Captured Tracks inaugurates their new Fantasy Memory imprint with what is arguably, for my money at least, one of the best and most exhilarating archival releases of 2013. Saada Bonaire were what could at first glance be construed as a vanity project, a one-off product of the highly innovative post-punk era that ushered in exciting new fusions of sounds and influences into contexts which had up to that point gone unexplored. During their brief lifespan, the group released but one lone single in 1984, a deep, dark slice of dub exotica that featured three tracks fusing together traditional Middle Eastern instrumentation with top-notch grooves produced by Dennis "Blackbeard" Bovell (known for his work with the Slits, Linton Kwesi Johnson, the Pop Group, and countless UK reggae acts). Gliding overtop of this wonderful combination are the sensually detached vocals of Claudia Hossfeld and Stephanie Lange, whose combined talents fused the icy, harrowing chill of Nico or Judy Nylon with dreamy harmonies and an innate tunefulness, not to mention an absolutely stunning super-modelesque physical beauty. The single fell upon deafened ears in the European territories (the 12" never saw release outside of France and Germany), but over the years became an iconic record on the Balearic club scene, with the original single now fetching upwards of three-figure sums on the collectors market. That was just about it for the group.

It's a minor revelation, then, to hold this incredible compilation in my hands; the eponymous CD/2LP compiles two of the original single's three tracks (their deadly cover of JJ Cale's "Funky Way" is conspicuously absent, as is their version of James Brown's "This Is a Man's World" from the single's 7" release), but more importantly also collects an astonishing twelve further songs heretofore unreleased anywhere else, mastered from the original tapes. The group allegedly never set out to record an album, but rather only a series of 12" singles intended for club play, and that vibe resonates loudly and clearly throughout; each cut is anchored by hypnotic blends of Mid-East hand drums, slinky bass grooves, and innovative synth and drum machine programming, not to mention Turkish string and wind arrangements. The increasing influence of the burgeoning hip-hop and electro scene sneaks in subtly throughout, and the presence of dub and its endlessly reverberating negative space is felt in every beat. There's a playfulness and experimentation that runs throughout as well, and to hear the group essentially pioneering new forms that would sadly go unheard until now is just head-scratchingly impressive. If you're a fan of the more outre and exotic strains of post-punk grooves, an avid supporter of Teutonic cold wave sonics, or what could be construed as "fashionable" music, I can easily say that this release ably checks off each of the aforementioned boxes. As I stated earlier, this is, in my opinion, one of 2013's most notable and impressive archival releases, filled with surprises and a sound that is at once both very much of its era, yet still deeply timeless and alien. I cannot recommend this more highly, folks. [IQ]

The fourth full-length from Wooden Shjips continues the refinement we heard on 2011's West, which found the Bay Area psych quartet (now split between SF and Portland, OR) adding studio refinement to their formerly lo-fi static blast. The basic formula has never really changed for the band, a hazy vintage sprawl that owes a debt to '70s icons as diverse as the Velvet Underground, Amon Duul, and the Doors, all filtered through their own garage-rock dreams. But where Wooden Shjips' recordings were once defiantly raw, Back to Land finds them exploring the sound of tube amps more than tape hiss, and while there may be some aspects of psychedelic mayhem that are lost in the translation to a proper studio environment, there is also much gained: more melody, thicker grooves, and an overall warmer and more inviting sound. Droning organ, swirling guitar leads and fuzzed-out chords, and a motorik rhythm section who stay locked on course even through the most abstract flights of fancy make this a thoroughly enjoyable ride from start to finish. There may not be a proper chorus on most of these tracks, but Ripley Johnson's vocals manage to hold center stage in the cacophony, with an inviting mumble that draws you into his sonic world and completes the picture on this set of driving psychedelic rockers. It's not innovation, but exploration and elation abound, as Captain Johnson guides this Shjip Back to Land. [JM]

Hot on the heels of his excellent full-length, The Big Dream, from earlier this summer, comes a new 12" by auteur supreme David Lynch. "Bad the John Boy" is a new song recorded during the sessions for The Big Dream, but whose vibe didn't quite mesh with that album's mutated blues aura. This single instead offers up a throbbing dub-shuffle pulse that anchors one of Lynch's most unsettling, heavily processed and screwed vocal turns yet; it's definitely one of the creepiest pieces of avant-pop released this year. The flipside delivers a new remix of The Big Dream's title track by Venetian Snares, who launches Lynch's vocal into a massive, wide-open ambient overture, stripping back the beats and instead bathing Lynch in a sea of gurgling, bright synthesizer chords which ring out like a conversation amongst the Obelisks from 2001: A Space Odyssey. All in all, it's a total winner, and definitely recommended for the weirdos lurking in the shadowed corners of the Update! [IQ]

A classic of dub-infused dark minimal techno, Greek producer Konstantinos Soublis' Vibrant Forms was originally released in 1999 on the legendary Basic Channel-affiliated Chain Reaction record label. Now reissued by Type, who recently also presented Porter Ricks' groundbreaking Biokinetics album, another Chain Reaction classic, this is another highlight in their undisputed discography. Whereas Porter Ricks masterfully dived into watery and fluid textures that became a template for much of the deconstructed techno that came afterwards, Fluxion's full-length is an altogether lusher affair. Notwithstanding its slow, thick, and hazy reverb laden sounds that are propelled by kick drums and swirling synthesizers, there is a certain clarity and, despite its static nature, a sense of progressive movement present within the music. "Hiatus," for example starts off with a heavy, deep, and slow whizz, which gets endlessly repeated, only tweaked occasionally in the most subtle ways, and gradually interspersed with intricately build rhythmic elements, from hi-hats to layered tribal drums. The results are immersive and hypnotic, displaying a sense of elegiac excellence that appropriately fits the current season. More understated than other Chain Reaction highlights, such as the above-mentioned Porter Ricks album or Monolake's Hongkong, Fluxion's Vibrant Forms is by all means equally foundational and a must have addition to any self-respecting electronic music collection. [NVT]

With each successive release, UK rhythm-and-noise experimentalists Emptyset have dutifully stripped away from its sound any and all conventional club music signifiers, leaving behind a rigorous structural framework to explore some highfalutin concepts centered on architecture, sound art, and bass frequencies. Recur, the Bristol-based duo's third studio album -- its first full-length for German label Raster-Noton, following on from the Demiurge EP -- maintains the obsessive sonic details that have become the group's signature. Pushing speaker-rattling frequencies beyond pleasure-making bass drops and into the realms of power electronics mayhem, tracks like "Fragment" and "Disperse" deftly apply compression and recursion techniques to sculpt powerful compositions from high-pressure gusts of feedback and white noise. In an almost monastic fashion, Recur's sound palette is extremely limited, with nary a sound resembling a standard acoustic, or even electronic, instrument making an appearance. Despite its stripped-back nature, the album manages to maintain energy and interest throughout its nine cuts, with the menacing, pounding closer, "Limit," the closest the set comes to a bona fide "club track" -- recalling, as it does, the punishing industrial grooves of groups such as Pan Sonic and Esplendor Geometrico. [DS]

With nine hours of high-caliber electrifying jazz playing, listening to this massive box set by the great William Parker can be quite a daunting task. Arriving at a moment when many feel dissatisfied by jazz's stale state of affairs, it is the kind of grandiose career-defining statement that breathes new life into the genre. Earlier this fall, the wonderfully contrarian Matana Roberts and Taylor Ho Bynum released wholly convincing records that once again bend the boundaries of jazz, but such self-assured accomplishments remain extremely rare these days. This dizzying eight-disk endeavor by William Parker, veteran musician of New York's Lower East Side scene, once more pushes the genre in exciting free jazz territory while confirming his unique stature as a virtuoso of lyrical and speedy double bass playing. At the core of these live recordings we find Parker's well-oiled quartet with drummer Hamid Drake, alto saxophonist Rob Brown, and trumpeter Lewis Barnes, occasionally expanded by a roster of stylistically diverse musicians including late violinist Billy Bang, sax-player James Spaulding, and vocalist Leena Conquest, as well as more experimental configurations with members of the Association for the Encouragement of Improvised Music. The quartet's playing is full of dark and trembling passages that show a breathtaking ingenuity of its leader, whereas the recordings featuring Conquest make Parker's music resonate with deep soul. This is too much material to take in at once, so the full impact of this release will most probably grow and bloom with the years, but it's exhilarating to hear how Parker emerges as a present-day Charles Mingus, with a sturdy bass tone leading the musicians around him to dynamic and ever-evolving expressions of form and improvisation. [NVT]

An unbelievably gorgeous new recording from legendary free music unit the Necks, we get one beautiful, long-form flowing piece of mostly acoustic instrumentation -- albeit with some spurts of electronics around the midway point -- that floats and glows freely. Organically building over more than an hour, Open is an exercise in restraint and a testament to these players' willingness to listen to each other, and to the whole. The piano dominates melodically, with an ECM-like high-minded new age-iness about its modal repetitive patterns. Long acoustic bass notes are plucked cautiously while wind chimes and sizzling cymbals wash over the mix, landing somewhere between a spacier Dirty Three and Satie at his most ethereal. The thing that's most impressive about this particular set, however, is how it avoids the build up/release trappings of many improvisational music units in favor of something both more grand and ultimately moving. [RN]

After twenty years as a recording entity, the tenth full-length by the UK's Tindersticks acts as a victory lap of sorts, albeit a haunting, understated one. The album consists of newly recorded versions of past songs from the group's catalogue, dating as far back as their 1995 eponymous second LP and as recent as 2008's tour-only single "What Are You Fighting For?", and also includes a few cuts from frontman Stuart Staples' solo records. These beautiful renditions never feel like retreads or absolutions for past sins, but rather offer fresh interpretations on material that in past versions took on different contextual clothing. Where the earlier incarnation of the band focused more on a string-heavy, deeply morose sound akin to Scott Walker's late 1960s orchestrations of existential malaise, in recent years Tindersticks have evolved into a more serpentine, soulful group who exude a deep sensuality and a lush (yet never oppressive) grandeur. Last year's stellar The Something Rain was, in my opinion, a career highlight that practically reinvigorated the band, wrapping their songs in velvet robes and funky Stax grooves; that same balances of instrumental looseness and unwavering confidence helps give these new interpretations of old songs, both classics and "deep cuts," a new lifeblood that is much deserved. Across Six Leap Years is without question a jewel in Tindersticks' catalogue, and well worth the attention of fans, and if you're into the National, you owe it to yourself to investigate the work of a band whose torch was picked up by said group. This is the real shit, as undiluted as it gets. [IQ]

Jason Molina's passing earlier this year was an unexpected one to say the very least. At 39 years young, he left this earth with his grandmother's phone number in his pocket and a worn soul. An authentic troubadour, traveling songwriter, prolific studio genius, and master of the country blues, Molina vanished like many greats before him. And what we're left with is the music -- some 15-odd albums of life affirming, totally emotional, human music.

Songs: Ohia was always Molina's band, but Magnolia Electric Co. is the group he was recording with for the last few albums, and this transitional record (loosely under the Songs: Ohia moniker, but titled Magnolia Electric Co.) was and will forever be one of his most important artistic statements. A heavily rockin', full-band exploration of Molina's somber vision, and a key into his road weary universe featuring strong players and great production from Steve Albini, here, the perception of Molina as lonesome acoustic dude was righteously abandoned in favor of a strong-willed frontman, with conviction unforeseen.

I'm going to walk out on a limb here and say that epic opener "Farewell Transmission" is the best song Molina ever wrote, illustrating the heavy hand this world wraps around a person's soul, and singing the voice of working people, road musicians, failed relationships, and channeling Hank Williams' ghosts of Americana's past at once. It's an all-encompassing anthem that ultimately ends with Molina promising to try harder and to be a better person, because sometimes there's just no one you can fuckin' trust, even yourself. Partnered with the immediacy of Magnolia Electric Co.'s twanging delivery, his voice accentuates every line with total sincerity, and there's something about his plainly sang drawl that totally and instantly transforms what could be romanticized half-hearted musings into absolute truths. And this is true for pretty much every song on this album. "Just Be Simple" is his internalized battle of will given a voice, with both Heaven and Hell pulling at him simultaneously, neither one more appealing than the other. Later in the record, country singer Lawrence Peters and English artist Scout Niblett take on vocal duties, aiding in realizing the album's grandiose vision, and Molina is content to play rhythm guitar, kindly handing his lyrics over to others to sing.

Coincidentally, this album was recorded 10 years ago to this year of his untimely passing. The new edition not only includes the original record, but an unreleased tune and a whole bonus disc of demos. And boy is it great to hear him sing "The Old Black Hen," with lyrics that are quite possibly more heartbreaking and resonant now than ever before. Molina toasts, "Roll the tapes all night long / Make that black record / And we'll all sing along / Look down the long street / And see who's that crying / Tell them that every day I lived / I was trying to sing the blues." Rest in peace. [RN]

Tronics records have been sought after by DIY devotees, punk collectors, and Messthetics aficionados for a few decades, but last year's reissue of their stunning 1981 LP, Love Backed by Force, saw a wide reception and gathered a following of new fans on both sides of the Atlantic. The mastermind behind the group, Ziro Baby (currently known as Zarjaz), has been cooking up tracks out of his Earl's Court kitchen in West London since his teens, always following his own unique recipe consisting of raw guitar rhythms backed by minimal percussion, spiced by a mixture of experimental synths and samples from personally cherished films. Throughout Tronics' lifespan between 1979 and 1983, the group issued a number of releases, including several cassettes, and gained an underground status that was eventually referred to as "the essence of rock'n'roll."

The emergence of the What's the Hubub Bub cassette in 1980 is said to have sparked the entire underground DIY cassette movement, being the first of its kind. This collection of recordings shows Tronics' experimental side, exhibiting a much wider palette than on Love Backed by Force. From the psychedelic rhythms of "How Do You Do Again" to the playfulness of "Raw Reggae" and the beatnik post-punk genius of "The Shark Fucks," the album gives a taste of Ziro Baby's many colors which range from lo-fi punk to musique concréte. Perhaps being introduced to Chas Chandler (of the Animals and Jimi Hendrix) and hanging around London's Carnaby Street with members of the Who during the makings of this album has added the particular charm of outsider rock'n'roll to the recordings heard on What's the Hubub Bub.

Say! What Is This? is a collection of previously unreleased Tronics recordings, many of which have never before been heard by the public. Incorporated are three live performances, alternate versions of tunes found on Love Backed by Force, as well as demos made for the LP. Standouts include space ballad "Luna Love" and the bluesy recording of "Squiddly Diddly," a track which was tacked on as a bonus on the reissue of What's the Hubub Bub over a decade ago. Thanks to these re-releases on M'Ladys, indie enthusiasts around the globe can gain an additional insight to the world of Tronics and observe the musical genius that still echoes through the underground today. [ACo]

"Much Too Much"
"Criminal"

I'm psyched to be offering up this great release by local provocateur Smoota, best known as a sideman lending his formidable horn-playing talents to the likes of TV on the Radio, El-P, Sharon Jones, and countless others, but who steps out on his own for a killer album that combines the slinky DIY funk grooves of Shuggie Otis with the offbeat, trippy psychedelic stoner charm of James Pants, all topped off with a sly pervy streak that winks toward Serge Gainsbourg and the P-Funk mob. (Big props for the cover art's nod to Jean-Claude Vannier's L'Enfant Assassin Des Mouches as well.) Made solely with bass guitar, Wurlitzer organ, trombone, a Maestro drum machine, and Smoota's voice, the twelve songs on Fetishes offer up a killer platter of smooth, laidback soul and funk that's slightly gritty at the edges; he's a skilled musician with the chops to pull this off, playing everything himself and singing every note, and his take on this sound offers riches that reward with multiple listens. It's definitely one of the year's most surprising records (it literally came to us from out of nowhere, self-released by the man himself), and if you dig soul sounds that keep one foot in the pocket with the other out to lunch, you'll definitely appreciate what Smoota's offering here. This one definitely gets top marks all around from me! [IQ]

While African aficionados and ethnomusicologists alike loved the Awesome Tapes from Africa blog, some of its biggest fans were the adventurous DJs who dug the beguiling, heavily rhythmic grooves on offer. So while the early ATFA releases were more elegant affairs, of late, they've been releasing more dancefloor-friendly albums. And none could fit the DJ-friendly bill better than South African musician/ humanitarian/ and extremely popular performer Penny Penny's early 1994 tape, Shaka Bundu. While a craftsman of shangaan disco in his homeland, this early-'90s release easily slots in with a wide array of Jersey house and techno. The drum programming is crisp, the pads glow and the chanted vocals make it sound like a lost NYC garage house classic. With so many new producers like Beautiful Swimmers, Secret Circuit, Ital and Pharaohs taking cues from tribal house tracks, this album couldn't be more relevant to today's sensibilities. Another unearthed classic from the ATFA folks. [AB]

Ron Morelli is best known as the man responsible for the L.I.E.S. label, one of the most exciting NYC labels specializing in underground contemporary electronic music. Surprisingly, Spit is the first release issued under his given name, and it is not on his own label, but rather the always surprising and challenging Hospital Productions imprint run by Prurient and Vatican Shadow lynchpin Dominick Fernow. The eight tracks on this album suitably distill a raw, rough, and radical intensity that, according to Morelli, is all about stress; the rhythms are nervous, tight, and tense, and the synths and sequencers pulsate and throb with anxious energy that just continually builds and builds, without ever necessarily providing release. Morelli blends roughshod, low-fidelity textures with more deep and spacious sonics; the overall vibe throughout, though, recalls the early cross-pollinations of punk energy with early synth and drum machine primitivism of both the early house scene and the late-era punks themselves. It's perhaps not for all ears, but those who enjoy the darker, more agitated and abstract strains of underground dance music will find much to love here. Big points all around for both Morelli and for Hospital on this one! [IQ]

The best compilations provide us not only with a stellar sequencing of fine songs but also capture a sound, a time, a place. To wit: British deejay, label founder and designer Trevor Jackson (of Playgroup), whose second installment of his Metal Dance series is a near-perfect anthology of one segment of England's alternative '80s club scene. If that description brings to mind New Order and 24 Hour Party People, be warned: Jackson delivers something very different. Metal Dance 2 features more than two hours of raw industrial, new wave, electronic and synth-punk music, a perfect complement to the Minimal Wave Tapes comps from a few years back. Jackson digs deep into the crates for this volume. We have a few familiar names (Skinny Puppy, Godley & Creme, Conrad Schnitzler) and little-known side projects of Throbbing Gristle and ABC, but the rest of the artists will only be familiar to the most hardcore of rave-club aficionados. The music can be dark and punishing at times, but the atmospherics are undeniable: heavy beats, slap basses and loads of synthesizers. There are also plenty of bouncy and enjoyable tracks: the spoken-word German of Plus Instrumental's "Vom Ertrunkenen Mädchen" (featuring a pre-Sonic Youth Lee Renaldo!); Tuxedomoon's "59 to 1" with its James Chance-like sax skronk and undeniable bass line; the catchy synth riffs of Chbb's ingratiating "Ima Iki-Mashoo." These are just a few of the highlights in a release loaded with them. Metal Dance 2 is as perfect a piece of '80s zeitgeist as mullets and skinny ties. I'm ready for volume 3. [JBr]

You may, or more likely may not, remember that the first ever record on Brooklyn's Sacred Bones was a 7" by a band called the Hunt. We carried it, loved it, and then never heard of them again. Now, to celebrate their 100th release, Sacred Bones unearths The Hunt Begins, the previously shelved 2009 debut album by these since disbanded post-punkers. Why it never came out, we don't know -- several of the group's members have remained in the Sacred Bones family, but this solid LP has languished until now.

Drawing from '80s touchstones a la Southern Death Cult, New Model Army and the Chameleons, the Hunt uses firm, aggressive beats to ask a series of morally panicked, life-altering questions. The band succeeds in its contradictions -- their style is dramatic, at times bombastic, yet curiously simple as they express tones of dismay, love and sadness. On "Scripts," we hear a bouncing, melodic Cure-esque bass line and those telltale angular guitars as Jasper McGandy croons, "I love the ones who leave me, leave the ones who love me. Why try?" The Hunt Begins is at its best when the band merges the classic post-punk influences they love with their own brand of modern rock music. Perfect to take us into the cold, icy nights ahead, this is the Hunt and this is the fleeting legacy they leave. [TL]

Jeff Witscher's previous full-length efforts under his Rene Hell alias contained patchwork synth- and sample-based constructions spanning everything from bubbling Kosmische-influenced electronics to digitally pulverized chamber music textures to elegant, pastoral soundscapes. Vanilla Call Option, the artist's debut for the genre-bounding PAN label, mines decidedly more challenging terrain within the vaguely drawn lines of "Computer Music." Much like another PAN release, Lee Gamble's excellent Dutch Tvashar Plumes (2012), VCO employs digital reconfigurations of synthesized and resynthesized source material as the basis for a set of woozy, vertigo-inducing abstract compositions. While album openers "Smile Models" and "This Is Chess" explore nerve-rattling high frequency pitch relationships that'll likely stir the neighborhood dogs, others source found sound (rain in "Unpack; Glue"), vocals ("Var_Len"), or instrumental timbres that are unmercifully manipulated beyond all recognition. Not the easiest of album listens, only "Merci Cheri" offers a relatively pleasing blanket of symphonic fog upon which Witscher's digital tools provide modulations of a subtler nature. VCO will likely be a difficult ride for most, but fans of noise, electroacoustic, acousmatic and academic computer music will find lots to sink their teeth into here. [DS]

Back in the '80s and '90s, several involved parties made it a point to import enough copies of releases from New Zealand's Flying Nun label that every interested American could easily obtain their own. Those were different times, but history shows us which FN records made more of an impact, and it now seems to be the task of Mike Sniper's Captured Tracks label to correct the ledgers of the past, first with the noisome works of Snapper, and now with reissues of the final two LPs by Skeptics. Flying Nun wasn't a stranger to industrial music (see Black Girls Machine) or aggressive, mechanical rock (Gordons and Bailter Space, which shared guitarist John Halvorsen with Skeptics), but an unholy marriage of the two was never seen so clearly on the imprint outside of 1987's III or 1990's Amalgam. These are strange, complex recordings that wield machine-tooled clanging, samplers, harsh guitars, off-kilter rhythms and omnivorous influences, from Throbbing Gristle to Laibach to Big Black to Cop Shoot Cop to the Young Gods, that point to the European/Chicago axis of artfully blackened expression. You can't dance to most of this, but if you are feeling the shackles of 40+ hours a week at a desk, or the tiring pursuit of an advanced degree, and these shortened daylight hours are only making it worse, you're gonna need something that'll help you realize you're not alone in the grind, and that's where these two mind-blowing, odd, and rewarding records come into play. If you like one, you're gonna want the other! [DM]

Now available as a 5-CD & DVD box set. William Basinski's epic, four-volume work The Disintegration Loops, on which his archive of tape loops of orchestra swells and arpeggios recorded during the early 1980s literally crumbles off of the reels as you listen, has become one of the most pure and highly acclaimed examples of ambient process music ever released. This gorgeous set collects the complete works of those four albums, as well as two live orchestral performances from recent years, across the five CDs. Also included is a DVD of Basinski's Disintegration Film and a 144-page book that features touching recollections by Basinski and his partner, painter James Elaine, as well as tributes and recollections by Antony Hegarty, David Tibet of Current 93, Ronen Givony of the Wordless Music Series (who was responsible for staging the NYC orchestral performance), and Michael Shulan, Creative Director of the National September 11 Memorial & Museum, who chose to include Basinski's work in the museum's permanent collection due to its creation during the attacks and the emotional pull the music has had over those who have heard it. This is a gorgeous tribute to one of the 21st century's defining creative documents, one which not only documents what could be seen by many to be the end of an era in New York City, but also points towards a future we are still mapping out and working through.

An expanded edition of Grizzly Bear's Shields from last year, an excellent album which found the group stepping further out from the harmony-driven, orchestral pop that they fine-tuned with 2009's Veckatimest, and traveling more complex and cerebral territories. This version adds on an extra disc of B-sides, remixes and rarities, featuring: Liars' reworking of "A Simple Answer" and remixes of "Sleeping Ute" and "Gun Shy" from Nicolas Jaar and Lindstrom, respectively, plus bonus tracks "Smothering Green" and "Listen and Wait," and demo recordings for "Will Calls," "Taken Down" and "Everyone I Know."

The bonus recordings are also available separately on 180 gram vinyl featuring five tracks (the three demos and two bonus recordings), and comes with a download card for all eight tracks including the remixes.

Singer/songwriter (and Dirty Projectors bassist) Nat Baldwin releases Dome Branches: The MVP Demos. As the title suggests, this is a collection of demos for his five-year-old debut album, Most Valuable Player, yet it's also more than that. These recordings capture Baldwin playing his songs live for the very first time, with various friends and musicians popping by to help him flesh out the instrumentation. All said, Dome Branches is an unequivocally novel and organic "album," and while many of you might not have heard the record in the first place, the music here is all beautifully performed and refined, and fans of the original will find much to enjoy.

Recorded over a two-night stand at the 9:30 Club in mid-November of last year, this limited double-LP finds Yeasayer in fierce form in front of a packed and enthusiastic audience. The band was touring behind the recently released Fragrant World, but they play all the best tracks from their first three albums here, and both the sound and the performances are top-notch.

A limited 1000-LP run from Zombi's A.E. Paterra in his Majeure mode. The two side-long tracks come off as a halfway point between the Majeure records, part sci-fi disco, part futuristic ambient arpeggio drift, making for a nice little headphone treat from one of the more interesting keyboard wizards of today.

Not the educational film based on Kembrew McLeod's intellectual property opus (that would be the DVD of the book Freedom of Expression, not the Books' DVD Freedom of Expression -- get it?), this set collects all 21 of the wonderful music videos made over four albums and ten years by the now-defunct experimental pop band. Sequenced chronologically and clocking in at more than two hours, this is a crucial piece in the ever-shifting puzzle that was the Books, a surreal mix of found footage, animation and much more.

Featuring Robert Toher and Austin Stawiarz of the now defunct Apse, as ERAAS this Brooklyn-based duo expands upon the dark atmospheres of their self-titled debut (and previous band), bringing the pulsing synths and beats to the forefront and delivering an even more haunting, textured album that seems informed by '90s-era trip-hop, Radiohead's Y2K forays into electronic music (a la Kid A), and contemporaries like Liars, Suuns, and HTRK.

Solid full-length debut from Pesrao, Italy's Soviet Soviet, whose icy, rumbling post-punk effortlessly utilizes all of the genre's hallmarks, from the low, grinding bass lines and propulsive drumming to chiming, angular guitars -- add to the mix a slightly vampiric-sounding, English-accented singer. The group makes it their own, however, and if you can imagine the Bolshoi's Trevor Tanner fronting the Chameleons, you're getting close.

Back in print on double LP. One of Krautrock's unheralded cornerstones (never mind that the composer is Austrian), Konrad Becker's Monotonprodukt 07  throbs with Suicide-esque urgency but is more expansive and drifting. At other times, it reminds us of La Dusseldorf on a Basic Channel kick. Much more than just another obscure synth record, this is way ahead of its time and groundbreaking to the last drop. 

$19.99 LPx2

Kranky Records inaugurated their label back in 1993 with Labradford's now-seminal debut full-length, Prazision, which 20 years later still stands as a classic in atmospheric, experimental rock. The duo of Mark Nelson (later of Pan American) and Carter Brown re-focused the evocative sounds of predecessors like Spacemen 3 and Sonic Youth through a beatless, minimalist lens, in which any semblance of pop structure and melody floated like a ghost through a shroud of reverbed guitar strums, amplifier hums, and whirring drones. Remastered and pressed on double LP featuring new artwork.

Leverage Models is the brainchild of musician/producer Shannon Fields who follows up a handful of limited edition cassette releases with this undeniably infectious outing. Featuring guest spots from Sharon Van Etten, Sinkane, and members of LCD Soundsystem and Yeasayer, it's still a mostly one-man show for Fields, who ever so slightly updates the new romantic pop sounds of the early '80s (e.g. Simple Minds, "Let's Dance"-era Bowie, Spandau Ballet, Japan) with a nicely dreamy, digital sheen.

THIS WEEK'S CONTRIBUTORS

[JBr] James Bradley
[AB] Adrian Burkholder
[ACo] Anastasia Cohen
[IQ] Mikey IQ Jones
[TL] Taylor Law
[JM] Josh Madell
[DM] Doug Mosurock
[RN] Ryan Naideau
[DS] Dave Shim
[NVT] Niels Van Tomme

THANKS FOR READING
- all of us at Other Music