NEW RELEASES
Eccentric Soul (Various Artists)
Pearls Before Swine
Prince Po
The Earlies
Country Got Soul Volume 2
David Hemmings
Joao Bosco
Moodymann
Bill Fay

Ustad Hafizullah Khan
La Monte Young DVD
A Girl Called Eddy
Fairfield Parlour
Andrew Hill
Bobby Brown
Viktor Vaughn
Jake Holmes

"Who Could Win a Rabbit"

Animal Collective's new 7" single for their song "Who Could Win a Rabbit" is taken from their stunning album Sung Tongs and backed with a brand new exclusive track, "Baby Day." For a limited time, purchase their new single, or any other release on FatCat Records and receive a free DVD of their first ever music video, while supplies last. (Good for purchases made on-line and in the store.)

"Who Knows" Marion Black

"You Can't Blame Me" Johnson, Hawkins, Tatum & Durr

A miraculous conception usually takes place where the very inspiration spawns out of the desolation that is the Midwest, a land of lack. There is no true breeding ground, instead, a seeming lock-groove obstructing the process of progression, where various hindrances lead to unwarranted failures and criminally underrated talent. On the contrary, this very situation also makes for something unrivaled and fresh -- without the infiltration of spoon-fed trends and installed scenes to merely just build upon. This simultaneously makes for something that is usually ahead of its time. This seems arguable but can easily be justified by the evident and inevitable 'brain-drain' of talent migrating to the coasts. Many famous musicians and artists garnering attention or have enjoyed success in the past are or have been Midwest ex-pats.

Bill Moss shares a parallel story to the Midwest Epidemic. Unfortunately he enjoyed neither attention nor success outside of scant regional watchfulness, but rather was victim to a slow and painful descent into a downward spiral of obscurity. He ultimately saw a dire end to his Capsoul label (short for Capital City Soul) including an excruciating process of erosion of pride and ego with looming debt. The sum total of Moss' labor of love towards the music and city he adored climaxed into a nightmare when he found himself breaking into his own padlocked studio in 1974 to rescue master tapes -- only to be later destroyed in a flood, and shortly thereafter recycling many of the labels' radiant 45's out of frenzy and disgust.

Who would have thought to look towards Columbus, Ohio in the 1970's for soul music, anyway? Considering the city was dwarfed and eclipsed by Detroit's Motown and Windy City Soul. Regardless, this short-lived label of five years relentlessly released some of the most moody, complex, heartbreaking and simultaneously breathtaking 45s the soul genre has ever seen. These sugar sweet tunes have been gems for many producers and prizes for many collectors and fans -- check out Marion Black's "Who Knows," massively sampled on Rjd2's "Smoke and Mirrors" on the highly acclaimed album, Deadringer. Thankfully the label's entire discography has been salvaged and presented to us on this marvelous compilation -- if not one of the best soul compilations -- Eccentric Soul. This time around, Capsoul will not be overlooked. The same mistake should NOT be made twice! [MT]

"Grace Street"

"Sail Away"

As an avowed Pearls Before Swine obsessive, it wouldn't surprise any of my friends if I said I treasured Tom Rapp's albums nearly as much as my Bob Dylan ones. And I don't just mean the hip quotient ESP-disc ones, I'm talking every single '70s album he recorded, including the ones even Rapp himself has disavowed. So maybe I'm not the most partial judge of the record at hand, The Wizard of Is, a 2-CD compilation of demos, home recordings, covers, lost tracks and live shows from Rapp's own collection of ancient tapes. But for fellow obsessive Pearls Before Swine fans (and there are a lot of 'em, this whole current folk revival owes much to the man) the Dylan analogy is an apt one; it's like having the Basement Tapes dropped in your lap for the first time. Honestly though, you need not be merely a completist to find tons to enjoy here. The songs span the peak of his career, from 1967 until 1976 when he quit music to become a public defender. In the liner notes (which incidentally contain some hilariously biting wit), he frequently refers to the "starkly bleak world" of Pearls Before Swine, and although this is generally pretty downbeat music, it's not really any more so than that of one of Rapp's main influences, Leonard Cohen. If nothing else, this collection just confirms his reputation as one of the most humanely sympathetic singer songwriters and interpreters of the past forty-years. I only hope there's more where this came from. [MK]

"Hello"

"Too Much"

Finally, the first solo album from one of the best and slept on rappers of the last two decades, though you may never have known it. Lex fulfills the mission statement they sent out with their label, to offer some of the best underground talent, i.e. rappers and producers. This is their strongest release to date. The Prince of Poetry was once half of the sublimely talented duo Organized Konfusion (the other half being Pharaoh Monch). This debut, The Slickness is an accessible, grounded, mature, fun, tight, and unmistakably good collection of lyrical skills and production flaunting. Executive produced by man of the moment Danger Mouse, behind the boards you'll also find an intelligent and thoughtful selection of top producers: Madlib, DM, Richard X, J-Zone, Jel, as well as P. Po himself. Po handles himself with ease, sliding and riding across the rhythm like second nature. With the exceptions of MF Doom, Raekwon, Jemini, J-Zone, and the occasional member of his Nasty Habits crew, there's no need for a ton of guests. Equally balanced between freaky tech-beats, soul cut-ups, old school circa '95 jazzy vibes, with tales of strip clubs, home life, crooked cops, late nights, street-talk, and good ol' quality rhymes, what more could you ask for? Recommended. [DG]

$23.99 CD

THE EARLIES
These Were the Earlies
(Names)

"Slow Man's Dream"

"Wayward Song"

With all of these labels plundering the vaults of lost psychedelic pop classics, there are few new bands that retain the spirit of yore and meld it with the technologies available today. The Flaming Lips are one, Simian is another. Mercury Rev do it too. Now add the Earlies to that list. After releasing a myriad of limited edition 7-inch and 10-inch singles, this foursome (two from England and two from Texas) bless us with an astonishing debut that combines elements from the aforementioned artists with the bedroom electronics of some of Morr Music's finest, and a blatant love of the Beach Boys and the Beatles.

These Were the Earlies is a truly magnificent piece of work that opens with a noisy, 26-second interlude and then goes directly into the amazing "One of Us Is Dead." With its lush downtempo electronics, beautifully whispered vocals, and backward tape loop effects that give way to muted horns, distorted melodica, and anything else that can be thrown into the mix, it sounds like a mess but trust me it works! Then the band breaks into the track entitled "Wayward Song" which is easily as good as anything Mercury Rev has ever done.

Let the Earlies take you along on a journey through the 11-tracks on their album debut -- I can assure you that you will not be disappointed. In a time of year when new releases are few and far between, it is good to see a record of this quality appear and blow most of this year's releases out of the water. Highly Recommended. [JS]

"Your Kind of Kindness" Bonnie Bramlett

"Big Country Blues" Shirl Milete

Follow up to last year's incredibly popular Country Got Soul compilation, Volume Two manages to include nary a stinker, which is always an accomplishment in endeavors like these -- just tons more genre defying Muscle Shoals country soul and swamp rock. Highlights this time out would include Larry Jon Wilson's "Ohoopee River Bottomland" (if you haven't seen him perform this track on the Heartworn Highways DVD, please pick it up NOW! Dan here at the store believes that it definitively proves white people can be funky), the nobly desolate "Big Country Blues" by Shirl Milete, where it seems they've picked up some sort of Funkadelic ringer to play lead guitar. The rural funk (is that an oxymoron?) of Rob Galbraith's "Corner of Spit and Whittle" (written by Townes Van Zandt) and former (white) Ikette Bonnie Bramlett's "Your Kind of Kindness", in which she manages to sound even crankier than Betty Davis. Tough stuff. [MK]

"Back Street Mirror"

"Reason to Believe"

Yes, this is indeed a record by David Hemmings, the recently deceased actor who starred in such classic films as Michaelangelo Antonioni's Blow-Up, Dario Argento's Deep Red, and Roger Vadim's Barbarella. But unlike most actor-turned-singer albums that I know of, Happens is not a novelty item by any means. It turns out that Mr. Hemmings actually got his start as a child opera star, an interesting fact that nonetheless does very little to explain how this unusually great collection of music came to be. Apparently MGM was churning out hastily produced albums by movie stars at breakneck speed in 1967. David Hemmings was just one of the many silver screen icons they booked in the studio, and someone made the fortuitous decision to hire Byrds members Chris Hillman and Roger McGuinn and jazz drummer Ed Thigpen to back him up. Over the course of this relatively brief album, the group tears through impeccable renditions of Tim Hardin's classic "Reason To Believe," two traditional folk songs, two songs by Monkees contributor Bill Martin, and three incredible improvisations with Hemmings riffing brilliantly over Eastern-influenced raga rock. Perhaps best of all, though, is the opening track by Gene Clark. "Back Street Mirror" was a rejected song with an amazing Leon Russell arrangement, and since the label already owned it they just had David redo the vocal part in the studio. It's completely and unspeakably amazing. David Hemmings' Happens is one of this year's most pleasant surprises by far. [RH]

"Boi"

"Alferes"

Debut record from MPB superstar Joao Bosco circa 1973. Bosco started his first rock band at the age of twelve and was eventually discovered as a songwriter by Brazilian legends Elis Regina and Vinicius De Moraes. His self-titled debut is far more experimental than the recordings he did later on that established him as a hugely successful artist. In 1973 it was still par for the course to integrate ambitious arrangements into pop songs, Milton Nascimento's groundbreaking Clube de Esquina had been released the year before and its influence on this record (along with that of Gilberto Gil's) can certainly be heard. Bosco eschews the reverb however, but still uses all manner of tricky vocalizations and percussive attacks to approach his songs from a myriad of different angles. About half the record was arranged by Rogerio Duprat, the mastermind behind the epochal LPs released by Os Mutantes, Gil, Gal Costa, and Caetano Veloso. This album has tons of nervous energy; his breathy romanticisms collide headlong into urgent panting, creating a tight dichotomy between near elegant sophistication and animistic dynamism. [MK]

"Shades of Jae"

"Mahogani 9000"

Black Mahogani celebrates Moodymann's (Kenny Dixon Jr.) often sidelong (12-inch-wise) excursions into deeeep house that is better described as modern, modal soul-jazz. (Don't let the abuse and misuse of these terms scare you off.) Moodymann's albums are always mysterious and deeply personal affairs, but the Black Mahogani series is like the stuff KDJ reserves in his personal scotch cabinet. This stuff is not so much an 'album' as a collection of special reserve quality tracks that fully display his absolute love for, and understanding of the elements that make up his music. This is where Kenny Dixon Jr. really stretches out and gets comfortable with his style.

Things get warmed up with some loose, typically haunted, soul-jazz stuff that reeks of late night hazy atmosphere. (Congas, small vocal and orchestral bursts, piano bits and saxophone samples -- all used in signature tasteful style -- seeming as though they belong to him.) He hits his stride with "Runaway" and "I'm Doing Fine" but really gets us going with the ultra-live "Shades of Jae." As I've said before: His tracks breathe like Adam and Eve. Check "Mahogani 9000"'s use of elements of "Superfly" throughout the track-beautiful, and proves his inability to do anything that's less than sincere.

If you already know the deal, or are just craving a bit of 'realness' in your 'electronica', make sure you hook up with this one. Somehow Kenny Dixon Jr. is going beyond house, jazz and soul to make modern day folk music. (Let the stone throwing begin.) [SM]

"Maxine's Parlour"

"Maudy La Lune"

Whoa! I've never actually heard either of Bill Fay's two apparently bizarre late-'60s Decca albums, each recorded straight through in a day-long session, but the previously unreleased tracks on From The Bottom Of An Old Grandfather Clock are totally mind-blowing. The tracks on this new collection are virtually all demos that were rejected outright by Decca, which makes close to no sense at all because some of these songs are so brilliant it hurts. British singer-songwriter/psych-pop/soft-rock very rarely got much better than this. As these are demos, things are pretty stripped-down, but you can hear the beginnings of ideas for arrangement that would have been pretty incredible if they'd ever been properly executed. Fans of Emitt Rhodes, Badfinger, the Left Banke, Nick Drake's first album, and last year's Zig Zag compilation, this one is for you. Stunning. [RH]

"Saughand (Promise) Drut Tintal (16 Beats)"

An archival performance from 2000 by North Indian classical master Ustad Hafizullah Khan is the latest release on La Monte Young and Marian Zazeela's Just Dreams label. Those who purchased the recent Pandit Pran Nath set will find much to enjoy here. Hafizullah Khan, who passed away in 2002, was a virtuoso of the sarangi. The sarangi is India's premier fiddle instrument; to most western ears it probably most resembles the violin. It is comprised of a solid wood body, three main playing strings, and 35-40 sympathetic strings. There are no frets of fingerboards, the strings hover over the body of the instrument and the performer changes the pitch by sliding his or her fingernails along the strings. It has an absolutely uncanny ability to imitate the sound of the human voice -- indeed most sarangi masters are also vocalists, as was Hafizullah Khan.

The sarangi is extremely difficult to play and has been in decline as a popular instrument for some time, so we are very blessed to be offered this historic recording. Hafizullah Khan was the hereditary head of the Kirana Gharana school of North Indian classical music. He began learning his craft at a young age from his renowned father and uncle, and was a staff artist for many years at the prestigious All India Radio. In a recent online interview between La Monte Young and Frank J. Oteri, Young characterizes members of the Kirana school as priding themselves on the knowledge of Raga and Feeling. He goes on to state that there is a certain extremity found in performances from the Kirana Gharana school that he finds appealing and that relates to aspects of his own compositions.

This compact disc is comprised of three ragas, including a new one by Hafizullah Khan himself that combines eleven separate ragas into one piece. The alap sections are impossibly graceful, full of elaborate vocalese that pick up in speed as the raga progresses. These performances are deeply intricate and positively ecstatic, they offer a living testimony to the possibilities still to be found in this increasingly neglected instrument. [MK]

Although he has been concentrating primarily on creating his own obsessively refined music for the last 40 plus years, La Monte Young began performing at Fluxus events in the early-'60s among other luminaries such as Yoko Ono, George Brecht, Dick Higgins and Alan Kaprow. At the same time, he gave rise to a new stylistic shift in music alongside his buddy from the west coast, Terry Riley, as well as such other pioneers of classical minimalism as Tony Conrad, Angus MacLise, Steve Reich, Charlemagne Palestine, and Philip Glass, just to name a few. Given the infrequency with which he performs his ongoing magnum opus, this may be the only chance many of us get to see and hear one of the 20th century's most stubbornly disciplined composers interpret his own work.

The Well Tuned Piano was conceived in 1964, but due to the extremely particular circumstances needed to realize the project -- at least two weeks of tuning in the performance space prior to the concert -- it was only performed as a tape piece until 1974. Thanks to some serious funding, Young first had the chance to perform the piece live at a festival in Rome. Young has continued revising the piece for live performance at various times throughout his life. This recording takes place in 1987 on the Dia Custom Bosendorfer Imperial Piano that was custom built for the occasion of performing The Well Tuned Piano.

The piece generally consists of gradual rises and falls in density from quiet and sparse harmonics to dense rolling waves of overtones. Over the six-and-a-half hours, Young has ample time to explore the full range of dynamics available to him at the piano taking advantage of his instrument's capabilities through customized tunings using a system of just intonation which uses intervals from beyond the first seven harmonics commonly utilized in western tuning.

Not one for short attention spans, the piece systematically weaves its way through various interlocking chordal patterns over six hours, slowly folding in and on itself, each time revealing new directions. Technically speaking the DVD sounds absolutely fantastic and the visuals do a pretty fair job of documenting the performance, focusing primarily on La Monte Young at the piano documentary style, as well as Marian Zazeela's The Magenta Lights light installation that always accompanies the performance. And we even get a glimpse of the audience, already lying on the floor 30 minutes in.

This more affordable second edition of the DVD comes in a much nicer DVD case with a 40-page booklet detailing the history concepts and general circumstances around the piece as it has developed over the last 40-years. If you can foot the hefty price tag this is a highly recommended document of a seminal work that, due to its relative obscurity, has been written about probably far more then it's actually been heard. [KH]

"Kathleen"

"Somebody Hurt You"

It's safe to say the full-length debut from A Girl Called Eddy (better known to her family and friends as Erin Moran) will put this New Jersey born songwriter on the music map. The elegant, '60s influenced soul-pop of her 2001 EP Tears All Over Town caught the ears of Colin Elliot and Pulp contributor Richard Hawley who together produce her eponymous album -- Hawley brings along the rest of his fantastic backing band that performed on his amazing Low Edges LP. Moran's sad torch songs are exquisitely orchestrated with sweeping strings, horns and Hawley's sparkling guitar work. She obviously holds a love for music greats like Burt Bacharach, Scott Walker and Brian Wilson, while her voice respectfully taps into the blue-eyed soul of Dusty Springfield and hauntingly parallels Karen Carpenter's intimate delivery.

If recorded thirty-years ago, tracks like "Heartache" and "Somebody Hurt You" would be soft rock classics, but Moran's melancholic delivery and Hawley's thoughtful arrangements keep these songs from drowning in a shallow sea of easy listening nostalgia. "Kathleen" is a soulful tribute to her deceased mother; the bare-bone accompaniment during the verse blossoms into a richly layered chorus full of heartfelt sentiment. With Hawley's immaculately textured production and Moran's sultry voice, there might be a little too much polish for some, however, if you are a fan of artists as diverse as Roy Orbison, Beth Orton, Richard Hawley, or any of the other aforementioned music greats, you'll love A Girl Called Eddy. [GH]

"Soldier of the Flesh"

"Bordeaux"

After releasing two amazing but commercially unsuccessful albums for Fontana in 1967 and 1969, the British group Kaleidoscope -- who were featured on the Nuggets box set -- changed their name to Fairfield Parlour, signed to Vertigo, and slightly tweaked their sound in the hope of finding a larger audience. The result was 1970's From Home To Home, a sprawling, magical, and whimsical gem of an album that still failed to sell. The only time it's ever been available on CD was in a long out-of-print 2-disc set that included the unreleased follow-up White Faced Lady, a concept album based on the life of Marilyn Monroe. This new version is packaged in a beautiful miniature reproduction of the original LP sleeve, complete with gatefold and lyric sheet insert. It also has a bunch of great bonus tracks, including the band's minor hit "Bordeaux Rose," easily one of the greatest psych-pop singles of all time. Quite honestly, From Home To Home is a masterpiece that rivals the Kinks' two greatest albums from approximately the same time period, Village Green Preservation Society and Arthur. If you love those records, this will really be up your alley. [RH]

"Pumpkin"

"Black Fire"

Andrew Hill's music, like that of Charles Ives, seems to occupy a tonal space just outside the comfortable. He never attacks the listener with swells of rapid-fire notes like say Cecil Taylor. Instead, Hill plays in a deliberately paced and largely chordal style. As for the comparison above, where Ives put to work his appreciation for small town and decidedly less-than-disciplined American folk form, Hill, on this session anyway, plays standard post bop of the Mal Waldron order, albeit on a piano that sounds more than a little out of tune. Only it's perfectly in tune. This is to say that both men employed traditional themes but reveled in presenting them through a dissonant, transcendental haze. Black Fire was Hill's Blue Note debut and helped usher in an era that would find the label reaching further and further out. Recommended for fans of the kind of avant-garde jazz that won't scare your cats. [BB]

"Bray"

"Mambo Che Chay"

In the liner notes to Bobby Brown's 1972 album The Enlightening Beam of Axonda, he includes a testimonial from Carl Wilson of the Beach Boys who declares that Brown's record is "many, many years ahead of its time" and that "it's totally incredible but it will never sell." He was right on both accounts, thirty-two years later this music is simultaneously completely dated and yet unlike anything else you're likely to hear all year. But that was probably Brown's plan all along as even he himself expressed his music as being "primitive, contemporary, and futuristic." He was (or is? I can't get any information on where he's at now) "the Universal One Man Orchestra," possibly from Sacramento, he self-released at least three albums and maybe one by his girlfriend. These he sold out of his van as he traveled the west coast as an itinerant street musician, frequently to be found performing amongst the cavalcade of hippies and new Aquarians that gathered at places like Venice Beach.

With a six-octave range he vocally most resembles Tim Buckley during his Starsailor phase. His orchestra was an elaborate contraption comprised of over fifty instruments (both percussion and stringed) that he played with every limb and amplified by homemade contact microphones. He manages to elicit a surprising amount of control and musicality over such an unwieldy set-up. The narrative thread that binds the concept behind Axonda would certainly find welcome company on the shelves of your neighborhood metaphysical bookshop, but nevertheless it offers an almost sociological insight into the thought processes that caused so many people to seek out various forms of enlightenment outside of mainstream religious trends in the '60s and '70s. Visionary, virtuosic, frequently (probably unintentionally) terrifying, Axonda will definitely appeal to adventurous listeners whose tastes include the further reaches of Tim Buckley's catalog, the United States of America, Moondog, or even the percolating rhythms of Kraftwerk. [MK]

"Hard to Keep My Mind on You"

"Did You Know"

The Above Ground Sound of Jake Holmes is a sparse singer-songwriter album from 1967, lovingly reissued by the currently prolific Radioactive label. As the sticker on the cover will tell you, this CD contains the original version of "Dazed And Confused," a song that Jimmy Page shamelessly stole after Holmes opened for the Yardbirds. The songwriter never got any of the credit or royalties that he was owed after it became a huge hit for Led Zeppelin a couple of years later. I've read a couple of other reviews that insist none of the other material on this album compares to that particular song, but I fervently disagree. There's practically nothing on the album but acoustic and electric guitars and vocals, and the arrangements that he came up with in spite of the limited instrumentation are pretty goddamn amazing. Jake Holmes wrote great, often dark, and idiosyncratic folk songs along the lines of Tim Buckley and Roy Harper. This is his first record and it's quite nice, I recommend it highly. [RH]