The Other Music Update

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	May 17, 2007


			A MESSAGE TO OUR EARTHLINK SUBSCRIBERS Several subscribers who are using Earthlink email accounts have written in to tell us that they are receiving multiple copies of our announcements. Our tech support team has determined that this is an Earthlink issue and recommends that anyone who is receiving several copies at a time of our updates to re-subscribe to our mail list with a non-Earthlink email account. You can do this automatically by going to www.othermusic.com/index.cgi. You'll find a dropdown box on the orange navigation bar on the left-hand side where you can subscribe your new email address, and un-subscribe your old one.


	FEATURED NEW RELEASES Lubomyr Melnyk (mp3 available) Efdemin Pan Sonic Fennesz / Sakamoto Betty Davis (mp3 avaiable) Cult Cargo 2 (various - mp3 available) Dungen Life on Earth! Au Revoir Simone Max Mohr Vladislav Delay Tectonic Plates The North Sea KTL Black Devil Disco Club Excepter Henry Flynt Wilco The Scientists Searching for Shakes (various) Machinefabriek		Mark Sultan (mp3 available) Al Stewart Delaney & Bonnie Idle Race Jeronimo Malachi Alex Delivery (mp3 available) ALSO AVAILABLE Sun Ra Telefon Tel Aviv (remixes) FEATURED MP3 DOWNLOADS Spanish Harlem Orchestra A Sunny Day in Glasgow "Blue" Gene Tyranny Larry Young Voxtrot (single)

Photo by Matt Hobbs

ABSOLUT WORLD TICKET GIVE-AWAY THIS SUNDAY
In anticipation of the launch of Absolut Vodka's first new advertising campaign in 27 years, In an Absolut World, Other Music, Giant Step & Absolut Vodka will be partnering this Sunday, May 20, 2007, to give away 100 pairs of tickets to some of this summer's hottest concerts. We cannot announce the bands in advance, but venues include McCarren Pool, Central Park SummerStage, Keyspan Park, Highline Ballroom, Madison Square Garden, Roseland Ballroom and the Town Hall, and it's a great selection of many Other Music favorites and top sellers. Some of these events are already sold out. Tickets will be distributed one pair per customer, first come, first served, starting at 12 noon this Sunday at the shop. You must be 21+ with government issued ID to participate.

SUNDAY, MAY 20 @ NOON
OTHER MUSIC: 15 E. 4th Street NYC

MAY

Sun 13

Mon 14

Tues 15

Wed 16

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TONIGHT: DUNGEN LISTENING PARTY AT K&M!
Tonight, (Thursday, May 17), we'll be featuring DUNGEN's highly-anticipated new album, Tio Bitar at our listening party at K&M. It all gets underway at 10:00 P.M. when we'll play the record in its entirety, and afterwards, Other Music DJs will take over the decks. There will lots of Kemado Records give-aways plus FREE VODKA GIMLETS (while they last) and BEER SPECIALS all night long!

TONIGHT, THURSDAY, MAY 17!
10 P.M. to Last Call

K&M BAR:
225 N. 8th Street (Corner of Roebling)
Williamsburg, Brooklyn
*NO COVER*

MAY

Sun 20

Mon 21

Tues 22

Wed 23

Thurs 24

Fri 25

Sat 26

TICKET GIVE-AWAY TO DIRTYBIRD APT RESIDENCY
San Fran's finest, the Dirtybird label kicks off their monthly residency at APT next Thursday, May 24. Featuring Claude VonStroke and Christian Martin on the decks, it's guaranteed to be a great night of warm grooves, tech-house and Detroit acid. Enter to win a pair of tickets by emailing to tickets@othermusic.com The two winners (one pair each) will be notified on Monday, May 21st. Please leave a daytime phone number where you can be reached.

THURSDAY, MAY 24
APT: 413 W. 13 Street NYC


	$15.99 CD $9.99 mp3		LUBOMYR MELNYK KMH (Unseen Worlds) Three KMH Four KMH I think it's safe to say that the true history of minimalism has yet to be written, with unexpected byways heretofore hidden from public view routinely surfacing seemingly every year. Case in point, the unexpected re-emergence of Lubomyr Melnyk and his debut album KMH, which is surely one of the must have reissues of the year. Mr. Melnyk has apparently been hiding in plain view, as he's perfectly reachable via a detailed website where he sells copies of his "piano music in a continuous mode" on LP, CD, and cassette. He also offers a correspondence course for those interested in learning his idiosyncratic piano technique. He'd probably quibble over the minimal tag, he prefers to refer to his music as maximal, but for the average reader of this update we won't split hairs. Possessing a Rasputin-like visage and Ukrainian parentage, Melnyk's mature music was the result of a negative reaction to the "nightmarish" world of modern music, and a positive one to the way opened by the advances of Terry Riley and Steve Reich in the mid-seventies. Wishing to return to the harmonic splendor of Chopin and Mozart, Melnyk expended his considerable energies developing a "continuous mode" of playing, dense in sound clusters and rich in harmonic overtones. It is somewhat analogous to Charlemagne Palestine's Strumming Music, but with a more detailed melodic sense, in that his pieces seem to "go" somewhere. KMH was Melnyk's first recorded attempt at documenting his new mode of playing. The initial patterns to emerge are in a somewhat dissonant vein, but as the fifty-minute piece progresses the sonorities become more and more lush, with rows of notes materializing out of some kind of achingly beautiful ether. Extremely listenable, and seemingly endlessly fascinating, KMH is a major rediscovery that will surely change the way people look at official canon of minimal music in the twentieth century. There's no reason he should be left out of the textbooks from here on out. [MK]


	$15.99 CD		EFDEMIN Efdemin (Dial) "Le Ratafia" "April Fools" So, not like they're Blur and Oasis or anything, but the recent controversy around the shop has been which album is better, the new Pantha Du Prince or Efdemin? I won't get into a bullet-point breakdown, as they're both such adorable records. In fact, more than one of us here at OM is known to mix back and forth between a copy of each album in their DJ set. For every languid, romantic buildup in PDP's This Bliss there is a perfectly panther-slick, muscle-toned, endless groove in Efdemin's self-titled album to follow it up with. What can I say? Not much, because words fail to convey the feeling these tracks inspire. We are not used to hearing albums this solid and full of cuts that could just loop on into infinity for all we care. Even if I told you that Efdemin makes the most non-retro-nostalgic Detroit, efficient, deep-ass, on-point jams, full of warmth and slooow-rising energy, it still wouldn't really do him justice. These tracks are strangely blissful (in a "house" way) and muscle-y (in a "Detroit" way) and sophisticated (in that "Dial" way -- after all, Efdemin is P. Sollman who also released an album of beautiful, ambient installation soundtracks), but in a way that's all its own. Dial is killing it now. Another proud addition to the top 5 techno albums of the year. Highest recommendation!! [SM]


	$14.99 CD		PAN SONIC Katodivaihe / Cathodephase (Blast First) "Lahetyst / Transmission" Pan Sonic have a deep and impressive catalog, spanning close to 15 years, but after all this time I've probably returned to their early, groundbreaking Sahko EPs more often than anything subsequent. In the early-'90s, minimalism was still a delicacy generally reserved for the avant-classical set, but Pan Sonic instinctually explored the cool underbelly of electronica that was as far removed from Eno's hazy ambiance as it was from the dance floor, crafting melodic, musical, rhythmic and compelling pieces from the tiniest and most meticulously assembled bleeps and pops. Inevitably, the duo (formerly a trio) has fleshed out their sound on subsequent releases, but their essence remains, and Katodivaihe is a thrilling and sometimes startling progression. Pan Sonic has broadened their palette, if not their focus, with dense sheets of metallic noise, swampy and propulsive bass tones and even cello weaving in and out of these pieces. The tracks can freeze time, hanging on minutia like a fly buzzing against a window or a door slowly creaking in the wind, or thunder unstoppably like a freight-train, but their core emotion is consistent, and consistently spine-tingling. Katodivaihe is a powerful and lasting statement from a true modern innovator. [JM]


	$14.99 CD		FENNESZ / SAKAMOTO Cendre (Touch) "Oto" "Kokoro" Austrian guitar and laptop mastermind Christian Fennesz and Japanese compositional genius Ryuichi Sakamoto inaugurated their collaborative efforts with Sala Santa Cecilia, an almost patchwork EP that found the two performers working valiantly to integrate their trademark sounds into one cohesive whole. United again for a long-planned full-length, Fennesz and Sakamoto thus present Cendre as the fruits of their continued efforts, an album marked by a seamless integration of two electronic heavyweights' brightest and most complimentary tones. Though the two men didn't record any of the disc's eleven pieces while in the same room, Cendre strikes as a carefully considered, delicately constructed, and shimmeringly beautiful work of modern ambient composition, one that's effortlessly syncretic in its ultimate execution. While Fennesz and Sakamoto each took turns initiating pieces for the album, passing them back and forth until a whole emerged, there's little here to suggest that there was any creative bickering over the proceedings. Instead, Christian Fennesz slots his electronics nicely into the spaces left by Ryuichi Sakamoto's mesmerizing piano lines on "Mono," and drapes endlessly reverbed acoustic guitar across the simple electronics and spare keys of "Glow." And even though Fennesz downplays the volume and often tempers his playing to match the gentility of Sakamoto's, moments like "Kokoro" still evidence a flair for the distorted, pulling a steady prickle of feedback across ominously atonal notes. Darker moments like these present themselves throughout much of Cendre; however, the pair are at their best when playing off their disparate melodic sensibilities, as on the beatific "Haru," a plaintively effective duet for unfettered piano and aquatic drones. Far from just an interesting academic exercise, Cendre lives and breathes of its own accord, with both Fennesz and Sakamoto bent on taking the most tonally scenic route through their musical accord. [MC]


	Betty Davis $15.99 CD $9.99 mp3 They Say I'm Different $15.99 CD $9.99 mp3		BETTY DAVIS Betty Davis - Remastered (Light in the Attic) "Anti-Love Song " BETTY DAVIS They Say I'm Different - Remastered (Light in the Attic) "He Was a Big Freak" After decades of gray-market bootlegs, the wild, raunchy funk of Betty Davis finally sees legitimate, royalty-generating reissue. It's been too long. For as long as I've been collecting records, Davis' titles had only generated awe and speculation. Original copies all reside in the crates of beat diggers, record collectors' shelves, or on record store walls, usually behind an oppressive price tag. Those days, it seems, have come to an end, with two of her three albums receiving the deluxe treatment via Light in the Attic. Betty's tale begins in Pittsburgh (where she once again resides) but really took off when, in the late '60s, she was briefly wed to Miles Davis, introduced him to Jimi Hendrix, and received credit for generating the ideas that fueled Bitches' Brew and, from the sound of things, Miles' divisive electric period as a whole. She was also a songwriter, having written hit material for the Commodores and the Chambers Brothers, but held her ground for complete creative control as a performer and songwriter, even shunning Eric Clapton as a producer for her album sessions. Originally released on the Just Sunshine imprint of the long-gone Paramount Records, these albums cut a wide swath through what was acceptable behavior for a female artist. Up until then, no women in soul, save Marva Whitney, had ever sustained a banshee shriek such as hers, much less a white-hot sexuality, coupled with fierce, progressive feminism. Her records tell the tales of streetwalkers, living in the fringes, and what it takes to retain yourself in all sorts of relationships, but never does plays the victim, nor does she hold down the God-fearing moralism that soul music had slipped into as the Vietnam war dragged on. Not her - she was the biggest, loudest badass in town, and her music, all of which she wrote herself, retained these marks, scratches and bruises. Betty Davis dropped first, in 1973. Larry Graham's bass line on "If I'm In Luck I Might Get Picked Up" has been sampled numerous times since the birth of hip-hop, most notably in New Kingdom's monstrous "Big 10 1/2," and it's a groove that will remain permanently locked into your brain. Cemented in by Gregg Errico's solid backbeats and contributions from some of L.A.'s hottest session players (including Sylvester, the Pointer Sisters, and of all people, Journey's Neal Schon), Davis croaks, coos, and shouts all over "Walkin' Up the Road," "Steppin' In Her I. Miller Shoes," and the rest of the selections as someone who would beat the stuffing out of a man if it meant compromising her beliefs, or those of others. And beat she does, on the '74 follow-up They Say I'm Different. "He Was a Big Freak" comes out of the closet with wild tales of S&M ("I used to beat him with my turquoise chain!") atop rock solid, borderline evil funk. A throat punch to conventional wisdom, practically every daring, outgoing pop and R&B star in her wake, from Tina Turner and Prince to Peaches and Madonna, owe a large chunk of their careers to the existence of Davis' street-smart, no-bullshit grooves. For those who have already bought the boots, these editions come with thirty pages of extensive photo sessions and liner notes, as well as unreleased material unavailable until now. This is the funkiest thing you will buy in 2007. Bow down to the Queen. [DM]


	$17.99 CD $9.99 mp3		VARIOUS ARTISTS Cult Cargo 2: Grand Bahama Goombay (Numero Group) "Words to My Song" Dry Bread "Honesty Is the Best Policy" Gospel Chandeliers Quality reissue label the Numero Group delivers the second release in their new "Cult Cargo" series of region-specific funk and soul compilations with Grand Bahama Goombay. The first in the series collected obscure and forgotten 45 RPM nuggets from Belize; this time around, the focus is on the Bahamian region, most specifically the city of Freeport. Goombay (a word defined in the liner notes as an annual street festival, a pina colada-esque drink flavor, and perhaps most importantly, a drum) is less frenetic than its Belizean predecessor, though no less enjoyable; every cut here is loose, raw, and totally heavy. Highlights include a handful of tracks by Cyril "Dry Bread" Ferguson, from the civil-rights call to arms "Gonna Build a Nation" to "Words to My Song," one of the most moving songs about writer's block I've ever heard! Elsewhere, the Mustangs' "Time for Loving Is Now" combines a lopsided cowbell groove, a fuzzed-out organ, and beautiful harmony vocals, while Jay Mitchell serves up a monstrous 13-minute deconstruction of Mack Rice/Wilson Pickett's "Mustang Sally." My favorite cut, though, is Sylvia Hall's double-dutch abstinence ode "Don't Touch That Thing," which manages to combine a risque (for the '70s, at least) children's playground rhyme and a "Funky Nassau"-esque drum stomp into one of the best jams on an overall quality compilation. [IQ]


	$13.99 CD		DUNGEN Tio Bitar (Kemado) "Gor Det Nu" "Svart Ar Himlen Who couldn't fall for the psych-rock sweetness exemplified by our favorite Swedish exports (aside from shop employee Andreas Knutsen, that is) Dungen? 2004's Ta Det Lugnt broke out stateside due to its overwhelming sense of rock history, sure, but also because the hooks were killer and the instrumentals were truly psychoactive, even though they sang in their native tongue. With Tio Bitar getting released stateside this go-round, the band keeps their lingua intact, fully delivering on the rock goods. Draped in silvery chainmail packaging, this album is even more streamlined that Lugnt, with crunchy and terse rockers balanced out by more groove-oriented numbers, plus a great freak-out for guitar and drums as the centerpiece of the disc. [AB]


	$15.99 CD		LIFE ON EARTH! Look!! There's Life on Earth! (Subliminal Sounds) "Life on Earth" "Bubble of Magic" Life on Earth! is a large-ensemble side project of largely Swedish descent; in case the new Dungen record isn't enough for you, think of this one as a nice comedown. Gustav Ejstes and Mattias Gustavsson of Dungen join Mia Doi Todd, Josh Abrams, Subliminal Sounds honcho Stefan Kery, Ben Vida (Town and Country, U.S. Maple) and a dozen more musicians for an all-out supersession of delightfully syrupy, pastoral psychedelic pop. Projects such as this are often disparaged as unfocused or not of one voice, but there's always an exception to every rule, and this one is it, at times recalling the cautious lilt of the Free Design, CSNY's hard-strum lyric folk-rock, and the exploratory funk of Gainsbourg circa Melody Nelson. Hard to beat a record like this, especially in the midst of such nice weather. Highly recommended for fans of all of the above. [DM]


	$12.99 CD		AU REVOIR SIMONE The Bird of Music (Our Secret Record Label) "Fallen Snow" "Lark Lark" There's something pleasantly airport-esque about this Brooklyn trio's effusive, take-me-anywhere synth-pop: It's friendly and unimposing enough to lull you into a relaxed state, yet breezy enough to make you feel like you're on your way to somewhere better -- somewhere that probably has Kir Royales on the cocktail menu. Like Broadcast's Trish Keenan or Nouvelle Vague's codeine-coated New Wave classics, Au Revoir Simone traffics in a hazy shade of summer. You could be in Paris, Rome, Rio, or Stockholm, no matter; the shimmering clatter of three synths unfurling into the warmth of girlie verses (courtesy of Heather D'Angelo, Erika Forster, and Annie Hart) would still sound like it's homegrown. Celestial and nostalgic, The Bird of Music kicks into gear with "Sad Song," a decidedly un-sorrowful tune about a bus ride that's rich in handclaps and nostalgia. But giddy girl-group wonder "A Violent Yet Flammable World" is the true hit here, driven by a dreamy, Gallic wall of keyboards that Charlotte Gainsbourg could easily get with -- the chorus is wispy in all the right places, and the unwavering vocals keep the vibe sunny and bright. While there's nothing terribly athletic about any of these soundscapes, they aim to please in their own sweet and gentle way. In between Amy Millan and Ivy lie poetic, sweeping treasures like "Lark" and "Fallen Snow," alternately cajoling and mesmerizing. The chorus of "Stars" is a siren's call, slick in its playfulness: "You make me wanna measure stars in the backyard/with a calculator and a ruler, baby." And that's just when Au Revoir Simone has you just where they want you -- in the backyard, among the flowering trees, fireflies, and other gentle summer magic. [KO]


	$15.99 CD $17.99 LP		MAX MOHR Trickmixer's Revenge (Playhouse) "Diamanten" "Mellowmoon 2" Max Mohr has been putting out dark, ill 12-inches for a while now, always shying away from the limelight. Occasionally, he'd throw out an "experimental" track or a German disco jam, just to show that he's got it like that... Besides his "Sweet" single, I'd have to say his "Trickmixer" 12-inch was a pinnacle moment for Max Mohr; and for me too, I had it in my best-of list that year. Again, it was thrashing and bashing, but still cavernous as hell. Even Superpitcher dropped one of the tracks ("Old Song") on his Kompakt mix. Now, Max Mohr comes out with a full-length on Playhouse, dubbed Trickmixer's Revenge. Filled with more dark, twisted and sometimes schizophrenic tracks, some slash-and-throb hardcore through night fog ("Diamanten"), while other cuts bounce deep ("Old Song"). It's sick like Soylent Green, and ill-deep like Carsten Jost, but a bit more bent and a little f**ked like the last Johannes Heil. Playhouse always puts out sick dark house, but this one is a few degrees sicker. We need more stuff like this! [SM]


	$15.99 CD		VLADISLAV DELAY Whistleblower (Huume) "Stop Talking" "Recovery Idea" We cannot keep up with the multiple personalities that spring from the laptop of Mr. Ripatti, but while we expect lush and mirrored house tracks from his guise as Luomo, we also dig the ambient dubscapes he makes as Vladislav Delay. Anima was one of our favorite electronic albums of the era, and despite not getting as much love as say, Luomo's The Present Lover, Delay's Four Quarters offered echo-y bounty. And while Delay explores similar scapes for The Whistleblower, there are so many dark corners and wormholes in this place that you'll be falling for days. [AB]


	$20.99 CD		VARIOUS ARTISTS Tectonic Plates (Tectonic) "Wear the Crown" DQ1 "Molten "Digital Mystikz One of our favorite secret jams comes in an unassuming plain brown package, with the title plainly printed on the cover: Tectonic (the label), Tectonic Plates (the comp). But what you find inside are two CDs containing the best slices of dubstep around. Based in Bristol, Tectonic is at the center of the action, and their selection here is right on, the first disc featuring 13 tracks from Skream, Distance, MRK1 and Loefah, among other notables. The second CD takes the cuts from disc one, along with seven more dubplates from Vex'd, Cyrus and Digital Mystikz, and blends it all into a tight DJ mix. It's slightly similar to Tempa's dubstep compilations but sans the MCing, and what results feels more like a studio mix as opposed to a live rave or private radio mix. Nonetheless, this Tectonic comp is clean yet no less vibrant, and though it's been out for several months, it's the one we that keep coming back to, thanks to the feel-good vibes which somehow come through the dark and staggering sounds. (Throughout, you feel the warmth of the bass fill your chest cavity.) If you've been keeping up with the dubstep sound of labels like the aforementioned Tempa or Planet Mu, many of their best new artists are included here. Definitely fresh and refreshing, you won't find a better collection of dubstep. For real! [DG]


	$14.99 CD		THE NORTH SEA Exquisite Idols (Type) "Take It from Me Brother Moses" "Cover Me with Knives" You might remember The North Sea (a/k/a Brad Rose, of Oklahoma) from a sublime split album with British drone ensemble Rameses III from last year. The promise of that release is brought full circle with Exquisite Idols, a gorgeous, dusky rumination of straight folk and carefully phased small instruments. Imagine an elementary, playful Animal Collective (recorded, not live) playing around with more traditional singer-songwriter elements, and you've essentially got this album, a joyful, confident, slightly melancholy time with unexpectedly strong emotional pull. The kind of record you connect with right away and remain familiar with as the months pass on, not to mention a perfect soundtrack to a sunset. [DM]


	$15.99 CD		KTL 2 (Editions Mego) "Soom 2" Sunn O)))'s Stephen O'Malley and Editions Mego proprietor Peter "Pita" Rehberg began their work as KTL to score Gisele Vienne and Closer and Frisk author Dennis Cooper's theater piece Kindertotenlieder. Pulled from the same sessions that yielded last year's self-titled full-length, 2 emerges not as a simple sequel, but as a whole new beast. Given that both albums were culled from the same time and place, it would be easy to suggest that these records are of an indistinguishable piece. But whereas the first disc reveled in pitting Rehberg's digital grind against O'Malley's black metal atmospherics, 2 sneaks in enough variations in form to distinguish it as more than just a simplistic continuation or a collection of cutting room floor outtakes. Picking up right where the duo left off less than a year ago, "Game" opens the album on familiar ground -- all cavernous low-end and muffled drone that deals in eerie restraint. "Theme," however, spends its twenty-six minutes reinventing the form that these two came close to perfecting on their debut. Beginning with muted kick drum blasts, the track slowly builds into a buzzing din of near melodic tones that bend and twirl, uneasily shuffling to the fore and commanding full attention, ultimately erupting in a barrage of jagged feedback and near-occult buzz. While that track bears the unmistakable hand of Peter Rehberg, the "Abbatoir" that follows is distinctly of Stephen O'Malley's domain, a full-on blast of distended guitar dirge coated in digital grime and sub-bass rumble. Though these sounds are distantly removed from the theatrical work that birthed them, Rehberg and O'Malley's keen grasp of pummeling maelstrom gives this album a life all its own. [MC]


	$14.99 CD		BLACK DEVIL DISCO CLUB In Dub (Lo Recordings) "Constantly No Respect" "The Devil Inside Us" "Dub" might not be the most appropriate calling card for these remixes of the recent Black Devil Disco Club album 28 After, a dicey return for one of disco's legion of disappearing acts. Rather, the extended versions on the first half on In Dub play on the same field as Disconet or Razormaid 12"s from days gone by. Ideas rushed past in the original cuts are given room to breathe here, and in many cases improve on the album cuts themselves. The second half, however, is where things really get deep, with remixes from forward-thinking outfits and producers like Quiet Village (god, this one's incredible), Prins Thomas, and In Flagranti weighing in with strong, relevant interpretations of the same tracks. Looks like you can get blood from a stone - you just gotta throw it hard enough! Highly recommended. [DM]


	$13.99 CDx2		EXCEPTER Streams 01 (Fusetron) "Streets" "Mc333" Brooklyn's Excepter (which counts OM's Dan Hougland as one of its members) are one of those rare bands whose ability to consistently confound gets more intensely engaging with each and every release. And though they've crafted a handful of great, diverse records over the past few years that have traced paths straight through the heart of dance beats, noise gristle, and industrial thump each with equally dis-associative aplomb, they've been the most effective in live settings. Imbuing each performance with an almost ritualistic purpose and a harrowing presence, Excepter don't play songs or pieces as much as they do pure moods, using an array of synths and drum machines to create an unparalleled experience that can hardly be confined to any reductive comparisons. All throughout their tenure, the band has issued documents of their live efforts as free MP3 streams on their website. Streams 01 functions almost like a "best of" compilation for these takes, presenting two discs worth of sessions edited and sequenced by band acolyte Robert Girardin. Capturing bits and pieces of the band from almost every stage of their evolution, this set also works as a pretty great introduction for the uninitiated. Though tracks like the pulsing "Stairwells" and manically propulsive "Silence (Except Her)" are almost skeletal when compared to the cuts found on KA and Throne, they share a common reliance on off-kilter rhythms that fold back on themselves, giving the vocals and electronics a dangerously unbalanced set of legs on which to stand. Other pieces, like queasy electro bounce of "Who's There 2" or the grimy, sweat-soaked pull of "Self Destruction," deal in extremities of both beat and tone that few can capably match. A defiant step away from the almost song-oriented Alternation that emerged last year on 5RC, Streams 01 is a relentlessly fascinating look at the inner workings of the savviest consciousness shredding electronic improv ensembles out there, and one you'd be wise to pick up on post haste. [MC]


	$16.99 CD		HENRY FLYNT New American Ethnic Music Volume 4: Ascent to the Sun (Recorded) "Ascent to the Sun" Ascent to the Sun is the most recent entry in Henry Flynt's growing family of long form, solo amplified violin records that includes C-Tune and Purified by the Fire -- the latter of which seasoned Flynt fans will undoubtedly recognize as the sister, or perhaps mother, album to the one at hand. Ascent reworks the universal, Appalachian Raga of Purified into a more crystalline, conceptual form. The absence here of C.C. Hennix's tambura playing, which lent Purified its awesome, oceanic expanses, in some ways, allows for a more distilled view of the material of Flynt's violin work, which is an organic synthesis of minimalist Americana and the fine-tuned slurs of Indian classical music. The violin here is overdubbed, and the two voices echo and mirror one another in a seemingly infinite number of permutations that unfold rather like a prism turning methodically on each of its many facets. Vocal-like glissandi give way to modular hillbilly figures punctuated by terse, heterodyning, double stops, all in a heady, conceptual field that recalls the paradoxical call and response of talking to oneself. More an expansion of previously stated themes than a stab into new territory, Ascent is a solid entry into a catalogue already bulging at the seams with ideas...and there's more to come, I'm sure. [CC]


	$17.99 CD		WILCO Sky Blue Skly (Nonesuch) "Impossible Germany" "Hate It Here" For Wilco's sixth studio effort, with the band's place in alterna-history now pretty much set in stone, Jeff Tweedy and company deliver an album with plenty of lovely moments, if few surprises. The Jim O'Rourke era of off-kilter squalls and surprising left turns is behind them, and Sky Blue Sky is a return to their more straightforward take on "No Depression" country sounds. The album stocks a mellow mix of '70s pop, with echoes of John Lennon and Rod Stewart in Tweedy's warm rasp, and stripped-down country-folk. Nels Cline's angular, soaring guitar leads have become integral to Wilco's sound, and they always inject passion and energy into the tracks and bring elements of improvised jazz and Television-style punk into the mix, but Sky Blue Sky is a record more about dreams than drive, and it washes over you like a warm breeze. [JM]


	$14.99 CD		THE SCIENTISTS Sedition (ATP Recordings) "Swampland" "Set It on Fire" Developing from a pretty conventional, yet great, punk rock band into a bluesy, swampy, and completely possessed rock-n-roll combo, Australia's the Scientists were one of the early- to mid-'80s' best and, to this day, criminally unrecognized. Admittedly, I approached Sedition with some caution as it's a live recording from 2006, when the band reformed to play the Mudhoney-curated All Tomorrow's Parties festival in England. Completely unjustified it turns out. Sedition plays much like an '80s-era best of, with tracks off This Heart Doesn't Run On Blood, Blood Red River, and Atom Bomb Baby (all worth checking out on their own, of course), with the same howling urgency and voodoo fever that burned and scorched on the original recordings. Spencer and Hagerty definitely copped some moves for Pussy Galore, and Nick Cave's Bad Seeds probably wouldn't have sounded the same if it weren't for Kim Salmon and his Scientists. And while not too similar musically, it's hard not to draw parallels between Salmon and Gun Club's Jeffrey Lee Pierce, both hell-bent and strung-out at the same time. So much for that highly-touted Stooges reunion, here's the real deal. [AK]


	$16.99 CD		VARIOUS ARTISTS Searchin' for Shakes: Swedish Beat 1965-1968 (Amigo) "At the Club" T-Boones "Out My Light" The Other Side Here's a new, spiffed-up reissue of this classic garage/freakbeat/R&B compilation, laying clear the whole spectrum of the '60s Swedish scene, from Beatlemania to the dawn of psychedelia. With a few exceptions (The Mascots' "Words Enough to Tell You" landed a spot on Nuggets II), these 26 tracks have rarely been compiled before, and put together, they sound fantastic, a grand overview of the scene, and moreover, proof that perhaps the Pretty Things, Small Faces and the Troggs had more influence over the short-timers of the garage world than the Beatles or the Stones. Many solid offerings here from the Namelosers (doing one of the best "Land of 1000 Dances" ever), the Fabulous Four's vicious "Rotten Rats," brooding crusher "Bo Bo Boogie Pack" by Annaabee-Nox, and tons more. Not a bad cut in the bunch. [DM]


	$20.99 CD		MACHINEFABRIEK Weleer (Lampse) RealAudio Clip RealAudio Clip Under the guise Machinefabriek, Rutger Zutdervelt dropped his debut album Marijn last year, an austere record of sly grace that reveled in tempered crackle and drone. But prior to that, Zutdervelt kept busy with an insanely impressive schedule of super-limited, 3" CD-R releases, unloading dozens of them over the course of three years, showcasing a work ethic that could put a colony of carpenter ants to shame. Zutdervelt's latest effort Weleer is almost a bit of a public service, then, as it collects bits and pieces of his best limited edition releases to effect a generous, double-disc survey of the many sounds and styles this man has come to call his own. It's tough to accurately summarize the depth of Weleer, as from track to track Zutdervelt emerges with whole new bag of tricks with which to play. Hell, on a track like "Hieperdepiep" alone he manages to bound from crackling acoustics to a Basinski-esque wrecked choral sample to aggro speaker crunch all in just thirteen minutes, with the type of balanced transitions that make it seem as though these disparate elements have always belonged together. Elsewhere he deals in delicate field recordings, warm ambient drones, and deftly mutated samples, matching simple piano lines with an incessant digital hum on "Roes 9," while dipping wordless vocals into a fine digital bath on "Carps Remix." It's the triumphant "Lief," however, that truly brings out the best of Machinefabriek, crafting a slow-burning climax out of neatly building tones that cascade over and around each other until they overwhelm and burst into a broad strokes of overdriven, distorted fuzz that are somehow placid in their intense resonance. Far from summarizing the Rutger Zutdervelt's work, Weleer suggests whole new chapters that Machinefabriek has only just begun to explore. [MC]


	$13.99 CD $9.99 mp3		MARK SULTAN Sultanic Verses (In the Red) "Spinning" Mark Sultan deserves his own wing in the French-Canadian rock-n-roll hall of fame. Daylight Lovers, Scat Rag Boosters, Spaceshits, collaborations with Deadly Snakes, and, perhaps most prominently, King Khan & BBQ Show...let's stop there. Musically, his new album, and first as Mark Sultan, explores similar ground to his previous projects but he must've spent a little more time and money on recording this time because while Sultanic Verses still sounds suitably tinny at times, it packs more punch and jumps out of the speakers with unbridled urgency. So, what we get here is a maniacal mix of doo-wop, punk, rockabilly, and '50s R&B, with the same raw yet catchy qualities of Jay Reatard's Blood Visions (and if you slept on that one, here's your invitation to catch up, as it was easily one of 2006's best records) or some of Black Lips' best stuff. Just don't call it garage rock. Sultanic Verses is way too much of an accomplished album to be lumped in with that pack. [AK]


	Bed-Sitter Images $12.99 CD Love Chronicles $12.99 CD		AL STEWART Bed-Sitter Images (Collectors Choice) "Bed-Sitter Images" AL STEWART Love Chronicles (Collectors Choice) "In Brooklyn" Before having been permanently ensconced in the AOR hall of fame in the mid-seventies due to the success of his ubiquitous radio hit "Year of the Cat," Scottish troubadour Al Stewart had cut a handful of warmly regarded but rarely heard folk/pop albums, of which Bed-Sitter Images and Love Chronicles are my personal favorites. After moving to London, the precocious teenager settled in and gigged at the famed folk club Les Cousins, which regularly hosted the likes of Bert Jansch, Jackson C. Frank, Roy Harper, and Davy Graham, amongst many others. He married those influences to a highly personal mode of songwriting, larded with references to his personal life as well as finely spun observational vignettes about the social milieu he found himself in. Bed-Sitter Images was his debut for CBS in 1967, his songwriting modus operandi already fully intact, songs with torrents of words and no discernible choruses that were nevertheless extremely catchy. It's probably the most twee record he ever cut as it featured a string orchestra that he'd later disavow, but to me it's part of the charm and not too far off from what I love about the first Duncan Browne album, or Nick Garrie's Stanislas. Love Chronicles, however, is his masterpiece. Recorded in 1969, it featured the original and best incarnation of Fairport Convention as his backing band, as well as major contributions from a pre-Led Zeppelin Jimmy Page, whose solos are instantly recognizable. Notable for being the first major label record to ever use the "f" word, Love Chronicles can in some ways be seen as a concept album about the author's love life, as he appears in nearly every song along with seemingly every girl he'd ever made out with up to that point. What's remarkable is that he managed to pull it off without once being cringe inducing, as if you're sitting with a good friend sharing details about the people you've known. Absolutely essential purchase for fans of Roy Harper, Incredible String Band, Donovan, etc. [MK]


	$24.99 CD		DELANEY AND BONNIE Motel Shot (East West Japan) "Long Road Ahead" "Don't Deceive Me" Delaney and Bonnie Bramlett were the unsung link that helped turned many a rock star into an icon. Clapton, Harrison, Parsons, Cocker, Winwood, Allman, Russell, Turner and Kendricks are the last names of just a few of the "Friends" that accompanied Delaney and Bonnie on their respective recordings, including this one. They met and married each other in Los Angeles, where they were both well-regarded on their own: Delaney for his work with the surf guitar band, the Champs, and the Shindig house band; Bonnie for being the first white member of the Ikettes, Ike and Tina Turner's famed all-girl trio of backup singers. Together they tapped into their upbringings in rural Mississippi and East St. Louis and created a potent alchemic blend of tent revival gospel, delta blues and country and Memphis soul. They didn't make an immediate impact on American listeners, but the British superstars of the time were immediately taken with their authentic roots sound. For about four years, D & B opened for every major British rock band and held a never-ending, roving party punctuated by superstar sessions, featuring an astonishing who's who of guests lending their prowess to tape for free. Recorded in 1971, Motel Shot was their fourth release and the sound and attitude is pretty much captured by the title. It's an intimate snapshot documenting a loose, mainly acoustic affair. It sounds like a bunch of uber-talented individuals partying and letting loose, fueled by bottles o' spirits and basking in the bottomless wells of creativity and musicality that filled the room. The vocals are the centerpiece here and the feeling is one of a rock-n-roll church. It's a joyous, sanctified service punctuated by their cover of "Will the Circle Be Unbroken" and their biggest hit "Never Ending Song of Love." D & B's influence on the rock pantheon can not be underestimated. Delaney's gruff, emotive vocal howl became THE template throughout the '70s, with Clapton and Bob Seger adapting that style on subsequent releases. Even Bette Midler cites Bonnie Bramlett as a huge influence on her singing. Soon after the recording of this record, Allman and Clapton set out to record Clapton's first solo record (a/k/a Derek and the Dominos) and the rest of the backing band went off to join Joe Cocker on the road. Any fan of classic American music should familiarize themselves with this recording. Everything from Black Crowes to side-three of Exile on Main Street can be traced back to the attitude captured here. For everyone else, let's rejoice in the fact that this criminally unheard album is finally reissued after all of these years. File this under: Essential Listening. [DH]


	$25.99 CDx2		IDLE RACE Back to the Story (EMI Import) "Sitting in My Tree" "Here We Go 'Round the Lemon Tree" Before joining Roy Wood's band the Move and subsequently forming ELO, Jeff Lynne was the guitarist, songwriter, backup vocalist, and sometimes producer of a band called the Idle Race. Though two of their songs were included on the second Nuggets box set, until now their albums have been difficult to track down. This two-disc compilation of their entire recorded output -- three full-length albums, plus a bunch of singles and outtakes -- was originally released a decade ago and quickly went out of print. Now that it's back, fans of whimsical British psychedelic pop groups like the Honeybus, Nirvana, and the Blossom Toes shouldn't hesitate to add this to their collections. While the band's third, post-Lynne album is definitely the weakest part of the set, even that has some enjoyable moments. Their early singles and the 1968 album Birthday Party are flat-out phenomenal, reminiscent of Sgt. Pepper's-era Beatles and the Bee Gees' early albums, and the songs on their self-titled sophomore album are more or less in line with the Lynne-penned tracks from the Move's outstanding Message from the Country LP. While I'd enjoyed some Idle Race tracks on various psych compilations in the past, this collection pretty much blew me away. Essential! [RH]


	$16.99 CD		JERONIMO Jeronimo (Second Battle) "Shades" "Save Our Souls" Jeronimo! Here's a hard German proto-metal heater from 1971, originally released on Bellaphon, and of a piece with Weed and Hairy Chapter insofar as their own countrymen were concerned. Full-on power trio blazing, recklessly rockin' and totally stuck to the walls of its collective skull. Macho, hirsute vibes paint even the most cement-headed riffs with the authority they ought to be afforded. Most of the time, the group comes off like some unholy cross between Budgie and Lucifer's Friend, especially on tracks like "End of Our Time" and "Silence of the Night," fierce numbers that predate the predominance of New Wave of British Heavy Metal acts by almost a decade. One track of boogie filler shouldn't detract too much from a record of solid rock such as this. Plus the inner sleeve photo of drummer Ringo Funk (!) is incredible in its own right; he looks like someone hit him in the back of the head with a shovel, and his solo on "Haguidia" will do just that to you. Don't get burned on the longshots available out there -- Jeronimo is hung like a horse. [DM]


	$15.99 CD		MALACHI Holy Music (Fallout) "Wednesday Eighth" One of the earliest psychedelic artifacts here, in the form of Malachi's Holy Music (originally released on Verve). Recorded in San Francisco, Malachi, a/k/a John Morgan Newbern, created this trippy and atmospheric suite of songs as early as in 1966. Assisted by Red Krayola's Steve Cunningham, the sound is decidedly meditative and Eastern-tinged (very fashionable at the time, of course), with the main instrumentation made up of acoustic guitars, Jew's harp, and percussion. These ragas meander along nicely, and make for an album that is both engaging and spiritual. And in a time when everyone was looking to make a quick buck off of certain trends and fads, Holy Music comes across as a lot less gimmicky than most "psychedelic" major label albums of that era. [AK]


	$14.99 CD $12.99 LP $9.99 mp3		ALEX DELIVERY Star Destroyer (Jagjaguwar) "Komad" "Sheath-Wet" I've listened to this debut album by Brooklyn's Alex Delivery several times, and I'm still trying to grasp what it's all about. It's easy enough to mention the touchstones -- a heavy dose of Krautrock, playful, lo-fi psych-pop, space rock -- but it's all constructed in a way that leaves me scratching my head wondering how the hell the band stays together without an orchestra conductor. The first few minutes of the 10-minute album opener, "Komad," are deceptive to what lays in store; its shambolic mess of bedroom rock and piercing metallic scrapes reminds me of Lou Barlow trying to play on top of a This Heat loop. But the track suddenly snaps into a lockstep Teutonic groove and there's no looking back for the remaining seven-minutes. The album's poppiest moments actually conjure images of the kind of music that Elephant Six might have been making had the Recording Co. emerged some 10-or-so years later, following the rise of Black Dice and Animal Collective. Found sounds and shrill electronics mingle alongside the loose band performances and beguiling lyrics, and make unexpected detours through circus music and crunchy psychedelia. It's hard to take it all in at the first listen, and honestly, it's easy to breeze past some of the everything-but-the-kitchen-sink moments, but patience rewards the listener. It's during tracks like the nine-and-half minute "Milan," when Alex Delivery reel in the excess and head in a wonderfully restrained, linear trajectory, that I can't help but imagine a sunny day spent speeding across the Autobahn with the top down. [GH]


	$16.99 CDx2		SUN RA Creator of the Universe (Transparency) "Warehouse, San Francisco, June 10th, 1971" Sun Ra continues to fascinate and enlighten the masses with this 2CD set. The Creator of the Universe brings to light a rare concert from 1971, recorded in San Francisco, which finds Ra at his most apocalyptic as he preaches his word. Disc-two features a 50-minute lecture from Ra's class entitled "The Black Man in the Cosmos," where he breaks history down to its essence. Both discs are recorded in excellent sound quality on half-inch tape, so crisp and clean that you can even hear Sun Ra writing on the chalkboard during the lecture. Mainly for the hardcore Sun Ra fan, or the truly curious.


	$15.99 CD		TELEFON TEL AVIV Remixes Compiled (Hefty) "Even Deeper" The title pretty much gives it away here, as Telefon Tel Aviv's extensive remix work gets compiled on one convenient disc. Much like band's own sound, most of the tracks are chilled-out, post-rock-influenced electronica. Highlights include the distorted take on Slicker's electro-y "Knock Me Down," a rather boisterous version of American Analog Set's "The Green Green Grass," and the relaxed groove of the Apparat remix.

$9.99 mp3

SPANISH HARLEM ORCHESTRA
United We Swing
(Six Degrees)

Spanish Harlem Orchestra’s brand new album, United We Swing, really does sound like you’ve gone back a few decades, to the golden days of Fania. Led by pianist Oscar Hernandez, this 13-piece all-star ensemble deliver a spirited set of salsa that sounds straight out of the ‘60s and ‘70s, channeling the ghosts of legendary Latin musicians like Ray Barretto, Tito Puente and Tito Rodriguez. (There’s even a guest appearance from Paul Simon.) Spanish Harlem Orchestra reminds us that musical legacy of El Barrio is still indeed very vibrant and alive in Nueva York!


	$9.99 mp3		A SUNNY DAY IN GLASGOW Scribble Mural Comic Journal (Notenuf) It's almost lazy to drop a My Bloody Valentine reference when describing A Sunny Day in Glasgow, as this Philly-based twin-sister and brother trio are about as close as anyone has come to re-imagining the term shoegaze since the descriptor first appeared. Throw in lots of shimmering electronics, angelic washes of voices and jittery guitars, ASDIG's dream pop comes in many different shapes and sizes.


	$9.99 mp3		"BLUE" GENE TYRANNY Out of the Blue (Unseen Worlds) Originally released in 1977 on the prestigious Lovely Music label, "Blue" Gene Tyranny's "Out of the Blue" must have been the most pop-oriented release in their storied catalog. Though sounding timeless, AM folk-pop stylings of Carole King rest heads comfortably with "Poppy Nogood"-era Terry Riley. A wonderful entry into the world of this most cherubic figure of the American vanguard and modern classical.


	$9.99 mp3		LARRY YOUNG Lawrence of Newark (Castle) Larry Young's '73-released "Lawrence of Newark" features pretty incredible, large ensemble cosmos-space jazz-funk (with James Blood Ulmer on guitar and bassist Juni Booth among the 20-or-so players), moving from the subdued pleasantries of "Saudia" to the Terry Riley-esque intro of "Hello Your Quietness" to the massive reverb-ed "Khalid of Space Part Two." Sun Ra fans will want to check this out!


	$1.99 mp3		VOXTROT Blood Red Blood (Playlouderecordings) A sneak preview of Voxtrot’s upcoming self-titled album (available next Tuesday, May 22nd), via this brand new single. “Blood Red Blood” is taken from the full-length, and is proof on why this Austin, TX quartet are developing the same rabid following as legendary groups like the Smiths and Belle & Sebastian, thanks to their infectious, jangly pop sound. “New Love” is a B-side not available on the album.


	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 from it for any reason, please send an email from the address you wish to delete to list@othermusic.com and make sure the word "Remove" is included in the subject line.		THIS WEEK'S CONTRIBUTORS [AB] Adrian Burkholder [CC] Che Chen [MC] Michael Crumsho [DG] Daniel Givens [GH] Gerald Hammill [DH] Duane Harriott [RH] Rob Hatch-Miller [IQ] Mikey IQ Jones [MK] Michael Klausman [AK] Andreas Knutsen [JM] Josh Madell [DM] Doug Mosurock [SM] Scott Mou [KO] Kristy Ojala THANKS FOR READING - all of us at Other Music

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