October 10, 2007

		FEATURED NEW RELEASES Jens Lekman Ed Askew A Band of Horses Robert Wyatt Celebration Ethnic Minority Music of Southern Laos Ethnic Minority Music of North Vietnam Sun City Girls Trentemoller Sunset Rubdown Beirut Fiery Furnaces Cass McCombs Brian Harnetty Eric Malmberg   Sun Ra The Glimmers Uusitalo 33hz ALSO AVAILABLE MV+EE with the Golden Road Samara Lubelski Robert Pollard Enon COMPLETE LIST OF THIS WEEK'S NEW ARRIVALS

		OCT Sun 14 Mon 15 Tues 16 Wed 17 Thurs 18 Fri 19 Sat 20 St. Vincent   UPCOMING OTHER MUSIC IN-STORES ST. VINCENT TUESDAY, OCTOBER 16th @ 8 p.m. NO AGE WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 17th @ 6 p.m. BREAKFAST w/ VAMPIRE WEEKEND THURSDAY, OCTOBER 18th @ 11 a.m. (Bagels, crumpets, tea and juice are on the house!) OTHER MUSIC: 15 East 4th Street NYC All shows are free admission / limited capacity

		OCT Sun 14 Mon 15 Tues 16 Wed 17 Thurs 18 Fri 19 Sat 20   WIN REGINA SPEKTOR TICKETS AND A "BEGIN TO HOPE" MESSENGER BAG Next Tuesday, October 16, Russian-born and Bronx-bred Regina Spektor returns to NYC bringing her quirky and intelligent piano-driven tunes to the Hammerstein Ballroom. Other Music has one pair of tickets to give away to this show along with a Regina Spektor Messenger Bag celebrating her album Begin to Hope. To enter, send an email to contest@othermusic.com, and please leave a daytime phone number where you can be reached. We'll notify the lucky winner on Friday, October 19th. TUESDAY, OCTOBER 16 HAMMERSTEIN BALLROOM: 311 West 34th Street NYC $35 advance tickets available

		OCT Sun 14 Mon 15 Tues 16 Wed 17 Thurs 18 Fri 19 Sat 20   GHOSTLAND OBSERVATORY TICKET GIVE AWAY One might not normally associate the State of Texas with electronic-pop, but over the past year or so, Ghostland Observatory has become one of fastest rising names out of Austin's music scene. Next Friday, the funky duo will be headlining New York City's Webster Hall and we've got three pairs of tickets to give away! All you have to do to enter is to send an email to giveaway@othermusic.com, and please leave a daytime phone number where you can be reached. The three winners will be notified on Monday, October 15. FRIDAY, OCTOBER 19 WEBSTER HALL: 125 East 11th Street NYC $21 advance tickets available in person at Other Music

		OCT Sun 14 Mon 15 Tues 16 Wed 17 Thurs 18 Fri 19 Sat 20 Superpitcher   WIN TICKETS TO SUPERPITCHER & JOSH WINK Flavorpill and Robots have teamed up to present the monthly One Step Beyond party at the Rose Center for Earth and Space, and October's installment will feature none other than Superpitcher (Kompakt) and Josh Wink (Ovum)! In between dancing and cocktails underneath the stars, you can also enjoy a free screening of Passport to the Universe in the planetarium. Other Music has three pairs of tickets to give away! To enter, email tickets@othermusic.com, and please leave a daytime phone number where you can be reached. The three winners will be chosen on Monday, October 15. FRIDAY, OCTOBER 19 American Museum of Natural History, The Rose Center for Earth and Space: Enter at the 81st Street entrance, right off Central Park West Tickets are $20 and can be purchased in advance at the Museum, and at the door, or on-line at: amnh.org/rose/specials/

		$13.99 CD $12.99 LP $9.99 mp3   JENS LEKMAN Night Falls Over Kortedala (Secretly Canadian) "The Opposite of Hallelujah" "And I Remember Every Kiss" This is the sort of album that makes you wonder just where good art comes from -- and why some people are so damn lucky at finding their muse. Swedish pop stylist Jens Lekman is one of those guys: able to crank out a fistful of quality songs faster than most people take a breath or make a pot of coffee in the morning, he does so with what seems to be very little effort and an archly distilled amount of Scandinavian wit. Following a short "retirement" (whereupon he claimed he was not doing a sophomore album) from the biz, he's back with a new batch of pedigreed tracks. On Night Falls Over Kortedala, Lekman presses his wry commentary into increasingly rich spheres, from the disco leanings of "Sipping on the Sweet Nectar" and the wall-of-sound poetics of "Shirin," an ode to his hairdresser (which surely has Phil Spector jumping out of his wig), to a landslide of orchestral mechanics that beg for second, third, and hundredth listens. Horns and strings breeze in to make Lekman's oft-beleaguered point, whether it's about looking like an ass with his sister at the beach ("The Opposite of Hallelujah") or an unlucky romantic encounter involving a knife, an avocado, and an ill-timed hug ("Your Arms Around Me"). Like Hayden or Stephen Merritt, Lekman knows how not to lay it on too thick, but his sincere delivery and delicate -- even exuberant -- structures cause a listener to feel varying degrees of pity, joy, shame, and hope, often within the same song. "Postcard to Nina" is a terrific example of this; Lekman, in Berlin "for fun," goes to dinner at a lesbian friend's parents' home and poses as her boyfriend despite being ill-prepared to tackle her father's questions about his music. "Don't let anyone stand in your way," he later advises her in a post from the road. It's that small gesture of human kindness that Lekman specializes in, and you hope that he never quits the game. [KO]

		$13.99 CD $9.99 mp3   ED ASKEW Little Eyes (De Stijl) "Little Eyes" "My Love Is a Red, Red Rose" A folk singer with a nasal, bizarrely haunting voice and a fondness for the tiple (a ten-stringed instrument that doesn't sound unlike a ukelele), Ed Askew cut one record for the ESP-Disk label in 1969 that almost instantly sealed his reputation as an outsider folkie par excellence. Though hardly a best-seller in its own time, Askew's Ask the Unicorn became a bit of a leftfield classic as the years passed, his songs possessed with an unassuming strength and power that managed to transcend the hordes of other folkies with whom he shared New York City's landscape at that point. And while many thought Askew faded to black after that debut, rumors began to circulate that he had actually cut another album that remained unreleased. Available to the public after over three decades in mothballs, Little Eyes is that long sought after sophomore release, one that builds upon the majesty of his debut with a set of songs that easily bests that album. Beginning with the harmonica laced titled track, Askew here waltzes through ten songs of triumphant sorrow, be it in the ruminations of the winding "Little Infinite Love Song" or the near exultant "City of Glass." More confident and assured than on his still stunning debut, Askew's Little Eyes could have catapulted him beyond cult status, had it only existed in some form other than a scratchy acetate (from which this reissue was pulled, warts and all) for all those years. Even still, it's great to hear these songs now, to hear just how much of an overlooked talent Ed Askew really was. [MC]

		$14.99 CD $13.99 LP   BAND OF HORSES Cease to Begin (Sub Pop) "Ode to LRC" "Cigarettes, Wedding Bands" "No one's ever gonna love you more than I do" is the type of romantic proclamation that psychotic exes like to leave written in blood on a note left taped to a smashed-up jack-o'-lantern on your doorstep. But when it comes out of Ben Bridell's mouth, it's a convincing plea cast in a mold of heavy-hearted dejection, a last gasp painted in dulcet waves of soaring yet sad guitar -- no need to get a restraining order here. Band of Horses' second effort is as hopeful as it is downtrodden, and perhaps that's why they always sound so promisingly nostalgic. If you were one of the believers drawn in by last year's Everything All the Time, it's a no-brainer that you'll be converting your own masses with Cease to Begin. Rollicking piano rock ("The General Specific") and vibrantly layered epic tunes ("Is There a Ghost" seems custom-made for a pivotal film soundtrack) bleed with so much emotion that you seem powerless to stop believing whatever it is Bridell is selling. With a haunting delivery sometimes similar to My Morning Jacket's Jim James, Bridell and his bandmates are great at building a landscape that's so poetic and charged, you'll feel hope despite the fact that many of the songs here are about people who have no such thing. [KO]

		$14.99 CD $18.99 LP $9.99 mp3   ROBERT WYATT Comicopera (Domino) "You You" "A Beautiful War" To me Robert Wyatt is, for lack of a better categorization, the perfect pop star. Definitely an overachiever and survivor, he possesses a true creative spirit, never making music for selfish reasons; his upfront and almost confrontational approach to voice and song is unmatched. The arrival of a new Wyatt album is always special, and feels like I have just received a gift. Thanks to Domino, we are given a fresh take on Wyatt's classic sound, his latest ranking right up there with other great releases like Rock Bottom, Shleep, and, of course, his work with Soft Machine and Matching Mole. Comicopera is just that, an opera in three acts about "human foibles"; it's whimsical, light yet provocative, dramatic, and overall quite beautiful. Wyatt chose to collaborate with friends (including Brian Eno, Anne Whitehead, Paul Weller, Karen Mantler, Yaron Stavi, Orphy Robinson, and Monica Vasconcelos) whose voices and instruments became characters of sorts in the material. The album is filled with diverse textures, including some odd (though strangely fresh) electronic manipulations of Eno, Mantler and Vasconcelos' vocals. Of course, Wyatt multi-tracks himself throughout, playing an array of instruments like piano/keyboard, trumpet, guitar and percussion, and even spends a good part of the third section singing in Italian and Spanish, including album closer, "Hasta Siempre Comandante," an homage to Che Guevarra by Carlos Puebla. Comicopera is no doubt a complex report on the human condition, but very few would have been able to assemble such a nuanced, melodic (and accessible) response as Wyatt. At age 62, he continues to be a refreshing voice in music, and there's no doubt that avant-pop's elder statesman is as much of an adventurist and pioneer today as he has ever been. This man belongs in the same pantheon of innovation as Arthur Russell, Tom Waits and of course, Brian Eno. [DG]

		$10.99 CD $12.99 LP $9.99 mp3   CELEBRATION The Modern Tribe (4AD) "Pony" "Wildcats" Baltimore-based trio Celebration should need no introduction to the faithful. Arisen from the ashes of the noisy Jaks and more theatrical Love Life, the band is centered around the clarion voice of Katrina Ford. With each breath, she effortlessly conjures icons like Siouxsie, PJ Harvey, and Elizabeth Fraser, but ultimately winds up just sounding like herself. Again produced by TV on the Radio's Dave Sitek, assisted by both that band as well as the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, this is easily Celebration's strongest, most acutely realized effort yet, and may be the strongest full album Sitek has been associated with (and yes, I know about Cookie Mountain). Think not "modern tribal" but rather carnival-esque post-rock, full of glorious flourishes, halls of mirrors, as well as abrasive turns. An invigorating, balanced outing that grows stronger as it goes deeper, hopefully this will elevate Celebration to the same level as their more famous friends. [AB]

		$15.99 CD $15.99 CD   ETHNIC MINORITY MUSIC of Southern Laos (Sublime Frequencies) "Khen" ETHNIC MINORITY MUSIC of North Vietnam (Sublime Frequencies) Track 7 While one of the main projects of the Sublime Frequencies label has been highlighting the energetic hybrid pop forms that are springing up all over the world and providing a street-level view of the musical landscapes of especially South East Asia and the Middle East, these two releases, Ethnic Minority Music of Southern Laos and Ethnic Minority Music of Northern Vietnam, are more in line with the traditional anthropological music records released by great labels like Folkways, Ocora, Lyrichord and others. Both were recorded by Laurent Jenneau (also responsible for 2006's Ethnic Minority Music of Cambodia) who has been working in South East Asia for the last several years, where he has been living amongst and recording the musical lives of several ethnic minority groups. Ethnic Minority Music of Southern Laos focuses on the Brao people, an ethnic group living on both sides of the border of Cambodia and Southern Laos. Like the Northern Vietnam recordings, this album also heavily features the khen, a large multi-piped reed mouthorgan that is played with a circular breathing technique. Often played solo, or to accompany folk singing, the khen sounds very much like a mellow harmonium, but tuned in a unique manner which produces a melodious, shimmering tone. Gongs are another instrument central to Brao music and can be heard here in small groupings, usually played by several people at once with additional drum or cymbal accompaniment. Hypnotic and repetitive, these percussion pieces often accompany animistic rites and ceremonies. Ethnic Minority Music of Vietnam collects recordings of music from the Hmong, Mien, Giay and Lu peoples. The kheng (similar to the Laotian khen) is the principle instrument of the Hmong, who are also known for their Jew's harp playing, while the Giay and Dao peoples possess a beautiful, a cappella singing style. Typically sung by women, the phrases tend to start high and descend in elastic, melismatic runs of notes. This singing, like much of the music on this album, often serves an intimate purpose. Special songs are sung to express romantic interest between young boys and girls, or celebrate the meeting of or longing for a loved one. Both records were beautifully recorded in Laos and Vietnam and subtly preserve much of the atmosphere of village life in the footsteps, asides, or animal sounds that can be faintly heard in the background of this beautiful music.  Both come with excellent liner notes and photographs by Jenneau. Recommended. [CC]

		$15.99 CD $15.99 CD   SUN CITY GIRLS Juggernaut Soundtrack (Abduction) "Outskirts of the Possible" SUN CITY GIRLS Piasa...Devourer of Men Soundtrack (Abduction) "A Previously Unknown Sacrifice" The sad passing of founding drummer Charles Gocher brought an unfortunate end to the Sun City Girls earlier this year, and closed out a solid twenty-five years worth of freely improvised, genre-skipping, manic and insanely creative post-punk-free-jazz-world-folk-noise (or whatever you want to call it) on a decidedly sad note. And while Alan and Rick Bishop have consistently maintained that there will be no new SCG music in the absence of their fallen comrade, two little-heard, almost forgotten early 1990s LPs have recently emerged in digital form, shining a light onto two bizarre soundtracks for films that barely (if ever) saw the light of day. Juggernaut contains ten tracks originally jammed out in 1994 for a film by American Mark Roman Bodnar and Ukrainian Kyrill Kazemirovitch Protsenko. Beginning with the extended electric workout of "Gravelhead," the Girls here flash their more lyrical side with a set of tracks that sometimes veer about as close to conventional as these three ever got (read: still pretty weird). Songs like "Outskirts of the Possible" weave through beautifully complementing guitar and bass passages, all bracketed by Gocher's loose percussion, while pieces like "Life Expectancy of a Fly" match drunken poly-rhythms with bizarre blasts of insect-like sound. Later still, the group gets into some deep synth explorations with "Expendable City," all broad brushstrokes every bit as grim as they are compelling. Also from 1994, Piasa...Devourer of Men sought to score Italian Antonio Pomola's unfinished film with a cycle of brief, brooding snippets. Bits and pieces here sound like a less proggy Goblin, be it the chiming "Hatching (Folklore of the Nest)" or the dour, driving "Dolores." Much of the disc is given over the wonderfully succinct explorations of intense modes and instrumental juxtapositions that hint at the extent of SCG's interest in global folk and pop. The spare chants, shrill horns, and clattering percussion of "Wingspan Eclipse the Moon" are endlessly enticing here, as is the pure dread folk of "Glowing Red Eyes" and its growing layers of percussion and occasional drone. And though the films these records were created for are pure afterthoughts at this point, the music thankfully remains, and will hopefully assume a more prominent role in the storied mythos of the late, insanely great Sun City Girls. [MC]

		$20.99 CDx2   TRENTEMOLLER Chronicles (Audiomatique) "We Share Our Mother's Health" Trentemoller Remix "Kink" Anders Trentemoller really proves how much crossover appeal he has while still retaining underground aesthetics with his new double-CD mix (disc 1) and remix (disc 2) package. Like his debut album, the selection of the first CD explores his more musical side and he doesn't get into dancefloor tracks till the halfway mark. But on the second disc, we find Trentemoller effortlessly blending underground techno, house and trance with his remixes of the Knife and Moby as well as Mathias Schaffhauser and Royksopp. But whether the tracks are reworkings or his own, Trentemoller always manages to retain his focused, signature style. [SM]

		$14.99 CD $14.99 LP $9.99 mp3   SUNSET RUBDOWN Random Spirit Lover (Jagjaguwar) "The Mending of the Gown" "Magic vs. Midas" Between Sunset Rubdown, Wolf Parade, Frog Eyes and Swan Lake, I think it's undeniable that Spencer Krug has inherited the title of "hardest working man in show business." So maybe what is one of the most interesting things about Krug and his many projects is that despite the obvious similarities (Krug's edgy, emotional vocals of course), the bands often take quite different approaches to making pop music. The great new album from Sunset Rubdown is remarkable perhaps for embracing ALL approaches, with a ramshackle kitchen-sink style whose internal logic mysteriously unfolds with each successive listen. This group is less regimented than Wolf Parade, and less reliant on dynamic shifts to make an impact. Instead, they layer everything -- from soaring guitar leads and pounding piano riffs to blown-out keyboard washes, acoustic guitars and clanking percussion -- over a loose rock and roll rhythm section. The results are often cacophonous and chaotic, and at turns can be wonderfully delicate and beautiful, but regardless there is nothing haphazard about the end product. It's abundantly clear that each song, and indeed the album as a whole (and this is a record best ingested beginning to end for full enjoyment), has been meticulously constructed, layer-by-layer, like a painter creating a dense landscape one brushstroke at a time. There is beauty in every stroke, but once you hang this one on the wall and step back, its true soul really shines. [JM]

		$9.99 CD On Sale $9.99 mp3   BEIRUT The Flying Cup Club (Ba Da Bing!) "Nantes" "Guyamas Sonora" Zach Condon gave the indie world a well-needed shot in the arm last May with his debut album as Beirut. Inspired by traditional Eastern European music, Gulag Orkestar was a refreshing change of course for ears who had grown tired of dance rock and freak folk, as well as for those whose Arcade Fire and Clap Your Hands Say Yeah records were not enough to save them from the doldrums. Condon had a gift for melody and a world-weary voice that seemed much older than his 19 years of age, and the result was all at once familiar and exotic. A year-and-a-half later, Beirut is back with Condon enlisting members of his touring band for support, along with Final Fantasy's Owen Pallet handling string arrangements and returning contributor Heather Trost (A Hawk and a Hacksaw), who plays violin and viola on a few tracks. With all these players, it's hard to believe the new record isn't more shambolic than the first. Yes, the production does seem livelier with more layers of instruments and voices, but most of the arrangements are more deliberate and focused, giving Condon's melodies a little more breathing room. And while tracks like "Guyamas Sonora" and "Cherbourg" are still filled with swirling Balkan brass, take a quick glance at song titles like "La Banlieue" and "Un Dernier Verre (Pour La Route)" and it becomes pretty clear that the main musical muse for this outing is the country of France. Condon reportedly has been spending a lot of time with old Jacques Brel and chanson records, and it comes through, probably more so in the actual instrumentation than the vocal melodies. For one, the role of the ukulele is downplayed, with accordion, organ and strings being very prevalent in the arrangements. Add to this, snippets of French dialogue interspersed throughout songs like "Nantes" or the short phone conversation that introduces "A Sunday Smile," Beirut's new album can truly be called cinematic. The carousel music and yearning chorus of voices in the latter track is the aural equivalent of floating in and out of a daydream while staring at an old Parisian carnival postcard in your grandparents' scrapbook. But even though they've traveled to Western Europe for inspiration, Beirut haven't made any major shift in direction. Perhaps the biggest change of all is Condon's voice itself. Having spent a better part of the past year touring and performing, the singer is much more assured throughout this record; just listen to the range of his vocals during "St. Apollonia." For the sake of growth, I'm sure most Beirut fans will want the next album to be a significant departure from Gulag Orkestar, but The Flying Cup Club is exactly the record that they needed to make right now. It's one that not only marks a significant maturing, but also shows a band, and not just Condon, having fine-tuned their craft a little closer to perfection. [GH]

		$13.99 CD $13.99 LP $9.99 mp3   THE FIERY FURNACES Widow City (Thrill Jockey) "Automatic Husband" "My Egyptian Grammar" In many ways, the Fiery Furnaces make it pretty easy on reviewers: the brother/sister angle, that kooky thing with the grandmother, the near-operatic scope of many of their releases, that hair. Love them or hate them (and the band does tend to divide the masses), these guys are hard not to admire for their sheer ambition, and they've made some of the more interesting, adventuresome indie rock records of the modern era, perhaps because they are not beholden in any way to being an indie rock band. Their music pays scant reference to the sound of young America, and at times not even to their own back catalog. But Widow City, the band's latest (and their Thrill Jockey debut), looks back a bit to the simpler times of the Furnaces' 2003 debut Gallowsbird's Bark or the follow-up Blueberry Boat, maintaining the grand orchestration of the more recent albums. (Brother Matthew plays just about every note on the record, much through an antiquated Chamberlin keyboard simulating woodwind and string sections). Yet the songs are poppier and more direct than on the group's latest songwriting experiments. As is to be expected, Widow City takes the listener on a journey, and even if the meaning is elusive, one can't help but grasp for the underlying theme in this suite of songs. But the majority of these new tracks clock in at less than three minutes, and more often lush '60s productions from Serge Gainsbourg or John Phillips come to mind rather than some of the band's more baroque (dare we say progressive) influences. So where is this reviewer left? Widow City may be an album without a hook, but its songs are so full of hooks we'll let the music speak for itself, and the music says "listen." [BC]

		$13.99 CD $9.99 mp3   CASS MCCOMBS Dropping the Writ (Domino) "Pregnant Pause" "Crick in My Neck" Last time we heard from Cass McCombs, the Bay Area born (and at the time, Baltimore living) songwriter's haunting indie-folk-pop had blossomed into a direct, fully produced affair. Much of 2005's PREfection seemingly tapped into '80s Anglo-rock touchstones, and his golden falsetto was certainly perfect for a few Morrissey comparisons, especially on the "Sacred Heart" single. Perhaps that's what makes Dropping the Writ's album opener, "Lionkiller," so deceptive, as a propulsive hum-a-nah hum-a-nah guitar riff and exotic, psychedelic overtones turn the linear telling of his life story, complete with Catholic school imagery, into a transcendental rocker. Is Cass McCombs making another dramatic shift, this time hopping on the psychedelic bandwagon? No, it's far from a sign of things to come. Up next is the hushed, bittersweet "Pregnant Pause," and its quiet, steady beat and finger picked guitar would be more at home on an Elliott Smith record. McCombs' voice, in turn, is more airy and reflective throughout much of the rest of the album, and often capable of turning mundane imagery like "So I got a job cleaning toilets in a nightclub in Baltimore" -- over the lazy chug of "That's That" -- into witty first person narrative. You can draw a comparison to Moz once again, this time lyrically, as both singers possess a similar knack for romanticizing and a little self-deprecation, albeit McCombs' stories are from an American point of view and without the influence of Oscar Wilde. (Not to mention, his voice has more of a nasally, John Lennon quality at times.) If anything, songs like the soaring, breezy folk of "Morning Shadows" or the reverb-soaked Americana of album closer "Wheel of Fortune" are more reminiscent of the writing that went into A and Not the Way, only the lonely, homespun melancholy has been traded for a far more refined sound -- these days, Cass has more in common with Richard Hawley than, say, Galaxie 500. Even though Dropping the Writ finds this promising songwriter stepping gracefully into adulthood, his upcoming East Coast tour with the pop-damaged Ariel Pink is about as far from an NPR-move as you can get, and is surely a sign of more surprises to come. [GH]

		$14.99 CD   BRIAN HARNETTY American Winter (Atavistic) "I'll Cross the Briny Ocean I'll Cross the Deap Blue Sea" "Soon We'll Reach the Starry Sky" Brian Harnetty's American Winter is an intricately woven album of collaged archival recordings from the Appalachian collections at Berea College in Kentucky. Field recordings, radio programs, advertisements and interviews from the last 75 years commingle in a strange atmosphere that is not quite timeless, but perhaps could be described as "a-temporal". Yet while Harnetty's source material is clearly old -- much of it sounding like it was taken from old analog tapes, recorded wires, and 78s -- the compositional sensibility at work here is unmistakably current. The crackle and hiss of the old recordings -- from sources as diverse as national news broadcasts and intimate home recordings -- runs parallel with the crystal clarity of what sound like more recently recorded textures of accordions, pianos, banjos, bells, and electronic sounds from Harnetty's laptop. I couldn't help but be reminded of the similarly Appalachian influenced collage work of the Books when listening to this record, but rather than sculpting songs out of the antiquated material, Harnetty chooses to fashion the recordings into a delicate fabric of forgotten atmospheres, embracing all the nostalgia and feelings of loss therein. [CC]

		$15.99 CD $9.99 mp3   ERIC MALMBERG Verklighet & Beat (Hapna) "Finalen" "Slutet pa en epok" As half of the aforementioned Sagor & Swing, organist Eric Malmberg explored keenly interwoven tapestries of ambient sound and near spiritual instrumental textures. Following up his much more skeletal solo disc from 2005, Den gattfulla manniskan, Malmberg presents Verklighet & Beat, a set of tunes that brilliantly expands his palette. Even with the added instrumentation, though, Malmberg's prowess behind a variety of different keyboards and electric pianos easily dominates the aural landscape here. Fueled by his familiar Hammond lines and some twee synths, tracks like "Till minne av Lilly Lindstrom" explore terrain that calls to mind a more space-aged variant on Florian Fricke's early Popul Vuh work. Other pieces, like the lazy lope of "Sondagskonsert," are more pastoral in their temperament, awash in gorgeous melodies and powerful strings. Even better are those pieces like "Ackordflodet och evigheten," all swinging rhythms that carry the layers of keys and distant vocals to a buoyant process, sounding like a severely funked-up Bo Hansson. And while it definitely is a shame that Sagor & Swing chose to bow out a couple of years ago, it's nice to know that Eric Malmberg seems pretty intent on keeping that group's playful flame alive, as clearly evidenced by the near sublimity of Verklighet & Beat. [MC]

		$16.99 CDx2   SUN RA Dance of the Living Image (Transparency) "Astro Nation" "Passin' Gas" Volume four of what looks to be an expansive collection of lost tape reels from the ever-prolific Sun Ra finds the Saturnite jazzman in rehearsal mode. Recorded in San Francisco circa December 1974, there's ninety-six minutes worth of music spread out over two CDs. Ra plays a lot of piano -- seven keys of course -- and leads the Arkestra through some nice chants with everything being pretty groovy and mellow for the most part. At times quite different from his usual space grooves, some of these pieces are refreshing to hear, the band laying down a funky progression and just jamming with it, letting it ride. These 11 compositions are taken straight from the reels, and all the edits, false starts and occasional room chatter almost gives this collection a great mix tape feel. A few of my favorite highlights are "Sometimes I'm Happy," which contain some of the most intimate Ra singing that I've heard, and "Astro Nation," a song built around a classic groove and chant (not to mention lots of xylophone, walking bass lines, somber horns, and keyboards) which, seven minutes in, gets abruptly cut off, only to be followed up by Ra in some sort of minimal abstract funk mode. Dance of the Living Image is another amazing musical glimpse into the unfolding world of Sun Ra. [DG]

		$15.99 CD   THE GLIMMERS Eskimo Vol. 5 (Eskimo) "Bullish" Herb Alpert "Querelle" Pop Dell'Arte Here's yet another exceptional, head-spinning dirty disco compilation from some of the best in the game. This Belgian duo has built quite a reputation with their cutting-edge, genre-splicing DJ sets and CD mixes. Like Harvey, the Glimmers have been immersed in club culture for over 20 years, and it's reflected in their seemingly disparate song selection. But it's all about setting up and maintaining a mood and these guys are masters at that. For this comp, the Glimmers presents a Balearic, Afro-cosmic set, similar in scope to the recent Daniele Baldelli collections, but this mix is definitely a bit darker and fresher. Primal Scream's "Loaded" kicks off the selection, establishing the sleazy, cokey vibe right from the start; and they don't look back. Killer re-edits of LCD Soundsystem and Tussle are seamlessly spliced next to exclusive Glimmer dubs of Shirley Bassey, Herb Alpert and Cultural Vibe. Awesome! [DH]

		$15.99 CD   UUSITALO Karhunainen (Huume) "Korpikansa" "Satumaa" When Sasu Ripatti sleeps, I'll never know. He not only releases 12"s and full-lengths under a battery of names, but juggles the discographies of each. Earlier this year, he dropped a new album as Vladislav Delay and also released an album as Luomo. Now he's already following both of those up with yet another disc rendered as Uusitalo. Never mind that he dropped an Uusitalo full-length last year. Whether or not you can keep all these aliases separate, know that Uusitalo is by far his most straight-up techno guise, but even that says little about Karhunainen. Eschewing digital processing entirely, this latest is all analog and drum-focused, intent on making the bass kick sound ridiculously large. About as floor-friendly as we've ever heard the trickster, it's a strong effort from start to finish. We might say it's one of his best yet, but there's still a few months left in the year for him to drop another album. [AB]

		$7.99 CD-EP $6.99 12-inch   33HZ Paris, Texas Mixes (Dither Down) "Paris, Texas" Sentinel Mix "Paris, Texas" Gentlemen Drivers Mix Three summers ago, Brooklyn-based 33hz released an impressive debut, updating the classic New York roller disco sound for a new batch of young NYC hipsters suffering from an electroclash-induced hangover. Now we find the boys injecting some of that classy funk into the disco-rave sound. With 33hz at the production helm, they've produced this club banger featuring Houston-based rap legend Devin the Dude and the irreverent French rhymes of TTC's Teki Latex. It's a weird concept, but it actually works. Leaving no dancefloor left unturned, they include 10(!) remixes of said track, ranging from Baltimore house (Curtis Vodka) to indie electronica (Architecture in Helsinki) to tech-disco (In Flagranti). Expect to hear this one banged out in the clubs for a while. [DH]

		$9.99 CD $9.99 mp3   MV+EE WITH THE GOLDEN ROAD Gettin' Gone (Ecstatic Peace) "Mama My" The always prolific Matt Valentine and Erica Elder return to make like Neil Young and go all grass roots on their new album, Gettin' Gone. Accompanied by the Golden Road Band (including J. Mascis and Samara Lubelski), the album travels further down the rootsy/bluesy road they've been exploring, but they always keep it spacey and cracked enough, to produce something one of a kind and interesting.

		$14.99 CD $9.99 mp3   SAMARA LUBELSKI Parallel Suns (The Social Registry) "Tasting the Candy" Bucking a cardinal rule of recorded music, Samara Lubelski's warm psychedelic folk gets better and better with each successive album. For sure song titles like these accurately predict a shimmering, mushroom-munching journey, and her whisper of a singing voice begs you to lean close, but Lubelski's recent violin-work with Thurston Moore's avant-pop band informs as well. Taste the candy.

		$13.99 CD $9.99 mp3 $13.99 CD $9.99 mp3   ROBERT POLLARD Coast to Coast Carpet of Love (Merge) "Rud Fins" ROBERT POLLARD Standard Gargoyle Decisions (Merge) "Shadow Port" Christmas comes often for Robert Pollard fans, and with the arrival of two new albums, October is no exception. First up, Coast to Coast Carpet of Love errs on the side of his now-classic Guided by Voices-style pop, with plenty of keyboard-led goodness and in true Pollard fashion, lots of quirky, lightly psychedelic side excursions. Tracks like "Our Gaze" and "Current Desperation" are two of the best we've heard from Bob in a while. Standard Gargoyle Decisions is Coast's rockier cousin, and the less cohesive of the two. As on some of his other recent albums, at times Pollard veers into prog-rock territory, while at others, he just does some plain old rocking out. In most instances on Gargoyle, however, it works effectively, especially on "Killers" and the rousing "Feel Not Crushed."

		$14.99 CD $14.99 LP   ENON Grass Geysers...Carbon Clouds (Touch & Go) "Mirror on You" Enon in rock out shock! First album of new material in four years and Grass Geysers...Carbon Clouds is the band at their most straightforward and uptempo. From the opening "Mirror on You," with great vocal interplay by John Schmersal and Toko Yasuda -- they are singing together a lot more on this album, which greatly characterizes it -- to closer "Ashish," Enon draw a Technicolor map full of rock candy and electronic pop thrills. Never a dull moment and definitely their most consistent yet.

		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 [BC] Baxter Cardona [CC] Che Chen [MC] Michael Crumsho [DG] Daniel Givens [GH] Gerald Hammill [DH] Duane Harriot [JM] Josh Madell [SM] Scott Mou [KO] Kristy Ojala THANKS FOR READING - all of us at Other Music

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