The Other Music Update

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	December 18, 2007


			We hope we can make your holiday shopping just a little bit easier this year with Other Music gift certificates. They are perfect for that music lover in your life and can be redeemed for purchases made both in the store and off our CD/LP website. You can buy a gift certificate in the shop, or purchase one on-line by going to: www.othermusic.com/giftcertificates.html We are also excited to now offer gift certificates for the download site, in $25, $50 and $100 increments. You can buy them at the store today, and we hope to make them available for sale through the website as well in the coming weeks... just in time for X-mas? Maybe, but swing by the shop if you need one today! Happy Holidays and thanks for making 2007 such a great year!! -All of us at Other Music


	FEATURED NEW RELEASES Dawn McCarthy & Bonnie 'Prince' Billy The Focus Group Belbury Poly Tenniscoats Olof Arnalds Valentin Silvestrov Bennie Maupin The Found Tapes (Minimal Wave LP) Pop Ambient 2008 Donna Regina Paul Hillier (Stockhausen's "Stimmung") Voices of East Harlem Wu-Tang Clan Gavin Bryars/Philip Jeck/Alter Ego The Dells New York Noise Book Black Is Soul (Various) Mariee Sioux		ALSO AVAILABLE Fennesz (Download Only Single) Klimek Dominik Eulberg Sylvain Chaveau A Number of Small Things (Morr Comp.) Jeremy Jay Wax Poetics BACK IN STOCK Glass Candy Howard Skempton/John Tilbury Pantha Du Prince Efdemin AVAILABLE ON VINYL Philip Cohran COMPLETE LIST OF THIS WEEK'S NEW ARRIVALS


	$15.99 CD		DAWN MCCARTHY & BONNIE 'PRINCE' BILLY Wai Notes (Sea Note) "Then the Letting Go" "I Called You Back" The most important thing I can say about this great new Oldham CD is "buy it now or it will be gone," as the lovely letterpressed disc is ultra-limited and already sold out at Drag City and most of our distributors. What is it? Despite leading off with the name of Dawn McCarthy from Faun Fables, this is really Oldham's show, an album's worth of bare-bones demos from last year's lushly orchestrated The Letting Go full-length. McCarthy's haunting backup vocals were a feature on that album as well, but here they are transposed against Oldham's spare acoustic guitar figures and raw vocals, plus a healthy dose of tape hiss and maxed-out transistor-radio production (or lack thereof). The results are straight-up mesmerizing, and this disc is well worth it for fans of the proper album, haters and newbies alike. Sleep on this today, it's eBay city, sister. [JM]


	$21.99 CD $9.99 MP3 $21.99 CD $9.99 MP3		THE FOCUS GROUP We Are All Pan's People (Ghost Box) BELBURY POLY The Owl's Map (Ghost Box) Founded in 2003 by Julian House and Jim Jupp, the Ghost Box label's earliest manifestoes centered on the idea of creating music that harkened back to school filmstrips, vintage horror sounds, and old library music, among other sounds of forgotten retrophilia. Taking common nods from the sounds and textures that have so inspired the likes of Broadcast, Stereolab, the Trunk Records stable, and the Mordant Music camp over the years, the past three years have seen Ghost Box drop a number of great, engaging albums that mine weirdo tape music, vintage synthesizers, bizarre samples, and whatever sounds fit in the pursuit of discs that subvert pop sensibilities in favor of the evocations of yesteryear. It's fitting that some of the Ghost Box artists share influences with bands like the aforementioned Broadcast and Stereolab; after all, in his role as a graphic designer, Julian House has helped design distinctive record covers for both of those groups. Aside from his visual work, House also records for his own label as the Focus Group. Favoring short, sharp blasts of off-kilter, bizarrely juxtaposed samples, House has thus far released three full-lengths of songs that accomplish more in brief snippets than most bands put across in double the time. On We Are All Pan's People, the Focus Group's latest missive, House stitches together nineteen tracks that pull inspiration from shambling near jazz ("The New Activite"), troubled folk ("Falling Leaf Beat"), and shaggy pop-psych ("Albion Festival Report"). Rather than play these influences straight, though, House bends and twists his source material so that each track evokes a time and place that never truly came to pass. A musician in his own right, Ghost Box's other founder Jim Jupp has been active as Belbury Poly since the label's inception. Displaying a more rigid approach to composition and performance than House's Focus Group, Jupp has released a pair of albums that take space age synthesizers as a starting point for tracks that explore the darker side of folk, psychedelia, and soundtrack music. Often expansive where the Focus Group is terse, Belbury Poly's The Owl's Map trips along through songs like "Rattler's Hey," which sounds a synth-based reworking of some themes from the original The Wicker Man. Elsewhere, pieces like "Tangled Beams" betray a subtle malevolence, while the restrained "People" builds its somber mood with the sparest of keys. Though two of the more noteworthy acts Ghost Box has to offer, the label has plenty of other goods to display as well, be it the oscillator- and sample-driven insanity of Belbury Poly contributor Eric Zann, or the tweaked improvisations of the Mount Vernon Arts Lab. All sharing similar sonic and aesthetic inclinations, each Ghost Box release thus far is more than worth checking out, and undoubtedly a collection of sounds that's bound to twist your head in a variety of brand new ways. (Preview song clips for the Focus Group and Belbury Poly on Other Music Digital.) [MC]


	$15.99 CD $9.99 MP3		TENNISCOATS Tan-Tan Therapy (Hapna) "Baibaba Bimba" "Rolling Train" Arriving on our shores just in time to make my top ten of the year, Tan-Tan Therapy is one of the most fully realized new albums I've heard in some time and a huge leap forward for the already fantastic Tenniscoats. This, their seventh release, shows the Tokyo area-based husband and wife team of Saya and Takashi Ueno (also members of Maher Shalal Hash Baz) collaborating with Stockholm-based electro-acoustic trio Tape. Recorded over a couple of days in Stockholm and Cologne, Tan-Tan Therapy is a beautifully produced album that's both intimate and sprawling. Falling somewhere between pop song and a more freeform approach, the pieces collected here loosely gesture at various genres (folk, psych, classical, etc.) but are delivered in such an intuitive way that they are never trapped within the confines of genre limitations. Centered around the playful and passionate vocals of frontwoman Saya Ueno and augmented by various guitars, percussion, electronics and other sounds, Tenniscoats have a calm approach to being ecstatic which makes these songs feel all the more concise. At times reminiscent of Maher Shalal Hash Baz or the more upbeat and less electronic parts of the World Standard catalog, Tan-Tan Therapy is a carefully constructed and nuanced album. Dynamic enough to keep you engaged throughout and detailed enough to make you want to hear it again. The kind of record that seeps into your subconscious and leaves you humming for days. [KH]


	$12.99 CD		OLOF ARNALDS Vid og vid (12 Tonar) "Englar og Darar" "Moldin" With a voice that's one part Kate Bush and one part Sandy Denny, Olof Arnalds gives us yet another reason to turn our ears toward the land of fire and ice. Sung in her native tongue and accompanied by delicate guitar picking, strings and horns, this album has echoes of her collaborators, Mum, and hints of beautifully stripped down arrangements from Vid og vid's producer, Kjartan Sveinsson (Sigur Ros). Conjuring both iceberg chills, bold waterfalls and fireside warmth, Arnalds' songs evoke ancient stories with earnest, emotive songwriting. When the koto harp is introduced on "Klara," the Joanna Newsom references can't be avoided, but it is still unfair; both singers have unusual, soothing croons yet Arnalds' vocals at times lead the instrumentation, rather than be carried by it. On "Orfeus og Evridis," she begins with a sort of incantation -- an a cappella calling to the harp and horn arrangement that follows. "Nattsongur"'s guitar-led beginning slowly gives way to a lovingly understated string composition. The small pop of the acoustic string-picking on title track "Vig og vid" (Now and Then) suggest percussion. Subtleties like these set her apart and make Vid og vid not just for folk fans. Recommended. [LG]


	$18.99 CD		VALENTIN SILVESTROV Bagatellen un Serenaden (ECM) "Bagatellen III" "Stille Musik" An altogether much more intimate affair than the Silvestrov symphony we reviewed back in September, which seemingly had the kind of presence one might encounter while at the birth of an entirely new cosmos. Bagatellen und Serenaden, on the other hand, is just about evenly split between restrained neo-romantic elegies to several friends and fellow composers, and, most excitingly to me, a suite of Bagatellens performed at the piano by the Ukranian composer himself. I've spent a lot of time with the music of Valentin Silvestrov over the last year, he's one of a circle of composers, including Sofia Gubaidulina and Alfred Schnittke, who were known as the Kiev avant-garde in the 1960s, that eventually went on to re-embrace tonality. Silvestrov has been quoted as saying that "the most important lesson of the avant-garde was to be free of all preconceived ideas, particularly those of the avant-garde," a statement I personally find to be heroic. Both Schnittke and Arvo Part have cited him as being amongst the greatest composers of our time, and his suite of "Silent Songs" set to poems by the likes of Pushkin, Lermontov, Keats, and Mandelstam, must rank as one of the most deeply felt pieces of music this reviewer has ever heard. It's always exciting to hear the composer's own hand at the piano, think of Mompou recording his complete piano music at one go while in his waning years, and what a thrill it is that the first half of this disc captures Silvestrov seated in front of the instrument performing a suite of perfectly composed miniatures that he has not yet set down in writing. Delicate of touch, these pristine little pieces are in dialogue with the piano music of Schubert and Schumann, the constructs of Romanticism, and the "sublime insignificances" lurking in the melodies of nocturnes and lullabies. They're an excellent prelude to the Serenades that make up the second half of the disc, neo-romantic chamber music that Silvestrov crafted, or co-authored even, from the fragments and marginalia of Wagner and Schubert, and even a penciled sketch from a notebook that his dying friend, the composer Ivan Karabits, took with him to the hospital before passing. This is a deeply moving music that manages that rare feat of seeming new while being redolent of the past. Highly recommended. [MK]


	$18.99 CD		BENNIE MAUPIN Jewel in the Lotus (ECM) "Ensenada" "Winds of Change" Though reed player Bennie Maupin's name may best be recognized from his contribution to Miles Davis' Bitches Brew and his work with Herbie Hancock as a Headhunter and a member of the Mwandishi band, Jewel in the Lotus, recorded in 1974 for ECM, is one of his finest moments. The group of musicians Maupin gathered spawns from his associations with Davis and Hancock (who plays electric and acoustic piano here), and included are Buster Williams on bass, Charles Sullivan on trumpet, Billy Hart and Fredrick Waits on drums (separated into right and left channels) and Bill Summers on percussion. This is one of those rare cases when the beauty of composition, structured improv, creativity and imagination all come together to create something wonderful, subtle yet engaging. Unlike the fusion work of Davis and Hancock, Maupin chose a different path with this release. As jazz musicians in the '70s were searching for new roads to travel, Maupin, along with Marion Brown, Pharaoh Sanders, and McCoy Tyner, all of whom employed Maupin at one time, began to look into their spiritual selves for direction. As the title implies, this is music with a spiritual center, less above grooving, vamping, soloing, or showboating; it is about inner searching and expansion. Having been one of my favorite LPs for years, this reissue is a welcome slice of soft-edged avant-garde. If you're looking for an excellent jazz record that doesn't quite sound like a jazz record, this is for you. Highly recommended! [DG]


	$22.99 LP		VARIOUS ARTISTS Found Tapes: A Compilation of North American Minimal Wave '81-'87 (Minimal Wave) "Lost" or "found" makes little difference in the Minimal Wave universe. It's all scarce, rare, nicely packaged and near impossible to find otherwise so we just have to count our blessings, buy the records and say thank you. The follow-up to yesteryear's Lost Tapes LP (a collection of unreleased cuts from obscure coldwave closet geniuses, also reissued and available again in a limited run of 500), the Found Tapes compilation culls together previously released but now impossible to find tracks from names ranging from the familiar (Robin Crutchfield of DNA's solo project Dark Day,) to many unfamiliar. The Iron Curtain will get you doing the Molly Ringwald dance with its soaring, icy, synthesized emo-isms but the star of side A has to be Mark Lane with his ultra coldwave Detroit jam "Who's Really Listening?" It's all "Trans Europe Express" with "No Way Back" handclaps and Fad Gadget with a better voice crashing in the Hotel Yorba alongside the Windsor/Detroit Border. My vote for the sole clunker of the bunch: Futurisk sounds a bit like bedroom Human League with questionable rhyme couplets. Side B kicks with more consistency. Crash Course in Science's "Flying Turns" is a real gem, with its sci-fi damaged metal drums and the sound of UFOs buzzing the control tower. Craig Sibley's "I See Art, You See Clay" is a new wave novelty song gone absolutely right, exploring the robot-type persona of the future that could only have been done in 1984. Tara Cross sounds like b-boy Suicide with a bad influence on vocals. Finally, I can't leave out the Eno cover done by Experimental Products; "Golden Hours" is somehow made bouncier and colder at the same time! Minimal Wave has done it again! [SM]


	$14.99 CD $12.99 MP3		VARIOUS ARTISTS Pop Ambient 2008 (Kompakt) "Ocean's Day" Markus Guentner "My Pazifik" Ulf Lhmann Unlike the rule of thumb of the Total series (even numbers are always the best), it's really hard to select a standout Pop Ambient volume, but track for track, 2008's edition is certainly one of the strongest yet. This year, usual Kompakt suspects like Markus Guentner, Ulf Lohmann, Popnoname and New Zealand's Andrew Thomas bring us rich soundscapes which perfectly blend organic with electronic -- check the light plucks of acoustic guitar dotting over the lush synth string pads and motorik cricket pulses during Guentner's album opener "Ocean's Day." Not every track is beatless, however; Wolfgang Voigt (recording here under his All alias) uses a repetitive rhythmic loop of what sounds to be a CD skipping throughout "Sag Alles Ab," as light vibrato chords undulate on top. While still far, far from dancefloor territory, an actual beat is even more apparent in contributions from artists like Triola, Thomas Fehlmann (of the Orb, whose "ambient techno" was certainly a defining influence on the Kompakt sound) and the Field, the latter of which whose "Kappsta 2" is only a slightly mellower take on his gauzy, sampledelic house of his breakthrough From Here We Go Sublime. Album standout, Klimek's "The Ice Storm" is probably the most cinematic five minutes of Pop Ambient 2008, with watery string swells ebbing and flowing like the cycle of a tide on a full moon night. [GH]


	$15.99 CD $9.99 MP3		DONNA REGINA More (Karaoke Kalk) "More" "Shape My Day" Donna Regina have a way with making perfect, sweet vocal electronica. Looped elements and synthesized instruments (kit drums, vibraphone, piano, slide guitar etc.) are all thoughtfully arranged, while female vocals sounding like Nico Gilberto drop the simplest truisms and childlike observations. This is their fifth album and, next to Northern Classic, is one of their best, particularly for the way the textures of the tracks are integrated. The brushed snare, guitar loop and chime of "She's My Friend" has the most charming shuffle that will get you dancing with your broom if you happen to have this on while you're cleaning the house. For fans of Broadcast, Au Revoir Simone, the Friendly Noise label, Astrud Gilberto and, though Donna Regina aren't nearly as dark and serious, those pining away for another Portishead album. [SM]


	$21.99 CD $9.99 MP3		PAUL HILLIER AND THE THEATRE OF VOICES Stockhausen: Stimmung (Harmonia Mundi) Karlheinz Stockhausen's Stimmung stands as one of the landmark works of the '60s. Like another pivotal piece of the period, Terry Riley's In C, Stimmung was revolutionary for its use of modular parts and performer improvisation, and for essentially being composed within a single chord. In addition to this, Stimmung also pioneered the use of overtone singing in western music and offered a radical new paradigm for what vocal music could be. The recently departed composer allegedly discovered overtone singing while his children were very young and he could not compose at the piano for fear of waking them. He began singing his ideas quietly and realized that by changing the shape of the mouth and oral cavity, he could emphasize the harmonics of a given note to be louder than the original sung note, a technique that had been in use for thousands of years in places like Tibet and Mongolia but had yet to make its way into western music. This led to a systematic exploration of the overtones created by specific vowel sounds and eventually to the composition of Stimmung in 1968. Based entirely on the harmonic series generated by a low B-flat, Stimmung has an elemental quality to it that stood in sharp relief to the analytic randomness of serial composition and the neo-classical tropes that were the predominant modalities of the day. The piece is also radical in that it requires the performers not only to learn the music, but to learn an entirely new way of singing and performing. Aside from learning the technique of overtone singing, the performers are required to improvise on the material provided by the composer -- something that was equally unheard of at that time and that is still unusual in contemporary composition. The text consists of poetic phrases and what Stockhausen calls "Magic Words" -- names of mythological deities from Hindu, Aztec, Native American, Indonesian, Egyptian and other ancient traditions -- that are incanted at intervals and, through improvised rounds of call and response by the group, dismantled into their essential phonetic and harmonic particles. The effect is an almost alchemical transubstantiation whereby each word is transformed into its universal essence in a place between speech, song and vibration. Stimmung has found the most sympathetic of performers in Paul Hillier and the Theatre of Voices, a Copenhagen-based vocal ensemble. One feels a strong sense of openness in their performance, which remains true to the material yet fresh enough to be of interest to those familiar with other recordings of the piece, of which this is the first since 1983. Recommended. (Preview tracks off of Other Music Digital.) [CC]


	$18.99 CD		VOICES OF EAST HARLEM Right On Bee Free (Rhino UK) "Right On Be Free" "Let It Be Me" Springing out of an outreach program for impoverished youths in Harlem, VOEH was a popular twenty-member youth choir that gained quite a following in the NYC area during the late '60s and early '70s. They were primarily a gospel group with a large secular following (a la Edwin Hawkins Singers) and their debut album for Elektra has been a highly sought after collectible for soul aficionados for many years. The music is closer to the soul jazz protest soul of Nina Simone, Staple Singers and Donnie Hathaway than the aforementioned Hawkins singers, but the vocal call-and-response between vocalists Cynthia Sessions, Kevin Griffin and the choir is pure gospel. This reissue also features a slew of bonus tracks, which includes little heard Hathaway produced sides and their blistering live set from the concert movie Soul to Soul. Although the group left Elektra soon after this release, the band went on to release two highly-regarded R&B records produced by Curtis Mayfield and Leroy Hutson. But their debut album is an amazing place to start exploring the small, yet exceptional, catalog of this overlooked singing group. [DH]


	$13.99 CD		WU-TANG CLAN 8 Diagrams (SRC Records) "Rushing Elephants" "Stick Me for My Riches" It wouldn't be a Wu-Tang album without a lil bit o' drama attached to it, and 8 Diagrams is no different. Apparently a few of the members weren't too happy with the musical direction of RZA's production these days, and have gone on record in numerous interviews confirming this. No matter, it's still an event when a new Wu album hits the racks, and this is yet another strong one. While it's no 36 Chambers, it's better than Iron Flag and the band's sound continues to progress. The controversial new production direction isn't really that much different than previous efforts, RZA is just incorporating more live instrumentation and there's nothing radio-friendly about the tunes here. The biggest difference seems to be in the approach. The unpredictable, in-your-face urgency of past releases is replaced by a slow, sorrowful resignation. Whatever you say about this legendary crew, they're never boring, and yes this album is great. [DH]


	$15.99 CD $9.99 MP3		GAVIN BRYARS /PHILIP JECK / ALTER EGO Sinking of the Titanic (Touch Tone) Gavin Bryars originally composed his stunning masterwork The Sinking of the Titanic in 1969, creating a shifting piece that mirrored his own obsession with the 1912 demise of that most infamously "unsinkable" of all ocean liners. Borne out of a number of ideas -- chief among them the survivor's reports of the ship's band continuing to play the Episcopalian hymn "Autumn" as the boat made its final descent into the frigid waters of the North Atlantic -- Bryar's work also incorporated survivor interviews, the sound of Morse code distress signals, occasional children's choirs, and a host of other sounds into its many revisions and performances. More than just a static piece of modern composition, The Sinking of the Titanic is moving piece of hauntology if ever there was one, an attempt to translate the power of sound and the memory of tragedy into a distinctly beautiful musical event. Recreated again in 2005 at the 49th International Festival of Contemporary Music of Venice Biennale, this new version of the piece unites Bryars with experimental turntablist Philip Jeck and Italian ensemble Alter Ego for one of the most powerful airings of the suite to date. Beginning with the familiar crackle of Jeck's dusty vinyl, the players work their way through shimmering echoes of the "Autumn" hymn and ghostly recollections of a couple of the ship's survivors. Shimmering drones mix with broad orchestral sweeps all throughout, as the players weave their way through a touching recreation of one of the worst nautical disasters in history, one whose memory still has the power to captivate nearly a century later. [MC]


	$12.99 CD		THE DELLS Sing Dionne Warwick's Greatest Hits (Dusty Groove) "I'll Never Fall in Love Again" "I Say a Little Prayer" The legendary Dells is the only R&B group, besides the Isley Bros, to have charting hits in four different decades, and this was due in part to the genius arrangements of Charles Stepney. During their late '60s heyday, he crafted album after album of lush, conceptual, featherbed psych-soul for them. Sing Dionne is from '72 and is one of the last albums he would produce for the band. Primarily a songbook album, Stepney used the Warwick catalog as an excuse to rework these classic Bacharach-penned tunes. Pretty ballsy, considering that the originals are regarded as some of the most cleverly arranged pop music ever made, and it turns out he more than holds his own here. Utilizing a full string and brass section, the arrangements are delicate and sound more Rodgers & Hammerstein than Isaac Hayes, but it's all undercut by the moody vocal arrangements and emotive performances of the group and the heavy bottom provided by the rhythm section of underground funk legends the Pharoahs. It never sold much at the time, but many Stepney aficionados consider this as strong as any of the work he did with Rotary Connection and Terry Callier. Any fans of the aforementioned or lush pop in general should check this out. [DH]

$32.99 BK

NEW YORK NOISE
Book By Paula Court
(Soul Jazz)

As an extension of their New York Noise CD-series, Soul Jazz ventures into print publishing with New York Noise -- The Book. With over 400 images, it showcases a who's who of the now legendary New York art and music scene from 1978-'88. This limited edition coffee table book of black & white photos by Paula Court, covers nearly all the bases of what was vibrant and who was pushing the boundaries of fringe culture, from dance and performance art to DJs, graffiti writers, film makers, and actors. We get glimpses of Keith Haring and Jean-Michel Basquiat, Andy Warhol, Jim Jarmusch, Charles Atlas, Afrika Bambaataa, Rock Steady Crew, Philip Glass, Laurie Anderson, Bill T. Jones, Futura 2000, Christian Marclay, Michael Stipe, John Zorn, ESG, Liquid Liquid,

and Patti Smith, just to name a few. We also get a peek inside the venues that brought many of these names to the stage, like Danceteria, the Kitchen, PS 122, Ontological-Hysteric Theater, Pyramid Club, Peppermint Lounge, and Tony Shafrazi Gallery. Perhaps a little overwhelming, in the best possible way, this is essential for anyone interested in NYC culture. Also includes text by David Byrne, Laurie Anderson, Cindy Sherman, and more. My only complaint...no images of Arthur Russell or the incredibly photogenic Klaus Nomi, oh well, maybe next time. [DG]


	$19.99 CD		VARIOUS ARTISTS Black Is Soul (Wah Wah) "What a Guy" Beverly Simmons "Honey Bee" The Classics In 1967, the British Pama label started releasing seven-inch singles licensed from various US artists, and as tastes changed in the late-'60s, they also began issuing UK pressings of Jamaican 45s. Black Is Soul is a great collection of some of those singles and offers a nice mix between soul, ska, rhythm and blues, reggae, funk, and bluebeat. Twenty-eight tracks feature familiar names like Max Romeo, the Mohawks, Laurel Aitken, Bettye LaVette, and lesser-knowns such as the Crowns, Milwaukee Coasters, Rico Rodriguez, and Norman T. Washington, among many others. What sets this comp apart from others is the nice cross section of styles, with the London mod scene as the common denominator, where soul and ska sat side by side and got everyone at the party moving. I may just have to get my creepers out of storage! [DG]


	$12.99 CD		MARIEE SIOUX Faces in the Rocks (Grass Roots) "Buried in Teeth" "Bundles" With a folk resurgence in full swing, thanks to the Karen Dalton reissues and the success of artists like Joanna Newsom and Devendra Banhart to start, it's easy to dismiss the slew of singer/songwriters hopping on the flower train. But Mariee Sioux, with her enchanting voice and softly-picked acoustic guitar intertwined with Native American flute, was already on track via her ancestry. Faces in the Rocks features this warm, reedy instrument as well as her father's mandolin accents. "Two Tongues," the best example, follows a familiar folk song structure -- soaring vocals that snake around sonnets filled with mysterious lyrics hinting to lessons of the past. Instead of woodland speak and wizards (although the first track is called "Wizard Flurry Home" -- it's not completely without), Sioux draws on imagery from the forests and plains of olde America. Simple and beautiful. [LG]


	$1.99 MP3		FENNESZ On A Desolate Shore A Shadow Passes By (Touch) New from Christian Fennesz, "On a Desolate Shore a Shadow Passes By" is an eight-minute piece that was created to accompany his LP-only release Transition. Recorded between 2005 and 2007, the Vienna producer once again blurs the line between electronic and the real world, his computer manipulations of eight different guitars reminiscent of the mysteriously soothing outdoor ambience of the night world. Only available as a download. (Preview track on Other Music Digital.)


	$14.99 CD $9.99 MP3		KLIMEK Dedications (Anticipate) "For Jim Hall & Kurt Kirkwood" "For Marvin Gaye & Russel Jones" After stellar ambient/electro-acoustic releases on Kompakt and Mille Plateaux, Sebastian Meissner drops Dedications, perhaps his most personal work to date. By tweaking and deconstructing guitar, piano and a variety of other instruments, he's created gorgeous soundscapes that serve as tributes to some of the people that have inspired Meissner the most, including everyone from Ol' Dirty Bastard to Giacinto Scelsi.


	$15.99 CD $9.99 MP3		DOMINIK EULBERG Bionik (Cocoon) "Haifischflugel" The second full-length from Dominik Eulberg this year, Bionik has stronger traces of house and trance than its nature-kissed predecessor Heimische Gefilde, but there's no lacking of the German producer's soothing, organic tones and warm melodies. A techno album that's forward-thinking but still sounds great on the dance floor.


	$14.99 CD		SYLVAIN CHAUVEAU Nuage (Type) "L'Oree du Bois" "Nuage III" One of this era's up and coming post-classical/electroacoustic composers, Sylvain Chauveau's Nuage is cinematic and melancholy and begging for visual accompaniment. "Fly Like a Horse," the album's longest track, sees Chauveau use only guitar and electronics to create something something deeply emotional and moving. On the other 18 pieces, piano, violin, viola create something incredibly melancholy, bordering on the romantic at times, not unlike works by Max Richter and Johann Johannson.


	$14.99 CDx2 $14.99 MP3		VARIOUS ARTISTS A Number Of Small Things - A Collection Of Morr Music Singles From 2001 - 2007 (Morr Music) "Get Away" Butcher the Bar "Broken Monitors" B. Fleischmann Morr Music finally releases their great 7" singles into the digital world via this two disc collection. All the label roster is represented, including new names like Seavault and Butcher the Bar. You'll also hear surprising covers like Masha Qrella's take on Bryan Ferry's "Don't Stop the Dance," John Yoko's version of Smog's "Morning Paper" and Seabear's reworking of the Undertones' "Teenage Kicks."


	$4.99 45 $1.99 MP3		JEREMY JAY We Were There (K) The second single this winter from K's new signing, Jeremy Jay. The LA songwriter's chilly pop masterfully combines loner-psych (we even hear a little Bobb Trimble) with an early-'80s synth-pop vibe that recalls Gary Numan, or even the Wake. We're sure that he's a name you'll be hearing more of in 2008, in the meantime, check out these two songs as well as his "Airwalker" single and his Dreamland EP from earlier this year. (Preview songs on Other Music Digital.)


	$7.99 MG		WAX POETICS Magazine (Wax Poetics) Brand new issue of the crate digger's bible, this time with a hip-hop slant, with features on Devin the Dude, Just Blaze, Alchemist, 9th Wonder, Ralph McDaniels, and more. But it wouldn't be Wax Poetics without taking it back, so for good measure we also get stories on Little Beaver, Bobby Byrd, Barrington Levy, and Joe Zawinul. One-hundred-and-forty full-color pages in all, and as always, the undisputed champ of bringing the funk in magazine form.


	$12.99 CD $9.99 MP3		GLASS CANDY B/E/A/T/B/O/X (Italians Do It Better) "Beatific" "Life After Sundown" After sharing the spotlight on the brand-new, must-have nu-disco After Dark compilation, Portland no-wave staples Glass Candy have re-emerged with their first full-length in three years -- and it is G/L/A/M/O/R/O/U/S. Scaled down to a duo after the split of drummer Ginger Peach, Glass Candy have taken up the Italo-disco revival torch and are running with it, offering six shimmering original tracks on B/E/A/T/B/O/X in addition to the two tracks previously released on After Dark, plus a feel-good bonus intro track channeling Glass Candy's wholesome work-out buddy Anna Oxygen. While the album is packed with simplistic, retro disco-noir, synth swinger Johnny Jewel skillfully brings what sometimes seems like an ancient genre up-to-date; the backing trumpets of stand-out track "Candy Castle" evoke less a catwalk for flares and platform shoes than a slow-mo boxing ring where Kanye is pitted against Soulja Boy. Ida No's watery, sedate vocals break on top of the album's relentless beats, wavering especially on Glass Candy's seedy reworking of Kraftwerk's "Computer Love." Despite her repetition of, "I don't know what to do, I need a rendezvous," the Glass Candy frontwoman doesn't come off as helpless; rather, she tweaks the cover to reflect the band's obsession with lone -- and rhinestoned -- ladies of the night. Although Glass Candy keeps a straight face, B/E/A/T/B/O/X is a fun reminder to get out there and own the dance floor. [KS]


	$13.99 CD		HOWARD SKEMPTON/ JOHN TILBURY Pianoworks (Sony Legacy) "Air" "Images 23" Stunning collection of brief solo piano pieces by the way underrated British composer Howard Skempton, magnificently interpreted by John Tilbury. Skempton studied under Cornelius Cardew in the '60s, and spent time as a member of his legendary ensemble the Scratch Orchestra. His friendship with Tilbury (best known for his involvement with AMM) dates from this time, which no doubt helps explain the exceedingly sympathetic renderings he brings to these performances. Skempton is often described as a miniaturist; he has a keen melodic sense and an uncanny ability to cut the wheat from the chaff. No superfluous notes are allowed; his pieces are like little musical haiku, so timeless that they give one the sense that they'll be heard for as many years as Basho has been being read. Although averaging about a minute-and-a-half apiece, they continue playing on in your mind for an eternity. He's cited Morton Feldman as his primary influence, but the notes are never as dislocated from one another as they are in the work Feldman; if anything they're conjoined as simply and economically together as a piece of finely made Shaker furniture. Tilbury, in the liner notes, states that "the music creates space and release for both the performer and the listener, providing an antidote to the congestion that blights our lives." I'd wholeheartedly concur as this is simply some of the finest and most affecting solo piano music I've ever heard. [MK]


	$15.99 CD		PANTHA DU PRINCE This Bliss (Dial) "Eisbacken" "Urlichte" 2007 saw the highly-anticipated, much-lauded sophomore album from Pantha Du Prince hit our shelves. While his first album, Diamond Daze, turned heads with its uniquely manicured textures, This Bliss followed suit with an even more pronounced feel, at times slightly edgier production, and characteristically unique atmosphere, all united by an overall, undeniable "personality" that is sorely lacking in recent techno releases. Gripping, evocative tracks unfold with unexpected gravity and fragile beauty, placing his works in a class truly on its own.


	$15.99 CD		EFDEMIN Efdemin (Dial) "Le Ratafia" "April Fools" Even if we told you that Efdemin made some of this year's most non-retro-nostalgic Detroit, efficient, deep, on-point electronic jams, all full of warmth and slowly-rising energy, it still wouldn't really do this brilliant album justice. The nom de techno of one P. Sollman, Efdemin's tracks are strangely blissful (in a "house" way) and muscle-y (in a "Detroit" way) and sophisticated in a way very specific to the Dial label, on which Sollman has previously released some gorgeous ambient installation soundtracks. On the darker side of the coin as labelmate Pantha du Prince, but no less incredible.


	$14.99 LP $11.99 CD		PHILIP COHRAN & THE ARTISTIC HERITAGE ENSEMBLE The Malcolm X Memorial - A Tribute in Music (Mississippi/Katalyst) "Malcolm X" "El Hajj Malik El Shabazz" Five or six years ago, we were devastated by an obscure Chicago jazz record that was rescued from obscurity. Entitled On the Beach, it was credited to Philip Cohran and the Artistic Heritage Ensemble, and featured a young guitarist named Pete Cosey, who would go on to scorch psyches as member of Miles Davis' 70s group. The record echoed the space chants of another Chicagoan, Sun Ra, though it was rooted in the rhythmic kalimba playing of Cohran. Thanks to the diligent work of Cohran's sons, who you can espy jamming in the subway as Hypnotic Business, his musical message is being kept alive. Now we have another choice recording from Cohran's group. This disc documents a performance for Malcolm X, its four sections split according to his various names, be it Malcolm Little, Detroit Red, or Malcolm X. By turns bluesy, syncopated, free or soulful, Cohran's mutli-faceted talents as an arranger and player are on display. Wide-open, this is a must for fans of Mr. Ra and other likeminded sonic explorers. [AB]


	PHONE ORDERS Phone orders are accepted at (212) 477-8150 (ext. #2, mailorder) Mon-Fri, Noon - 7pm EST EMAIL For general inquiries or other information please email sales@othermusic.com. Do not reply to this message. REMOVE This is an automated list. If you would like to be removed for any reason, please visit: digital.othermusic.com/subscribe.php		THIS WEEK'S CONTRIBUTORS [AB] Adrian Burkholder [CC] Che Chen [MC] Michael Crumsho [LG] Lisa Garrett [DG] Daniel Givens [GH] Gerald Hammill [DH] Duane Harriott [KH] Koen Holtkamp [MK] Michael Klasuman [JM] Josh Madell [SM] Scott Mou [KS] Karen Soskin THANKS FOR READING - all of us at Other Music

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