May 7, 2009

		$13.99 CDx2 $21.99 LPx3   IRON AND WINE PRE-ORDER INCLUDES A TICKET TO AN OTHER MUSIC IN-STORE PERFORMANCE We're thrilled to be able to celebrate Iron and Wine's forthcoming Around the Well -- a 2CD/3LP set of rarities and never-before-heard tracks -- with Mr. Samuel Beam himself, who will be playing an in-store at Other Music on Tuesday May 19th, the evening of the album's release. There are still some tickets remaining to this very intimate performance, but they won't last much longer. To get yours, just pre-order the album in person at the shop or off of our mail-order site. (We'll email back web orders to confirm that you got a ticket.) Each CD or LP purchase is good for 1 ticket, with a limit of 2 purchases (2 tickets) per person. Limited capacity, tickets will be made available on a first-come, first-served basis while supplies last. Email orders@othermusic.com with questions.

		FEATURED NEW RELEASES Akron/Family William Basinski Kevin Coyne Mika Miko Deradoorian Scott Dunbar J.D. Emmanuel The Vaselines 39 Clocks St. Vincent Gavin Bryars Bishop Perry Tillis Magik Markers Conor Oberst Jim Ford June Tabor Hawaiian Nisei Songs (Various) Midnight Massiera (Various) The Sound of Wonder (Various)   The Pyramids (3 LPs) Xenakis (Complete String Quartets) Kenge Kenge Fischerspooner ALSO AVAILABLE Pink Mountaintops A-Trak (Fabric Mix) ON VINYL Arthur Russell BACK IN STOCK Death (LP Version) J.T. IV BACK IN PRINT Carlton and the Shoes

		$27.99 CD $44.99 LPx2   Buy Early Get Now: Sonic Youth "The Eternal" We're now taking pre-orders for Sonic Youth's The Eternal (out on Tuesday, June 9th) off of our mail order site. Pre-order the CD or double LP and you'll receive access to a pre-release stream of the album, a limited live LP, exclusive MP3s, a poster, and early access to tour pre-sale ticket offers. Questions? Email: orders@othermusic.com

		May Sun 10 Mon 11 Tues 12 Wed 13 Thurs 14 Fri 15 Sat 16 May Sun 17 Mon 18 Tues 19 Wed 20 Thurs 21 Fri 22 Sat 23 White Rabbits Au Revoir Simone   UPCOMING OTHER MUSIC INSTORES WHITE RABBITS: Monday, May 11 @ 8PM The Brooklyn six-piece will be stopping by Other Music for a special live performance in support of their forthcoming album It's Frightening (produced by Spoon's Britt Daniel!!). You'll be able to get your hands on an early copy from the band after the show, and exclusively at Other Music for the week leading up to the record's May 19th release date. AU REVOIR SIMONE: Monday, May 18 @ 8PM A record release party celebrating Au Revoir Simone's much anticipated new album Still Night, Still Light, which comes out the following day, but the ladies will have some copies to sell that evening for all you early birds. BOTH SHOWS ARE FREE ADMISSISION / LIMITED CAPACITY

		May Sun 10 Mon 11 Tues 12 Wed 13 Thurs 14 Fri 15 Sat 16 Mice Parade Dopplereffekt   WIN TICKETS TO MICE PARADE & HAUSCHKA / DOPPLEREFFEKT WITH KIERAN HEBDEN Not even a year old, Le Poisson Rouge has quickly become one of the premier venues for some of the most adventurous music performances in the city. This week, we're giving away tickets to two such concerts that Other Music customers should be particularly excited about. On Thursday, May 14, Mice Parade will be bringing their exotic sounds to the LPR stage along another OM favorite, Hauschka, who will be performing his wonderfully beguiling prepared piano vignettes. To enter for a pair of tickets to this show, email giveaway@othermusic.com. (We'll be picking two winners.) Two days later on Saturday, May 16, one of electronic music's most mysterious units, Dopplereffekt, will be stopping by the club to play a live set in support of their latest album, Calabi Yau Space on Rephlex. Show goers for this evening will also be treated to DJ sets from Four Tet's Kieran Hebden and Santiago Salazar. We've also got two pairs of passes for this night, and you can enter for these by emailing tickets@othermusic.com. Good luck! LE POISSON ROUGE: 158 Bleeker Street NYC

		$13.99 CD $15.99 LPx2 w/MP3 $9.99 MP3   AKRON/FAMILY Set 'Em Wild, Set 'Em Free (Dead Oceans) "River" "The Alps & Their Orange Evergreen" Brooklyn beardos Akron/Family have always been a bit hard to pin down, with a decidedly hippie freak-out philosophy that often saw the group featured alongside the new wave of folk strummers, but with a much more adventurous, open-ended sound than most of their contemporaries, making such comparisons less apt than easy. Now on Secretly Canadian imprint Dead Oceans, their latest, Set 'Em Wild, Set 'Em Free, fully justifies all of our head-scratching with an often stunning batch of songs that takes this group to a whole new level, and shows their undeniable individualism in full flower. Though the band has scaled their core line-up down to three members, they sound more full-throated than ever, working with a large horn section as well as various other collaborators for the recordings and most of their live shows these days. There are still group sing-a-longs and plenty of talk of the forest floor, but the band draws on much beyond stoned love-ins here, often channeling '70's African groove merchants like Fela Kuti with complex, incredibly soulful poly-rhythms and punchy horn arrangements (and without ever dipping into weird colonialism), and combining that with a wild mix of Sun Ra, Animal Collective, Grateful Dead, Fleet Foxes, Funkadelic and of course, most of all, pure Akron anarchy. Fans will be blown away and foes should take another listen to tracks like "Everyone Is Guilty," "River" or "Set 'Em Free," covering three of the many moods of A/K. As always with these guys, expect the unexpected. [JM]

		$13.99 CD $9.99 MP3   WILLIAM BASINSKI 92982 (2062) Preview Tracks on Other Music's Download Store I sometimes wonder just how much music William Basinski is keeping from us. The New Yorker has been composing and recording for some time now, and while that might not be too strange in itself, these alien releases (each one seemingly more beautiful than the next) were written almost thirty years ago. Why on earth they didn't see the light of day in the late 70s or early 80s, I will never know, but thinking about it I suppose there's some sense in it. Basinski didn't quite fit into the Brian Eno school of pastoral ambience and neither did his music drop lovingly in amongst the industrial/noise output of Throbbing Gristle and Nurse With Wound. Sure, it was connected to both somehow, but his popularity in the last few years suggests that he was waiting for the right time to spring his estimable body of work on the general public. The bulk of 92982 was made on one night in Brooklyn way back in 1982 (with the last track being a more recent reworking of the same material) but listening to it now it feels totally disconnected from any specific time at all. There are none of the markers we might need to connect it with the early 80s -- no synthesizers, no out-of-control reverb to set the month and year, this is just pure, meditative sound -- long form tracks guided through clouds of echo and tape noise. I must admit I find it strange just how current Basinski's compositions sound at this stage -- his influence in recent years has been immeasurable and the quality of each successive release has never dimmed. 92982 takes us from home-grown ambience (check the distant rain-on-window sounds of the opening track) into the twinkling slo-mo piano that made Melancholia so effective and keeps a rich seam of quality visible from beginning to end. There might already be a wealth of Basinski material to get your hands on but you'll kick yourself if you miss this installment; there's a reason why he's the master of the genre. [JT]

		$12.99 CD   KEVIN COYNE Marjory Razor Blade (Vigin Import) "Eastbourne Ladies" "Heaven in My View" This is a classic record. You might not know it now, but you will once you hear it. And if you do know, just nod ... knowingly. The late Kevin Coyne's second solo LP dates back to 1973, his first of many for Virgin, and is widely considered to be his most lasting and best-loved work. After having found a supporter in John Peel early in his career with his folk band Siren, Coyne had dropped out in the years prior to Marjory Razorblade, opting to ply his trade of social work to the needing of his native England. Through that time, he must have amassed a formidable backlog of songs, and this double album (strangely issued as a single LP in America) bears that notion out, one memorable slab of brusque, chest-beating, hard-strummed folk-rock after another, one more insightful lyric it would take anyone else years to come up with piled on after the last. Coyne moves freely through both sparse accompaniment and the sounds of a crack backing band, comfortable through both acoustic and electric treatments. John Lydon called this album's "Eastbourne Ladies" one of his favorite songs, and one of the influences he brought to the table when the Sex Pistols were getting off the ground -- you'll no doubt hear the same bray in Rotten's voice as you would in Coyne's. Music like this will stick with you forever. Your life could change today. Check it out. [DM]

		$12.99 CD $9.99 MP3   MIKA MIKO We Be Xuxa (Post Present Medium) "I Got a Lot (New New New)" "Keep On Calling" Mika Miko may sound like word vomit to you, but this Los Angeles quintet has been a standout in the West Coast d.i.y. scene for six years running. The band's goofy punk attitude -- which inspired the album's dedication to Xuxa, the infamous Brazilian children's television show host -- has won over armies of grimy, sweaty, "pony thrashing" youth and spawned a few coveted self-releases, a debut full-length on Kill Rock Stars, an EP recorded on 6/6/06, and finally this 23-minute ticking time bomb of call-and-response nu punk rippers on buddy Dean Spunt of No Age's PPM label. All 12 tracks on We Be Xuxa are brand new, written in one diehard month-long session in bassist Jessica Clavin's room, with the inexplicable exception of "Wild Bore," previously released on the band's 666 EP, and a raucous, super scuzzy cover of the Urinals' "Sex." It is in moments like these, or songs like "I Got a Lot (New New New)" that longtime fans will acknowledge the band's transition into straight-ahead, thrashing melodic punk, complete with three-chord shredding and unison choruses like "Get over it! I'm over it!" One of the most distinctive differences is the absence of drummer Kate Hall, whose stand-up, lurching percussive style gave Mika Miko more of a post-punk edge; a handful of tracks, like album opener "Blues Not Speed" and "Totion," still communicate in these manic rhythms, topped with the band's trademark of double vocalists who squeal and grunt in infectious sing-song patterns, escalating so much in one song that it culminates in a massive explosion sound effect. All four original members of Mika Miko are in top form on We Be Xuxa -- live, they're two times the force to be reckoned with than they were even a year ago, which you can best visualize on album standout "Sex Jazz," scorching with Clavin's barked vocals, Thornhill's Essential Logic-style molten sax, and total ESG swing. "Keep On Calling" even boasts gritty southern guitar licks, underlined by Black Lips producer Mike McHugh. Just as with debut C.Y.S.L.A.B.F., there's not a snoozer on the record, although this one is more fractured, teetering between punk throwbacks and a modern strain of West Coast-style post-punk. Dripping with attitude, you gotta make out to this one to believe it! [KS]

		$8.99 CD-EP $4.99 MP3   DERADOORIAN Mind Raft EP (Lovepump United) Preview Songs on Other Music's Download Store The solo recording debut of Angel Deradoorian (Dirty Projectors' 22-year-old bassist and vocalist), the Mind Raft EP is one of those special releases that has the innate ability to make one want to move in and listen more closely. Produced by fellow Projector Dave Longstreth, Deradoorian's innate knack for composition has resulted in a surprising goth-folk album lush with guitars, flute, electronics, and the occasional string section. But the real appeal of this five song set, as Dirty Projectors fans can attest to, is Deradoorian's voice, which exposes a raw emotion that seamlessly blurs the line between melancholy drone and soulful inspiration, and delivers fascinating intrigue in knowing that we are listening to an artist open up and find themselves before our very own ears. [BL]

		$15.99 CD $15.99 LP   SCOTT DUNBAR From Lake Mary (Fat Possum) "Easy Rider" "Little Liza Jane" This has got to be one of the most extraordinary blues records I've ever heard, the sole album ever released by Scott Dunbar, a fisherman and guide who was recorded in 1970 at his cabin on Lake Mary near Woodville, Mississippi. It was the debut release from an obscure label called Ahura Mazda Recording Co., which only went on to put out three or four more albums, including a stellar one from Robert Pete Williams, an artist who shares some eccentric stylistic traits with Dunbar. Dunbar doesn't figure too prominently in any blues histories, but this record has definitely become a cult item over the years, with its stark, enigmatic cover and Dunbar's very peculiar approach to music making. With an eerie, and at times totally wordless, falsetto, Dunbar's tunes proceed in the most idiosyncratic fashion, with weird little digressions bracketed by repetitive patterns. Even familiar tracks like "Liza Jane" and "Goodnight Irene" are totally subverted to fit Dunbar's program, changing registers as the mood suits him, or just abandoning lyrics as he either can't remember them, or prefers not to. He constantly accompanies himself with a solid boot resounding off the wood planks of his cabin, and there's always a bit of the good humor you hear in Mississippi John Hurt. Part of the genius of this album, though, is that you get the sense that he's making it up as he goes along, the pure joy of an outsider artist who just doesn't give a s**t and is all about entertaining himself. Highest recommendation for this one folks. [MK]

		$12.99 CD   J.D. EMMANUEL Solid Dawn 1978-82 (Kvist) "Sunrise Over Galveston Bay" "Changeling" The reissue of JD Emmanuel's 1982 private-press obscurity Wizards in 2007 sent underground heads scrambling for copies, and for those lucky enough to have gotten their hands on one, or those who have heard those tracks and wish they had, Solid Dawn will doubtlessly be an essential acquisition. Emmanuel occupies an amazing/mystifying zone somewhere between Terry Riley's time-lag flights, new age, '70's kosmische (a la Popul Vuh, Tangerine Dream, etc.), and Texas. This is a sprawling collection of newly resurrected pieces recorded between 1979 and 1982 and previously released in meager cassette editions. Emmanuel works with a couple of synths and digital delays and tends to go at them with both hands so he can set a mesmerizing pulse/rhythm and soar free at the same time. This is certainly music in the minimal vein -- more than once it sounds straight out of "A Rainbow in Curved Air" -- but there's an outsider/psychedelic feel to it all that sets it entirely apart. Indeed, this should greatly appeal to anyone with a taste for "outsider" sounds in general. Numerous releases over the past few years have combined this kind of synthesized potency and rare-archival/out of nowhere/loner appeal -- the Edmond de Deyster series on Ultra Eczema, that Ursula Bogner record -- but as those have kept the darker, more blip-oriented end of the spectrum in vogue, Solid Dawn is a straight shot of light, a pulsing, soaring, often ecstatic music. A major collection for sure. [AOK]

		$15.99 CDx2 $21.99 LPx3 w/MP3   THE VASELINES Enter the Vaselines (Sub Pop) "Molly's Lips" "Rosary Job (Demo)" It's hard to convey how psyched I am to hear the Vaselines roar back in the 21st century. I played a cassette of their earlier Sub Pop compilation till it broke. Back then, Sub Pop was logically casting light (and cashing in) on Kurt Cobain's favorite band. But in 15 years, so much has changed. And as in the past month, we've had reminisces about "the day the music died" in Seattle, it's fitting that this expanded edition of that Vaselines comp comes along. What's startling is how this time around, the Vaselines are no longer in need of its number one fan to shine on. It's easy to see now how this ragtag bunch turned C86 tweeness and Jesus and Mary Chain on its ear in this handy and exhaustive two-disc set coupling early demos and live recordings to the original compilation. Noise comes from bike horns, drum machines, stumbling boy-girl harmonies, and whatever else might make a fuzzy sound. A Catholic upbringing gets dismantled on almost every song (see "Sex Sux (Amen)" or "Jesus Wants Me For a Sunbeam" for two prime examples) and cheekiness abounds throughout. But listening to this over a decade on, it's easy to hear faith somehow restored as well. A total classic. [AB]

		$13.99 CD   39 CLOCKS Zoned (De Stijl) "You Can't Count the Bombs (It's Zero)" "A Look into You" Here's a great and long overdue look at one of the finest rock n roll bands Germany ever spawned. Compiling tracks from their LPs and singles, Zoned showcases a group, in reverse chronology from 1987 to 1981, that's obviously obsessed with the monotonous chug of the Velvet Underground (and you'd swear that John Cale is singing, with a German accent, on some of the tracks), and uses nervous energy as an instrument, as invented by Suicide. It's clear 39 Clocks -- Christian Henjes, Jurgen Gleue, and the drum machine -- came from an arty/dadaist/situationist background, as the band's live shows were often sloppy, chaotic spectacles, but in their recorded incarnation, they were a ridiculously cool, effortlessly rockin' (wouldn't be surprised if Henjes and Gleue had a few Nuggets comps laying around as well) duo. Sure, the sound is f**ked with at times, using effects and spoken word poetry, but it thankfully never sounds like art for arts sake here. The most immediate precursor to Spacemen 3? Perhaps. Either way, this is five-star rock n roll. [AK]

		$13.99 CD   ST. VINCENT Actor (4AD Records) "Actor Out of Work" "Black Rainbow" Since her debut album, Marry Me, Annie Clark has risen from relative obscurity to become something of an indie darling. She might have powerful friends, having done her tenure in Sufjan Stevens' live band and walked amongst the sizeable ranks of the Polyphonic Spree, but her popularity has blossomed simply because people have a soft spot for her quirky brand of pop. It's not particularly mainstream, but there's something effortlessly charming about Clark's attempts at re-creating widescreen showstoppers. You see, she's not your regular femme geniale -- sure every reviewer in the wider music world has compared her to Feist, but what Annie Clark seems to be doing is crafting deliciously lo-fi marionettes of old Disney songs and raking up all the hushed twee that you'd expect to come with that. Occasionally it can get slightly overpowering but usually Clark has the good sense to reign her ideas in, and with the help of Polyphonic Spree's John Congleton the whole record is produced to near perfection. Actor is a huge leap from Clark's debut effort; while Marry Me was absolutely enjoyable, Actor feels like a confident stride forward in both songwriting and production. Her style has cemented itself as something original and solid, and while it's bound not to appeal to everyone (those with dark hearts stay well away) it is sure to win her countless mentions come the end of the year. [JT]

		$24.99 CD   GAVIN BRYARS The Sinking of the Titanic / Jesus' Blood Never Failed Me Yet (Virgin / EG) "The Sinking of the Titanic" "Jesus' Blood Never Failed Me Yet" Wow, we're completely thrilled to have scored copies of this long out-of-print masterpiece of modern classical music by renowned composer Gavin Bryars. This CD is a straight reissue of the earliest recordings of what would go on to become two of Bryars' signature pieces, and was originally issued on LP by Brian Eno as the first release on his fledgling Obscure label, which specialized in albums of experimental compositional music. The first piece on the disc, "The Sinking of the Titanic," was written to evoke what Bryars described as an aural depiction of the ship's disastrous fate, originating after reading a survivor's account that as the Titantic slowly sank, the band onboard continued to perform as the survivors swam away from the wreckage. (In fact, the song they were said to have been playing -- an Episcopal hymn entitled "Autumn" -- is one of the piece's core elements and is subject to different treatments throughout). Bryars used the poetic idea of what the music would sound like as it traveled great distances via the reverberating qualities of water as a sonic medium. A string sextet plays slow moving variations upon this hymn as fragments of recorded interviews with survivors of the disaster speak quietly of their experiences; other fragments include one survivor playing a music box, Morse code signals played on woodblocks, and assorted sonic effects which attempt to recreate descriptions of the iceberg's impact and the subsequent effects it had on the ship sonically. The tone of the piece is stunningly majestic and rather cinematic, as Bryars effectively renders his grand idea with much success; hearing the strings continue amidst rising oceanic drones with a mournful yet dignified resolve is indeed quite moving. The second work is perhaps even more infamous. "Jesus' Blood Never Failed Me Yet" is centered around a field recording made by a filmmaker friend of Bryars of a London homeless man singing lines from the religious song which the piece is named after. Bryars devised a loop of piano music in tune with the voice, and from there developed a rising, slowly evolving and expanding orchestral accompaniment -- accidentally leaving the loop playing in a recording room with the door open, he had discovered that all persons within earshot had begun moving more slowly and somberly than before, as they had been deeply touched by the old man's singing. "Jesus' Blood" is indeed a highly moving, very beautiful piece of music, and has even been recorded subsequently by Bryars in a new version with Tom Waits singing the old man's hymn; it's this version, though, with guitar by Derek Bailey and organ by Michael Nyman, that IMO is vastly superior. Again, over 26 minutes Bryars unearths a deep well of emotions and somehow never manages to over-saturate. These pieces have gone on to inspire many imitators but never any duplicators. This album is a cornerstone foundation of what Other Music's "Out" section symbolizes, and is an essential listen to anyone with even a passing interest in modern orchestral music. I cannot recommend this record more highly. Truly, simply stunning. [IQ]

		$14.99 LP   BISHOP PERRY TILLIS In Times Like These (Mississippi) As only a man on a mission could, this aging blues guitarist and spiritual visionary from Sampson, Alabama spent much of the 1980s arranging rows of boomboxes in his living room like some jerry-rigged multi-track studio, to record his music accompanied by voices from the afterlife. Bishop Perry Tillis was a messenger and a healer, bearing witness to God's glory in his life and the life of all the loved ones from his storied past. These recordings are his testimonial. A choir of the dead backs his gospel as they use Tillis as their conduit to earth from the afterlife, speaking and singing through him. On some of his homemade cassettes he is joined by his former wives, Edna Cooke and Linda May, while on others his guardian angel Rosa tells stories about the Bishop as a young man. His archives consist of 62 hours of homemade boombox recordings, and we can thank the good people at Mississippi Records for rummaging through all those tapes of angel roll calls and gospels to bring us fourteen pure and righteous hymns. Through an intricate system of boombox set ups (read: one across the room from another), Tillis would create his songs with up to three layers, accompanying his own guitar playing with solos, choruses, and harmonies. The Bishop would then channel these departed souls from heaven, opening his mouth and singing with the voices of angels -- these recordings will have you tapping your feet while raising the hair on the back of your neck. Fans of raw electric blues gospel should not pass this up, particularly if you enjoy the more inspired recordings of Reverend Luis Overstreet, Reverend Charlie Jackson, and Elder Utah Smith. As usual with Mississippi, vinyl only, and limited. [BCa]

		$13.99 CD $15.99 LP   MAGIK MARKERS Balf Quarry (Drag City) "Risperdal" "Jerk" It seems with almost every release, the duo of Elisa Ambroglio and Pete Nolan continues to befuddle us (in a good way, natch). They dropped the song-oriented BOSS on us, pressed up by none other than the Universal monolith, only to come at us next with the crazy dense Gucci Rapidshare Download album last year. And now they are all cozy with Drag City for Balf Quarry. Holed up this time with producer Scott Colburn, the duo again mingle songs with rants, pop with noise. Verse-chorus-verse with freeform. Rather than wait to be startled from album to album, now MM do it to us on a song-by-song basis. [AB] JUST IN: Other Music is giving away a pair of tickets to Magik Markers' tour kick off show at the Loft (1087 Broadway @ Dodworth St. 2nd Floor, Brooklyn), this Friday, May 8th. The show gets started at 9PM with opening acts TBA and is all ages. Email enter@othermusic.com to put your name in the hat.

		$14.99 CD $25.99 LPx2 w/MP3 $9.99 MP3   CONOR OBERST & THE MYSTIC VALLEY BAND Outer South (Merge) Preview Songs on Other Music's Download Store No doubt it surprised quite a few Oberst-ites last year when their young hero Conor took a step back from his longtime band Bright Eyes to release a self-titled solo album. Oberst has always been an ambitious and restless soul, and Bright Eyes has a bit of a revolving-door policy with both members and musical styles, but nonetheless it seemed momentous for Oberst to shed the name, as well as his label Saddle Creek for a solo outing on Merge. That record, it turned out, was a joy, one of the least self-conscious recordings from the sometimes painfully confessional pop star, and his group, dubbed the Mystic Valley Band for the subsequent tour, were loose and heartfelt players, with a swirling, organ-led sound that was decidedly less precious and more rocking than anything Oberst had previously explored. Yet somehow it is more surprising that the band is back so soon with a new album, again on Merge, a scant ten months since the first, and this time credited not just to Conor Oberst, but instead Conor Oberst and the Mystic Valley Band. That moniker is not just in name, as Outer South is far from another solo effort, and instead seems to be the most collaborative record Oberst had been involved in to date, with nearly half of its 16 tracks written and sung by other members of the group. It follows the same basic formula as the last one -- acoustics strumming, Hammond pumping, twisting lead guitars and Jason Boesel's fluid drumming -- and the songs are all comfortable in that dusty Americana template, but with a variety of singers and songwriters, it has quite a different sound. I'll leave it to the fans to decide if they are happy that Oberst is letting the boys off the leash, but one thing is clear, these guys are all having a blast, and there are at least a few great new songs from Omaha's favorite son, including "To All the Lights in the Windows" and "I Got the Reason," which was a standout at the band's Other Music in-store last August. [JM]

		Big Mouth USA $17.99 CD $29.99 180gr LP Unissued Capitol Album $17.99 CD $29.99 180gr LP   JIM FORD Big Mouth USA (Bear Family) "If I Go Country" "He Turns My Radio On" JIM FORD Unissued Capitol Album (Bear Family) "You Just-A" "Sounds of Our Time" We've covered two of Jim Ford's previous reissues in past updates, as well as a good deal of his incredible story of near-success in the pop and country charts back in the '60s and '70s; the guy is legit, wrote "country funky" songs covered by Bobby Womack and Bobbie Gentry that'd just as soon bust your front teeth out, and sadly passed on just as Bear Family's comprehensive series of reissues started to straighten out his long and sordid life, from the musical highs to the drugged-out lows, and every temper tantrum, Playgirl pictorial, and weeks-long chill sessions with Sly Stone in between. Ford only ever had one album officially come out -- 1969's legendary Harlan County, on the tiny Sundown label; this work was featured on the first Bear Family compilation of Ford's music, The Sounds of Our Time, in its entirety. Part of the bonus tracks from that one, as well as a few selections from the follow-up collection, Point of No Return, are fleshed out with unheard tracks on these two reissues, representing unreleased albums recorded for the Paramount and Capitol labels. Aside from hustling Godfather soundtracks, the short-lived branch of Paramount Pictures had little success in the music business, so it's no surprise that the incredibly down, yet groovin' album Ford cut for them, eventually parceled out into a couple of singles that failed to take off, got lost in the shuffle. Split unevenly between rousing R&B/funk and a couple of straight country numbers, Big Mouth USA boasts strong arrangements and a commendable performance from the loads of studio musicians who worked on this thing (some say Dr. John, who shares a similar vocal quantity with the young Ford, guests on these recordings), but despite a pile of great songs it reeks of one of those sure-fire deals gone south. "Rising Sign" bustles with the same randy energy as Ike & Tina in the early '70s, and "Mixed Green" sounds like it got lost on the way to a Betty Davis recording session. Hell, he even turns out a Philly soul vibe on album closer "Whicha Way" that could stand with the best of the Stylistics or the Delfonics. By the time he came around to cutting an album for Capitol, Ford had firmed up his sound ever so slightly, stretching his vocal range out and injecting a lot more emotion into his sound. If The Unissued Capitol Album isn't as outright welcoming as Big Mouth USA, it's not for the lack of trying -- "Chain Gang" is as honest an interpretation of '60s R&B as anything Otis Redding performed. While much of this record wouldn't sound out of place on a Glen Campbell album in terms of charts, the re-workings of "Big Mouth USA" and "Rising Sign," windblown and haunted by otherworldly guitar overdubs, have more to do with the Band or Van Morrison than anything he'd previously conjured. Both releases, as with all Bear Family titles, come with copious liner notes which sort out the lost history behind these shamefully unreleased efforts. Time heals all; get with Jim Ford and heal thyself. [DM]

		$14.99 CD $9.99 MP3   JUNE TABOR Abyssinians (Topic) Preview Songs on Other Music's Download Store June Tabor has always achieved more with less, and her talents really shined when she was given reprieve from de rigueur '70s folk-rock arrangements and was allowed the room to really breathe life into a song, alone, or nearly so. Her first solo LP, Airs and Graces from 1976, remains a fine example, as does this album at hand, the spare, chilly Abyssinians, released in 1983. A collection of traditional songs and contemporary folk covers (Lal and Mike Waterson; Joni Mitchell), this record harnesses Tabor's crystalline voice to a practice of gorgeous restraint. Among Tabor's gifts is a rare sensitivity to the vital essences of traditional material, and listeners unfamiliar with the titles or tropes of "The Bonny Hind," "Lay This Body Down," or "I Never Thought My Love Would Leave Me" (better known as "Love Is Teasing, Love Is Pleasing") might well take them as originals; such is her ability to crack clean through their venerable crusts and suck their marrow in song. She never sounds like she's spent afternoons on end painstakingly arranging ballads from Scott's Minstrelsy or Percy's Reliques because she probably hasn't. Unfettered by full band arrangements -- the most you'll find is a bit of Martin Sexton's guitar, a fiddle, and some remarkably tasteful keyboard -- they reveal themselves easily and in trust to her. (The same goes for her rendering of Mitchell's "The Fiddle and the Drum.") Abyssinians isn't necessarily the first June Tabor record to recommend to the neophyte -- her Silly Sisters with Maddy Prior is perhaps a better introduction; Ashes and Diamonds or A Cut Above with Martin Sexton are more welcoming, less bleak. But as a pristine distillation of her abilities as a singer and arranger, Abyssinians endures better than most of its contemporaries, as she too has done. [NS]

		$13.99 CD   VARIOUS ARTISTS Hawaiian Nisei Songs (Hana Ola) "Japanese Rumba" Harold Sasahara & Club Nisei Orchestra "Asatoya Yunta" Sadame Miyazu, Ted Shimabukuru & the Tokyo Serenaders Oh man, I am THRILLED to finally be able to write about this, one of my all-time favorite compilations. I am a huge fan and collector of Hawaiian music from the 1940s and 50s, mostly instigated by my love of Haruomi Hosono and his trilogy of mid-1970s tropical pop albums which fused together Okinawan, Hawaiian, and Latin pop and dance modes with a deep New Orleans funk bounce, and also of Martin Denny, whose 1950s Exotica LPs instigated my love of tiki jazz and tropical pop music. Those albums featured a handful of covers of Hawaiian Nisei tunes, made by the proliferation of Japanese musicians in Hawaii after the Second World War, who made recordings for the 49th State Hawaii Recording Company, which specialized in Hawaiian records of all varieties. This compilation collects all of the originals which were rerecorded by Hosono and Denny, as well as more than ten other tunes all of equal quality. The music on offer here mixes up jazz dance band orchestrations, Asian folk tunes, Hawaiian touches like ukulele and slack key guitar, and lots of wonderful "exotica" accents from bongos and gongs to marimbas and shamisens. There's a strong Latin element to the arrangements, and the recordings were all made in slightly cavernous, large sounding rooms with monster reverb, adding to the "flare" of the proceedings. The record's about half-vocal, half-instrumental, with a great mix of groovers and romantic ballads. Summertime listening doesn't get any better than this!! Light your tiki torches and invite me over to the BBQ. [IQ]

		$22.99 CD   VARIOUS ARTISTS Midnight Massiera (Finders Keepers) "Space Woman" Herman's Rocket "Mao Mao" The Starlights French record producer, arranger, studio owner, and crack session musician Jean-Pierre Massiera is responsible for some of the most outrageous, psychsploitative music you could imagine. Think the Vampyros Lesbos soundtrack, the Vampires of Dartmoor record, or those Gert Wilden Schulmaedchen Report records on Crippled Dick Hot Wax, but even more extreme, with an edge for crazy, swooping electronic effects, progressive rock stylings, even chansons. This is the world of crazy-insane science fiction -- kitsch with kick, the sort of rhythm-driven insanity that bridged the discotheque with disco. Artists appearing on this collection include French Goblin/Magma acolytes Visitors, OM favorite Chico Magnetic Band, the lewd slink of Human Egg, the fuzzed out freakbeat of Les Maledictus Sound, the screamin' synth disco of Herman's Rocket and their club hit "Space Woman" ... and that's just the tip of the iceberg. Rarely do you hear such an individual producer spanning decades with the same unique approach, but Massiera was active from the early '60s on up through today, and this collection jams eighteen tracks together, irrespective of release date; his heavy-handed approach is firm enough to maintain timelessness. This is the sort of release you'd expect from Andy Votel and the B-Music crew, and Midnight Massiera makes good on past successes -- in fact, it's one of the top three strongest releases out of that camp to date, along with the Ersen album and Votel's Songs in the Key of Death mix. It's telling that this is the third compilation of Massiera's productions to surface in the last year or two, and while some tracks are shared between all three, there's enough unique material between them all that it doesn't really matter. Finders Keepers has cast as wide a net as possible across these works, and in turn it rewards with each subsequent spin. [DM]

		$22.99 CD   VARIOUS ARTISTS The Sound of Wonder! (Finders Keepers) "Society Girl" Nazir Ali feat. Nahid Akhtar "Good News for You" M. Ashraf feat. Nahid Akhtar Finders Keepers, after successfully conquering the world of Anatolian psychedelia, now shift their focus to the epic rolling landscapes of the Western Orient. With the success of Slumdog Millionaire still fresh in people's minds, it makes sense to drink deep from the muddy waters of 'Lollywood' (the film industry of Pakistan, based in Lahore), but this compilation is anything but opportunistic. Rather, there's the usual unmatched wealth of knowledge from obsessive collectors Andy Votel and Chris Menist, who pieced together this patchwork of Eastern pop music. Treading the dusty path between traditional Bollywood-style pop and something altogether more...electronic (really!), we again have our minds opened to dancefloor stormers most of us never knew existed. Synthesized basslines pound expressively and organs float over the familiar throb of the tabla, propelling us through each three-minute foot-shaking gem. An easy comparison might be made to the stunning Radio India disc on the equally as essential Sublime Frequencies label a few years back, but Votel and Menist's compilation is a little smoother around the edges, giving it an unusually playable edge many DJs will likely be unable to resist. From the jaunty opening track "Dama Dam Mas Qalandar," we are instantly shown the record's key themes; electronics worthy of the BBC's Radiophonic Workshop sitting coolly alongside vocals (in mostly broken English) and harmonium. It doesn't stop here though; guided by both male and female vocals we eventually reach the album's most stunning track, the stark, emotional "Good News For You." Showcasing the strengths of the genre with its obscure melodic hooks and subtle electronic effects, it should prove irresistible to even the most resistant of heads. Those of you who went weak at the knees for Selda's killer self-titled album and lost their minds listening through the back catalog of Erkin Koray should be rather pleased that Votel and Co. have opened up the floodgates to another continent. Dig here. [JT]

		Lalibela $17.99 LP King of Kings $17.99 LP Birth Speed Merging $17.99 LP   THE PYRAMIDS Lalibela King of Kings Birth/Speed/Merging (Ikef) This trio of vinyl reissues of ultra-rare, spiritual jazz recordings from this young Ohio-based (!) collective are a long time comin'. The story begins in late 1971, when three Antioch classmates embarked on a two-year study abroad that took them to Kenya, Ghana, Cairo, Paris and Amsterdam. Armed with only instruments and tape recorders, they absorbed performances of Maasai and Kikuyu tribesman and participated in a Juju healing ceremony. Once the travelers found themselves back in the isolated confines of the Antioch campus in Yellow Springs, OH, the ambitious trio added three percussionists, formed a label and set about self-releasing their cosmic spiritual jazz, far from the fertile free jazz scenes of Chicago, Philly and NYC. The Pyramids' debut release, Lalibela, is an astounding work of depth and virtuosity that belied their young age and inexperience. The side-and-a-half-long opening track is an exotic, 30-minute Afro percussion/woodwind suite. The first part is dominated by a sparse conga groove and showcases Idris Ackamoor's expressive alto sax and Margo Simmons (Ackamoor's wife) lyrical flute and piccolo playing, reminding me of Eternal Rhythms-era Don Cherry or Archie Shepp's Pan African recording for Actuel. There's a strong swing throughout the record and an authentic fusion of African rhythms that rivals many of their far more famous contemporaries. King of Kings was recorded in '74 and here we find the collective adding more vocal interplay, piano and woodwinds to the mix. It's a bit mellower and the percussion isn't as propulsive, and you can also detect traces of more traditional American soul jazz influences on songs like "Queen of the Spirits." Side two's lovely opener, "Nsorama the Stars," is probably their most well known track. It's a beautiful piece of modal astral jazz, most notable for Simmons and Ackamoor's slow building vocal, flute and sax interplay, not to mention Kwame Asante's amazing string bass solo. Traces of Sun Ra's Astro Black percussion and Weldon Irvine's modal melodic sense are great comparisons, but King of Kings stands on its own merits and is my personal fave of these three albums. By 1975, the group had relocated to Oakland, CA, and it's here that they recorded their final album, Birth/Speed/Merging. The intense drive of Lalibela is back, but there are also more pronounced Caribbean and funk grooves to the whole proceeding, as well as what seems to be a growing Miles Davis influence -- as evidenced by tracks like "Jamaican Carnival" and "Black Man and Woman of the Nile." "Reaffirmation" is probably the most intense song they recorded though, with Ackamoor delivering some of his most furious sax playing from this era. By 1979, the band had broken up following the divorce of Ackamoor and Simmons, and Idris relocated to San Francisco and formed Cultural Odyssey, a performance company which is still in existence today. He's also a well respected and award winning visual artist, who has collaborated with such luminaries as Bill T. Jones, Ntozake Shange and AAOC. The Pyramids briefly reformed in 2007 for a string of acclaimed dates, and though all who've had the chance to encounter it have revered this band's music, their records have been criminally unavailable in complete form since their original limited pressings. If you're even just a passing fan of any of the aforementioned artists or spiritual soul jazz in general, I urge you to check out this little known, yet highly accomplished collective. TIP!! [DH]

		$16.99 CD $27.99 DVD   XENAKIS Complete String Quartets (Mode) "Tetras" "Tetora" The Jack Quartet caused quite a stir when they performed these pieces at Le Poisson Rouge in October 2008 -- these four Xenakis string quartets are mind-bogglingly dense, swirling masterworks of counter-conventional chamber music. But the group played the evening with an uproarious enthusiasm, tackling works that could easily be weighed down by heavy musical theory with an unexpected charisma and levity. There is nothing immediately "light" about these compositions, and the energy that they crave could easily be lost in art school pretense. Fortunately, that show and this powerful recording embrace Xenakis' theories with a meaningful, tangible relevance, and the Jack Quartet nail these four rigorously mathematical string explorations. This CD marks the first time that three of the pieces have been recorded in fifteen years, and debuts "Ergma," Xenakis' final composition for string quartet, composed in 1994. The studio recording captures the dissonant masterpieces with vibrant and energetic precision, and Xenakis' architecture of sound and complex algorithmic sensibilities take on intense vitality through this 24 bit recording available on CD and DVD in 5.1 surround sound. Comprised of Christopher Otto and Ari Steisfeld on violins, Kevin McFarland on cello, and John Pickford Richards on viola, the Jack Quartet began collaborating while studying at the Eastman School of Music. I believe this is their first "proper" release, and I can't wait to hear what they choose to tackle next. Mode released Xenakis' complete works for strings a few years after his passing, but that compilation did not include these chamber pieces for quartets. Thus, these recordings are essential for Xenakis fans, and will be of great interest to anyone into Tony Conrad, John Cage, Morton Subotnik, or the Kronos Quartet. [BCa]

		$11.99 CD $9.99 MP3   KENGE KENGE Introducing Kenge Kenge (Introducing) Preview Songs on Other Music's Download Store In a word: Wow. Kenyan ensemble Kenge Kenge come forth with an electrifying disc of benga roots music, and what's most astonishing is that such electrifying music is made by entirely acoustic means. They take the benga dance sound, pioneered by D.O. Misiani and Shirati Jazz via pulsating electric guitar grooves, and dirty it up, stripping it to its rootsiest, most raw (and guitar-free) essentials. Performing entirely on drums, one string fiddles, ox horns, flute, and handmade "sound boxes", with infectious vocal chants swirling around the pulse, they mine territory similar to the fuzzed-out grooves of Congo's Konono No. 1, but with a more stomping, incessant low end. Kenge Kenge create grooves that could easily own the dancefloor in more experimentally-minded clubs; those who have been hypnotized by the likes of tropical songsmiths like El Guincho, the new Animal Collective album, or Konono and the Crammed Congotronics series would be wise to check this -- Kenge Kenge are as real as you could get. Hands down, one of my all time favorite world music records. [IQ]

		$12.99 CD   FISCHERSPOONER Entertainment (FS Studios) "To the Moon" "The Best Revenge" Titled Entertainment, we were hopeful Fischerspooner might have slipped in a Gang of Four cover on their third full-length -- after all, the duo of Warren Fischer and Casey Spooner did a killer remake Wire's "The 15th" on their first record -- but no such luck. However, these electroclash survivors do pick up where 2005's Odyssey left off, emphasizing the "pop" in electro-pop, and resulting in an album that, like any classic Depeche Mode or Yaz record, sounds as good on the home stereo or iPod as it does in a club. (Of course, these tunes will be even better experienced at one of Fischerspooner's legendary "live" performances, complete with a cast of choreographed dancers whose costumes resemble a cross between Cats, The Wiz and the Brooklyn Caribbean Day Parade.) Produced by Jeff Saltzman (the Killers, the Black Keys) and joined by guest contributors such as Ann Magnuson, Gabriel Olegavich (Lady Sovereign, Spektrum) and Steven Stein (Double Dee & Steinski), tracks like "The Best Revenge," with oscillating bass and Spooner's breathy melodies, are unmistakably Fischerspooner, but there's also more live instrumentation appearing through much of the record -- the aforementioned song features Bowie collaborator Robert Aaron blowing the trumpet and saxophone, while in "We Are Electric," squalls of guitar feedback wash over the gurgling synthesizers and programmed beats. "Money Can't Dance" and "Supply and Demand," however, find the group doing what they do best: pure grade synth-pop. Listening to these tracks, you realize that while it might have been easy to write the duo off with the rest of the electroclash pack who had mostly crash-and-burned by 2004, Fischerspooner always had a good song behind their performance art and campy theatrics. And with groups like Cut Copy, Hot Chip and Junior Boys on everybody's radar today, there's no doubt that electro-pop is alive and kicking in 2009; it's for this reason that we can give more than a little thanks to Warren Fischer and Casey Spooner. [GH]

		$14.99 CD $14.99 LP w/MP3 $9.99 MP3   PINK MOUNTAINTOPS Outside Love (Jagjaguwar) "Axis: Thrones of Love" "Holiday" The album cover -- a romance novel resting atop a mound of blue velvet -- should have already tipped you off; the third Pink Mountaintops full-length from Black Mountain's Stephen McBean is a concept record that plays like a stoned Danielle Steel novel. We assure you that it sounds much better than any of Steel's tawdry stories read and there isn't any bodice ripping, but McBean's thinking hi-fi for this one, with a huge cast of contributors that include Ted Bois (Destroyer), Josh Stevenson (Jackie O Motherfucker), Jesse Sykes, Phil Wandscher (Whiskeytown), Sophie Trudeau (A Silver Mt. Zion, Godspeed You! Black Emperor), Ashley Webber (Bonnie "Prince" Billy), and a female choir.

		$16.99 CD   A-TRAK Fabriclive 45 (Fabric) "I'm the Ish" DJ Class "Juke Dat Girl" DJ Gant-Man Fabric's selectors are always top notch -- both at the London nightclub and on their mix series -- and for the 45th Fabriclive installment we get Kanye West's main man A-Trak serving up a party starter. As expected, he blurs genre lines, mixing classics like DJ Sneak's "You Can't Hide From Your Bud" with Boys Noize as well as some Baltimore edits, remixes from Aeroplane, Daft Punk and Todd Terje, and lots more.

		$19.99 LPx2 $12.99 CD $9.99 MP3   ARTHUR RUSSELL Love Is Overtaking Me (Audika) "What It's Like" "Big Moon" Audika Records releases one of the most important pieces in the puzzle that is the creative engima of Arthur Russell with Love Is Overtaking Me, a beautiful collection of folk, pop and country tunes recorded from 1973-1990, all compiled from the personal archives of Arthur and his partner Tom Lee. While many know of Arthur's dance experiments and his modern composition pieces, few know of this side of the man -- he took part in and formed many different pop groups during his lifetime, all of which would seemingly evaporate before things really got rolling, and he was constantly writing and recording tunes influenced by his Midwest roots and his time in California during the early 1970s. Songs from a few of those groups are included here, along with many solo songs often featuring just Arthur and an acoustic guitar, and sometimes his unique cello playing. The bulk of the collection's earliest pieces were recorded by famed producer John Hammond in CBS Studios throughout the mid '70s, with much of the rest laid down at Blank Tapes in the '80s, where Arthur recorded many of his most famous dance tunes, as well as the album by the Necessaries, a fantastic powerpop band which included Arthur, Ernie Brooks, and Red Crayola drummer Jesse Chamberlain, and was fronted by Ed Tomney. (If you ever see either version of that record, do the right thing!) There are a few tunes recorded at the Kitchen in the '70s, as well as a handful recorded elsewhere. Most striking upon early listens is Arthur's singing voice -- usually a muffled riddle of onomatopoeia, here he mostly sings in clear, ringing tones. His lyrical muse is very much the same -- fragile, deeply emotional tunes tying both heartfelt themes of love & loss with playful use of catchphrases, haiku-like simplicity, and a directness often difficult to express in song. While the jumps in the timeline throughout may not give the collection as cohesive a feel as something like Calling Out of Context, this CD is overflowing with riches, and is a beautiful treat to be able to curl up with on these chilly autumn days and nights. Tom Lee provides touching liner notes and photos for a package that easily proves to be one of the year's best. Play it with someone you love, or sit and think of the love you've lost -- just give it lots of time and lots of care. Arthur would've wanted it that way. [IQ]

		$15.99 LP   DEATH ...For the Whole World to See (Drag City) "Keep on Knocking" "Politicians in My Eyes" There's an interesting back story here: In the early '70s, three African-American brothers from Michigan geeked on the MC5 and form a band, are then courted by legendary record producer Clive Davis and manage to record half of an album before everything grinds to a halt, supposedly because they refused to change their name to something more commercial! A few years later, they self-released a 7" of two of those songs to little notice, which would then resurface some 30 years later again when a box of the singles was found and copies began to slowly trickle out; consequently, collector scum interest was off the charts. More often than not, the story associated with archival finds usually trumps the actual music but in the case of Death, everything takes a back seat to the music. The b-side of the aforementioned single, "Keep On Knocking," kicks things off in Grande Ballroom style, coming on like Phil Lynott fronting the Sonic Rendezvous Band. Next is the frantic "Rock-N-Roll Victim," a song so perfect in its shut-yer-brain-off proto-punk power, I've just declared it the theme song to my life! "Let the World Turn" comes as a welcome rest at first, but ultimately takes so many weird twists that by the end of the track's almost six minutes you'll be in awe of its Beatles vs. prog vs. Raw Power insanity. Side two starts with "You're a Prisoner," a solid Back in the USA-era MC5 jammer, but "Freaking Out" is the real brain-melter here as it could easily be mistaken for a Black Dots-era Bad Brains tune. The LP finishes up with "Where Do We Go from Here," another tough rocker, as well as the truly epic "Politicians in My Eyes." All said and done, this is one of the best records to hit my ears in ages. Absolutely essential for any lover of high-energy rock & roll. [DMa]

		$21.99 LP   J.T. IV Cosmic Lightning (Galactic Zoo) Hooray, another iconic Midwestern outsider (Chicago) who was forced to deal with all his spurned love and hopeless rock and roll fantasy in a snowed-in basement. I was fully ready to track this album down based solely on the killer "Death Trip" single, after being led to it MySpace-style by a friend about six months ago. It's a fully ripping nihilistic song that sounds like the grind of Chrome with a bit of Hawkwind-chug, with a trace of the lovesick/misogyny of early GG Allin complete with a killer solo. A totally great, raw, lost in space basement punk with a snotty/catchy f**k you vibe that would have made it a standout gem on a Killed by Death comp. Of course, this is all wrapped up in the same outsider-stuck-in-a culture-starved atmosphere found in records by Jim Shepard and Tommy Jay, not to mention Gary Wilson (but without the Las Vegas vibe), and even Ariel Pink. (See also "The Monitors" and the awesome "Destructo Rock.") Later, tunes like "Song for Suzanne," "In the Can" and "I Really Love You/You Know That I Love You Don't You?" reveal a tender ballad-y/spaced-out, dumb/poetic Roky Erickson sung by a non-mush mouthed Darby Crash. Other back story tidbits: He also made films, including the 85 hour The Cure for Insomnia (recognized in the Guinness Book as the longest movie ever released, beating Gone with the Wind and Fassbinder's Berlin Alexanderplatz by miles). He had a local hit called "Waiting for the CTA" (Chicago Transit Authority, of course) sung to the tune of the Velvets' "Waiting for My Man" (it's on the record), and a disfiguring car accident inspired him to change his artist name to Frankenstein. Don't let the quirks distract you, however, get this record cause it rules! [SM]

		$15.99 CD   CARLTON & THE SHOES Love Me Forever (Studio One) Carlton Manning, and his group Carlton and the Shoes, stuck with Coxsone Dodd for much of his early career and issued his most beloved sides on the Studio One and Coxsone labels, the highlight being the Love Me Forever LP. And let me tell you, few records upon first listen have had as profound an impact upon me as this one. By the time I stumbled upon this date, I was already more than sold on Jamaican rocksteady, having been something of a scavenger of this hybrid of down-tempo ska and American soul for many years. Still, something made this record special in a way that I couldn't quite verbalize, and still might not be able to do today, frankly. All I can tell you is that, not unlike the Impressions, these guys made some of the most earnest and warm soul music ever recorded. It just so happens that Carlton and the Shoes were from Jamaica and not the States. The record functions as a near-perfect synthesis of Motown innocence and the gritty, muddy production of the Memphis Stax sound. If you haven't yet been turned on to the sublimely soulful music of Carlton and the Shoes, you owe it to yourself to do something about that right away. Your girlfriend will thank you. [BB]

		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 [BB] Brandon Burke [AB] Adrian Burkeholder [BCa] Brian Cassidy [GH] Gerald Hammill [DH] Duane Harriott [IQ] Mikey IQ Jones [MK] Michael Klausman [AK] Andreas Knutsen [AOK] Aaron O. Kaplan [BL] Brian Levine [JM] Josh Madell [DMa] Dave Martin [DM] Doug Mosurock [SM] Scott Mou [NS] Nathan Salsburg [KS] Karen Soskin [JT] John Twells THANKS FOR READING - all of us at Other Music

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