June 4, 2009

		NEW ALBUMS FROM MAJOR LAZER & DIRTY PROJECTORS -- BUY AT OTHER MUSIC AND GET A TICKET TO THEIR IN-STORE PERFORMANCE The summer release schedule keeps on getting hotter, and these forthcoming albums from Major Lazer (a killer collaboration between Diplo and Switch) and Dirty Projectors are two of the heavy hitters of the season. Best of all, if you purchase either of the albums from us, you'll be treated to a free Other Music in-store performance from the respective artist that you buy. (The space in our shop is limited to 100 people per in-store; so the sooner you purchase, the better chance of seeing the show.) Details for each album and performance are below.

		MAJOR LAZER PRE-ORDER BEGINS AT NOON, FRIDAY Major Lazer is the super-producer duo of Diplo and Switch, whose collective production resume' includes the likes of M.I.A., Santigold and Bonde do Role, to name but a few. As you might have guessed, Guns Don't Kill People...Lazer's Do is a reggae and dancehall explosion, featuring guest vocalists like the aforementioned Santigold and Amanda Blank, as well as reggae and dancehall mainstays like Nina Sky, T.O.K. & Miss Thing, Busy Signal, Prince Zimboo, and many more. Your party soundtrack for Summer '09!! On Monday, June 15 at 8PM, we'll be celebrating the release of Guns Don't Kill People...Lazer's Do (which comes out the following day) with an in-store performance from Diplo and Switch together as Major Lazer! To get your laminate which will guarantee you a spot in the shop for the release party, just pre-order the album at Other Music or off our mail order Web site. The pre-order will begin this Friday (June 5) at 12PM and each CD or LP purchase is good for 1 ticket -- limit 2 purchases per person, while supplies last. (Anyone who buys the album over the weekend will receive their in-store confirmation on Monday, June 8.)

		$12.99 CD w/Ticket $18.99 LP w/Ticket   DIRTY PROJECTORS Bitte Orca with In-Store Performance Ticket (Domino) Contrary to the blog-driven success stories of so many of today's indie bands who are quick to explode and fizzle soon after, Dirty Projectors' rise has been steady and slow-building. Formed by prolific songwriter David Longstreth, whose been releasing Projectors records with a rotating cast of contributors since the early 2000s, the group's re-imagination of Black Flag's Rise Above two years ago was loved by fans and critics alike, setting the stage for their new album, which will no doubt be their breakthrough. With a core line-up now consisting of Amber Coffman, Brian Mcomber, Angel Deradoorian and, of course, Longstreth, Bitte Orca finds Dirty Projectors placing their own angular but ornate, harmony-filled stamp on this thrilling set of songs that twist and turn through off-kilter rock, R&B and chamber music in ways that you could never imagine. (Bitte Orca comes out next Tuesday, June 9th, but you can begin placing your orders now.) You won't want to miss Dirty Projectors when they perform at Other Music on Friday, June 19 at 9PM. You can get your ticket to this in-store by purchasing a CD or LP copy of Bitte Orca in the shop or off our mail order Web site. Each purchase is good for 1 ticket (2 purchases per person limit), while supplies last. (Anyone who buys the album over the weekend will receive their in-store confirmation on Monday, June 8.)

		FEATURED NEW RELEASES J Dilla The Cultural Decay 13th Chime J.G.Thirlwell Open Strings (Various Artists) Mordant Music Black Moth Super Rainbow Dog Faced Hermans Junior Kimbrough Bachelorette   Destroy That Boy! (Various Artists) Rondos ALSO AVAILABLE Franz Ferdinand Claude VonStroke (Fabric Mix) BACK IN STOCK Nite Jewel

		ANIMAL CRACK BOX WINNERS In last week's Update we announced that we'd be offering a lottery style drawing for the chance to purchase one of three copies that we had of the super-limited 3LP Animal Collective box set. (Released by Catsup Plate and housed in a beautiful, handcrafted package, the set went out of print in a nanosecond!) Well, we've pulled three names out of the hat and without further ado... Rob Stillwell, Traci Morris and Nando Schmitt, we've got an Animal Crack Box on hold for each of you! Thank you to everyone who entered.

		JUNE Sun 31 Mon 01 Tues 02 Wed 03 Thurs 04 Fri 05 Sat 06   WIN BUNKER TICKETS, FEAT: BRUNO PRONSATO, ALVA NOTO & MORE This Friday's installment of the Bunker is not to be missed, when residents Derek Plaslaiko and Spinoza welcome several of our favorite producers playing live sets in the back room including: Bruno Pronsato (Perlon), Alva Noto (a/k/a Carsten Nikolai, Raster-Noton), Byetone (a/k/a Olaf Bender, Raster-Noton), and a DJ set from Insideout (Clink). We've got two pairs of tickets up for grabs. To throw your hat into the ring, just email enter@othermusic.com. We'll notify the two winners on Friday morning. FRIDAY, JUNE 5 THE BUNKER @ PUBLIC ASSEMBLY: North 6th Street (between Wythe and Kent) Williamsburg, Brooklyn

		JUNE Sun 31 Mon 01 Tues 02 Wed 03 Thurs 04 Fri 05 Sat 06   BAM PRESENTS: YOUSSOU N'DOUR -- I BRING WHAT I LOVE (WIN TICKETS!!) As part of Muslim Voices: Arts & Ideas, BAM presents the New York premiere of Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi's Youssou N'Dour: I Bring What I Love, a remarkable film portrait of the legendary artist and humanitarian, followed by a one-hour concert by N'Dour and his band! Other Music has two pairs of tickets to the film and performance, this Saturday, June 6. To enter, email tickets@othermusic.com; we'll notify the two winners on Friday morning. SATURDAY, JUNE 6 @ 8PM BAM HOWARD GILMAN OPERA HOUSE: 30 Lafayette Avenue Brooklyn $20, $30 & $40 Tickets available at BAM box office and on-line

		$15.99 CD $9.99 MP3   J DILLA Jay $tay Paid (Nature Sounds) "24K Rap feat. Havoc and Raekwon" "Fire Wood Drumstix feat. Doom" Like most everyone else, my heart jumped when I read the advance word on Jay $tay Paid. Authorized by Dilla's mother Maureen Yancey (a/k/a "Ma Dukes") and overseen by the legendary Pete Rock, I had a feeling that this could be the posthumous release that we had been waiting for. After all, since Dilla's tragic death in 2006, his legacy has been growing exponentially, spawning hundreds of imitators and seemingly entire scenes -- it would make sense that a new Dilla record should show the baying crowds who's boss, if you will. Sadly, Jay $tay Paid isn't the definitive collection fans have been hoping for, but then it's hard to imagine how it could be -- Dilla is gone; without him there to dot the 'i's and cross the 't's it's fruitless to think that any release would truly encapsulate his genius. Jay $tay Paid is actually a bumped up, glossier version of the killer Instrumental Series that came out on Bling47 back in '02. Mining the masses of beat tapes Dilla made, the Slum Village-associated label presented the producer's depth and skill on these classic releases, and this skill is more than evident on Jay $tay Paid. The biggest difference, of course, is the inclusion of guest raps from some of Dilla's old sparring partners. Regular collaborator and friend Frank Nitty (of Frank n' Dank) appears (on album highlight "See That Boy Fly"), as do Dilla's little bro Illa J, the omnipresent DOOM, Phat Kat and M.O.P's Lil' Fame among others, but this is for the most part an instrumental effort. Short tracks have been woven together by Pete Rock (who was apparently a huge influence on the young Dilla) to create a mixtape-styled listening experience, giving it a similar flow and vibe to Dilla's seminal Donuts. Basses bounce and beats skitter, and through a mammoth 28 tracks, it's easy to hear the wide scope of the man's sound and the breadth of his musical interest. As a tribute, Jay $tay Paid is far more successful and much closer to the producer's unique vision than 2006's rush-released and ultimately disappointing The Shining. Even with the input from Rock, Jay $tay Paid still retains Dilla's unique sparkle and attention to detail, to the point where Rock's work is almost inaudible. The producers might have had complementary styles to begin with but the album sounds like Dilla through and through, which is a credit to Pete Rock. This is a respectfully treated release, and though there are bound to be plenty more posthumous records from Dilla left to emerge over the next few years, it's unlikely that there will be one more lovingly produced. Those expecting Fantastic Vol.3 will be disappointed, but those of you looking for a bumper crop of top-drawer unheard beats from one of the most gifted producers of our generation will be in for quite a treat. [JT]

		$13.99 CD $9.99 MP3   THE CULTURAL DECAY Eight Ways to Start a Day (Sacred Bones) "Brave New World" "Business Business/Fragile Object" Over the past couple of years, Brooklyn's Sacred Bones label has made quite a name for itself with a series of great singles and LPs documenting modern strains of (mostly) synth-heavy downer punk. Now, having issued key releases from the likes of Blank Dogs, Zola Jesus, Pink Noise, and a handful of other weirdos whose records you'll probably end up bidding for on eBay, this label with a penchant for impeccably designed and carefully curated pieces of wax turns its attention to the ghosts of post-punk's past, so influential to the sound of its young stable, with a couple of comprehensive reissues from the early '80s, from Belgium's Cultural Decay, and from the tiny town of Haverhill, U.K., 13th Chime. The Cultural Decay came and went between 1980 and 1982, leaving behind just two singles and the memories of the fifteen shows they played during their time. Not only does Eight Ways to Start a Day collect all four tracks from the singles, it also unearths seven additional cuts that never previously saw the light of day, along with a bonus live track for good measure. Operating in and around Belgium during their brief tenure, the Cultural Decay took a pretty obvious influence from established post-punk acts of the time, coming out swinging like a more dour Gang of Four or a less affected Joy Division, and tracks like "Brave New World" even seem to mirror Mission of Burma's contemporaneous efforts. Ultimately, though, this collection of what appears to be the Cultural Decay's entire recorded output delights in traipsing through shades of gray, with tracks like "Business Business/Fragile Object" moving through tense rhythms and stark guitars so effective it's hard to believe they weren't more widely heard. And the demo tracks hint at even better things to come, as pieces like "Sink or Swim" and "Eight Ways to Start a Day" showcase darker, more stripped down and ghostly passages the band had been working on, never to be fully realized, but remembered here. A great document of another lost band, this collection from the Cultural Decay is essential listening for those working their way through the early 1980s permutations of post-punk. [MC]

		$17.99 LP $9.99 MP3   13TH CHIME The Singles 1981-1983 (Sacred Bones) Preview Songs on Other Music's Download Store 13th Chime's The Singles 1981-1983 is a blisteringly impressive set of tracks that will give newbie Joy Division fans nightmares for weeks! A total gem of a collection that combines post-JD-isms like the ominous art-punk of early Crispy Ambulance (check "Cuts of Love" with its descending bass line and moody grinding guitars), and the soaring death-rock of the Sound. The B-side tracks even have a hint of Bauhaus in the vocals! All this is wrapped up in a muscular rock sound reminiscent of first three Wire albums crossed with early Cure, but without being either too cold or too pop. This is NOT mope-rock; the dynamics even bring to mind some of what made Bad Brains, Agent Orange, or even Fugazi work. That's right, there is an enjoyable, unforced link going on here between punk, post-punk and hardcore. Don't lean too heavily on the references though, because this record holds its own, as it sits beautifully in the precious/precarious moment of time between the late '70s and the early '80s, when so many of the cornerstone bands of post-punk were just emerging. In other words, this one is too early and culturally innocent to be tainted by a bandwagon vibe; it's a wonderful snapshot of an unfortunately overlooked band, one that seemed to embrace its small town status and took advantage of it by taking their influences and digesting them with a healthy dose of enthusiasm (see liner notes in the killer 12x12 inch booklet complete with awesome/awkward early stage makeup documentation!!). For every band that I'm reminded of while listening to 13th Chime, I can think of a way they've tweaked the sound to make it their own. This description can easily amount to an album that just sounds "obscure." That is not the case here; this record will get you psyched. Have I said too much? Then stop reading, and whatever you do, don't miss this!!! REKKIMENDID! [SM]

		$13.99 CD   J.G. THIRLWELL The Venture Bros. Score (Williams Street) "Tuff" "Mississippi Noir" Composer/sound-sculptor/producer J.G. Thirlwell has been making challenging music for nearly 30 years now under multiple guises, and shows no sign of slowing down. As Foetus, he has pushed the boundaries of what has become "industrial" and plunderphonic music, crafting groundbreaking sounds out of dense layers of samples and an abundance of influences. He has made modern classical and chamber music compositions as Manorexia, and has pushed exotica and lounge kitsch styles into dark, dangerous corners as Steroid Maximus. His latest venture, and first under his given name, is a stunning, wild score for the ongoing Cartoon Network series, The Venture Bros. On this disc, he takes the Steroid Maximus and Manorexia concepts and effectively melds them together for 20 raucous themes that balance big band jazz vamps, incessant tribal drums, and modern electronic flourishes, arriving at a 21st century take on the sound that folks like Jean-Claude Vannier or J.P. Massiera mastered. This music is over the top, lyrical, and 100% fun, with plenty of dark, sinister undertones lurking below. Highly recommended for fans of the more out-there strains of our Decadance section, for fans of the Trunk Records library and soundtrack reissues, and for those who like a little hardcore with their film score. [IQ]

		$21.99 CDx2 $52.99 LPx4 $9.99 MP3   VARIOUS ARTISTS Open Strings: Early Virtuoso Recordings from the Middle East, and New Responses (Honest Jon's) "Bidad" Abdoul Hussein Khan Shahnazi "Olive Oasis" Sir Richard Bishop Honest Jon's have gone from strength to strength in recent years, reframing the damaged world music genre in the way it always should have been -- as something edgy, credible and deeply interesting rather than tie-dyed cocktail music. This particular lovingly curated set is rooted in the Middle East, focusing on pieces recorded in the 1920s using string instruments. It may seem like a narrow genre to focus on but the selections included here are hugely wide-ranging in their style and substance. The raga is achieving a resurgence in popularity of late (most obviously from the glut of re-issues on labels such as Tompkins Square) so it's nice to hear these pieces to contextualize them. The recording quality is grainy and crumbling, but this only adds to the enjoyment with the high-pitched squeal of oud or bazouki wavering above tape hiss and vinyl crackle. It's not simply kitsch that makes these recordings special, there is an undeniable spirituality to them and whether you're religious or not, this gives the compositions a grounding that's hard to achieve otherwise. To bring the collection up to date a little, and no doubt to bring it to the ears of the uninitiated, it has been bundled with a set of more modern musings on the genre. The usual suspects are here -- Richard Bishop, Steffen Basho-Junghans, Six Organs of Admittance and MV & EE -- and they are accompanied by plenty of other limber and able string players. Most notably we see Michael Flower (of Vibracathedral Orchestra and Flower/Corsano Duo) take on the form with an air of authenticity missing in many of the other pieces. You can almost smell the fog of opium as he tangles micro-tone over micro-tone, accompanied by sparse, shimmering percussion to add a rare sense of space. Sadly these stellar moments are too rare, and many of the pieces are ultimately forgettable when compared with the jaw-dropping compositions on the first disc. Why the Middle Eastern raga should be fused with bluegrass I'm not sure, but missteps aside the compilation is still essential listening for primed converts and new initiates alike. [JT]

		$16.99 CD   MORDANT MUSIC Picking O'er the Bones (Mordant Music) "Stalker" Shackleton "Hummdrumm" Mordant Music Just when you thought the Skull Disco family was clean out of tricks, the killer Mordant 10-inch series has arrived, compiled all on one CD! Of course Mordant is another label altogether, but the relation to Skull Disco is evident through more than just a shared resident cover artist (Zeke Clough's flesh and bones letters grace the artwork of both labels). Shackleton is here as a guest doing his clay-drum and sitars Muslimgauze thing, but really it's all about Mordant Music himself, throwing out some slow, throbbing, ill and EVIL stuff that can barely be contained by the "dubstep" moniker. There's an intensely organic, almost industrial vibe that hits the spot. It's not really "step-y" as it has more of an ominous, creeping atmosphere. Not ambient dub like Scorn, Ice or Techno Animal either, but it will definitely appeal to old-school industrial dub-heads!! This stuff creates such a heavy, dark and dangerous mood; tracks like "24 Million" will slay you with their even more evil T++ vibe, and it gets pretty close to black metal dubstep on "Marsten Moor." An excellent collection, and definitely better than paying $100+ for the 10-inch vinyl singles. [SM]

		$13.99 CD $9.99 MP3   BLACK MOTH SUPER RAINBOW Eating Us (Graveface) Preview Songs on Other Music's Download Store Def Jam defector Jay-Z's forthcoming The Blueprint 3 is apparently meant to fly high in an Auto-Tune free zone, signaling the mechanivox trend is at last passé amongst the Africana avant-garde. No one hollered back to Pittsburgh's Black Moth Super Rainbow, though. Helmed by Flaming Lips producer Dave Fridmann, the group's new Eating Us gets its freak on with much vocoder (and how'd we get from "Steal Your Face" to chic cannibalism so quick?). Is their muse the late great Roger Troutman or Tonto's Expanding Head Band acolyte Stevie Wonder? On the Wonderful One's recent world tour, I caught him doing an amazing voco version of "People Make the World Go Round" in L.A. Nothing much herein rises to those heights, but the first tracks are awash in fuzzy, massed sunshine, the brief, untitled closer approaches its folk-baroque beauty, and "Tooth Decay" attempts to sidle up to the Funk. Most intriguing is the banjo-spiced "American Face Dust;" don't know what it's about unless some code referring to the nanodiamonds scattered across the amber waves' surface due to impact of cosmic dust that slaughtered our mammoths, but it does sound rather like "Old Man" if Neil Young had cut it for Trans rather than Harvest. Methinks the club remixes should just feature ol' Neil and T-Pain. With these lyrics glimmering from the electro murk -- "neon lemonade, eat my face away" -- BMSR got some summer bangers for our nihilistic, re/secessionists days on their hands. [KCH]

		$11.99 LP   DOG FACED HERMANS Hum of Life (Mississippi) Originally formed is Scotland in the late 1980s, the Dog Faced Hermans came out of that post-Crass U.K. scene, but instead of slogans and propaganda they seemed more taken by the sonics, and their anarchist bent is shown by their blatant mixing of sounds previously uncombined. It might seem obvious these days, but at the time, for a record to feature Romanian folk songs, 8-Eyed Spy and Ornette Coleman covers, as well as scraping post-punk guitars, viola, trumpet and bells was almost totally without precedent. I say almost because by the time of this recording the band's association with Holland's equally diverse the Ex was profound. They toured together numerous times, released split live cassettes, recorded as the Ex Faced Hermans and finally even shared a guitarist (Andy Moor who is still in the Ex). It makes perfect sense that Mississippi embraces this iconoclastic and essential group, and is on to their second Dog Faced Hermans reissue here (Mental Blocks for All Ages is still around so grab that one as well), as the band's voracious appetite for pure sound beauty, unbound by time or genre, is mirrored in many of the label's releases. [DM]

		$14.99 10"   JUNIOR KIMBROUGH First Recordings (Big Legal Mess) Charlie Feathers called him the "beginning and end of all music," but even with such praise Junior Kimbrough had to begin somewhere, and so he did in 1966, with this six-track audition for the Memphis soul label Goldwax. He'd been playing his particular and peculiar brand of blues for years, but his first recording session didn't amount to much. "Too country," said Quinton Claunch, Goldwax's engineer and co-owner. You can't hold it against Claunch -- his biggest sellers might have been from the sticks but they sang modern R&B; Kimbrough's back-country proto-soul-trance-blues sounded anything but contemporary, although it was never quite heard before and hasn't quite been since (the closest thing being the bedouin variety made by the likes of Tinariwen, Toumast, Tartit, et al.). Unreleased till now, these short bursts of young Kimbrough (Claunch gives each a quick fade for 45, though you wish, since he wasn't going to issue them, he'd left well enough alone) belie his early Lightnin' Hopkins influence and offer fascinating insight into the development of his ineffable sound. It's a thrill to hear his young-man versions of "Meet Me in the City" (as soulful as any James Carr side) and "Done Got Old," each played nearly twice as fast as they'd be thirty years later. And you have to laugh when he sings that he "can't do the things I used to do, I'm an old man," when you know just how much getting old he had left to do, and just how good it would sound. An essential addition to our appreciation and enjoyment of Junior Kimbrough. [NS]

		$13.99 CD $14.99 LP   BACHELORETTE My Electric Family (Drag City) "Instructions for Insomniacs" "Where to Begin" Kiwi one-woman band Annabel Alpers a/k/a Bachelorette is a trickster blinding us with science as much as the mostly played out transatlantic crew of wannabe Apollonian boys beaming electro shots from Planet Rock. Even as the lads are anew enamored of the Byrne-Eno dynamic duo, it's overdue to see Laurie Anderson's mask herein -- hopefully soon to be followed by glory to Nona Hendryx, as Alpers' "Mindwarp" maybe heralds (in his flush of robovox infatuation, Kanye ought to have rung up them pioneering Sisters of Sonic Fiction, if not Alpers herself for some Tammi Terrell-style duets). Yet this ethereal Iron Maiden is less flying high in (un)friendly skies than planting her work boots on terra firma, as the Rosie the Riveter-inspired album imagery for My Electric Family illustrates. That's not to detract from soaring, widescreen pop such as opener "Instructions for Insomniacs," but, as a lone flesh-and-blood creator, the artist has clipped wings, marooned amongst her pedals and Macs (Blade Runner never proved machines could love). The titles for "Technology Boy," "The National Grid" ("my city's an organism..." ...akin to the hive-like Borg, linking her neighbors by viral plagues?), and "Her Rotating Head" (invoking Blondie ersatz funk with intent?) all sound like cautionary tales. And the loops act as lassoes yoking the dispassionate alienated states conveyed by her toy box of gear with Alpers' bittersweet, internal mass choir measuring the gap between giving up one's ghost to the Machine and safeguarding strands of humanity. It was clear faraway New Zealand -- even before it was so idealized by Peter Jackson's Tolkien mythos -- has long been gripped by equally debilitating racism and poverty. Now, it's disconcerting to hear a sonic accounting that the tentacles of the industry Tolkien so deplored has apparently despoiled what seems the ultimate escapist destination. Per the telling lyric of "Where to Begin" -- "You stay in your room/On the computer/Observing strangers/Ignoring those around you" -- there's no there there, either. Even if Alpers' donkey can dance. [KCH]

		$18.99 CD   VARIOUS ARTISTS Destroy That Boy! More Girls with Guitars (Ace) "I'm Gonna Destroy That Boy" What Four "You Just Gotta Know My Mind" Karen Verros Woo! Ace Records is burning my rock'n'roll libido into overdrive with this outstanding collection of all-girl garage, freakbeat, and wild R&B guitar groups that comes pretty flipping close to the top of the crop of such compilations. Ace has dug up some real gems, both originals and wild cover versions, focusing mostly on the 1960s. Every track is rollicking, soulful, totally sassy, and utter fun from start to finish. The two songs from the What Four's 1966 single -- which was produced by studio mastermind Teo Macero (Miles Davis, Thelonius Monk, etc.) and which gives this collection its name -- are worth the price alone. Other highlights on a disc of nothing but include the Starlets' take on "You Don't Love Me" (made famous by reggae siren Dawn Penn), the Fondettes' wild "The Beatles Are in Town," and the Girls' amazing track "Here I Am in Love Again." I could go on and on about this set -- seriously, it's that solid. [IQ]

		$26.99 LPx2   RONDOS Destroy the Entertainment (Red Wig) De Rondos were the premiere militant agit-punk band in the Netherlands, not to mention one of the country's first. Existing for only two years, the group's members were industrious squatters, full-on Communists, organized the Red Resistance Front, and threw themselves into and out of a complicated relationship with the band Crass (ideological differences, and allegations that Crass were not brave enough to stand up to Nazi skins showing up to their gigs, were to blame). Sporting a black-and-white hammer & sickle as their logo, these guys make the Ex's early punk records sound like the Tuff Darts; it's wiry, extremely stripped-down, confrontational, transistor-fused barking that wouldn't sound out of place on Slampt Records in the '90s, or maybe a Tyvek record of recent years. This package is the first official Rondos reissue, collecting their Red Attack LP, all 7" tracks, and a live set from 1978. A full-size, 24-page booklet rounds out the package, itself an exhaustive history of the band and what they accomplished that's every bit as fascinating as the music itself. [DM]

		$13.99 CD   FRANZ FERDINAND Blood (Domino) "Feel the Pressure" Super-fans might have seen this record before; it originally came as a bonus disc in the "deluxe" European versions of FF's Tonight album from earlier this year, and also showed up in limited quantities on vinyl in the U.S. for Record Store Day in April. For simply big fans out there (rather than aforementioned super), here's your chance to pick up a full-length "dub" version of Tonight, with remixes from the band and album producer Dan Carey of much of that record. Although the inspiration for these versions was Jamaican dub reggae, thankfully they don't try too hard to shove their driving pop-post-punk into that mold, and please don't buy this one looking for the Mad Professor mix. These are bass-heavy and spacious remixes of a taut pop album, well done and soulful, and fans of the band will definitely find something to groove to.

		$16.99 CD   CLAUDE VONSTROKE Fabric 46 (Fabric) Claude VonStroke, Dirtybird and Mothership label head and international rock star DJ, delivers a party set of house and tech grooves that shows a diversity beyond his own farting bass electro productions. Mostly Euro stuff, with a little Detroit in the mix, including tracks from Ekkohaus, CVS&Bootsy Collins, DJ Deeon, Stimming, James Braun and much more. Over 22 cuts that never really pause for breath, with a few custom mash-ups and a lot of humor.

		$11.99 CD   NITE JEWEL Good Evening (Human Ear) "Let's Go (The Two of Us Together)" "Suburbia" Bedroom disco princess Nite Jewel's (a/k/a Ramona Gonzalez) Good Evening includes songs featured on her self-released My CD and her Italians Do It Better 12-inch, plus three new tunes and a cover of Roxy Music's "Lover" to round it all out. All the tracks are remixed and remastered by Jay Rajeck to bring out the vocals, beats and bass. What results is more club-friendly but it doesn't lose any of the atmosphere, which we had described in an earlier review as, "Calling Out of Context-era Arthur Russell eating opium with a black rubber-bangled Madonna and Mark Hollis, all huddled in the corner while the 4-track tape is rolling." New tracks like "Universal Mind," with choral/aria background vocals, nail the ethereal, breakup, '80s radio vibe. "Chimera" features a sweet marching-in-place beat and she really hits the Kate Bush notes in a nice way, particularly on the "EEEee's." This time around, I also noticed that "Weak for Me" has an infectious (DeBarge) "Rhythm of the Night"-thing running through it, that is if it were submerged in warm cough syrup. Again, that's a compliment! What can we say, we're still lovin' what she's doin'. Without trying, Nite Jewel pretty much nails what seems to be a trend these days: marrying pop with an underground sound, BUT, without sounding like a pandering, watered-down sell-out!! Oh, snap! [SM]

		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 [MC] Michael Crumsho [KCH] Kandia Crazy Horse [IQ] Mikey IQ Jones [DMa] Dave Martin [DM] Doug Mosurock [SM] Scott Mou [NS] Nathan Salsburg [ [JT] John Twells THANKS FOR READING - all of us at Other Music

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