FEATURED NEW RELEASES
Big Apple Rappin' (Various Artists)
Bibio
Isolée
Terrestrial Tones
Tapes 'n Tapes
Isobel Campbell & Mark Lanegan
Stereolab
I Love You but I've Chosen Darkness
Neko Case
Rogers Sisters
Alvars Orkester
Nightmares on Wax
Mogwai
Ezekiel Honig & Morgan Packard
Kieran Hebden & Steve Reid

Wechsel Garland
Pink Mountaintops
Faine Jade
Mike Shannon
Jirku/Judge

ALSO AVAILABLE
Witch
Baron Zen

BACK IN STOCK
Moondog (Domestic Pressing)

COMPLETE LIST OF THIS WEEK'S NEW ARRIVALS

VARIOUS ARTISTS
Big Apple Rappin'
(Soul Jazz)

"Spoonin Rap" Spoonie Gee

"Rock the Beat" Jamaica Girls

Soul Jazz brings us this excellent collection of really great rap records that were created at a time when hip-hop was in its infancy. Included in this double-CD set is a 64 page booklet featuring a lot of extensive interviews with such luminaries as Grandmaster Caz, Kool Herc and others. The notes also bring up an interesting point about why a compilation like this is needed. A lot of the early rap records were...well, pretty bad. When Sugarhill Gang released "Rapper's Delight," it exploded! But the Sugar Hill Gang was pretty much a manufactured group and the record (which is actually very good) spawned a whole lot of imitators soon after. Money hungry entrepreneurs would start a small company, find some people on the street, put them in the studio and make a novelty rap song. Most of these entrepreneurs could care less about hip-hop; they just wanted to capitalize on the rapping fad, so a majority of the records from this era are simply bad. Most of the early South Bronx luminaries weren't even able to make records for years following this era, and that's why a comp like this is important. Big Apple Rappin' wades through all of the novelty tracks and gives you a solid collection of the best rap songs that truly represent what hip-hop was all about at this time and place. Well known tracks and names like Spoonie Gee, Cold Crush Bros. and TJ Swann are represented, but you also get to hear such obscure songs by artists like Jamaica Girls, Mr. Q and Universal 2. Chalk up another home run for Soul Jazz. They are still battin' 1.000. [DH]

The LP version comes in two separate volumes, each a double vinyl set.

"Cherry Go Around"

"Dyfi"

One of last year's surreally gentle music surprises came from Bibio, the 4-track project of Stephen Wilkinson. Not your typical Mush affair, the Englishman had caught the ear of Boards of Canada's Marcus Eoin, who then introduced him to the label. While on paper it must seem strange that a member of B.O.C. would be captivated by a lo-fi project of which the primary instrument is an acoustic guitar, it all makes sense once you listen. Wilkinson's delicate, finger-picked playing is looped and processed against found sounds and the results are amazingly impressionistic and pastoral, conveying much of the same hazy nostalgia you feel listening to a Boards record or Aphex Twin's ambient vignettes. Wilkinson's second album, Hand Cranked, picks up right where he left us with 2005's fi, but the serene melodies are ever more direct and buoyant. A singer even appears during the brief "Abberwi," his halcyon voice beautifully bleared alongside the warbled guitar. As much as the word "psychedelic" is thrown around these days, it really is the perfect descriptor to Bibio's music. Not in the traditional sense per se, but Wilkinson blurs his songs with spacey, technicolor production and the results are all at once organic and otherworldly. [GH]

$17.99 CD

"Initiate"

"Rockers"

Let's start this one off with a bit of heresy: Listening to Western Store, I am reminded of my slight disappointment upon hearing Isolée's first LP Rest for the first time. Alright, I can hear all y'all techno nerd-nazis getting all worked up about that. But man, when ya consider the range and quality of all of his 12-inch releases prior to Rest, the prime ones essentially included in this compilation, and you compare them to the relatively homogenous quality of that first full-length, ya gotta at least understand how someone could feel that way…! The Western Store EP alone that this compilation is named after (including the tracks "Rockers," "Surfers," "Simone Rides" and "King Off") helped define minimal, dubby German house. ("King Off" sounds like funked-up Monolake, and "Rockers" is just funky and chunky in a way that almost doesn't exist anymore.) Then there are tracks like "Bleu," which again displays Rajko Muller's mastery of the smoothed out, non-klunky shuffle beat, and his smoked out murky voice that, to me, foreshadows the vocal sound that Villalobos is now known for. So, to keep me from going into even more unnecessary detail, let's just say that this CD is on the essential side and shows Muller's ability to write lasting tracks. It's amazing to listen to cuts that are seven years old, which sparingly use qualities that other producers have since overdone to death, and still be able to say that the songs are fresh. Jams, basically.

PS: I've got to mention though, the Freefrom remix is not my cup of tea. Also, all the tracks have been remastered with a little extra kick in them to help move the modern day crowd. [SM]

"The Sailor"

"Gargoyle"

Third transmission from inside the haunted house of Terrestrial Tones (Avey Tare of Animal Collective and Black Dice's Eric Copeland) and it appears they're carving out a space all of their own. Yeah, it's kind of what you'd imagine a melding of AC and BD would sound like, all menacing industrial warble and oscillating scrapheap electronics dug up from Simeon's backyard. But it's more. Dark and menacing but strangely uplifting, Dead Drunk throbs and pulsates with lock groove terrorism, tweaked Eastern melodies and wicked incantations, and then there's "The Sailor" which plays as a cleverly disguised pop jam with Avey's signature vocals on top. Best one yet. [AK]

"Just Drums"

"In Houston"

"Insistor"

Tapes 'n Tapes debut album is brimming with Pavement, Captain Beefheart and Pixies influences, but the songs are so good that they aren't overshadowed by the obvious touchstones. Tracks like "Insistor" and "Cowbell" recall Black Francis and company's twisted take on surf rock, only this Minneapolis band go about it little more whimsically with a singer who more often than not makes his point by whispering close into the microphone rather than belting out a scream. Throughout the record, the group plays with a good sense of restraint, even when rocking out to the cheeky "Crazy Eighty." They also know how to create a mood and then unpredictably change it. The airy "Manitoba" floats by with some lovely chimes from a guitar and some surreal lyrical imagery, and then, without warning, the song picks up steam, the tempo suddenly doubled. Solid from start to finish, The Loon is packed with musical surprises right up until the end with an unexpectedly anthemic "Jakov's Suite." [GH]

ISOBEL CAMPBELL & MARK LANEGAN
Ballad of the Broken Seas
(V2)

"Black Mountain"

"Deus Ibi Est"

Not quite the unlikely murder balladry of Nick Cave and Kylie Minogue, but Isobel Campbell (ex-Belle and Sebastian) and Mark Lanegan (of Northwest flannel jammers Screaming Trees) do appear to be quite an odd couple. But maybe surprisingly, their voices complement each other perfectly, with Campbell as the ethereal and deceptively innocent songbird and Lanegan as the whiskey-worn wayfarer. The comparisons to Nancy & Lee are inevitable and appropriate, as even the music possesses similar qualities--country twang and rich orchestration--but the interplay and tense chemistry between the two has more in common with that of Serge Gainsbourg and his female compatriots. The main difference being the fact that this is very much the Beauty's album (as opposed to Serge's Beast), as Campbell wrote most of the songs and produced the album in Glasgow, while Lanegan added his parts in Los Angeles. All in all, an enchanting and intriguing record. Can't wait for the Camera Obscura/Tad collaboration. [AK]

STEREOLAB
Fab Four Suture
(Too Pure)

"Eye of the Volcano"

"Get a Shot of the Refrigerator"

Twelve songs in all, Stereolab's Fab Four Suture gathers material from those limited seven-inches that were released last fall, and adds a nice amount of new material (which have also just come out as 45s). But this is not another pointless collection of near misses; this one is a bull's eye. Perhaps the title is a nod to their love of the Beatles, '60s melodies, or a somber acknowledgement to their downsized four-piece line-up since the tragic loss of Mary. Nonetheless, this collection finds them at their most organic, sounding both relaxed and self-assured. Without retreading old ground, Stereolab return to that lower-fi aesthetic they either had forgotten or diverted from over the past several years. Although they may never recapture the brilliance of their early albums, this set is the best they've sounded since. The production is clean yet not overdone, and still packed with bubbly oscillators, liquid Moogs, subtle horns, and, as always, great back beats. (You've also got to check "Widow Weirdo" for the live playing of some guitar licks which were sampled by MF Doom?! ) Ultimately no real surprises other than just how good they sound, again. Get your Krautpop on! [DG]

I LOVE YOU BUT I'VE CHOSEN DARKNESS
Fear Is On Our Side
(Secretly Canadian)

"Fear Is On Our Side"

"Last Ride Together"

What an unwieldy name. Oh, but the logo will carry them through. If it were 1986, that logo--heart containing inverted cross--would be etched into study hall desk tops and drawn on Trapper Keepers. In 1986, the members of this Austin, TX quintet would have found the presence of New Romantic music inescapable, and skated away from it, eventually forming more startling '90s post-punk bands like Paul Newman and Glorium, and playing with Windsor for the Derby. What brought them together to form ILYBICD, and towards the frigidity of Anglophilic new wave, is anyone's guess, but it's a pleasure to report that they're doing a better job with it than any of their contemporaries. Their songs are written and performed with eyes wide open and ears towards a sonic landscape where style walks right behind substance, getting past the irony of fashion and achieving the spidery solitude of the Cure's best with the cool demeanor of the Psychedelic Furs and the stern, claustrophobic bombast of the Comsat Angels. Skillfully produced by Paul Barker (Ministry, Revolting Cocks), Fear Is On Our Side manages to say something new with vintage, recombinant pieces of goth-pop's velvet past, and at the same time wrings out any semblance of cabaret or tongues-in-cheek it may have had. Fans of Interpol and Bloc Party are going to fall in love with this record; skeptics, too, will see the light of choosing Darkness by the time epic closer "If It Was Me" drifts across. A bold and complete musical statement; imagine Molly Ringwald crying in between takes on the set of Pretty in Pink and you've pretty much got an image to sync the sounds up to. [DM]

NEKO CASE
Fox Confessor Brings the Flood
(Anti)

"A Widow's Toast"

"Fox Confessor Brings the Flood"

This is Neko Case's best album. That high lonesome voice of hers has never sounded better; she seems to have learned how to modulate the hard edges that were occasionally off-putting on previous albums and the results are devastating. It's an anachronistic voice to be sure, practically makes me wish punk and indie rock hadn't ever happened because people just don't seem to be able to sing like this anymore. Her compositions have matured as well, Fox Confessor Brings the Flood sidesteps the usual country music tropes in favor of a lyrical content that is more oblique and more intellectually engaging than standard country fare. It ain't art though if you don't have to work at it a little. But still, that voice, it refuses to concede any of the emotional impact. An ideal combination. Her band kills; she's got the wonderful back up of Calexico, the Sadies, Howe Gelb, Kelly Hogan, and Garth Hudson of THE BAND(!)--whose playing was regrettably referred to as "Jon Brion-esque" the other day on Pitchfork...really, is that how we treat our national treasures? [MK]

ROGERS SISTERS
The Invisible Deck
(Too Pure)

"Never Learn to Cry"

"The Clock"

While past recordings like Purely Evil and Three Fingers matched all the pogo-inducing fun that's to be expected at a Rogers Sisters show, knowing the musical past of the members--real life sisters Jen and Laura's previous band Ruby Falls and the great, power popping indie rock of Miyuki's former Baltimore group, Gerty--I've always wondered which direction Brooklyn's favorite party trio could and would eventually take. Their Too Pure debut, The Invisible Deck, definitely marks an evolution, and while the Sisters are still dishing out the garage riffs and B-52s-styled shout-outs, it also sees them expanding their musical palette. On the opening "Why Won't You," Miyuki's elastic-throat melody is as infectious as ever and is backed by the primal thump of a kick drum and Jen's meaty Nuggets-influenced guitar work. Tim Barnes' production perfectly captures the trio's frenetic energy in tracks like "You Undecided" and the punky grind of "The Light" and "The Clock." The bass and drums are heavier than previous Rogers Sisters recordings with the guitars crunching and buzzing all the way through. It's not all a new wave dance party, however. You can almost smell the incense wafting through the studio during the six-and-a-half minute "Your Littlest World," as Jen's existential musings are carried by a slow ominous beat and answered back with notes from a mystical flute. Add to this the album's unexpected gem, "Emotion Control," where Miyuki and Jen's angsty vocal interplay and a thick wall of wiry guitars lead the band into surprisingly darker territory. [GH]

ALVARS ORKESTER
Interference
(Ash International)

"Cobra Mist"

"Reality Distortion Field"

Founded in 1987, Alvars Orkester (Swedish noise/drone chiefs Joachim Nordwall and Jan Svensson) have been active on and off ever since. Initially inspired by the power electronics and harsh industrialism of Test Dept, SPK and Throbbing Gristle, the two eventually moved towards a droney, more ambient, trance. After a 10 year hiatus, Nordwall and Svensson reunited for Interference, recorded in April 2005. Opener "Johannishus" massively builds for nine minutes before it collapses into a low bass tone and morphs into "Cobra Mist," the only truly jarring wall of noise on the album, sitting nicely next to Merzbow or David Jackman's more abrasive moments. "Reality Distortion Field" samples film dialogue over sine wave drones and spills into "Field Grey," Interference's atmospheric 19-minute closer, which subtly shifts to create a trance-like effect comparable to the works of Organum or Mirror. Beautiful and disconcerting all at once. [AK]

NIGHTMARES ON WAX
In a Space Outta Sound
(Warp)

"Deepdown"

"The Sweetest"

No stranger to the theory of "hit 'n' miss," Nightmares on Wax return with a new album. Since the early-'90s, George Evelyn has been weaving together elements of hip-hop, reggae, and soul into this now familiar sound. His blend of beats, moods, vibes, and lately vocals, continues to soothe the spine, and give the heads something to nod to--samples are chopped and layered together with live bass, keyboards, and programming. This album, the band's fifth, is actually better than 2002's Mind Elevation--the record where the voice of Robin Taylor-Firth became an added texture amidst the brewing beats--and here all the elements work at their fluid best. The vocals are understated throughout, and feel more like snippets, yet when a full verse of lyrics emerges, it fits perfectly into the mix. "The Sweetest" is a sweet (no pun intended) twist of '80s-flavored reggae, while "Flip Ya Lid" sounds like a warmer Rhythm and Sound, as Ricky Rankin sings alongside a slow and steady filtered guitar, walking bass, and hand claps. Fans of RJD2's first album, dubby lounge-hop, or all things soulful, funky and chilled should check this out. More hits than misses, In a Space Outta Sound is no Smoker's Delight but there's plenty here for another toke. [DG]

MOGWAI
Mr. Beast
(Matador)

"Travel Is Dangerous"

"Folk Death 95"

For much of their fifth full-length, Mr. Beast, Mogwai revisits the menacing, slow-burn opuses of their early records, but in a more immediate way. This is quickly made apparent with album opener "Auto Rock," where a faraway piano melody and some bubbling electronics spiral into a trudging anthem in just a little over four minutes. Songs like the blistering instrumental "Glasgow Mega-snake" and "Folk Death 95" show the band embracing their Slint and Sonic Youth-influenced roots again, but you can also tell that they have a much larger recording budget than the Young Team days, with their longtime producer Tony Doogan capturing the deafening fury you'd normally only experience at a live show. In contrast, the lush "Acid Night" and "I Chose Horses" display Mogwai's penchant for creating quiet, textured music, enabled here by layers of piano, slide guitar and spoken word vocals from Tetsuya Fukagawa of the Japanese hardcore group, Envy. While Mr. Beast is certainly their most streamlined effort to date, it shows Mogwai packing a wide range of emotions and dynamics into one record. Ten years in the biz, and they're still the Glaswegian kings of sonic extremes. [GH]

EZEKIEL HONIG & MORGAN PACKARD
Early Morning Migration
(Microcosm)

"Tropical Ridges"

"Planting Broken Branches Pt. 1"

A nice surprise from the relatively new NYC imprint, Microcosm. (The label has released a good selection of melodic IDM and minimal techno from artists like Tundra, Miskate and Socks and Sandals.) This album of quiet, personal electronica, entitled Early Morning Migration, is the result of a collaboration between label head Ezekiel Honig and Morgan Packard. The album bears a resemblance to classic albums like Signer's Giving It Up to Feel Affected, plus the easy-experimental feel of the deeper Farben/Jelinek material (without being "jazzy"!!). The tracks are full of slow tempos and floating chords, and the absence of "edgy electronic/click" sounds allows the simple, intimate melodies to move freely and gives a much cleaner, organic atmosphere. Songs range from sweet, dubby atmospheric cuts, to intimate pulse techno, to barely-there cloudy, bumpy tracks that, despite their minimal quality, keep the listener engaged. Pop ambience with more humanness and emotion that is moody but not gloomy, sweet but not sappy, and slightly edgy but inviting--all simple qualities I've expected to hear from some American electronic artists but haven't really until now. Good work! [SM]

KIERAN HEBDEN & STEVE REID
Exchange Session Vol. 1
(Domino)

"Soul Oscillations"

Following a collaboration on drummer Steve Reid's new album for Soul Jazz, Spirit Walk, Kieran Hebden (aka Four Tet) brings his samplers and laptop back to the studio for this full-length duet, Exchange Session Volume 1. Reid's history is probably less-known than that of his younger partner, so here it goes... A Bronx native, Steve Reid started out backing soul vocalists Martha Reeves and Dionne Warwick before moving on to provide the heartbeat for the inspired compositions of Sun Ra, Fela, and Miles Davis. He released two albums in the late-'70s that you would file alongside Pharoah Sanders and the Art Ensemble of Chicago, both of which have since been reissued by Soul Jazz.

This collaboration with Hebden is a conscious bridging of electronic composing, improvisation and live drumming. Hebden brings tons of samples--snippets pulled from the history of free jazz and elsewhere--that he slices, loops and spins into a calm yet shifting blanket of sound, melody and texture. All the while Reid holds the whole thing together with his very skilled drumming. A wonderful marriage of past and present, the first volume of Exchange Session proves to be history remembered and history in the making. The two musicians sound comfortable together and the combination adds something new to both of their engaging back catalogs. More free than Hebden's recorded work as Four Tet (more like his live shows) and more experimental and, dare I say, out, than Reid's recorded output. Not really a groove record (though there are moments), this exchange is much more expansive, and challenging. Three cuts come in at nearly 40-minutes, recorded live in the studio with no overdubs or edits. I think the final track's title says it all: "Electricity and Drum Will Change Your Mind." [DG]

WECHSEL GARLAND
Easy
(Karaoke Kalk)

"Walker"

"Be, Baby (The Sea)"

We were big fans of Garland's exquisite mostly-instrumental outing with Haruomi Hosono protégé World Standard on 2004's The Isle, but this twinkling batch of electropop comes as a pleasant surprise. Embracing samba, exotica, '60's softness, and evoking Stereolab's percolating pop (which already is comprised of the above earmarks) with its wide instrumental palette, this anticipates the breeziness of spring in a delightful way. [AB]

PINK MOUNTAINTOPS
Axis of Evol
(Jagjaguwar)

"Comas"

"Plastic Man"

As a fuzzy yet introverted counterpart to Black Mountain's omnivorous rock/psych influenced mélange, the Pink Mountaintops names yet another limb for the body of work of its frontman Stephen McBean. Though their debut album featured many of the players from Black Mountain, Axis of Evol seems to be a solo project; fittingly, the collective songwriting processes and often jarring stylistic inconsistencies on previous records seem to have vanished altogether, revealing an artist who channels sweet-leaf/drug rock influences (Spacemen 3, the Brian Jonestown Massacre, the Velvet Underground, even Beck) into something intensely personal and overtly political. Dive-bombing between rebellious rock, spiritual chants, and soul-searching blues, he's added another impressive album to the rolls, and one which fans of any of the aforementioned groups--or Black Mountain--will no doubt appreciate. [DM]

FAINE JADE
Introspection: A Faine Jade Recital
(Radioactive)

"Cold Winter"

"A Brand New Groove"

Decked out no doubt for a psychedelic tea party with his scarf and haberdashery on the back cover of his lone record (with a 1968 single tacked on at the end), Bostonian Faine Jade also evokes that brief glimpse of madhatter tweaked-tweeness of Barrett-era Pink Floyd. A concatenation of piano, strings, studio tape tomfoolery, and acidic outbursts of guitar, on the surface Jade's songs seem spritely, but they have a darker undertow to them as well. Themes range from prescription-dabbling doctors and the shades within inner-consciousness to the overt "Ballad of the Bad Guys." Online blurbs we've seen reference Sgt. Pepper's but it's more West Coast than that, while also being dark and British. Recommended for fans of Barrett and Bill Fay. [AB]

MIKE SHANNON
Possible Conclusions to Stories That Never End
(~scape)

"Sweet Lies"

"Taken Only Road"

Hailing from Ontario, Canada, Mike Shannon's debut for ~scape acknowledges a larger palette than his minimal techno background suggests. Moving fluidly from microhouse to hip-hop and loungey downtempo, the whole record seems to swim in a dark, cinematic haze. Opening with "Come To You," a glitchy, slow moving tech-house track bubbles while the singing from vocalist Anais croons in a seductive, love lost kinda way. As the album progresses, tempos change but the stark backdrop of shimmering, fractured electronics provide a nice backdrop to some acoustic instrumentation (pianos, drums) and the occasional vocal song. Another nice addition to the ~scape roster. [GA]

JIRKU/JUDGE
Private Eyes
(Onitor)

"False Positive"

"Undercover Lover"

OK, the album art is waaaaay nerdy and could win Vice's "Worst Cover of the Month" award. It has the artist/couple photoshopped onto a clean, future-o, girder environment, being all clinical, with Thomas Jirku stoically strapped to a lie detector while Robin Judge takes notes robo-passively on a notepad. The first four tracks have a bit of a cartoony techno funk to them but by track five ("Exposed"), things get decidedly more interesting. The grooves slip right into the pocket and come off like melodic, medium-deep, slightly acid techno with tasty chunks of funk thrown in here and there. It's basically what we've come to expect from these two. Not as deep as the last Jirku/Judge on Onitor, but Private Eyes shows that this collaboration still has life in it. So, despite my criticism of the cover art, I have to say that the album has some solid tracks on it. [SM]

WITCH
Witch
(Tee Pee)

"Rip Van Winkle"

J Mascis of Dinosaur Jr returns as '70s hard rock superhero. Backed by old buddy Dave Sweetapple on bass and two of the dudes from upstate hippie collective Feathers on vocals and guitar, Mascis is a drummer again. The self-titled album is brimming with J's invigorated pounding, dense riffing, massive bass lines and themes of the supernatural. Classic and relentless hard, NOT stoner, rock.

BARON ZEN
At the Mall
(Stones Throw)

"F**kin' Bored"

"When I Hear Music"

File this one under "Gary Wilson Weirdness" folks. Coming on like a b-boy Lou Barlow after too many whip-its, At the Mall is a lost, home recorded bedroom assault on the senses. Put to tape in the late-'80s, this one will appeal to fans of early Beck, Ariel Pink and f**ked up home recordings. [DH]

"Theme and Variations"

"Down is Up"

"Bumbo"

One of the major unsung heroes of American music finally gets a proper introductory retrospective release. I've been a fan of his music for many years but whenever anybody asks me to describe his compositions, I'm always at a loss for words. The liner notes compare his works to Harry Partch and Sun Ra, and that's valid, although, Moondog's music wasn't as chaotic as the other two artists could be. Moondog was a New York street musician who is more known for being an infamous character, than for his music. For nearly 20 years (1953-1973), the blind and bearded musician would stand on the Manhattan street corners for hours, dressed in old viking gear, listening to the sounds of the city that he would later try to recreate in his compositions, for which he built new instruments (like Partch) to achieve maximum effect. Like Ra, his "free" music is never a chore to listen to and is definitely more joyous in its approach, and it always swung. To these ears, Moondog's music sounds more relevant now than ever. Modern day minimalist artists like Colleen, Fennesz, and the like, owe a debt to this man. Steve Reich has called him the "True father of minimalism." For anybody who's a fan of the above artists, you MUST hear this. Oh yeah, he also wrote the song that Mr. Scruff used for his club smash "Get a Move On" and was indirectly responsible for inventing the term "Rock-n-roll", but I'll let the liner notes tell that story. [DH]

THIS WEEK'S CONTRIBUTORS

[GA] Geoff Albores
[AB] Adrian Burkholder
[DG] Daniel Givens
[GH] Gerald Hammill
[DH] Duane Harriott
[MK] Michael Klausman
[AK] Andreas Knutsen
[DM] Doug Mosurock
[SM] Scott Mou


THANKS FOR READING
- all of us at Other Music