" is the sweetest miniature rave track with its toy airhorn motif, while "Girl" reminds me of Parfum Collective and Marz, and it all makes for another great Smallville record! [SM]
 
         
   
       
   
         
 
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THIS WEEK'S CONTRIBUTORS

[KB] Kari Boston
[ACo] Anastasia Cohen
[MC] Matt Connors
[DG] Daniel Givens
[IQ] Mikey IQ Jones
[MK] Michael Klausman
[SM] Scott Mou


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