FEATURED NEW RELEASES
Susanna & the Magical Orchestra
Good God! (Numero compilation)
Karen Dalton
So Much Fire to Roast Human Flesh (Various)
Darc Mind
M. Ward
Lucio Battisti
Franco Battiato
Lee "Scratch" Perry
Blackbeard
Gruppo Di Improvvisazione Nuova Consonanza
Stereolab
Steffan Basho-Junghans
Ira Cohen
Giovanni Fusco
Carolyn Franklin
Toby Dammit

Dr. Dog
Wool
Barrington Levy
Unicorn Mountain Vol. 2 (Book w/ CD)
Tod Dockstader
Conrad Schnitzler (4 CD Reissues)
Berkeley Guitar (Various)
Shawn David McMillen
The Roots

ALSO AVAILABLE
Elizabeth Mitchell
Rio Baile Funk: More Favela Booty Beats

BACK IN STOCK
Avon Calling (Various)

COMPLETE LIST OF THIS WEEK'S NEW ARRIVALS

SUSANNA & THE MAGICAL ORCHESTRA
Melody Mountain
(Rune Grammofon)

"It's a Long Way to the Top"

"Enjoy the Silence"

For many, the highlight on Susanna and the Magical Orchestra's List of Lights and Buoys was the beautiful and brittle version of Dolly Parton's "Jolene." On Melody Mountain, Susanna Wallumrod and Morten Qvenild (the one-man Magical Orchestra) stick with that formula and deliver an album of all covers. And it sounds nothing like Nouvelle Vague. It's a fine line to toe without falling into kitsch and irony traps, but this set of songs, some predictable, some unpredictable, is mesmerizing all the way through. The impossibly stark version of AC/DC's "It's a Long Way to the Top" is the highlight for me, where Susanna sounds a little like Chan Marshall (the album actually makes quite a nice companion piece to Cat Power's Covers Record), delivering ridiculous cock-rock lyrics with intimate honesty. Other highlights include versions of songs originally recorded by Depeche Mode, Bob Dylan, Joy Division, Leonard Cohen, Fotheringay, and more. [AK]

VARIOUS ARTISTS
Good God! A Gospel Funk Hymnal
(Numero)

"Jesus Rhapsody Part 1" Preacher & the Saints

"Is There Any Love" Trevor Dandy

From the same label that brought us the Eccentric Soul series comes this fantastic collection of hard gospel funk from the late '60s and early '70s. Not so much a genre, as it is a really good mixtape concept, the tunes within are a lot harder than what you might find on the Soul Gospel comps, and for the most part are straight-up, lo-fi funk workouts with sanctified lyrics. That's not a bad thing at all, and contained throughout are tons of heavy, dirty breaks to burn. But the most interesting moments are the ones featuring choirs; it's then that the funk takes on an otherworldliness that sounds like no other. Voices of Conquest's "O Yes My Lord" reminds me of a June Tyson led choir singing to Clyde Stubblefield drum fills. Shackleford Singers' "God Is All Over Me" sounds like the church of an elderly Wilson Pickett backed up by a pre-puberty Jackson 5. "Those Were the Days," by Lavice & Co., is possibly one of the strangest pieces of funkiness I've heard in a while. What is it you ask? A psychedelic funk tune about a demon in hell, blissfully reminiscing about the days when hell was a swinging place packed with party people, before everyone got sanctified and went to heaven. Would it be wrong to spark one up while I'm listening to this? This is great! [DH]

KAREN DALTON
It's So Hard to Tell Who's Going to Love You the Best
(Megaphone)

"Little Bit of Rain"

"How Did the Feeling Feel to You"

"If I should leave you, try to remember all the good times." Jesus. These are the first lines we hear Karen Dalton beg on this magical collection of recordings titled, It's So Hard to Tell Who's Going to Love You the Best, the only recordings available of Dalton on CD. Karen Dalton was the "queen" of the early-'60s Greenwich Village folk scene. As her former husband, Richard Tucker, states in the liner notes included with this dazzling and much deserved reissue, there were thousands of other girls with acoustic guitars clutched firmly in hand, folkies with big, idealistic dreams, headed for the big, idealistic city, but with just a line, one simple cooed, broken-hearted phrase, Dalton could reduce the rest to a bunch of "corny school girls." It's no wonder in Chronicles, Bob Dylan himself calls Dalton one of his favorite singers, period. I wonder what Fred Neil thought to himself on the night he invited Dalton over to his sessions with legendary producer Nik Venet, and she single-handedly recorded this entire set in that one lone evening. Magical.

Billie Holiday. Her name always comes up when discussing Dalton. If only because Dalton's voice was as dynamic, and brassy, and laced with such weight, and with such hurt, and with a jazz singer's virtuosity that Holiday might be in a class of her own, if Dalton didn't sing the blues so damn blue too. However, as rich and effortlessly expressive as Dalton's vocals were, she was every bit the marvel on her 12-string Gibson, or banjo, as well. In fact, Dalton may have been too inventive a player, too much an original for her own good. She had a meditative, billowy approach--each note hanging like a smoke ring slowly dissolving in air. Dalton savored each song, each line. The completely unhurried quality to her performances made it almost impossible for her to play with a band, which is part of the reason Dalton so seldomly recorded. Her entire output is limited to the songs on this compilation, and a somewhat disappointing out-of-print release titled In My Own Time, from 1971.

Somehow, though, all Dalton really needed was this one set of songs to make her point. It's So Hard to Tell is, and will always be, one of the most cherished collections of tunes to ever have been put to tape. It is timeless music, universal music. Dark and bitter enough to satisfy fans of Tom Waits or Beth Gibbons, rootsy and folky enough for fans of Fred Neil or The Band, so mellow, blue, and stoner-paced it's like a slacker's indie-rock wet dream, and yet at times, it's so brazen it could be a jazz record too. At 10 songs, It's So Hard to Tell contains multitudes. This new French import reissue version, sadly, may not contain any new tracks; it does, however, have a DVD with four rare live performances from Dalton--one of which sees her covering "God Bless the Child." Why Megaphone chose to overdub French narration over parts of it is anybody's guess, however, just seeing Dalton sing is enough. The DVD matched with the thorough new liner notes makes this version a must for the Dalton fanatics. One of my favorite records ever. Essential. [HG]

VARIOUS ARTISTS
So Much Fire to Roast Human Flesh
(Bastet)

"A Phoenix and Doves" Diane Cluck

"A Place" Lay All Over It

"I Know Some Souls" Devendra Banhart

Curated by Josephine Foster, So Much Fire to Roast Human Flesh is a new compilation on Arthur Magazine's Bastet imprint. With all proceeds of this album going to pacifist organizations and counter-military recruitment, Arthur further solidifies their importance in today's media world. So Much Fire features 18 tracks, with exclusive contributions from Devendra Banhart, Feathers, Michael Hurley, Kath Bloom, Espers, Diane Cluck, David Pajo, Angels of Light, MVEE, and many more. Good music for a good cause. [AK]

DARC MIND
Symptomatic of a Greater Ill
(Anticon)

"Covert Op"

"Visions of a Blur"

Anticon brings us an unreleased "shoulda been a hip-hop contender." Darc Mind recorded this album for Loud/RCA 10 years ago, but the label folded months before its scheduled release, so this record languished in obscurity until now. Considering the hip-hop climate in '96 and '97, when Puffy, Jay-Z and Biggie were exploding into the top 40 with disco-pop tales of bottle poppin' and clothes shoppin', this spooky, cinematic record most definitely would've been lost in the mainstream hip-hop shuffle. But this was also the time when Mo Wax, DJ Shadow, Dr. Octagon, Portishead and their dark cinematic take on hip-hop was all the rage amongst the burgeoning underground beat culture elite. This album definitely could've found an audience there. GM Web D's beats were precise lessons in smoky, tru-school boom-bap and Kev Roc's dense, tongue-twisting rhymes, coupled with his baritone delivery, sounds like lost verses from old Antipop or Blackalicious. It's a shame that this record didn't get a proper release way back when, but I'm glad to see it out now. [DH]

M. WARD
Post-War
(Merge)

"To Go Home"

"Chinese Translation"

Portland's reigning traditionalist, M. Ward, has built something of a long and storied career on being a musician's musician. Up to this point, he's been doing things his own way, taking perfectionist-driven totalitarian rule over every aspect of his records' sounds. Past glories like 03's classic Transfiguration of Vincent, and my personal favorite of last year, Transistor Radio, revealed Ward to be not only one of the best living guitar players working, but also something of a super-nerd genius when it came to finessing the recording studio into sounding like one hidden cavernous, reverb drenched, and distorted time-lost vessel. Plus, he could write songs too. It always helps. And Ward's allegiance to all things neo-classical means he's one of the only songwriters today actually penning standards--standards that could unashamedly break bread with the best of, say, Woody Guthrie and the Brill Building too. It's rather unfortunate that because of Ward's skill at the axe and in the studio, most everyone overlooks the fact that songs like "One Life Away," "Undertaker" and "Sad Sad Song" practically beg to be included in the folk and pop songwriting canons of yesteryear, while being some of the finest tunes we've got today.

There are more than a few songs on Ward's new record, Post-War, that fit the same bill (see: "Rollercoaster"). Post-War is the first M. Ward album to see him playing with a backing band, and it's also the first time Ward has worked with Bright Eyes' producer extraordinaire, Mike Mogis. On paper, this seems like an odd move since Ward already produced two of the finest records of the past year himself: Jenny Lewis' debut and the aforementioned Transistor Radio. Why reinvent the wheel, if the wheel is far from broke? However, if working with a full band and an outside producer was supposed to clean up Ward's spit and vinegar, the plan backfired. Post-War is his darkest, most venomous, volatile and downright sad album to date. It's a concept record about soldiers returning home from war (duh), but like most concept records, if you blinked you'd miss the concept. Instead, Post plays like a warped bipolar eulogy, equal parts disarmingly quiet ("Post War", "Eyes on the Prize") and seethingly bitter (the show-stopping "Requiem" and "Right in the Head"). Even a guest-spot from Neko Case can't save Ward's cover of Daniel Johnston's "To Go Home" from its magical, shaggy recklessness. Like the rest of Ward's discography, it doesn't suck. [HG]

LUCIO BATTISTI
Umanamente Uomo: Il Sogno
(Water)

"Innocenti Evasioni"

"Comunque Bella"

It's described that Lucio Battisti, one of Italy's most famous singer-songwriters and the poster boy for that country's tumble into '70s rock maturity, is his homeland's equivalent to Scott Walker or Harry Nilsson. You can add a distinct Beatles influence in there too, as well as Procol Harum, or perhaps early-'70s Gus Dudgeon-produced artists like Elton John, Audience, or John Kongos. His success never spread far past Italy, largely for his decision to sing exclusively in his native tongue, and moreover, for the general dare that his songs and arrangements pushed on his public, to accept something that wasn't traditional pop candy to chew up and swallow. His fourth album, Umanamente Uomo: Il Sogno, from 1972, jumps across a range of popular artists' styles--all well within his depth--but with a startling knack for well-timed string swells, moody melodies, melancholy passages that don't linger with the stink of fromage, even abstract instrumentals that would have been at home on a Krautrock record. And yet the thing is so damn listenable, the chances it takes stack up as though they were just one more flawless trick up Battisti's sleeve after another. Modern tendencies to record inside a sealed coffin, or pretending to sound like a sad computer might, but they don't really speak to the way in which Lucio Battisti was sticking his neck out to create a unique popular music, the likes of which are featured on this flawless album that will stick with you for good. [DM]

FRANCO BATTIATO
Pollution
(Water)

"Plancton"

"Beta"

1972 saw the release of Franco Battiato's second album, Pollution, a stridently seething ball of synthesizer twiddlings corset-bound to Italian (and German) art rock tethers--geometric like Cluster, but structured more closely to psych-romantic opuses such as the landmark 666 by Aphrodite's Child or early Ash Ra Tempel. Like the Lucio Battisti reissue above, Battiato's Pollution is no stranger to drama or melancholy, and is unafraid to punctuate a tender passage with explosive bolts of sinewy fuzz-prog, or by that matter, undercut a dense swath of sound with tentative drone and lost-lonely "Major Tom"-isms. Another grower of an album, Pollution makes for queasy listening until its multiple charms have their way with you, Battiato angling himself as some sort of martyr for his music, replete with crucifix. This stage of his career was cut short by a car accident which left him unable to tour, in essence turning a page for the man's respectability in experimental music circles. [DM]

LEE "SCRATCH" PERRY
Panic in Babylon
(Narnack)

"Rastafari"

"Baby Krishna"

One of my favorite personalities in reggae and popular music in general, Lee "Scratch" Perry returns with a brand new album. Backed by his band the White Belly Rats, the dub godfather continues to stream his (un)conscious vocal poetry in that distinctive smoky style which he established and has subsequently developed over the past three decades. Though this may not be the masterpiece of Super Ape, or his classic productions for the Congos, Junior Murvin or the Silvertones, Scratch sounds solid in his aging years. His social critiques are still on point and as timely as ever, with the powers-that-be traveling down that road to world destruction. Definitely not the place to begin in his catalogue, but this release further cements his status as the true outsider and magnetic spirit. A bonus disc of remixes from DJ Spooky and TV on the Radio's David Sitek takes his voice and sound into the current millennium. [DG]

BLACKBEARD
Strictly Dub Wize
(Front Line )

"Mint Ah Music"

"Cut After Cut"

This reissue of producer Dennis Bovell's Strictly Dub Wize was the first dub album he released under his Blackbeard moniker. Having worked magic with the 4th Street Orchestra and his band Matumbi, and later twisting the knobs for the Slits and the Pop Group, his name and talent were finally given due credit in 1978, showcased on this classic platter of UK dub. Following in the footsteps of King Tubby, Lee "Scratch" Perry and Errol Thompson, Bovell proved to be a stellar producer and arranger. But he was also different in the sense that he was a trained musician and would often play all the instruments on the track he was mixing. This gave him an edge that many mixers and producers lacked, as he was able to experiment beyond the source material on the reels. The overall sound of this release isn't as mind-twisting as the genre can get; Bovell's approach has more song structure and melody, and is an easy and enjoyable listen. Any fan of dub or reggae, from King Tubby to Sly & Robbie, should pick this up. Great liner notes, including an interview with the producer, original reviews, and a step-by-step guide to dub from Bovell written by Vivien Goldman. [DG]

GRUPPO DI IMPROVVISAZIONE NUOVA CONSONANZA
Azioni 1967-69
(Die Schachtel)

"Untitled"

"Fili 1"

Just in from the always beautifully presented Die Schachtel label, a two-CD and DVD package housed in a linen slipcase devoted to unheard recordings by the legendary Gruppo Di Improvvisazione Nuova Consonanza, a group whom it's always been frustratingly hard to pin down on disc or LP despite their powerhouse line-up. The GINC was a performer/composer ensemble with revolving members active from the mid-'60s to the mid-'80s; the recordings and film collected here are from what is arguably their greatest and most innovative era which spanned the years 1967-1969, when the core group consisted of Franco Evangelisti, Ennio Morricone (yes, that Morricone), Roland Kayn, Mario Bertoncini, Ivan Vandor, and John Heineman. Usually mentioned in the same breath as another great electro-acoustic improvising ensemble, AMM, who were navigating similar terrain to that of the GINC, each member brought their own composing and improvising sensibility to bear on a collective effort that is never less than totally engaging. They performed a totally unique melange of free improvisation, with white noise, analog electronics, extended technique, and a knowledge of composition that encompassed centuries worth of developments, from the Renaissance on up to the latest innovations of Stockhausen, Cage, or Xenakis. The DVD features a 45-minute-long black and white film of a performance given by the group at the Gallery of Modern Art in Rome in 1967. [MK]

STEREOLAB
Serene Velocity: A Stereolab Anthology
(Rhino/WEA)

"French Disko"

"Miss Modular"

Wow. Stereolab spanned so many years we almost forgot that they had albums out in a time that Neu! and Can records were hard to find! This compilation explores their Elektra years. Instead of going more bubblegum than "John Cage Bubblegum," Stereolab celebrated their then new major label status by exploring everything from their well-known effervescent lounge-pop to gently rocking versions of Velvet Underground's "'Sister Ray," with layered vintage keys, two chords or less, and endless drums. Also check their classic albums Transient Random Noise Bursts with Announcements and Mars Audiac Quintet. [SM]

STEFFAN BASHO-JUNGHANS
Last Days of the Dragons
(Locust)

"The Immortal Chimes (Azure No.12)"

"Dance of the Young Spirits"

Locust Music's acclaimed Wooden Guitar compilation has already spawned full-length follow-ups from Sir Richard Bishop and Tetuzi Akiyama. Now the series continues with an album by a German guitar player who loves Robbie Basho so much that he adopted his last name. Steffan Basho-Junghans has been releasing great solo guitar discs on Strange Attractors' Audio House since the beginning of the decade. His recent albums have been extremely sparse and have seemed geared toward an experimental music audience, but on this release it sounds like he's aiming a bit wider and it really works. His playing is far more active and fluid, without any of the long moments of silence that made 2004's 7 Books a bit of a challenging listen. Last Days of the Dragons is easily one of Steffan Basho-Junghans' best and most accessible albums. [RH]

IRA COHEN
The Invasion of Thunderbolt Pagoda
(Bastet)

Arthur Magazine imprint Bastet has done the world a great service by restoring to circulation poet/photographer/filmmaker Ira Cohen's mind-bending cult film from 1968, The Invasion of Thunderbolt Pagoda. Cohen has long been a shadowy figure in the New York City underground, known mostly to the cognoscenti, if at all, through his connections to Tony Conrad, Jack Smith, Angus Maclise and the entire artistic orbit surrounding those individuals. His own personal contribution has been coming into sharper focus as of late, most notably in him being selected for inclusion in the Whitney Biennial, where his psychedelic photos and film were amongst the standout pieces in a generally anemic show. While stylistically quite unique, Cohen's film shares certain affinities with the work of Kenneth Anger, Jack Smith, and Julian Beck's Living Theater, most notably in his simultaneous concern with archetype and abandon. Filmed in a Mylar chamber he constructed in his Manhattan apartment to warp the compositions in a brilliant yet simple bit of optical transformation, every cast member is adorned in Gypsy-ish accoutrements and engaged in a seemingly pre-Hellenistic cosmic bacchanalia. The soundtrack was composed by Angus Maclise, with contributions from Tony Conrad, Henry Flynt, and the poet Jackson MacLow, amongst others. Before now, one of the only ways to see any image from this movie was in an issue of the influential Aspen Magazine that Maclise had edited around 1970, you can view those stills here to get an idea of what the movie looks like: www.ubu.com/aspen/aspen9/invasion.html

For the DVD issue, Bastet has included alternate soundtracks recorded by two groups who are no doubt sympathetic to the film's druggy theatricality, Sunburned Hand of the Man and Acid Mothers Temple, along with director's commentary and poetry by Cohen, and a still gallery of 60 of his mesmerizing Mylar photos. [MK]

GIOVANNI FUSCO
Music for Michelangelo Antonioni
(Water)

"Titoli"

"Notturno II"

You can't get much further from the visual and aural world that Ira Cohen conjured for the above film than Michelangelo Antonioni's Tetralogy of Alienation, begun in 1959 and completed in 1964. The present anthology collects the instrumental highlights from three of the four films; L'Avventura (1959), L'Eclisse (1962), and Deserto Rosso (1964), that Giovanni Fusco created scores for. Fusco had worked with Antonioni earlier on in the '50s during his more explicitly neo-realistic phase, but he didn't truly come into his own as a composer until 1959 when he had the opportunity to score two of the greatest films in the history of European art cinema, Alain Resnais' Hiroshima Mon Amour and Antonioni's L'Avventura. This was when his ability to complement the director's vision, rather than suffocate it, really began to take shape, no doubt necessitated in part by Antonioni's rather astringent views about the relative value of even having a musical soundtrack for his films in the first place. Antonioni's films of this period were a perfect form of anti-cinema, full of internalized action and disjointed or unresolved narratives, for which Fusco responded in kind by delivering anti-soundtracks, shorn of the superfluous instrumentation and overt sentimentality that characterized the majority of film music since the advent of the sound era. It's a cool approach for sure, as cool as the films themselves were, but beautiful nevertheless. [MK]

CAROLYN FRANKLIN
Sister Soul: The Best of the RCA Years 1969-1976
(Kent)

"You Can Have My Soul"

"Chain Reaction"

This is another long-overdue collection of material from a talented vocalist who floundered in the shadows of a more successful sibling. Carolyn was the youngest of the trio of Franklin sisters, Aretha and Erma being the others. Of the three, Carolyn definitely had more of a subtle, smoky vocal delivery that was more blues-infused than gospel. If anything, she seemed to have more of a southern soul sensibility to her that seems to betray her family's well-known Detroit roots. The majority of this collection comes from her three records recorded in the early '70s, which contain some of my favorite moments in deep, vocal soul music of that era. While patchy, I've always maintained that the best songs on these albums ("Chain Reaction" and "I'd Rather be Lonely" especially) could go head-to-head with any of the material Aretha recorded during this same time. The selections on this compilation range from upbeat pop-soul shakers to slow-burning ballads, which is where Carolyn truly shines. Her pitch-perfect raspy voice seemed well-suited for these songs, as demonstrated by the goose bump inducing "I Ain't Got to Love Nobody Else" and her sick cover of the Sylistics "You Are Everything." I would've loved to have heard her over some classic Willie Mitchell Hi Studio production; it's a shame that never happened. Unfortunately, she pretty much retired from the music business after this period, recording only intermittingly until her tragic passing from breast cancer in 1988. For all soul music connoisseurs who listen past the breaks, you should check this out. If Candi Staton, Ann Peebles, Jackie DeShannon and the like make your knees buckle…watch out! You might have to sit down for this one. [DH]

TOBY DAMMIT
The Legend of Apple Jack
(Hit Thing)

"Spooks in the Night"

"Les & the Boat"

Who is Toby Dammit? That question was asked by many a dear Other Music customer back in 1999 when Top Dollar came out on the Omplatten imprint. Artists like Iggy Pop, Swans and the Residents already adorned his list of collaborators, helping the album, and the subsequent DJ tool "Modus Operandi" 12-inch, shine. By then, Toby had already paired up with French producer Bertrand Burgalat for the album, and the two have worked on many a release for Burgalat's Tricatel label. To list what he's been up to since then would take this whole update, so fast forward--with Toby's infamous tympani, incidental electronics and various percussion tinkling in the background--to the present.

The Legend of Apple Jack is a short film, scored by Mr. Dammit, narrated by Randy Travis and featuring the voice of Orson Welles. It's as if War of the Worlds cosmically melded with O Brother Where Art Thou?, and collided with director Jean-Pierre Jeunet (Delicatessen, City of Lost Children) and Tom Waits breaking bottles over each others heads in a bar. Strong characters--two escaped criminals, a little boy, his pa, and their senile old neighbor--are all deftly presented with a little help from the infamous War of the Worlds broadcast, late-'30s big band radio samples, and an amazing score. It fits in perfectly with this quirky, darkly comic storyline; didgeridoo, Theremin, tuba, antique synthesizers, banjo, violins, harmonica, xylophone and many other instruments (21 in all) give a distinct voice to the action. Packaged in an impressive book-like case, The Legend of Apple Jack is the sixteenth release for Toby's label Hit-Thing, which started with the Liaisons Dangereuses reissue several years ago, and this is yet another must-have. The CD also features bonus tracks including a 15-minute segment from War of the Worlds with some extra eerie sounds. Highly Recommended! And I never say that. [LG]

DR. DOG
Takers & Leavers
(Park the Van)

"Ain't It Strange"

"Die, Die, Die"

Why does everyone hate this band!? The name!? You gotta be kidding me--Dr. Dog is the perfect name for a group like this--utterly stupid, vaguely psychedelic, playful as hell, and it even works in an animal reference too. Dr. Dog are a brilliant shambolic mess of a band, with a brilliant shambolic mess of a name, and if Easy Beat bit too close to the Beatles' oeuvre, it did so joyously better then your ass could ever even hope to do. Their tasty new six-song EP, Takers and Leavers, is only going to give the post-modern despising, Plato-quoting, player-haters out there even more fuel for the fire. This time, Dr. Dog go on a wild and f**king awe-inspiring, '70s cribbing bender, managing to pay homage to the Dead (on the gorgeous, harmony-soaked "California"), Zappa, the Band, Ram-era McCartney, and Supertramp too ("Goner"). And yet no matter how close this EP comes to sounding stubbornly anachronistic, it's equal parts exquisitely modern too. This is in large part due to their literally home-grown, sprawling "lo-fi" we-recorded-this-sh*t-in-a-barn-in-the-middle-of-nowhere production technique. There's a war going on outside, and I just want to play a pop song, messy like a tantrum, but hooky as a dream--let the syrupy leads, and twinkling Rhodes notes, the tin-can drums, and rickety old acoustic guitars, yes, let the blissful "ooooohs and aaahs" wash all over me. I love this band. [HG]

We have a very small number of handmade covers created by the band in stock. First customers to purchase this album will receive this limited pressing.

WOOL
Wool
(Delay 68)

"Love, Love, Love, Love, Love"

"If They Left Us Alone Now"

Wool, named after sibling band members Ed and Claudia Wool, released a lone album for ABC/Dunhill in 1969 that has since been rediscovered for its abundance of studio breaks, guitar freakouts, and rhythmic urgency. Beat sourcer extraordinaire Andy Votel is putting the B-Music reputation behind this reissue, following appearances of recognizable leadoff cut "Love, Love, Love, Love, Love" in his mixes and DJ sets. Production was helmed by Margo Guryan and David Rosner (who collaborated on Guryan's own classic Take a Picture album), songs written by John Hill (the man who produced the tracks on the recent Susan Christie reissue), and imaginative, hot covers of material by Big Brother and the Holding Company, Neil Diamond, the Troggs, Dyke & the Blazers, and the Band, were showcased on the album, which by American standards might be the most centered B-Music rediscovery yet. That doesn't belie the fact that this thing is ridiculously hot, has a great rattling vintage sound to it, and enough grooves to keep the party going. Great arrangements and white-hot musicianship, a strong album, and furthermore, a grower. [DM]

BARRINGTON LEVY
Shaolin Temple
(Auralux)

"Shine Eye Girl"

"Hammer"

VARIOUS ARTISTS
Unicorn Mountain Volume 2
(Unicorn Mountain)

"Privilige" Oneida

"Twilight Mirage" Centipede E'est

The second volume of the Unicorn Mountain journal brings to mind a bygone era of DIY publishing (umm, like the mid-'90s), before the Web took the wind out of many printed 'zines and the like. It is a lovingly compiled and quite beautiful perfect-bound journal with hundreds of pages of freaky comics, fiction, essays, artwork, and music commentary, plus a full-length CD compilation with rare or exclusive tracks from 21 bands, including: Pink Mountaintops, USAISAMONSTER, Frog Eyes, Elf Power, Oneida, Coachwhips, Ex Models, Modey Lemon, Oxford Collapse and many more. [JM]

TOD DOCKSTADER
Aerial #3
(Sub Rosa)

"Descent"

"Wheeze"

There have been few musical developments quite as formidable as the return of Tod Dockstader to the world of music. Criminally unacknowledged in the early '60s, Dockstader has retroactively taken his rightful place as the "Godfather of American Electronic Music." For those into such outré music, his earliest investigations (seek Eight Electronic Pieces on Locust or the two CDs released on the Starkland label) reveal a phenomenal dynamic soundworld quite far from what was happening within academia. Left out of the ivory tower, Dockstader left music for decades and only recently began dabbling in computers. While his collaborative works Pond and Bijou have been titillating, the three disc opus, Ariel, truly is a behemoth. Call it his Music of the Spheres, his masterwork, etc., but such descriptors fail to fully capture just what the man is up to. Drawing on recordings of shortwave radios and magnetic interference over the course of a decade, Dockstader has painstakingly recreated and pared down days' worth of weird noises and atmospheric crackle into something distilled, potent, overpowering. It's tempting to suggest that with the final disc of the set complete, it all comes into focus, but the structure never becomes something so manmade and tidy. Instead, it continues to emulate the slippery, messy, noisy world we exist in, drawing on the bustle of the heavens themselves as the sound source. As always with the man, the noise stuff is raw and visceral, the craftsmanship astounding, the final results unlike anything else out there. [AB]

CONRAD SCHNITZLER REISSUES
Con
(Captain Trip)

CONRAD SCHNITZLER
Con 2+
(Captain Trip)

CONRAD SCHNITZLER
Con 3
(Captain Trip)

CONRAD SCHNITZLER
Electrocon
(Captain Trip)

Japan's Captain Trip continues its massive Conrad Schnitzler reissue undertaking with digital re-masters of a series of solo albums, circa 1978-81. As a member of Tangerine Dream and Cluster, Schnitzler created some of the most engaging ambient music of our time, and explored psychedelic electronics with his color series (check out Blau for some brain-scrambling motorik experimentalism). These recordings explore quirkier, yet never novelty, electronic pop territories, with a distinct German new wave feel, and some social and political commentary thrown in for good measure. All four albums are important works in the career of one of Krautrock's premier trailblazers, and include a wealth of bonus material (Con 2 features a full unreleased bonus album!), come packaged in beautiful paper sleeves with original cover art, and are limited to 1000 copies. Don't miss out. [AK]

VARIOUS ARTISTS
Berkeley Guitar
(Tompkins Square)

"The Augur of Deviation" Sean Smith

"Split, Part 2" Matt Baldwin

Berkeley Guitar is modeled after the classic Fahey/Kottke/Lang split LP and serves as an introduction to three talented Bay Area acoustic guitar players who are heavily influenced by the Takoma Records aesthetic. Sean Smith has apparently released an album before, but his name is new to me. This is the recorded debut of UC students Adam Snider and Matt Baldwin. The performances on the disc are all admirable, though each guitarist still seems to be searching for a unique artistic voice. Matt Baldwin shows the most promise with his rendition of Davy Graham's "Anji" and a clever solo guitar version of the Groundhogs' "Split." [RH]

SHAWN DAVID MCMILLEN
Catfish
(Tompkins Square)

"The Lawn"

"Glass Neighbors"

For some reason the cover for Shawn David McMillen's impressive debut album instantly reminded me of Charalambides, so I wasn't surprised to read that he's a Texas native and an occasional collaborator with members of that band. Most of the music on this CD originally came out as an LP on Emperor Jones last year. It sounds a lot more like something that would have been released on Last Visible Dog or Digitalis Industries than on the young Tompkins Square label. There's a lot of raga acoustic guitar playing on the record, but there are also dark drones, bells, gongs, thumb piano, flute, keyboard, and autoharp. The music is reminiscent of Six Organs of Admittance, James Blackshaw, Pelt and Thuja, and some passages even made me think of Gang Gang Dance. [RH]

THE ROOTS
Game Theory
(Def Jam)

"Game Theory"

"Can't Stop This"

It's easy to be fed up in hip-hop. And the Roots were always more agitated than most. ?uestlove and Co. always had a dogmatic (too dogmatic?) preachy political consciousness to themselves, and hip-hop's late-'90s ultra-shallow commercialism and misogyny gave them more than a couple album's worth of diatribes. Recently, though, the Roots seemed to have run out of steam. Their last joint, The Tipping Point, seemed only to fulfill the worst stereotypes and misnomers about these dudes--namely, that they were just a novelty-centered jam band. Well, don't call it a comeback, it seems the post-9/11 hysteria, Iraq war, and Katrina nightmare has inspired the Roots beyond belief. Game Theory is their best record since their heralded touchstone Things Fall Apart, and I'll be damned if I'm not starting to think it's their best record period. A dense, post-millennial nightmare that got the f**k mixed out of it. Black Thought has never been more sharp and the band sounds hungry as ever. Call it Kid B-boy. [HG]

ELIZABETH MITCHELL
You Are My Little Bird
(Smithsonian Folkways)

"Who's My Pretty Baby"

Elizabeth Mitchell of Ida fame gives us another batch of whimsical folk tunes aimed directly at children. You Are My Little Bird is a gorgeous collection of playful songs penned by such luminaries as Lou Reed, Vashti Bunyan, Gillian Welch, Neil Young, Bob Marley and Elizabeth herself. Playful, fun and a great listen for people of all ages.

VARIOUS ARTIST
Rio Baile Funk: More Favela Booty Beats
(Essay)

"Toma Dengosa" Bonde do Vinho

With everybody from Diplo to Cam'ron and his Diplomats crew taking influences from Brazil's highly energetic Baile Funk scene, Essay Recordings drops another stellar compilation for your end-of-summer dance party. Rio Baile Funk: More Favela Booty Beats is just that, more of the same rump-shaking jams. Throw this in the player at your next BBQ, and I can guarantee that not one person will be in their chair.

VARIOUS ARTISTS
Avon Calling
(Cherry Red)

"What You've Got" Directors

"Christine Keeler" Glaxo Babies

Massive 45-track compilation chronicling the history of Bristol's Heartbeat Records, which remained unjustly overshadowed by Rough Trade, Factory, and Cherry Red. Centered around Avon Calling, an album that gathered the top tier of Bristol's class of '79, this two-CD set delivers on all accounts. The packaging is top notch, including a 40-page booklet with liners by Gerard Langley (Blue Aeroplanes!) and scans of all the original 45s, and the music is consistently fantastic and varied. The first disc contains the original 15 songs on the Avon Calling LP and six bonus tracks, most prominently a track by Glaxo Babies, which featured ex-members of Pop Group and were partly responsible for spawning Maximum Joy, and other gems such as the New Age Steppers/Slits-styled Double Vision, the blazing yet melodic punk rock of Stereo Models, and Apartment, Bristol's own Television.

The second disc, "The Heartbeat Singles Collection," is self-explanatory, and worth the price of admission for the three brilliant art punk singles by Glaxo Babies ("This is your Life," "Christine Keeler" and "Shake") alone. Twenty-four tracks in total, the rest is a great blend of new wave, post-punk, power pop, with the female fronted Skodas (Kleenex fans take note) and the Art Objects, whose spoken word cynicism predate and outshine Art Brut, as standouts. Not just another footnote in pop history, Avon Calling is essential listening and a great value for the money. [AK]

THIS WEEK'S CONTRIBUTORS

[AB] Adrian Burkholder
[LG] Lisa Garrett
[DG] Daniel Givens
[HG] Hartley Goldstein
[DH] Duane Harriott
[RH] Rob Hatch-Miller
[MK] Michael Klausman
[AK] Andreas Knutsen
[JM] Josh Madell
[DM] Doug Mosurock
[SM] Scott Mou


THANKS FOR READING
- all of us at Other Music